(Today there is still only one chapter. Xiaoyu is still with his father in the hospital. This chapter was uploaded in the Internet cafe.)
"What shall we do now?" Kutuzov asked himself. Damn Ivanovich and Platov, I will court-martial them, Kutuzov swore secretly. If it weren't for the two of them not obeying the orders he gave before, the Russian army would not have fallen to the current situation at all. Everything is their fault, but it's too late to say anything more now. The most important thing now is how to overcome this difficulty.
"Your Excellency Marshal, report from the front. The French army's attack is very fierce. They can't stand it anymore. Please make a decision early." A staff officer hurriedly ran into Kutuzov's headquarters and told him reported.
"Now that it's all done like this, there's no other decision to make." Kutuzov thought helplessly. "Tell the front line to let them support for a while. Tell a unit to prepare to retreat immediately." In the end, Kutuzov decided to retreat. Although he had planned this way before, the situation now is completely different. Before, he planned to retreat proactively, but now he retreated helplessly.
Two hours later, Kutuzov led his troops to retreat, and his army of 150,000 had lost two divisions of about 30,000 at the moment. These are the injuries caused to the Russian army by the French 2nd Army, which was chasing after them. After Davout’s offensive order was issued, the French 2nd Army launched a fierce attack on the Russian army after full preparations. The opponent is the 150,000 army led by Kutuzov himself. Although the 2nd Army has deployed a division of troops to support Davout, even so, Kutuzov's army is still not their opponent. Under their attack, they could only retreat steadily.
Kutuzov did not intend to go to Poznan to join the 200,000 reinforcements, because he knew that area would be hit by the three French legions, and if he went, he would only die. So while ordering his troops to retreat to the east along the Notec River, he sent someone to Poznan to give them an order to start their retreat immediately, to retreat to the east of Poland.
Barclay, the commander of the 200,000 Russian reinforcements who arrived in Poznan at this time, was also very depressed. Why did he encounter the army's defeat as soon as he arrived on the battlefield? That night, after Ivanovic and Platov arrived in Poznan with more than 30,000 remnants, he knew that something was wrong. Two hours later, the pursuit force of the French army came to a place 20 kilometers west of Poznan, with only two divisions of about 30,000 people. It should be the vanguard of the French army, right? Barclay and his men thought so. It is precisely because of their thinking that they once again lost a chance to severely damage the French army. Davout's 1st Army has fought fiercely for a day, so how can they still have the strength to pursue them? Therefore, it was only the two divisions drawn from the French 2nd and 3rd Army that pursued Ivanovic and Platov. If Barclay had ordered an attack at that time, the 30,000 French army would not be able to stop the attack of more than 200,000 Russian troops anyway. And by the next morning, when Barclay figured it out, it was too late. Davout had joined the two divisions with the main force of the 1st Army. It is impossible for Barclay to defeat the French 1st Army again.
On the morning of April 5, it was not only the 1st French Army that arrived in Poznan, but also Minoradovic's remnants and the 3rd and 4th French Army that followed them. Only now did Barclay fully understand how critical the situation was. Both Ivanovic and Prato advised him to retreat overnight, but Barclay thought it was the two of them deliberately exaggerating, so he didn't accept their advice. Now, he regretted it. At this time, Kutuzov's order to retreat to eastern Poland also came. Without any hesitation, Barclay immediately ordered the entire army to retreat. It's just that the French army has reached the city of Poznan now. Although Barclay's troops retreated very quickly, almost 40,000 to 50,000 people were intercepted. Surrounded by the French army, their fate can be imagined.
The subsequent battle completely evolved into the escape of the Russian army and the pursuit of the French army. This situation lasted until April 8th. The reason was that due to the pursuit of the past few days, the French army's front was stretched too long, and the supplies could not be reached at all. Garrison, waiting for supplies. At this time, the French army had already reached Włoclawek and Lodz. And the Russian army also assembled in the Warsaw area. At this time, Kutuzov still had about 380,000 people in his hands, and lost a full 220,000 people, while the French army had 340,000 people and only lost 40,000 people. The battle loss ratio of the two sides reached 1 to 5.5. Due to the current ratio of troops, the two sides faced off again. But no one doubted that once the French army was fully supplied, Kutuzov and his army would not be able to stop the French army from advancing.
The result of the battle between the French army and the Russian army shocked the European countries. The first is France and Russia, two belligerent powers. Xiao Jie has always believed that France will win, but he did not expect to win so smoothly. He had been planning to send the Iberian 2nd Army north to support him before, so he had to stop his attack on Austria. However, the result of the battle was far beyond his expectations. He now fully believes that the strength of only 4 legions is enough to maintain the advantage in the north. Invade the Russian mainland. Davout and other four marshals achieved such a great victory, Xiao Jie commended them, and at the same time, the enthusiasm of the French people for war was aroused again. Victory after victory gave them reason to believe that the glory of the French Empire would once again be presented. Russia, on the other hand, was gloomy. Alexander never thought that his 600,000 army would be defeated by the French army within a few days. Failure came so quickly. The angry Alexander sent someone to severely reprimand Kutuzov, asking him why he ordered a retreat when he still had enough troops to fight the French army? But Kutuzov only replied one sentence, and Alexander stopped scolding him. That sentence is to not want to repeat what happened in 1807. Alexander also understood Kutuzov's intentions, knowing that he was trying to preserve power for Russia. This enabled Russia to have enough troops to defend its territory, unlike in 1807 when it was invaded by the French army and was forced to sign an unequal treaty. In the current situation, although the Russian army failed on the battlefield, the Russian army also has enough troops to protect the security of their homeland.
Also shocked were Britain, Prussia and Austria. Britain has always hoped that the army of the Anti-French Coalition can defeat the French Army ~www.mtlnovel.com~ so as to ease the pressure on Britain. But to their disappointment, the countries of the Anti-French Alliance failed one after another under the attack of the French army. First Prussia, then the Rhine League, then Austria, and finally even Russia failed. England's hopes are now completely dashed. Now, in order to be able to resist the upcoming large-scale invasion of the French army, Britain has begun to accumulate a lot of strength, and turned the object of help from other countries to itself.
The King of Prussia and the government were very frustrated. They lived in exile in Russia, just thinking that the Russian army could defeat the French army. In that case, they would have a chance to restore their country. Now that even the Russian army has been defeated, their restoration of the country will be far away. Indefinitely.
Austria is also one of the countries that actively expect the Russian army to defeat the French army, so that their plight can be improved. Now that Russia fails, they will have to face the powerful French army again. You don't need to guess the outcome. With Austria's current military strength, it is impossible to resist the invasion of the four French armies, especially including the powerful 88th Army. Austria has no chance of winning at all. Between this situation, Francis I's confidence has begun to waver. There are also many voices in Austria calling for peace talks with France to end the war. It's just that because Grand Duke Charles has always insisted on fighting France to the end, and he has mastered most of Austria's current military strength, Austria's policy has not changed. But once Francis I is determined to ask for peace, then Grand Duke Charles cannot stop it.