The encirclement has not yet been closed.

The results of the investigation showed that it was mainly Moltke's Ottoman army that cut off the railway line, and the number was not large, no more than 50,000. Moltke could not have quietly drawn too many troops north of Nikolaev, especially when he was attacking from the front.

But what was even more dangerous was that more than 100,000 Austrian troops also appeared nearby. Why, when Odessa broke through, the 300,000-strong Austrian army did not attack, because they used the main force to make a detour to the north. They followed the railway line from Odessa to Kiev all the way to Voznesensk, where they captured the railway bridge over the South Bug River.

Then they crossed the river and advanced rapidly to the east, with the obvious purpose of cutting off the Ingul River flowing into Mykolaiv on the one hand, and to join Moltke's army, which was also attacking in the direction of the Ingur River after cutting the railway.

But Muravyov's current situation, the main forces resisted Moltke's onslaught in Nikolaev on the one hand, and supported the retreat in the Odessa direction on the other, but almost all the forces that could be used had a task. To put it bluntly, Moltke's strategy is indeed exquisite, using the tactics of the inner line, containing a large number of Russian troops, and then maneuvering on the outside line to build a large encirclement outside a small encirclement. It's really bold, but it's all based on the fact that its own forces are stronger.

Of course, if you change someone, you can defeat the opponent when the army is stronger, but you may not be able to completely annihilate the opponent. In short, the difficulty of fighting a war of annihilation is always more difficult than the difficulty of a defeat battle. Isn't the Chinese encircling and annihilating two million Russian troops using more troops than the Russian army, and isn't it also a classic of big roundabout tactics.

Muravyov was in a difficult situation, he could only grit his teeth and mobilize mobile forces, sending a large number of cavalry to fight for control of the railway, and at the same time asking the Tsar for help, his forces were too weak.

The tsar was furious and scolded Muravyov, claiming to remove him and hold him accountable for his military duties. But now he must save Muravyov, and he can't let the 500,000 people in his hands be surrounded and annihilated. Otherwise, this war will not be fought.

But how to save?

It was suggested that it would be difficult to draw troops from within the country and form new ones, and the tsar was full of concerns. Nearly a million captives were released from China, all of them into battle, both outstanding officers and unmotivated soldiers, who had been exhausted by hard labor in China, and who were not loyal to the Tsar. They were brainwashed by the Chinese for eight years, telling them that their suffering was because the tsar had abandoned them and that the tsar would not trade land for their freedom. Under the whip, they either succumb to fate or complete their self-domestication. From serfdom to slave mentality, without dignity and honor.

It is very difficult to expect such people to quickly become soldiers, although the military experience they have mastered has not disappeared, although they are not malnourished due to lack of food, on the contrary, they do physical strength one by one, and at the same time can eat a large amount of meat rationed by the Chinese railway company, and their physical fitness is first-class, they thought they were the best soldiers, but they were a group of slaves.

In addition to these nearly a million slave soldiers, who were not very capable of fighting, the tsar also raised a million recruits. With Russia's size, he could have raised an army of millions, but the tsar feared famine and civil strife as before. He was so afraid, such a terrible thing affected Speransky, and why didn't it affect the Tsar.

Therefore, the tsar has always been afraid to recruit soldiers on a large scale, fearing that too many rural laborers will enter the battlefield and cause famine.

Some people suggested that it is better to let Muravyov break through, and at this time there is still a chance to break through, let them retreat from the Black Sea coast to the Dnieper, defend the Dnieper heights, and block the enemy from continuing to penetrate into the hinterland of Ukraine, so that the 500,000-strong army can be withdrawn.

The tsar also could not agree, Nikolaev is already the last coast of the Black Sea, give up here, let the Black Sea Fleet what to do?

It was also suggested that the army should be drawn from the Polish direction.

