Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Seeing the Allied forces ready for battle, MacDonald still had to attack.

After forming marching columns, these French troops began to line up outside the range of artillery fire, preparing to join the battle.

"Even after a terrible defeat, these French soldiers look pretty good."

Solovyov looked through the telescope at the French army that was adjusting its formation. It was obvious that MacDonald was going to deploy his troops to fight, but the coalition forces that had already defended the shallows and the bridge had some troops placed as reserves behind the town of Luban, so this line of defense was still somewhat guaranteed.

It is just not clear where Schwerin's Brigade operating from the north and the subsequent artillery on the way are at this moment.

The combat troops he could use were still mainly Russian troops.

If those Prussian recruits also came to the battlefield, in such a narrow situation where they met on a narrow road, considering that Blücher's troops had experienced a large-scale desertion of entire companies and battalions a few days ago, their combat effectiveness would still be uncertain.

The Prussian army's most elite troops were still scattered among the three main corps. The brigade given to him was a Prussian army built according to the Russian army's training methods.

If the Tsar's German Division, composed of captured soldiers from various German princes, had not been transferred to the north to besiege the French fortress before the war, Solovyov would probably have asked this division to join the battle.

Although their loyalty may not be reliable, those people have rich combat experience, and there are 9000 soldiers with good weapons, so they can be considered a reliable combat force.

But this was the deployment of the General Headquarters. He had finally become the commander of a flank corps, so he couldn't say much. With the addition of the Brunswick Brigade, the combat effectiveness was more or less guaranteed.

However, the "Black Duke" was now on the far left with his troops, protecting the shallows there, which was also a ferry marked on the captured French map.

Even when the Brunswick Guards arrived here and were setting up their positions, they discovered that there seemed to be a pebbled surface next to the shallows.

Seeing this situation, "Black Duke" concentrated all the artillery in his volunteer brigade here, not only to fire shotgun shells, but also to consider the cobblestone riverbed. Once the shells hit there, the collateral killing effect would be very good.

But the French army would not rush towards him at the beginning of the battle. The cavalry led by von Tillmann had been active on the flank. Although he only deployed Prussian light cavalry on the front line, based on the range of activity and the formation they had deployed, it was hard not to think that there was a large number of Prussian cavalry units there.

Although it was after a heavy rain, some of the quickly dried ground was still covered with smoke and dust, which allowed McDonald to focus his primary attack direction on the two main routes in front of Luban.

But the French lacked artillery, which gave the Russians an advantage.

The infantry formation in front came into range, but the Russians were not in a hurry to shoot, but moved closer.

Of course, these French soldiers also knew that the Russians were going to do this, so they were prepared. When they saw the deployment of the Russian army, they marched in a looser formation.

If it were the Polish infantry, they might have walked even faster, and even chosen to lie down quickly when the Russian artillery opened fire, but before they were within infantry combat distance.
Well, those Poles always have some strange methods at times. When they encountered Russian grenadiers before, they suffered a lot because they were not familiar with the range of Russian rifles.

Solovyov personally might have despised the Minié bullet, because its loading was even worse, and although its range was improved, its accuracy was not necessarily higher than that of a smoothbore rifle, and it was not as good as a bunch of breech-loading weapons he had modified himself - but they also required careful maintenance, and since they were not elite troops, they rarely had the opportunity to be equipped with them.

Even with Alkasha's relationship, the Tula Arsenal did not assign any troops to the 9th Division. This unit is still mainly equipped with the "Tula rifle", a Russian variant of the French 1777 rifle. There may be selected rifles under each battalion, but they are just old-fashioned rifles of better quality.

These soldiers still followed the traditional method and started shooting when the French soldiers approached.

The Russians on the other side of the river were not in a hurry to fight with bayonets. Instead, they deployed their troops and consolidated their positions in some places.

There is no battlefield worse than this.

MacDonald considered himself unlucky as he was often hit by the enemy at bridgeheads and river crossings.

This time, the defeated French soldiers tried to attack forward in order to escape, but they were very passive in the shootout with the Russian army.

The lack of artillery allowed the Russian army to unscrupulously display firepower.

For this purpose, McDonald also specifically asked the follow-up troops which infantry divisions still retained artillery.

Although it was not a complete loss, it was better than nothing. Due to the forced march, many of Solovyov's cannons were left behind, and only 32 cannons were deployed in the front, 8 of which were from the Brunswick Brigade to guard the ferry.

But this is enough. As long as the French rush forward, they will be hit back by intensive shooting and various shells fired from cannons.

Now these gunners no longer care what type of shells they have. The superiors have already stipulated that they can only open fire when they are within 1 verst, or even when they are within the firing range of the jaegers. In that case, it is meaningless to choose which type of shells to use.

Despite the fierce fighting on the front line, the French army's attempts to attack bridges and ferry crossings were repeatedly frustrated.

Von Tillman, who was on the northern road, couldn't help but shake his head when he saw the situation on the battlefield.

"It seems that the French are no longer able to perform without artillery."

There was even a hint of disdain in his tone.

"Sir, shall we launch an attack?"

"Don't worry. Since the commander has given me the authority to join the battle at the right time, we must follow his orders, just like General Seydlitz did on the battlefield."

Seydlitz dared to disobey the orders of King Frederick the Great, and at this time Solovyov gave von Tillmann a lot of power, so he could also observe the movements of the French army at the intersection and then make arrangements.

Solovyov also discovered that the French army's actions were mainly to launch attacks from the front. There was no movement on the Brunswick side, and there were even few troops active there.

However, the terrain had been surveyed before the war, and Solovyov did not dare to neglect it, but simply asked the "Black Duke" to stay there.

