Chapter 667 029 The Road to Athens (FIN)

The biggest problem of the Russian army is always insufficient manpower.

This is also determined by the current situation in Europe. France has confirmed its hegemony in Europe and is carrying out a continental blockade against Britain.

As long as they do not obey the "continental blockade" in the end, war will inevitably break out. This is the case in Portugal. Sweden was beaten by Russia, and Napoleon's own brother Louis lost the throne in the position of King of the Netherlands because of disagreements with his brother.

He is so arrogant. In his opinion, the Russian Tsar may be his brother-in-law, so he can be more considerate and not treat him like his brother.

However, Alexander has his own ideas. The summer smuggling in Arkhangelsk has never been interrupted.

Speaking of which, that place is still the real home and place where Solovyov's family made their fortune. Sergei knows this place well.

Now the French also know that the maritime trade between Russia and Britain, although not in the Baltic Sea, will definitely be active in several places that are not paid much attention to, such as the Barents Sea route.

Therefore, he repeatedly asked Alexander to solve this problem and also offered benefits.

However, Alexander ignored this and continued to do what he wanted to do.

Under such circumstances, the relationship between France and Russia began to become tense. Even those around him could not guess what Alexander was thinking.

However, the defense on the western border was strengthened, and three armies had been deployed on the broad front from the Baltic coast to Moldavia, and troops were being mobilized one after another.

It was necessary to hurry up on the Danube River. Both Kamensky and Solovyov knew this, so one of them was struggling to lead the main force to gnaw bones, and the other one, after a detour, had to go to Greece even if the troops were insufficient.

This time, Solovyov naturally hoped to win the battle.

However, due to his qualifications, it was definitely impossible for him to exchange a beautiful battle for the title of a special prince like Katya's grandfather.

After all, his father was still alive, and he was only a lieutenant general now.

There would be many opportunities in the future, and it would be great to get a big medal through this war.

The Russian army gained a little advantage on the battlefield, but it was not enough to push the enemy back.

After Trubetskoy and Arkady withstood the Turkish offensive, they drove them eastward along the foot of the mountain, but there were too many enemies and they could not stand still for a while.

For Solovyov, the last reserve he had was two combined grenadier battalions, both of which were drawn from the infantry regiment.

This amount of troops, plus a few guards, had to be at the headquarters, so his troops were used to the limit.

Although he knew that the Serbs would come, he did not have any expectations. After all, there were many examples of reinforcements not arriving on the battlefield, even if some reinforcements were seen.

Who knows what abstract orders and commands will be next, although Peric was also an adjutant beside Karageorge, so this is still more reliable.

On the position of the grenadier division, when the Russian army was almost on fire, they finally left their positions and advanced towards the Turkish positions with bayonets.

The air in this burned place is indeed hot, and the earth is indeed burning, but is it a storm?

Because of the fire, the Turkish army's resistance here is not so active. With the five Russian grenadier regiments attacking together, they formed a W formation with three in front and two in the back.

There are still some gaps. When the Russian army approached the Turkish army, some enemies began to shoot.

However, due to tension and other factors, not many Russian soldiers were knocked down, but it stimulated the Russians. When they were within ten steps with bayonets, they finally began to shout "Ura" and rushed over.

The Turks are considered to be one of the few opponents encountered by the Russian army who are not afraid of hand-to-hand combat with the Russian army, although they often lose in vain.

The situation today is even worse. After all, after being set on fire once, the impact on morale is too great.

In addition, the Russian army continued to rush over after being shot at such a close distance, unlike other countries' soldiers who had to shoot for a while, which did shake the Turks who were always brave but lost in vain.

Some teams that relied entirely on cold weapons to fight the Russian army could not hold on any longer, and they were driven back by the Russian grenadiers.

However, it was also because they had a large number of people and a dense formation that they were able to ensure that they would not be overwhelmed by the Russian army. Of course, the formation was also chaotic enough.

Solovyov could only feel pity when he saw the situation of the grenadiers.

If it were the previous two battles, I am afraid that they would have achieved brilliant victories. Today, they are indeed short of manpower. In fact, the Russian army's strength is less than half of the Turkish army.

According to the experience of fighting against the Turkish army in this era, it is generally difficult to achieve a complete victory when the force is inferior to 1 to 2. In Solovyov's impression, probably only his mentor, Marshal Suvorov, has done it.

From several Russian-Turkish wars to the later Muhammad Ali's uprising against the Ottoman Empire from Egypt, the minimum standard was 1 to 2. Muhammad Ali's son defeated the 60,000 people led by the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire with 30,000 people.

It's not because of anything else, it's just that there are too many restrictive factors here, and there are too many Turkish soldiers. Once they regroup, there will be a lot of trouble.

The grenadiers just swept their side, and when Uvarov's division joined from the middle and continued to drive the Turkish army, the three sides had reached the limit of attack.

Seeing that today's battle was about to end with a small victory, the enemy showed no sign of being driven out of the valley.

Soloviev also had a headache. He really couldn't get any reinforcements. He had to wait for the Serbs to finally arrive on the battlefield.

This kind of waiting was a bit tormenting. Even though he had seen the marching columns of the Serbs and their iconic hats on their heads, they were still some distance away from the battlefield.

As for which side to deploy, it was also a problem for Soloviev. In short, he gave up the idea of ​​launching an attack from the side of the grenadiers.

The reason was simple. If they wanted to do it, because the grenadiers attacked first, the Turkish reinforcements were likely to be drawn over, and the Turkish left wing was relatively weak.

Now there are two divisions there, plus the Serbian reinforcements, it should be enough.