But the battle in the Polish direction has also been difficult, the command of the Prince of Prussia is decent, the two sides have been fighting a war of attrition, there is neither excellent command, nor major mistakes, it is a battle for each city and a pool, and at the moment the two sides are evenly matched, and if Gorchakov's forces are transferred, no one dares to guarantee that the front here will not be affected. And to transfer troops from Poland, it is necessary to first withdraw the army to Moscow, and then from Moscow to Kiev. Because soon after the outbreak of the war, the Austrian army took control of Austrian Poland, and the railway from Warsaw to Kiev happened to pass through here. Therefore, the connection between Poland and Ukraine has been broken from the very beginning.

Therefore, it was impossible for the Russian army to rely on the railways to carry out rapid internal maneuvers like the Austrian army.

It was simply too late to wait for Gorchakov's army to move from Poland to Moscow, then to Kiev, and then to the south to support.

The last suggestion was to let Gorchakov concentrate his forces on Austrian Poland, force the Austrian army to retreat, and let Muravyov get out of the siege, this strategy of encircling Wei and saving Zhao, the tsar accepted, it seemed that this was the best strategy without abandoning the Black Sea.

The Tsar's hesitation allowed the Austrian and Ottoman armies to converge, they cut off the railways and rivers, only 50,000 Russian cavalry broke through the encirclement, and more than 400,000 Russian troops were trapped in the narrow lowlands of the Black Sea coast.

The Russian offensive against the Austrian army in Poland also began, and the Austrians were weak at this time. It is indeed difficult to block the key offensive of the Russian army, and the Austrian emperor put pressure on Radetzky for this, hoping that he can draw reinforcements from Ukraine. Radetzky disagreed, where more than 400,000 Russian troops have been surrounded, and the transfer of troops will not only allow these Russian troops to break the encirclement, but also may put Moltke in a desperate situation. Encirclement and counter-encirclement have always been a double-edged sword, Radetzky understands it too well, he has fought all his life, he knows too well what the battlefield is like, and there are many things to lose in the moment before victory.

As a result, the Russian army continued to defeat Austria, Lviv, Lukolin, Krakow, and Austrian Poland in the Polish direction almost all lost in a short time.

The Austrian emperor was very dissatisfied, but unlike the tsar, the tsar was dissatisfied with Muravyov, and he could really remove him and even punish him, but no matter how dissatisfied the Austrian emperor was, he could not remove Radetzky, he could not punish Radetzky, he had no choice. Just as politically, if it weren't for a revolution, the Emperor would not have been able to dispose of Metternich. The prestige of the other party is too great, so big that the emperor can't treat the other party as he wants.

So on the one hand, the Austro-Austrian forces on the southern front surrounded the main forces of the Russian army in the Black Sea lowlands, and the Russian army on the northern front continued to win victories under Gorchakov's offensive.

But everyone knows that the situation in Russia is very unfavorable.

The British re-energized in the hope that Russia would accept the abandonment of Poland, and the British assured Russia that they would put pressure on the coalition forces to exercise restraint on the Ukrainian issue, otherwise it was uncertain whether Russia could keep Poland in the current state of the war, and Ukraine could all fall into the hands of Austria and the Ottoman Empire.

Russia also had a good point, just when the main forces in the Black Sea were just surrounded, they achieved new diplomatic results and successfully persuaded the Chinese to accept the Ural plan.

China agreed to hand over the Ural region to the rule of the Chinese emperor and the eldest Russian princess Olga and his wife, and set up a Ural kingdom, and both of them were crowned king and queen at the same time.

With the direct intervention of Zhukovsky, the parties quickly completed the procedures of drawing up the terms, signing them, etc., and the text of the treaty was quickly placed on the desk of the tsar.

As soon as the Tsar signs, the territorial dispute between them and China will be completely resolved, peaceful legal relations between the two countries will be restored, and then China will return the occupied Russian cities, and then Russia will be able to safely use the hundreds of thousands of elite border guards that have been deployed in the Volga River valley to guard against China, and the current battlefield situation will certainly be greatly improved.

At this time, the Russian army is in great need of mobile troops, because Moltke on the southern front has begun to end the battle and has begun to comprehensively squeeze the Russian army in the encirclement, and more than 400,000 Russian troops are in danger of being destroyed at any time.