Chapter 663 025 The Road to Athens (XI)

The Turkish army's formation was huge, and the team was much closer than before.

"It looks good, and it's also set up on the side of the mountain pass. It looks like someone with military knowledge is leading the team."

"According to the information we received, it was Aziz Ahmed Pasha and Haji Mustafa Bey who came to lead the army, and these two men won some small battles."

"That's considered capable of fighting, right? Karl, what I'm worried about now is that if the confrontation continues like this, we won't be able to get to Athens after a long time."

"You're still worried about this."

Clausewitz knew Solovyov's thinking. He was ready to fight because if he didn't deal with the Turkish support force, or at least force him back, Salonika would not be able to take it. It is also impossible to solve the Greek problem and remove a large piece of Turkey's flesh from the negotiation table.

If Salonika is left alone at this moment, the Turkish army can mobilize cavalry to attack Vergina at will. In this way, the Russian army will never have a stable rear when moving south.

It is very obvious that the "warehouse" of Macedonia must be cleaned before goods can be stored in it.

"How is the frontline deployment going now?"

"Of our four divisions, only the 9th Division is placed in the rear as a reserve, with Trubetskoi on the right, grenadiers on the left, and Uvarov in the center."

"What about the deployment of the cavalry? I remember I told you that Kunev's cavalry should be used intensively, hidden behind the infantry, and not released until the critical moment."

"This is easy to handle. There are mountains on both sides. We hide the cavalry behind us. If we follow the square formation we proposed during the previous meeting, Trubetskoi can be allowed to retreat. This will expose the enemy's weaknesses and at the same time throw The grenadiers and Uvarov also retreated and were pulled out by the cavalry to cut off the passage of the canyon. "

If the Russian cavalry is facing off against the Turkish cavalry and infantry, then here it can be like a hot knife cutting butter, cutting off the retreat of the Turkish army. Then there will be an infantry counterattack, and the grenadiers will seal the valley.

This kind of give-and-take style of play is not unused by Solovyov, but especially his command on the battlefield and the resilience of Russian soldiers.

Even now it seems that it depends more on the level of the commander.

"If this is the case, Mick, you have to consider Fanarion and the mountain road over there. Although the enemy's large forces cannot pass, there will be rangers coming. Should we send a small number of troops to block it?"

"It will not be used before the battle begins, and the width of this mountain pass is just right. The Turks cannot spread out, so they cannot make a detour. It also helps us shorten the front line. It just so happens that these five divisions are placed here, and there is enough room for maneuver."

"Are you still worried about the price the Serbians are asking for?"

"Of course I'm not worried!"

He listened to Clausewitz's question and laughed after he finished speaking.

After several division commanders came here, they also saw that Solovyov was much more relaxed than before, and he also looked very confident.

This is probably a good sign. After all, the Russian army is not fully prepared, but it still has a geographical advantage. In addition, the Russian army finally has the support of two cavalry regiments, although they are all obtained from Karageorgi.

As for the Greek militia, the meaning of their existence is probably to help the Russian army maintain communication lines in the rear, and at the same time transport the materials transferred from Skopje to the Russian army's front line.

This time, they finally got the "King's Master", and defeated the Turkish army many times along the way, and finally reached Greece.

It's a pity that the leaders of the Greek rebels at that time were either killed or died of illness. The few who went to Russia were also Fanario Greek nobles, and many of the nobles who dealt with the Turks at sea have also died.

Even the new generation among the rebels are not like their parents. In addition, the situation in Greece has been very bad in recent years. Due to the economic decline, it is difficult to recruit privateers to attack the coast of Turkey. If they can only fight on land, , obviously can't do anything.

At this time, it would be good if they can do a good job as the atmosphere team and transportation team.

In the end, Solovyov gritted his teeth and left only four regiments stuck on the main traffic roads to besiege Salonika. He even mobilized many Greek militia groups to bluff on the mountains so that the defenders of Salonika did not dare to act rashly. .

