Kornilov looked at the coalition forces outside the city and said nothing for a long time, because he had nothing to say.
At this point in the battle, he had already used all the methods and strategies he should have thought of. But no matter how hard he tried, the enemies outside the city still maintained a fierce offensive. The continuous fierce attack for a month made Malakhov even more vulnerable.
The fort became crumbling.
At least 30,000 lives were sacrificed in this bastion and the trench in front of the bastion alone, including more than 10,000 Russian troops and more than 20,000 coalition troops.
Let's put it this way, although both sides will tacitly declare a truce every few days to collect the corpses, you can smell the strong rotten smell when you are in the bastion.
Almost all the cemeteries in Sevastopol were filled with the corpses of the defenders of the Malakhov Bastion, and now they can only find every opportunity to bury the corpses.
And there is far from an end in sight for this terrible war. If we continue to maintain this bloody efficiency, it won't be long before Sevastopol becomes a real cemetery.
Kornilov is naturally not afraid of death, but he hopes that every sacrifice is valuable. However, he does not see any value in the sacrifice of Sevastopol, and even he knows that it will only take time for the city to fall.
The problem will be next year at the latest.
In this case, what’s the point of continuing to hold on?
In his opinion, this is a waste of life. He loves his motherland and is loyal to the Tsar, but at the same time, he also deeply loves the people of his motherland. Every soldier who fell in Sevastopol is valuable, but this preciousness
But he did not get the recognition and respect of the Tsar.
To be honest, he was very angry about this. He knew why Alexander II could not make up his mind to admit defeat. He also knew that the emperor's face needed to be taken care of. But he also knew that every soldier who risked his life to surround the country was the most precious asset. There was no
There would be no country for these people, and no dignity for the Tsar.
But why couldn't the Tsar give up just a little bit of his pathetic pride to save the lives of his soldiers?
He was very disappointed with this, and also with the Tsar. For the first time, he felt that Russia would never see a future if it maintained the status quo.
"We must reform! We can't go on like this!"
After hearing Kornilov's words, Nakhimov was a little surprised, because although they were more open-minded due to the influence of their teachers, this open-mindedness was not exactly the same as that of the group of people who staunchly supported the reform.
But at this time, Kornilov openly talked about reform. What does this mean? It means that this old friend has been cornered and is completely disappointed with the status quo.
To be honest, Nakhimov was also disappointed. This war was completely unnecessary. Whether it was the so-called liberation of Bulgaria's Orthodox brothers or the elimination of heretics, these might still have some meaning in the Middle Ages.
But now, who cares about these bullshit except those extremely ignorant and extremely devout believers?
At least Nakhimov didn't care. He knew clearly how much attention was focused on this damn place in the Balkans. It could be said that all the decent countries in Europe were staring at it, let alone great powers like Britain, France, and Austria.
Everyone is too big to do things arbitrarily in this place, and often the investment and return are simply not proportional. Just like when Russia fully supported the independence of Greece, what did it gain in the end?
In the end, I didn't get anything, but I got a bargain from the British guy.
From then on, he vaguely understood that if you don't have the strength, don't try to be strong, because there is no point in trying to be strong, and you will get nothing in the end.
As the saying goes, you have to be strong to make iron, and you have to have the teeth to eat meat. And the current situation in Russia is that the body bones are already weak, but they still want to stretch out their hands here and there. Who do you really think can scare anyone with their claws and teeth?
So when Kornilov said that reforms were needed, he immediately responded: "Reforms are indeed needed. The wealth accumulated over decades has been squandered in one go. How can there be such a way!"
Kornilov sighed: "It's not easy to reform! It's not like you haven't seen His Majesty's attitude, hey..."
Nakhimov snorted: "So sometimes we have to show courage and can't wait any longer!"
Kornilov nodded. This is indeed the truth, but how to show courage? Do you want to imitate the Decembrists?
"It shouldn't be that far yet," Nakhimov took a breath and said, "but we must express our attitude to His Majesty and let him know that we have reached the point where we can't do anything without reform!"
Kornilov nodded again and asked slowly: "How about we write to His Majesty and discuss this issue?"
Nakhimov immediately nodded in agreement. Looking at his posture, he was ready to write a letter immediately, but before he could take action, the coalition's artillery fire started roaring again.
A barrage of bullets slammed into the Malakhov Fortress, making the already riddled fortress even more shaky.
"Here we go again!" Kornilov looked very serious and said worriedly: "We won't be able to hold on much longer if we continue like this!"
Nakhimov looked at the Malakhov Bastion, which was covered in bullets, and sighed: "Yes, this density of artillery fire is too exaggerated. How much ammunition reserves do they have?"
No wonder Nakhimov was surprised. In the past month, the coalition had fired an average of 10,000 artillery shells every day, 70% of which were solid shells and the rest were explosive shells. This means that at least 3,000 explosive shells were fired every day.
Toward Malakhov Bastion.
This is an astronomical figure for Russia. You must know that Sevastopol has only obtained a total of 50,000 explosive bombs since the war began, which is only enough for the coalition forces in ten days and a half.
You say this is annoying or not. Anyway, after fighting against the coalition forces, Nakhimov realized how powerful the industrial capabilities and material reserves of Britain and France are. Compared with them, Russia is like a beggar competing with a dragon king, and it is really overestimating its capabilities.
pole!
Of course, this cannot stop Nakhimov from despising the coalition forces. If the Russian army had such strong industrial capabilities and material reserves, it would not be able to fight such a war. It is simply a stupid goose, okay?
Nakhimov felt that there was no need for the coalition forces to besiege Sevastopol. Instead, he would directly send his troops north to sweep Crimea. In that case, it would be useless for them to continue to defend Sevastopol.
At that time, Alexander II and Nicholas I would definitely be forced to fight the Allied Forces due to their poor behavior. Apart from the bonus of fortifications, the Russian army was far inferior to the Allied Forces in terms of strength and equipment. There was no chance of winning in a hasty decisive battle.
?
Thinking of this, Nakhimov felt a little lucky. Fortunately, the generals of the coalition forces were all weak-minded. If these people were smarter, Russia would have to pay a heavier price!