Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Wellington even got up very early, before dawn, and sent a letter to Blücher from his tent.

He stated that if the Prussians could provide an army corps of reinforcements for the next battle, he would remain on the existing positions and fight the French.

Otherwise, the British would have to retreat to Brussels.

Wellington was unaware of the extent of Prussian losses, but he knew that one Prussian corps had not been involved in any fighting, and that was enough for him.

Even if the Prussian troops are already short of supplies, simply standing there and bluffing in the battle will still have some effect.

Napoleon's previous heavy blows to the Prussian army were simply an intensification of his efforts.

Now that he has split his forces, Grouchy's pursuit of Namur has turned into a pursuit of Vavre. Even if Grouchy himself sees the situation and wants to come towards Saint-Jean, it will still take time.

In reality, the situation was not optimistic for the French emperor; the enemy's strength had not been weakened as expected.

Moreover, Wellington has the latest maps and even visited the area before the war to survey the terrain.

The position at Mont Saint-Jean, located 15 kilometers south of Brussels and 2 kilometers from Waterloo, has a very different terrain from the Lion's Tomb today, making it impossible to recreate the actual battlefield on the site.

While not all places have such varied terrain, this is the case in front of Mont Saint-Jean.

"Wellington is putting on a show here, he's still very confident in his methods."

After learning about the Prussian army's movements, Soult actually gained some confidence. Looking at the British army's deployment here, he was reminded of his time in Spain.

"Sir, are you referring to the formation with reverse slopes?"

"Yes, in the current situation, it's very difficult for us to launch an effective attack against them."

"Then what about using indirect fire, like mortars or rockets?"

"Dermid, did your 'stepfather' teach you all his skills?"

Sirte didn't say it explicitly, but he was also teasing Demid, who knew all of his master's moves and even slept with his master's daughter in his arms.

"If you put it that way, then there is some truth to it, but our reserves do indeed have some rockets."

They were all named after his "teacher's wife," and the Russians' processing techniques were probably not as good as those of the French.

So the French contraptions look even more like the Leyan steel-tube rockets from the Middle East than the Russian ones.

Moreover, it was an improved version, with both the Cano father and son participating in the improvement. They also had their senior, who had just been released from Russia, make a ballistic formula.

Although it's just a combination of a Congreve rocket and a green-skinned version of the Katyusha rocket from Tsarist Russia, the materials used exceed those of both.

In addition, this is something backed by big names from École Polytechnique, so its range is already quite outrageous.

Unless this thing becomes a Brownian motion bomb and explodes on the British positions, even if there are 100,000 people hiding behind the hill, they will probably be blown to bits.

“It looks interesting. If we had this in Spain, we wouldn’t be in such a passive position down the hillside.”

“If used properly, this hillside can weaken the power of our artillery fire, and the main British force can be positioned in the rear.”

Demid was still helping Soult refine the battle plan. After all, he was mainly in charge of communications. The reason for his heavy workload was simple: many of the people in his communications department were from École Polytechnique and were conscripted by the engineers and artillerymen. It was only natural that they were being recruited.

Although he was the emperor's nephew, Demid did not keep everyone under wraps.

Which of the marshals and generals wasn't his uncle or great-uncle? The younger generals were all 10 years older than him, and he also had uncles and great-uncles. Even though he had the emperor backing him up, many people with his seniority couldn't afford to offend him now.

Sadie Cano was also busy at this time. He went to Drouot to launch a strike deep into Saint-Jean Hill, based on the ballistics calculated by the students of the École Polytechnique and taking into account the positions Wellington had assigned to the British forces.

In short, we need to do something big.

Napoleon himself, however, slept soundly at his current residence, and even woke up in the early hours of the morning feeling quite energetic.

He was still working on battle plans when he arrived in Sirte and Demid, with several staff officers beside him.

If one of the staff officers hadn't suddenly stood at attention, Soult probably wouldn't have noticed that the emperor himself was right behind him.

“Your Majesty, we are currently formulating today’s battle plan. If Wellington really sets up his forces at St. Jean’s Hill, it will be quite troublesome. Moreover, we also know that there may be Prussians active in Wafle.”

"So, what are we going to do?"

“Your Majesty, I still recommend that Marshal Grouchy, along with Generals Vandam and Gérard, be recalled immediately so that they can join the battle at Mont Saint-Jean. If Wellington does not fight here, he will have to go to Brussels, a place full of forests, which is not suitable for fighting.”

Southeast of Brussels, there are many forested areas.

Moreover, only the Saint-Jean Hill location has farms, castles, and orchards on one side and villages on the other.

The British would probably set up their forces inside beforehand, and then deploy some light infantry in La Hire San in front, as well as the mine next to it.

This was the basic deployment of the British army at Saint-Jean Hill, except that the French had not yet deployed their troops on the front lines and had not actually surveyed the situation there.

Napoleon, upon hearing this, did not take it seriously.

"You mean Wellington? He wasn't a good general, and the British army wasn't a decent army either."

These words surprised everyone present.

But Napoleon said this partly to boost morale and to strategically undermine the enemy.

Now Soult also needs to give Napoleon some tactical briefings on the areas controlled by the British.

"Your Majesty, the British have deployed their forces on the Saint-Jean side. They are clearly using the woods on the west side to prevent us from easily bypassing them, while the situation on the east side..."

“Surte, you need to remember one thing, that is, in the village on the east side, what was it called again?”

“Papelot, Your Majesty.”

"This side is somewhat dangerous, but I don't think the Prussians will approach so easily, even if they are in Wafl."

Napoleon was unaware of the communication between Wellington and Blücher, so he proceeded according to his own ideas.

Even if Jerome brings back very important intelligence, it is still just intelligence.

