Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

The first day of fighting ended in a disappointing outcome.

After being passively attacked for the entire morning, the French launched a counterattack in the afternoon. By nightfall, they had not only consolidated their front-line positions but also captured a number of prisoners.

Especially those Austrians wearing white clothes, the soldiers of the Young Guards, took these Austrian prisoners to Napoleon in the Saxon Palace.

Napoleon was very happy. Naturally, he wanted to encourage these soldiers. Moreover, he would reward some people on the spot according to their meritorious performance in the battle to boost morale.

And this was for the allies to see. Napoleon himself was still invincible on the battlefield.

As for the coalition forces, under the heavy rain, many soldiers did not even have a place to rest, and even the officers lacked tents.

Under such bad environment, it is difficult for soldiers to have a good rest, which is extremely disadvantageous for subsequent battles.

For the French, they can also rest in the palaces and buildings in the city. If the soldiers who arrive later do not have time to cross the river, they can also stay overnight in the Dresden New Town on the north bank and the surrounding villages.

In the second half of the night, French troops were still entering Dresden. Napoleon had already thought of a strategy to defeat the enemy, but he still had to consider the deployment of his own troops and the actual situation of his opponents.

However, because Schwarzenberg was the commander-in-chief, Napoleon inevitably thought of this person and continued to show contempt for him.

"What will he do? I think the Austrians will only adopt a passive action plan in the end, and then be driven out from the plain by our soldiers!"

"Your Majesty, we also have to consider that the enemy is numerous. Will they launch a counterattack later?"

"Although they have a large number of personnel, their current formation is very problematic. We only need to control a few villages to isolate the two wings of the coalition forces. Among them, the truly elite Russian Guards and Grenadiers have not yet been put into battle. This is a good opportunity."

Napoleon had already made the decision. He wanted to cut off the connection between the two wings of the Allied Forces and at the same time launch a full-scale counterattack with all troops taking the lead in the attack.

He had already had this idea when he launched the counterattack during the day, and now he was just strengthening his determination.

Berthier never said anything and would obey Napoleon's instructions.

And the emperor himself has now set his sights on the village of Plauen on the map.

"This is it. We are going to take this village into our hands."

He was very confident that he could still control his destiny, and he made arrangements based on the current situation.

The overall operation was a two-wing encirclement, but the coalition forces did not know this yet.

"Sir, don't you think that if we deploy our troops in the middle like this, once the two wings are outflanked, our entire army will probably not be able to return to Bohemia from places with good road conditions?"

Some people in the coalition were worried that there might be problems and came to Barclay in advance.

But Barclay did not say anything, and he had no intention of getting involved. Moreover, if any problem occurred, he would probably need to lead the troops out and transfer the entire army to a safe area where the road conditions were good.

This was what he thought at the moment, so he didn't express any opinion.

"That's all. You can go back and rest. I am only responsible for the reserve corps. When Count Wittgenstein comes to ask for reinforcements, I hope he doesn't exaggerate the size of the enemy, and..."

The weather was getting worse and worse. It started raining late at night and it was still raining in the early morning of the next day.

Generally speaking, the heavy rain comes after a war.

The battlefield now, in the midst of a great war, is already full of flowing water.

In the morning, the French army set up tents in front of the No. 4 battery and lit a bonfire. The emperor himself was going to command the battle here.

“This kind of weather.”

Napoleon turned around and wanted to call Duroc, but he didn't know what he was thinking.

The Grand Chamberlain, who was also a close friend of Napoleon himself, had been killed in battle a few months earlier.

Although there is someone to fill this position now, people still miss the old one.

And those marshals and generals, they all looked a little tired.

Napoleon himself, on the other hand, was even more energetic than in his youth.

"Are you ready?"

"Your Majesty, our troops have entered the departure area."

"Then let's get started. We will make those arrogant monarchs tremble again amidst the roar of our cannons and the shouts of our soldiers!"

The French army immediately began to act, and the Young Guards on the left wing of the French army launched an attack on the Russian positions on Mill Hill.

Nansouty commanded the cavalry behind the Young Guards. Obviously, when the Russian army launched the attack, they did not expect that the other side would rush straight to Mill Hill.

The Russian army's resistance was always much more tenacious than that of the Austrians the day before. Even during the French attack, when they reached the outside of the church, they were blocked by the artillery deployed by the Russian army and were temporarily beaten back.

The Russian Hussars in the rear quickly joined the battle after their comrades were attacked by the French on the front line.

They launched an attack on the French light infantry that was pursuing the Russian army in front, threatening the French army's flank.

These light infantrymen were previously chasing the enemy, but now they are under siege.

The Hussars would not directly attack the French army that had already formed a battle formation. Instead, they would take advantage of the French infantry's unstable footing and panicked attempt to organize an anti-cavalry formation, look for the infantry's weaknesses, and then launch an attack.

Soon, the French light infantry in the front were defeated. Although the Russian hussars who took the lead in launching the counterattack were only two regiments, they caused great chaos to the French army during the attack.

It looked like the French attack would soon be repelled.

Wittgenstein was also busy organizing the troops that had retreated behind the woods, hoping to launch a counterattack.

However, the Young Guards' pursuit was so rapid that Wittgenstein was unable to get his troops back to the front, so he had to continue retreating and reorganizing.

At the same time, on the left wing of the coalition, the cavalry led by Murat launched an attack, supported by Victor and Marmont's troops, and soon forced the Austrian army to retreat. The coalition's original plan was disrupted, and even many of the positions gained yesterday fell into the hands of the French.

On the Russian side, the Prussian Hussars who subsequently joined the battle temporarily helped the Russian army stabilize the situation.

