Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

There were three Punic Wars. The first was over Sicily and the second was over Hannibal.
When Napoleon was just a general in his early years, he was okay in a single battlefield. Although he was good at taking advantage of victory in wars, he always did things that were extremely excessive.

Obviously, Hannibal's inability to take advantage of victory was made even more outrageous.

Although there were glorious victories such as Cannae during this war, the Carthaginian army, except for Hannibal's army, often suffered defeat.

Finally he returned to Carthage itself, where he was defeated at the Battle of Zama (southwest of Carthage, close to the Numidian tribes).

"Soloviev, you must be on to something."

"I think General Wittgenstein would have a say in how Napoleon's generals performed. MacDonald and Oudinot repeatedly ran into obstacles in Riga, and the Prussians didn't seem to be really trying. The battlefield performance of the various French armies over the past decade should also be roughly evaluated. Many of the senior commanders of the French army joined the army very early, and their abilities may not be better than ours. This was the case in the Battle of the Trebbia River and the Battle of Novi. We chased them all the way from Verona to Genoa, and they were not necessarily that strong."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Although it is the old man's tactics, when fighting against Napoleon himself, we always have to mobilize him and attack his divided corps. According to my understanding of him over the years, he is actually very seldom able to accept other people's opinions. He always takes action when he thinks that his opinions are close to his own. He is also very stubborn. If we throw him a new peace treaty, he will still rely on his strong army and even continue to fight with us just because of the number of troops. When facing a strategic focus, he often stubbornly targets this point. Now it is Poland, and later it will be the Oder River. Maybe one day it will be Berlin."

Solovyov said this casually, but Alexander nodded in agreement.

"Count, what you need to look at now is Poland, and the places mentioned before."

While he was talking about this, Count Arakcheev arrived.

Alexander's adjutant next to him also told him what had happened before, and Arakcheev listened in silence.

He would not comment, but attention was now on Poland.

"It's still Warsaw, as I said before. In future wars, it's not just about winning on the battlefield. Winning in a battle is only the last resort. It depends on the overall strategic deployment and mobilization of the troops."

Solovyov also thought of this. In fact, Suvorov had a special characteristic. When the Russian army defeated the French in Italy, it was probably more because they broke through the situation by gaining local troop advantages through battlefield maneuvers.

Logistical supplies are actually very important and can even affect strategic decisions.

"The battlefield always revolves around transportation lines and important transportation hubs. The movement of troops can change, but its transportation lines cannot be adjusted in time. We are now preparing to take action against Königsberg and Warsaw to control these places. Especially around Warsaw, the French will probably recruit soldiers there, and we don't know exactly how many people there are. However, the army must be trained and the weapons and equipment must be complete. When I was in Smolensk, I formed a new infantry regiment, and I probably had an idea in mind."

At this time Arakcheev nodded in agreement. After all, when Solovyov was in Smolensk, he reorganized the Selenge Infantry Regiment and is still the regimental commander general of the regiment.

And Warsaw is crucial no matter how you look at it.

"But the French should still be recruiting soldiers there now?"

"Your Majesty, but Napoleon has a shortcoming. Perhaps many people don't know that he lost the battle. The announcement of the Grand Army Bulletin to the country always has some intention of stabilizing the rear, so that Napoleon's enemies in Paris will not take rash actions. Therefore, Nelson's victory at Trafalgar probably did not exist. I think if those captured French soldiers did not tell us, our victory at Dürenstein before Austerlitz would not have existed either."

"So, Napoleon's message delivery was delayed when he failed?"

"Indeed, he is always like this. And on the way of retreating from Moscow, the rear will definitely not have enough information about the situation in the front, and the battle preparations will be correspondingly slow. At this time, after a short rest, we can probably join the battle."

After all, the French would not surrender easily at this time, and Alexander came to the army personally. Although he did not directly command the army, he replaced many of Kutuzov's staff and asked Tormasov, who was awarded a high medal, to assist him. In fact, the command of the army was no longer in the hands of the cautious commander-in-chief.

After all, the Tsar’s will will determine the future direction of the Russian army.

And to defeat Napoleon, one must attack him at home.

If he is given a chance to catch his breath this year, maybe he will take action again next year.

It is still unknown what will happen in Europe in the future.

"And the Poles?"

"Their speed should not be too fast, and not all Poles agree with the current rule of the Grand Duchy of Poland. There should be some of our people among them."

Alexander also knew this, so he asked Czartoryski and asked the pro-Russian and relatively neutral nobles in Poland to provide some news about Warsaw.

Although there is no specific reply at this time, judging from the attitude of the Poles.

When they were really strong, even their neighbors wanted to kick them a few times, but when their power weakened, in modern times, they still had to kneel down and sing the song of conquest.

After all, it has not yet reached the advanced stage of nationalism inciting hatred. At this moment, the Poles can still admit defeat. The speed of Warsaw's surrender will probably be faster than that of Paris.

After all, half of the Polish flag is white.

As for the follow-up actions, Alexander asked Volkonsky to arrange them.

Solovyov now talked a lot about strategy, but it was the part about Napoleon that aroused Alexander's interest.

After all, the person who was more familiar with Napoleon in Russia was Solovyov. He served as a military attaché in Paris once, arranged for Catherine to get married once, and lived in Paris for a long time twice. He was relatively familiar with the inside story of Napoleon's France.

Being a relative of the French emperor was a useful identity at that time.

"But how would Napoleon act, like this?"

"He will definitely come, and he will be stubborn about his strategic goals. Even before in Austria and Prussia, he would have encountered such problems. Even if his army occupied the whole of Spain, he would have to send troops to garrison there, not to mention that Britain and Spain are still fighting there, consuming France's strength. If Prussia, Austria and Britain can be on our side in the future, there is still hope for the final victory."

