The relations between the Russian commander and…
April 1769 CE
Totleben suddenly shows reluctance to engage in battle and abandons the king on the battlefield.
While the battle rages between the Georgians and Turks, Totleben marches to Tiflis and allies himself with a party of oppositionist Georgian nobles to stage a coup.
However, Heraclius' victory over the Turks at the Battle of Aspindza makes this plan unrealizable.
The Russian government sends Captain Yazykov to investigate the affair, but Totleben had already crossed into Imereti, western Georgia, where he acts more energetically.