You Will Return Like Lightning (1)

Recently, France military production has also begun to peak, but there is no synthetic ammonia, and Napoleon stubbornly refuses to adjust the allocation ratio of saltpeter in agriculture and the military. Therefore, although France has invested a lot of money to increase the production of Chile saltpeter, the production of gunpowder and explosives has only increased to a limited extent. Compared with the consumption of war today, the gap is getting bigger and bigger.

The widening gap will naturally drive up the price of saltpeter. On the international market, saltpeter is basically priceless; even if you have the money, you can't buy it.

Since saltpeter was so rare, its processed products, such as the various artillery shells and Grenade used by the France, naturally increased in price. This made things difficult for the Russia. The Turkey had their own saltpeter production, and they could also purchase it from neighboring India. (Although the Britain had banned the sale of saltpeter, the rising price made this ban almost a joke. Initially, the Britain East India Company arrested saltpeter smugglers, storing a small portion of the seized smuggled saltpeter in their warehouses, selling the majority to the Turkey, and pocketing the profits. Then, their saltpeter warehouses were constantly ravaged by fires—from fires, sabotage by spies, and mishandling by the India —and the flammable saltpeter was burned away. Of course, after each such warehouse fire, the Turkey always managed to buy a batch of saltpeter.)

The Turkey transported this saltpeter to France, paid a hefty processing fee, and then took the ammunition produced from it back with them. Although in this "processing with supplied materials" arrangement, Turkey ships carrying saltpeter would inevitably lose some, and the France would naturally suffer losses during processing, and then more would be lost again when loading the finished product back onto ships, ultimately resulting in more than half of the saltpeter being lost in the process, at least the Turkey were able to replenish their ammunition supplies.

However, the situation was much worse for the Russia. Russia a vast country with abundant resources, but saltpeter, well, it's really scarce. Saltpeter is mostly produced in arid deserts and semi-desert regions, and although Russia is large, it doesn't have many deserts. If the Russia wanted to buy saltpeter, they could only source it from the Far East, but at that time there was no Siberia Railway, and transportation was inconvenient. By the time they could transport the saltpeter they bought there back, it would be too late.

So, after launching wave after wave of attacks on the Turkey defensive positions, and expending vast amounts of ammunition and lives, the Russian offensive came to a standstill. In this series of offensive operations, the Russian army suffered approximately 40,000 casualties. This number is absolutely staggering in that era. Turkey, on the other hand, despite having the advantage of strong defenses and troops trained by the France, should theoretically have suffered smaller losses. However, due to various internal problems—such as situations where, at crucial moments, for some reason, a position supposedly defended by 10,000 men actually only had a little over 1,000 men; or warehouses suddenly catching fire (warehouse managers received orders to deliver a certain amount of certain supplies to a certain location the next day, and then the warehouse suddenly caught fire due to lightning strikes, meteorites, sabotage by Armenian Christ, or some other reason).

As a result, despite relying on the Joseph Defense, the Turkey should have suffered far fewer casualties. However, their losses were actually higher than those of the Russia, totaling 60,000. Even after accounting for some cannon fodder, the Turkey' most elite troops, fully equipped and trained in the French style, lost more than 30,000.

But it doesn't matter. In Turkey, people are the cheapest commodity, and Turkey has plenty of people. The Russia can't win against dead bodies. Besides, for some people, it's not a bad thing to let more of the elite troops loyal to the Sultan die.

In short, look at the situation now: we've both blocked the Russia and depleted the Turkey Sultan's direct forces—a win-win situation, isn't that great!

In short, after suffering such heavy losses and casualties, the Russia made very little progress and had to prepare for a retreat. Even the tenacious Kutuzov and the valiant Bagration had to admit that the Russian army now had little way to deal with the Turkey defensive positions.

"If we had been given another third more shells and 'Little Melon,' I would have been able to tear the Turkey's defenses apart," General Bagration is said to have said.

However, these supplies were less than a third more, and in some cases, even less. Therefore, the Russian army now has no choice but to consider retreating.

