Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

The Moscow Grenadiers and the Yerevan Grenadiers in the Caucasus are the two oldest grenadiers in the Russian army.

It's just that the latter is unlucky. After the outbreak of the war in the Caucasus, it became a permanent population there, and even the station and soldiers of the Grenadiers were there, and it became the core force of the Caucasian Grenadiers Division.

The Moscow Grenadiers, except for the short disbandment during the reorganization in 1792, were reorganized on the basis of the original team. In fact, it is also the core combat force of the grenadiers. In addition, many troops were divided out on the basis of this regiment. The most famous one is the Pavlovsk Grenadiers, which has the treatment of the Guards.

Speaking of the performance on the battlefield, the old Moscow regiment does not want to fall behind others. And according to the old rules of the Russian army, no matter whether the boyars or the current counts are above, the soldiers will be rewarded when fighting.

Although it seems that this is no different from the past, if the commander can support the soldiers, he can still get a lot of support.

Solovyov is in the trench like this, and it is true that he is not like in the past, just a regiment commander or a division commander. Now he is far away from the soldiers, and he always has to get down to close the distance with the soldiers.

Of course, there will be people complaining.

"Igor, what did you say just now?"

"Nothing, it's just that your walking posture does look very majestic, but it doesn't match your body shape. And what's the matter with wearing this hat?"

Kutuzov has recently started wearing a white brimless hat. Solovyov has also seen this kind of hat, but he wears it on his head, which is obviously very suitable for the weather at this time.

"Ah, it's nothing. This kind of wide-brimmed hat is fine, but you probably won't need it on the front line. I would like to get a helmet, but it's not strong enough, and every piece of iron is precious now."

"Then if you encounter the enemy, you have to be careful with your hat."

"What? There are Turkish scimitars flying over my head? It doesn't matter. I still need you to protect my neck! If you are gone, I will be nothing."

This made some veterans with longer service terms shed tears.

"Why, Semenov, are you crying?"

"You are so like Alexander Vasilyevich when you said this. When he was still alive, he always used strange ways to inspire us."

"I remember that when we were at the St. Gotthard Pass, he wanted to jump into a pit himself, saying that he would be buried if the battle failed."

The Moscow Grenadiers Regiment is still an old regiment. Naturally, because of the past battles, the veterans will be united and their cohesion will be very strong.

"Since you asked us to protect your neck, how can we not fight for our lives?"

"Don't be too reckless, we all have to survive. When fighting with the Turks, patience is important, don't rush for success. Judging from the current situation, they are likely to make mistakes first."

"Will they make mistakes first?"

"Did you notice the enemy's counterattack firepower when our regiment attacked during the day?"

"It was suppressed by the Jagers, which is rare."

The Russian army's service period is 25 years, and soldiers will not extend their service, but some of the oldest veterans in the Russian army have experienced the last Russo-Turkish War and naturally understand this situation.

"Yes, Semenov, how many years have you served?"

"24 years, sir. After this battle, I should retire and go home. Speaking of which, I am still a little reluctant! I have a wife and children at home, and I have won the St. George Medal twice. For a soldier, it is enough. It is better to have the current emperor and Emperor Paul. At least we soldiers have the same face as the officers."

"Hahaha, what you said. Old man, you have served enough, but you are not allowed to die here."

Soloviev's mentality is still very relaxed. After all, it is just fighting the Turks, but the trouble is that this is an offensive battle.

This veteran Semenov has served much longer than Igor Nikitin, but it is rare to hear the general say, "You are not allowed to die."

"If you say so, I want to live well. I was in my twenties when I joined the army. Now I am old enough. If you don't let me die, I will live well."

"We have to fight well, old man. And, brothers, you all have to fight well. We are fighting the Turks this time, and everyone has to do a good job, including me."

After that, he continued to listen to the officers and soldiers to reflect the state of the Turkish army during the exchange of fire.

Combined with his observations, he finally made up his mind to use blasting to blow up the city wall.

Except for the Theodosian Walls left in places like Constantinople, these cities controlled by the Ottoman Empire, although there are fortresses and walls, are generally no different from those in Europe, and even the versions are relatively old.

If the Russian army finds an opportunity, it will naturally take a Turkish plane.

After returning to his tent, Clausewitz asked him: "Why didn't you choose to negotiate?"

"I won't joke with my adjutant's head!"

Speaking of which, when he was in Paris and in the Palace of Versailles, Napoleon told him about the Egyptian expedition.

In short, in everyone's opinion, the Turks are indeed untrustworthy and often kill envoys and negotiators. Another worse one is the border guard of the Persian Empire, who killed the Russian general who came to accept the surrender, using such obscene and barbaric means to win.

Even though Soloviev is proficient in military tactics, he has never seen such a wicked person.

After listening to Clausewitz, he also understood what was going on.

Seeing him nod, Soloviev also said: "But we fight hard enough, they will surrender soon. We need them to send representatives, otherwise we will never accept any form of surrender. Only when we see the Turks laying down their weapons will I accept their surrender."

Of course, if the main composition of the Turkish army is bandits, I am afraid that these heads will still be chopped off.

Soloviev probably became energetic after arriving on the Balkan stage.

However, his approach obviously does not tolerate bandits.

But they can't really be as barbaric as their opponents. The Serbs have done enough of this, and it is indeed very troublesome in the big stage of the Balkans.

At least because of their faith, the Serbs can listen to the Russians and are relatively civilized, but they are not friendly with the surrounding ethnic groups in this environment. Except for the brothers in the mountains in Montenegro, they have big and small grudges with almost all the surrounding ethnic groups.

