Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Alexander was a little shaken when he saw the bloody scene of the cavalry being beaten to pieces by the French artillery.

Even though he was much braver than later tsars, he was still a little worried.

Grand Duke Constantine on the side was relatively calm. He had more experience on the battlefield than his royal brother, and he was actually commanding the cavalry unit of the Russian Guards.

But the officers on the side are now beginning to get worried.

"Your Majesty, you should retreat to a safe place now."

But these words did stimulate Alexander to some extent, as he still had some rebellious psychology.

"The outcome hasn't been decided yet. We can't just retreat like this."

This is indeed true. Even the King of Prussia, who has always been useless on the battlefield, is still boosting the morale of the Prussian army.

At the same time, the Russian artillery's counterattack finally began.

Although it is late in comparison, it is not without effect.

Artillery was deployed at the French position in front of the city gate, with cannons in front and ammunition trucks behind.

In order to facilitate artillery firing, many ammunition trucks are placed close to the artillery positions, which can easily be affected by the artillery battle between the two sides.

On the battlefield of Borodino, ammunition trucks of both sides were hit more than once, and some even exploded directly.

But at that time the horses were always separated from the ammunition carts, and many times the horses were just frightened.

But the situation was different now. Russian shells hit the French ammunition trucks, and soon the ammunition trucks caught fire.

The ammunition cart was pulled by four horses and was fully loaded with grenades.

Although grenades are afraid of water, we should also consider that in an ammunition box that is wet on the outside but dry on the inside, it is not surprising that the ammunition will still catch fire and the fuse will be ignited.

The French soldiers around soon saw that some grenades on the ammunition cart exploded, causing the ammunition cart itself to start burning, killing two of the horses and causing the other two horses to run around in panic.

For a moment, all the French soldiers passing by the city gate had to avoid the two horses. There were still ammunition on the carriages, some of which were ignited and some were not.
Such a dangerous thing made the old guards who were on guard in the barricade in front of the city gate couldn't help but start complaining.

"Damn it, these grenades don't explode when they hit the enemy's position, but they are very powerful when they explode on our own people!"

As they were speaking, some brave soldiers, including an old soldier on duty nearby, raised their rifles and tried to shoot the two horses to stop the carriage.

But then there was another series of explosions, and several grenades killed the third horse, leaving only the last horse, dragging ammunition around.

At one point, the marching route in front of the city gate was unusable, and the infantrymen were running around in panic because their horses were frightened, making it difficult to hit their targets.

Even if it is hit, it is not a vital point and the horse will continue to run around like crazy in the field.

Fortunately, he ran to an open space, but he couldn't run anymore, so he fell down and died.

Then there was a chain explosion of the remaining ammunition on the ammunition truck.

Fortunately, the soldiers did not suffer too much damage, only losing a cart of ammunition and four good horses.

Of course, for the French army, which was short of supplies at the time, eating horse meat was also an option. Moreover, as long as the shrapnel inside the horses that were killed by the bomb was removed, they would probably only need to drink some wine, some snacks and bread to fill their stomachs.
But the battle is still going on, and probably the horse meat will be used by the nearby artillery and infantry in the reserve.

The fierce artillery battle between the French army and the Russian and Prussian armies on the front line is still going on, and it is even showing signs of intensifying.

Unlike the Austrian army which was completely defeated by the French attack, the Russian and Prussian armies managed to maintain the integrity of their organization during their retreat. Although they paid a considerable price in the battle, they were able to maintain their front line.

Now in the city of Dresden, the battle has not yet ended, but a large number of Austrian soldiers have been brought into the city.

Murat even boasted that he had captured 15,000 people in one go, most of them Austrians.
The Saxons have never had a good impression of Prussia and Austria on both sides. The bastards in the north have always coveted their land and even wanted to annex it; while the ones in the south are better, but they always break their promises.

The impression of the eldest and second in command among the German princes in the minds of the Saxons is probably not as bad as the impression of them among the Bavarians, and it seems to be even worse.

These previously "arrogant" Austrians were now walking dejectedly through the city of Dresden and were taken to the open space north of the new city.

To be honest, this family did capture quite a few prisoners just by chasing the Austrian army, but the French statement may be a bit exaggerated.

"Your Majesty, do you still want to continue the attack now?"

"Keep dealing with the Austrians. They are now showing that they want us to fight them here. We need to get Saint-Cyr's troops into the battle as well."

"Your Majesty, will the old guard also join the battle?"

"They still have to maintain order in the city. I don't want that to happen in Dresden. A-choo!"

Napoleon had been on the battlefield all day and was caught in the rain, so his physical condition was somewhat affected.

However, from a spiritual perspective, Napoleon was very excited at this time, and his health did not seem to be a problem.

In addition to his stomach, which rebelled from time to time, he also suffered from gallbladder colic at times and organs that also rebelled at this age.
"Your Majesty, what shall we do?"

"The troops in the front should launch an attack on the Austrian grenadiers in the first line during the intervals between the artillery attacks. We should also be careful to outflank them from the flank. They probably still want to hide in those villages and create some trouble for us."

"Yes, Your Majesty. But should we follow the Russians' example and set fire to drive the Austrians out?"

Napoleon actually also paid attention to the problem mentioned by Berthier.

He believes that the Russian army's Molotov cocktails may be an improvement on the "Greek Fire", which always uses the method of igniting fire to create chaos on the battlefield. This weapon is particularly useful when attacking some buildings.

As a result, some French soldiers also made Molotov cocktails on their own, and some French engineers even made their own launchers. Solovyov was not on the Dresden battlefield, otherwise he would have called it an expert if he had seen it.

