Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Solovyov and the Prussian military staff continued to discuss the deployment of this battle.

Actually, what he knew about the organization of the Prussian Army was still the old military system that Clausewitz had mentioned to him before. The Duke of Brunswick also told him some things. As for being in the regiment of the old Prussian Army himself, that was when he was with the "Black Duke", and it was only for a few days.

If he were really asked to command the Prussian army in battle now, it would probably be a headache for him.

Because of the losses in the previous war and the restrictions on armaments in the past few years, the main force of this country is still a group of rubbish soldiers, all of whom have "twisted necks".

"That kimchi field is here, not too far from Jena. If the French are willing to come from the direction of Jena, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to resist with our current military strength."

Solovyov had a problem, Napoleon's presence was equivalent to adding 10,000 men, which was not something that could be considered an individual's fighting power, but as a commander in chief, it was still very useful.

Not to mention those old guards who are watching the show on the battlefield. If they were to join in at any time, even if they are the old guards who have been greatly reduced in strength now, many of the supplements are veterans, which may be too much for the coalition forces to bear.

The Prussian staff were also very curious when they saw him like this. Generally speaking, veteran generals are more cautious, and this kind of young soldiers are probably more radical.

But our own commander-in-chief is still a macho man at his age, while this one is young but cautious and prudent, not at all like his appearance.

As he was speaking, he heard the neighing of war horses. It sounded like his own old man Bu was "abusing horses" again.

After all, an old cavalryman like him who could ride a horse very fast and then brake suddenly was a rare species in Prussia.

However, because he was really uneducated and even drinking could not trigger the plan, King Frederick the Great personally asked him to get out. He went to a manor in Silesia for a few years and later returned to the Prussian army.

But to be honest, this one is a bit outrageous. He has a high prestige in the army, even though his daily performance is losing battles.

His greatest characteristic was probably his courage to challenge Napoleon. Of course, he did seem to have some problems with his brain.

When he walked into his own headquarters, General Scharnhorst followed behind him. Blücher was already familiar with these staff officers under him, and because they were his elders, he was very friendly to them.

His violent temper always seemed to be directed at the enemy, and he almost never used corporal punishment on his own men, which was definitely different from soldiers in other places.

At least it is relatively rare among the Prussian army.

In addition, he allowed his soldiers to plunder, which can be said to be synonymous with the breakdown of military discipline.

Compared with him, Solovyov, who disciplined his soldiers but did not advocate corporal punishment, was probably a rare species outside of these two types of European soldiers.

"Sir, please allow me to introduce you to"

Just as Clausewitz was about to speak, Blücher was already standing in front of Solovyov.

"Are you the Russian nephew of the tyrant?"

"You can say that, except that my stepmother is the cousin of Queen Josephine. But if you say she is a 'tyrant', then the Marseillaise is another matter."

"Ah, that's right. It's just that you look like a pretty boy, but I've also heard that you're good at fighting and can please women. If Prince August was like you, that lady would probably have become a princess."

It's hard to say what others are like, but Blücher is probably not very polite to the royal family members, except for the queen and her princes, even the king, if it weren't for the fact that he is the king and trusts himself very much.
After all, he is the king of FW, and apart from domestic affairs, he has not made any achievements in many areas.

But it is a bit outrageous for this person to talk about other people's proud things so publicly.

Solovyov was not far away from him, but he could smell the scent of alcohol. He was probably driving the horse while drunk, but he was still able to control the horse steadily. He could be said to be a natural born veteran cavalryman.

However, this old guy is actually even older, he is over seventy years old.

"But this is"

"It doesn't matter. For this kind of thing, to please a woman, you need some skills. A cultured man like you is different from a rough man like me."

Well, he's pretty rough.

And after drinking all this, he can still stay sober at this age. He is also an amazing old alcoholic.

However, this topic is obviously not suitable for discussion in the headquarters. In another day or two, we will probably fight with the French. It is even possible that at this time, the French army is already moving towards Leipzig and crossing the Saale River to take some action.

After Blücher entered his bedroom, Scharnhorst smiled helplessly and said, "Our commander-in-chief is like this, but because he is the kind of indomitable person and has superhuman courage, many people are willing to follow him. Maybe you have seen many of our generals before, but this one."

"Compared to the Duke of Brunswick, he is probably a different kind of person. Also, have you ever considered changing the current deployment of the battle?"

"The enemy is very close. If we temporarily change our deployment and concentrate our forces, it will be easy to expose our flanks to the French."

"Indeed, and we would rather have a reckless commander-in-chief who leaves everything to his subordinates than an honest man who thinks he is a smart-ass."

"Is this your assessment of Mr. Wittgenstein?"

"He reported almost everything to the monarchs of our two countries, and he wanted to adopt the methods that had been proven effective in the past, such as in Borodino. But I was in the most dangerous part of the battlefield, and I naturally knew that this would only bring destruction rather than victory. Our victory lies in the overall strategy, not on the battlefield."

"That makes sense. You and Carl work very well together. In fact, we are also curious. You seem to like outflanking the enemy."

"This is due to the terrain. In the current army, I think that when there are too many troops, the form of war will change. Perhaps more detours are needed to allow several legions to turn together. It may be a good plan, but we must also consider that changing the plan easily will eventually lead to total failure. We will always stop and get frustrated in one place."

When he said this, Scharnhorst could understand what his idea was, but he was unlikely to know that this was a mockery of the Schlieffen Plan and the foolish Moltke who changed the overall plan.

