In the dark of the night, Charles and Marie privately discussed their views on the future of the Russian Empire, and the possibility of Count Bezukhov's rebellion succeeding. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although he was not too optimistic about the Count's success, he was not worried, for the Count was not too closely related to him, but with a mixture of indifference, he waited for the situation to develop further, and to take the best conditions for the French Empire or for himself.

Count Bezukhov begged Charles not to let France and the Russian Empire conclude a peace treaty so quickly, and for Charles, since he had learned such information, then at this moment, in the interests of the French Empire, it is also the best result to wait and see, there is no need to rush to talk about the result first, anyway, as long as there is civil strife in Russia, no matter what, you can get more benefits.

In the same way, no matter how the new situation may be judged within France, at least for the time being, the armies of the two sides of the Crimean peninsula, as Count Bezukhov hoped, are still confined to fierce battles, and the soldiers of the three countries are still bleeding and sacrificing their lives in honor of their homeland.

Now, on this remote peninsula, it is the beginning of winter, and the once vibrant wasteland is now covered with yellow-brown dead grass, and the north wind is howling everywhere, making everyone feel cold, and everywhere it sweeps, there are bleak echoes everywhere.

On the northern side of the outer perimeter of the Sevastopol fortress, because of the uplift of the terrain everywhere, the blocked wind howled more violently, blowing the faces of the soldiers around them.

Inside and outside the fortress, it is now filled with soldiers from Britain, France and Russia, who have been fighting for this war for more than half a year, fighting each other, throwing countless lives, and gradually making this originally inconspicuous fortress a regular in the headlines of all the major newspapers and magazines in the world.

On these hills, the defenders had built fortifications long before the outbreak of war, and below the forts were covered with trenches that had already been built or had recently been built, and because of the topography, these forts could serve as horns for each other and provide fire cover for each other, and the trenches that communicated together made these forts even more seamless.

The fortresses, the trenches, and the stubborn defenders were enough to form a formidable defense for the enemy, and this defense system had already made the French soldiers suffer enough in the last month or two.

Opposite the Russian defenses, too, were covered with improvised trenches and fortifications that had been slowly built over the course of several months by the besieging French, and despite the great sacrifices they had suffered and the defenders stubbornly tried to destroy them with artillery fire, the trenches continued to stretch forward day by day, seemingly determined to swallow the fortress into their mouths.

At this time, Colonel Lucien-Leflaire, who was the brigade commander, was in a trench at the front of the line, and was carefully watching everything on the other side with a telescope.

He had always been a beloved commander, sympathetic to his subordinates and trained them rigorously, and when he arrived in the Crimea, he had become known as a combat hero of the whole army because of his exploits in the battles and the support of Marshal Treville, and he had become one of the stars of hope for the entire French army, and even the national newspapers repeatedly reported his deeds in order to inspire the inhabitants of the rear who were tired of the war.

However, even though he had been filled with praise and admiration, Lucien did not become proud and unsightly, on the contrary, after so many bloody battles, he had seen enough of the terrible consequences of war, and only thought of being cautious in order to shed less blood among his men.

However, even with this thought, he knew that bloodshed and sacrifice were still the main theme of war.

Now, another day of mass bloodshed and sacrifice is approaching - in a few days, the Anglo-French forces will launch a new large-scale offensive against this odious fortress, intending to destroy the will of the defenders to fight in one fell swoop, to capture the fortress, or at least to swallow the one in front of it, and to open the northern gate of the fortress of Sevastopol.

After a long period of fighting in a foreign land, not only the people in the rear became tired and bored, but even the officers and soldiers at the front began to become tired and agitated, and they only wanted to capture the fortress of Sevastopol, which had slowly become a symbol of the Russian army, as soon as possible, so as to leave this "damn place" as soon as possible.

So, under the impetus of this psychology, in a short period of time, the British and French forces launched a large-scale offensive, investing a large number of troops and artillery fire in an attempt to take the fortress.

However, the results backfired, and in these offensives, despite the bravery of the allied officers and men, they were still repelled by the defenders with the offensive and the same bravery, and made little progress, only to shed more blood on both sides.

After rounds of fighting, the siege of the fortress of Sevastopol has become a catharsis of anger and hatred, and both sides have already killed red eyes, and they have to see each other here.

Lucien was saddened by this situation, but he could only send his own troops to attack again and again in conjunction with other friendly forces, and all he could do was to plan his actions as well as possible, so that his men could retreat as many people as possible, although this was very difficult to do.

Today was another very overcast day, the sky was frighteningly overcast, and the wind was biting, so that even Lucien could feel the power of that Russian winter even in his thick military coat.

