As a Russian, how can you not drink? In Russia, where winter takes up almost one-third of the year, wine is a good thing. It can not only keep people warm from the cold, but also allow people to temporarily put aside all their worries.
No, in Potemkin's commanding camp outside Kazakh Castle, all the senior officials of the Russian army were just drinking to drown their sorrows. Drinking wine was like water, and Potemkin, who was sitting at the head of the table, was no exception.
, the unsatisfactory war made Potemkin no longer care about calmness and elegance. I saw that his clothes were buttoned crookedly, half lying on the chair, and the drink was spilled on his clothes, and he didn't care.
Not to mention Kutuzov and others, sitting at the bottom, all of them stuttered a little.
"Your Excellency Marshal, when will the reinforcements arrive?"
Krivitski, who was a little drunk, asked with a loud tongue. He has been having a hard time recently. First, the previous battle caused a lot of casualties to his Latvian army, and then in the battle to attack the Kazakh Fort.
During the war, his army repeatedly acted as the main force in the attack. As a result, the Latvian army that originally numbered more than 10,000 people now has less than 5,000 people left. How can you make Krivitski, the Latvian governor, feel so embarrassed?
"Yes, Your Majesty Marshal, if the reinforcements don't come, the weather will get worse and worse soon, and it will be all over this winter!"
Lipov also complained after Krivitsky. Although the casualty rate of his army was still within a suspiciously acceptable range, as a warlord and a prince, who would want his strength to be wasted in a large amount of senseless ways?
.
"Yeah yeah"
"That's right. Your Excellency, Marshal, please hurry up and send reinforcements!"
............
Everyone saw that there was someone to blame, and they all started to complain. Everyone knew that it had snowed now, which indicated that winter was coming. Although the climate in Poland was better than that in Russia, it was still very cold. If we didn't take advantage of this,
If we rush to attack when the weather is not so bad after the first snowfall, don't even think about making any big moves this winter.
"Fuck, you are all looking for me. Who am I going to ask? The messenger for help has been sent out a long time ago. The Queen's reply two days ago was to send reinforcements as soon as possible, but you don't know how far it is from St. Petersburg to here.
, I estimate that reinforcements will arrive in ten days, we should all be lucky."
The complaints of his subordinates made Potemkin a little angry. He was holding a ball of fire in his heart because of the unsatisfactory war. Moreover, the setback at the gate of the Kazakh Fort forced him to send people back to Yeka.
Telina II asked for reinforcements, which in Potemkin's mind was a shame. But now that someone dares to complain, isn't this going to be a big change!
Thinking of this, Potemkin yelled:
"Look at what you look like. Each and every one of you has no fighting spirit. When did the empire's army place all its hopes on reinforcements? You are all a bunch of idiots."
Potemkin's words were more effective than sobering medicine. Seeing Potemkin's anger, everyone in the tent became quiet and did not dare to make a sound.
After seeing that he had successfully shocked the audience, Potemkin turned and said:
"Don't worry. Her Majesty the Queen's reinforcements will be sent soon. Before that, you all need to stabilize the general's mind. If anyone makes a mistake, I will kill him directly!"
After finishing his harsh words, Potemkin waved his hand and signaled the generals in the tent to leave. He wanted to be alone for a while. Seeing Potemkin's huge amount of money, everyone in the tent had no choice but to leave the tent.
.
It was in inverse proportion to the situation inside the tent. Everyone outside the tent shivered as soon as they came out.
"Damn weather"
After quickly putting on the coats handed to them by their personal guards, the Russian generals cursed the weather and then dispersed.
Kutuzov waved to Kulichkov after leaving Potemkin's tent. Seeing Kutuzov's actions, Kulichkov nodded secretly, and then gave some instructions to his personal guards.
, and then followed in Kutuzov’s footsteps.
"Your Majesty General, do you think there is still hope for us to capture the Kazakh Fort? People in the army are in panic now!"
Kulichkov asked Kutuzov worriedly
"If the reinforcements arrive in time, we should be able to capture the Kazakh Fort before the New Year. Otherwise, there will be no hope this winter. But now there is only more than a week before the New Year. Who knows if we can catch up? Hey!
"
As he spoke, Kutuzov sighed. Apparently, he did not have confidence in capturing the Kazakh Fort in winter.
(The New Year mentioned here refers to the Russian New Year. Because the calendar used in Russia is different from that of other countries in continental Europe, the New Year in the Russian calendar is nearly two weeks later than Christmas, which is regarded as the New Year in other European countries. That is,
January 7th of the following year.)
"By the way, General, I think if we change our strategy, we might have miraculous results!"