It was not until he saw Radovan Karadzic who was sent to contact Peric that he felt relieved.

"Sir, the 1st Serbian Division has been ordered to arrive. Peric asked you which battlefield you want to be deployed to?"

"From the right wing of our army, on the flank of Arkady Suvorov of the 9th Division, engage in battle and attack the Turkish army there."

Although it is a mountain road, this kind of hillside terrain is most suitable for the Serbs to play. Among the Serbian hunters walking in the front, many are still the former Pandur scattered soldiers. These veterans may have poor discipline, but they are excellent in shooting, and for the enemy, the more casualties they can cause at this time, the more effective it will be.

When Peric received the order, he only had time to assemble two regiments, but he also joined the battle. The three regiments behind were still changing formations from marching columns, but it was only a matter of time.

In this way, the Turks were finally driven out of the valley slowly.

For Aziz Ahmed Pasha, it was a pity to be on the battlefield today. After all, this was the first time that the Russian army failed to drive them out completely. However, the combat effectiveness of these weak soldiers was really limited, and that was the case today.

He and Haji Mustafa Bey had tried their best. Facing the battlefield carefully selected by the Russian army, they could only stop here in the end.

It may be considered an improvement that they did not completely collapse like the Turkish army before. After all, the troops they mobilized were not very combat-effective.

On the Russian side, after the Serbs joined the battle, they continued to advance, and finally pushed the Turks to the middle of the valley when the sun set.

In this situation of confrontation between the two armies, the Turks actually knew in their hearts that they had lost the battle again.

Please...collect 6...books...!

For Aziz Ahmed Pasha, what he needs to consider now is not to lie down here. After the Russian reinforcements arrive, they will definitely organize another attack. If they don't find a way to retreat tonight.

Probably tomorrow they will be torn to pieces like the friendly forces in Lom and Philippopolis.

He also played a trick at night, but he didn't bluff to show that he had more soldiers. Instead, he reduced the number of bonfires, telling the Russian army that grandpa would not play with you.

Solovyov has not rested all the time. He went to the front to see in person and saw the racks of these Turkish troops.

He just didn't plan to pursue. For the Russian army, a series of fierce battles might be more disadvantageous to themselves. Now it is the right way to go back and take Salonika.

And he also knows that the continuous failure of the Turkish army should make Sultan Mahmud more aware of his current situation.

Since everyone understands, it shouldn't be too far away from negotiations.

However, Solovyov underestimated the young and vigorous Sultan Mahmud. How could a young man not be vigorous?

Even if they failed now, the Ottoman Empire would probably continue to fight.

However, on the plains of Macedonia, the Turks would not fight the Russian army in the wilderness or in the mountains, because they really could not win.

Waiting until the next morning, Solovyov finally got the result he wanted. The Turks ran away, leaving only a messy camp, and a large amount of supplies that could not be taken away were burned.

Although this time did not achieve the same brilliant victory as before, it was also a decisive battle.

Solovyov has always been cautious. He only sent the victory report when he confirmed that the enemy had slipped away.

After all, his situation is different from Melas. He does not need to open champagne at halftime. He sent the victory report to Vienna when the French army retreated. Petersburg is too far away and the news will be delayed.

Even with such a high Ping, after the victory, the news to Kamensky the Younger still needed to be delivered by express. As for the later, the victory report to the Tsar was not afraid of being late.

It seems that this is just a trivial defeat in a series of defeats of the Turks compared with the previous defeats. After returning, Aziz Ahmed Pasha probably lost the opportunity to become the Grand Vizier and was exiled to an island to be a governor.

This is good for Ahmed Pasha, but after he became the Grand Vizier, he also had to sign the peace treaty of defeat, which does not seem to be a good thing.

In short, the two Pashas who were supposed to become Grand Viziers one after another were not happy after being beaten by Soloviev.

On the other hand, in Thessaloniki, the Turkish army quickly raised the white flag after knowing that reinforcements would not arrive and the Russian army returned again.

At this time, it was only the end of November 1810. The Russian Macedonian Corps, as the flank of the Danube Front, set out from Craiova, passing through Vidin, Lom, Sofia, Philippopolis, Skopje, Phanarion and Thessaloniki, and now they have finally temporarily ended their military operations.

With the surrender of Thessaloniki, the entire Macedonian region, except for a part in the east, was still under the control of Aziz Ahmed Pasha, and the rest was occupied by the Russian army.

Next, the Macedonian Corps will go south to Greece as they often did in the classical era.

It's just that in the ancient Greek era, Philip the One-Eyed went to Greece to be the overlord.

Soloviev was just trying to ensure that the Russian army could enter Athens smoothly.

As long as they entered Athens, and then some vanguard troops passed through the Isthmus of Corinth to reach the Peloponnese, the Turks would basically be defeated, and their rule would actually end here.

Next, it would probably be whether the Greeks could decide their own destiny, whether Serbia and Greece would be independent or autonomous, or some other issues.

For the Ottoman Empire, their rule in Europe was almost collapsed under this situation.

For Britain and France, it was not so good either. The war was not over yet, but their plan to use the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire to contain Russia, no matter how you look at it, you know that it has failed.

The remaining war time was probably garbage time. The main forces of both sides confronted along the main mountain passes and passes. Unless there was something wrong in the diplomatic negotiations, the war should have ended like this.

Soloviev was also in a good mood. After settling down in Thessaloniki, he also wanted to take Mrs. Recamier and Clara over. As for Katya and the children, he also wanted to take them over.

He would probably spend the winter of this year in Greece, and he even hoped to go to Athens. (End of this chapter)