Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 444 021 An anticlimactic battle

On this night, in the Russian army headquarters, all the generals who had arrived were silent.

Baron Saken led the 3rd Division, taking advantage of the darkness of the night to bluff, setting up campfires, and leaving some Cossacks behind to pretend to be patrolling the camp. In fact, on the morning of the third day, they could quickly break away from the contact. , even Soult who was in front of him had no time to pursue him.

After all, the Fourth Army is different from the Fifth Army and the Sixth Army. The configuration of the cavalry has always been confusing. After Murat's cuirassiers were transferred, he looked like what the ancient dramatists joked about.

"Poor guy, all that's left is the infantry."

"The young man is still strong, even in this state."

Baron Saken heard Solovyov commenting on the day's battle and praised his performance, although he did not witness it with his own eyes.

"Continuing to consume like this is actually not good for us."

"It's not like Bernadotte will be coming soon. Can we still fight at this time?" After hearing what Langeron said, Bagration still proposed to continue fighting.

Before the war, he did not advocate fighting because the battlefield was not suitable. Now the tenacious Russian army has prevented the French army from achieving the expected results.

Naturally, he still hoped to reorganize his troops and fight. After all, some troops had not yet entered the battle, but they forced the French army to join the Guards and compete with the Russian grenadiers.

"But the situation."

Everyone who advocated fighting before the war, except for Kamensky Jr. who wanted to continue fighting, now also advocated retreat.

There is still a problem, because Lestock and Scharnhorst are present today, whether they are German officers or Russian officers, as well as Frenchman Langeron, Georgian Bagration and Scotsman Barclay. I won’t mention that the Russian army should not have shed so much blood for Prussia.

It can even be said that the Russian army's tenacity in fighting made Napoleon waver to a certain extent, but it was only a political issue.

Ordinary allies are not like the Russian army, risking their lives to fight like this on the territory of their allies.

If these losses were caused by the armies of other allied countries, they would have already withdrawn from the battlefield.

But the Prussians also knew it well. Looking at the several generals sitting against the wall, almost all of them were injured: Barclay's arm was hit by a bullet and his arm was still hanging with a bandage; Bagowut was injured by a grenade. , and had a thick bandage wrapped around his head, and was now diagnosed with a concussion; little Kamensky's calf was grazed by a bullet, although it had no major impact, but it has been bandaged.

As for Solovyov, he was sitting close to Scharnhorst and was already the least injured of them all.

"Are you the Solovyov whom the commander-in-chief once mentioned?"

"Yes, you are?"

"Scharnhorst, General Lestock's current chief of staff."

"Hello, I'm sorry for what happened to the old Duke. I can only say that it was bad luck."

"Yes, but he has arranged the family affairs so that Frederick William will inherit the title."

"'The Bearded Duke' is still a brave general, but it's a pity that now. Has the new Duke decided where to go? I know Napoleon, he will definitely reconstruct the German states according to his own vision."

"I don't know, I've been in the legion all this time."

Solovyov also has a good relationship with the "Black Duke", but he is more worried about their family.

After all, among the four sons of the old Duke, only the youngest is a normal person, and the first three

Moreover, the "Black Duke"'s wife Mary is also Louisa's fifth sister, so she naturally needs to be taken care of. She is a relative in both directions.

"It should be arranged. But I wouldn't be surprised if Napoleon left Westphalia to his brother Jerome. But this guy is still a ridiculous person after all. Maybe He will make those under his control pay to go to work.”

After hearing this, Scharnhorst did feel that it was quite funny. Even now, the young Russian general is still telling cold jokes or making sarcastic remarks about the French.

"For example?"

"Civil servants have to perform their duties, university professors have to hold teaching positions, and even churches. This will cost a lot of money, but it will also lead to..."

"It's possible. I've heard about the French's methods."

"But if the results of this battle can be preserved, there may be a good peace outcome. For example, with the Elbe River as the boundary, although the western territory is lost, Prussia's vitality will not be seriously damaged, and it can even guarantee control of Saxony and Mecklenburg. It’s just a pity that the investment on the Rhine side cannot be recovered.”

"You also study economics?"

"Some generals may know nothing about economics in war!"

Scharnhorst thought that Solovyov had a sense of humor. This kind of cold joke was probably very down-to-earth even in Prussia.

"But peace at this time may also be an opportunity. There will always be a way in the future."

"Because the British will provoke alliances against France again and again, but they have to rely on the power of Russia. Secondly, there are Prussia and Austria. As long as the French don't mess up, it may be another situation. ”

Scharnhorst agreed with this, but he didn't realize that Solovyov was so quick-thinking that he might even be on the fifth floor.

"So."

"The next war will only have two results, this is obvious, but the decision is in the hands of our monarch and government. If something bad happens, Prussia should also be severely restricted in diplomacy. In this case..."

Soloviev has become a riddle man now, but he also knows that he may not be able to guess it when talking to Scharnhorst.

In the future, Prussia will owe a lot of debts due to reparations, and the restrictions on the army will lead to a large number of soldiers being directly retired, and there will definitely be many who go to other countries to serve.

Considering that in the next few years, if the Russian-Prussian coalition is defeated again, I am afraid that there will be a new treaty.

As for the large number of unemployed Prussian officers, Soloviev has thought about wooling them.

The British Army's German Corps and Hanover Corps have connections. If the Russian Army engages in the German Corps, it can take the opportunity to get a group of officers for free.

If they can stay, they can even be used in the future.

If not, they could also provide the Russian army with such a group of officers, which would be useful in the Russo-Turkish War and in the future in 1812.

