As the New Year approaches, the war dominated by the three powers, which is in full swing on the Crimean peninsula and has captured the attention of the whole world, has been going on for more than nine months. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In this short period of time, the coalition forces from afar fought bloodily with the local Russian defenders, composing a war song full of blood, all three countries have a strong military tradition, and their officers and soldiers also adhere to this tradition, bent on not being disgraced in front of the heroic spirits of their ancestors, so they fought with almost the same bravery, and neither showed weakness to the other.

During this period of fighting, endless blood has flowed on this desolate land, which has also made this war more bloody and cruel.

Fortunately, the harsh winter and snowfall that came on time finally stopped all this for the time being, because the natural environment became too harsh, so both armies had to choose to stop the main military operations and lie dormant in the cold winter snow.

By the time Chancellor Treville came to inspect the front line in place of His Majesty the Emperor of the French Empire, the large-scale fighting and military movement of the two armies had come to an end, and each was stationed in its own barracks, and only a small number of light cavalry harassed each other harassed their respective lines of communication, and the whole war had come to a relatively quiet stage.

Although it was past the New Year, the bad weather continued, so much so that a large number of coalition soldiers suffered frostbite, and even supplies were occasionally in short supply due to occasional winds and snowfalls.

Of course, the cold winds that swept across the entire Crimean peninsula were not only tormenting the Anglo-French forces, but also on the side of the Russian army, the harsh natural conditions brought an extremely difficult situation, even more difficult than that of their enemies.

Britain and France had a steady stream of shipping from their own territories, while the Russians did not have good enough transportation facilities in Crimea, and the sea had been completely blocked by the British and French forces, so there was no way to supply the whole army by convenient means.

Therefore, in such a cold season, the Russian army has suffered an extremely serious blow, and the army's material consumption has been difficult to replenish, and even ammunition has begun to be lacking; Most of the wounded soldiers could not be well cared for, and even the most basic military operations could not be carried out, and the entire Russian military machine, which was originally a huge and bloated monster, was now mired in the harsh natural environment and could not be extricated.

Such a bad situation naturally worried the officers of the Russian army, especially the new commander-in-chief, General Gorchakov, who was even more anxious. He was newly promoted to commander-in-chief of the Russian army, which could have been regarded as a high promotion, but now in this environment, it has become an unbreakable burden on his shoulders.

The former commander-in-chief, Prince Menshikov, was disgusted by His Majesty the Tsar because of repeated failures and lost his post, but at the same time he no longer had to worry about the current situation of the Russian army, and returned to the rear with ease, and the mess was handed over to him.

In order to alleviate the current predicament faced by the army, General Gorchakov repeatedly ordered his troops to save supplies, and at the same time took the initiative to stop unnecessary military movements, and urged the rear like crazy to increase their supplies to the front.

The Russian army, once known as the defender and liberator of Europe after the fall of Napoleon's empire, was now in the midst of the two great powers of Western Europe, and they were shocked to find that the glory they had once enjoyed was now in jeopardy, and everyone's heart was filled with anxiety and loss, and this anxiety and loss mixed together, made everyone feel anxious.

"Bastard! Why can't the supply be full today?! In the tent of the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Gorchakov was venting his anger and anxiety at this time.

He was tough in appearance, but not brutal, and his manners were quite decent, and he did not look like the usual image of a Russian officer. He was indeed a noble family from the Baltics, and his family was so prestigious that many of its branches served in the imperial court and were the pillars of the state.

But now, because of all kinds of bad news, this once elegant aristocratic general couldn't bear it anymore at this time, although there were many people here, but the anger in his heart made him too lazy to care so much, and he directly scolded, "These bastards! These mongrels Your Majesty's money has been deducted from them! They have already committed treason! I must have His Majesty hang them all!" ”

These angry scoldings did not extinguish the anger of the commander-in-chief, but made him more anxious, and he paced in the tent in annoyance, the anger in his heart actually resisted the cold in the air, and made his forehead sweat.

He walked over to his desk, and then threw a large stack of official documents to the ground, "And the War Department, are they sealed?" They're crazy! And at this time let us go on the offensive and relieve the Sevastopol fortress as soon as possible? What the hell is around! Can't these old men come to the front line to see? What do we have left to attack now! If we launch an attack and are thwarted again, how can we retreat in such a ghost weather, will we all freeze to death in this ghost place! The reason why the war is fought like this is because there are these dogs and things in the rear to wreak havoc and command blindly! These bastards, pigs! ”

The veteran general, who was already in his sixties, was in a furious mood at this time, scolded mercilessly, and was full of anger, and even shook the official documents on the table trembling. And none of the officers and staff officers gathered around him said anything to stop the Commander-in-Chief's anger, on the one hand, because they did not dare to anger His Excellency, and on the other hand, because the Commander-in-Chief scolded their hearts, because this was also their idea.

They had had enough of suffering here, and had not received enough support from the rear, so they were naturally full of anger against the officials in the rear.

And they know better in their hearts that in fact, His Majesty the Tsar is more responsible for the current situation, but who dares to say it?

After venting for a while, General Gorchakov finally regained his composure, and although he was still panting, his distorted face had regained his composure, and he turned to look at his adjutant.

"Go, count the attrition of the troops in the past week due to the shortage of supplies and frostbite, and report it to me." He ordered loudly, "I'm going to turn these things back and paste them in the faces of those officials, so that they can figure out what kind of attack we are going to launch now that we are lucky not to be beaten by the enemy!" ”

"Your Excellency, I'm afraid this is not appropriate......," one officer cautiously tried to dissuade the commander-in-chief, "after all...... After all, it's the top there, and we can't go against the top, right? And ......"

