Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

After capturing Vidin, Soloviev was also waiting for a meeting with Karageorge. Before that, he was also paying attention to the movements of the Turkish army.

He originally thought that the Turks would retreat, so he could find a way to harass the Serbs along the way, and he would lead three divisions to intercept them halfway, which would make it easier to win.

What surprised him was that the Turkish army did not make any moves during the days in Vidin.

"What are they going to do?"

After reading Duric's letter, Soloviev was also a little confused, but he could only choose to wait.

But there are still complaints. The letter said that the Turkish army was in Nis and Belgrade at this time, and it was also necessary to transfer troops from Bosnia.

"What we can do is just wait. Mick, you should relax yourself. Vidin is safe here, and our army needs to rest. The garrison troops that will be transferred later are still on the way."

"I know that the Turks are squatting in the city and not coming out. If it were just us besieging, it would be fine. Now the deadly thing is that there are still Serbs here."

"Are you worried about another Belgrade?"

"Indeed, if we enter the city and fight, who knows what the untrained army will do."

There are many settlements of various Yugoslav ethnic groups in these places south of Nis, but the military discipline of the Serbs in the past was really too poor.

The Russian army is still treated as a royal army. If the Serbs come, it will not be good if some unrestrained warlord comes.

Now Soloviev really wants to meet Karageorge, and the two sides need to agree on a policy of joint operations.

As for the captured Turkish prisoners, they must be sent to the other side of the Danube, where they may be retaliated.

The more prisoners captured, the greater the bargaining chip, although the Tsar may not like to capture so many Turkish prisoners.

Kamensky captured more than 4,000 people, and Soloviev captured more than 8,000 people because it was a siege. It would take some time to find a place for these Turks to build a board house and lock themselves up.

Soloviev really wanted to learn more about the Serbian situation. If it was just through Karadzic and Duric, it might not be enough.

The news of the victory in Vidin was very slow to reach St. Petersburg. Although Russia also had optical communications, and it was a more advanced portable optical transmitter, it was still popular in the army. There were relatively few places where local governors could use it, and the communication distance was also easily limited.

The fast horses from Odessa should still be some time away from St. Petersburg.

Asking for instructions from superiors would definitely delay things. Kamensky was besieging Rushchuk, but now it was just a siege. If they really attacked by force, the casualties would be very large.

Although the Turkish troops in Rushchuk were not very powerful, they were well defended compared to places like Vidin, which were surrounded and quickly captured by the Russian army without any defense.

Therefore, the two Kamensky brothers won several battles in the first stage and defeated the Turkish troops who came to rescue them, and the main front was in a stalemate.

Solovyov also knew the problem. If he could break the deadlock, the situation on the entire battlefield would naturally be reversed.

Even for the Russian army, it was very convenient to find a guide. The local Slavs and the Wallachian Romanians on the north bank of the Danube, as well as the Greek nobles and Armenian merchants widely distributed in the European part of the Ottoman Empire, were still looking forward to the entry of the Russian army.

If anyone said that Russia's attack on Turkey improved the cohesion of the Ottoman Empire, it would be a bit funny. After all, the Ottoman Empire really oppressed all nations, especially Christians. Among the European powers, the one who cared the most about Christians and brother nations in the Ottoman Empire was Russia, which had always been criticized.

As for the governance ability of the Ottoman Empire, it has always been backed by foreign countries, otherwise it would have been torn apart by Russia.

Even Austria is a great threat to the Ottoman Empire. If these two countries were not involved in the problems of the European continent, they would probably focus on the Balkans, and then as three non-empires and the third Rome, they would rush to Constantinople.

As for what is a foreign country, for Austria it is France, and for Russia it is other European countries

Soloviev still made up his mind to meet with Karageorge, but the meeting place this time.

Karageorge said that he would meet in a mineral spring village.

This place is Soko Mineral Spring Village, a famous health resort in Serbia in the future. Karageorge made it very clear in the letter that Duric wrote.

It is hoped that they can meet formally to deepen the relationship between the two sides.

Although Karageorge is the leader of the Serbian uprising army, he also has a problem, that is, he has never met with the main senior generals of the Russian army.

Solovyov's position at this time was very suitable. He was the actual deputy commander of the Danube Front and the commander-in-chief of the army heading west. Before Kutuzov arrived, he was indeed more suitable.

Not to mention that he really had the authority. His purpose of coming here was to arm the Serbs so that he could get an auxiliary corps.

Karageorge also knew this. For this reason, he was usually more serious and decided to entertain Solovyov at the mineral spring.

After all, this guy's lust is now well-known in the Serbian camp.

Although in fact, Solovyov's intimate relationship with young ladies is still relatively high in quality, but several lovers known to outsiders are indeed the same. The two French women, Madame Recamier and Polina, are really So famous.

But in the mineral spring village, you don’t have to worry about this. After all, everyone is wrapped in bath towels during the mixed bath. It’s not like in the Turkish bath. If you have seen Ingres’s paintings, you may have some misunderstandings.

The bathing customs of the Ottoman Empire are more or less left over from Rome. Let’s talk about it.

Nowadays, in Turkish baths, men and women can bathe together, and some can wash separately. However, men usually wear waist towels on such occasions. Should I change it to women?

In the 21st century, Turks still have this custom in remote villages, which is to have a blind date in a bathhouse before marriage to see whether the girl's body is healthy and whether she is in a shape that is conducive to giving birth to children. That's about it.

