Menshikov's expression immediately turned ugly. After all, he was the Minister of the Navy and also had the title of prince. Compared with Paskovich, his status was almost the same. In terms of authority, he might even be half a level above him.
He came to discuss things with Paskovich. No matter what happened, Lao Qiu Ba should give him points. Even if he refused, he had to be tactful. But today, Paskovich was like a gun.
Rejecting categorically will not give you any face.
This made the old eunuch very angry. He originally came to Paskovich to discuss combat issues, but in fact he had no intention of asking Paskovich to give in. He was very aware of Lao Qiu Ba's current situation and knew that the man would probably not
concession.
So he came over more as a gesture, just to tell Paskovich and the navy generals that I have paid attention to this matter and my attitude is to support you.
So why did Menshikov do this? The reason is very simple, that is, Kornilov and Nassimov achieved a series of jaw-dropping results. First, Nassimov defeated and destroyed the Turkish fleet and won the victory in one fell swoop.
gained control of the Black Sea.
Later, under the planning and deployment of Kornilov and Nassimov, the powerful British and French fleets were blocked from the Black Sea through mine-laying operations, turning the Black Sea into Russia's inland sea. You can do whatever you want. You must know this
But it's unprecedented.
Anyway, Nicholas I was extremely satisfied with Kornilov and Nassimov. He praised them more than once and even praised them when he wrote to Menshikov.
Menshikov would naturally pay more attention to any person that Nicholas I valued, especially since these two men were members of his navy, so he would naturally have to pay more attention to them.
Now that Kornilov and Nasimov have been refuted by Paskovich, as the head of the navy, if Menshikov shows no expression, what will the people below think of him, and what will those meritorious veterans think of him?
How to talk about him.
Maybe it will be said that he is still a member of the Army, and he is still facing the Army, with his elbows completely turned outward.
Although such discussions will not cause any substantial damage to Menshikov's status, after all, public opinion wins gold, and he must keep the Navy's face up.
Then this time Grand Duke Constantine arrived at Ineada with him almost together, and he clearly expressed his support for Kornilov from the moment he came up. His posture looked unkind and menacing.
Menshikov knew that the Grand Duke was not a good person, and he might be holding back the opportunity to poach him, so he was naturally more nervous and could only stand up and make some gestures to let everyone in the navy see their navy.
The minister is still on the side of the navy.
It's just that Menshikov didn't expect that Paskovich would be so disrespectful, and he refused immediately. How do you ask him to step down? Even if he was just pretending before, he must show something real now, otherwise he is not sincere.
There is no way to explain, let alone continue to be in charge of the navy.
"What do you mean? It's true that you are the commander-in-chief, but this battle is about our navy and army fighting together sincerely. Every move you make will affect our navy. As the Lord of the Navy, I will never watch you.
My boy pushed into the fire pit!"
To be honest, Menshikov's statement was still not particularly strong. He did not directly accuse Paskovich, but only said that he wanted to safeguard the interests of the navy.
His meaning is actually very clear, which is to hint to Paskovich: If you want to continue to attack, you can, I can't stop it. But if you continue to do this, just don't bring people from my navy to die with you. As long as it doesn't implicate our navy, what do you want?
It doesn’t matter how much you toss!
So could Paskovich take the hint?
Having been in the officialdom for so many years, he certainly understands it, but just because he understands it doesn't mean he is willing to follow it.
The reason is very simple. Russia invested a total of about 100,000 troops for this landing operation, of which the navy provided about 30,000 troops. Excluding the naval infantry, Paskovich could actually use only 60,000 troops.
about.
If we include those he sacrificed in vain yesterday, the army actually only has 50,000 troops. After excluding the garrison holding the position, Paskovich will be able to devote 40,000 troops to the attack.
How can such a small number of people be able to use it?
Although Paskovich is a bastard, he is by no means stupid. He is facing more than 100,000 coalition troops. How can 40,000 people defeat him? What's more, after seeing the power of artillery fire from the British and French coalition forces, he became more and more panicked.
Let alone 40,000 people, doubling it to 80,000 people may not necessarily be effective.
Therefore, it was absolutely impossible for Menshikov to agree to the proposal that the navy would not participate in the subsequent offensive operations. This would mean that he would lose nearly half of his troops at once. No matter what, he must let the navy go with him.
Otherwise, it would be equivalent to indirectly giving up the offensive plan, and it would also be equivalent to letting the entire landing operation end without any problem.
For the above reasons, Paskovich could only not give Menshikov the honor, and could only pretend not to understand his hint.
Although Menshikov was the Minister of the Navy, to be honest, he did not know much about the entire combat operation. He only had a rough idea and did not know that Paskovich was in such a difficult situation.
Naturally, he could not understand Paskovich's extremely firm determination, so such a weak stance was definitely useless.
As expected, Paskovich snorted coldly and said: "Your Majesty's order is very clear. The navy and army landing forces are all under my command. If the navy wants to withdraw, it can! Go get your Majesty's warrant and I will agree! If not,
Then forgive me for not obeying my orders!"
This tone was not as tough as usual, there was no need for discussion at all. Menshikov was so stunned that he stood on the spot.
"What do you mean?" Grand Duke Constantine couldn't help it and interjected: "My father appointed you as the commander-in-chief, but the order given to you is to lead us to win, not to lead the troops to death.
!”
But Paskovich just glanced at Archduke Constantine, and immediately said coldly: "Death? I am leading the troops to win now, but you are gesticulating from the side to interfere with my victory!"
"Your Excellency, you do not understand the situation here, so you will naturally misunderstand it, so I will not care about your fault for interfering with the command. But if you must do that, I can only respond to Your Majesty!"
Well, Grand Duke Constantine was also scolded so much that he didn't understand why Lao Qiu Ba was so aggressive and didn't even take him as a prince in his eyes. He suddenly became very angry...