Chapter 646 008 Seizing the First Move of Sicily's Defense

Soloviev was reluctant to march into Greece in the summer. Difficulties in supply and difficulty in guaranteeing the rear were indeed the main problems, but he was more concerned about the hot climate. The climate in the Mediterranean region was not bad for the Russian navy, as they were always on the ship.

His less than 40,000 people were going to enter Greece, which was not like when they were in northern Italy, after all, it was close to the Alps.

The hot climate would also cause combat casualties, so Solovyov was not in a hurry to attack.

However, Alexander's reply to Sultan Mahmoud made the Turks ready to take action.

If the Turks wanted to move, they would easily put together a large number of garbage soldiers, which would inevitably cause a lot of trouble.

The Russian army, which was spending the summer in Sofia, had to start preparing for war again and stopped resting in Sofia.

Speaking of which, the cool climate here is very suitable for the army to rest and station.

It's just that if the army wants to move, it's inevitable that there will be complaints among the soldiers.

"Now it's good, the Turks are here to die again. These bastards just won't let us rest well."

"What can we do? Let's see what our masters are going to do."

When saying this, the veterans also looked at their flag bearers, after all, he was the commander-in-chief's nephew.

But they were also curious, why didn't he go to meet his uncle?

"Why are you looking at me?"

"Young master, our commander-in-chief is your uncle, why don't you go to him?"

"I want to stay in the army for a longer time, but my father doesn't want to. You all know that my family is a merchant family, and even worked as a smuggler earlier."

"We all know this, why, your master at home wants you to go back to do business?"

"Not only my father, but my uncle also means this."

These veterans also found it interesting after hearing this. The commander-in-chief is also controlled by his father at home. No wonder this nephew has some connections here.

They probably guessed correctly. Solovyov wanted a relative to help him, but these nephews were too young. One of his two uncles was a soldier and the other was a diplomat. The officer in front of him had to retire to marry a wife.

This nephew was obviously conflicted, but he also knew himself. Perhaps his martial virtues were all on this uncle.

His two younger brothers also wanted to join the army. If he didn't go, his uncle wouldn't make it difficult.

But if there was a war, it must be started.

Christian knew he was here. After all, he was still his uncle. Sometimes he would come to see him, and his aunt Yulia would also come.

If the uncle didn't remarry and had a few more children, Solovyov would probably be the old uncle, Yulia would be the old aunt, and Christian would become the old uncle.

Their family was still prosperous, so this one was not a big deal.

Now he was thinking that after the war, it would be almost time for the officers to apply for retirement, but he didn't expect this uncle to be so troublesome and give the Turks a complete battle.

He himself was nominated for the Order of St. George, fourth class, for his military exploits, and even somewhat adapted to the battlefield environment.

Unfortunately, Solovyov was a well-known person who could attract hatred, and this time the Turks came against them.

The Russian army was mobilized from Sofia, and all four divisions, except for a few remaining troops, joined the marching column.

It was just that the unlucky count who had been staying in Vidin due to illness was seriously ill and could not continue to follow the army. Solovyov was really short of divisional generals who could fight, and he was more familiar with the three in his hands.

Before leaving, Kamensky Jr. also sent someone to him, but this made Solovyov a little unhappy.

Although he always liked to make friends, and the friends he made were all good fighters, and the relationship was indeed very good on weekdays.

But Kamensky Jr. sent Vasily Trubetskoy, which was always a bit black humor.

Kamensky Jr. had a bad relationship with this royal relative of the side branch. He used to be the adjutant and duty general of Marshal Prince Prozorovsky. He was also a brave general. When he led a small number of troops out, he was surrounded by enemy cavalry that far exceeded his own strength, but he was able to escape unscathed.

But his temper was indeed outspoken when he spoke, and this straightforward character offended Kamensky Jr.

If Solovyov had not lacked capable generals, Major General Trubetskoy would probably have been dismissed and sent back to Petersburg.

In addition, he was also one of the victims of Metternich's wife. Arkady's original fiancée was once his wife, and the two divorced after one year of marriage.

Because of this, Solovyov was more or less unwilling to accept Prince Trubetskoy. The team always had to be harmonious. Even though Kamensky Jr. was his best buddy in the army besides his two senior brothers, he could not help but complain.

Arkady was a very generous person, so he didn't cause any trouble.

Moreover, they were both victims of the Duchess's promiscuous behavior, but Arkady was lucky. He happened to catch the Duchess getting pregnant before marriage, so he managed to escape the trap.

Prince Trubetskoy was not so lucky. He obviously did not do a background check. Although the other party lived a promiscuous life, she was just a wealthy heiress and would not cause trouble like Helen did to Pierre. It was a relatively peaceful breakup.

This corps has one commander and four infantry division commanders, three of whom have had grudges against Metternich. Fortunately, Metternich's other victims have not arrived, otherwise the Macedonian corps could use Colonel Ka's flag as its military flag.

As for Soloviev, none of his women were slept with by Metternich, but because of his senior brother's wife, his friends and Metternich's affairs, it was somewhat embarrassing.

However, it was indeed very unpleasant that his friends were being poisoned by Metternich. Count Nesserrodi still admired Metternich very much.

"Well, we can say that since the Turks are marching against us, they have to go from here to Philippopolis."

When Soloviev pointed to the map, he also knew that the place was actually Plovdiv in Bulgaria. This was probably the name in the Greek era. During the Ottoman Empire, many place names still retained Greek characteristics.

By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, some place names would probably become familiar.

"Mick, you want to take the initiative, right?"

"Even when playing chess, you have to consider taking the initiative after the game starts."