Before the French make their next move, he will have to take the reserve team and see what the opponent does.

If he went to the mountains in the south, he wouldn't have to worry, as they probably wouldn't come from the front to cause trouble for him.

Because what McDonald has to do now is to find a way to escape.

Solovyov didn't want to fight here now. It was not a momentary courage. A great defeat of the French army here would be a glorious victory. He also knew why Kutuzov told the Russian troops not to be too impatient when pursuing.

But now, relying on a river and with more than 20,000 people under his command, in such a favorable environment, all he can do is prevent the enemy from coming from the front.

Soon, after repeated attacks for a while, the French chose to retreat and reorganize in the afternoon.

Solovyov saw this situation and the French follow-up troops moving southward behind the plain, and was able to predict the current situation.

The French army was not moving very fast, and even after the defeat, some troops were still somewhat loose in their marching formation.
They were still better than armed vagrants. After arriving at the front line, they always formed a queue under the shouting of the officers.

The French troops in front made way for the formation, and then the follow-up troops continued to come forward.

Solovyov was also troubled by this kind of suicidal tactics. His troops were limited in number, while if MacDonald's entire army was counted, from Luban to the end of his marching column, there were at least 70,000 people.

With this deployment of troops, if a head-on battle were to take place, the gap would be too huge.

Fortunately, MacDonald had lost nearly 30,000 men in his previous defeat, and had also abandoned a large amount of baggage and artillery. Even half of the supplies were used by Solovyov as rations for his own troops.

The strength of such troops has also decreased, and the Russian army is more than capable of defending the ferry and bridges.

The French cavalry did not dare to go up the bridge easily. After all, if a cannon shot came, it would be like a string of candied haws. If the Russian army was not prepared in advance, directly attacking the bridge might be an option.

Seeing this situation, Solovyov sighed helplessly.

"This is the most boring thing when fighting a war. We always have to make the enemy bleed and we bleed too."

"Mick, do you want to send someone to the commander-in-chief for help?"

"I think it's better not to do that. The enemy will definitely go around from the south. Although the mountain road there is difficult to travel, it is still a passage. As for Tillman, we need him to continue bluffing so that the enemy doesn't harass him or attack him proactively."

This was also the only order he gave to Tilman during the battle that day.

If McDonald advanced through the mountain road, he would inevitably have to abandon more equipment. When fighting with the coalition forces, he would have to contain the coalition forces while guarding against counterattacks.

However, Solovyov also knew that his purpose in coming here was not to defeat the enemy with the few soldiers he had.

He even began to add Frederick the Great to his contempt chain. He provoked wars with major powers time and time again. If Austria had not been isolated during the War of the Austrian Succession and Peter III had not come at the end of the Seven Years' War, his fate would have been predictable.

Solovyov was naturally not fond of such gamblers, and he said that Voltaire was just an "orange", and was a stingy person to Euler and his son, dismissing the other's brother-in-law because Paul's European trip improved Austrian relations, and was not good at his own territory.
But he still has a lot of glory from playing the flute, and he is also an artistic person.

At this time, Solovyov thought of Frederick, and couldn't help complaining in his heart that the art students in Berlin and Vienna were too terrible.

The French attack on Luban continued until night, but they did not take any further action.

MacDonald saw that he could not break the deadlock and that more than 3,000 people were killed, wounded or captured in the fighting that day. He also had a rough idea of ​​the level of the Russian army he was facing.

Due to the lack of artillery, they could only endure this and continue to seek a way to retreat from the south.

However, Solovyov's own arrangement was probably a case of outsmarting his own. If he had still arranged the marching route of Schwerin's brigade and artillery on the opposite bank, he could have launched an attack when the French rear guard retreated from the opposite bank.

As a result, in order to ensure the safety of the artillery and the rear baggage, he arranged these troops to cross the river downstream.

When Tillman reported the next morning that the French were retreating, he would not be short of artillery when launching a counterattack.

But if the number of cavalry is sufficient, it can still deter the enemy.

Tillman led the cavalry in pursuit and quickly defeated the two French infantry regiments at the rear and captured their regimental flags.

But the main French force still escaped, but it paid a heavy price by collecting a toll in Solovyov.

"Are you still going to pursue?"

Clausewitz looked at Solovyov, hoping that he would take a more proactive approach.

However, the commander-in-chief of the small legion first shook his head, then got off his horse and sat on a large rock.

"Let's stop here. We shouldn't continue the pursuit. Instead, we need to ensure the smooth flow of this traffic line. If there is a chance to continue to attack the French in the future, we will naturally go, but..."

What he was worried about was that the main force would be defeated. Although this was too historical, it was also true.

Given the bloated structure of the Austrian legion, even if Archduke Karl himself came back, he might not be able to handle it, let alone Schwarzenberg?
Solovyov also received the news soon. Because of his station, he even knew about the defeat of the Bohemian Army earlier than the two main armies.

But these were also the adjutants sent by Alexander at the beginning, and they did not bring any news of subsequent battles.

Blücher and Langeron received the news one after another, and they also stopped attacking and went on alert.

Napoleon defeated the Bohemian Army, but he did not pursue it further. After achieving a great victory on the front line, he gathered his troops and returned.

It seems that he should have known about the failure of the other two French armies and was going to choose one of them to attack.

Now is probably the real test. After receiving the news, Solovyov assembled his troops and rested for a day, then went to the other side of Luban and destroyed the bridge here, preventing the French army from using it immediately.

When the French scouts reach Luban, Napoleon will probably start cursing again.

Although France is a civilized country, the emperor has a bad temper. (End of this chapter)