Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

The Russian army finally set off, marching in a long and imposing column. In such hot weather, one could probably find some comfort in the fact that the entire Netherlands is relatively close to the coastline, unlike some other places.

Once the army was able to move around, the atmosphere clearly became much more relaxed.

The Russian soldiers have traveled such a long way, from Moscow to the border of East Prussia, and then to the Oder River. Last year they went to Paris, and this year they are going to the Netherlands.

However, for them, the commander-in-chief has changed again.

"We've actually come all the way to the Netherlands this time. What kind of place is this?"

"I heard that when he was still Emperor Peter, he himself would come here."

"Always walking such a long distance, what about the women and children at home?"

"Alright, Igor. I heard you met our Commander-in-Chief when you first joined the army. Tell me what he was like. Many of us were recruited later, and not all of us are from the Moscow Regiment."

Igor looked at these faces. Many of his old acquaintances from the Moscow Grenadier Regiment had already gone home, and the old soldiers had all retired and returned to their hometowns. Apart from a few old guys whose service was about to end, he had actually become the oldest veteran, and was even a sergeant.

"Alright, let me tell you about our Commander-in-Chief. He used to be Marshal Suvorov's adjutant and also served as Emperor Paul's adjutant. Don't let his handsome appearance fool you; this pretty boy is a fierce fighter, and he even captured the French Commander-in-Chief."

"But we still have to fight the French."

"But there were always funny things back then. He would ask all the captured French soldiers, but not the officers. He would say that his stepmother's cousin was his aunt. And none of the Frenchmen knew that."

As for the detailed process, that was a long time ago.

After hearing this, the soldiers all shook their heads.

“Igor, this isn’t a sustainable way to search.”

"Who can argue with that! Who would have thought that his aunt was Josephine, Napoleon's ex-wife? Isn't that a coincidence?"

The soldiers exclaimed that it was quite a coincidence.

"But the interesting thing is that when our Commander-in-Chief went to Paris, he met with his aunt and uncle, but he didn't ask them anything."

Although Solovyov was cautious, both the veterans and the new recruits couldn't help but think that he was a bit dim-witted.

But later it mentions the campaigns in Sweden and the Balkans, the Patriotic War of 1812, and subsequent expeditions abroad, all the way to Paris.

Although Solovyov had not commanded the Moscow Grenadier Regiment for a long time, having left the grenadier corps in 1813, the soldiers remembered him.

"Even when we went to the Netherlands and fought those Frenchmen, we still managed to win!"

Although Solovyov often suffered defeats along with his entire army when fighting in group battles, he rarely suffered losses when leading troops alone.

In particular, there was the battle in Reims where they stopped Napoleon. Although it was a draw, and the situation was even more favorable to the French, at least they didn't lose.

After Igor spoke, at least the brothers in our group still had some confidence.

Not all grenadiers were confident; Arkady mentioned the Fanagoria Regiment when he reported to Solovyov.

"That's understandable. If the veterans of the Moscow Regiment have confidence in me, it's because we used to be brothers who shared the same pot, and I've won battles. But the Fanagoria Regiment, they were defeated here with the British in the past, so it's inevitable that they'll have some psychological influence."

Solovyov had almost forgotten that when Paul sent reinforcements, a contingent followed them to the Netherlands, only to be defeated by a detachment of the French army.

The British probably won't have it too easy in Belgium and the Netherlands, although they will eventually emerge victorious.

"So what should we do next?"

"Actually, there is a way. If Napoleon sends out advance troops, it would be best if we could fight one or two small battles to boost morale. Or, during the advance battles..."

“You also need to be careful, Mishka. You are no longer a corps commander or the commander-in-chief of a small corps, but the commander-in-chief of 200,000 Russian troops and 100,000 friendly troops. You can’t always think like that.”

"Yes, it's also possible that Napoleon will immediately engage in battle with our vanguard. Such a large army can't possibly be concentrated in one place."

As the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army, he was far too clear-headed.

In fact, he analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of both sides along the way.

Napoleon might just pull off a move right in front of him, right up close.

Therefore, he kept the actions of the various armies at a relatively close distance.

If singled out, it would inevitably lead to a result similar to the Six-Day War or the Battle of Soissons, with Solovyov at the very back of Blücher's column.

Meanwhile, Napoleon was also keeping an eye on Solovyov's movements.

"This kid really came from Genk. He lost the flexibility he had when he commanded 50,000 men because he had too many troops."

In fact, Napoleon was well aware of his nephew's abilities; although he was certainly not as good as himself, he wasn't that much worse.

His approach always involves belittling his opponents to boost his own confidence.

This time, however, Solovyov suddenly stopped the marching speed from being at its maximum and made the formation relatively tight.

It was a complete mobile turtle formation; even Napoleon would have had a headache seeing it.

He amplified the methods he used to deal with him in Reims, and then put them into practice.

However, this is not without its problems; if the Russian army does this, it loses a lot of mobility.

Even with Cossack troops and various light cavalry providing flank reconnaissance and remaining highly vigilant about the French army's movements, the Russian army's actions were not very flexible at this time, which actually gave Napoleon an opportunity.

His idea at this moment was to strike at the head of Solovyov's chaotic formation and then disengage in one fell swoop.

Solovyov reacted quickly; even with so many troops, it still took him a while to mobilize them.

Napoleon could then choose to break away. He could now refer to Moreau's previous tactics against the Austrian army at Hohenlinden, or lure the enemy deep into his territory and make trouble in Belgium to wear down the Allied 30 troops.

Austria was simply incompetent! 250,000 Austrian troops couldn't even take the French border, which gave Napoleon many opportunities.