"I know you like to use the Sicilian Defense when playing chess. Why is that?" Even the Sicilian Defense was not officially called the Sicilian Defense by the French in French chess books until the end of the 18th century. Since its invention, it has always been a complex semi-open opening. The most complex way to play it takes about 25 rounds to end the opening.

Solovyov would not tell Clausewitz that he was only good at playing the Sicilian Defense, and he might even like playing Go more.

But if you want to play chess, you have to go to the Qing Dynasty and Japan, which probably doesn't exist here.

His explanation is very consistent with the strategy of international chess: "We have to take the third soldier out through active changes in formation to force the opponent to change its deployment."

Then he pointed at the map with a whip and put on a monocle, as if someone who can't attack has appeared.

"Look here, we use the movement of troops to force the opponent to confront us in the Philippopolis area, and then defeat them. Obviously, the means don't need to be too complicated."

"Interesting, the Turks don't have the ability to create such a complicated situation?"

Troubetskoy was more straightforward. Although he and Uvarov were both simple-minded, he pointed out Solovyov's idea.

"That's it. We don't want to make the situation complicated, but to seize the initiative. This time there is no Danube River blocking the flank. I don't plan to abandon troops this time and let a pontoon bridge come out. I just want to force the enemy to find us here. After repelling the enemy, we can go to Greece."

"Why not go to Constantinople?"

"If it's just for that city, it can't weaken the Turks. Constantinople is just the locked door for us to enter and exit the Black Sea. If we go to war, it's not appropriate to give up the cabbage in the field for a door."

A correct version at 16-9, 1 book, 1 forum!

Uvarov's question is indeed a problem that everyone faces. The Russians are too concerned about Constantinople. If they want to attack here, they cannot do it without sufficient troops.

If Solovyov leads the main army, he probably can't break through the front because there are a lot of bunkers.

Going from the flank will also face this problem.

He is unwilling to fight an offensive battle, not to mention that his troops are not enough. If there are 80,000 Russian troops on both sides, he and Kamensky can probably cooperate to wipe out the 300,000 Turkish troops in southern Thrace.

But now they have to fight the Turkish army head-on again. The Turkish troops to counterattack will not be too many this time, but even this number will exceed his.

Solovyov's decision is actually to take the lead, and then take advantage of the opportunity of the Turkish troops to disperse, adopt a mobile combat method, and defeat the Turkish troops one by one by taking the initiative.

This time, he didn't have time to play with the Turks, so naturally he took out a special defense method when the white chess pieces were pushing the troops.

If it was a capable enemy general, he would probably be able to accompany Soloviev to dismantle for a while.

However, Ahmed Pasha, the only Turkish general who had this ability, had to confront the main force of the Russian army.

Muhammad Ali was busy controlling Egypt, so he naturally would not come. It was not like he could send his sons to seize territory in the future.

Therefore, it was easy to lower the value of this victory on the battlefield.

Soloviev used an elite grenadier division and a group of new infantrymen to mix with a few old regiments. Although it did not look strong, his opponent was not strong.

It was a group of rubbish soldiers and a group of Baiyi masters as commanders. It didn't look good.

If European officers came, you were not religious and it was unlikely that you would be reused. It would be difficult for you to become a Baiyi master.

Therefore, if there were some more standardized armies, the new army did not look so authentic. As for the first combat-capable new army in the Ottoman Empire, it was still in the hands of the warlord Muhammad Ali, and it had not yet been trained.

It can be imagined that fighting in these places, even if 200,000 enemy troops were eliminated, would not necessarily lead to any substantial progress.

Moreover, it would be said to be a point-scoring operation.

As for the Russian army's actions, Solovyov also had plans. He planned to rush from Sofia to Philippopolis in a week by taking advantage of his faster marching speed, blocking the Turks on the road and preventing them from advancing.

Then, we need to take the initiative to attack according to the enemy's movements.

In fact, Solovyov is imitating Napoleon's Italian campaign in this way.

The Turks have a large number of people, and they are not as concentrated as in the Battle of Lom. They must be dispatched from several garrisons one after another.

In this way, Solovyov has more time to play, and can gain local advantages through maneuvers.

The speed during the march was indeed very fast. The original plan was to march for seven days. In fact, under the rapid march, the Russian army took five days to reach the designated position. The nearest large Turkish army was far away from here.

Even here, the Turkish army only had a few troops to defend. This time, it was considered to be an active attack to seize the initiative.

Even if Ahmed Pasha knew the news, he was helpless.

Because of the pressure exerted by Kamensky Jr. on the front, he had to confront here.

The main forces of both sides could not shine, and they had to fight each other on the flanks.

But there is really no general capable of taking on the task in the Turkish army. Muhammad Ali may have more conspiracies. His eldest son is now a hostage to the Sultan, so he will not fight.

The one sent this time is Musa Pasha, who was originally going to be sent to Egypt. He got the benefit of Muhammad Ali, but this time he picked up a big trouble.

Although the Russian army came with a "young general", he is also a tough devil. In the Turkish army, it has begun to spread that the second generation of the "Bulgarian Butcher" will appear.

However, he did not learn from Basil II to treat eye diseases, but directly asked people to take a bath in the big bathhouse on the Danube.

But the effect is also excellent. He has been on the list in Constantinople. It's just that these Turkish generals will probably not be able to beat them, but they have more people and can also be enough for the opponent to suffer for a while.

If they can't beat them, they will probably mobilize their troops to confront between the swamps and the mountains, so that the Russian army will not be able to continue the war. When their supplies are almost consumed, there will probably be a chance.

Moreover, the Turks had been hoping that the British would send troops, just as they did in Aboukir.

But they did not know that the Gloucester Regiment, which had performed well when the British entered Egypt, had now lost its flag to the Russians. (End of this chapter)