Under the coercive demand of Brigadier General Little Orlov, the two brigade commanders had no choice but to return to the camp to reorganize their troops, venting all the grievances they had suffered from Brigadier General Little Orlov onto the subordinate regint commanders.
The two brigade commanders first summoned the regint commanders whose troops had suffered heavy losses to the open space in front of the tent. Then, in front of everyone, they ordered the regint commanders to kneel down and take off their clothes. Imdiately, they whipped the backs of these regint commanders fiercely, cursing them for their incompetence in leading their troops and bringing sha to the brigade.
The whipped regint commanders gritted their teeth and did not utter a sound until the two brigade commanders finished ten lashes.
"Now, you imdiately return to your respective troops and straighten out your military discipline. Punish those who deserve it. I don’t want to see a repeat of such a defeat!" the two brigade commanders viciously told the surrounding regint commanders: "If you retreat, the division commander will be dissatisfied! If the division commander is dissatisfied, we will also be criticized! If we are criticized, don’t expect to have an easy ti either!"
Surrounding regint commanders looked fearfully at the two kneeling regint commanders, none wanting to suffer such abuse. They quickly assured the two brigade commanders that they would definitely straighten out military discipline and would not let the prior incident happen again.
The two brigade commanders, satisfied by their subordinates’ assurances, nodded and again said, "Rember what you’ve said!"
Then, they took out a gold-plated pocket watch, looked at the ti, and continued, "It’s 10 a.m. now. I give you five hours to straighten out your troops! At 3 p.m., the division commander will personally co to inspect you, and then accompany you to the frontline!"
"The division commander is going to the frontline?!!!" Hearing the news that Brigadier General Little Orlov was heading to the frontline, the regint commanders all showed shocked expressions.
Since the Battle of the Danube River began, first the Commander-in-Chief (Paskievich) went to the frontline to oversee the battle, then the Deputy Commander (Gorchakov) also went, and now the division commander is heading to the frontline. This battle just keeps feeling more hopeless!
"Brigade Commander, for the sake of the division commander’s safety, shouldn’t we refrain from letting him go to the frontline?" Several regint commanders gently protested to the brigade commander.
After all, if Division Commander Little Orlov were to fall at the frontline, their division would bear the consequences.
They have heard that their Division Commander Little Orlov has a close relationship with Count Orlov of the "Third Departnt." If sothing were to happen to him, Count Orlov might believe they were at fault, leading to countless people being dispatched to Siberia.
"Anyone capable of preventing the division commander from going to the frontline can do so! Anyway, we two don’t have that ability!" the brigade commanders showed impatience, pointing vaguely into the distance: "What you need to do now is think of every possible way to tear through that damn barbed wire and crush the interlopers behind it! Do you understand?"
"Understood!" Feeling the somber undertone in the brigade commander’s words, the regint commanders quickly stood at attention and loudly responded.
"Good! I hope to see your subsequent performance!" The two brigade commanders nodded and turned to leave the army camp.
Watching the departing brigade commanders, the regint commanders imdiately ford pairs to carefully help up the kneeling regint commanders.
At this ti, the regint commanders, who had received harsh punishnt, were already soaked with sweat, with several red and purple whip marks appearing on their backs.
"Thank you!" The regint commanders who were helped up weakly expressed their gratitude to their surrounding colleagues.
With the help of their colleagues, several regint commanders were carried to the camp’s marching beds.
Colleagues then called for the few dical personnel in the brigade headquarters to treat them. The dics carefully took a bottle from the dical kit and applied its contents to the regint commanders’ backs.
"Ah!" The regint commanders cried out in pain after the ancient redy was applied, but a smile gradually appeared after a mont.
"A few days of rest will do!" The doctor, seeing no side effects from his family’s ancient redy, got up, repacked his case, and left.
After seeing off the doctor, a regint commander returned to the tent and, in a tone half-joking, half-serious, told the regint commanders lying on the bed, "You’ve taken a lash. So, you avoid the battlefield! We’re the unlucky ones. If the attack doesn’t go well, we might have big trouble!"
"Ugh! Those damned Anglo-French forces use such thods to stop our advance! If our two armies could et head-on, I’d show them what a real military is!"
"Co on! With your troops wanting to compare, I rember it was your regint that collapsed first, right?"
"Don’t talk nonsense! My regint ran only at the very end! What point is there in saying who ran first now! The key is, how should we fight the next battle?"
