Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Outside the city of Thessaloniki, the Russian army not only camped on the mountain and kept observing the situation in the city, but also stationed a large number of troops at the foot of the northern slope.

This is also because the main road north of Thessaloniki is the right way for the Turkish reinforcements to arrive, and only these towns on the peninsula can be reached from the south.

However, both the north and south directions are roads that the Russian army must cut off, and Solovyov has limited troops. Before the possible arrival of subsequent reinforcements, he can only make the most of the troops at hand for dispatch. At first, he still needs to besiege the enemy in the city, but he can't rush to attack.

Therefore, he decided to write a letter to Kamensky the Younger, hoping that he could withdraw some troops, even if it was just a few regiments.

However, there was no reply from there. On the one hand, the shortest route to Sofia, the mountain road, was still under the control of the Turkish army, and it was always difficult to pass on the message.

In addition, Kamensky decided to besiege the Turkish fortresses in the Harmanli area at this time. He wanted to open the road to Adrianople. Soloviev's detachment achieved great results, which somewhat ignited the commander's competitive spirit.

Therefore, the main force of the Russian army could hardly mobilize a single soldier.

He was a little uneasy at this time, but there was no way. If he ventured into the Greek area, he would face many problems. If the enemy mobilized a large army, he would have to find a way to stop the reinforcements.

The good news is that Larissa has been taken now. Kunev left an infantry regiment and the Greek militia to defend the city there, and then mobilized the Greeks in the nearby towns and villages to bring back another six regiments and some Greek militias.

Soloviev was a little worried after listening to what he said.

"You only put one regiment there. The Greek militia's combat effectiveness may not be reliable. If someone comes out of Lamia and enters Thessaly, it will be a great threat to us."

"It shouldn't happen. The Turks are now overwhelmed by the militia in southern Greece, and they have limited troops. From Lamia all the way south, the troops that can be mobilized will not exceed 10,000. The militias there and the spontaneous militias have this number."

"I know that if I can get reinforcements, your deployment will be no problem at all. But it has been almost half a month, and there is no movement. If there are no reinforcements, I may have to borrow troops from the Serbs. Karageorge is now negotiating with Count Kutuzov to discuss the specific details of the assistance. I don't want to give him the bargaining chips he thinks he needs."

"Why are you still a little petty?"

Kunev was a little confused. Solovyov has always been a very generous person. Although he lives frugally, he is still unambiguous about where to spend money.

If he is petty, there must be something wrong.

Regarding Kunev's doubts, Solovyov just sat in the recliner and said nothing.

He didn't look like a young general in his thirties at all, but had the shadow of those old foxes.

"Why are you silent again?"

"I'm also thinking that if Karageorge wants to raise the price, it's not impossible. The 40,000 people under his command are really very good bargaining chips. I had this worry when I met him at the mineral spring before."

"It shouldn't be?"

"I have already killed Stojkovic before, which has formed a deterrent to the Serbs. The benefits promised afterwards were also drafted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs before the army set out, and there was nothing out of the ordinary. In this way, it will be very smooth. What I worry about is that sometimes some people just overestimate their own abilities."

"You think too much, talk about What happens after the verdict? "

"Yakov, I am different from you. You are a cavalry general. When you are in charge of the army, you are the commander of the cavalry. My situation is different. If you think about the situation in my family, you will know that I am also helpless now. "

Yes, he is the son-in-law of the Dolgorukov family. His military master is Suvorov. His sister is married to the prince of Mecklenburg's branch. His sister is engaged to Secretary of State Speransky. Unlike the past when he could command the war freely, once it involves diplomatic negotiations and politics, he cannot take the lead. That is a very troublesome thing.

At this time, he can more or less feel that he may be involved in politics. Speransky and Balashov are increasingly confronting each other in Petersburg, and it is mainly Balashov who is looking for trouble with Speransky.

So now he is in trouble too. Any handle of the slightest disturbance may provoke this hawk dog.

He has someone to protect him, and he is also a good general. He probably won't go to Siberia to dig potatoes, but his future will definitely be affected.

His worries are not without reason. Bagration thought he was tied up before, and finally applied for transfer.

He is only a few key points away from victory in Greece. He only needs to capture Thessaloniki and Lamia, and then reach Athens and Corinth, and he will probably be able to complete the task.

In this way, Russia will be in a very advantageous position at the negotiation table between Russia and Turkey in the future. It can be said that it can make any demands it wants. The Ottoman Empire will have no chips and will be a gambler who has lost everything.

Therefore, the final war is also very critical, but at this juncture, there are always some things that make people worry.

If those rumors were heard in St. Petersburg, Solovyov would have a chance to verify them, but if something else happened, it would be beyond his expectation. This was probably the disadvantage of being away from St. Petersburg.

Balashov would probably pester him because his circle was always connected with the liberals, and the Tsar himself was now obsessed with dictatorial power, not the declaration when he was a grandson of the emperor.

Solovyov was still in Moscow at that time, but he probably heard about Alexander's middle school period, after all, the young ladies would sometimes "catch" him as a foil at the "tea party" before they got married.

Solovyov could also learn some information from Katya's letter from St. Petersburg.

Although Katya was not very sensitive politically, she and her mother-in-law were both court ladies, so she was well-informed about what happened in the Winter Palace.

The intelligence came, and Solovyov only needed to analyze it himself.

Serbia's price cannot be too high, otherwise Balashov will definitely make trouble. Russia's finances have been very tight because of the war with Napoleon for a long time.

If he does not go well on the battlefield, he will probably be found guilty. Fortunately, his performance on the battlefield can always make up for some shortcomings.

So maintaining the current state seems to be a bit artificially difficult.

