By nightfall, the revelry of the French officers and soldiers was not over, and in order to celebrate their recent victory, each unit took out all the wine from its supplies for the soldiers at the front to enjoy. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Throughout the fortress, the soldiers gathered in twos and threes, laughing and drinking loudly, and these people, who had been tested too much in the fighting, needed a chance to vent their emotions.

Compared to the victors, the remnants of the Russian officers and soldiers were gloomy, they resisted stubbornly for several months, repelled many attacks by the French army, but in the end they did not win, and the enemy, who had overwhelming material and firepower superiority, finally captured the fortress at any cost after many defeats.

It is a huge blow to anyone who has put in such a huge effort and only failed in the end. At this moment, they were all masked, with blank expressions, walking in the ruins, driven by the victors.

Fortunately, their heroic fighting during this period had won the respect of the enemy, so they were not abused by the French army after surrendering, on the contrary, these French soldiers greeted the captives with a strange friendly attitude, and handed them food, so that these Russian soldiers who were already somewhat malnourished feasted.

Both the elated French soldiers and the dejected Russian soldiers knew that the final fall of the fortress of Sevastopol was enough to become a vivid symbol of this war, and enough to become one of the milestones of the Russian army's defeat of this war - undoubtedly, the size of this fortress was only a drop in the bucket for the vast territory of the Russian Empire, but the reality that this fortress was besieged by British and French regiments for several months and the Russian army was helpless, It ruthlessly reveals the reality that the Russian army can no longer match the armies of Western European powers.

The situation was now extremely unfavorable for Russia - even the most loyal to the empire of captured Russian officers had to admit it.

The news of the final victory of the French army at Sevastopol soon reached the whole European continent through the telegraph system, and for a time the great victory of France became the focus of the entire European diplomatic circles, and every capital was discussing the present situation and gazing with envy or fear at the inscrutable Emperor in Paris.

By now, no one in the whole of Europe dared to underestimate His Majesty the Emperor of Lancey.

In the midst of all the turmoil in diplomacy, few people noticed the fact that Marshal Trevier fell ill after the fall of the fortress.

The old marshal, on the day of the surrender of the fortress, lay in his hospital bed, sometimes unconscious, and even when he woke up, he was unconscious.

Perhaps, this war has exhausted all his energy, and the only thing that keeps him up is the belief in winning the war, and the final capture of the Sevastopol fortress means that the war is already a certainty, and this news seems to have made him lose his reason to support himself, maybe he feels that he is done.

After his grandfather fell ill, Charles's original joy was also swept away, and after he reported the news to China, he put down his travel plan and stayed in the hospital to accompany his grandfather, although he didn't know much about medicine and couldn't do anything to help in the hospital, but he was still too nervous to leave.

The fall of the fortress of Sevastopol also shook the whole of Russia like an electric shock, and when the news reached St. Petersburg, the entire Russian court was shaken.

Since Britain and France declared war on Russia and joined the war, Russia's luck has never been good, almost all of them have been defeated in successive battles, all the way back, the only consolation is that the main force of the Russian army has not suffered serious losses, although the battle was lost, but they were able to retreat, retaining hope for the future war.

However, when the Russian army was divided and part of the troops were surrounded in the fortress, the situation was completely different, although the fortress could be held, but it also made the defenders unable to escape and could only be surrounded by enemy regiments, if the fortress was broken, it would mean that the army was completely annihilated.

And now, the empire is facing such a situation, they have lost the fortress that the empire was once proud of, lost the defenders inside, and with it, the face and honor of the empire.

Although the defenders of the fortress thwarted the French attack several times with a heroic and fearless spirit; Although the outlying armies launched several attacks to relieve the fortress, all these efforts proved to be fruitless, and the fortress eventually fell.

When the news was received, His Majesty Tsar Nicholas I was speechless for a long time, and then almost sleepless all night, and the whole person was haggard and paused for a while.

He understood that the empire had suffered a great disgrace, and that this disgrace might stay with him for the rest of his life, even when he lay in the ground.

Over the past 200 years, the Romanovs have overcome obstacles and expanded their territory from the tiny Muscovy to the vast empire they are today.

After such a humiliation, no matter how much merit he had made before and how much effort he had made for the well-being of the people of the empire, it would be written off, and he would go down in history as a humiliated emperor.

It is precisely because of this consciousness that the Tsar's physical condition has become worse and worse, his face is blue, his eyes are wandering, and even his steps are a little prostration, and the foreign ministers who see him like this are all frightened, and they are deeply afraid that something will happen to His Majesty at this critical moment.

In line with the emperor's appearance, the Winter Palace is now also a gloomy mist, the black clouds are very thick, almost to the top of the palace, the cold wind is howling in the square in front of the Winter Palace, as if the mother who has lost her child is wailing and crying, and the intermittent falling snow from the sky makes this place even more gloomy. It's early spring, but the weather is chilling, suggesting another worrying year.

On this gloomy afternoon, His Majesty the Tsar summoned the ministers headed by Nesher Rodie to the Imperial Front, and these ministers seemed to share in the gloomy mood of His Majesty the Tsar, and each of them had a gloomy face, and no one dared to speak more.

Despite the disappointment, His Majesty the Tsar held the meeting with great spirits.

"How's the report from the front?" He looked coldly at the Minister of War. "The morale of the officers and soldiers was also not hit by the news of the fall of the fortress?"

"Your Majesty, the fall of the Sevastopol fortress was certainly a major blow to us, but it did not wear down the will of our soldiers." The fat War Minister hastened to reply to His Majesty the Tsar, "On the contrary, the actions of the French have aroused their common hatred, and they have expressed their desire to continue to fight valiantly and avenge the shame of the robes of the fortress." ”

After hearing the words of the Minister of War, His Majesty the Tsar narrowed his eyes slightly.

