This arc with Daniel was engaging and felt original too. Nice work, author!

So even after runners were sent in to notify the trapped men that they would be rescued, and even though the slingers were seen to move, and even though both parts of the army know where they should meet, the fog throws them completely off their balance and not even the generals realize?

Wouldn't the encircled men be able to notice some of this troop movement and push against the wall that lost the 8k troops?

Where did all these men come from? There were just 20k at the start of the battle, they were getting slaughtered in the previous fighting, and a huge amount were assigned to help with the encirclement. If 8k men are attacking the wings, what's left for the center?

Historically, the Tsars did have to establish a parliament, called the Duma. It was almost established by a reformist Tsar in the 1800s before he was assassinated and his successors took a regressive approach, then came back up as a nonnegotiable demand of the people as the Romanov dynasty collapsed in the 1900s.

Only made it through one chapter. Don't think I could put up with any more of the main character.