Retreating from the enemy's front or rear is a troublesome matter. If not handled properly, the enemy could take advantage of the situation to launch a counterattack, potentially resulting in heavy losses. This is especially true now, after suffering heavy casualties and gaining nothing. The division is exhausted, the soldiers are weary, and morale is low.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Selim III was also filled with anticipation regarding the situation on the battlefield. His reforms had yielded good results, and his army had inflicted heavy losses on the Russia army. Of course, he had also paid a heavy price; the troops truly loyal to him had also suffered heavy casualties. Therefore, if this battle ended in a draw, due to the double loss of troops and wealth, he might not be able to suppress the conservatives who opposed his reforms as he had before.

Therefore, he needs a real, undeniable, and glorious victory.

Therefore, the Grand Vizier Alandar Mustafa Pasha, who was commanding the battle at the front, soon received instructions from His Majesty Selim III: to pursue the possibly retreating Russia army, crush them, and reclaim the territory lost in the last war.

Grand Vizier Mustafa Pasha knew his army was in trouble, but he also knew the great significance of victory for the Turkey, especially for Sudan, and therefore made the decision to pursue the Russian army.

After Kutuzov's Russian army began its slow retreat, Grand Vizier Alandar Mustafa Pasha led his elite 40,000 French troops, along with over 30,000 other soldiers, in pursuit of the Russian army.

Kutuzov's retreat was well-organized; he fought and retreated while maintaining the army's structure. Although he suffered some losses during the retreat due to morale and supply issues, they were not significant. However, Alandar Mustafa Pasha was not in a hurry. Kutuzov needed to retreat a long way to a truly safe location, and if Kutuzov revealed even a slight weakness during this process, all of Alandar's previous efforts would be in vain.

Kutuzov retreated to the south bank of the Danube, making it appear as if he was about to cross the river and return north. The Turkey pursued him, but unexpectedly, another Russian army that had been hiding nearby, under the command of Bagration, attacked from the flank and cut off the Turkey army's supply lines and retreat route.

The Russian forces that cut off the Turkey army's supply lines numbered less than 20,000, and they didn't have time to build a truly impregnable defensive line. The Turkey army had over 70,000 troops, of which 40,000 were combat-ready. Judging solely by this, it shouldn't be difficult for the Turkey army to break through the blockade of over 10,000. However, on the battlefield, one cannot focus on just one side. Kutuzov's 30,000 troops were still there. If they turned to attack Bagration, Kutuzov certainly wouldn't just stand by; he would definitely be caught in a pincer attack by the Turkey. Therefore, before turning around and reopening the supply lines, Alandar Mustafa Pasha had to first prepare defenses against Kutuzov's forces.

This defensive preparation will naturally take a considerable amount of time. By the time the Turkey have completed their defensive preparations, Bagration has also completed his.

"When I was in France, I had the opportunity to visit His Majesty Bonaparte, the First Consul of France. I happened to find Consul Bonaparte and Dean Bonaparte both there, studying military matters on a sand table. As you know, the Bonaparte brothers were both great military strategists, one skilled in offense, the other in defense. So seeing their work on the map was a rare learning opportunity for me. Unfortunately, my visit was short, and I didn't see their entire project or the final result. However, I did hear a concept from Consul Bonaparte: the best offensive tactic is to create various situations that force the enemy to attack our defensive positions. A strategic offensive posture and a tactical defensive posture are not contradictory; they can even complement each other. Our last war against Turkey was a practical application of this idea..." This is what Bagration later said when lecturing students at the Saint Petersburg Officer School. Just as he said, this war was fought under the guidance of this idea.

The battle then completely fell into the hands of the Russia. Alandar Mustafa Pasha's army first launched a fierce attack on Bagration's positions, but although the Russia were outnumbered, they were quite capable fighters. Relying on their fortifications, they repelled the first few waves of Turkey attacks and inflicted considerable casualties.

Meanwhile, Kutuzov's diversionary attacks also tied down a portion of Alandar Mustafa Pasha's most elite troops, preventing them from being fully committed to attacking Bagration's positions.

Alandar Mustafa Pasha knew that if supply lines couldn't be reopened quickly, the army would collapse soon without supplies. On the first day of the breakout, besides a portion of elite troops, the majority of those deployed were "other units" with barely any fighting ability. Alandar Mustafa Pasha knew that, just as he himself was without supplies, the Bagration that had infiltrated would also be without supplies. Therefore, his plan was to first use cannon fodder to deplete Bagration's resources, and then launch a full-scale attack with his true elite forces on the second day.