Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 427 004 Two rookie captains made a big profit

What Markov discovered was that the French army was about to set up a position opposite him.

He took the initiative and blocked Dupont's way.

At this time, both sides did not know that the baggage train behind the French was hijacked by the Russian cavalry team that came out for reconnaissance.

Nine cavalry squadrons were used to deal with the French convoy, which was more than a sledgehammer to kill a chicken.

However, because there was no infantry to cooperate, and the French army could pass by here at any time, Paren and Mikhail Dolgorukov chose to retreat to a safe area, and there were always two cavalry squadrons staring at the French army that appeared on Morungen's side.

Although the two of them were a little lucky, they were also more active. Compared with those irritable old cavalry, they also paid more attention to cooperating with friendly forces.

If the situation on that side was more tense, these two squadrons would attack again from the back, which would also be helpful to the friendly forces in front.

Even if they didn't launch an attack, it was like the Three Kingdoms novels they had been reading recently, setting fire behind the enemy as a signal. That was probably it.

As for Solovyov, he had just become a general, and he didn't play tricks. He just included an analysis in the order to the two friends.

"Ah, it's Mishka. This guy is not a colonel now, but a general like us."

"In his case, he was both an infantryman and a staff officer. After returning home, he sat in the office for half a year. He was not like us cavalrymen, who were promoted faster."

In fact, when Count Palen said this, he had already considered that Solovyov also had some connections and was a noble with a title, which was the same as them.

This was a question of job type, and Dolgorukov didn't care so much. He continued to read Solovyov's analysis.

"If Bernadotte knew about our actions, he would definitely avoid being threatened by us on the flank and his winter camp, and take action to get closer to Ney. The other troops are far away, only the relatively isolated Ney is close, and if the two armies and some scattered troops gather together to delay us, it will also be beneficial for the main force of the French army to take action."

"Is there anything else?"

"It's probably to lure and contain us, and then set a trap to launch a battle. This guy is so long-winded when writing a written analysis."

"It's good to be more detailed, Misha. Otherwise, how could he get engaged to your cousin?"

"Yes, although Uncle Vasily is a very kind person, he still values ​​skills when choosing a son-in-law. Everyone knows that Katya almost became the daughter-in-law of the 'old witch', which sounds like a horror story."

"Horror story."

If Soloviev knew about these two funny people, he would never have known that they could come up with a lot of strange things.

After all, in social occasions, there are girls there, and you always have to maintain the demeanor of a knight.

"What? Don't you agree?"

"No, I think Solovyov is still a capable guy. His analysis is very logical, and his judgment is also very reasonable."

"That's why we have to maintain a positive contact. If there is any movement on Markov's side, we have to find a way to cooperate."

As soon as they finished speaking, they could hear the sound of artillery from a distance.

Bernadotte is different from Lana. He has always been cautious and good at self-protection.

Especially in Austerlitz, after being hit by Solovyov's volley gun + artillery horse shooting, he became more cautious.

The artillery of the Dupont Division has been in the marching column. Seeing that the Russian army has occupied the advantageous terrain and controlled the road between the swamp and the lake, they can only set up their posture to fight.

After all, the Russian army came according to the routine and blocked the road here.

Moreover, the bad terrain in Poland and East Prussia really restricted the actions of both sides.

In this case, Dupont had no choice but to launch an attack.

Markov had a lot of troops in place, but they were still relatively scattered, and most of them were chasseurs.

These light infantrymen usually formed two or three lines to join the battle. The French army on the opposite side had a strong impact, which everyone knew.

Even when facing the Turks, we have to consider that the kebabs prefer hand-to-hand combat. Although the infantry is rotten to the bone, the light cavalry still has some combat effectiveness.

Therefore, the Russian chasseurs, except for a few troops engaged in skirmishes, fought more regularly most of the time, after all, the enemy would not easily give them any room to display their skills.

If a bayonet attack was launched at this juncture, the formation would be dispersed and they would definitely be passively beaten.

The narrow terrain is more conducive to the performance of the French and Russian armies.

Both of them like to launch an attack after one or two rows of volleys.

But today, the vaulters of the Dupont Division, for some reason, after repelling the Russian chariot battalion in front, actually launched an attack on the reinforcements that came to support them.

The height of the vaulters is about 1.57 meters, which is a relatively standard. The French vaulters are all light infantry, and they usually hide in the bushes and spread out their formations to shoot more accurately.

Bayonet attacks are usually done by ordinary line infantry and grenadiers who are good at hand-to-hand combat.

However, if he wants to do something that is not his job, there will always be some accidents.

After all, the Russian army coming to support is a grenadier regiment.

The Russian army's conscription standards have been lowered again and again because the black-hearted serf owners in the countryside always keep the strongest serfs in the manor, and there have been many short men.

But grenadiers are selected anyway, and the Russian grenadiers are tall and strong, good at hand-to-hand combat, and are much more fierce than their French counterparts when they charge with bayonets.

However, seeing this situation, the 1st Yekaterinoslav Grenadier Regiment did not plan to use bayonets.

After firing a round, they did not continue to reload bullets. Facing these vaulters rushing over, they beat them with the butt of the rifle.

The vaulters who were knocked to the ground were kicked several times. It was very lucky that their brains were not smashed out.

As for such things happening on the battlefield, Dupont felt very embarrassed when he saw it.

There was no other way, he could only replace the vaulters and use standard line infantry to launch an attack under the cover of artillery fire.

Moreover, Dupont did not intend to fight with these grenadiers who wore bishop hats and were very fierce in hand-to-hand combat. After all, this would not bring any benefits.

