Chapter 628 The Situation Is Tense

While a series of small stories were happening in St. Petersburg, the situation of the Russian army in distant Ineada was getting worse day by day.

Although Paskovich was forced to give up the idea of ​​​​offensive and ordered the troops to stick to the spot, sometimes it is not necessarily possible to hold on. As the main force of the British and French coalition forces continued to arrive around Ineada, the Russian army's The pressure is increasing day by day.

Let's put it this way, from seven o'clock in the morning to six o'clock in the evening, except for an hour's lunch break, the Russian army was under heavy shelling every moment. The artillery shells of the British and French forces rained down on Ineada as if they were free of charge.

For the Russian troops in the encirclement, life was worse than death. The trenches and anti-gun holes that had just been repaired at night were smashed to pieces by the coalition's artillery shells when the sun came up. Then they could only stare at the fierce artillery fire and repair the fortifications.

At first, some wood or other building materials could be found to strengthen the fortifications, but as the shelling continued, Ineada could no longer find any materials that could be used to strengthen the fortifications. It can even be said that in this small seaside town, there is no longer a building that is even slightly intact, and there are even few ruins!

To put it bluntly, this city has turned into a hell on earth. Tens of thousands of residents in the city fled to death. It can be said that nine out of ten houses are empty.

"The enemy's artillery fire has become more intense." Nassimov, standing on the flagship mast and looking out, said worriedly.

"Normal," Kornilov also sighed, "as the enemy's main force arrives, the artillery fire will only become more intense. I doubt how high the enemy's firepower will reach next."

Nasimov said nothing because he remembered what Li Xiao had said to them before the war. But someone who tried to get them to strengthen the defenses of Sevastopol said more than once that the enemy's fire would be terrifying.

At that time, they were still dubious. Only after Ineada's experience did they know how wise it was to strengthen fortifications.

"What are the Army casualties?" he asked slowly.

"Not optimistic," Kornilov replied calmly. "Hundreds of people died yesterday. Most of them were directly hit by explosive bombs on the fortifications. However, I think being directly killed is still a kind of luck. The worst is It’s those who are injured, especially those who are seriously injured, that are pitiful.”

Nasimov acquiesced. Due to enemy shelling, Ineada had no place to place the poor wounded and could only transfer the injured soldiers to the ship.

However, the conditions at sea were not optimistic. They were already overcrowded and space was tight. He had to urgently vacate the captain's cabins or conference rooms of several ships to serve as temporary rescue shelters. Otherwise, these poor soldiers could only sleep in the cramped sailor's cabin and wait slowly. Waiting to die.

"When will Paskovich recover?" Nasimov asked dissatisfiedly, "At least he should agree to us transporting the wounded soldiers back, leaving them here without any treatment at all!"

Kornilov sighed again: "I asked, but he disagreed. The reason is that our artillery positions on the shore have been destroyed, and we can only use naval gun support... Although I also want to say it is fucked, but Without our naval guns, the pressure on the boys on the shore would be even greater!”

"Then he should realize that there is no point in continuing to hold on. Even the artillery positions on land cannot be established, so why fight? Does he want to watch our young man be eaten alive by the enemy?"

“Of course he is aware of it,” Kornilov replied expressionlessly, “but he is more worried about the damage to his position, so he will never retreat without knowing the direction of the wind in St. Petersburg. "

This goes to the core. The reason why Paskovich did not agree to retreat immediately, even though he knew that the main force of the British and French forces had arrived on the battlefield, was to wait for news from St. Petersburg.

He would never retreat without the approval and understanding of Nicholas I. Otherwise, he felt that there would be no way to explain, and Nicholas I would have opinions about him.

It's just that the distance between Ineada and St. Petersburg is more than a thousand miles, and it takes too long to go back and forth. Kornilov and Nasimov doubted that their 100,000 troops would be destroyed in Ineada before Nicholas I gave his consent.

But apart from being anxious, they had no other choice. They had tried to persuade Paskovich several times in the past few days, but they just refused to listen and always ended up on bad terms. Now Paskovich has already Without seeing the two of them, there was no chance for them to talk.

"The good news is that the enemy has not launched a general attack yet," Kornilov said with a forced smile. "It seems that we have hurt them before."

Nassimov could not laugh, because after the main force of the British and French forces arrived on the battlefield, they also organized several storming attacks. After paying a heavy price of tens of thousands of casualties, they finally woke up and realized that this was just giving away food. This time they did not continue to attack blindly, but instead used continuous shelling to consume the Russian army in the encirclement.

Although the tactics of stewing meat in a casserole or cutting meat with blunt knives cannot immediately defeat the Russian army, the tactics of boiling frogs in warm water can also burn people to death. As the coalition bombardment becomes more fierce, and with the continuous use of explosive bombs, The Russian army suffered casualties almost every moment.

It is quite scary to add up to a small amount, not to mention that because the entire Ineada is within the range of the coalition's artillery fire, the Russian army's field medical treatment is very problematic, or almost impossible to carry out, leaving a large number of wounded soldiers to have to Waiting to die while wailing in pain is an extremely fatal blow to morale.

Not only is it a matter of morale, a large number of wounded soldiers also require a large number of manpower to rescue and take care of them, which indirectly leads to an increasingly tight manpower supply for the Russian army.

In Kornilov's opinion, if the bombardment continues, they will collapse in less than half a month.

"We can only hope that news from St. Petersburg will come sooner, and that they will agree to withdraw as soon as possible!" Kornilov sighed.

The atmosphere was a little stagnant for a while. Nassimov wanted to comfort him but didn't know what to say. After a long time, he asked: "How is the situation on the other side of the Danube?"

Kornilov raised his head and glanced at him, and said with a wry smile: "It's not like that yet, let's continue the stalemate. The good news is that our defense line is very solid, and with the capabilities of the Turks, there is no way they can even think about overstepping the limit..."

Nasimov looked at him and said nothing, because he obviously did not finish what he said. Sure enough, he quickly smiled bitterly and said: "The problem is, we can't do anything to the Turks. Duke Mikhail's troops are extremely tight, and Tran Austria on the Sylvanian side is starting to make moves again..."