Flowers, Swords and France

When the night finally fell on the land of the Balkan Peninsula, Colonel Lucien Leflair finally led his troops to stop and rest on the march.

The whole army silently executed his orders. In the absence of General Ney, the commander of the division, Colonel Leflair's orders were absolutely effective. Soon, the well-trained soldiers lit bonfires between the hills, like sparks appearing in the black curtain.

In order to facilitate defense, the colonel chose an open high platform for camping, with a very good view, but the defects were also obvious-there was no river passing through here, and it was difficult to replenish water. The officers and soldiers could only have a simple dinner with the water in the kettle.

But this was not a big problem, because they were now not far from their destination, and what was more worrying now was the next battle.

After dinner, Lucien summoned several officers of his subordinates to his tent, and then confirmed the map position next to the bonfire, and discussed tomorrow's plan by the way. In the middle of the night, they dispersed and returned to their tents to rest.

Although there were too many things to worry about and be vigilant about, Lucien soon fell asleep and slept very soundly that night.

After serving in North Africa for many years, he had learned how to fall asleep whenever he needed to quickly replenish his energy. This was also one of the necessary skills for veterans. Some people could even fall asleep peacefully amid the roar of gunfire and rain of bullets.

When the red morning sun revealed its true appearance through the gaps in the mountains, Lucien woke up from his sleep. He stretched his waist and found that he seemed to have endless energy all over his body.

When he walked out of the tent, he found that most of his men had also woken up. These soldiers were either chatting and gambling with each other around the tent, or talking and laughing loudly with acquaintances from other troops in the camp. Officers walked through them, urging their soldiers to check their weapons.

At this time, the search team sent out in the early morning also returned. They not only brought intelligence about the surrounding area, but also brought back a large number of water bags. According to the order, they searched the surrounding terrain and confirmed that the enemy had not gathered nearby. At the same time, they found a water source and brought back a large amount of water for the troops.

They put the water they brought back into the iron pot and boiled it with the collected fuel. Soldiers from various troops came to fill their kettles with water from time to time, just like a group of blue worker ants patrolling around in the ant nest.

In order to avoid the epidemic and prevent his poor subordinates who were already tortured by various diseases from suffering more blows, Colonel Lucien Leflair strictly prohibited his subordinates from drinking unboiled water directly.

Lucien watched the actions of various troops quietly. When the sun was slightly higher than the mountains in front of him, he took out his pocket watch to check the time.

Then, he called his adjutant to his side. "Send the order, we are ready to march!"

The colonel's order quickly spread throughout the army, and the originally relaxed atmosphere instantly became tense. The soldiers ended their conversations, and then took their positions, regrouped according to the organization, and formed a huge marching column again like yesterday.

The tents had been put away again, and so had all the other things. This temporary camp had become a wilderness again, with nothing left except for some remnants of the campfire.

When everything was ready, the march of the new day finally began. The long procession faced the sun and marched towards the direction of the Silistra Fortress.

Lucien was still riding a horse, at the forefront of the team. His expression was serious and calm, but his spirit was highly tense, and he kept paying attention to the surrounding situation and the reports from the scouts.

Now they were getting closer and closer to the Silistra Fortress, and naturally closer and closer to the Russians, and the Cossacks they met yesterday also clearly showed how close they were to the Russians.

He didn't know the strength of the Russians besieging the fortress, but it would definitely be much more than the thousands of people under his command. Now they were deep in the inland and could not get support from the navy. It was unknown when the next batch of reinforcements would catch up. The situation forced Lucien to act cautiously.

Under the pressure of this situation, he was highly nervous and much more awake than usual, and even his thinking speed was much faster than usual.

As time passed, the distance of the army's march became farther and farther, and the road they traveled through the mountains became wider and wider. The hills and mountains of the Balkans slowly opened their arms, revealing a large basin.

Lucien, who was already familiar with the map, knew that in a few kilometers, they would arrive at the Silistra Fortress. With the help of a telescope, the outline of the fortress sandwiched between the mountains seemed to be clearly visible.