This is not all Serbia's problem, but also the great lack of morality of the two feudal regimes of Austria and the Ottoman Empire.

The Serbs are warlike and barbaric, and the Austrians who always want to change their faith and just want them to be slaves, and the Turks who clean up and massacre the local people in the Balkans on a daily basis, can be said to have exacerbated these contradictions.

In addition, the Turks in this era like to use Albanians as lackeys, and later there are Kurds as their thugs, which can also be said to be very lacking in morality.

If we look for the root cause of many problems in the Middle East and the Balkans, I am afraid that we can find some answers here.

By the next morning, the Russian artillery fire was even more intense than the first day.

For the Turks, this was a very bad day.

They were indeed dizzy from the fierce artillery fire. Although there were many defenders in the city, most of them were a mob, unlike the front-line troops or the new army, which still had some combat effectiveness.

Therefore, many people also wanted to surrender.

However, the Russian army never sent envoys to persuade them to surrender, and even kept firing artillery, which was indeed different from the usual situation.

The siege trenches were dug for five or six days, and the Turkish artillery fire was suppressed. Since they could not raise their heads due to the artillery fire, the Russian army's tunnel digging action was very smooth.

By the way, the Russian army could continue to dig the communication trenches forward, even if the scattered soldiers and small artillery on the Turkish side could cause certain casualties, the Russian army was still insisting on doing so.

After all, the efficiency of the artillery behind was still very high, especially the one-pute unicorn cannon brought out this time. Although the shells always fell in the city, they had a great deterrent effect on the Turkish army.

But because Solovyov did not play by the rules, they were beaten all the time.

Moreover, even if someone showed up, they would often be hunted by the hunters as prey.

In this case, there was no possibility of surrendering during the day, and they would only be beaten.

Now, according to the engineers' calculations, the Russian army's tunnels have approached the base of Vidin's city wall.

"Today's artillery is still good. If we continue like this, we can tear down half of Vidin's city wall."

"It's just that your way of fighting consumes too much gunpowder, Mick. Even if we take Vidin, we have to consider that not only do we need ammunition, but also the Serbs. They have 50,000 soldiers who can fight. Even if you streamline them, there will be 30,000 to 40,000 people. In this case, our supply will be very tight."

"But we have to let the Turks know that resistance will not have good results."

"Are you going to use this as a model?"

"I'm just trying to break the city, not like the Turks who won't stop fighting after entering the city."

In short, resistance will not have good results. If you want to surrender, you may still have a good result.

Under this guiding ideology, there is only one route to continue the fierce attack.

However, the Russian army was not without casualties. When the Kiev Grenadiers, who were responsible for the main offensive task, approached the city wall, they were the first to be counterattacked by some fearless Turkish troops who shot bullets from the city wall and bunkers.

As a result, the Kiev Regiment had to send personnel to clean up that small area.

The Moscow Regiment next to them piled up the explosives first and then left.

"Igor, has the fuse been pulled over?"

"It's a little short, but with the blasting tube, it's no problem for the engineers to detonate it."

As he spoke, the engineers who had entered the trench with him also retreated to carry out the first blasting in this battle.

The fuse ignited too smoothly, and when it exploded with the blasting tube at first, it even gave the grenadiers in the trench an illusion.

"Is the charge too small?"

Before the engineer next to him could answer, a violent explosion occurred.

However, at this distance, although it was deafening, at least most people were prepared, and the position itself was still a safe distance from the enemy's stronghold, so few unlucky people were deafened.

But this explosion did send the Turks in the fortress outside the city to the sky, and even one leg flew into the trench.

"Look, Nikitin. We used this blasting method in Sweden."

"At that time, I was bitten by the Swedish bullet and was lying in the hospital."

"The amount of powder is even larger than when I was in Sweden. Now it's all right, it depends on your superiors."

As he spoke, the grenadiers also heard the whistle.

The Kiev Grenadiers wanted to blast the city wall, so the fortress outside was attacked by a combination of infantry and artillery, and the effect was quite good. Most of the Turkish troops inside were always eliminated with bayonets.

Up to now, the Russian army has rarely captured prisoners, because the battle situation is urgent and the action must be quick. Most of the Turks who met, even the wounded, were stabbed with bayonets.

After the targets that could harass the Russian army on the periphery were solved, the Russian army pushed the artillery forward again, obviously to "put bayonets on cannons". On the battlefield, firing at the enemy at a very close distance, as long as they can't hit their own people, there will be no problem.

Even this kind of fighting method can save the effort of aiming, just load the ammunition.

For muzzle-loading guns, this is also a good thing.

However, the one-pood unicorn is indeed too heavy. The main ones for close shooting are 12-pound guns and half-pood unicorns. It is also the space left for artillery to pass above the Russian communication trench, the temporary bridges built, and the simple roads on the side of the communication trench, which always allow Russian artillery to pass quickly.

When these cannons were pushed over, there was another series of artillery fire, and the wall in front of the Moscow regiment was blasted open.

But it is not the time for the grenadiers to launch an attack. Solovyov saw it from the rear and gave the grenadiers in front information through flag signals.

"Mick, are you waiting for the explosion from the Tafred Regiment?"

"That's right, then the Kiev Regiment. The attack directions of these two regiments will use explosions to blow down the city walls. If there are enough gaps, the enemy defenders will also be dispersed."

"It will also help us to divide the enemy, and your trick will not change."

"The Turks have never fought with me before, so it's a good opportunity to give them a greeting."

After that, he was also waiting for a larger explosion from the grenadiers. (End of this chapter)