But Solovyov could not confirm where the strategic focus was. Although the battle would definitely revolve around the German battlefield, he was not sure whether it was in Dresden or somewhere else.

It is too early to talk about whether Napoleon will take action against Berlin or elsewhere.

The first thing to be solved is Warsaw and Königsberg. After the French army was driven out of Kaunas by Platov, there were no French troops in Russia except for the captured remnants.

Therefore, Alexander soon adopted the action of dividing his troops into five routes and using five columns to attack East Prussia and Poland.

The prerequisite was that the army had to undergo a short rest and survive an outbreak of typhus.

This time in the war, many veterans were not defeated. Instead, they were knocked down by disease after driving the enemy away.

That person really "died of illness", not being killed by anyone.

The five columns that took action for this purpose were Wittgenstein's First Column, advancing towards Elbing; Platov's Second Column, advancing towards Danzig; Chichakov's Third Column, advancing towards Toruń; the Fourth Column led by Tormasov, which was also the main force, with the Tsar, Grand Duke Constantine and Kutuzov accompanying the army, and set out from Vilno on January 1813, 1; and the Fifth Column led by Miloradovich, including Saken, Wintzengorod and Dokhturov under his command, advancing towards Warsaw.

The French added two divisions with 2.4 people drawn from the rear to join the battle and deployed them along the Vistula River.

In addition, 6,000 men were drawn from Bavaria and Westphalia to join the battle.

However, it is obviously a pipe dream to defend the Vistula River with such a small number of people.

Moreover, there are more and more unfavorable factors for the French. The low morale after the defeat of Russia has already caused problems.

Although many people have confidence in the emperor, they may not have confidence in his subordinates.

After entering Poland, the divisions of De Bierre and Marchand soon ran into supply difficulties. When they encountered the Russian army on the road, some of their men even surrendered in an organized manner.

By the beginning of 1813, even some Russian generals who had long been at war with the French began to feel strange.

Solovyov even felt that since Napoleon's failed invasion of Russia, it seemed that everything could be done in a breast-feeding way.

And the internal situation of the Fourth Column where the Tsar is located has now turned into a humorous court drama.

Although he proposed a new strategy, when advancing towards the Vistula River in the first phase, it was obvious that everyone's approach was similar. I'm afraid that the methods he proposed to deal with Napoleon would only play some role on the German battlefield.

Therefore, at this moment, probably because he himself did not treat Balashov well, this guy might do something to him because he married his stepsister to Speransky as a second wife.

We must still be prepared.

At this moment he decided to return to the 3rd Army. According to the Tsar's wishes, they also wanted to quickly pass the Vistula River line.

The action was also very quick. Solovyov roughly knew the situation in the areas north of Warsaw, so he quickly went ahead with the hussars and various detachments. This action was also very quick.

But they didn't meet any French along the way, and their progress was just going smoothly, so smoothly that it made people doubt the current situation.

The Russian cavalry also moved swiftly, and their actions during the winter severed links with Danzig and Warsaw in all directions.

In addition, Prussia was secretly having an ambiguous relationship with Russia at that time, and Austria was only defending Galicia and not sending reinforcements to support Napoleon. The outcome in Poland would soon be decided.

Murat therefore fled on January 1, fearing instability in his own country, while Eugene, who also ruled Italy, stayed behind.

Some French generals finally managed to free themselves from Murat's outrageous and chaotic command, but the situation was already hopeless.

The Russian pursuit was swift, and in the end only a thousand reinforcements were left in Danzig. What was even more outrageous was that the troops led by Rapp who were left behind in Danzig were trapped in the city and could not move because the transportation lines were controlled by the Russian army and winter operations were always difficult.

Eugene then abandoned the Vistula front and placed his headquarters in Poznan.

The attitude of the Poles is now very pessimistic, especially the great nobles in the Polish Senate.

Prince Poniatowski was leading the remaining Polish troops in the remnants of the Grand Army at this time, and his pessimistic attitude towards Eugene can also explain all this.

The Polish conscripts had to be left behind, they had no horses, were poorly equipped, and were poorly trained. Now the Polish army could mobilize only 1.2 men, and thousands of wounded soldiers were left in hospitals in Warsaw and had to be handed over to the Russians.

The situation was so bad that the nobles in the Polish Senate even felt that they were now like the mustard on their dinner, abandoned and useless.

Therefore, the attitude of the Poles themselves is very French.

Bishop de Prat left Warsaw, and his replacement as French ambassador to Warsaw, Baron Édouard Binon, also left on February 2.

In fact, after this, the French also had to abandon the city.

However, at this time, the Russian army only had cavalry blocking various key points and had no intention of entering the city directly.

If we are to take action, we will have to rely on the follow-up infantry.

The vanguard of the marching column of more than 100,000 Russian troops has reached the Vistula River, and the follow-up is still on the other side of the border. As for the new recruits coming from the heart of Russia, they will also be gathered in the rear and then distributed to the various regiments in the army.

It seems that victory at this stage is within reach.

There were no large-scale battles throughout January, and the French troops encountered on the road often surrendered.

It was not until February that the French army and its vassal states' troops came into contact with the Russian army, but battles rarely broke out because of supply difficulties and unwillingness to take the initiative to start a war on both sides, which led to this strange pursuit.

Even when the Russian army arrived outside Warsaw, there were no other troops there except for 4000 Polish troops, 600 French troops and 600 Saxons in the Modlin Fortress in the northwest.

Modlin Fortress (End of this Chapter)