The Pskov Regiment on the side became his target.

In such a narrow area, attracting the attention of a powerful opponent on one side and then launching a fierce attack on the weak side, Dupont's on-the-spot command was still very good.

After the Pskov Regiment was hit, it began to retreat, so that the grenadiers could not continue to hold on here. If they did not retreat, they would be isolated by the French army.

Seeing this situation, Markov no longer thought about controlling the area of ​​Morungen, but decided to alternately cover and withdraw from the battlefield.

Because the passability on both sides of this land was too poor, and the swamps and lakes were not frozen solid, it was difficult to bypass even if the ground was suitable for passing. The French and Russian armies fought repeatedly on the narrow road for a while until the Russian army withdrew from the battlefield in an orderly manner.

The two sides lost more than a thousand men each in this fight, and the French army won a small victory on the battlefield.

However, when Dupont sent his adjutant to Bernadotte, he saw that the army commander had a very ugly face.

It was not because of anything else. The convoy that the Russian cavalry rushed into during the previous fight was directly under Bernadotte!

Although Bernadotte himself was not present, many officers in his command were there. Among the captured people were several staff officers in his command and his personal secretary.

As for the fact that the Russian cavalry was able to touch the convoy of the First Army behind the Dupont Division, it was obvious that there were other Russian troops nearby.

However, the Russian troops in this area were obviously not the hussars and Cossacks on Stroganov's side who took turns to scout and attack. If they wanted to do something, they would do it in a big way.

When Paren and Dolgorukov camped that night, they were also curious about what was loaded on these vehicles.

They already knew the identities of the prisoners, and there were indeed Bernadotte's secretary and some staff officers among them.

The things on the roof of the car would probably make the French officers of the First Army feel painful.

After seeing it, Paren and Dolgorukov also laughed.

There were a lot of properties looted by the French army from Prussia and Germany, as well as "taxes" collected in Prussian cities, and some collections of Bernadotte, including some jewelry.

Dolgorukov saw a sapphire necklace and gestured around his neck.

"What are you doing?"

"If you are preparing a birthday gift for Her Highness Catherine, this necklace is more suitable and matches her fair neck."

However, although the two of them are ambiguous, they are more like siblings than lovers. Catherine may like the second brother more than the eldest brother. Her ambiguous objects are all soldiers, and they are all brave warriors.

As for this prince, when His Highness was still very young, he often acted as the "big brother". Although the mutual affection between the two could be regarded as a lover relationship, this "uncertain" relationship was very clear and straightforward compared to those uncertainty theorems.

Of course, the Queen Mother still preferred this blond and silly prince among the young officers, after all, he was not so cunning.

Queen Mother Maria did not like Solovyov, who looked smart and alert. If he had not been a teacher for the two younger sons, her perception would not have changed so quickly.

If they talked about marriage one day, maybe the Queen Mother would agree.

And the "taxes" seized were actually not of much interest to the soldiers.

These money could not be moved. According to the rules of the allies, the personal property of the French army was naturally the spoils of these cavalry. But the "taxes" extorted from Prussia were naturally to be returned to the cowardly Prussian king.

In addition, these two commanders were of noble status, had a certain chivalry, and usually took good care of their brothers.

Therefore, no one cared about the Prussian talers, and just divided up the food in the convoy and the French spoils and collections.

Dolgorukov only kept this nice-looking gem necklace for himself, and distributed the rest to his subordinates.

Count Palen did the same thing, and he didn't even keep anything for himself.

When the family was raided, only his father's property in Petersburg was seized. Alexander later returned the property in Courland to the count.

These two commanders were a bit naive on weekdays, but they were able to get along well with the cavalry.

As for the captured people, excluding those who escaped, there were more than a hundred prisoners who could be sent to the rear.

And Bernadotte. Although Dupont won the battle, he took the initiative to withdraw and gave Morungen to the Russian army.

This is good. Although he did not take the initiative to dig a hole for Ney, one of Ney's retreat routes has been cut off.

If this guy still goes to Königsberg, he will obviously be isolated.

That night, Langgeron felt sorry when he received Markov's report, after all, the road here in Morungen is still very important.

But when the two cavalry commanders sent out for reconnaissance joined forces to attack Bernadotte's convoy and captured many French officers and sent reports, Langgeron was very happy.

In this situation, some important intelligence of the First Army fell into his hands.

Including the recent correspondence between Bernadotte, Napoleon and Ney, many of their replies, and some letters that were not sent in time, were all in Langgeron’s hands.

"These two guys are too proactive. If they hadn't encountered Bernadotte's baggage train, they would have kicked Dupont's ass directly."

"That's good. Dupont is still a very difficult division commander. It's hard to shake him with only nine cavalry squadrons attacking from behind."

"Why, after Scherer was captured, the intelligence is still useful now?"

"It's not, Count. Listen to me. What I'm more worried about is that Napoleon will use Bernadotte and Ney as bait to trap us."

"There is some truth. The letters we have now can't prove anything."

"If there is a handwritten letter from Napoleon, or a letter from the headquarters in Warsaw, it can be confirmed."

Langelon also agreed with this point, but it also requires looking at the results of the Cossacks and hussars scattered outside.

As for the places lost during the day, the Russian army finally regained them at night and controlled the entire battlefield.

According to the general rules of engagement, this was actually a small victory for the Russian army, but it certainly would not be stated in the Grand Army Bulletin.

As for the more embarrassing things of the French, only the Prussian newspapers published in Königsberg and newspapers in Russia would report it. Even because the British always made fake news, which was reprinted by friendly forces and finally exposed, the credibility of these newspapers was greatly affected.