After receiving the invitation from Marshal Saint-Arnaud, the three countries of Britain, Turkey and Turkey immediately realized that this meeting would determine the next move of the coalition forces.
Is it to attack the northern part of Sevastopol Fortress, or is there another plan?
Therefore, the commanders of Britain, Turkey, and Sahara, together with their adjutants, went to the French headquarters.
The setting sun shone into the open window of the French headquarters, illuminating the entire room and the aerial view of the Sevastopol Fortress facing the window.
The commanders of Britain, Turkey, and Sahara, led by French officers, sat on a round fir wood conference table. This conference table represented that all countries were on an equal footing in the joint war (weird).
As the initiator of the entire meeting, Marshal Saint-Arnaud, who also acted as the host of the coalition meeting, sat at the circular conference table with his back to the map.
After everyone was seated, Marshal Saint-Arnaud said: "On behalf of the French army, I would like to thank you all for coming to participate in this meeting related to the future of the coalition forces!"
As soon as Marshal Saint-Arnaud finished speaking, the commander and adjutant at the round table quickly raised their hands and applauded Saint-Arnaud for the opening ceremony.
This is the influence of the world's first army and the world's second navy. Even if Saint-Arnaud himself scolded his mother directly at the meeting, all countries except the Kingdom of Britain would smile with them, and even some countries (Sardinia, the licking dog)
Kingdom) and had to shout "Well done!"
The applause lasted for a long time, and it did not stop until Marshal Saint-Arnaud signaled that it could stop.
Then the smiling Marshal Saint-Arnault continued: "To tell you the truth, the main reason why I chose to invite you over at this time is because I received a telegram from Paris! The owner of the telegram is our French
His Majesty Napoleon, the great monarch of the empire!”
When the name of Jérôme Bonaparte appeared in the mouth of Marshal Saint-Arnault, the expression of the commander of the armies of the three countries of Britain, Turkey and France immediately became solemn.
They understood that this coalition meeting was very likely...no, it should be said that it must be related to the emperor who was far away in Paris! However, everyone present did not know which direction the emperor supported the attack.
"The Emperor congratulated us on our decisive victory in the Alma area. He hopes that we can continue our efforts and strive to capture the north bank of Sevastopol in the shortest possible time!" Marshal St. Arnaud continued.
Everyone present immediately understood that Marshal Saint-Arnaud's strategic target had been determined, which was the northern part of the Sevastopol Fortress.
The commanders of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire subconsciously looked at Raglan, the commander of the British Kingdom. If there was anyone present who could overturn the opinion of Marshal Saint Arnaud, then it was Commander Raglan.
After all, if the Sevastopol Fortress is easy to defend but difficult to attack and besieged by force, it will probably cause huge casualties. If the number of casualties is too high, even if it wins, it will be criticized by domestic newspapers.
Among the four commanders present, which one is most afraid of the power of the newspaper?
That must be Commander Raglan, because there is no room for public opinion to ferment in Sardinia and Ottoman countries. Since the beginning of the war, the French Empire has implemented strict newspaper control measures, and it is difficult to deal with huge casualties.
Appearing in the mainstream newspapers, the citizens of Paris would only see the French army going from one victory to another if the government wanted to.
The Kingdom of Britain is a freer country than France, and people can criticize the British government and politicians unscrupulously. Generals as strong as Wellington will inevitably be thrown into the trap after the Battle of Waterloo.
It is conceivable how unfriendly the public opinion environment in England is for a general. The general must carefully maintain the safety of the army in his hands so that it does not suffer greater losses, and he must always pay attention to his own army.
It was really a torture to keep journalists from sending reports to London that were unfavorable to the British army. (Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire did not know about the empty defenses on the north coast.)
What the Ottomans and Sardinians did not expect was that Commander Raglan, who was expected to object, actually agreed to Marshal Saint-Arnaud's suggestion.
Subsequently, Marshal St. Arnaud symbolically asked for advice from Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire.
The commanders of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire could only agree with Saint Arno's opinion.
After seeing that the four countries all agreed, Marshal Saint-Arnault spoke again: "Since everyone agrees with the plan to attack the Sevastopol Fortress, I will ask General Pellissier to assign your respective tasks to you!"
Pelissier, who was sitting next to Marshal Saint-Arnaud, stood up and stood in front of the bird's-eye view, assigning their respective tasks to everyone present.
In the upcoming battle of Sevastopol, France and Sardinia will serve as the main forces to conquer the most difficult Star Fortress (in fact, the Star Fortress built in 1818, known as the most difficult to conquer, has not been repaired for more than 30 years. The fortress
The walls collapsed due to disrepair, and the cannons installed in the fortress were also pulled to the Alma River by Prince Menshikov and became trophies of the British and French forces). The Ottoman Empire and Britain were responsible for clearing the Russian troops near the north bank of Sevastopol.
The time to attack Sevaspor Fortress is scheduled for the morning of the day after tomorrow.
