Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Napoleon originally had an ambitious plan, which was to let Saint-Cyr tie down the coalition forces. He led the troops at his disposal, including the Guards, the 1st Army, the 6th Army and the main force of the Cavalry Army, to bypass the coalition forces, cut off their retreat, and deal a devastating blow to the opponent.

If this plan succeeded, the monarchs of the three kingdoms would probably be killed together. Everyone would be captured like King François, and go to Paris to study abroad like Emperor Minbourg, and experience the disgusting smell of the garbage dump when the northeast wind blows.

But Saint-Cyr sent people to ask for help, and Napoleon had to abandon this plan.

"It looks like we won't be able to have a good dinner here, gentlemen. Dresden is already in danger. If we leave later, Alexander might be able to hold a banquet in the city."

He was in good spirits, and except for occasional stomach cramps and liver and gallbladder colic, he was even more energetic than when he was younger and commander-in-chief of the Italian Army.

As for the earlier letters from Josephine and the current letters from his wife Catherine, he still had time to have his secretary dictate them.

But that was before the war. After the action began, he would only remember to reply after a decisive victory or when he was resting somewhere.

At this moment, of course, we still need to focus on military affairs.

Napoleon's energy in military affairs was not on the same level as others.

He was now giving orders quickly and called Berthier.

Was it just an order from him?
"The Guards and Cavalry will advance towards Dresden, followed by the 6th Army. Vandamme will lead the 1st Army to continue to detour to the rear of the coalition forces and attack the enemy's flank. We must kick the butts of these arrogant monarchs and let them know who holds their destiny!"

Apparently, Napoleon didn't use anything to wash his hair, but he was always so confident.

But for a middle-aged, bald fat man, he is no longer as handsome as he was when he was young.

Speaking of this, Alexander, who is much younger than him, also suffered from premature baldness, and his baldness was even more serious than his.

Napoleon envied his cheap nephew, who was not only handsome but also had thick hair, but he didn't need to take care of his beard.
But he did not think of this at this time. Seeing the emperor himself standing on the top of the hill, the Old Guards began to cheer first, and the French customary "Long live the Emperor" resounded throughout the French marching column on the north bank of the Elbe River.

In addition to these troops, there was a corps each led by Marshal Victor and General Poniatowski, the latter's troops being composed of those Poles who were still loyal to France.

Napoleon saw that the morale of this army was high and it still had the strength to fight.

In fact, Marshal Marmont had some ways of training the soldiers of the 6th Army. The young adjutant who followed him in Toulon is now a marshal of the empire, and he was able to train the new recruits to a level close to that of the old soldiers. The only thing he lacked was the rich battlefield experience.

However, things are unpredictable.
Napoleon's army advanced quickly along the road on the north bank of the Elbe River, with the Guards' infantry and cavalry at the forefront of all the troops.

What he had to do now was to drive out those annoying coalition forces outside Dresden.

The situation on the coalition side was a mess.

After launching the attack in the morning, the coalition forces dealt with the various strongholds set up outside by Saint-Cyr.

Wittgenstein personally supervised the battle. Although his command ability was poor, he was still quite capable in boosting morale.

The tenacious Russian infantry continued to move forward. Now they had set up the Unicorn cannon on Mill Hill and were going to use fierce artillery fire to attack the French troops who were still holding out in the city.

However, the French army on the opposite side actually started cheering again at this time.

Anyone who can understand French probably knows some of the weird things the French do.

Now that we have an emperor, naturally the slogan would be “Long live the emperor.”

If there is no emperor, "Vive la France" often appears in movies.
They do this all the time, it's almost a routine.

It sounds more threatening during the emperor's period.

As for the coalition forces, they had always been a little scared of Napoleon in the past. Even though they had captured the outskirts of Dresden, they still had not been able to make any decisive progress.

It is at this moment that any hesitation would be fatal.

Of course, the Tsar himself also had to consider running away because of Jomini's advice and the fact that he did not support the attack on Dresden from the beginning.

They even sent people to ask Schwarzenberg to cancel the order for the general offensive and withdraw all the troops to reorganize.

In addition, even the King of Prussia realized that something was wrong. Since Napoleon had arrived, it seemed unnecessary to fight this war.

However, they all overlooked one point, that the current commander was not one of their own, but Schwarzenberg of Austria.

Sometimes, you can't just look at how strong the opponent is, you must pay attention to whether there are any stupid teammates in your team, such as Buchholden who got drunk at Austerlitz, the Prussian army was overwhelmed by the French army in Saxony, or Augereau who sent his troops directly in front of the enemy's guns in the snowstorm at Eylau.
Schwarzenberg is now unable to balance the relationship between the monarchs. Even now, without his direct orders, the Russian, Prussian and Austrian armies are fighting each other and are still attacking the fortresses outside Dresden.

Radetzky looked at his commander-in-chief, whose chin was now even more drawn down than that of the greatest of his Habsburg predecessors.

He was still hesitating, and since he probably had no orders and couldn't gather his troops, he had no choice but to continue attacking.

"Sir, you still have to make a decision. Napoleon is here!"

"Okay, now all units must stop attacking!"

Schwarzenberg gave the order a little late, and Radetzky could not imagine how difficult it was for his adjutants and messengers to move among the chaotic marching columns, reserves, transport vehicles, carriages carrying the wounded, local Saxon refugees fleeing south from their side, and some resting troops withdrawn from the front.

In short, this order was not delivered in a timely manner.

On the other side, Napoleon was ready to fight.

