Holy Roman Empire

After more than two months of hard work, the coalition finally defeated the Greek "civilian armed forces" and achieved the first victory of the British army since the outbreak of the Near East War.

Major Oliver's dangling heart also fell to the ground, and he finally had a record.With casualties of less than 5,000 people on their own, killing 18,000 enemy troops and capturing 14,000 enemy troops, the results are brilliant.

The enemy is a matter of the Uzbekistan, and he has been decisively ignored by him. As long as he continues to defeat the army of the Principality of Montenegro, he will complete all combat tasks.

A young military officer reported: "General, a military order came from within the country: ordering us to continue to pursue the enemy. If the Kingdom of Greece takes in these enemy forces, we are authorized by the country to take necessary measures."

Necessary means?In fact, it is to find an excuse to enter the Greek kingdom and teach the Greek government.Obviously, the London government is very dissatisfied with the Otto I government and wants to give them some color to look at.

"Got it." Major Oliver replied calmly.

He didn't like the Greeks. If it wasn't for the Greeks' surprise attack, the Ottomans were forced to adjust their frontline troops, and the Sofia campaign would not lose.

Although he blamed all the responsibilities on others, Major General Oliver knew clearly that he was to blame the battle, and it would become an indelible stain with his life.

Now that he has a chance to find a Greek, he will naturally not let this opportunity go.

There are always excuses, even if Otto I pretends to be counseling, this time the London government wants to beat this restless young man, he will still do it.

Obviously, it is impossible to get through.It's just that the Greek government doesn't recognize this troop dispatch, so the British can't treat them on the grounds.

European countries still look at it, once they have done it, everyone will still intervene, and John Bull can't cover the sky with one hand.

Even if it is within the UK, it does not think that there is a big problem for the Greek attack on the Ottomans, but they choose the wrong time.

The Greek government finally got lost in the past and did not join the Russian camp. This leaves room for manoeuvre. Obviously, Otto I ’s political judgement still passed.

...

The General Headquarters of the Russian Army outside Constantinople, General Mynshkov once again received a letter of rebuke from Nikolai I.

After attacking for such a long time and paying hundreds of thousands of casualties, Constantinople is still in the hands of the enemy, seeing no signs of being captured, the Tsarist government is naturally anxious.

The pressure in Mainshkov has increased greatly. If there is no other way, the St. Petersburg government will be replaced. By then, the glory of Constantinople will be overcome, and he will be farewell from him. .

A middle-aged general suggested: "His Commander, you can consider the Austrian's suggestion, as long as you can conquer Constantinople, the rest will be easy to handle."

Myshkov shook his head and said: "The Austrian's suggestion is too expensive! They are not conquering Constantinople, but they are going to bomb Constantinople with artillery.

The heavy artillery they recommended, except for attacking the city, could only be used as a shore gun later.If they had come up with hundreds of cannons according to their proposal, the daily ammunition consumption would be several thousand tons.

Don't say that we can't afford it. It is estimated that even if the Austrians are fully producing, they may not be able to meet our needs.

Killing ammunition worth millions of rubles every day, to conquer Constantinople requires at least hundreds of millions of rubles, or even more than a billion rubles of funding, do you think we can fight it?"

This is not the most pitted, the more pitted is the money spent, Constantinople may not be able to fight down.

The cannon recommended by Austria is very inconvenient to move on the battlefield. It would be even worse if the artillery position was destroyed by the enemy.

The middle-aged military officer reminded: "But your commander, this is the only way to seem to break Constantinople.

The enemy troops on the opposite side are very stubborn, and they rely on fortifications to defend.The six-pound artillery in our hands is simply tickling them. Even the twelve-pound artillery can only deal with some ordinary fortifications.

Unable to destroy these fortresses, what can we do to conquer Constantinople?If this opportunity is missed, we are the sinners of Russia."

This is the most frustrating. Regardless of whether this method is reliable, it is the only way to succeed.

The tsarist government will not control that much, and the people in the country will not care too much. They have all arrived at the foot of Constantinople. If they do not take this city, are they worthy of their ancestors?

...

I visited the camp again, watching the morale declining, listening to the wailing screams, and even the heart-shouldered Mainshkov could not help shaking.

He knew that he couldn't go on like this anymore. It was estimated that Constantinople hadn't captured it yet, so the Russian army would have to change first.

Grey cattle are also human beings. When the casualties have reached a certain level, they will also collapse. This consequence can't be afforded by Mainshkov.

...

In a corner of the camp, several soldiers are plotting.

A disgraced young soldier said in a low voice: "Joy, did the route get clear? If you go on like this, I am afraid it won't take long for us to fall on the battlefield.

