On October 13, Moscow fell the first heavy snow of the winter of the year.

After 36 days of occupying Moscow, Napoleon finally left the "holy city" that had become ruins with dejected expression.

When Napoleon entered Russia, nearly 450,000 troops; now there are nearly 102,260 French troops in Moscow, including 14,760 cavalry; and his 41,500 Imperial Guard has been reduced to a minimum of 21,500. He still has 1,372 cannons, but not so many horses carrying cannons. There are nearly 10,000 to 15,000 wounded French soldiers in the hospital. Dr. Turio reminds him: "Your Majesty, how can I get these people away?"

In any case, Napoleon had already made up his mind. Horses, trucks, stretchers and everything with wheels were filled with wounded and precious goods such as huge sculptures, oil paintings, furniture and even a large number of Persian carpets. Then, Napoleon reluctantly issued an order to abandon the city.

At noon on October 19, just 35 days after they occupied Moscow, Napoleon's carriage, escorted by the Imperial Guard, slowly drove out of the Kremlin's gate and left Moscow for the last time. Napoleon ordered 7,000 people led by Motier to be responsible for cutting off the rear, and bombarded the Kremlin on October 23. However, the order was not implemented.

Napoleon ordered the French army to withdraw from Moscow, and more than 40,000 large trucks were loaded with baggage and looted spoils for several kilometers. After the French army left the city, they suddenly turned from the old Kaluga Avenue to the new Kaluga Avenue and advanced through Polovsk, intending to seize sufficient food reserves through the rich and unwarranted southern provinces and regions, and then advance towards Smolensk.

But Kutuzov's troops quickly caught up with the slow-moving French army.

On October 24, the Russian army launched an attack on Moloyaroslavitz, who was occupied by Prince Eugen's troops the night before. The battle lasted for a whole day. The city was eight Yiqi's hands, and the Italian army suffered heavy casualties. In the end, Dawu led two divisions to join the battle and finally occupied the city. However, at this time, the main force of the Russian army had also gathered around Moloyaroslavitz.

On October 25, Napoleon held a military meeting in Golodni to discuss the French army's next action plan.

Mura spoke, thinking that the situation of the troops was already very bad, and the "Russian barbarians" were like endless ants, and could never be killed. Now they could only retreat along the original road of Smolensk. After Smolensk was rested and supplied, the French warriors' sabers could split all obstacles that blocked the road again.

The words of the King of Naples were echoed by many people. However, a voice sounded, "No!", which was Dawu. He stood up and insisted that the troops go to the southern line and return to Smolensk through Kaluga and other provinces.

"Yes, the troops are in bad condition, but that is caused by bad supplies; retreating on Smolensk Avenue will not encounter Russian obstruction, but along the way, the war has been turned into a wasteland, and the roads have been destroyed in many places. The hunger, fatigue and the upcoming cold can be dragged down by long-distance marching. It is still unknown whether Smolensk has enough supplies. The Russian army is indeed very strong, but the French army still has 100,000 elite troops, and has just received a certain amount of rest in Moscow. As long as we concentrate our strength and fight with the determination to fight back, we can break through the Russian army's blockade and enter rich southern provinces and regions such as Kaluga. As long as we get there, we can solve the key supply problems of the troops..."

He spoke generously and looked at Murah's face with sharp eyes. This man only knew how to use swords and guns, and he was unwilling to consider the pain of the soldiers' long-term hunger and cold. He might have been a real warrior in the past, but now his heart has been rusted by ambition and desire. Even if he can still show his courage on the battlefield for a while, he can no longer bear the long-term difficulties and hardships. Now his mind is full of quick success with the treasure he plundered from the sea of ​​suffering as soon as possible. Has he really planned the overall situation?

The angry Murah immediately argued fiercely with Dawu, and Napoleon interrupted their quarrel: "Okay, okay, everyone, let me decide." The next day, Napoleon made the final decision, and the French army turned to retreat along the Smolensk Avenue, where Dawu was responsible for the rear. Once again, the emperor rejected Dawu's suggestion.

This decision seemed to be catastrophic. Napoleon overestimated Kutuzov's fighting will. In fact, the Russian marshal, who was accustomed to retreating, had already decided that once Napoleon launched a large-scale attack, he would immediately withdraw from the battle.

Napoleon returned to the north and retreated from the original path of advancing into Moscow, causing their already seriously scarce supplies to snow and frost. Now Kutuzov's Russian army is not stable at the attack, and they advance parallel to the French army. The two sides did not exchange fire. Marshal Kutuzov hoped that his fatigue, loose discipline, and lack of difficulties would eventually lead to the French army's complete loss of combat capabilities.

Now that the French army is getting worse, Labom describes the situation at that time.

