"General, something is wrong! The territory of Verchhov has been captured by the Taipings, and our back road is about to be cut off! ”

General Menderov, who was discussing how to encircle and annihilate Xiang Dongqiang on the outskirts of Kyiv, suddenly heard the news and couldn't help but fall into a moment's confusion.

How can you say that a piece of land as big as Verkhoven is gone?

"What's going on?! Isn't the city of Moscow home to tens of thousands of elite troops? How could the Taiping army take the territory of Verkhov so quickly? ”

General Menderov shouted angrily.

The Russian nobleman who came to report the news spread his hands helplessly: "His Majesty the Tsar in Moscow City has been waiting for the whole army to change its flintlock muskets, so it has not sent troops to intercept the Taiping army, and the Vilkhov territory is only defended by the local garrison and a group of militia, which is not the elite opponent of the Taiping army at all." ”

"Oh my God, why didn't you tell me about this until today! What about the national mobilization order and the 50,000 elites? Isn't His Majesty the Tsar going to go on a personal expedition? As a result, I waited like this in the city of Moscow for almost a year?! ”

"General Menderov, pay attention to your words, how can we, as vassals, question His Majesty's intentions?

Of course, Moscow City did not expect the Taiping Army's offensive to be so fast, I thought that the Vilkhov territory had a large number of conscripted militia and geographical advantages, how could it hold off the Taiping Army for three months, but it fell in less than three weeks, and Moscow City was also in chaos.

Someone suggested that we should withdraw, and someone asked us to stay here and fight the main force of the Taiping army on both sides with the troops in Moscow......"

General Menderov's face was gloomy as water, and he said in a deep voice: "Until now, the old men in Moscow City have not given a clear order, right, what about the Tsar?" Does His Majesty the Tsar have any orders? ”

The nobleman who reported the news replied in an unnatural tone: "Your Majesty the Tsar has asked us to continue the siege of Xiangdongqiang and the city of Kiev, saying that reinforcements from the city of Moscow will arrive soon. ”

"Fart! The same thing that the Tsar who came to power by mutiny a year ago said the same! He's sold us all!

I said how Andrei's people were transferred back to Moscow in batches these days, and the tsar was ready to kill with a knife!

Without us, his place in Moscow would be more comforting! ”

In a fit of rage, General Menderov completely abandoned his former calmness and concealment, and mercilessly rebuked the tsar in front of many noble generals.

If this was placed in Moscow, it would be legal to kill General Menderov on the spot, but today's Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force has long become a word of the tsarist opposition in the Duma parliament.

After Andrei left, due to the rout of the shooting army, General Menderov was given a good excuse to eliminate the generals and leading officers on the Tsar's side, and later Moscow City took the initiative to transfer back the trusted officers on the Tsar's side, so that Menderov and his party successfully took over all the power of the entire Imperial Expeditionary Force, and Menderov and his party were proud for a long time at that time......

Because there was no constraint, the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force formed a united force, concentrated all its efforts to start dealing with the troops to the east, and the Ukrainian National Resistance Army and the Ukrainian Cossack Rebel Army expanded rapidly with the help of the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force.

Xiang Dongqiang, who originally had two full regiments left, was besieged in a small city in the Kyiv region with just over 1,000 men left in the months of attrition.

As for those Lithuanian auxiliaries, they were all wiped out, either killed in battle or became missing.

However, the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force also paid a huge price for this, not only did the veterans of the reorganized shooting army die more than half of them again, and they were forced to cancel the formation and scatter them into other units, but the Russian aristocratic cavalry also paid thousands of battle losses for this, and the miscellaneous units in the Ukrainian National Resistance Army, the Ukrainian Cossack Rebel Army, and the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force could not be counted.

If it weren't for the peasant recruits recruited by Russia itself, the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force would have been unbearable.

I have to say that General Menderov's previous speculation was completely correct, the Russian Imperial Expeditionary Force, which was backed by the Russian Empire itself, with a steady stream of supplies and recruits, relied on the local Ukrainian ethnic group and the Cossack rebels, and successfully consumed the eastward strongness without a foundation.

It's just that General Menderov knows his own family affairs, and now the consumption of a large number of veterans of the Imperial Expeditionary Force, the influx of a large number of new soldiers, and the combat effectiveness is no longer as good as it was at the beginning, and it may not be a problem to deal with the remnants of the Taiping Army with only more than 1,000 people left, but if it is against the main force of the Taiping Army that swept in, it is the birthday star hanging himself - tired of it!

As for the large number of Ukrainian national rebels and Ukrainian Cossack rebels, they are even more naked peasant armies, and their combat effectiveness is not much stronger than that of the Russian Empire's conscription militia......

This is the reason why General Menderov was furious, he had been driven to the crossroads of life and death.

"General, Moscow City has not issued an order to retreat, if we withdraw our troops without authorization, not to mention the interception and pursuit of the Taiping Army, even if we flee back to Moscow City, I am afraid that we will become national sinners!

In our hands, tens of thousands of Russian soldiers died tragically in a foreign land, and the tsar had a reason for us to be sentenced. ”

A Russian aristocratic general next to him persuaded.

"I know!" General Menderov glared at the other party impatiently: "There are only more than 1,000 people left in Xiangdongqiang, as long as we are willing to pay some price, we can annihilate them in a short time, so that the road for our army to advance westward can be opened, and when the time comes, whether it is to enter the Polesiye region controlled by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to take revenge, or to go south into the territory of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania to seek refuge, there is a way to retreat, and there is no need to be pursued by the Taiping army."

The territory of Verkhov was lost, and the main force of the Taiping army was directly under the crotch of Moscow, and the tsar could not ignore it like this, when the time came, we could just wait for the results of the battle of Moscow.

If Moscow wins, we will go north and west to besiege the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and take a few big cities, and you and I will naturally be able to offset our guilt, and if we are lucky, we may be able to enter the city of Vilno, and if Moscow is defeated, ......"

General Menderov looked around at the crowd, sneered twice and did not continue, the consequences of the defeat of the city of Moscow, the people present naturally understood.

Even the tsar has been defeated, and their expeditionary force naturally does not have to bear the biggest black cauldron, and the expeditionary force will also become a part of the crisis that the Russian Empire must rely on!