But Wittgenstein no longer had the perfect fulcrum of Mill Hill, and he had even lost the woods behind him.

He could only rely on the church, where the artillery positions were still firing grapeshot, and the hussars broke several French squares, and finally leveled the battle line on the flat ground.

However, it is somewhat surprising that Napoleon was very dissatisfied with the results achieved at this time.

Because of the bad weather, just like the coalition forces facing Oudinot in the Northern Army, the infantry phalanxes were in a tough fight under the cavalry attack because most of the flintlocks could not fire. Many phalanxes, whether solid or hollow, standard or Egyptian, were broken by the cavalry. It was only because of Nansouty's cautious actions that he avoided using his own 30 squadrons of weak cavalry to fight against the coalition's 60 squadrons of cavalry that he stopped the attack, but it was still a huge victory.

Because of the retreat of the infantry, the Allied forces could only reorganize on a new front.

Although they defeated several French Guards phalanxes and even captured their flags, it was of no avail.

After all, what the cavalry brought back was not an eagle flag like the regimental flag or the battalion flag, but just an ordinary flag of the company.

However, as the Russian army always had victories but was always subject to misunderstandings, soon rumors spread among Russian soldiers that the Hussars had defeated the reckless French Guards.

What level it is is another matter.

The Russian army is still able to maintain some fronts.

But the situation on the Austrian side was already very bad.

As long as the French cavalry charged, the slow-moving Austrian infantry would be able to protect themselves.

Initially, the Austrian light infantry division on the flank was ready to retreat directly, but many of their artillery and friendly forces were still nearby and did not retreat.

The Austrian commander in charge then gave the order for the troops to form a square formation and retreat slowly while covering the isolated artillery units in front.

However, this order also made these light infantry in formation an excellent target for attack by the French cavalry.

After all, many rifles could not fire. To achieve anything at this time, we still had to rely on the coordination of artillery and bayonet phalanxes, and then the counterattack of cavalry.

It's not that they can't fight. Normally, the French cavalry is smaller in number than the Allied forces, and their quality is much worse than in the past. In many cavalry squadrons, some recruits are too young and even lack horse riding experience before joining the army.

But even so, the French army launched a counterattack.

Murat himself, accompanied by French and Saxon cuirassiers, launched a new attack on the Austrian infantry.

After several sets of combined punches, many soldiers on the Austrian positions were fleeing.

This seems to be a consistent characteristic of the Austrian army. They were unable to defeat the French and Russians, but were unwilling to fight a war of attrition against the Prussians, which ultimately led to repeated defeats.

The scene of being chased was even a little horrific.

Some young Russian officers who were serving as liaison officers on the Austrian side were also greatly shocked.

It is no wonder that Austria had completely become France's experience package. Except for a few veterans who were still able to maintain discipline and form battle formations on the battlefield, a large number of Austrian infantry were running around on the road at this time.

Logically speaking, this kind of environment would have a significant impact on the cavalry on both sides.

However, it seems that the French cavalry, which had joined a large number of new recruits, was less affected.

It seemed strange, but Murat's cuirassiers continued to attack and attack until they broke through all the large phalanxes of the Austrian army.

You have to know that an Austrian battalion is larger than those of other countries, and it is enough to be the size of a small regiment in the Russian army.

However, after being charged by the cavalry, these infantrymen were then followed up by the French cavalry artillery firing shotgun shells, and they were soon unable to withstand the attack.

At Essling and Wagram, the Austrian phalanx, which had relied on the thickness of the phalanx to withstand the French cavalry attack, was completely different under Schwarzenberg and Archduke Karl.

Many Austrian soldiers were now just running away, and even two phalanxes surrendered right there after being surrounded by Saxon cuirassiers.
Indeed, wearing white clothes is more convenient, especially when surrendering, having a clean coat can solve the problem.

If it had been the rigid Prussian army a few years ago, it would have taken a long time of fighting for the French army to break their formation, and there was always some luck involved.

As for the Austrians, their troops are still on the front line. If the second-line troops of the Russian and Prussian armies were not far away, they would also be affected.

At such a chaotic moment, the Hungarian Hussars on the Austrian side launched a futile counterattack against the French heavy cavalry. This was ineffective, except that casualties continued to increase. It probably also showed the bravery of the Hungarian Hussars, and that was all.

The Austrians who had been defeated on the front line and were still able to take up arms had reorganized and retreated behind stone walls and garden railings, hoping that with the help of some simple obstacles they could slow the French advance.

It seems that there is indeed some effect, that is, Murat's cavalry temporarily retreated.

But the French infantry and artillery were replaced, and after clearing the front line that was torn apart by the cavalry brothers, they continued to attack forward.

"It's time to use our cannons!"

After seeing the effectiveness of Murat's attack, Napoleon also issued orders to the troops on the central main battlefield.

There are many grenadiers and Hungarian infantry in the Austrian army on the front, and their combat effectiveness is always stronger than those light infantry on the left wing.

But they had to face the artillery deployed by Napoleon himself in the center of the battlefield, as well as the fresh troops who had not joined the battle before.

The attack in this direction was the latest so as to prevent the Austrian troops on the front line from retreating temporarily. After both the left and right wings had achieved results, they could start advancing.

The morale of the Austrian army was almost at its lowest point after the blow it suffered that day.

Napoleon mobilized 32 12-pound cannons, as well as some other artillery, to attack the Austrian positions in the front. The shells even fell on the Allied cavalry that was moving in the area where the Tsar was located. For a while, the solid shells would always cause blood and flesh to fly everywhere.

But this is just a long-range artillery battle, and even just the beginning of the artillery battle. (End of this chapter)