I think someone has raided Sloops wine cellar, what he is saying seems to make sense.
I agree about the problem of making weaker line battalions cheaper. The better answer may be to increase the numbers per battalion to compensate.
With the Turks this would be an ideal solution as their armies contained masses of ‘ill trained levee’ types. But even with the Russians it might not be too much of a stretch.
This would certainly give them more potential in the charge, being able to absorb the losses & then win with superior numbers.