It is conceivable that after the depths of winter, the terrible power of winter will be even stronger, and finally become an invincible force, making everyone tremble with fear.

In this vein a few decades ago, a much larger French army led by an even greater emperor had returned with a feather and buried his empire in the vast wasteland of Russia......

Lucien frowned, stopped his dangerous thoughts, and firmly focused his gaze on the fortress in front of him, on the map, the Russian defense line from Karantin Bay to the inner harbor inside the fortress, and then through the inner harbor to the entrance to the Gulf of Kilian, forming a semicircle around the city.

The Kilian Bay is a small bay formed by a deep valley, and the deep valley of Sevastopol on the edge of the bay stretches far away to the platform where the coalition barracks are located, and many highlands in this valley constitute the main defense line of the Russian army, and the highest one of them has become a key position on the entire right flank of the Russian army because of its condescending position.

Beneath the narrow roads below these heights, within full range of the Russian batteries and the warships anchored in the inner harbor, these heavy weapons further strengthened the fortifications and made it a formidable and terrifying zone.

In the middle of the trenches at both ends of the entrenchment between the fortress and the valley, this section of the trail was the only way to attack the front line, and it was naturally the place where the casualties were heaviest, and in the previous attack, the British and French forces launched several powerful attacks there, and the armies of the two countries fought bloody battles here, and many soldiers left their lives here, but nothing was found.

Because of the fierce fighting and intensive artillery fire, the deaths of these soldiers were strange, the corpses of the soldiers who died in the white-knuckle battle were the most intact, and those killed by bullets and shrapnel were covered with terrible wounds, and some of the unfortunate dead were even torn apart, and the stumps were scattered on the wasteland.

At the same time, what is even more disturbing is that because they are covered by intense fire, there is no way to collect the bodies of the deceased, and these young people, who were once full of enthusiasm and dreams, lie in the middle of the road, and there is no hope at all.

If it was the height of summer, or if it was hot Algeria, such a pile of dead bodies could bring a terrible plague and an almost unbearable stench, but fortunately this is Crimea, and it is already autumn and winter, so these poor dead do not rot immediately, but slowly dry up, and then slowly turn into part of the soil.

These strangely shaped dried corpses were glued together with the slowly disintegrating clothes, and the colorful military uniforms merged with their bodies, looking like a monster clinging to the ground, which was terrifying.

Even though he was used to war, Lucien still frowned when such a pile of colorful dried corpses appeared in the lenses, and all this was indeed terrifying enough.

But he did not have time to grieve for these poor people, for the next offensive would soon begin, and soon many of his men would surely rest forever in that land, and like the unfortunate ones, they would be reduced to the dirt.

"Sir, the marshal has ordered that all your troops must be prepared accordingly tomorrow, and then be on standby at any time, waiting for an attack." At this moment, a young man's voice rang out next to Lucien, both polite and enthusiastic, "Please complete the deployment as soon as possible." ”

Lucien lowered his binoculars, then turned to look at the young man. "Okay, please return to the marshal, all our troops will be ready tomorrow and will be ready to attack at any time."

"Okay, I'll get back to the marshal right away!" The young man saluted Lucien with his legs together, and then replied in a cheerful tone, he did not hear a trace of worry and heaviness hidden in Lucien's tone, "Sir, your troops will be one of the main attacking forces this time, Your Excellency Marshal is full of expectations for you, and I ask you and your subordinates to fight bravely and achieve the goals set in the plan." ”

"I'll try my best." Lucien nodded slightly, but he was naturally not too sure about this.

He had been involved in many previous offensives, and no one knew better than him about the solidity of the Russian fortifications in front of him and the strong will of the Russian defenders.

Lucien now believed that these Russians, though numb and brave, could not compete with the French troops in field battles, but when it came to defense, this disadvantage turned into an advantage, and they had no need to think about detours and tactics, but only to stay here and fight to the death with the attacking French soldiers, and this further enhanced their advantage.

Therefore, the next offensive, Lucien is still not optimistic, I am afraid that it will still be repulsed by the Russian defenders.

But even so, he knew that the offensive would still have to be carried out, and it was only in the course of the offensive that these strong fortifications would be slowly captured or destroyed, the defenders would be slowly consumed, and only in the midst of terrible bloodshed and attrition would the fortress fall into the hands of the British and French armies.

He glanced at the young man again.

The young man was dressed in the same thick military coat as he was, but even then he could not cope with his slender figure, and his handsome face made one wonder if he really ought to stay on the battlefield, despite his own eagerness for war.

"George, you go back first." He couldn't help but say to his brother-in-law.