"What else can we do! We can only trade casualties for breakthroughs! We’ve used this thod countless tis! Anyway, to the dignitaries in Moscow, our soldiers are less valuable than their als!"
"Ah! So be it!"
...
After the regint commanders’ complaints, they each returned to their regints to work on military discipline.
Of course, so conflicts are inevitable during the process of enforcing military discipline.
The regint commander, who also harbors so negative emotions, naturally chose to unleash those emotions on people weaker than them, resulting in over fifty deaths during this disciplinary action.
The Russian Imperial officers once again used bullets and whips to establish their authority in front of the "gray livestock," with soldiers hung from tree trunks becoming the most effective weapon to intimidate the "gray livestock."
The Russian officers, with their brutal thods, ruthlessly dominated this army, and before long, the Russian Empire, which had been on the verge of collapse, restored its original morale.
As the sun gradually moved from east to south, and then to west, the appointed assembly ti quickly arrived.
All soldiers of the First Division (currently 14,000 remaining) ford squares by company under the leadership of their regintal commanders/deputy regintal commanders to receive inspection.
Little Orlov, riding a white warhorse, along with his two brigade commanders, inspected the troops.
When the white warhorse reached the first square from the last one, Brigadier General Little Orlov’s lips curved into a slight smile as he looked ahead, casually complinting the two brigade commanders who were half a horse’s body behind him: "You did well!"
"It’s what we’re supposed to do!" The two brigade commanders, having been praised, responded to Brigadier General Little Orlov with exceedingly obsequious expressions.
"Move out!"
With the order from Brigadier General Little Orlov, two brigades plus three infantry artillery companies (twenty-five cannons) set out again toward the direction of the French Army.
The infantry and artilleryn of the Russian Empire tread through the thickets and brambles, once again spotting the Allied Camp located on the slope.
When this army reached about a kiloter from the tents, the three artillery companies halted, and the artillery company commanders conveyed Brigadier General Little Orlov’s orders as the skilled gunners (with the Russian Empire’s literacy rate at only 0.6%, most gunners relied on intuition) began calibrating the artillery.
The remaining infantry continued advancing towards the Allied Forces’ camp, stopping again about 600 ters from the Allied barbed wire.
"Commander, we can’t move forward any further! We can stop right here!" the two brigade commanders advised Brigadier General Little Orlov.
Although they were still 700 ters away from the Allied trenches, the two brigade commanders dared not let Little Orlov proceed further. (They were unaware that the maximum range of the Minie Rifle was 918 ters, and Little Orlov believed that the range of the rifles in the Allies’ hands was only about 400 ters.)
With a slightly stubborn personality, Brigadier General Little Orlov felt that since he had said he would be with his soldiers, he couldn’t possibly supervise the battle from so far away.
Thus, Brigadier General Little Orlov, ignoring the two brigade commanders’ persuasion, was determined to continue moving forward.
His actions were precisely observed through binoculars by Major General Canrobert in the trench.
"Do you see that man?" Major General Canrobert pointed at Little Orlov and spoke to Captain Jero Patterson beside him.
Captain Jero Patterson squinted in the direction Major General Canrobert indicated, "I see him!"
"Tell the Zuav Corps soldiers to be ready! That’s a big catch that’s co to us; we can’t let it go!" Major General Canrobert said with a hint of excitent.
Understanding the undertone of Major General Canrobert’s words, Captain Jero Patterson relayed the order to the "snipers." These snipers handpicked by Brigadier General Bazan imdiately assured Captain Jero Patterson that they would not let Brigadier General Little Orlov escape.
Poor Brigadier General Little Orlov had no idea that from the mont he set foot on the frontline, he had been targeted by more than a dozen "snipers."
Unaware of his impending fate, Brigadier General Little Orlov, disregarding the opposition from his two brigade commanders, continued forward until he stopped about 530 ters from the trenches. This distance was precisely within the effective range of the Minie Rifle, with a few rifles aid directly at Brigadier General Little Orlov.
"Charge!"
At Brigadier General Little Orlov’s command, the Russian Imperial Army launched an overwhelming assault on the position of the Allied Forces.
In the trench, Major General Canrobert remained calm and composed as he told Captain Jero Patterson beside him, "Tell the troops not to fire until they’re closer!"
Captain Jero Patterson turned to convey Major General Canrobert’s order to each corps.
When the Russian Imperial Army was only about 200 ters from the barbed wire, Canrobert took a deep breath and commanded, "Fire!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)