Nicholas I's persistence left Kornilov speechless. He knew very well that such an attack would be of no use at all, and it was meaningless except to consume Sevastopol's precious vitality.
However, the Tsar's order cannot be disobeyed. In desperation, he could only say to Nicholas I: "Your Majesty, if you want to defeat the enemy according to your plan, it is impossible to do it with the current strength of Sevastopol... The current Sevastopol
The power available to Topor is tight even to maintain defense. If you want to defeat the enemy, you will need at least 50,000 troops!"
Nicholas I definitely couldn't give Kornilov 50,000 troops. After all, he has now deployed all the troops he can mobilize in the country to Wallachia and Crimea. If he deploys them to other places, his sincerity will become a vacuum.
. And he also has to beware of attacks from Poland, Britain and France from other directions.
Then give up this attack?
This was unacceptable to Nicholas I. He just wanted to attack and defeat the enemy, so this attack must be carried out!
So he gritted his teeth and ordered Duke Mikhail to mobilize 20,000 soldiers and horses to support Kornilov. Although this is really a bit small, Kornilov can't give 20,000 people to you anymore.
Shit it off?
Even if the troops are a little small, mosquito legs are still meat. If you just grit your teeth and think of a way, maybe you can get enough?
Of course Kornilov could not raise enough, and he would not raise it. In September 1854, when he received 20,000 reinforcements, he just sighed and said helplessly to Nakhimov: "
Now if we don’t do it, we have to do it!”
Nakhimov was also very helpless about this. It would have been great if these 20,000 people had devoted themselves to the defense of Sevastopol! But who let them deal with a brain-dead king?
"What are you going to do?" Nakhimov asked.
"The enemy in front of us has built a solid offensive and has strong artillery support. Attacking them frontally is simply asking for death!"
"The only location where the enemy can be regarded as a loophole is near the Chornaya River. The terrain there is flat and undefeable, so it is relatively easy to attack there."
Nakhimov didn't need to look at the map to know where Kornilov was talking about. Ever since the coalition forces began to besiege Sevastopol, they had been trying to cut off Sevastopol's aqueduct, so in Chornaya
About five thousand men and horses were deployed on the river.
Although the coalition's operation to destroy the aqueduct did not achieve the expected results, these five thousand people were never transferred back. Instead, they stayed on the banks of the Chornaya River to monitor the Russian supply lines north of Sevastopol.
Several times before, the supply operations organized by Simferopol have been disrupted by these defenders. If they can be driven away, it will be equivalent to kicking away a bomb on one's own supply line. In addition, it can also threaten the coalition's water sources and supplies.
flank.
Of course, that is to say, the latter two, because as long as the coalition forces are too strong, even if they lose their position accidentally, they can easily increase their investment to take it back in the future.
If Nakhimov had followed Nakhimov's will, he would definitely not care about such a useless place, but who would let Nicholas I be so stubborn? If he wanted to make an explanation, he could only start here!
However, before that, Kornilov convened a combat meeting with the generals to see if there was a more ideal plan. However, as a result, even his plan was unanimously opposed.
Count Osten-Sachen, commander of the city defense of Sevastopol's South Port District, said bluntly: "Judging from the current situation, the fall of Sevastopol is only a matter of time. The only thing we can do now is to do our best."
Delay the process as much as possible instead of blindly investing in the attack to speed up the process!"
"I think any offensive action is undesirable and is completely stupid and crazy! As long as you still have a shred of sense in your mind, you shouldn't have such an idea! The most correct way is not to attack but to retreat and break through immediately, giving up Sevastopol
It is best for Bohr to retreat to Simferopol!"
As for other generals, although their words were not as straightforward as the one above, their meaning was very clear, that is, they opposed the attack. This made Kornilov even more speechless, and in the end he could only tell everyone helplessly: "This
It is His Majesty’s will that cannot be stopped!”
In this way, everyone knew that it was useless to object, but everyone had different opinions on how to attack. For example, because of the broken pot, Khrulev thought that it would be better to gather the entire army to launch a comprehensive attack.
Just compete with the enemy once and for all.
He said: "We should completely destroy Sevastopol and completely destroy this city, leaving not even a brick or tile to the enemy. Then we will concentrate our efforts on a full-scale attack. If we don't succeed, we will die!"
"Are you crazy?" Count Osten-Sachern exclaimed, "This is suicide. Do you want us all to go to hell?"
Khrulev replied nonchalantly: "So what? Let everyone die in battle, and we will leave everlasting traces on the map!"
Fortunately, not all Russian generals were lunatics like Khrulev. In the end, the calm faction prevailed. At the end of the meeting, everyone voted to approve Kornilov's plan to attack the enemies on the Chornaya River.
However, Kornilov was not optimistic about this operation at all. After the meeting, he wrote to the Minister of War, Prince Dolgorukov: "I will launch an attack on the enemy on the Chornaya River, because if not
If you do this, Your Majesty will use more crazy and dangerous plans to bury Sevastopol. Although this attack is likely to fail, if it succeeds by chance, I hope you can try to calm Your Majesty. We can't stand it anymore.
Take any similar dangerous action!"
Kornilov set the time for the attack on August 16, because the first day was the "Emperor's Day" of the French army. On this day, the French army fell into a carnival, drinking and having fun all night long. Kornilov must say
Choose a suitable time to launch the attack.
Under the cover of morning fog, Kornilov commanded the troops to march towards the French position. He invested 30,000 troops, including 25,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry, as well as 270 field artillery pieces.
.
According to his plan, there would be no advance artillery attack when the attack was launched. First, the cavalry would directly penetrate the enemy's position. If the progress went well, the infantry would be thrown in. If not, they would retreat immediately.
It should be said that Kornilov was very cautious. According to his plan, even if the attack did not go smoothly, the Russian army would not suffer too much loss.
It's just that there are always accidents of this kind and that in this world. For example, the Russian army's attack this time has been full of accidents from the beginning...