Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Kutuzov now felt like taking a nap, and some of the generals who advocated war were getting a little anxious.

Miloradovich failed to stop the retreat of the Guards this time because the opponent's formation was very strict and they could not succeed without good coordination.

What's more, the combat effectiveness of Napoleon's old guard is there. If they attack rashly, when the subsequent French troops arrive, they will inevitably fall into a melee, which will be disadvantageous to the Russian army.

Miloradovich was also a disciple of Suvorov, but he was not favored by Suvorov like Bagration.

The one who inherited the true teachings was probably the prince who had served under the Grand Marshal for a long time. Unfortunately, he died of his injuries.

Although Solovyov, the junior fellow apprentice, was very skilled, he relied on his own understanding and some imitation. Suvorov did not have time to teach him, and his fighting style was also rather strange. Although he was very proactive in strategy, he would start to hide when he encountered a strong opponent on the battlefield.
As for Miloradovic, his teachers were rather odd, since he was not very studious after all.

He is an optimistic and cheerful person, and still looks handsome even though he is over 40. Everyone, from young girls who are just beginning to fall in love to elegant ladies, likes this general. He is also single and has a lot of wealth.

Even the Queen took a liking to him and almost summoned him into the palace to be an attendant.

In terms of appearance, he might be only slightly inferior to Stroganov, but he was still a brave soldier.

But he did not become a squire, but went to Königsberg to attend university courses.

But judging from his poor French and German, he probably didn't learn anything.

Even Langgelon kept complaining about the way he spoke to him.

The general probably only learned from Suvorov an optimistic character and tenacity on the battlefield.

Sometimes he would even rely more on staff officers. He was good as a general, but he always felt something was missing when he was the head coach.

After receiving Kutuzov's order to stop the attack and wait for the subsequent French troops to pass before rejoining the operation, he was also confused at first.

"Do you really want to do this?"

"The commander-in-chief personally handed me this order. If you don't believe me, you can take a look at the signature and seal."

The messenger said so, and Miloradovich was certain of it, after all, it was the commander-in-chief's son-in-law who came to deliver the letter in person.

But now that he had let Napoleon escape, it was also a question whether he would have the chance to chase him in the future.

He even really hoped that his staff team could be more reliable, but he was not very good at this.

Now he wanted to give pursuit, but he did not want to give the credit of defeating Napoleon to Wittgenstein, the "idiot" who only knew how to charge forward, and Chichakov, the "layman" who had landed in the navy.

There is also a junior fellow student on the wing. Although Miloradovich has a good personal relationship with Solovyov, it is not as close as Bagration.

This guy stole the limelight in Sweden and the Balkans, and twice achieved exaggerated results with a small force. Although he had no intention of stealing the credit, the temptation to defeat Napoleon was great for his men.

Even he himself is very anxious now, after all, this is a temptation.

But there was a large French army behind him, so it was also a credit anyway, and it was good to take his army.

So he took action and targeted the enemies that were following behind.

The first thing that came into his sight was Eugene's 4th Army.

Now these people are marching, wearing all kinds of looted clothes and cloth to keep warm. It can be seen that the recent sudden drop in temperature has hit them hard.

Moreover, they are marching in such sparse groups that even if there were 100,000 people here, I'm afraid the cavalry would rush up and defeat them.

Moreover, Kutuzov asked the Russian army not to fight head-on with the French who were ready for battle, but to try to maintain their own strength. It is no wonder that some troops were left behind and were still far away from the Krasnoy area.

The situation on the French side was now very bad. The only bad situation for the rear guard troops was that they could get even fewer supplies. Even Davout's 1st Army had taken away all the food when it set out from Smolensk.

This was a disastrous consequence for Ney, who ended up as the rear guard.

Of course, Napoleon ran ahead, but now what about the French behind him?

Miloladovic still applied to attack, so he made up his mind.

The troops led by Eugene at this time had no intention of fighting at all. Except for the 13th Division with a new batch of Italian guards and senior officers, the marching order of the troops was only for escaping.

So after seeing this situation, Platov sent his adjutant to ask Miloradovich for battle.

He agreed, and the Cossack cavalry launched an attack on the French army.

As in Vyazma, the 4th Army now saw the Russian cavalry charging and once again dispersed.

On the contrary, the Italians still had the will to fight at this time, and they were even able to form a square formation and resist the Cossacks rushing towards them on the roadside.

Therefore, a very obvious diversion could be seen, just like the subsequent French National Day parade, where the Russian cavalry bypassed these phalanxes from both sides and specifically attacked their weak points.

Eugene's soldiers were disintegrating faster and faster. In Borodino, they had desperately blocked Platov's flank attack, but now they were so vulnerable that many soldiers were only concerned about escaping for their own lives.

In this situation, it was unlikely to continue fighting, so Eugene decided to withdraw from the battle, but his retreat was no different from a defeat.

Napoleon had previously ordered Eugene to lead the 4th Army to protect the flank, but he was attacked by the Cossacks, resulting in the loss of most of the artillery. Now the consequences are obvious.

The Russian cavalry could not see the cannons, so they chased the vehicles and fleeing personnel. For a while, the roads on the Smolensk side were full of fleeing French soldiers.

Although Napoleon was spared, the results of this battle were not small. Almost all of the baggage of the 4th Army fell into the hands of the pursuing Russian army.

Seeing this, Eugene was already somewhat desperate. After all, it was a consensus among the retreating French troops that the army had no will to fight, and everyone was just trying to escape.

As for him, he was not afraid of being captured. After all, he had an aunt who was only a few years older than him in Russia. He was also a nobleman and had married into a European royal family.

But the situation was not good for his soldiers.

