Bucharest, headquarters of the Fourth Army of the National Guard.
Kuza frowned and stared at the map in front of him for a long time without saying a word, which made the adjutant who had been waiting beside him a little puzzled. Although bad news has become the norm these days, this was the first time that Kuza looked so serious.
In the past, Kuza would not be discouraged even if he encountered huge difficulties, he would still encourage everyone with full fighting spirit, and he would still fight to the end without giving up.
But today the situation was completely different. After receiving the information that the Turkish army was rapidly approaching Bucharest, Kuza looked very worried. It was obvious that he had no desire to speak at all, as if there was a big mountain pressing on him.
His chest was so tight that he couldn't breathe.
After a long time, Kuza sighed quietly. He seemed to want to sit back at his desk to handle official business, but when he looked up, he saw the adjutant with a concerned look on his face. He was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that he had forgotten that the other party was still waiting.
his reply.
"Sorry, Raven," Kuza said apologetically, "I was too absorbed just now. You are still waiting for my order, right? Well, tell Bartek that you don't need to stay in Jiurjiu anymore, retreat...as soon as possible
Shrink it to the outskirts of Bucharest and garrison it in Zhilava!"
Batek is the brigade commander of the Independent Brigade under Kuza. He was previously ordered to lead about 4,000 people from the entire brigade to garrison in Giurjiu, south of Bucharest, to monitor the movements of the Turkish army.
Now that Turkey's 50,000-strong army has begun to march towards Giurjiu, it is impossible to hold it with just its small force. Therefore, it is meaningless to continue to stay in Giurjiu.
Indeed, having 4,000 more people and 4,000 less people in the south does not mean much. Letting Batek stay there will not only sacrifice a few more lives, but also delay it for a few days. Kuza knows very well that there is no meaning in that. In fact, Bartek
Even if Croatia returns to defend Bucharest, it doesn't make much sense. There are nearly 150,000 Russian troops to the north and northeast of the city, and there are 20,000 Turkish troops coming from Constanta to the east. If you add in the Turkish troops from the direction of Gyurgiu
The Turkish army, this city will be besieged by more than 200,000 enemies.
But there are less than 60,000 defenders in the city, so it is impossible to hold it. What's more, not all of the more than 60,000 defenders are willing to defend Bucharest and coexist with the Provisional Republic. Only those who are really willing to obey Kuza's command
There are only 30,000 troops, and the other 30,000 friendly troops are really unreliable.
For example, George Stribe's 10,000 people are already panicking, and some officers and soldiers have deserted. The more than 10,000 people in Jan Constantine's army have been ignoring him and just minding their own business.
They guarded the arsenal all the time, acting like a miser, not caring about the rest of the city. As for the six or seven thousand people in Yang Jika, they did not move at all. They just stayed in the military camp in a daze every day, not caring about the rest of the city.
They didn't make any preparations for digging the fortifications. It looked like they were ready to surrender at any time.
As for the remaining small forces as big as peas, they are all scattered and doing their own thing, some are busy running away, and others are busy making money, but none of them are reliable anyway.
Kuza knew very well that even if he withdrew some of the troops on the periphery that were still blocking the Russian army, it would not help, and it might lead to total collapse. After all, they could still buy him some time to repair the fortifications.
Of course, even if there is a little more time to repair the fortifications, it will not have much effect. At most, it will only cause more casualties and troubles for the Russian and Turkish troops. The fall of Bucharest is inevitable.
Although Kuza had always been mentally prepared for this result, when the day actually came he still couldn't accept it because he didn't know when the next opportunity for Wallachia to win independence would be.
For Kuza, this revolution came with great vigor, but it dissipated as quickly as a shooting star. It was over before he had time to make full use of it. This was really a pity, because he really had no confidence that he would be able to meet him again in his lifetime.
When given the same opportunity, perhaps his stage has come to an end, and he will spend the rest of his life in constant regret and remorse.
Kuza took a deep breath. This result was really not what he wanted, but he had no way to change the situation. This helplessness was really a pity.
In such a trance, Kuza was stunned for a long time, which made his adjutant very worried, because Kuza's condition looked so bad, giving him the feeling that he was dying.
"Your Excellency, the matter is not irreversible yet, we can still..."
Kuza stretched out his hand to stop the adjutant from continuing, and said sadly: "Raven, don't worry, I'm not that fragile and won't have any irresponsible thoughts. I will continue to fight and teach the Russians a lesson together with Bucharest. Even if
They can trample us with their iron hoofs, but they cannot make us lower our noble heads!"
As he said that, Kuza seemed to gain some energy and ordered loudly: "Go and contact the commanders of several other armies and tell them that I will meet with them to discuss the defense of Bucharest!"
Kuza was prepared to use both soft and hard tactics to give some disbelief to the other disobedient soldiers and force them to submit. This way, there would be more garrison troops in the city, which would be more or less effective. He believed that even if these officers were cowardly and timid,
The enemy is outnumbered, but ordinary soldiers can still fight for it.
So he immediately found Kogelniceanu and asked him to contact the grassroots officers and soldiers of several other armies to do the work in advance.
Kogelniceanu smiled bitterly and said: "If you do this, George Stribe, Jan Constantine and Jan Gica will probably be angry, and they won't spare you or me!"
Kuza asked calmly: "Are you scared?"
Kogelniceanu laughed and said: "If I were afraid, I wouldn't keep cooperating with you!"
Kuza also smiled, and he suddenly extended his right hand to Kogelniceanu, who shook it tightly without hesitation. The two looked at each other and said with a smile:
"Let's have a big fight!"
Cuza was ready to have a showdown with the big bosses of other factions of the National Party. Either join him in resisting to the death, or simply go out and get out. There was no third way. But the actual situation was far more complicated than he thought, because he
Only when I really started working with grassroots officers and soldiers did I realize that the big bosses had already had their own ideas and had already begun to implement them!
For example, Jan Jika, who has the smallest number of troops, only those who contacted him found out that this guy had reached some kind of agreement with Turkey, and the Turks seemed to have incorporated them!!