Napoleon himself had already started eating breakfast while listening to the report.

Clearly, after eating the exquisitely prepared roast chicken and steak that Octavia had made before, he was no longer as satisfied with the performance of the army cooks as he used to be.

However, given his eating habits, as long as that girl isn't restraining him, he'll still wolf down his food and finish in 10 minutes.

"That's it, as simple as eating. We will defeat Wellington at St. Jean Hill!" Whether his confidence and arrogance will ultimately come at a price has already taken a different turn.

On the battlefield, making a decision is often accompanied by variables.

The ground is very muddy due to yesterday's heavy rain, especially at night.

After surveying the terrain, Drouot returned and offered Napoleon a suggestion.

"Your Majesty, the enemy's positions have been meticulously prepared. It seems they haven't even built any fortifications and can still utilize the terrain of Saint-Jean Hill. Such an environment is not suitable for our artillery to exert its power. Therefore, Your Majesty, I sincerely suggest that you postpone the attack for a while."

As a veteran artilleryman, Napoleon agreed with this assessment.

Drouot's suggestion was carried out, at a time when Prussian and French reinforcements were preparing to take action.

However, on the front lines, Davout and Delron, on the left flank of the French army, also saw that an additional division had appeared on their flank.

"Your Excellency Marshal, that is Wangdaishi, all of whom were troublemakers who opposed the emperor in the past."

“They shouldn’t be there. If they block the road to Ugumon, how will we march? And what about Reye’s army? They’ll be passing through here too.”

Davout quickly sent someone to Lamarck to explain the situation.

The unruly people of the Vendée, still thinking they were about to fight the British, got up very early, just like the old farmers do.

However, in reality, the emperor had already postponed the attack.

After receiving Davout's order, Lamarck, because the marshal was able to control the left-wing army, also withdrew the Vendée Division.

In addition, the division that Lamarck once commanded finally caught up from behind in a hurry.

With two divisions withdrawn from Lobo's 6th Army, the entire army now indeed needs to be reorganized.

At this time, Napoleon issued an order that the Vendée Division, while the 1st and 2nd Armies were deployed in the front, should move from the leftmost position of Ugomont to the right.

However, because the unruly people were so difficult to deal with, the emperor ordered that they be moved before the battle began and given extra food.

Although the common people didn't like the emperor, the order was carried out.

If Massena were here, he would probably also like Vendée's style.

Soult, as the second-best robber in the French army, also knew how effective these guys were at crucial moments.

Even the common people were shouting "Long live the Emperor!" as if they had always been the most loyal members of the imperial army.

They even passed right in front of the Imperial Guards, which led some of the older Imperial Guards to complain.

"These unruly people only have a bit of recklessness when it comes to fighting. They used to oppose the emperor, but now they seem more loyal than we are."

"Yes, not everyone around the emperor is a good person. It wouldn't be surprising if a few traitors like Marmon appeared."

"He's nothing but a traitor to Ragusa! He doesn't deserve a name!"

The third to join was an old guard officer, and they clearly had some reservations about Marmont's betrayal.

Moreover, the French army now also deeply resents those traitors.

They could even grumble here before the battle even started.

Meanwhile, the situation was quite different in Wellington.

“Sir, the Prussians say they will take action.”

"Marshal Blücher has indeed kept his word!"

Wellington was relieved at this point, and subsequently obtained Blücher's "personal letter" from his adjutant.

In fact, although Old Deng did not break any bones, he was in pain all over his body and spent the entire day of the 17th in bed or simply lying on a stretcher or in a carriage.

Therefore, he had to verbally explain everything.

Gneisenau was persuaded by him and decided to send the 4th Army as the vanguard, with the Prussian army advancing towards the battlefield at Saint-Jean.

With the rest of the troops following behind, the Prussian army was able to join the battle, which gave Wellington the determination to continue fighting.

In fact, the British themselves were not entirely confident. It was only after Wellington saw the letter that he became determined and personally deployed his forces at the position in front of Mount Saint-Jean.

What Wellington didn't know was that the French army was also making deployments early that morning, and an entire division was spending the whole morning moving from west to east.

The French army's formation effectively concealed the Vendée Division behind them, which lacked even a proper military cap.

However, these are minor issues for Wellington.

The troublesome thing was that, on the Prussian side, the heavy rain also slowed down the advance of Bülow's army. It would take six hours for the 88 cannons to pass through the chaotic main force positions before the vanguard could reach the battlefield of Waterloo.

But whether this place will be called Saint-Jean Hill or Waterloo in the future is actually a big question.

Wellington knew he had reinforcements, and he also concealed the movements of his main forces, thus preventing Napoleon from seeing the deployment clearly.

Napoleon could guess that many British troops were behind Mont Saint-Jean, but because the visibility on the battlefield was so poor, he had to delegate command of the front lines.

However, choosing Ney again was indeed unexpected.

However, Davout was also to oversee the First Army's operations from Daerlong.

Who knows what strange arrangements he's making this time?

But when Davout returned to Delron, he was to replace the baron and take command of the 1st Army, and he was also to change the deployment.

There's still time for all of this before the battle begins.

As for Napoleon's final order for the general attack, it had already been conveyed.

With Reyer's 2nd Corps on the left flank and Delron's 1st Corps on the right, the 2nd Corps launched a probing attack with Jérôme's Division on the Hougoumont Farm to draw British reserves. At 1 p.m., the French would concentrate their main artillery to attack the core British corps, while the 1st Corps would launch a flanking attack from Wellington's left flank.

The goal was to defeat the British, sever their connection with the Prussians, and ultimately defeat them and drive them to the coast.

The largest battle between Britain and France, whose outcome would ultimately be determined by naming the victor, was about to begin. (End of Chapter)