Chapter 507

St. Peter's Castle

The Tsarist government was furious when they suddenly received a declaration of war from the Kingdom of Sardinia. It was one thing for the Fao and the Tsman Empire to attack the Kingdom of Sardinia, but what about the Kingdom of Sardinia?

Did they really think that just because Russia was in decline, any Tom, Dick, or Harry could come and cause trouble? Despite being angry, Russia could not do anything to the Kingdom of Sardinia due to the distance.

Nicholas I Of Russia shouted coldly, "Humph!

Order the troops at the frontline to deal with the Sardinians. Let them know that the Russian Empire is not to be trifled with! "

"Yes, Your Majesty," the Minister of War replied quickly.

No one would have thought that Nicholas I Of Russia's angry order would become the key to the Russian Army's victory in the future.

On July 18, 1852, the Russian Army launched an attack in the Caucasus, forcing the Russian Army to retreat. Limited by the terrain, the Russian Army won many battles, but unfortunately, the front line was advancing very slowly.

The Osman Empire also had smart people. They knew that they could not give up the favorable terrain in the Caucasus, so they hoarded a large number of troops there. When the troops at the frontline were defeated, they immediately sent new troops to replace them.

The two sides began a fierce battle, not giving an inch of land. After paying a heavy price, the Russian Army was forced to stop attacking in August.

The casualties were too high. The number of casualties in more than half a month of fighting had exceeded 70,000. On average, more than 5,000 people were killed or injured every day, but victory was still far away. The Russians could not take it anymore.

If they wanted to increase their troops, they were limited by the terrain. Logistical supplies were a problem. They were able to gather 200,000 troops, which was the result of stockpiling strategic supplies in advance.

After fighting for half a month, the weapons and ammunition were almost used up. The Russian Army's weapons and equipment were outdated, so they could guarantee basic logistical supplies. If it was the Fao's army, the logistical pressure would increase by a quarter.

Unable to break through the Caucasus, the Russians once again set their sights on the The Balkans. After such a long period of rest, the Russian Army had regained its combat power, and the total number of troops had increased to 480,000.

The allied forces had more troops. The French army had 170,000, the British army 20,000, the Osman army 540,000, and the Sardinians hadn't arrived yet. The total number of troops was 730,000.

However, the Russians did not suffer too much of a loss. The Bulgarians formed 50,000 troops, the Austrians helped to hold off 70,000 to 80,000 Ottoman troops, the Montenegrin Principality also mobilized 20,000 troops, and the Greeks, who were prepared to stab them in the back, formed 70,000 troops.

Overall, the combat power of the two sides were almost equal. The key to victory was the Russians'.

"Are the supplies ready?" Menshikov asked.

In the last battle in Bulgaria, they were not able to expand their victory, not only because of the sudden appearance of the French army, but also because their logistics could not keep up.

The Russians had miscalculated the ammunition consumption on the battlefield, neglecting the fact that the consumption of weapons and ammunition would greatly increase after the troops were reequipped.

The Russia 'Lack of Russia. The Russia Empire was Russia. The Wasn. of Russians had Was Of Was Was Franz's Frania As soon as the Near East War broke out, Austria sold a large number of new weapons to Russia.

The Russians didn't have the money to replace their weapons, but they still bought a batch of weapons for their main force. About three infantry divisions were equipped with Arcana weapons and more than 300 cannons to increase their firepower.

It turned out that the weapons and equipment were worth the price. The Russian Army's combat power had increased a lot. These divisions were the first to tear through the Osman's defense line.

The more one fought on the battlefield, the greater the consumption of ammunition would be. Using the 300 cannons as an example, a ton of ammunition would be used up in one round.

The high consumption was a logistical problem. Compared to the problematic Russian equipment, the officers liked the Arcana weapons and requested to replace them.

If it was a peaceful era, the interest groups involved in the production of weapons would definitely oppose the large-scale purchase of Austrian weapons.

Times of war were different. They had sacrificed so much for this war, and Nicholas the First absolutely could not tolerate anyone holding them back at this time. Thus, he forcefully passed the military's request to change their equipment.

During the months of rest, the Russians didn't stay idle. They replaced some of the troops' equipment. Among the 480,000 Russian Army, one-third of them were using Arcana weapons.

The main force had narrowed the gap between England and France in terms of weapons and equipment. Even if they were lacking in training, they could make up for it with their fighting spirit.

Last time, the 90,000 Russian main force could not defeat the 50,000 French in a field battle, and now it was very unlikely that it would happen again.

"It's all in place. Some of the supplies have even exceeded our initial plan. It's enough to support our entire army for three months," the quartermaster replied.

Menshikov nodded in satisfaction. He was confident in this war. In the last battle in Bulgaria, they had dealt a heavy blow to the Osman's main force.

Even if the number of troops didn't decrease, their combat effectiveness would inevitably decline. The combat effectiveness of new soldiers and veterans was completely different. The combat effectiveness of elites and cannon fodder was even more disparate.

Menshikov said confidently, "Very good. As long as the logistics are in place, we've won half of the war.

The country has approved our battle plan. There are still 300,000 troops in Ukraine. They can replenish our consumption on the battlefield at any time.

The Osman is nothing to worry about. The Kingdom of Sardinia is just a stopgap. Our main enemies are England and France.

The strategic goal of this battle is to annihilate the main force of England and France in the Balkans and push the frontline to Edirne to lay the foundation for the conquest of Constantinople.

In order to achieve the final victory, we must destroy the enemy's defensive line in the shortest time possible, regardless of the casualties, and annihilate the British and French Allied Forces.