After the deployment was completed, everyone present stood up and left. They had to formulate corresponding tactics based on their assigned tasks.
Looking at the setting sun in the distance, Marshal Saint-Arnaud silently prayed that the attack on the Sevastopol Fortress would go smoothly: "I hope he won't lie to me, otherwise..."
There was a hint of murderous intent in Marshal Saint-Arnaud's eyes
…
While Marshal Saint-Arnaud and others were actively preparing a plan to attack the north bank of the Sevastopol Fortress, in the naval barracks on the south bank of the Sevastopol Fortress, Vice Admirals Nasimov and Kornilov were confronting each other.
Worried about the upcoming coalition attack on the Sevastopol Fortress,
Menshikov's failure on the Alma River caused the Sevastopol Fortress to lose more than 43,000 manpower. Today, there are only more than 6,000 soldiers and more than 3,000 sailors left in the Sevastopol Fortress.
There are 3,000 militiamen, which can be said to be extremely weak.
If it is just a lack of military strength, what is even more terrible is that there is also instability within the Sevastopol Fortress.
With Prince Menshikov's defeat on the Alma River, the residents of the fortress who had thought they were safe were suddenly pushed to the brink of war. Panic began to spread in the city, and residents in the fortress continued to flee Sevastopel Fortress.
, Lieutenant Generals Nassimov and Kornilov had no choice but to bite the bullet and issued an order that all residents living in the Sevastopol Fortress were not allowed to leave all the way.
Who would have thought that this order, as soon as it was issued, not only failed to stop the residents of Sevastopol Fortress from fleeing, but actually intensified the spread of panic.
Now panic spread not only in the residential areas of the fortress, but also in the military camp.
The Russian soldiers who had been indoctrinated by missionaries with various strange stories had already regarded the coalition troops as man-eating monsters. Now the monsters have arrived at the fortress, and their commanders have also been defeated by the monsters.
As a result, the image of the coalition forces in the military camp changed from cannibal monsters to invulnerable cannibal monsters, and their purpose of attacking the Russian Empire also evolved from occupying the Sevastopol Fortress to eating up the Russian troops in the fortress.
Facing an invulnerable monster, any Russian soldier has only one option: escape.
On the third day after Prince Menshikov was defeated by the coalition forces, some militiamen and regular troops began to flee the Sevastopol Fortress.
Faced with soldiers who had no intention of fighting, Kornilov and Nassimov had no choice but to use harsh punishments to make them understand the horror of running away.
Under Kornilov's instruction, the only Cossack cavalry regiment (600 people) existing in the fortress was dispatched. Hundreds of soldiers who wanted to escape were directly killed by the Cossack cavalry.
The soldiers' heads were piled up in a palace on the Malakhov Bastion, and the soldiers did not dare to make any attempt to escape.
However, Kornilov and Nassimov understood that this method could only maintain temporary stability. If Russia still ended in failure in the next war, the Sevastopol Fortress would inevitably suffer backlash.
By then, let alone resisting the coalition forces, it is still unknown whether they can make it out alive.
Therefore, Kornilov and Nassimov have been thinking about what method to use to overcome the difficulties of Sevastopol Fortress.
"How about abandoning the north bank? How about concentrating all our forces on the south bank? This will also strengthen our control over the south bank!" Lieutenant General Kornilov asked Nassimov beside him.
"Have you ever thought that this would cause greater panic? There are many residents on the north shore!" Nasimov asked Kornilov.
"This is indeed a big problem!" Lieutenant General Kornilov responded decisively after a moment of silence: "But now is no longer the time to think about this. The coalition troops have arrived on the north bank! If things go wrong, they will
Attack in the near future! Our fortress on the north bank has no way to withstand their attack! The defeat of the north bank is already a certainty, and we must not let anything happen to the south bank!"
"How are you going to transport the soldiers back from the north bank?" Nasimov asked again.
"We can set up a pontoon bridge between the north bank and the south bank! Use the ships at our disposal to set up!" Lieutenant General Kornilov replied.
"In this case... it will take a lot of time to complete! Do we really have that long?" Nasimov said slightly pessimistically, "I'm afraid that before our pontoon bridge is completed, the coalition troops have already moved to
The North Shore is marching!”
"At least we are trying to protect this fortress!" Kornilov said firmly.
"Yes!" Nasimov also sighed with emotion: "Two naval generals, protecting an army fortress, what an irony!"
Poor Kornilov and Nassimov didn't know that if an unscrupulous monarch hadn't disrupted the normal historical timeline, they wouldn't have to worry about the coalition forces.
The historical coalition forces did not end the Battle of the Alma River until September 23, and then hesitated in the offensive plan on the north and south banks for nearly half a month. It was during this half-month that Kornilov and Nassimov
Within a period of time, the fortification of Sevastopol was completed.
Due to the fortification and the three-month cold winter (late October to February) that lasted until the spring of the following year, they did not have such good luck this time.