"We see large chariots discarded because of the lack of horses. Those who carry their possessions with them, worried about their belongings. But what makes us most uneasy is witnessing the tragic situation of our cavalry. The villages we had only stayed in a short while ago have been razed to the ground: the bodies of hundreds of soldiers and peasants in the ashes. But the most terrifying thing is the battlefield of Borodino. There we see the bodies of forty thousand soldiers who died in battle still have not been buried."

The Russian army then carried out a rapid and fierce pursuit of the French army, but its main force insisted on moving south of Smolensk Avenue to ensure that the southern grain-producing area was not occupied by the French army. Dawu led his army to resist the Russian army's pursuit many times. In Gezask, Dawu, who occupied the defensive position in advance, even launched an active attack on the Russian forefront, caught the Russian army off guard. Unfortunately, due to too few troops and lack of sufficient mobile cavalry, he eventually had to give up his plan to annihilate the enemy.

On November 3, outside the city of Viazma, the Dawu army was surrounded while resisting the Russian pursuers. With the cooperation of Boarne and Poniatovsky's troops returning to rescue, Dawu commanded the French army to form a counter-encirclement of the Russian army, forcing them to evacuate the avenue. Then, fiercely fought with the Russian army in the city of Viazma for 10 hours, ensuring the smooth evacuation of the French brigade and a large amount of baggage.

However, on November 6, the first snowstorm in winter finally hit the head of this scattered team, causing it to suffer. A gust of cold wind made the weak soldiers feel that death was imminent. The insignificant battle between people was flooded by the terrible battle between people and the wind god. The snow was vast and the appearance of the earth could not be recognized.

The marching columns that circulate everywhere are often lost; thousands of soldiers are instantly free from suffering and lose their lives. Except for the old guards, the entire army is in chaos and is in disarray. The entire camp collapses, and they are robbed in groups of three or five.

At this time, the retreat of the large legion has now become an endless nightmare. The army's strength has been sharply reduced to 65,000, including 15,000 cavalry.

The Cossacks of Pratov began to harass the fleeing enemy troops. They came without a trace and went without a shadow, but shouted "Ula" like a bell, and they killed and slashed the supplies as if they were falling from the sky. Then they disappeared like ghosts in the white fog. The farmers took up their weapons and assisted the regular troops.

For the French army, even if the cold was slightly reduced, the search for food and fuel was still crazy. How would they do everything possible to find a way out when the corpses were everywhere? Most people would say, "If I met anyone who had a piece of bread at that time, would I ask him to give me half of it? No, I would kill him and take the whole piece over."

Another French soldier, Faberdoux, wrote, "We are constantly moving, but we don't know where we are going. There is heavy snow in the sky, and the strong wind is raging, constantly rolling up the snow in the air and on the ground and hitting our faces. This blizzard seems to be desperate to stop us from moving forward. The ground is frozen, and the horses can no longer walk and fall to the ground. Due to insufficient horses, the baggage carts and cannons are left behind the team for the first time. The army is marching rapidly on the road leading to Smoelensk, and corpses are everywhere along the way. But soon, the heavy snow is like a vast corpse coat covering and burying our comrades lying on the ground. Only a slightly raised small bag, like the tombs of ancient people, can only be seen as their traces."

Smorelensk has now become the place where everyone wants the most. The whole army was happy to think that they could rest and eat soon, and walked west staggeringly, just as they used to be panting and braved the heat of summer and heading east with Moscow as the goal.

On November 9, Napoleon withdrew to Smolensk.

Since the French left Moscow, the Imperial Guards still maintained 14,000 people in less than a month, but they were no longer subject to the control. What's worse, the total number of the strongest legion in the entire army commanded by Dawu has dropped to 10,000, while the number of Ney's legion was only 4,000, and the total number of the sixth and eighth legions combined was only 2,000. Napoleon's only hope was the Ninth and Second Legions led by Marshals Victor and Udino, who were on standby in Orsha.

Even so, the entire French army had only 50,000 people at this time. However, there was not much food stored in Smolensk, and according to the minimum standard, it could only be supplied to the entire army for a few days!

The French army had to flee in a hurry again.

At this time, the entire French army was on the verge of collapse, and the command and unified orders seemed to no longer exist. Panic spread like an infectious disease in the army, plundering and escaping became a trend, and pessimism and disappointment and violations of discipline continued to occur.

The strict military discipline that Dawu always insisted on played a role. Although people used this to criticize him for being too cruel, his army was the only unit that could maintain military discipline. He himself shared the joys and sorrows with ordinary soldiers, constantly motivating them, and at the same time announced that anyone who gave up the armed escape had the right to deprive him of all rights and even directly attack him.

This was a variant of the "Soldiers Committee" that appeared during the Revolution - although it had gradually disappeared in the imperial army, Dawu made it work again.

However, Dawu's enemies in the headquarters did not stop slandering him. His carefulness and caution in the process of the rear of the palace was said to be slow to act, and eventually his rear of the palace mission was replaced by Marshal Ney.
Chapter completed!