Did you know that just yesterday the guy at Roosbecky was injured in the left leg and had to amputate to avoid infection?Can't stand the blow, he committed suicide that night."

A middle-aged soldier next to him reminded: "Fox, don't be like this. You must plan the route to leave, otherwise we will be hung at the door of the camp if there is a failure!"

In order to kill one hundred people and deter the deserters, the Russian army took a very cruel method: drop people on a pole, and die in the sun, thirst, starvation ...

Looking at the expectant crowd, Joey sighed, and took out a sketch and pointed to the explanation: "The route has been found, but this road is difficult to take.

Leave from here, there are people guarded along the way, you must avoid these people, enter the Balkan Mountains to be temporarily safe.

This is only the first phase of escape, and then you have to cross the Balkan Mountains to enter the occupied area of ​​Austria.

During this period, you can't get any supplies from the outside world. You can only find food in the mountains. In addition to being careful of poisonous beasts and beasts, you also have to worry about getting lost.

Arriving in the area occupied by the Austrians does not mean that they are safe.They are our allies. Even if you stumble in, you will not be disarmed, and most of you will still be sent back.

If you want to get past it, you can only pretend to be a war refugee. Language is a big problem.Russian and Bulgarian are very similar, but there are still differences. No one knows what will happen once they are recognized."

The middle-aged man said cautiously: "We have no choice. You may not know in the logistics forces. The casualties on the front line are too heavy these days. You can see familiar people leaving here every day.

Half of our battalions are supplemented one after another. If we continue to stay, it will not take long for everyone to die here.

Joey, whether we can run out or not, thank you.

You can rest assured that we have figured out the situation and found a chance to pretend to be dead while attacking, and then secretly leave when it is dark.

Even if it was found, we can say that the bomb was stunned and the brain was confused."

A premeditated escape started. They were not the first batch, nor the last batch. The brutal casualties had caused their nerves to collapse.

Everyone would rather take the risk to escape and fight for an unknown life, rather than continue to stay here.

Anyway, their family and children are serfs, and all belong to the property of the nobles and masters. Even if they are found, they do n’t have to worry about being involved in the family.

...

The middle-aged man whispered, "Go away, Wallace, why don't you see this kid?"

Fox replied: "Uncle Marney, did not see him catch up, fearing it was an accident, or should we go back and find it?"

The middle-aged man thought about it and said, "Don't worry about him. There is life and death on the battlefield. Where is this black lamp blinded?

Now everyone is going fast, it's not safe here, if we can't shuttle from here quickly, we won't be able to run away at dawn."

They had good luck, someone provided a road map, did not run in the wrong direction, and spent the first day of escape safely.

But not everyone was so lucky, and shortly after they left, another wave of deserters encountered the patrol very unfortunately, and was naturally caught.

The military judge asked: "His commander, last night I caught seven deserters. Is it still the same?"

"Ok!"

Menshkov seemed to just say a word at random, but in fact his heart was not calm.

The number of deserters is increasing. As a senior officer who is not an idiot, he knows that this means that this army is about to reach its limit.

In the face of reality, Mainshkov quickly made a compromise, he did not want to become a thief, so this battle must be fought.

The question of money made the tsarist government a headache, but no one can back down anyway.

Myshkov said: "Come here, borrow the Austrian Telegraph Network and transfer this telegram to the St. Petersburg government!"

Since Austria took over the two Principalities of the Danube, cable telegrams were quickly laid over, and at the end of 1853, the domestic telegraph network was connected.

At this time, the Russians delivered messages that did not particularly require confidentiality. They often borrowed from the Austrian telegraph network, which could be done in two or three days.

If you go to the Russians' own communication network, you have to run to a big city in Poland or Ukraine before you can send a telegram.Without ten days and a half months, it is impossible to pass the news back to St. Petersburg.

Obviously Mainshkov does not think that this battle plan needs to be kept secret from the Austrians. Even if it is impossible to keep it secret, the artillery has to be purchased from the Austrians.

Menshkov is not prepared to let domestic military enterprises supply, and wait for them to produce the artillery and ship it to the front. Who knows whether it will be one year later or two years later?

On the issue of attacking Constantinople, Nicholas I gave his full support to his work. Who dares to engage in things here is to fight against the great Tsar.

Without the support of the Tsar, it is impossible for Mainshkov to change the logistics and transport system of the Russian army in the Balkans. If it does not change, the frontline Russian army will not have such a good life.

The ball was kicked to St. Petersburg. Myshkov explained all the situations in detail. The choice was decided by Nikolai I.