Chapter 1566: Chapter 1472: Struggle Against the Cold · Part 1

North of Smolensk, Smolensk Town.

Prince Bagration wiped the ice from his beard and shouted to the commander of the Cossack Cavalry Battalion: "Have you found them?"

The latter’s voice came through the swirling snowflakes: "Not yet, General. This damn snow has covered up the Poles’ tracks."

"Expand the search area! With so much snow, they can’t have gone far!"

The prince from Georgia looked at the snowy world in front of him, his brows furrowed.

The Polish rearguard had suddenly left the Yartsevo Ferry, putting him in a dilemma—according to the information from headquarters, the Polish vanguard had already retreated, so their rearguard was probably heading east to meet them.

Of course, it’s also likely the Poles noticed they were in a disadvantaged position and fled directly west to Orsha.

General Kutuzov had ordered him to stay close and harass the Polish Army to deplete their supplies.

And yet, a day and a half had passed, and he had still not found any trace of the Polish rearguard.

Just as Bagration was hesitating whether to send out the elite Hussars for reconnaissance, two Cossack cavalrymen suddenly burst through the heavy snow, shouting towards them: "The Poles! Alarm, it’s the Poles!"

Bagration instinctively ignored the word "alarm" and asked excitedly, "Where are they?"

A Hussar, seeing his banner, ran straight over: "Just 5 kilometers to the south, General! They are forming up, about 15,000 men!"

Bagration couldn’t help but feel a chill in his heart.

Although he had 20,000 troops, they were in a state of preparing to pursue. Luckily, it was snowing now, and the Poles couldn’t launch an attack, otherwise he would have been caught off guard.

He quickly calmed down, looked at the order officer, and shouted, "Order the entire army to retreat north and set up a defensive line at Vera Village."

As long as the whereabouts of the Polish Army were discovered, the initiative was back in their hands.

He didn’t have to fight the Poles head-on, as long as he could delay them, within a month, they would starve or freeze to death.

He turned his horse and said to the aide nearby, "Send a report to General Kutuzov that we’ve found the Polish rearguard!"

"Yes, General!"

The heavy snow gradually stopped by noon the next day, and the Polish cavalry launched an assault on Smolensk, only to find that the Russian Army had already left.

In Vera Village, several officers surrounding Prince Bagration, who was gnawing on black bread, burst into laughter.

A cavalryman continued to report: "The Poles found nothing, so they burned that town in a fit of anger. Now they’re regrouping, looking as though they intend to continue pursuing us."

Bagration nodded, pondering whether to continue retreating north, when he saw his aide approach with an order officer: "General, an order from headquarters has arrived."

Bagration opened the wax-sealed tube and unfolded the paper inside, immediately furrowing his brow.

General Kutuzov’s letter informed him to beware of the Poles going mad and suddenly charging north towards Toropets.

Though it was still over 400 li from Saint Petersburg, no one could predict what might happen next. After all, the Poles had previously risked their entire army to launch a long-distance raid on the Crimea.

So he must intercept the Polish Army on the south bank of the West Dvina River.

General Kutuzov had also allocated two Guard Cavalry Camps to reinforce him.

Bagration quickly gathered his officers to lay out a detailed battle plan to block the Poles in the woods just over ten li to the north.

However, he waited until the afternoon of the next day, but the "desperate" Polish Army never appeared.

Before dusk, a Cossack cavalryman finally returned to report that the Polish troops in Smolensk Town had fled south.

... 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

On the other side, near the strategic town of Dorogobuzh, over a hundred kilometers east of Smolensk, Vitgenstein’s corps finally caught up with the Polish vanguard.

"The enemy is moving very quickly, General," the aide said as he reviewed the gathered information, "the Cossack cavalry judged from the tracks there are over 4,000 cavalrymen alone."

Vitgenstein glanced at the soldiers around him, shivering in the cold, and frowned: "They haven’t run out of fodder yet?

"We can’t delay any longer, or it’ll be trouble if they reach Yartsevo.

"Order all the cavalry, at all costs, intercept the Poles before nightfall today.

"Also, get in touch with General Tolmasov as soon as possible, I want to launch an attack simultaneously with him."

Tolmasov’s corps was stationed on the north side of Dorogobuzh, responsible for encircling the Madarinsky Corps with him.

With the order sent to the Russian cavalry commander several miles away, nearly two thousand Russian cavalrymen began to speed westward regardless of the horses’ strength.

However, the Polish Army, like frightened rabbits, ran extraordinarily fast.

The Russian cavalry pursued until four in the afternoon when the horses almost started to froth at the mouth before they finally caught sight of the Poles’ silhouettes.

Cavalry commander Gorishin raised his binoculars and saw a vast area of gray and red wings swaying in the wind ahead. He took a deep breath and drew his horse saber, shouting, "Form up! Cut in from the south!"

Doing so indeed posed a significant risk. Battling the Polish Winged Cavalry head-on would definitely result in heavy casualties. But Vitgenstein’s order was at all costs.

Another half hour passed before hundreds of Cossack cavalrymen first charged at the Polish column with wild yells.

To their surprise, the Polish Winged Cavalry did not react, continuing to run westward stupidly.

The Cossack cavalrymen were overjoyed. If the other side didn’t form ranks to fight, they would surely be butchered.

But as they entered the carabinier range, they all froze in place.

On the Polish warhorses, there were no riders at all. Tree branches were strapped to the horses’ sides, carrying the signature wings of the Winged Cavalry.

They unwillingly passed through the herd but only saw the horses scatter.

At the front of the Polish "Winged Cavalry formation," more than two hundred Polish cavalrymen, hearing the commotion behind them, immediately turned and ran southwest.

Their mission was to take these more than 4,000 warhorses and head to Smolensk, drawing the Russian army’s attention.

After dawn, General Vitgenstein looked at the dense mass of horses, twitching involuntarily at the corners of his eyes.

Under normal circumstances, so much loot would have made him ecstatic, but now even his own cavalry camp was lacking fodder, how could they feed these horses?

But to just give up, he couldn’t bear it—so many good horses, selling at least tens of thousands of rubles if transported back to Moscow.

Yes, in this minus 15 degrees cold, with occasional heavy snowfalls, the Russian Army’s logistical supply wasn’t easy either.

The Russian Quartermaster Department had also scoured all the surrounding areas of Kaluga, Tula, and Ryazan to barely maintain the consumption of Kutuzov’s hundreds of thousands of troops.