Chapter five hundred and fortieth not enough troops
You can imagine how stunned Duke Mikhail was when he learned of the latest situation and the latest instructions from Nicholas I.
Because he didn't take any chances and knew what the sudden declaration of war by Britain and France would mean to Russia. Just one Turkey made him miserable. Now plus two more powerful and difficult Britain and France, there is no chance of winning.
OK!
The only thing that gave Duke Mikhail some relief was that Nicholas I finally ordered him to withdraw his troops from Bulgaria and only asked him to stick to Wallachia. Finally, he did not have to run into a wall in front of the Turkish fortress. This is good news!
It’s just that Duke Mikhail was a little too happy because Nicholas I also ordered him to win a few battles as soon as possible to force Turkey to surrender!
But the question is, how can passive defense fight a war of annihilation and force Turkey to withdraw from the war? Isn’t this nonsense?
You can't let him defend and attack at the same time, right? Isn't this baffling?
Therefore, Duke Mikhail simply ignored Nicholas I's order and simply announced the withdrawal of troops from Bulgaria, and then the entire army turned to defense.
What is more interesting is that the Russian troops on the front line of Constanta did not retreat, but stayed on the spot.
The reason is very simple. This area is so important. Not only does it have the important port of Constanta, but it also has a dense network of rivers and swamps everywhere. In the previous Russian-Turkish wars, the Russian army suffered in this area. It was difficult to capture it. It must be
It cannot be returned to Turkey easily!
What's more, this time all the hard work has yielded nothing. If we don't seize some trump cards, we will suffer losses at the subsequent negotiation table.
Duke Mikhail's plan is to temporarily occupy Constanta until the end of the war. At that time, he will try to force Turkey to cede this area. So his leadership of the war this time is not without merit. At least he has an explanation for the country.
no!
It can only be said that Duke Mikhail's little calculation was very good, but it is hard to say whether this calculation will succeed, because this war has completely deviated from the track of Russia's original plan, and now it is like a derailed train.
The train rumbled towards the unknown abyss!
The bad news for the Russians didn't end there. Just after Britain and France declared war on Russia, Neserrodie sent a note to Prussia and Austria in accordance with Nicholas I's order, hoping that the two countries would fulfill their obligations as a Holy Alliance and stand with Russia.
A united front against Britain and France.
But what Nicholas I did not expect was that both Prussia and Austria rejected his request and made it clear that they had no intention of participating in this dispute.
Prussia pretended to be neutral and was willing to mediate. The Austrians' face was ugly. On the surface, they said they would remain neutral, but in the blink of an eye, they sent nearly 100,000 troops into Transland.
Sylvania.
Obviously, the Austrians thought it was profitable and were ready to take advantage of the situation and try to regain the gains in Wallachia lost in 1848.
This made Nicholas I so angry that he threw a tantrum in the royal study, scolded Austria, and even wrote the words "despicable villain" directly behind the portrait of Franz Karl I.
But what's the use of being angry at this time? The interests of the international community come first. He was able to rip off Austria in 1848. Now it's normal for the Austrians to follow his example.
Fortunately, Li Xiao and Alexey had taken precautions against this and built a solid defense line at the border between Wallachia and Transylvania. Even if the Austrians really didn't have any shame and came to rob them,
A good tooth will be chipped.
This naturally made Duke Mikhail breathe a sigh of relief. When he heard about Austria's attitude, he was also shocked, and he almost didn't directly greet the eight generations of Franz Karl I's ancestors.
But later I remembered that Li Xiao and the others had been prepared beforehand, and fortunately they had built a solid defense line, otherwise he would have been really stretched.
Why is it so stretched?
It's very simple. Although Duke Mikhail has about half a million troops in his hands, the Turks in front of him are no less than him. Since they retreated to the north bank of the Danube, the Turks have been crazy. That's called an active person.
ah!
An army of nearly 700,000 people came rushing over in a mighty manner. Although it could not temporarily defeat Wallachia's solid defense line, the numerical advantage was no joke.
In any case, Duke Mikhail could not ignore this huge force and could only confront it patiently.
As a result, his main force was pinned to the Danube line by the Turks, and he had no time to take care of the Transylvanian line on the flanks.
If there were no fortifications and fortresses repaired by Li Xiao and Alexey, how could more than 30,000 people challenge the Austrians?
"The situation is serious!"
Li Xiao's face was almost ashen. He was not happy that he had temporarily blocked the Austrians, but seriously warned his friends and Duke Mikhail:
"Now all our forces are on the cards. Except for the Black Sea Fleet, which has more than 30,000 naval infantry, almost all other forces have been used!"
"But our enemies may still have some strength left. The Turks may have a harder time, but it shouldn't be a big problem to go all out and squeeze in another 100,000 people!"
"Although the Austrians only sent 100,000 people to Transylvania, that doesn't mean they only have these 100,000 people. With their strength, they can get three to five times more troops!"
"Even if they don't dare to use force, the Chen-Bing border makes us extremely uncomfortable. At least we must divide our forces to confront them! Otherwise, as you have seen, those bastards may really take risks regardless of the covenant!"
When they heard this, Alexey Dmitry and Duke Mikhail's expressions had already changed to look like Li Xiao's, but before Li Xiao finished speaking, the unpleasant things were still to come.
"Gentlemen, please note that this is not all. Britain and France have declared war on us. Although we have not seen any action from them yet, they will definitely take action!"
"Once they send troops into the battlefield, the situation will get even worse!"
"So, I think with the current military strength alone, let alone forcing Turkey to withdraw from the war, it may be a little difficult to even hold on to the defense line!"
"Duke, you should ask for help from St. Petersburg immediately, we need more troops!"
Duke Mikhail's face was darker than the bottom of the pot. Apparently he also realized the seriousness of the problem. The answer to this extremely simple arithmetic problem was not difficult at all, but the answer was really terrible!