Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

The roads in Poland were so muddy that throughout March, in the area east of the Vistula River, both sides basically spent the whole month squatting, replenishing troops, and adequately supplying.

But this climate is now more troublesome for the Russian army.

Because of the poor traffic conditions in this area and the embarrassing supply efficiency, most of their troops are actually still shrinking in the rear, and only a few troops can drive to the front.

It was in this situation that the Prussian army was stationed near Friedland, while the Russian army was scattered in several camps. The French army found a winter camp and most of them stayed on the east bank of the Vistula River and around Warsaw.

In this case, the pontoon bridge near Pultusk is indeed a more critical road.

In order to defend this place, Napoleon sent the Bavarian grenadiers led by his stepson Eugene de Beauharnais to this area.

The French army had suffered a loss in Pultusk before, and the losses were not small. The losses of the Fifth Army have not been fully recovered until now. The Seventh Army was hit hard again in Eylau. As for the First Army, which suffered a loss, it was already a minor loss.

At this time, Napoleon had to transfer the Bavarian friendly troops with some combat effectiveness. Eugene was in charge of this army because he was the son-in-law of the Bavarian king.

As for his performance in the army, Solovyov, whose relatives had to be confirmed by his stepmother, had many tricks in fighting, and liked to set up iron bucket formations, was excluded.

Except for the late Leclerc, there was probably no one better than him.

At least he still had a relatively solid command ability, unlike Murat, the "old uncle", who was too arrogant, and his command transmission was at least normal.

It was a pity that he was too young now, and he had to be responsible for the affairs there as the vice-king of Italy. If he could get the command power at the corps level, the war would be almost over.

These grenadiers are now in the area of ​​Pultusk, protecting the pontoon bridge.

In his opinion, this job was not very good, and he had to leave his wife and daughter behind and come to Poland, which made people uncomfortable.

His stepfather treated him very well. If it weren't for the blood relationship, he would have almost raised him as his own son, and arranged for him to marry a Bavarian princess. If it were the real Rome, Napoleon might consider passing it to his stepson instead of his own son, just like Octavian finally chose not to give the first citizen and political power to Tiberius.

However, this is in France. As the only one of the next generation of the Bonaparte family who can fight at present because of his age, he is also excluded from the inheritance law because he has no blood relationship.

However, if the stepfather has no son, the throne can still be inherited by the son born by his sister.

There is a high probability that Eugene will exist as the guardian of his nephew + step-cousin, and even if Napoleon encounters an accident, he may have a chance to become a regent, just like the Duke of Orleans who sold the French navy.

As for now, he must defend this pontoon bridge.

Of course, when Solovyov was reconnaissance before the war, because the intelligence provided by the Hussars was not in place, he did not know the specific strength of the French army in the towns along the way, but only knew where there were garrisons now.

In addition, the French uniforms were almost like those of the German princes. Therefore, in many cases, it was difficult to understand the specific situation of the French army without catching a tongue.

When the Russian army sent troops to seize or destroy the pontoon bridge, it was inevitable that they would need to confirm it before the battle began.

Solovyov did not go to Pultusk. As the chief of staff, he often had to assist Langeron in solving problems within the corps, and recently coordinated the various cavalry and infantry regiments dispatched to the front.

Kamensky went to Danzig and did not bring any changes to the local war situation. Instead, he was trapped in the area he controlled.

The only change was that after he took the initiative to attack, Marshal Lefebvre still vacated some areas to avoid being harassed by him.

However, it was also difficult for Kamensky to provide some supplies to Danzig. As long as his supply team was dispatched, it would be hit by French artillery from two directions.

Although it may not kill anyone, the supply team needs to deal with the firepower attacks from these places while worrying about the counterattack of the French army if they want to enter Danzig.

This is the situation in Danzig, so they need to launch attacks from several major rivers in eastern Poland.

In this series of battles, the first battle between the two sides was the floating bridge in Pultusk.

The original bridge was destroyed during the Russian retreat, and the French engineers have not completely repaired it so far. Only some infantry and light cavalry passed through there.

Most of the supplies still have to pass through the floating bridge.

Eugene received a report from the charioteer on the morning of the Russian arrival.

Now that he knows the movements of the Russian army, what he needs to pay attention to now is the size of the enemy.

"Your Highness, I wonder if I can say something?"

"What do you want to say?"

"If we were in Bavaria, no one would know how to fight better than us Bavarian Grenadiers. But in Poland, although the people here are friendly, the supplies they provide us are limited. The brothers only eat two meals a day, which is not conducive to maintaining combat effectiveness."

"I know, Colonel, in a few days there will be a convoy from Saxony to transport supplies to us, escorted by the grenadiers and cavalry of Württemberg, they are still reliable."

"I don't think so. The daughter-in-law of the King of Württemberg is a Russian princess."

"His biological sister is the Russian Queen Mother, who lives in our Bavaria."

Eugène is indeed quite popular in Bavaria. As a son-in-law, he does not treat his father-in-law as an outsider, so he did not say the rest.

After all, his daughter-in-law's stepmother is the second of the six sisters of Caroline of Baden. These six sisters have become a brother-in-law alliance of Poland, Bavaria, Russia, Sweden, Brunswick (temporarily destroyed) and Hesse-Darmstadt.

Therefore, he only said half of this kind of words, and the rest was for his subordinates to guess.

Of course, none of these Bavarian subordinates would be so bold as to directly slander their own queen. They all kept a tacit understanding.

Just when Eugene was talking to the officers on the side of the pontoon, Russian troops were already active on the other side.

"It looks like Cossacks. The Russians always use this kind of cavalry as the vanguard."