Then a group of Greek militiamen were summoned from Larissa. Some of these people were bandits in the past. As for Ali Pasha, he would not march eastward from Epirus - in fact, the governor of Albania was not powerful enough. In response, Ali Pasha rejected Aziz Ahmed Pasha's opinion, saying that it was not convenient for him to send troops with such a small amount of troops as he had to deal with the unruly people of Montenegro.

This always makes the forces of both sides relatively balanced, and Solovyov can barely use his methods.

Therefore, he decided to adopt fishing tactics, first intercepting the enemy in the mountain pass, and after weakening the Turkish army after several battles, he lured the enemy deeper and finally defeated the enemy.

This is also a last resort and risky method. After he conceived it, the only way to achieve complete victory was to cut off the enemy's retreat here.

But you have to take some risks, and even risk losing the victory in entering Greece. This has happened in the previous Russo-Turkish wars. For example, Peter the Great was counter-surrounded by the Ottoman Empire in the third Russo-Turkish War. In the end, A peace treaty had to be signed.

Of course, there are also people like Suvorov who used 20,000 to 30,000 people to repeatedly attack the Turkish army.

As Suvorov's actual last disciple, Solovyov felt that although he was able to defeat the enemy with fewer troops, he really didn't have a good way to deal with these Turkish troops that were huddled together.

In the past, the Russian army could use the Turkish troops to disperse and defeat them one by one on the battlefield, but now it seems that this should not work.

Therefore, he called all the generals to make the final decision to fight.

". This is the case now. Our supply is still a little difficult, but we still have enough ammunition. If we defeat the enemy, we can slowly replenish our ammunition. Moreover, the Turks use a lot of British munitions. At least the gunpowder is universal with ours, and the caliber of our rifles is similar to that of the British, so it is not surprising to use their ammunition."

Indeed, the Russian army is like this, and weapons and ammunition cannot be unified.

"Are you going to use the enemy's supplies to fight?"

"Yes, Uvarov, since we can't force the enemy to eat horse meat, then we eat their horses, which can delay for a while. It's a pity that no matter where our capital is, it is too far away from the Turkish front line, and we can't expect the emperor to send us reinforcements."

If there is a telegram, it may be more troublesome, such as someone to micro-manipulate it.

Fortunately, as long as the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs arrives, Kamensky has the power to decide on a ceasefire.

Now is not the best time to cease fire. If the war can spread across the European territory of the Ottoman Empire, then this problem will be easy to solve, and even Solovyov has thought about it.

For example, the interests of the Tsar's Oldenburg relatives have been damaged today. Let's not talk about Serbia. Wallachia and Moldavia can be merged, and then find a relative of the Tsar to be the monarch.

Unlike the affairs of Northern Europe, which still need to be negotiated between France and Russia, France can't interfere in the affairs of the Balkans. Their attention is still on dealing with Britain.

Moreover, this is the last period of relatively smooth relations between France and Russia, and neither side is willing to take the initiative to provoke the other at this time.

Moreover, the attention of both sides is on both ends of the Mediterranean, and they can temporarily not interfere with each other and take what they need.

Alexander's uncle, Prince Peter, the regent of Oldenburg, and Prince William, who is not mentally normal in Oldenburg, fled to Russia because of the annexation of Oldenburg, and Alexander was naturally dissatisfied with this.

Prince Peter's wife who died early was Alexander's aunt. It just so happened that their two sons, Prince William's current state, Oldenburg will restore its status one day in the future, and it will also be their family.

These two cousins ​​can be separated. If Alexander wants, he can establish a new country here by compensating his relatives.

Solovyov thought of this, but he was far away in the Balkans and could only speculate. After all, this plan shows that he is a relative of Bonaparte.

Napoleon had done this more than once before. Now it was the turn of Kamensky and Solovyov. The former was a professional soldier, but the latter had to consider a lot because of his marriage and team relationship, although he was only the deputy commander of this expedition.

But his idea might really hit the nail on the head for Alexander.

