Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

After a stalemate for a morning, the Turks launched another attack in the afternoon.

However, their fighting style did not change much. Instead, they attacked the Russian positions in groups, as if they wanted to use their local advantages to break through the Russian positions.

Then, they were hit by grapeshot.

Compared with the opponents that Solovyov had encountered before, Musa Pasha was only able to restrain his troops from coming out to kill.

Fighting like this is also a test for the Russian army.

Although the opponent has always been a suicide flow, if you can't stand it, the opponent has more people, and you will probably be the first to fail.

"It seems that we should let them cross the river."

The Russian army had previously blocked the Turkish army on the other side with fierce artillery fire, but they couldn't keep resisting like this.

Solovyov thought that if they were allowed to cross the river to fight, it would be very suitable to use this unfortunate riverbed at this time.

As for retreating on his side, he still had to maintain order. It was impossible to pretend to retreat, and the enemy didn't know that he was quite cunning in commanding battles and always liked to play tricks.

This time, Musa Pasha was also short-sighted. When he saw the Russian army retreating, he quickly issued an order to pursue.

It was just that the Russian army had not retreated to the river, and the 6-pound guns of the Russian army had not yet retreated, and they fired shells continuously.

The solid bullets were fired in the marching column of the Turkish army, which was a string of blood gourds, but they had to be opened among the pebbles.

The French had a deep feeling before. It was the Russian army that did this, and Solovyov liked to add fuel to the fire. He directly used the unicorn cannon, which caused serious casualties to the Turkish army crossing the river after the explosion.

But the Turks were still moving forward. They were not stubborn, but there were too many people behind them, causing everyone to be blocked here. If they retreated, they would be more likely to be trampled to death.

Therefore, the Turkish soldiers in the front row holding cold weapons were still moving forward. Even if the Russian artillery continued to harvest them like wheat, no one retreated.

In this way, they had to fight to the death. The Russian army did not go too far in the second-line position. They relied on the nearby towns, and there were many stone walls outside the courtyards here, which was very convenient for the Russian army to defend.

Now, many Turkish troops crossed the river, and the scene was very chaotic for a while.

Especially in the defense area of ​​the Grenadier Division, which was responsible for the defense mission, the pressure was still very high.

The Turkish crossing was facing them, and some Turkish soldiers holding cold weapons swam across the river with scimitars or spears on their backs. Crossing the river from a deeper place in the river was less likely to be hit by the Russian artillery, and the loss of personnel after landing was not great.

It was just that when they launched the attack, they were hit by the Russian army again.

It was not the grenadier position that they were going to attack from the front. The hunters hiding behind the stone wall on the flanks fired at the Turkish army one after another.

This was originally a trick that the Turks used to deal with the Russian army. Apparently, the Russian army has learned it from them.

Between the bushes, orchards, farmlands and villages, the Turkish soldiers will be hit by volleys much harder than their skirmishers in this terrain.

The Turkish skirmishers often move in small teams, while the Russian army is assembled and has more intensive firepower, which is a disaster for the Turks.

The subsequent Turkish troops who crossed the river now have to deal with the chasseurs behind the stone wall. They have to consider that although the Russian army has few troops, the formation is very stable. Even if the Turks use cannons to bombard, it may not have a good effect.

After all, it is not easy to find so many suitable reverse slopes in one place, but the Turkish artillery is a little sorry for Solovyov's targeted deployment.

On one side is the position arranged according to some of the elite Turkish artillery, but the artillery under Musa Pasha is not very good.

But this was not a useless arrangement. When the Turkish army rushed up, they found that the Russians not only had fierce firepower, but also launched a counterattack with bayonets.

The Turks were very emotional. When the Russians retreated at first, they thought they had a chance, so they crossed the river and pursued them under the order of Pasha.

After a barrage of artillery fire, it was obvious that their arrogance was suppressed.

Now that they rushed to the Russian position and were pushed back like this, they were obviously exhausted.

