Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Skopje is the main traffic route between Serbia and Greece, and the only way to enter Macedonia.

Soloviev complained to Katya in a letter that he had been away from the enemy's bullets for a long time, and it was the same on the way to Skopje.

He looked very conspicuous in the general's uniform and hat. This was the case on the battlefield in the early 19th century. Officers always had to be different from soldiers, especially these generals.

So when he rode on the mountain road, he was inevitably targeted.

But with a gunshot, his mount was knocked down.

This road is not suitable for falling. If you accidentally fall on a stone, you may become disabled.

It was also his luck that he fell directly into a ditch on the side of the road, but he was covered in mud and didn't look good.

The adjutant and guards around him quickly followed the sound of the gun and pulled the gunman out of the bushes.

"Sir, it was this bastard who fired the gun."

Soloviev looked at the man, who looked very strong.

The translator couldn't understand what he was saying. The ethnic composition of the Ottoman Empire was too complicated, and it was possible to find someone who they couldn't understand.

When they searched the man, they found that he was a Kurd.

In the future, the Kurds fought with Turkey, but in this era, until the Armenian genocide during World War I, they were probably very loyal fighters.

"Kurds. It seems that this Sultan Mahmud can really pull people, and it can also prove that his troops are not so sufficient."

No one else could withstand the tossing of him and little Kamensky.

In a year, many Pashas on the front line, the Grand Vizier of Constantinople, and the governors of the Ottoman Empire in various places have been dismissed, and the loss of Turkish troops has exceeded 100,000. The entire European part of the Ottoman Empire has been involved in the war.

Therefore, it is not strange that the Sultan recruited soldiers from the Asian part where he was still relatively loyal.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know either. After all, our intelligence in Asia is not that sufficient. Also, at this critical juncture, we should find a way to capture Skopje first, and then enter Greece. Karl, how much information have you collected on Greece now?"

Soloviev got on the carriage first because of a bullet in the horse he changed, and asked Clausewitz to tell him about some maps and information here.

"We only know about the situation in Greece. The whole Balkan Peninsula is like this. Greece has some independent armed forces."

"I really don't know about this. I only told me about his father's trip to Greece in the past."

Soloviev was curious. In addition to the Mamluks, there were also independent armed forces in Greece. It is no wonder that many soldiers were quickly pulled out during the Greek War of Independence.

"Tell me about their composition, Karl. I'm also interested."

"Well, these armed forces are used to prevent bandits. Every city and town has some armed forces, ranging from a dozen to hundreds. They are used to prevent bandits on weekdays. The word to describe them seems to be derived from Italian."

"Never mind that, there are some independent militias in Greece, but the situation in the Ottoman Empire is very strange. They often recruit some bandits into the army. They are bandits in normal times, but soldiers in war."

"Yes, there are bandits on both sides. What should I say?"

Clausewitz came from Prussia. Although their country was quickly opened by Napoleon, there were also bandits everywhere, but the main target of these people was the French army, which they thought was a traitor who defected to the French.

It's different in the Balkans. In Serbia, there is at least Karageorge who can do both (in brackets, his name also means Black George). In Greece, both sides' military forces have such militias and bandits.

The discipline of these people can also be imagined, which is also a daily routine in Europe.

Think about it, in Spain, not only the British and French armies, but also the Spanish "Royal Division" was often beaten, because they really like to do things that are too rude, and when collecting grain in the local area, everyone does the same thing.

The Russian army has always had poor military discipline, that is, when they were in the Balkans and Italy, they still paid attention to being decent, and at other times they had a lot of fun, especially when the Cossacks collected grain during the expedition, they did better than the French army.

"But this is the current situation, the people in Serbia are tough."

"A soldier may have been a civilian before, and he also worked as a bandit. This is really confusing, and it is a bit confusing."

The mixed set of soldiers, bandits and civilians, other people's families will probably have a headache if they are stuck.

When they arrived at the outskirts of Skopje, the Russian army surrounded the city and was not in a hurry to attack.

The reason is also very simple. The number of civilians here is limited, but there are a large number of troops in the fortress, but there are not many supplies.

If we lay siege, a strong attack will definitely result in losses on our side, so it is better to lay siege like this and wait until the rations are almost consumed and the enemies in the city are almost gone.

Kamensky's previous siege of several fortresses on the lower reaches of the Danube was because he did not block the waterways on the Danube. As a result, the Turkish army often used smuggling methods to transport them to a series of fortresses. Therefore, he was very unlucky and the siege did not go smoothly. , had to resort to blasting to resolve the battle.

This also consumed a lot of ammunition and caused considerable personnel losses.

On his side, it was okay. Kamensky's battlefield environment was mainly between water nets and swamps. After he crossed the Danube River, he was either on flat land or on a mountain road. When he encountered rivers, it was more advantageous for him, and he could often use it to divide the terrain.

The origin of the city of Skopje is probably that after the Roman Empire took control of the place in the early days, the city began to be built with the name "Skopi". It was under the rule of the Roman Empire for a long time until the Ottoman Empire's army entered Europe.

However, the city also suffered serious population losses during the Turkish rule.

The reason for this loss is that we often encountered plagues, and we even set fire to the city because of this.

Even under the rule of the Turks, the city's population was often less than ten thousand.

If the rule continues like this, if the transportation cannot be improved, in about a hundred years there will be no one in the mountains, even if it is still a transportation hub.

As for the future, this place will be plagued by wars, and the biggest characteristic of nationalism is probably to purge the locals several times.

There may be some places where I can’t figure out who the original person was.

When the Russian army was stationed outside the city, they were often harassed by these bandits. Once they pursued them, they might go into the mountains and forests again.