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At this time in Petersburg, Alexander did meet with his uncle and mentioned the issue of Oldenburg, and proposed that there would be opportunities to help Oldenburg restore the country in the future, or find a place adjacent to Russia in other parts of Europe for them to serve as monarchs.

In this way, there are some suitable places in the Balkans, such as Greece and Wallachia. If the Ottoman Empire is defeated, it is indeed possible to arrange for the two cousins ​​to marry the local nobles, or directly declare to rule there.

The idea is very good. If you think about it, Alexander is also very cunning, which can also help consolidate the results of the war.

Speaking of relatives, Alexander also felt that his relatives loved to dig holes. Only Oldenburg was more reliable. Strictly speaking, it was still their family. After all, Peter III was the nephew of Queen Elizabeth, and the rest were probably three brothers-in-law. This matter could not be considered Napoleon. His ambition even worried his cheap nephew.

Solovyov also accelerated the progress because of this. Otherwise, with his character, he would not have a radical battle with inferior forces and far away from friendly forces.

When he was in Sweden, he was steady and cautious. If he attacked, he would kill with every blow, but he never had to worry about his flank. After all, he broke through the defense of the sea, and even Bagration attracted the enemy's attention in the Aland Islands, so he could let go.

But in Greece, he did not wait for the Serbs to finish their training, and he had already rushed into Greece. The sooner the war ended, the better. If it took too long, he would be afraid of more trouble.

If the situation was delayed for a while longer, the Russian army would have to withdraw a large number of troops from the Balkan Peninsula, and these achievements would be lost.

At this time, it would be meaningless to restore history.

In fact, Solovyov also knew that Kutuzov finally replaced Kamensky the Younger by luring the Turkish army into the trap with inferior forces, and finally defeated the Turkish army in Rushchuk and Slobozia in 1811, and forced the Turks to sign a peace treaty the following year.

If I don't hurry up now and the main force of the Russian army will be mobilized back to the country on a large scale next year, then these achievements will basically be in vain.

In that case, the results of these battles will finally be digested in the 10th Russo-Turkish War, nearly 70 years later. There were two more wars in between, especially the failed Crimean War.

Repeating this process is more uncomfortable than carrying out various reforms in the country. There are only so many strategic opportunities.

In future wars with the Ottoman Empire, it is best if the next war turns the opponent into an Asian country.

But there is no chance of success in the first battle, and now the pressure is on his side.

"We also have difficulties, but now is not the time to think about these things. Reinforcements are there, but probably not now. We can only rely on the troops at hand to fight. You go back first, and everyone is deployed to the position where they should go. This A battle may not only require us to fulfill our responsibilities, but also require more sacrifices. If we defeat the enemy, the problem of Salonika will be easily solved. As long as we are stuck here, the Turks will be able to fight back. There are millions of soldiers, but there are no heroes among them."

When he signaled his subordinates to leave, he also looked aside and saw that there was Hu Qin here.

If you pull it, you might be able to get some inspiration.

It’s just that he is also familiar with these instruments now, and he can definitely listen to them. He is not a good stringer. It may be difficult for him to play and sing by himself, but it may be possible in the future.

He wanted to stop at the Acropolis of Athens when the war was over, overlooking everything below the mountain, and then express some emotion.

However, this opportunity is only a small window period. It is difficult to say whether I will have the opportunity to return to Greece in the future.

When he thought of this, he had already played this melody on the way to Usküdar.

Perhaps the most difficult time of this year has just arrived. As long as we survive and defeat the enemy, these past results will be within our reach.

It was also a good thing for him that just as he was pulling the strings, Clausewitz was back.

"Mick, the Serbian volunteer cavalry has arrived and brought good news."

"Tell me, what good thing can it be?"

"Peric led the Serbian infantry regiment that had just completed training. There are a total of four infantry regiments and one chasseur regiment."

"That's enough."

Compared with Karageorge's worries when he was about to negotiate, it can be said that Peric came here with a trained legion, which can be said to be good news.

It’s just not clear whether we can catch up with this battle. (End of chapter)