After crossing the bridge, the Old Guards deployed inside the city and, because the road was narrow, they formed a column.

These old guys usually show off their might, and some of them even have terrifying faces - they may be veterans who have experienced many battles, especially some of them who have experienced the brutal battles and horrific environment of the entire Russian War.

What can be said is that each of these people should have excellent combat skills.

It was precisely because of the sight of their bearskin hats that the French army cheered, which meant that the emperor would appear in Dresden behind the Guards.

When the emperor's iconic hat appeared there, some young soldiers also began to cheer.

Anyway, here he is again.

At this time, Napoleon wanted to meet with Marshal Saint-Cyr first to understand the situation on the battlefield.

"Your Majesty, the enemy is attacking us from three directions. They have already set up cannons on Mill Hill, preparing to attack Battery No. 1. The vanguards of the Prussians and Russians are in the palace gardens, and are currently fighting with us over the palace. In addition, there is Battery No. 4."

"How's it going there?"

"Your Majesty, I think we should go to the front of the battlefield to understand the situation now."

Napoleon also had to arrange a meeting with the King of Saxony later, so time was very tight.

The situation on the front was important, so Napoleon postponed his meeting with the King of Saxony until the afternoon.

Moreover, the French army continued to enter Dresden, and as the number of troops increased, no one, whether the soldiers of the 14th Army under Saint-Cyr or the local citizens of Saxony, talked about fleeing to the north bank of the Elbe River anymore.

But this was probably the last time that Napoleon's "magic" worked to cure diseases. In the future, it might be used more like hormones or other stimulating drugs.

When he arrived in front of Battery No. 4, he was extremely dissatisfied with the situation on the battlefield.

"Sir, why are there Austrian grenadiers here?"

Napoleon pointed at the building in front and spoke, and from his tone one could tell that he was very angry.

"We didn't clear the building before the battle started, so the Austrians moved in."

"It was wise not to engage the Austrians outside the city, sir. You do not have enough troops to deal with a legion of enemies, but this building... Send troops, ask Claparède to take this place."

Speaking of which, Clapared was still in the Guards last year, but this year he has returned to the regular troops. However, Friant, who was sent to the front that day by Borodino, is now in the Guards.

He was not in a hurry to ask Friant to bring out the Guards. Instead, he asked the Young Guards, the Middle-aged Guards and the Old Guards to each send a group of 25 to 50 people to stand ready behind the barricade.

Especially for those old soldiers who were restless and complained because they had nothing to do, Napoleon always assigned them a job, which was also a backup plan.

If the coalition forces launch a desperate attack at this time, they can also use buildings and barricades to fight street battles.

It had been a long time since Napoleon had used cannons to suppress the royalists and rebellious people in the square.

Now he ordered a battalion from Claparède to launch an attack on the building, and the effect was quite obvious.

The Austrian grenadiers were driven out by a group of new recruits.

For a moment, the Austrian generals commanding this area were a little confused. Why were these new recruits so powerful?

Although the Austrian army launched a counterattack in the following period and drove the French troops back from the building, they did not dare to continue the attack.

Perhaps this was a kind of magic that Napoleon had over his soldiers. He could make a battalion of new recruits drive out the Austrian veterans.

But also because of him, the quality of the wood used for the cannons of the French army is greatly reduced.

Wood that has not been dried for a long time will easily have problems when used to make gun mounts and wheels, and its service life will be greatly shortened.

Now Napoleon still had his spiritual aspect, and the Austrians, seeing him act like this, now began to fear, and stopped the attack after retaking the building.

At this moment, Napoleon's troops were about to follow and enter the west side of the Saint-Cyr defensive position to control Friedrichstadt. Murat also entered the city and began to take over the command of the cavalry to strengthen the right wing.

Behind them, Mortier and Ney were leading the rear guard of the Young Guard across the river, and the rear guard of the French army was also entering the city one after another, although their force was smaller than that of the coalition forces.

However, considering the current stalemate of the coalition forces, the two sides are temporarily on the same starting line, but the situation on the coalition side may be even worse.

If we stop the attack now, we should withdraw all the troops.

But was Schwarzenberg's order issued or not?

Radetzky was also having a headache now. He also found that the commander-in-chief's orders were extremely confusing. He had tried his best to modify them on this basis and tried to gather his troops.

However, because the Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops in the coalition moved from east to west, it always took time for orders to be conveyed to each other.

The Austrian army was still on the far left, that is, in the west, facing the city of Dresden, so Radetzky's series of remedial measures had to be delayed.

Especially since Wittgenstein was still on the attack this time, the problem was not entirely his. After taking the Mill Hill first, the Russian army actually always had a good starting position.

But the problem is, when he is the executor, although he does not compromise on the execution of orders, he does not consider the occasion.

The Barclays were in the reserve team at the back and were not at the front line.

Wittgenstein followed the opinions discussed at the initial military meeting and launched a fierce attack on both the Palace Gardens and Mill Hill.
Now, he was still attacking with all his might, because the order was not conveyed in time. By around 2 o'clock in the afternoon, he had already discovered that the French on the opposite side had a strong fighting spirit and there were some differences in their clothing.

Although the Young Guards are named "Youth", they are actually selected from experienced veterans in the overall composition of the Guards, but the requirements are lower than those of the Old Guards.

In terms of combat effectiveness, they may lack in skills and experience, but they have more physical strength and they are indeed younger.

Wittgenstein also ordered to stop the attack at this time, but the battle would soon start again, and Napoleon would have to use his tricks again to compete with the coalition forces.

Map of the Battle of Dresden (End of this chapter)