Even in the morning, they were discovered by Russian cavalry, chased in the afternoon, and were about to collapse before nightfall. Many people fled westward desperately, trying to move to the villages west of the battlefield, where at least there were a few dilapidated houses to live in. It seemed that this time they could wipe out the remnants of a French army.

But during the pursuit, Miloradovich received a strange order from Kutuzov.

This order was even more outrageous than the previous one asking him to conserve his strength.

"We have now pursued them here. The French have collapsed and we have not captured the flag. That is because they have taken down or destroyed the eagle emblems. We are just about to eliminate the subsequent enemies."

"But the commander-in-chief is also worried about these things. You also need to deal with the French troops coming out of Smolensk, not just the enemies in front of you."

In fact, many generals believed that Kutuzov had been avoiding fighting and therefore took such measures.

But the guerrillas provided information again. Seslavan, who had been tracking and pursuing Junot all the way, monitored Junot's 8th Army, but mistakenly thought that this was the main force of the French army, and Napoleon's vanguard might be among them.

Although the Old Guards were not seen, the Westphalian army did look like they were dressed somewhat like the Young Guards, so some misjudgments were inevitable.

At this time, Konovnitsyn and von Thor both thought that the time was right, so they strongly suggested to Kutuzov that they launch an offensive to completely defeat Napoleon's army.

Kutuzov was still sitting there. He looked very energetic after hearing this, but no one knew whether he had been acting before.

"I think it's appropriate to attack at this time. I just hope that the 3rd Army can act quickly, cross the river upstream, and continue the parallel pursuit, but don't be too risky. We can attack now, but Miloradovich must also be cautious. We still have to keep chasing them."

The latest good news is probably that the Russian army is approaching Minsk, and a large amount of supplies there may fall into the hands of the Russian army.

It seems that they are indeed pursuing, but the Russian army is more or less maintaining a close yet distant state.

Napoleon was also shocked when he heard the news that Eugene was separated by the Cossacks.

Previously, he thought that Kutuzov would suffer heavy losses. In this kind of winter, attrition was inevitable. However, the Russian army suddenly appeared in large numbers, and it could be confirmed that they were the teams he had fought against before.

In their own home turf, it was obvious that the Russian army was replenishing its troops quickly. They came so quickly, and coupled with the large-scale cavalry attack, the main force of the Russian army had arrived.

Napoleon did not make any adjustments for this reason. He continued to move westward. When he could not go to Vitebsk, his destination was also Minsk.

But at this moment, there are quite a few people who want to destroy bridges. All the bridges on the tributaries of the Dnieper River have been destroyed, and the Russian army can only build bridges on them one after another during the cold winter.

A bridge outside Smolensk seemed to be blown up in the middle, so when the Russian army attacked from here, they placed large wooden boards on it, but this only allowed a part of the infantry to pass through.

The French had a good idea. Now the rivers have not frozen in many places. However, when we were in Vyazma, some small places were frozen because of heavy snow and a sudden drop in temperature.

However, due to the poor arrangement of horseshoes, many horses stumbled and broke their legs, so the French army lost a large number of cavalry.

If Napoleon knew that he had not listened to Caulaincourt's advice before, the loss would be so huge.

He will probably continue to be stubborn. After all, this person is very reluctant to admit his failure and is quite strong-willed. This kind of thing is probably just a matter of time.

Although he didn't say it now, he was determined not to stay and fight.

If they go back, they can probably lead a large army. As long as the generals and some outstanding officers are still there, there is hope for them.

At the same time, Kutuzov was making adjustments. Prince Golitsyn and Tormasov each led a large group of troops and were moving closer to the long snake formation of the French army.

In other words, the Russian army retreated too deep, and the 3rd Army and the Danube Corps were too far away from the French supply line.

If they fought seriously, they would probably cut the French army in half in this war.

It would be best to encircle Napoleon and his Guards in a place like Minsk, while the rest of the French army is in Mogilev or scattered along the way.

In this case, Napoleon would become one of those people who "hold on firmly and there will be a way."

What he wants to do now is probably also due to this factor. His adjutant has found various troops and is trying his best to pull them back.

As long as he can ensure that he and part of the main force can cross the river, the mission will be accomplished.

Kutuzov, based on the latest intelligence, also planned to attack the discovered enemies, including possible reinforcements, around the pocket created by Miloradovich on the battlefield.

However, Kutuzov's habitual hesitation also caused many French troops to slip away.

After a day of fighting, Eugene finally gathered more than a thousand remaining soldiers. Together with his original troops, there were no more than four thousand people, and he withdrew from the battlefield.

There were still many wounded soldiers lying on the carts abandoned by the French, and even some of the people on the carts looked to be all dead.

The French only cared about killing and not burying people along the way, but the Russian army began to burn corpses everywhere in their own country and cleaned up the main streets to prevent the plague.

Maybe by then, we may not be able to prevent it.

Kutuzov was also encouraged. After all, after reconnaissance, he found that the two rear guard troops of the French army were now here. If they were to be eliminated, although they could not defeat Napoleon, it would also be a glorious victory.

If Napoleon were let go, no one would be able to guess what he was thinking.

As for Miloradovich, he began to build fortifications along the road, but he did not cut off the road. Instead, he placed his troops on one side. When the French army approached here, the three well-coordinated troops launched an attack together, intending to destroy the French here.

They even estimated that Davout might wait for Ney for a while.

However, the rear guard troops on Ney's side were obviously much slower in their movement, as Russia was vast and sparsely populated and there were not many suitable places to live.

As a result, the distance between the two armies widened, and something else happened that the Russians were not aware of.

Davout, who had always been reliable, actually chose this time to lead the remnants of the 1st Army of nearly soldiers to leave from the main road without waiting for Ney to follow up.

What is this for? (End of this chapter)