Chapter 1042: Bleeding on Two Fronts
Indeed, the Persian host didn't even bother with skirmishing or feints. They committed their heavy cavalry immediately, achieving a brutal breakthrough by sheer force.
Turkic light cavalry on both flanks instantly swarmed into the gaps in the defensive line, brandishing their sabers to capitalize on the opening.
The Georgian musketeer position, numbering over four thousand men, held for less than half an hour before being shattered by this suicidal charge that completely disregarded casualties.
The Georgians fled toward the city of Tbilisi, shrieking in terror as Persian riders nipped at their heels, their sabers carving through flesh and bone.
The several kilometers of land stretching from the Krtsanisi Hills to Tbilisi had been transformed into a dark, blood-red trail.
The Persian infantry soon surged to the foot of the city walls, while hundreds of Armenian artillerymen began a thunderous bombardment of the fortifications.
Agha Mohammad looked upon the victory with a sense of detached numbness.
He gestured for a eunuch to bring a map and began contemplating the next phase of the assault on Kartli.
The garrison in Kartli was likely thin. Once that region was secured, the old Georgian capital of Odishi would be ripe for the taking.
Before his voice could even fade, a dense rattle of musketry erupted from the north.
He frowned instantly.
His army was already besieging the city; they shouldn't have needed muskets for that. Was there still some pocket of Georgian resistance fighting back?
A sudden, ill omen gripped Agha Mohammad. He snatched up his telescope and peered toward the source of the gunfire. His heart tightened in an instant.
Grey uniforms, black double-headed eagle flags—it was a Russian army!
And they were positioned exactly at the narrowest bottleneck of the Krtsanisi Hills.
'How is this possible?'
A flicker of panic flashed through Agha Mohammad's eyes. His army had advanced with lightning speed. Even if the Georgians had sent for Russian aid the moment they were attacked, the latter shouldn't have had nearly enough time to mobilize and concentrate such a force.
Several blood-spattered scouts galloped toward him, shouting at the top of their lungs, "Shah! Over five thousand Russian troops are attacking us from both sides of the hills!"
Agha Mohammad didn't have time to ponder where the Russians had come from. He turned and roared at his officer, "Bozorg! Lead the Knights of Jihad and intercept those Russians!"
"As you command, Great Shah!"
By the time Bozorg had finished organizing the Knights of Jihad for a counter-attack, more scouts arrived with reports that the musketeers near the Krtsanisi Hills had already been routed by the Russians.
Bozorg felt a chill run down his spine.
This meant that the connection between the vanguard beneath the walls of Tbilisi and the main body of the army had been severed.
The vanguard consisted of more than ten thousand soldiers.
He immediately drew his saber and led his troops on a frantic charge toward the hills.
The Knights of Jihad were the most elite unit in the Persian army, having never met their match in any previous campaign. They charged forward with supreme arrogance, brandishing their sabers at the somewhat disorganized Russian infantry lines.
The sound of steady drumming immediately echoed from the Russian positions. A massive number of soldiers began to close ranks, forming a tight, disciplined formation.
The front rank lowered their bayonets at an upward angle, while the ranks behind raised their muskets to aim.
As the distance between the two forces closed, a deafening volley of musketry erupted. Small bursts of blood bloomed within the ranks of the Knights of Jihad as riders and horses alike tumbled into the swirling dust.
But the elite Persian cavalry gritted their teeth and pushed through, reaching the Russian line only to find themselves staring in shock. The enemy infantry didn't break or flee in panic as they had expected; instead, they stood their ground, presenting a bristling thicket of bayonets.
The warhorses skidded to a halt, and the riders desperately pulled their reins to veer off to the sides.
Yet, the Russian fire never faltered. The superior Charleville flintlock muskets continuously reaped the lives of the Persian cavalry.
When Bozorg finally managed to regroup the Knights of Jihad, he found that only about sixteen hundred men remained.
In that single charge, he had lost nearly four hundred elite riders.
This was precisely why European armies rarely used cavalry for direct frontal assaults on prepared infantry. If a breakthrough wasn't achieved instantly, the casualties would be catastrophic.
However, the Persian military, still lagging in modern tactical theory, was accustomed to the "hammer blow" of a heavy cavalry charge.
Bozorg looked toward the city of Tbilisi in the distance. Gritting his teeth, he ordered his men to reform and charge the Russian line once more.
If he failed to rescue the vanguard, he would likely face execution upon his return anyway.
But the outcome remained unchanged. The fearless Persian heavy cavalry were forced to peel away from the Russian lines again, leaving a field littered with corpses in their wake.
From a hill to the east, the Russian commander in charge of the ambush, Gudovich, watched the faltering Persian cavalry through his telescope. He turned to his messenger.
"Order the Third Cavalry Regiment to move in and annihilate those heavy horsemen."
"Yes, General!"
Gudovich then began rapidly deploying Russian units based on the scouting reports provided by his Hussars, forming a tight encirclement around the Persian forces outside Tbilisi.
While he wasn't the most famous general in the Russian army, he was exceptionally experienced and possessed a steady, reliable command style. He was a truly capable commander.
In the original timeline, he hadn't participated in this war. Catherine II had intended for him to command the Transcaucasian front, but Zubov had used his influence over the Empress to push his younger brother, Valerian Zubov, into the position of commander-in-chief.
That Valerian had no talent for warfare and preferred a philosophy of "conquering through virtue."
After the war with Persia began, every time he won a battle, he would magnanimously release his prisoners and send envoys to "persuade" Agha Mohammad to surrender.
The Shah had used those opportunities to reorganize his army and find openings for counter-attacks.
As a result, although the Russian army won battle after battle, the war dragged on for nearly a year in the Georgian region.
It wasn't until Catherine II passed away that Paul I withdrew the troops from Transcaucasia.
The Persians, suddenly lacking an opponent, had quickly occupied all of Georgia. It wasn't until eight years later, after Paul I was assassinated in a coup, that Alexander I sent troops back to Transcaucasia.
Joseph, of course, would not allow history to repeat itself. While he couldn't entirely erase Zubov's influence over the Tsar, he had used diplomatic lobbying to ensure Gudovich was sent to Georgia as the second-in-command.
With this veteran general at the helm and the superior weapons provided by France, Russia stood a good chance of pushing all the way to Tehran before Catherine II passed.
When Britain felt the "cold chill" creeping toward their colonial interests in India, they would be forced to intervene.
By then, Britain would be trapped in a strategic nightmare, bleeding resources on two fronts: Portugal and Central Asia.
The Russians had been remarkably efficient this time as well. Upon receiving Joseph's intelligence, they had immediately mobilized twenty thousand troops and set up the ambush near Tbilisi.
Compared to history, where Russia had only scrambled to send troops after receiving Erekle II's plea for help, they were over half a year ahead of schedule.
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