With the arrival of the New Year, this war, led by three powerful countries, was in full swing on the Crimean Peninsula, and has been in full swing for more than nine months.

During this short period of time, the coalition forces from afar fought bloody battles with the local Russian defenders and wrote a war song full of blood. These three countries have strong military traditions. Their officers and soldiers also adhered to this tradition, hoping to avoid being ashamed of the heroic spirits of their ancestors. Therefore, they fought bravely with almost no exception, and no one showed weakness to the other.

During this period of battle, endless blood has flowed on this desolate land, making the war even more bloody and cruel.

Fortunately, the severe winter and snowfall that arrived on time finally temporarily stopped all this. Because the natural environment became too harsh, both armies had to choose to stop their main military operations and lie dormant in the cold winter snow.

When Minister Treville came to the front line to inspect instead of His Majesty the Emperor of the French Empire, the large-scale war and military movement of the two armies had ended. They were stationed in their own barracks and only carried out a small number of light cavalry to harass their respective traffic lines. The entire war had reached a relatively quiet stage.

Although the New Year has passed, the harsh climate is still continuing, so that a large number of coalition soldiers have suffered frostbite, and even the supply of materials has occasionally been shortened due to the occasional wind and snow.

Of course, the cold wind that swept through the entire Crimean Peninsula was not only tortured by the British and French forces. On the Russian side, the harsh natural conditions also brought extremely difficult situations, even more difficult than their enemies.

Britain and France had a steady stream of shipping from their homeland, but the Russians did not have enough good transportation facilities in Crimea. In addition, Shanghai had been completely blocked by the British and French coalition forces, so there was no way to supply the entire army with easy means.

Therefore, in such a cold season, the Russian army suffered an extremely severe blow, and the military's material consumption was difficult to replenish, and even the ammunition began to be lacking; most of the injured soldiers could not receive good care, and even the most basic military operations were difficult to carry out. The entire Russian military machine was originally a huge and bloated monster, and at this time he was even more trapped in the quagmire of the harsh natural environment and could not be relieved.

Such a harsh situation naturally made the officers of the Russian army, especially the new commander-in-chief General Gorchakov, who was even more worried about it. He was recently promoted to commander-in-chief of the Russian army. Originally, this could have been regarded as a high promotion, but now in this environment, it has become a burden on his shoulders that is difficult to push.

The former commander-in-chief Prince Minshkov was disgusted by His Majesty the Tsar because of his repeated failures and lost his position. However, he no longer had to worry about the current situation of the Russian army. He returned to the rear easily and transferred all the mess to him.

In order to alleviate the current difficulties faced by the army, General Gorchakov repeatedly made orders to save materials from his subordinates. At the same time, he took the initiative to stop unnecessary military mobilization and urged the rear like crazy, asking them to increase their supply to the front line.

The Russian army once enjoyed a reputation. After the demise of Napoleon's empire, it even boasted of itself as defenders and liberators of Europe. But now, when the two powerful Western European powers fought together, they were shocked to find that the glory they once enjoyed had become in danger. Everyone's heart was filled with anxiety and loss, and this anxiety and loss mixed together made everyone feel anxious.

"Bastard! Why is the supply still not full today?!" In the tent of the Russian commander-in-chief, Gorchakov was venting his anger and anxiety in his heart.

He looks tough, but not rough, and has a decent manner. He doesn't look like a common image of Russian officers in people's minds. He is indeed a noble family from the Baltic Sea. His family is famous, and many branches serve in the imperial court. He can be regarded as a pillar of the country.

But now, because of the torment of all kinds of bad news, this once elegant noble general could no longer bear it. Although there were many people here, the anger accumulated in his heart made him too lazy to care about so much, and he cursed directly, "These bastards! These bastards! These bastards! They have deducted all their money! They have committed treason! I must let His Majesty hang them all!"

These angers did not extinguish the commander-in-chief's anger, but instead made him feel even more anxious. He paced in the tent in anger, and the anger in his heart actually resisted the cold in the air, causing his forehead to be sweaty.

He walked to his desk, then threw his fiercely, and threw a large stack of official documents to the ground. "There is also the Army Department, are they blocked? They are already crazy! At this time, we will launch an attack and relieve the Sevastopol Fortress as soon as possible? What kind of ghost siege can't these men come to the front line to see? What strength do we have to do to launch an attack now! If we launch an attack and are defeated, how can we retreat in such a ghost weather? Will we all freeze to death in this ghost place? The reason why the war is so fought is because these dogs are sabotaging the rear and commanding blindly! These bastards, pig tricks!"

The old general, who was over 60 years old, was in anger and scolded without any mercy. He was so angry that the official documents on the table were trembling. None of the officers and staff gathered around him made the commander-in-chief angry. On the one hand, this was because they did not dare to anger the commander-in-chief, and on the other hand, it was because the commander-in-chief scolded them, because this was also their thoughts.

They had already suffered enough here and had not received enough support from the rear, so they were naturally full of anger at the officials in the rear.

And they knew better in their hearts that His Majesty the Tsar should be more responsible for the current situation, but who dares to say it out?

After venting for a while, General Gorchakov finally recovered his calmness. Although he was still breathing, his twisted face had calmed down again. He turned to look at his adjutant.

"Go, count the reductions caused by the troops in this week due to material shortages and frostbite, and report them to me." He ordered loudly, "I will turn these things back and stick them on the faces of those officials, so that they can figure out what kind of attack we will launch if we are not beaten by the enemy now, even if we are lucky!