Carnot's letter also indicated that his recruitment efforts in Paris were progressing very smoothly, with young men from all over France, including the new recruits of 1815, being called up. If all went well and the French army at the front was able to hold out, the total strength of the French army would reach 500,000 by September or October 1815.

Napoleon himself was well aware that if he could take advantage of the fact that the Russian and Austrian armies were now separated on two separate battlefields and that the Austrian army was stagnant, and defeat the Russian army on the Low Countries battlefield, then victory might very well be his.

Even if he has to defeat too many opponents this time, and even if his goal is simply to retain the throne he has reclaimed.

His actions were also very proactive, and he set his sights on Sakhen and Doherty, who were at the very front of the entire Russian army corps.

Both of these Russian generals were skilled in defense, but relatively poor in proactive combat.

Napoleon also knew that the Russian army was actually quite tired because they had marched a long way.

This is also why Barclay fell ill en route and ordered the army to rest for a few days west of the Rhine, and why Solovyov made a brief two-day stopover in Liège and Maastricht.

It was precisely because of these few days of interruption that Napoleon did not rush to pursue after his victory, but instead took some time to rest.

If Napoleon were to pursue Blücher in Liège, the old man would most likely run away again, just like he did two years ago. If the Russian army caught up, the situation would be disadvantageous for Napoleon.

But if the Allied forces were allowed to enter Belgium, then Napoleon would have had the opportunity to defeat them one by one.

He even intercepted a letter from Solovyov to Sakne, demanding that the Russian 5th Army reach Antwerp as soon as possible.

Even their marching route was discovered.

However, because the Russian army's formation was so tight, these hussars managed to catch their adjutants within a very short window.

Napoleon then decided that he would maneuver westward, advancing parallel to the flank of the Russian army, but ultimately choose a place to engage in battle, first defeating the vanguard of the Russian army and demoralizing the enemy.

Solovyov only learned of the capture of his messenger by Napoleon through a signal sent by a communications officer in the Sakén army.

"This is great, he probably knows all about our plans now."

"Alyosha, don't be so anxious. Our objective has been exposed, but the French are outnumbered. Napoleon will definitely strike at the head of our ranks."

The "long snake formation" is a key to striking at the head and has been frequently used in the history of warfare.

But nothing can be achieved by striking the head and then the tail; the troop movements will take time.

Napoleon deployed three corps, the main force of the cavalry, and the Imperial Guard as the left wing, which he commanded himself. The right wing was commanded by Davout, including Gérard's 4th Corps and Lobo's 6th Corps.

Lamarck, though absent, was still tasked with protecting Brussels' transportation lines; his troops could practically be considered an army.

Following the recruitment efforts of Cano, two more divisions were added and are now protecting the transportation lines of Charleroi.

Even in Paris at this time, people's confidence in the emperor was somewhat better than in the past.

Solovyov had considered many things, but he never expected that Napoleon, with his inferior forces, would resort to such a dangerous tactic as besieging a point to block reinforcements, a tactic that was even somewhat beyond the scope of Napoleonic warfare.

Solovyov only dared to use this tactic when facing opponents far inferior to Sweden and the Ottoman Empire, where the absolute difference in strength made up for many shortcomings.

Although he was able to grasp Napoleon's psychological state, he overlooked the fact that Napoleon was a gambler.

Moreover, in order to control Antwerp, the troops of Dokhturov and Sakén in front of him had to be somewhat separated from the troops behind them.

Napoleon was determined to make a big move within this extremely small window of opportunity.

His ability to mobilize troops did not decline with age or declining health.

On the contrary, Solovyov's creation of a bunch of gadgets made the French command more flexible.

He actually became stronger. If Solovyov hadn't grown blond hair, while Napoleon didn't have that color, people might have wondered if he was a Super Saiyan.

The dagger needed to be thrust in, and sending Davu to the front lines was indeed appropriate. Although he was given very few troops, less than 30,000, his mere presence on the canal would be a huge problem for the Russian army advancing along the south bank.

As for Napoleon himself, he only intended to launch a decisive attack during the battle.

The measures Solovyov previously took to strengthen the Russian army are now going to come back to haunt him on the battlefield.

Moreover, all his plans only had this one flaw, which would have been very difficult for anyone else to exploit.

But this is Napoleon!

Sacken and Dokhturov's army were still on their way to Antwerp. Because they were traveling along the border, they had not encountered any French troops and had even frequently met friendly Dutchmen.

However, the Dutch only had some officials arranging supplies for them along the way; everyone knew the general level of soldiers at that time.

Therefore, most people either stayed at home or sought refuge in cities north of the canal.

The discipline of the Russian army was not the best, but the emperor and the commanders-in-chief always kept a close watch on them, so no major incidents occurred, and they were even better than the Germans.

And they are better than the French, after all, the French robbed as they went.

Sak'en's reconnaissance was not very good, and his Cossacks on his flank were also manipulated by Solovyov to go south to scout out the situation in Brussels.

Therefore, the protection on the flanks is relatively sparse, but Solovyov is not like Blücher last year; he is very cautious.

Even though he hadn't encountered the main French force yet, he managed to alert Sarken by sending a signal and choosing a safe route to deliver the message.

Having learned his lesson before, and with Solovyov's quick reaction, Saken became more wary and aligned himself with Dokhturov.

Napoleon originally intended to attack only one army, Sacken, and then cut off Dokhturov's retreat, even planning to launch a decisive battle. After succeeding, he would then return to join forces with Davout and hold off Solovyov's main force.

Such a demanding operation, due to a change in the Russian military's operational sequence, had to be changed so that the main force he now controlled had to deal with two Russian corps.

If the surprise attack and annihilation campaign failed, it would turn into a large-scale battle with a numerical advantage, but that was still within Napoleon's acceptable range.

This battle is about to begin on the banks of the canal. (End of Chapter)