Eugene knew that the enemy troops that his emperor stepfather admired most were probably these Cossacks.

There were Cossacks, but it was not clear how large the army was.

Maybe a squadron, maybe a division.

The most terrible result would probably be "All the heroes of Ryazan are here."

Soloviev was indeed from Ryazan, and he was also translating the heroes of Liangshan, but he had not yet compiled and published the manuscript.

But when he went to sleep with Madame Recamier, this lady let Paris know through the channel of Switzerland through her correspondence with Madame Staël.

Soloviev's literary ability was basically as unreserved as when he saw Madame Recamier lying on the bed.

Even Eugene knew about it. After all, as a Frenchman, he knew a lot about the beauty that his step-uncle Lucien didn't get. As for his stepfather going out with his Polish mistress all day, he also felt that he had to avoid suspicion, so he spent most of his time in the army or Italy.

Well, that lady has a huge advantage in addition to being young. His mother was much more beautiful than her when she was the same age.

In Solovyov's words, it was probably because she had more collagen.

And Eugene recently received a letter from his mother. She still had to ask this sensible and good son about some things.

For example, the cousin who was stranded in Russia and her family?

Although it sounds a bit weird, there have been many such rumors in the past year.

When the emperor left Berlin, he wrote such a letter to the queen.

Josephine obviously couldn't keep it completely confidential. After all, she couldn't stop Napoleon and Miss Denoir from having children, and there were people around her who were monitoring her.

As for Fouché, who loves gossip, if his nose is crooked, he will probably start to talk about it to people around him, which will make him a tyrant.

Of course, Fouché still spread the rumor that the emperor and the queen had relatives in distant Russia, and this matter has spread in Paris.

Eugene couldn't have been unaware of it. His sister also wrote to him about this matter, and there were many clues from beginning to end, but there was no sufficient evidence.

Evidence, it is still up to him to solve it.

As the only reliable and capable relative of Napoleon, but not experienced enough, he often receives a lot of strange commissions.

There is even Pauline, who is against his mother and always calls his sister-in-law "Old Josephine", who recently asked him to inquire about the situation in Russia.

This ridiculous Pauline is said to have a lover who is a Russian diplomat or officer, but Eugene was not in Paris at the time, so there was no clue.

The problem is that the things that the women in the family want to inquire about are all related to the same person.

Solovyov did not go to Pultusk, but he was not too far from the battlefield where Lana was defeated before. He and Bao Hong were in a Don Cossack Regiment, which was to facilitate communication and keep in touch with some front-line troops.

Of course, the requirements for staff officers are also relatively high, not only good mental strength, but also physical strength.

Solovyov has been full of energy recently. It is obvious that his career line is much more important than his love line recently.

Fighting another war with the French in Poland and East Prussia is obviously the most important thing in the near future. Personal affairs are probably getting married.

Also, he has to hide from Maria now. If he always hangs around the Jelgava Palace, something might happen one day.

After the news sent by the front-line troops was handed over to him, he received a reply soon.

Langgeron divided the staff into two parts. The quartermaster general was responsible for the main force, and the regiments joining the battle on the front line were now managed by Solovyov.

The latest intelligence he got was that Bavarian grenadiers appeared in Pultusk.

"Is the reconnaissance true?"

"The clothes of the Bavarian army are different from those of the French who wear Prussian clothes in the warehouse, and they are all elite grenadiers and hussars. The brothers fought with their cavalry first."

"Did the brothers suffer any loss?"

"They just fired a few shots. They didn't dare to chase us into the woods. They just drove us away. Two brothers were injured, but it's not too serious."

"That's good, but... Bavaria? Bao Hong, should we get closer to Pultusk to coordinate the actions of the frontline troops?"

"You are the superior, we all have to listen to you."

Bao Hong said so, but Soloviev still stopped to analyze the current situation.

He didn't feel strange about the presence of defenders at the pontoon bridge. In order to prevent frequent harassment from the Russian army, Napoleon still strengthened defenses in the rear and the second line.

It is precisely because of this that it is not as easy to obtain intelligence now as in winter.

Although the French messenger can still be captured, it is not necessarily possible to obtain too much useful intelligence. The luck of capturing people and intelligence together last time will not happen now.

As for the French army that fell behind, because the French soldiers have been squatting, it is indeed difficult to catch a few lone ones.

The French army, which has strengthened its vigilance, has also put many vassal troops on the front line.

This has led to the current situation. Even if the Russian army wants to destroy or seize key facilities in some places, fighting will occur.

"Let's take action now. We have no choice but to pay attention to the Bavarians' artillery deployment."

Soloviev now knows that he must take action in Pultusk to attract the attention of the French. In future battles, if these bridges can be captured.

It is better to let the corps move forward quickly and fight the French in the Vistula River area than to be blocked at the gate and passively beaten.

He talked about this issue again and again, so he always had certain authority. At least now he could freely dispatch some troops to attack key areas for the front-line operations.

But he also had to pay attention to the other regiments that were dispatched, and did not go to the front line in Putusk at the first time.

When Eugene saw that the Russian division-level troops were heading towards the pontoon bridge, he asked the Bavarian grenadiers to prepare for battle at the bridgehead position in front of the pontoon bridge.

Although the Bavarians were at a disadvantage in terms of manpower, they occupied a favorable terrain, and the artillery fire could also block the open area in front.

And if the Russian commander used his brain, he should find a way to conduct a roundabout operation. If he attacked from the front, he would definitely be covered with shells.

When the report from the front came, Solovyov realized that he could not continue to move in the woods with the Cossack regiment, and he had to go directly to the front to command the battle.

This time, cousins ​​who are not related by blood are going to fight on the battlefield.