But the Turkish army he was waiting for has been slowly gathering. He only knew that Aziz Ahmed Pasha would lead the army here, but there were still some days, so he certainly had a lot of time to prepare.

The biggest problem of the Turkish army is probably that nearly 200,000 troops are crowded in the east of Rumelia. This pig tactic gives little Kamensky a headache, but their own consumption is also amazing.

If there are 200,000 pigs, they will be eaten all the time.

Therefore, the Turkish army is actually anxious to fight. It would be best if they could drive the Russian army out of the mountains, but it just happens that these two groups of troops are not easy to deal with.

At this time, since Thessaloniki was no longer the terrain where Soloviev had twice set up battlefields to calculate the Turkish army, Aziz Ahmed Pasha felt that he could do it.

Therefore, Soloviev probably didn't worry that the Turkish army would come because his troops were weak.

He surrounded 20,000 Turkish troops with 40,000 people, and if 100,000 people came to besiege him.

Maybe he would have to get the Caesar experience ticket again. The Battle of Alesia was obviously a very famous battle, which can be said to be Caesar's masterpiece.

Although Soloviev had his own combat style, he was more like Caesar, whether it was hiding soldiers to attack the enemy's flank or the battlefield environment outside.

Even lust was a little related.

The difference was probably that he had no political ambitions and knew that he could only climb up step by step with military merits.

If he had a better background, he could even do something, and he would not have some ambitions.

What was in front of him now was the situation where the enemy would come back at any time.

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However, three weeks have passed since the siege of Thessaloniki. He has not received any reinforcements, nor has the enemy arrived. The enemies in the city are just squatting in the city without any struggle.

At such times, it makes people feel very uncomfortable.

Therefore, he decided to ride to the north to see this road, and was also considering how to conduct this battle.

Unlike the previous battles where he could show off his skills, this time the Russian army can only fight the Turkish army on a fixed battlefield.

He has already begun to think about it. Letting go of Thessaloniki and letting the two enemies merge, and retreating to Vergina is definitely not an option worth considering.

Unfortunately, he really does not have enough manpower, otherwise he can directly cut off the route from Sofia to Thessaloniki, and then fight against the Turkish reinforcements in Aphipolis or Philippi, or even continue to move eastward.

There is no way. This is a problem of the Russian system. Alexander is unwilling to send more troops to Kamensky Jr., and Kamensky Jr., as the commander, is trying to advance to Adrianople at this moment.

He, Solovyov, cannot count on Karageorge, who is negotiating with Kutuzov, and has indeed entered a bottleneck period.

It is impossible to wait for the Turks, but he has not gained nothing.

To surround Salonika, if you don't consider deploying troops on the mountains, you only need to hold the main roads on both sides.

There are mountains to the north of Salonika, and he can set up his troops between the passes on both sides. In this way, the Turkish army cannot play its numerical advantage. Even if it is a more capable general, it will not be able to perform any operations on the narrow front.

"There seems to be a road at the mountain pass over there that can go around behind us, which is a bit dangerous."

"Don't worry, sir. There is a road to the town of Fanarion over there, but it is also difficult to walk. The road is narrow. If we attack from behind, we may not have enough manpower."

"But it always makes people feel dangerous. How about deploying a regiment and an artillery company there? This is almost enough to block the road."

"This is a gourd mouth. It's easy to get in but hard to get out. Put this regiment there."

"Okay, no need to say more. You adjutants, take a closer look at the battlefield environment. We will have to discuss it with the chief of staff when we go back. If possible, we can deploy positions in Manderai and Galikos where we are now. Moreover, the Turkish army's marching speed has always been slow. As long as they leave Thrace and enter Macedonia, we will probably be able to know the news. What's more, the large number of people is very unfavorable for concealing whereabouts."

"What are you going to do?"

"Pantalaimon can deploy an outpost. We must find a way to destroy the enemy's deployment and make their front line chaotic, and then launch a flank attack, focusing on their weak flanks."

"The enemy hasn't come yet, how can you confirm it?"

"They will definitely come, they will definitely come, but I certainly don't know whether the Turks will send a Pasha directly. Whether they want to defeat us, drive us out, or simply lift the siege of Thessaloniki. "

"Who knows? Your Excellency, fighting against the Turks, we have more troops than we had in Sweden."

"But at that time, there was Grand Duke Constantine. If His Royal Highness was there, he could give us troops, so we actually had more people than expected every time we fought, and there were troops to protect the flanks. However, now, we can still rely on the Greeks, but they are all militias, and have not received formal training. It's good to be able to wave flags and shout, but we can't really rely on them for action."

In short, it's still a bit nervous. Solovyov didn't know how many Turks came this time. If they were sent in hundreds of thousands, then Sultan Mahmud might as well call himself the "Sultan of 100,000" in the future.

This kind of waiting is indeed very troublesome. From the time Sultan Mahmud held a meeting with the Grand Vizier and Pasha in Constantinople to now, this army has not appeared.

However, the "Yamen" in charge of diplomacy in the Ottoman Empire has not agreed to negotiate with Russia now, whether it is the order of His Majesty the Sultan himself or the judgment of the "Yamen".

That's it. The Turkish army has assembled at least 60,000 troops on the edge of Thrace.

Because the main force of Kamensky the Younger has been chewing a bunch of hard nut on the front, the Turkish army did not move west for a while, but waited in Adrianople for a long time before taking action.

Neither side has any "God's perspective". When Solovyov was hesitant in the negotiations with the Serbs, the Turkish army only knew that he was short of troops, and knew nothing else.

Shortly after the negotiations ended, Kutuzov had reached an agreement with Karageorge, and the Turkish army decided to set off, which was not too late. (End of this chapter)