Of course, old Moltke is still in school now.

As for the staff officers on the side, they were not very familiar with Solovyov. Although he spoke in an abstract way, compared with Suvorov, he was still discussing serious matters.

The Grand Marshal likes to use some things as examples at any time. If you are not familiar with him, you probably won't understand. The battle will take place near Leipzig, which is also the consensus of both Russia and Prussia, but the dispatch of the coalition forces is always a big problem.

When Wittgenstein used his group of people to take action, the movement was much slower, and coupled with the military deployment at the time, it was inevitable that they would encounter such problems.

"If you were to take action, you would definitely choose to go to Leipzig, right?"

"Not only here, but we must continue the pursuit. Even if the soldiers are extremely tired, we must not give up the pursuit of the enemy. Any delay is equivalent to failure for the French."

"So you plan to give up one side and let the enemy enter Leipzig?"

"Yes, but how should I put it?"

"If the enemy was still far away, there would be nothing wrong with this. But cavalry reconnaissance shows that the French are very close. Even if Napoleon leads a group of new soldiers, he is still Napoleon."

This is the biggest trouble. He is so close now. If he seizes the opportunity, the situation will be very bad.

However, Wittgenstein probably did not realize this and still chose to move his troops forward.

At the same time, Napoleon had already begun to cross the Saale River and advance towards Leipzig.

What he had to do now was to win the war. Since the defeat of the French army in Tarutino, the French had not won a single battle so far.

But some people say that the defeat at the Berezina River was also a victory, perhaps because Napoleon himself escaped and there was at least one chance to turn the tables, but for the French army, it was a huge defeat.

Not long ago, due to insufficient troops, Eugene had to retreat from the vicinity of Magdeburg and move south to seek to join forces with the main force of the French army.

Murat had foolishly returned to Naples before, and he did bring back some troops. However, the Neapolitan army, under the arrangement of their French Minister of the Army, Little MacDonald, who was also the lover of his wife Carolina, also recruited a lot of Italians.

He was simply not fit to command an army. Although he was impressive and courageous when leading the cavalry in the front, his level was limited.

Even Blücher, who was snoring in the bedroom, was too brave when he was an old cavalryman, but he also had indomitable perseverance and loyalty that would never betray. He even argued with his successor superior for the sake of his former superior, which angered King Frederick the Great.

Eugene's performance here is considered outstanding among generals at the legion level, at least better than his father, General Beauharnais. In a series of rearguard battles, he has retained a number of experienced veterans, and he also has some understanding of the current situation of the coalition forces.

"If that's the case, we can continue to take action and head straight for Leipzig."

But Napoleon was not clear about the movements of the coalition forces. After he lost too many cavalry, although he had 150,000 infantry, these could only be used in battles. If he had enough cavalry in pre-war reconnaissance and at the decisive moment of the battle, he could also achieve a glorious victory.

His battlefield perception is obviously much worse now than in the past.

Although he estimated the movement of the coalition forces, he did not know in which direction the coalition forces were at the moment.

He then sent Lauriston with a part of his force to Halle, Ney to Weissenfels in the south, and MacDonald to Meersburg in the center.

The actions of these three groups of troops are indeed expected to play a role in the battle, quickly reach Leipzig, and control the city.

But when they were crossing the river, the French plan could no longer be fulfilled.

Von Kleist's advance team had already moved south ahead of Wittgenstein's team, and they discovered French activities along the way.

At this time, a battle is inevitable.

The French cavalry looked very eye-catching.

The Prussian army's artillery organization was often poor, and their use of artillery was sometimes even more rigid than that of the infantry, and they often missed the target.

The songs they sing are probably about judging others by one's own standards.

Of course, it is indeed difficult for artillery to hit the target. Today, the artillery accompanying the vanguard of the Allied Forces discovered the actions of the French cavalry.

So they decided to use an artillery company to fire a few shots at these cavalrymen.

Seeing the French from such a long distance, their cavalry is the most eye-catching. After all, whether it is the dragoons or the cuirassiers, they all have beautiful uniforms and eye-catching shapes.

It was also a good target for the coalition artillery.

Therefore, Bessières was given priority care.

The battle had just begun when a shell hit directly, and more shells landed nearby, causing many casualties among the French cavalry.

But the worst was probably Marshal Bessières, who was shot in the stomach.

Unlike Rana, who was simply unlucky and almost saved, only to die from postoperative complications or the aftereffects of shell shock.

Although Bessières did not die on the spot, judging from the blood and flesh flying all over his body and his intestines sticking out, he was definitely beyond saving, especially since he was directly penetrated by a cannonball.
It can be said that the death was extremely tragic. The coalition artillery did not even know that they had hit such a high-level target.

If it were placed in some games, the message would probably be released directly.

Only the surviving French cavalrymen close to the marshal knew that the marshal was dead, but the fact had to be kept secret within the French army. After all, he was an imperial marshal with outstanding military achievements, and he had led the cavalry of the Imperial Guard for a long time. He had even defeated the Spaniards with a smaller force on the peninsula.

If the news of his death spread, it would undoubtedly be a huge blow to the morale of the army, especially before the war began.

If the French want to win now, they must maintain their morale. At least for the next few days, the soldiers must not be informed of the marshal's death.

Napoleon also chose to attack at this time and continued to advance towards Leipzig. A battle was waiting for him ahead. (End of this chapter)