Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

There were many people in the headquarters who stood on Bennigsen's side, but that was when Kutuzov had just arrived.

Although Kutuzov had a high prestige, that was accumulated in the past. There were always people who said that he was old and blind. From St. Petersburg to Moscow, people often said this.

Bennigsen had appeared on at least two front-line battlefields, Persia and Sweden, while Kutuzov had only fought against the Turks on the Danube side before. The last time he fought against the French was seven years ago.

Some even said that the great victory in Türkiye was achieved thanks to the cooperation between Kamensky Jr. and Solovyov.

In people's eyes, Sweden is at least a European country, Türkiye
But it can be seen from his subsequent performance, and now Bennigsen has also caused dissatisfaction among many people.

Solovyov thought that although this man was an old general that Alexander liked, and he was the only one who brought people in with evidence of treason, and he did not take any action when the regicide took place, Solovyov had no way to deal with him openly.

It's like the eldest son of the Zubov family is Suvorov's son-in-law, and for the same reason, it's not easy to kill him.

But it is still possible to kick him out of the army.

Even Solovyov had thought it through and was just waiting for Kutuzov to say it.

However, no one expected that the Tsar’s final choice would be to hand over the letter of denunciation and related contents to Kutuzov. This was quite unexpected.

After all, it was different from the unpleasantness between Paul and Suvorov, which was a quarrel between two old men. Alexander was very concerned about his reputation, and Kutuzov's previous behavior would inevitably have some impact.

Therefore, Alexander's favoritism towards Kutuzov also proved that he was at least satisfied with the current war situation. He just hoped that the front could defeat the French army faster and achieve the final victory.

It’s just that he, Kutuzov and Bennigsen all want different things, and Barclay, who supported Alexander, has left the army to recuperate, so the situation is very clear.

After sending away a few young men, Kutuzov now began to deal with Bennigsen.

In fact, the others also had some premonitions, but Kutuzov, relatively speaking, would not be so ruthless, so they decided to have a one-on-one talk with Bennigsen.

"Count, you are here, please sit down, please sit down"

Bennigsen saw a turned-over letter on the table, but because of his old age, it was impossible for him to see the details at this distance.

"This is a weapon of honor, this is 10 rubles, and this is the letter, sir, I ask you to read it to the general."

Although Kutuzov had a blank expression on his face, he was so dissatisfied with Bennigsen that he wanted to sit on the old man to death.

Bennigsen had a sullen look on his face. He didn't expect that the letter would fall into Kutuzov's hands.

".This is the entire content of this letter, written by General Bennigsen to the Emperor, which describes our performance in the Battle of Tarutino."

"Well, sir, you may go aside."

Kutuzov had already drunk the hand-ground coffee he made himself and seemed to be in good spirits. Now he switched to tea.

In short, the old man didn’t pretend to sleep today.

"How do you explain this? When this letter came to me, it came with these rewards. The silver rubles are yours, and the sabers... This should also be the opinion of the State Council and the Ministry of War, although the minister is not in the department or the army now."

"Yeah, that's true."

“I can only say that this is a very regrettable incident.”

But Kutuzov would not speak harshly to his subordinates like some other leaders we see.

"You know, this kind of thing always happens."

Bennigsen himself seemed quite open-minded, but one could see obvious frustration on his face.

This time, he had no chance of gaining command of the army, and he and Kutuzov actually fell out.

But Kutuzov did not have an attack, which gave him an illusion.

In fact, Kutuzov also knew that Bennigsen was always an opportunist. If he smiled on the surface, he might still have some luck in his heart.

This is a good opportunity to deal with him. First, let the opponent become careless and then launch a fatal attack.

This was the case when fighting, when dealing with people, and even when he was in diplomatic situations, Kutuzov did this more than once.

After Bennigsen left, Solovyov came out from the back.

"This landlord's yard is pretty good. At least they have a utility room for me to eavesdrop."

"Yeah, what do you think?"

"This is not good, but I also have to say that the opinions within the army must be consistent. Although there can be debates, it should not be like what happened with General Barclay in the past. Our Minister of War has to bear a lot of things that he should not have to bear."

"Yes, you have a very smart brain, and you like to use it. Unlike me now, I am old after all, and I don't know when I will go to God. When all of us are gone, it may be your generation. It's a pity that Kamensky's sons, one had a bad temper and always contradicted his superiors, and the other died at a young age. Among the remaining young people, you are the first to come forward. Perhaps young people like Paskevich and Vorontsov will also have a bright future, but they have not experienced combat at the legion level."

"But you said so."

"Come on, Misha. Tell me, is it better for us to drive the enemy away or to destroy him? I have asked you this question more than once."

"It seems that it is more advantageous to drive out the enemy. After all, if France loses order, the British will only benefit completely in the end. There is even another possibility. When the French here are completely annihilated, someone will continue to hold power in Paris and eventually go against us. At that time, Mr. Talleyrand may not continue to provide intelligence to the emperor. You know, when I was in Paris."

"Yes, you are Napoleon's relative. You have met him many times and you know more about the situation in Paris than we do. Also, are you still concerned about that place?"

“I have a few kids over there.”

Kutuzov also laughed when he heard this.

"Yes, you are very proud of this, and we can only envy you."