Only by hurting them can we win this war. "

Russia's military system was a bit messy. The Tsarist government was also very casual in using people. Menshikov originally came from the Army and served as a diplomatic officer in Vienna. He participated in the war against France, the eighth Russian-Turkish war, and served as an aide to Tsar.

After retiring from the Army, he entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Then he entered the Navy and served as the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Chief of Staff of the Navy General Command, Minister of the Navy, and now Admiral.

To be able to cross from the Army to the Navy and become an Admiral, some people might think that his talent in the Navy was superb, so they made an exception and promoted him. In fact, it was the opposite. He was there to cause trouble.

The direct consequence of Menshikov entering the Navy was to delay the Russian Navy's technological progress and combat training. He applied the Army's training model to the Navy and could be regarded as the Russian Navy's gravedigger.

At this time, as an Admiral, he was sent to command hundreds of thousands of troops and served as the Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force in The Balkans. Naturally, he wasn't convincing.

Although he came from the Army, he left the Army for more than 20 years. His professional ability inevitably deteriorated and he wasn't convincing.

Instead of calling him a soldier, it was more appropriate to say that he was a politician. The Tsarist government's personnel system cast a shadow over the upcoming war.

The Russian Army's Chief of Staff, Fitzroy Somerset, objected, "Commander, a persimmon needs to be pinched by a soft target. To win this war, the easiest breakthrough point is obviously the Osman.

What we need to do now is to find an opportunity to cripple the Osman army and then bite the hard bone of the British and French.

Without the Osman army as a vassal, we can easily get rid of the British and French army of less than 200,000. "

Menshikov confidently explained, "If we focus on attacking the Osman, the British and French army will run away when they see that the situation isn't right. We simply don't have the ability to keep them here at the same time.

If we can't hurt the British and French, even if we occupy Constantinople, this war will still continue.

They could send a steady stream of troops to the Balkans by sea, and the war would be a long one.

Since the outbreak of the war, we have spent at least 130 million rubles on military expenses. If we include the early war preparations, our military expenses have already exceeded 200 million rubles. This is the annual revenue of the Russian Empire.

If the war continues for a long time, our finances will not be able to continue. In terms of financial resources, we can't compete with the British and French, even if we add in the Austrians. "

In terms of financial resources, the British were invincible in this era. Even if you only looked at their financial income, they were still ahead of them. The Fao, Russia, and Qing, which were in the second echelon, couldn't catch up no matter how hard they tried. They only had six or seven layers of the British's wealth.

This gap could only be slowly closed after the countries completed the industrial revolution.

"But Commander, we don't have the advantage now. The result of the war is likely to be a lose-lose situation for both sides, and we won't be able to achieve our final goal." Fitzroy Somerset frowned.

Menshikov shook his head and said, "We have to fight even if both sides suffer. No matter what, we have to make Britain and France feel pain and force them to withdraw from the war.

If we continue to fight according to plan, are we prepared to fight for a year, two years, or ten or eight years?

It's different now. In the past, we could fight with the Osman Empire for more than ten years, but is it possible now?

The high cost of the war has already told us that ending the war as soon as possible is the best choice. If we continue to delay, the price we have to pay will be even heavier. "

When a soldier looked at a problem, it was enough to look at it from a military perspective. When a politician looked at a problem, it was more from a political perspective.

Menshikov had already become a politician. He didn't care about the losses of the Russian Army, but he couldn't accept the continuation of the war.

The entire Russian government knew that the longer the war went on, the more disadvantageous it would be for them. In the later stages, it would depend on whose endurance was stronger.

To prevent this from happening, the best way was to use the heavy casualties on the battlefield to scare Britain and France and force them to take a step back.

In history, after the Crimean War, Britain's interference in European affairs was much more restrained. They tried their best to avoid being personally involved and laid the foundation for Prussia to unify the German Region.

It could be said that the Crimean War was fought on behalf of the Germans. After the war, Russia's internal conflicts broke out and needed to be reformed. It took them more than ten years to get out of it. The two victors, Britain and France, also had lingering fears and didn't immediately intervene in the war initiated by Prussia.

With a unified understanding, the Russian Army started to prepare. Fortunately, it wasn't convenient to transmit information in this era. Although wired telegrams appeared, they were only available in the big cities. The Balkans hadn't popularized it yet.

Otherwise, with Russia's current actions, the enemy would receive the news before they even started and be prepared.

…

No matter how chaotic the Russian's command was, it was still better than the British, Fao, and Mosman Allied Forces. They were advancing on three fronts.

Britain and France didn't back down, so the Osman Empire could only remain neutral. They were afraid that if Britain and France backed out, they would be finished.

In history, Amable Jean-Jacques Pellissier was the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces. He was barely able to command the Allied Forces. Now, Amable Jean-Jacques Pellissier was only one of the three main commanders.

The side effect was that when there was a need to cooperate in a battle, everyone had to report to the Allied Forces Command. It could only be carried out after the three main commanders had reached an agreement.

The Russian Army was ready to attack, but the Allied Forces didn't know anything. The Osman Empire didn't pay much attention to intelligence. All the sources of intelligence were provided by the Russians.

Under the bureaucratic system, most of the intelligence was not verified and was used directly. Unfortunately, the Russians didn't pay much attention to intelligence either. Otherwise, they could pass some fake information and cause the Allied Forces to suffer.

Britain and France didn't have the ability to gather intelligence. Their bureaucratic system couldn't be underestimated either. They thought that the Osman Empire would solve this problem.