"This is not enough, we have to wait. The follow-up Turkish troops are still crossing the river, and victory seems to be coming soon."

"Mick, you were still worried that the battle would last for a few days this morning."

"I didn't expect Musa Pasha to give me such a face that the entire army was actually preparing to cross the river. It's a pity that we can't fight an annihilation battle like this."

"Don't think about another Cannae. It's good enough to annihilate the enemy's entire army once."

"Yes, we can't always annihilate the enemy. Instead, we changed to attacking halfway across the river, which is easy to win."

After fighting for two or three hours in the afternoon, the Russian army still did not launch a counterattack.

The Turks were beaten because of the special terrain. Their losses were already great, and there were corpses everywhere.

Seeing that the consumption was almost enough, Solovyov was also waiting for Kunev's action.

The cavalry can move now. They went upstream from the river and did not encounter resistance from the Turkish cavalry. Instead, they went around to the back and were able to touch his poorly accurate artillery.

What followed was a wave of sudden killing, literally, as the Russian cavalry that rushed into the rear of the Turkish army quickly destroyed the artillery positions.

Kunev personally led the hussars forward. He saw the gorgeous tents of the Turks and roughly knew that the Turkish commander was here.

Then, he thought about leading his cavalry to dig out the Turks' lair, control the Turkish camp, plunder the Turkish supplies, and it would be even better if he could capture a few more Bayi masters along the way.

However, Musa Pasha was not as cowardly as Mustafa Bey he had met before. Although he was incompetent, he still had some courage.

He still had some heavy cavalry around him. When he was fighting fiercely with the Russian army in front, he was attacked by the Russian cavalry from behind. He personally led his Circassian cavalry guards and light cavalry to counterattack the Russian army.

Seeing this, Kunev did not launch an attack. He stopped when he saw the good and gathered his troops.

The Turkish cavalry was still armored cavalry. Such strange attire naturally made their endurance worse, and they could not chase too far after counterattacking.

Kunev took advantage of his mobility to make a circle and rushed towards the Turkish troops that came later.

When he got closer, he became even more excited.

There were a lot of baggage here, and many of the Turkish light infantrymen were separated from their own food, that is, weapons, and were resting here.

I don't know why the Turks were so careless. Maybe it was because although they had a hard time attacking in the afternoon, these infantrymen in the rear didn't have to go to the battlefield immediately.

So they were resting, yes, resting.

So when the cavalry charged over, it was even more like chopping heads.

That is to say, the Russian army didn't have the habit of killing people, otherwise, given the current situation of the Turkish army, it would not be impossible for the Turkish army to pile up the heads of Serbs cut off like in Nis.

But the number of Turkish troops was too large, and they couldn't kill them all, so Musa Pasha led the cavalry to come to the rescue.

Kunev asked his cavalry to light the Molotov cocktails with fire bottles, and after burning the Turkish baggage carts, he turned around and left.

After seeing the burning baggage train and the bodies lying in all directions, Musa Pasha knew that this battle could not be fought.

But if he ordered a retreat, it was also a big question whether the Turks had the strength to organize the retreat.

Solovyov did not know that Kunev was so proactive. He probably knew that Kunev had succeeded from the silence of the Turkish artillery.

I just didn't know that this man was so capable. When he was in Sweden, although he often commanded hussars and Cossacks in the cavalry, his performance was outstanding, but he was not as active as today.

Therefore, his thoughts were still very cautious, just pushing forward slowly.

A correct version of the book in 16-9!

He regretted it later.

The retreat of the Turkish army, under his slow pursuit, was also a state of collapse, and 50,000 people scattered in front of him.

Well, it was indeed not easy to catch them.

But Solovyov attacked like this, and he had already started thinking about the next battle. If these enemies collapsed, it would be difficult to gather them back.

It was common for Turkish soldiers to desert and run away, and there were tens of thousands of them, often in a rush. Some of them went home nearby, some became bandits, and all kinds of things happened.