Kulichkov rolled his eyes as if he had some idea.
"Oh, what do you have in mind?"
"Your Excellency, General, we have been under the walls of Fort Kazakh for nearly a month. According to what we heard from the prisoners of war captured before, the food and grass in Fort Kazakh can only last for more than a month?"
Kulichkov's words shocked Kutuzov
"That's right! Look at me, how could I forget such an important thing? But it can't be calculated like this. Originally, the food in the city was enough to feed 50,000 people for a month. Now we have helped the Poles kill a lot of people.
Although the Kazakh Fort was defended by the Poles, they must have suffered heavy casualties. In this way, the food and grass in the city should be able to survive."
As he spoke, Kutuzov’s initial excitement was gone.
Indeed, just as Kutuzov thought, it was originally said that the food and grass in the city was enough to feed 50,000 people for a month, but now there are at most more than 10,000 Polish defenders in the Kazakh Fort. In this way, the food and grass must also be
Barely enough.
"Your Excellency, General, we cannot calculate as you do. You are actually entering into a misunderstanding. Although you are right, there are not only defenders in Kazakh Fort. There are also many civilians in Kazakh Fort. I think
These civilians probably don’t have much food and grass.”
Kulichkov saw a trace of confusion on Kutuzov's face and hurriedly explained. After hearing Kulichkov's words, Kutuzov became even more puzzled.
"But as far as I know, there are not many civilians in Kazakh Fort. Before we went to war with Poland, Kazakh Fort was already in a semi-abandoned state. How could there be many civilians?"
"Your Excellency General, there are indeed not many civilians in the city of Kazakh Fort, but what if we help them add some civilians!"
"you mean?"
"Your Excellency General, we can send soldiers to areas outside Kazakhstan to find those villages and towns, and then drive the population there to Kazakhburg. I think our benevolent Polish garrison should take in those refugees, and this will
It can also help us add some supplies for the winter.”
Kulichkov's gloomy words made Kutuzov shudder. Although Kulichkov's words made sense, this strategy was really unreasonable. It was so cold that those Polish civilians were driven here.
, if the defenders of Kazakh Fort do not accept those civilians, those civilians will have no choice but to die!
"Kulichkov, isn't this a bit inappropriate?"
Kutuzov said hesitantly, but his words were interrupted by Kulichkov without hesitation.
"Your Excellency General, everything we are doing now is for the victory of the empire. Besides, I think it is time for the soldiers to relax."
"But most of those areas have now surrendered to the empire. If we do this now, it will definitely make future conquests more difficult."
"Your Majesty General, have you ever thought about how much supplies our army needs every day to spend a day under the castle of Kazakhstan? Our soldiers have become a little war-weary because of the unsatisfactory war situation. By doing this, we can not only relieve the soldiers' mood
, which will put the enemies inside the Kazakh Fort in a dilemma."
After Kulichkov's words, Kutuzov was speechless. Obviously, no matter from any aspect, if you want to capture the Kazakh Fort as soon as possible, this method is undoubtedly the best, and it can
Let the army relax for a while, and the morale of the soldiers will also improve somewhat, Kutuzov was moved.
"Okay, let's go see Marshal Potemkin. You tell the Marshal your ideas. If it doesn't work, your idea is undoubtedly the most beneficial to the empire."
With that said Kutuzov took Kulichkov back to Potemkin's tent.
Of course, at the door, the two of them were blocked by Potemkin's guards. The guards told them that the Marshal was resting. Seeing this, Kutuzov ignored the guards' obstruction and led Kulichkov straight away.
He tried to break into Potemkin's tent, but the guards at the door couldn't stop him.
"What's going on? Who is making such a loud noise in front?"
Potemkin's angry words came out from inside the tent, and the guard at the door immediately replied after hearing it:
"Your Excellency, Marshal, these are General Kutuzov and General Kulichkov. They want to see you for something."
Upon hearing that it was Kutuzov who wanted to see him, Potemkin said:
"Let them in"
Then Kutuzov led Kulichkov inside.
Afterwards, what the three people talked about inside was not known to outsiders, but the news that excited the Russian soldiers quickly spread throughout the entire military camp.
Your Excellency the Marshal considered that during this period of war, the soldiers were under great pressure, so Your Excellency the Marshal showed mercy and allowed the soldiers to go out as a battalion unit to sweep after the snow fell. Of course, during the sweep
Your Majesty the Marshal doesn't care what happened, but there is one thing, that is, you must not harm the life of any Polish person and escort them back to the military camp. Anyone who violates the order will be punished by military law.
So it is civilians who suffer in war!
PS: Please give me a monthly pass! You can’t put it in neutral, right?