Both the French and Russian armies liked to set fires on the battlefield to create chaos for the enemy.

Those Austrian infantrymen who were still holding out were now enjoying this treatment in one village after another.

Although it was cold and damp outside in Dresden, if a fire was lit inside the house.
Although it was much warmer, no matter how brave the Austrian grenadiers were, they probably could not continue fighting in the poisonous smoke.

The French "arson" also had a miraculous effect. These Molotov cocktails were also effective in the heavy rain and were not so easy to extinguish.

"It's a great invention. I think it can be promoted in the military in the future."

Hearing Marmont's report, Napoleon nodded in agreement, but added: "I hope the Russians won't always use this thing to set fires, like they did in Italy in the past."

Napoleon also knew that this battle had achieved brilliant results so far, but it was far from over.

In Lützen, it was because of the French army's own dispatch problems. In Bautzen, it was because Ney, their superior, failed to encircle the Allied forces' rear in time, resulting in most of the Allied forces escaping.

The battle in Dresden is now only turning the balance in favor of the French.
The Russian and Prussian troops in the center and on the right wing of the coalition were still able to fight, but the Austrian army on the left wing had already suffered a crushing defeat.

Even the French recruits who had little experience on the battlefield were extremely excited at this moment. This time, they had never fought a battle as fiercely as this one, and the enemy just fled away in panic.

Except for the grenadiers in front of the Allied reserve and the Hungarian hussars who had been fighting back in vain, all the Austrian troops were in disarray.

Under such circumstances, by 3 p.m., the French army was able to withdraw all the troops they could mobilize and continue their attack on the Russian army.

Although it was obvious that Wittgenstein did not understand the organization during the battle, and it can now be seen that he was mediocre as a corps commander, he was still capable of fighting in the defensive phase.

An honest man of German descent rode a horse at the front and urged the soldiers to continue fighting.

Even the hail of bullets could not stop him from boosting the morale of his soldiers.

Although the fighting was not very good, this kind of courage is still worthy of praise.

Wittgenstein, who had no idea how to launch an attack, personally led the cavalry to charge back and forth in several areas that had been broken through by the French army. Even as a commander, he now made better use of the expertise of an old cavalryman, commanding his dragoons and hussars to counterattack the French light infantry on the front line.

There is always an effect. Although the positions in front of the church were lost, the Russian soldiers still held on.

When night came, Alexander saw the situation and began to discuss with Jominius whether to consider retreating.

For this purpose, Russia also invited the King of Prussia.

Although the king was usually a little cruel, he was surprisingly courageous at this moment.

"Your Majesty, now it is only the Austrians who are finished. The main forces of our two armies are still there. If we continue to fight, the outcome is still uncertain. The French are just used to dealing with the Austrians."

Alexander also knew that if Prussia continued to lose battles, it would probably cease to exist. To put it bluntly, King FW was trying to save face for his country and his daughter Charlotte.

Now that Prussia is gone, Charlotte's status would probably be no different from that of a child bride when she married Nicholas - although Nicholas would definitely treat Charlotte well.

Besides, even the king knew that it was only this legion that was doomed, and the three monarchs depended on being able to escape to Prague in time. In the end, it was Napoleon who was in trouble.

Scharnhorst had also explained this problem to him. From a strategic perspective, it was not a wise move for the French to pursue the Sudetenland.

With three corps behind them, two large and one small, the reserve corps in Warsaw, and 25 troops that could be mobilized, even if the Bohemian Corps collapsed, they could still organize tens of thousands of troops to continue threatening Napoleon's flanks after gathering up the remnants.

King FW was only incompetent in military affairs, but he was still able to listen to some opinions, and because of Prussia's military tradition, he was always surrounded by some knowledgeable staff.

Although Scharnhorst came from Hanover, Prussia, Brunswick, Hanover and Britain are all relatives, so this aspect is easy to explain.

And now King FW is also considering letting his sister-in-law, who is also the widow of his deceased brother, marry the British prince, the future heir to Hanover.

The reason for this situation is that the next generation heir to the British royal family, Princess Charlotte of the United Kingdom, cannot inherit the throne of Hanover because of the Salic Law of Succession.

This place would probably belong to one of her uncles in the future, and the Prince of Wales himself had this opinion, leaving Hanover to the Duke of York, the Duke of Clarence (historical William IV) and the Duke of Kent's fifth brother, Ernst August, Duke of Cumberland.

Britain, Prussia and Mecklenburg are relatives of each other, so this arrangement is normal.

As for Scharnhorst's opinion, King FW could still understand it, but he also had to discuss it with the Tsar.

Alexander's staff were very dissatisfied with Jomini's favor, and a Swiss
But they overlooked that Alexander's favorite tutor in his life was also Swiss and had a high status in Switzerland.

It is not surprising that Jomini is trusted.

His advocacy of retreat at this time always aroused dissatisfaction among the Russian and Prussian generals present.

Even one of the monarchs opposed his opinion.

But at this moment, although Scharnhorst had previously suggested continuing the fight, he also wanted to communicate with Jomini to see what the problem was.

"If we withdraw from the front now, we can avoid a bigger defeat. In the Battle of Moscow, the Russians also withdrew from the battle while they were still able to hold on, and finally defeated the French army more than a month later by preserving their strength. At that time, I was sent to Smolensk to organize the retreat of the French army, and I also have a deep understanding of this failure."

As the person involved, Yomini is indeed quite convincing.

As for his proposal, Scharnhorst was also evaluating that if retreat could preserve the army and continue fighting on a new battlefield, it would also be a favorable option.

Schematic diagram of the second day of the Battle of Dresden (end of this chapter)