At dusk, the Russian army returned to the starting position, but the corpses were everywhere. The Turkish army had left tens of thousands of corpses and wounded soldiers here.

Kunev came back with the hussars at this time, and also brought back a lot of captured supplies.

Every time there were horses. This time, he burned the Turkish army's baggage and convoys. After Musa Pasha slipped away, he returned to the burned convoys and abandoned tents. This time he got a lot.

However, he also had a question.

"Why did you only chase to the river bank?"

Then he told his battle results in detail. Solovyov slapped his forehead and regretted it a little.

"If we cross the river and pursue them, although we cannot completely annihilate them, the results should be greater."

But there is no regret medicine, and he knows very well that even if there are 50,000 pigs, it will probably take three days to catch them all, especially since the Turkish army is running everywhere, and there are many bandits.

As for who to fight next, Solovyov's idea is to go back to the south.

The Turkish army in the north is at the edge of the mountain pass, and it is not easy to pursue them, and they may be let go.

The Turkish army in the south is more or less easy to stick to because the Serbian cavalry has been entangled with them.

But this night, the soldiers who have experienced fierce battles still have to rest well.

In recent times, there is probably no need to worry about the Turks coming to trouble them.

In addition to them, Kamensky the Younger attacked the main force of the Turkish army in the lower reaches of the Danube. After Ahmed Pasha lost thousands of people, he began to shrink in the fortress and did not come out.

Sultan Mahmud is not really stupid. After knowing that the front line failed, he probably knew that his army did not have the ability to attack.

In this way, the Russian army can only confront them in these fortresses in Thrace, and cannot directly threaten Constantinople.

The next stage will definitely be a long, trivial and boring series of sporadic battles, especially the offensive and defensive battles around many fortresses.

During this period, the Russian army can get enough rest, and the Macedonian Corps will return to Sofia.

Solovyov was unwilling to entangle too much in the east, and he was also waiting for the Serbs to join his army.

According to the reports of the officers sent to the Serbian army, at least these soldiers have combat experience, but they have fought too many guerrilla wars, so they are still very obedient in training, and their discipline is much better than that of the Turkish army.

However, only three infantry regiments can be immediately pulled out, and they are all light infantry. Line infantry cannot be organized. After all, it is still difficult to make them form discipline.

It is naturally not an easy task to let the Serbs switch between line infantry and skirmishers.

But this is better than nothing. Even if it is not full, there are still 3,000 people to supplement. For the Russian army that has experienced two world wars and suffered more than 2,000 losses, it is a good supplement.

And now there is also good news for the Russian army, that is, uprisings against the rule of the Ottoman Empire broke out in Macedonia and Greece, but most of them are peasants.

According to the impression of ancient Greece, there will probably be citizen militias here, mainly citizens and self-cultivating farmers near the city.

But the current rulers here are Turks, and many people are actually serfs or even slaves.

The formation of serfdom in Russia was related to the perverse actions of Ivan the Terrible and Boris Godunov, but Russia generally showed the protection of some serfs by landlords, and it was inevitable that some of them had great shortcomings.

In the Ottoman Empire, the slavery here was the original one in the Middle East. Many people were sold, unlike the serfs in Russia, some of whom had skills and crafts and were actually free.

It is a very long story to talk about Turkey. The slave market on Delos Island can only sigh that it is not as good as it is. In addition to religious tolerance in some areas of the Ottoman Empire, this great shortcoming has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Therefore, the resistance aroused was also very strong, and Macedonia and Greece may be just the beginning.

However, to pass the level, Skopje must be captured first, which is a must-pass route to enter the Macedonian region.

If you go south directly from Sofia, the roads there are blocked by the Turkish army, and there is no chance.

Therefore, after Solovyov returned to Sofia, he immediately called the generals together to confirm the final offensive plan. (End of this chapter)