"Sure enough, these idiots are only thinking about shortcuts"

Peter said with a smile in front of the sand table in his own arcade.

"In this case, Vienna will not be able to be saved..."

Catherine echoed expressionlessly.

"Are you worried about Saltykov?"

"Of course not, I'm just sorry for the lives of those 60,000 soldiers"

Catherine knew that Peter was jealous, but she deliberately said it very insincerely.

"Hehe, it's just 60,000 soldiers. The knife is not sharpened, and if there has been no war for so many years, the soldiers have long wilted, and it will not be inexperienced if you don't see blood."

"Oh? Is this also in your calculations, Your Highness? ”

Catherine looked at Peter with a smirk.

"But in my opinion, Fairmore should be a coward, and he will definitely retreat first in this kind of encounter, so he won't necessarily suffer much loss. In this way, our friend, Duke Saltykov, is expected to be able to sit on the position of marshal soon."

"Really? In other words, Your Highness, you actually prefer Saltykov to command the army of the southern route? ”

"Not really, I just hope there will be fewer fools in the army"

"Then it seems that the war in the north will also develop as you expected?"

Catherine raised her glass.

"Who knows, for example, your friend, Marshal Apleksin, Jr., will be able to keep his title of marshal this year?"

Bite!

Peter took the initiative to touch the glass with Catherine, and then took a small sip.

"Why do I think that Your Highness still has so much wine?"

Catherine put down her glass, leaned back in front of the sand table and glanced at Peter.

"Ha, I'm just moistening my throat, why do I drink so much, it's not delicious"

Peter glanced at his lips and turned his head to look at the sandbox.

"Hehe, this year is over early."

Boom Boom Boom –

Boom Boom Boom –

Bang Bang

On May 8, 1755, in an open field with a backdrop of mountains outside the city of Ceschen, the Russian army was in formation to hold back the Prussian army's fierce attack.

"Lord Duke, it's not good!"

On the top of the hill, Saltykov, who was sitting on the left flank, was nervously observing the battle in the distance with a golden monocular, when an officer on horseback galloped up the mountain.

"Report to Lord Duke, Marshal Fairmore's mid-lane army has begun to retreat, and the battle line will soon collapse!"

"What did you say?"

Hearing the shouts of the officers, Saltykov was startled and quickly pointed his binoculars at the battlefield on the right.

Sure enough, I saw that the Russian officers and soldiers in red and green uniforms were fleeing on the hill behind in the dark, and the artillery positions on the nearby hill were about to give up.

"What a bastard!"

Saltykov clenched his fists in anger and cursed.

"Tell the Cossack cavalry corps on standby to make a detour from the left, cut straight into the flank of the right flank of Prussia, and cover the infantry retreat!"

"Yes!"

"Also, order the sappers to blow up all the artillery that cannot be taken away in time, including the Chinese army, and it must not be left to the Prussian army cheaply!"

Knock knock!

Saltykov slammed his leather-gloved fist into the sandbag in front of him.

"Damn, damn it, damn it!"

The boxing was not enough to relieve his breath, and Saltykov kicked a dozen more times before he stopped out of breath.

"Go! Then I asked the sappers to bury all the gunpowder packs and powder kegs that could not be taken away on the enemy's offensive line, and they all blew me up! Ah, bastard—rubbish! Idiot! Damn idiots! ”

After giving the order, Saltykov continued to howl angrily, and none of the adjutants and attendants dared to approach.

"If you look at it that way, it's not bad, huh?"

In mid-May, after receiving the war report, Empress Elizabeth smiled and addressed the cabinet ministers.

"There are less than 2,000 dead, those who are seriously wounded and those who escaped, and there are still 55,000 soldiers who can continue to fight, but the supplies are relatively lacking, hehe"

"Your Majesty, I propose to pull the army of the southern front to the north, and encircle East Prussia together with the army in Courland, so as to take it quickly, so as to reduce the losses of our army and make it relatively easier to supply."

Deputy Prime Minister Volyntsov proposed.

"Yes, our artillery uses new gunpowder packs, which cannot be replenished in Austria, and in this battle of Cieschen, although the army is not reduced much, most of the equipment and artillery have been discarded and damaged, and if you want to continue fighting, you must first get supplies"

Razumovsky agreed.

"And what about Vienna? If Vienna had fallen, wouldn't the war have ended? ”

The Empress replied calmly.

"Seeing that it is almost summer, and the Great Plain of Poland is relatively easy to go, I suggest that the army of the Southern Front be pulled into Austria first, and the Archduchess Teresa will be strengthened, and then it will not be too late to launch a counteroffensive when the supplies arrive."

Prime Minister Bestuzhev proposed an alternative scenario.

"How long will it take for supplies to arrive?"

"Well, it's the end of June and the beginning of July, so it's about a month or two."

"And how long will it take to get to East Prussia?"

The Empress asked.

"It's not good to say, because the snow in the north has just melted, and the roads are muddy and not easy to walk, so it will take more than a month."

Bestuzhev thought for a moment before speaking.

"The Swedes are still undecided, aren't they?"

"Yes, if the news of our retreat spreads, I'm afraid the Swedes won't go to war."

"Humph! It's all something that is waiting to be sold in groups! ”

The Empress finally let out a sinister laugh.

"In this case, let's take a detour to Austria on the southern front, and it just so happens that Saltykov has a good relationship with Vienna, so it will be handed over to him for command."

"Understood, Your Majesty"

As a result, Duke Saltykov officially became the commander-in-chief of the Russian army on the southern route.

In actual history, because the Seven Years' War was officially launched in 1756, Austria had made relatively adequate preparations for the war at that time, so the capital Vienna was not in a hurry, and even before the Russian army went to war, the Austrian army launched several counteroffensives, so the Russian army did not divide its troops into two routes, but set out from Courland on the northern front to capture East Prussia. Saltykov took over as commander-in-chief of the Russian army in 1759 because of the anger of Empress Elizabeth due to the retreat of his commander Fairmore.

Of course, Peter was unaware of this history, but inadvertently accelerated the course of history.