"Your Excellency, this may not be appropriate..." An officer carefully tried to dissuade the commander-in-chief, "After all... after all, there is a superior there, we can't go against the superior, right? And..."

When he said "and", he stopped, but everyone understood what he meant. Such an order could not be issued without His Majesty's nod. Therefore, if the front line directly responded to His Majesty's words that it was impossible to start a war, it might anger His Majesty the Tsar.

"It's now, why do you have to care about so much?" General Gorchakov scolded the other party, and then added angrily, "In Russia, no one dares to tell the truth, so the situation can come to this point. But if we don't tell the truth next, what will everything become? In short, I am the commander-in-chief now. If I can't fight, I can't fight. If the palace thinks I can't do it, then let them send someone to change me."

"Oh..." The officer could only sigh silently and no longer dissuade him. He knew in his heart that what the commander-in-chief said was the truth.

However, only people from famous nobles like the Commander-in-Chief dare to speak so bluntly.

The adjutant immediately took the order and left, and after he left, the camp suddenly fell into an embarrassing silence again.

In the haze, General Gorchakov glanced at everyone with his falcon-like gaze, as if he wanted to find something from their faces.

"Gentlemen, our situation is very bad now, and we can speak out for this point because everyone with eyes can see it." After a long silence, he spoke again, "But, as a person who witnessed this war from beginning to end, I can say without blushing that falling into such a situation is definitely not because our soldiers and officers are not brave enough, but because we have not obtained the same conditions as our enemies! Yes, we are at a disadvantage now, but Russia has not lost yet! He still has a territory that cannot see the border and countless defenders! Therefore, I do not allow any of you to have failure and negative emotions. As officers of the Empire, you also have the obligation to restrain your troops and will never allow them to fight fearlessly because of their low morale!"

"Yes, Your Excellency!" The officers quickly answered loudly.

"Petersburg asked us to relieve Sevastopol as soon as possible, but I think we can't do it now. We can only stick to the front line. To be honest, even if we only do these, it's difficult for us." The general waved his hand and signaled them to stop first. "Now, the front line is indeed much calmer, but this is not the reason for you to slack off. You must patrol the positions you are responsible for every day and never let go of any movements of the enemy. Do you understand?"

"Yes!" A loud answer rang out from the camp again.

"I know you have suffered enough recently. I hate this ghost place myself. The men of Petersburg sat in the office. How could they understand what we are going through now?" General Gorchakov continued, "But this is not the reason for us to be discouraged, because we are Russians. In this critical moment, we must give everything to defend Russia! I also believe that the strength of the enemy will eventually fade. On our Russian territory, they will bleed little by little until the light comes! In 1812, we defeated the more arrogant Napoleon. What's the terrible thing about these people now? Hum... I don't think they can last long..."

While speaking, the general sneered, as if he was quite disdainful of the British and French coalition forces now.

But deep down, he certainly didn't think so. After all, for him, the current situation is indeed not optimistic. His army is exhausted and has huge losses, the supply is not good, and he can't see much positive places.

Russia defeated France in 1812 because the Russian army had enough depth to continuously retreat and avoid the edge of Napoleon's army, and finally consumed all the invading army. The situation is very different now. The British and French coalition forces obviously learned the lessons of their predecessors, so they had no intention of invading the Russian inland. They just fought with the Russian army in the coastal areas, and their materials were well prepared, so they could not solve them with the old tactics.

Sevastopol, the besieged fortress, now attracts Petersburg's sight like a magnet. They repeatedly urged the army to rescue the siege and fight the British and French coalition forces. As a result, the Russian army suffered huge losses several times, and also turned the favorable factors of Russia into unfavorable factors. The overly large territory not only did not become a depth that consumed the enemy's strength and morale, but instead became an unfavorable factor that restricted its own logistics supply.

In fact, according to the general's own wishes, he didn't want to continue to waste his energy in this ghost place. He would rather retreat and let the British and French coalition forces continue to consume their own power here.

Emperor Alexander in 1812 even lost Moscow, wouldn’t he win?

However, His Majesty's will cannot be disobeyed. He could only continue to stay in Crimea, waiting for a head-on battle with the British and French coalition forces. Such a battle is really too difficult for the current Russian army.

All he could do was to delay the war as much as possible based on the current harsh conditions, so as to avoid the army from suffering more and heavier losses.

When he thought of this, his mood couldn't help but get worse. He even envied Prince Minshkov, who had been dismissed and had been enrolled in another book. After all, although he had lost the favor of the court, he no longer had to be troubled by these things.

Just as the general's mood became anxious again, an adjutant walked into the tent in panic and then came to the general's side to report in a low voice.

"The French army sent an envoy to request a temporary truce?" When he heard the news, the general felt full of doubts, "Are you sure it is a French soldier?"

"Yes, Your Excellency, they came over with the white flag, and we have confirmed their identities and are indeed French officers." The adjutant nodded immediately, "We have many people who speak French, and we can confirm it in a moment. They also said that they brought a handwritten letter to you by the Commander-in-Chief Marshal Treville..."

Why did they come here? What do they want to talk about? The general couldn't help but feel a little confused.

Could it be that the French army can no longer support it? This thought flashed through his mind.

He wanted to believe it but couldn't believe it.

While thinking about it, his face became a little gloomy and unstable.

No matter what they want to do, just ask.

"Let them come to the headquarters and let me meet them."
Chapter completed!