After being a tsar for so long, of course he knew that this kind of talk was just a nice thing to say from the other party, and the fall of the fortress must be a major blow to the morale of the army, but at this moment, confidence was extremely important, so he was not interested in refuting the other party's statement.

Besides, since there is no worse news reported, it means that at least the front line can be maintained for now, and there will be no collapse fiasco.

If the front line can be maintained, then the situation has not yet reached the worst situation, at least the empire still has the capital to continue to negotiate with Britain and France, even if it is peace talks, there are still some bargaining chips that can reduce the other party's asking price.

Even more worrisome was the fact that at home the Empire had suffered such an unprecedented defeat that would have reduced the prestige of His Majesty and the Imperial Government to a very dangerous level, and even if His Majesty was convinced that most of his subjects were loyal to him, he was not sure that no one would want to use such conditions to incite action against the Imperial Government, or to riot.

It is precisely because of this concern that he has recently instructed the Minister of the Interior to strengthen law and order in the country, and has also drawn up plans to impose strict military control in the capital, Moscow, Smolensk and other cities under a state of emergency.

Despite this plan, His Majesty the Tsar was still restless, knowing full well that his empire, which was itself built on military conquest and military prestige, was not loved by many people, and that the empire was now suffering an unprecedented defeat, and the empire's military prestige was also crumbling, so the government itself had to face the crisis.

Crisis, crisis...... His Majesty's breathing became rapid and disordered, and his heart began to beat faster, and he could almost hear his own heartbeat.

Knock, knock, knock, the sound is dull and monotonous, but it makes people nervous.

His Majesty felt nothing but a feeling of annoyance in his heart, and the feeling of wanting to gag lingered, even though he had not eaten for the most part. He did his best to make himself behave normally and not lose the demeanor of an emperor.

He turned his head, looked at the Home Secretary, opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't ask anything.

The Home Secretary would certainly not tell him too bad news, so it would be in vain to ask, and besides, how could plans to strengthen law and order and suppress a possible rebellion be discussed on such an occasion?

The Empire cannot let anyone know how weak it is, especially at a time when it really is so weak. It has to be calm, it has to convince everyone that it's as solid as it was before.

At the same time, His Majesty the Tsar also knew that the present problem was no longer for the Minister of the Interior to solve, but for His Excellency the Foreign Secretary.

Yes, peace talks must be made, peace talks must be made as soon as possible, and only in this way can the empire be pulled back from the brink of danger.

His Majesty the Tsar, who had hesitated a month ago, had finally made up his mind, and he understood that his reputation had no chance to be restored, and now only the Empire could be saved, and it had to be fast, it had to be quick, while the front had not completely collapsed.

Moreover, it is also for his crown prince.

It is better to bend the knee to peace with Britain and France in his hands than to sue for peace with Britain and France in the hands of the crown prince.

Let this shame be borne by himself, so that the crown prince can take charge of Russia in a new posture, carry out the necessary reforms, and wash away the shame suffered by the empire and his father.

Now that His Majesty the Tsar has decided to let his reign end as soon as possible, he cannot tolerate his continued rise to the throne with such humiliation.

With a determined attitude, he turned his head to the Foreign Secretary, the aged Minister of Nesser Rodie.

"Go and inform Gorchakov and allow him to make concessions as soon as possible, so that he can make peace with the French as soon as possible." He said calmly, as if to say a trivial matter, "for the time being, the division of England and France is of great importance to us, and to the armistice, and we will talk about the rest later." ”

The elderly foreign secretary looked at His Majesty, and he wanted to say something, but in front of His Majesty's blank look, he stopped.

He understood that His Majesty's words were tantamount to acknowledging that His Majesty's and his own decades of work had come to naught.

He was unwilling, but this was His Majesty's will, so what was the point of saying more? I'm just a person who will leave at any time.

"Understood, Your Majesty." He nodded.

His Majesty the Tsar said this, and the atmosphere in the whole room was suddenly relaxed. The ministers had already understood that His Majesty the Tsar intended to make concessions and win peace as soon as possible, and this was what the ministers wanted to say but did not dare to say.

At this point, Russia must make a painful decision to end this costly war, which is the consensus of almost every minister.

"Mr. Gorchakov is a wise and far-sighted man, who has many years of experience in diplomatic work, and it is a perfect complement for him to preside over the negotiations with the French." His Majesty looked at the ministers calmly, and his tone was calm to the point of indifference, "I think that when the crown prince is in charge of state affairs, he will be a good enough auxiliary minister." ”

His Majesty's sudden words made the ministers look at each other, not because he praised anyone, but because the ministers heard the implication - His Majesty's words seemed to be his last words.

The meaning is terrifying.

"Your Majesty! Don't be discouraged! After being stunned, several ministers hurriedly said to the emperor, "The empire still needs you to lead, you can't ......"

…………………………

While the courtiers were meeting with His Majesty the Tsar, in the narrow streets of St. Petersburg, a group of soldiers in military uniforms were advancing in the direction of the Winter Palace.

Since the outbreak of the war, this has been the norm, so it is not surprising to the people in the surrounding area, and because of the cold weather, there are few pedestrians on the streets, so their movement is not hindered in any way.

The army was lined up in a neat formation, with a powerful pace, and it looked like a normal regular army, but for some reason, there was an unusual tension in it.

The cold wind howled through the streets, blowing over everyone's faces, as if to see them off, and as if shouting something.

"So, let's put an end to everything!"

In the streets of the Winter Palace, a few miles away, an obese old man in civilian clothes took a handkerchief from his pocket and threw it to the ground.