Mihrima, who knew this custom and was the daughter of a Turkish officer, blushed somewhat when she heard about the meeting place.

After all, she was not old enough to talk about marriage, but she had to serve her master and follow him.

"Why, you seem to have a fever? I have some herbs here that you can use to make medicinal soup."

"No, sir, if you want to go to the mineral springs, you must take a bath, and you must have someone to attend to you."

"Ah, I know the customs of the Turkish bath. After all, where I live, there is a Turkish bath nearby, but there are very few mixed baths. The girls bathe in the bathroom at home. If you feel embarrassed, I will tell Carla George Come out. It’s interesting, negotiating with the other party’s leader for a maid.”

This child is indeed very cute. If it were any other Turkish woman to be a maid, serving the master might be a good opportunity to rise to the top. Maybe even the little girl has this kind of scheming. The most lively part of the palace fight drama, Probably Turkey.

Even a wise king like Suleiman the Magnificent could kill his most capable son, Prince Mustafa, but he was not as shameless as Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who built a lot of projects to show his people that he was capable of killing. My son felt regretful.

Suleiman really expressed regret, but he could not pose a threat to other sons who might succeed. According to the inheritance law of the Ottoman Empire, even his preferred grandson was executed.

"Neither"

"While Karageorge and I go in to talk, just wait outside. You don't have to follow the Romans and talk about something in the bathhouse."

Ah, the Romans were so clever that except for a few emperors, few passed the throne to their sons.

In short, he still had to set off from Vidin to Soko Mineral Spring Village.

Karagiorgi is definitely not a "traveler", because Soko Mineral Spring Village is the favorite health resort of his later political opponents, the Obrenniewicz family. The most famous thing about this place is the 25°C sodium carbonate. Cold mineral springs are also very effective.

It's no wonder that Serbs like to drink water. The mineral springs in their area are of high quality. Karadzic should drink more, so as to strengthen the Serbs.

Karagiorgi also made careful arrangements. He only took Dulic and a few followers to set off in advance, and arranged for some elite Serbian troops to be on guard duty there, leaving some of his confidants outside Belgrade.

The current performance of the Turkish army is that it is hiding in the city and unable to come out. It is not like when the Serbian rebels attacked Belgrade for the first time, they took advantage of the shrinking Turkish army and Selim III was eager to deal with the domineering Yeniche. It's convenient.

Now the Turkish army's strength has been strengthened, but in Belgrade, Pancevo on the other side is the Austrian border area, and it is difficult for them to get any supplies.

Although Austria has always been willing to give Russia eye drops, and has always wanted to infiltrate Serbia, the current decline of Emperor Franz definitely means that he does not have the ability to interfere.

And whoever he helped probably wouldn't directly help the Ottoman Empire. If he wanted to "help" the Turks, it would be better to let them create trouble for these people.

".The current situation is like this. We also need artillery, artillery that can blast open the Turkish fortress."

"Have you never tried digging a tunnel and blasting underneath?"

Karageorge actually arranged an all-male occasion. Although the conversation was still in the mineral spring, given the situation here, with the commander and his entourage on both sides, it was more reliable. Any entertainment items will probably be done after the conversation in the mineral spring.

Solovyov mentioned that after the blasting, he was still enjoying the cold spring here, which was much better than places like swimming pools.

He also looked at Karageorge, hoping that the other party could make a decision as soon as possible.

"It's not like we haven't tried blasting before, but the enemy found out."

"I think your army is not good at siege warfare. Although these soldiers are strong and are the best group of soldiers. The brave mountain people have always been excellent soldiers of infantry and light cavalry, but there is no regularized army. , obviously can’t do anything.”

"You may be right. When we attack the city, we can't bombard it with cannons, blast it with explosives, and throw out a bunch of grenades like you did in Vidin."

"This requires your troops to be regularized. According to the current actual situation of the army of 50,000 personnel, I suggest that you streamline the combat troops to 40,000, which is generally a large army that can be more flexibly commanded and a more ideal size. We will consider expanding the army and recruiting soldiers in the future. We also need to train the soldiers by attacking Belgrade and Nis."

"Can we train soldiers during the war?"

"If possible, I will send engineers. If you need troops, you can. This time we meet in such a mineral spring village for a secret talk, and naturally we have to finalize the aid plan."

"Yes, but we also know that there must be some political purposes."

"It's good that you know this, but the price Russia wants Serbia to pay is not that much. Our foreign minister has set the goal Serbia maintains its autonomy under the jurisdiction of the Turks, but given the situation in the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Mahmud will definitely find loopholes. "

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because the French emperor encountered the untrustworthy Turks in Acre, we must be cautious here. Also, this mineral water is really good, suitable for drinking or soaking in mineral springs."

"If you like, you can come here often in the future, and you can also bring the countess here to travel."

"Thank you for your kindness, but a soldier like me may appear in a different place in the next war, and may not have the opportunity to come here again."

Soloviev said this, and he also knew that the war would continue. What he could do was probably to make the Balkans more lively.

As for soaking in the mineral springs and negotiating things, there was nothing more to say.

Soloviev decided to go to Nis to see the situation in person, and then decide whether to send engineers to support the Serbs.

As for the armament, what he could finalize was the British and French rifles seized from the Turks. Now he could take out more than 10,000 rifles, and some of them in good condition could indeed be delivered directly.

Horses were also easy to deal with, but what about cannons?

He was also worried if the Serbian army was not regularized.