By the way, this marshal is also a disrespectful old man who likes to discuss life with young girls.
The fat old fox obviously had the same hobby, but Solovyov was obviously more proactive.

"But sometimes this is also a trouble." "Don't worry about it. You are still young. Since you can please lovely ladies, you should enjoy life. When he was my age, Alexander Vasilyevich was still living an ascetic life. His whole life was related to the army. Of course, what he got was different from the rest of us. You should enjoy life. After the war is over, do you want to go to the south?"

"You know me too well. After this battle, I should change to another position and not always be a soldier. Besides, we don't know when the war will end. I don't think they will stop the war after driving the French out of Russia. And our German friends who have joined the enemy will also choose to turn against us."

Prussia and Austria?
And Queen Louise is still alive. Although King FW is indeed a loser, as long as she is around, the Prussian royal family will definitely have a backbone.

However, Solovyov still had a question mark about the performance of Prussia's reserve troops.

By then, he would probably have to set up a new staff, and Clausewitz would definitely return to Prussia.

However, among the Russian generals of similar age to him, there were not even a few who were suitable to be chief of staff or had the ability to demonstrate their abilities.

To be honest, he has to train one himself.

Stroganov's son Alexander is a good example. He has received formal training in staff operations, is young and energetic, and is as smart as his father and grandfather.

In comparison, Petya is a bit silly. Although he is very proactive, which is what an adjutant should be like, he does things entirely out of enthusiasm.

This is not good
He had to train a new staff for himself, and it couldn't be a group of Germans, which was going to be very difficult.

In fact, Solovyov also knew that among the people in his group, only Milyutin, who was much older than him, had some ability. During the Crimean War, the army was still led by a group of old guys.

Of course, he had almost forgotten, or he didn't even know who it was.

Even Milyutin is not even liquid now.
After returning to the 3rd Army, Solovyov saw the Stroganov father and son riding horses in the camp. Such parent-child relationship was indeed very good.

"How about going to the commander-in-chief?"

"Nothing, just a new mission deployed. We're going to Yelnya."

"Finally, the war is about to begin. It's really uncomfortable to just march all day. It's hard to imagine how you managed to endure such a long military life, following the generalissimo to Italy when you were a teenager and going to war so frequently over the years."

"This has become a habit. You have lived in the French court since you were a child, so there must be many interesting things."

"Yeah, it was fun, but those things are never coming back."

He had been a true Jacobin, a member of the club.

Neither the Bourbon royal family nor the Jacobin Club during the French Revolution can return.

"I wonder if Sasha is interested in joining my staff. There isn't much I can learn from following you as an adjutant."

"That depends on whether he is willing."

Then Count Stroganov called his son.

"Sasha, Count Mikhail wants you to be a staff officer for him. At least that's what you learned at the military academy. Your father was in the court and there's not much he can teach you in the army."

This boy is not willing to leave his father. His family has a good relationship, which is rare in aristocratic families.

He didn't say anything, but Solovyov knew.

"This kid, it's normal for fathers and sons to be together in the army. Maybe Sasha prefers to be with you. If you come to me, the workload will be quite large, and there will be a lot to learn, not only the staff business and being an adjutant, but also the on-site terrain surveying and communication technology."

"Sir, it seems that everything we learned in school came from you."

"You can say that, but I don't know how well you're doing."

Considering the current level of these noble children, the children of Count Stroganov's family at least have good family education, although their family is a bit doting on their children and will prepare a comfortable environment for them, instead of the hard beds and formalistic Spartan education that the Tsar and Grand Duke Constantine faced when they were young.

If it was really a Spartan education, they would probably spend more time masturbating and not have the energy to find (multiple) mistresses.

"Don't worry about that. I graduated first."

It seems that he works much harder than other children, but he does not suffer from the torture of homework like Nikolai and the students of Tsarskoye Selo.

"That's not bad, go help your father here."

After saying this he patted the young Earl on the shoulder. The boy was handsome, but not as handsome as his father was when he was young.

If you have been to the Winter Palace and seen the portraits of these generals from the War of 1812, when you saw Count Stroganov, you would probably think he had turned on beauty filters.

Even though he was almost middle-aged, the earl still looked so handsome.

It's just that he is a man who loves his wife and has never heard of any scandals outside.

You have to know that his living environment was more influenced by the French.

Like Count Vorontsov, who came back from serving in England, he is like a very polite English gentleman, and when it comes to women, even though he is still single, he is quite proud before getting married.

But in the future, he needs to be careful about the people Solovyov knows.

It is unlikely to find a suitable chief of staff now. Solovyov also knows that Kutuzov will have to keep his staff in order to replace those who support Bennigsen.

At this moment, he can only work harder, after all, he was born into this field.

The next place the 3rd Army will go to is Yelnya.

This place might not be famous if it were taken out alone, but if you know about the Battle of Moscow in 1941, you would know that after a quarrel between a leatherworker's nephew and a shoemaker's son, in order to maintain their upstream and downstream cooperative relationship, they went from the headquarters to the front line and defeated the invading Germans.

Then, there is a famous scene in the movie where Zhukov himself walks through the ruins of Yelnya to inspect it to the melody of a march.

Yes, this is the place. (End of this chapter)