Moreover, this was not a strange operation. Russia had been like this since the establishment of the Romanov dynasty. It was common to recruit German officers, and even many of the soldiers were German officers.

As for winter warfare, the consumption of both sides was so great that it was obvious that in the subsequent battles, the main force would not fight in the muddy spring, and it would be quiet for a while.

At this time, Scharnhorst turned his attention to strategic issues.

"If we want to continue fighting, where should we go?"

"The fortresses besieged by the French army, especially Danzig, are the most critical. The fortresses on the Swedish side are not so difficult to deal with. The Swedes themselves have not suffered as heavy losses as Prussia, and they can still fight Denmark. Danzig and Kolberg, as well as several fortresses that have not surrendered, will continue to fight for a while."

Scharnhorst could see that Solovyov was thinking about these issues very seriously, and his consideration of Danzig was consistent with his previous assumptions.

"After that, it will be a decisive battle. So you think we should retreat at this time, don't you?"

"Well, that's about it. The troops are already very tired now. If they continue to consume like this, there will be no good results. I think what Prussia and Russia are doing now is actually providing convenience for Britain."

In his heart, Solovyov has always been preparing for the "new event" in 1815, not just against France now.

For European countries, the more troublesome ones are still the British.

However, as for the Prince of Wales and his lovely daughter, Princess Charlotte, Soloviev had established a friendship with the father and daughter because he accompanied Count Vorontsov on his trip in London, and those unmarried princesses also had a good impression of him.

Soloviev is sometimes so strange, probably because this face is more popular, even people with normal sexual orientation will have some good feelings for him.

Not to mention the strange England.

In terms of personal relationships, the British royal family in this era is not as dramatic as the Windsor royal family in the future. Although George III was crazy and always spoke long and difficult sentences, his sons just went to find common women.

"But Britain is an ally."

"But if you are interested, I once wrote a pamphlet in my spare time, which was written by memory. If you have the opportunity to come to my house in St. Petersburg, my manuscripts are still at home."

Because there is always a little Prince Saltykov of "Humphreysky" in St. Petersburg, so he has not forgotten most of his knowledge in this area, so he still has some means to deal with Britain.

In addition, France, Prussia and Russia are all victims of Britain's tricks. Together with Austria and Spain, if an anti-British alliance can be formed, Britain will also suffer in the future.

But the British have ways to counter each other, and not all countries will follow France's baton to impose a continental blockade on Britain, or be an ally of Russia.

In fact, if Solovyov went to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, his diplomat friend Count Nesherrode might be very welcome, after all, this guy knows the British too well.

From several perspectives, it is not appropriate for the Russian army to continue to stay here, especially since the British are always the ones who benefit.

One night is always enough to make up one's mind.

And God helped. It was snowing on the battlefield when the Russian army was retreating.

For the French and Russian armies, which had been severely exhausted, this was a rare opportunity to breathe.

The difference was that the French were preparing to fight again in the areas they controlled, while the Russian army finally chose to retreat.

Napoleon did not gain anything from this battle, and the Russian army also took the initiative to retreat instead of being defeated on the battlefield.

Therefore, the victory he announced was somewhat untrue.

It's just that the battle line is still deceptive for the time being. The main force of the Russian army is still there, and the Guards can support the front line at any time. There are even a large number of troops in Russia that can be mobilized.

The size of this country is indeed ridiculously large for European countries, and even the other side is still fighting the Turks and Persians.

However, due to the British newspapers' previous reports on the Battle of Austerlitz, the credibility of some newspapers that reprinted their reports has also dropped significantly.

Among the victims in this regard are newspapers in St. Petersburg, Riga and Königsberg. The news from the sea, and even because of the news blockade on the Austrian battlefield, caused the reports they reprinted to be more or less biased, and chose reports from friendly forces.

Then, when the news of the Battle of Austerlitz came, the credibility of these media would be impacted in a short period of time.

Even now, the content of the Russian side's statement that the French army was severely damaged in the Battle of Eylau was true, but it could only be regarded as FAKE NEWS by some people.

The King of Prussia had already fled to Jelgava with his family at this time, also because the French army was too close to here.

At this time, he announced that he would advance and retreat with the Russian emperor and would never unilaterally decide to make peace, which was somewhat thoughtless.

Although Queen Louise's will to resist was more determined than her husband, she had no way to interfere.

Therefore, for Prussia, there was no step left, and it was not considered that unilateral peace with Russia's strength would be a disaster for Prussia.

Even Prussia could not refuse, and this approach was indeed ridiculous.

And the battle report from the front line came that the Russian army retreated from Eylau, and the French army did not pursue, but stayed near the battlefield to declare their victory.

Then, the actual result did not seem to be friendly to France.

The Russian Cossacks and Hussars near the battlefield still had a strong sense of presence, because both sides actually stopped fighting and did not plan to have another battle in the near future, so they also captured French prisoners while reconnaissance.

When the Russian army retreated to Memel, Langeron received the awarding notice of the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle from Petersburg, as well as reports from Count Stroganov and several Cossack officers.

Because of the Battle of Eylau, Langeron received the highest medal in Russia.

But on the other hand, the number of prisoners captured by the Russian army in the three days of the Battle of Eylau was not as many as the French prisoners captured by the Hussars and Cossacks after the battle.

But in this battle, the casualties of the Russian army and the French army in the battle report were unprecedented.

Some people even proposed a method that sounded strange.

That is, use the rich experience to pull the French army down to the same level as the coalition forces, and then defeat Napoleon with the rich experience of blind fighting.

Although it sounds messy, it actually makes sense.