He stopped when he said "and", but everyone understood what he meant, such an order could not be issued without His Majesty's nod, so if the front directly replied to His Majesty that it was impossible to start a war, it might anger His Majesty the Tsar.

"It's all now, what do you have to care about so much?" General Gorchakov reprimanded the other side, and then indignantly added, "In Russia, no one dares to tell the truth, so the situation can fall to this point." But then if we don't tell the truth, what will happen to everything? In short, I am now the commander-in-chief, and if I say that I can't fight, then I can't fight, and if the palace thinks that I can't do it, then let them send someone to replace me. ”

"Hey......" The officer could only sigh silently, no longer dissuading, he also knew in his heart that the commander-in-chief was telling the truth.

However, only a person from a noble family like the commander-in-chief would dare to speak out so bluntly.

The adjutant immediately took the order, and as soon as he left, there was an embarrassing silence in the tent.

In the midst of the gloom, General Gorchakov scanned the crowd with a falcon-like gaze, as if trying to find something out of their faces.

"Gentlemen, we are in a terrible situation now, and we can call a spade, because anyone with eyes can see it." After a long silence, he spoke again, "However, as a person who has witnessed this war from beginning to end, I can say without blushing that we have fallen into such a situation not because our soldiers and officers are not heroic enough, but because we have not received the same conditions as the enemy!" Yes, we are now at a disadvantage, but Russia has not lost yet! He still has a borderless land and countless defenders! Therefore, I will not allow any of you to have a sense of defeat and negativity, and you, as officers of the Empire, are obliged to restrain your troops, and never allow them to be frightened by low morale! ”

"Yes, Your Excellency!" The officers hurriedly replied loudly.

"Petersburg told us to relieve Sevastopol as soon as possible, but I don't think we can do it now, we can only hold the front now, and it will be difficult for us to do this even if we do it." The general waved his hand and motioned for them to stop first, "Now, the front line is indeed much calmer, but this is not a reason for you to slack off, you must patrol the positions you are responsible for every day, and never let go of any movement of the enemy, understand?" ”

"Yes!" There was a loud answer in the tent again.

"I know you've had enough of it lately, and I hate this place myself, and where do the old men of Petersburg sit in their offices and understand what we're going through now?" General Gorchakov continued, "However, this is not a reason for us to be discouraged, because we are Russians, and we must give everything to defend Russia at this critical moment!" I also believe that the strength of the enemies will eventually run out, and on the territory of our Russia they will bleed little by little until they are gone! In 1812 we defeated the even more invincible Napoleon, and now what is there to fear from these people? Hum...... I don't think they will last long......"

As he spoke, the general sneered, seeming to be quite disdainful of the Anglo-French forces now.

But deep down, of course, he didn't think so, after all, for him, the current situation is really not optimistic, his army is tired and has huge losses, the supply situation is not good, and there is not much positive in sight.

In 1812, Russia defeated France because the Russian army had enough depth to constantly retreat to avoid the edge of Napoleon's army, and finally consumed this invading army, and now the situation is very different, the Anglo-French army obviously absorbed the lessons of their predecessors, so they did not intend to invade the interior of Russia at all, but only fought with the Russian army in the coastal areas, and their material preparations were very abundant, so they could not solve them with the old methods of warfare.

Sevastopol, the besieged fortress, now attracts the attention of Petersburg like a magnet, and they urge the army to go forward again and again to relieve the siege and fight a decisive battle with the British and French forces, as a result, the Russian army has suffered huge losses several times, and the original favorable factors of Russia have become unfavorable factors, and the excessively large territory has not only not become a depth of demoralization of the enemy's troops, but has become a negative factor that limits their own logistical supply.

In fact, according to the general's own intentions, he didn't want to continue to consume in this ghost place at all, and would rather retreat and let the Anglo-French army continue to consume his strength here.

Emperor Alexander in 1812 lost even Moscow, and didn't he win the same?

However, His Majesty's will cannot be violated, and he can only remain in the Crimea, waiting for the Anglo-French forces to fight hard again and again, such battles are too difficult for the current Russian army.

All he could do was to use the present harsh conditions as an excuse to delay the war as long as possible, lest the army suffer more and heavier losses.

As soon as he thought of this, his mood couldn't help but get worse, and he even envied Prince Menshikov, who had been dismissed and put into another book, after all, although he had lost the favor of the court, he no longer had to be anxious about these things.

Just as the general's mood became agitated again, an adjutant walked to the tent in a bit of a panic, and then came to the general's side and whispered a report.

"The French army sent an envoy to ask for a temporary truce?" When he heard the news, the general felt full of doubts, "Are you sure it's a French soldier?" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency, they came under a white flag, and we have confirmed their identities, indeed French officers." The adjutant nodded immediately, "We have a lot of French-speaking people, so we can confirm it at once." They also said that they brought with them a personal letter from the commander-in-chief, Field Marshal Tréville......"

Why did they come? What do you want to talk about? The general couldn't help but have some doubts.

Could it be that the French army is really no longer able to support it? The thought crossed his mind.

He wanted to believe but couldn't believe it.

As he pondered, his face became a little cloudy.

Whatever they want to do, just ask.

"Let them come to the headquarters and let me meet them."