But as time went by, with more and more Russian troops and the arrival of Serbians, these people became more honest.

Without him, it’s just the three-in-one attributes of the Serbs.

Fighting bandits, you can do it!

That's it, it just ensures that the road from Sofia to Skopje is smooth, and it can bring all the materials needed for the siege.

In the end, no matter what method is used to capture Skopje, it will be an important transportation hub for the Russian rear in the future, and it must not be neglected.

Materials will be stored here in the future to provide ammunition when the Russian army continues to move south.

As for food, you should probably ask your fellow Greeks. Solovyov also knows that in the Ottoman Empire’s ruling areas, there are many people who use precious metal currency, so he pays attention to using silver coins for transactions wherever he goes, at least to ensure the value. , the silver ruble was relatively strong even after it reached the Ottoman Empire.

Check out the 16-9 book bar to see the correct version!

But the sporadic bandit soldiers outside the city still made him feel a little uncomfortable. There were always people coming to harass him, which was indeed very troublesome.

So he called Dulic and Jokic, and asked these two people and Dobniak to take the Serbian cavalry and skirmishers to continue searching for the bandits on the mountain. On the way, he also wanted to see if they could find anything to ask Adri. The path that leads to Yahai.

As for the main road, not only was it blocked by the Turkish army, but also some rocks and wood were used to block the way. It always takes time to clean it up.

The power of black powder is definitely not enough. Solovyov now wants to use some other explosive, preferably a strong one.

On the Greek side, Demetrius' return this time also brought good news.

"Thessaly heard that the Russian army had arrived at Skupi, and they were ready to take action. They now have four to five thousand people, and their strength is relatively scattered. However, the Turkish army is relatively small there, and only some were temporarily recruited. bandits."

"Interesting, your armed forces are basically militiamen to guard against these bandits, right?"

"Yes, you know that too?"

"As the commander of the legion, I always ask the people below to collect intelligence. I also need to keep track of your dynamics and know your situation. Otherwise, if I make wrong decisions, many more people will die."

"Now that you know everything, what we are worried about now is how to capture Larissa."

Larissa has been an old Greek city since ancient times. It is outrageous that the Turkish troops in the city are all bandits.

These militiamen used to guard against bandits when they were obedient people. But when they rose up and fought for their own independence, they still had to fight against bandits, and some bandit soldiers even defected to them.

This is also a strange thing, but the Greeks seem to be used to it, and they continue to expand their armed forces.

"But if you take action, you will probably be exposed. It is better to attack the officials of the Ottoman Empire somewhere, or the tax collectors they sent to collect grain and tax, and attract them to the place where you have ambush in advance. If you attack directly Town, you don’t even have cannons, and we can’t send people there immediately, otherwise we will only lose our own strength.”

"I understand this. In addition to Thessaly, there are also people in our area who are ready to respond one after another."

"Then we need to pay more attention to this. You must mobilize more Turkish troops and eliminate more than a dozen of them piecemeal. If you add up, you can win the battle. We are here to besiege Skopje. Naturally, it will take some time, and you can’t act in a hurry.”

Demetrius also understood, so he asked Solovyov to write him a letter explaining the situation.

"You'd better give us some instructions so we can take action according to your methods."

"But my Greek is not very good, and I often make spelling mistakes and mispronunciations. You stay here for a few days, and I will ask the secretary in charge of text to translate some for you. I will write down the specific content, and it would be better if there is someone who knows Russian or French."

"That's no problem, we will act according to your instructions."

"The key is not to be like the Serbs in Nis some time ago, although they were very powerful, but in the end they had limited results. Earlier, they were even defeated by the Turks in Nis, and many heads of the dead were cut off and built into the wall. This is a tragic lesson. I hope you can take fewer detours."

"Okay, I understand what you mean."

But for the situation in the Balkan Peninsula where there are bandits everywhere and the three parties of soldiers and civilians can't figure out their identities, Solovyov probably has to carry out in-depth anti-bandit work while the Russian army continues to advance.

Sometimes it is even necessary to mobilize local people to take action.

Orthodox Christians in the Balkans have always had a bad impression of the Turks. Although the Turkish Sultan did not convert them on a large scale, the churches in the city were converted into temples, and many parish lands were arranged to accommodate Turkish soldiers. The land of civilians was also deprived, and slave traders have always been rampant.

There is a feeling of going back from the feudal Eastern Roman Empire to Ionia under the rule of the Persian king in the Greek classical era, except that there will be no little boys being castrated at a young age and sent to the Persian king as tribute - although the Ottoman Empire also has eunuchs, but this technology.

And for the Greek world, what is worse is probably that now, except for the territory controlled by the Russians, basically all the places where they live are controlled by the Ottoman Empire. It can be said that there is no freedom at all, which is worse than the era when they were frequently looted by the Goths.

Although it is easy to lose your life, the Goths will leave after robbing, and sometimes they will settle down. They will not be so tyrannical and levy heavy taxes, and everyone will be put in shackles.

Therefore, the Greeks are always very active when external forces come to help.

But they were also influenced by Turkification, and the Greeks had always argued about how to act since ancient times, and formed gangs because of clans and villages.

Well, it seems that it is almost becoming tribal democracy, which may be even worse than the system that was always looked down upon by some philosophers in the classical era.

But at least they are willing to resist, if only someone could gather them all together.

It's a pity that Prince Mikhail died in Sweden, otherwise he would be the most suitable candidate.

Solovyov looked at his brother-in-law, Prince Vasily, who was a relative of Mikhail, but this matter should not be of much use, and a separate candidate was still needed. (End of this chapter)