So, is this poor fortress still resisting the Russian attack?

Lucien held his breath and collected all the information he could get quietly.

The wilderness was very quiet. He seemed to be able to hear the shouting and roaring of cannons. Among the shadows of the telescope lens, he found that on the top of the fortress, a star and crescent flag was flying high. This was the flag of the Ottoman Empire.

"This fortress is still alive!" The French officer next to Lucien shouted in surprise.

Yes, the Turks fulfilled their duties and completed their mission. Under the siege of the enemy with superior numbers, they still stubbornly held the fortress.

Lucien felt relieved and had sincere admiration for these Turkish soldiers.

At first, like his colleagues, he looked down on the decaying Turkey, but the fighting spirit of these Turkish soldiers was worthy of admiration for being able to stubbornly hold the fortress for so long under the superior Russian forces.

"Gentlemen, it's time for us to fulfill our duties!" With a feeling of relief and surprise, Lucien said to his officers, "We can't let the Turks overwhelm us!"

"Yes, sir!" He was answered with a warm shout.

After a long journey, these officers and soldiers were already a little tired, but when the enemy was in front of them, impulse and passion began to occupy the hearts of the officers and soldiers, and they were already boiling with blood.

At this moment, a blurry figure appeared in the telescope. The gray shadow grew larger and larger, and finally occupied almost the entire lower half of the field of vision.

Lucien stared at the gray shadow tightly, as if his body was frozen.

This was a group of Slavic soldiers, wearing gray uniforms, marching towards this side in a neat formation. They numbered at least thousands, or even more.

Obviously, they were here to meet this group of French soldiers who suddenly came.

It seems that the Cossacks yesterday have gone back to report to their generals. Lucien thought.

This did not surprise him.

The speed of the opposite side was not fast, but it was firm and powerful, like a gray frenzy that was about to swallow everything.

Looking at this frenzy, Lucien suddenly had a flash of enlightenment in his mind-he and his men would be the first coalition army on land to fight the Russians.

"The Russians are coming! Get ready to fight!" He suddenly pulled his horse's head, then jumped off the horse directly, and then shouted loudly to the messengers around him.

After a pause, he shouted to the officers again, "Our ancestors are watching us, don't let them feel ashamed!"

"Yes, sir!" As if they were electrocuted, the officers shouted out loudly.

As the officers shouted, the military music changed the tune, and thousands of troops stopped at a very fast speed, and then deployed themselves according to the arrangement of Colonel Leflair, ready to meet the Russians who were pressing in.

Under Lucien's order, most of his few battalions were sent to the front to meet the enemy. These soldiers in blue shirts and red pants lined up in a tight queue, looking forward nervously or relaxed.

They watched the Russian army pressing towards them, getting closer and closer.

The soldiers of the two armies could soon see each other's faces. Although they looked similar, they became creatures that were no different from alien species in their eyes. Their eyes began to be bloodshot and their breathing became heavier and heavier.

"Fire!" When the distance between the two armies had become extremely close, the French officers at the forefront gave the order.

The barrage of bullets rushed towards the Russian army with smoke, taking away fresh lives in the screams and causing the Russian army's formation to be a little scattered. The Russian soldiers did not expect the French army to shoot at this distance, and they did not expect such accuracy at this distance, so they were a little panicked.

But soon, this little panic was suppressed by the officers, and the Russians pressed towards the French army again, and at this time, the cannons were deployed in their flanks and rear.

"Boom!" One after another, the shells whistled and hit the French army's position, leaving a bloody figure. Even though it was only a six-pound light artillery and the number was small, it still caused considerable casualties to the French army. However, the French army ignored it and continued to fire forward.

Soon, thick smoke filled both sides, just like the fog that greeted the sun every morning, the difference was that this thick fog was mixed with too much gunpowder and the smell of blood.

The Russians seemed to be relying on their superior military strength. With the support of artillery, they forced their way towards the French army and then fired at them. The roar of gunfire suppressed all other sounds, and made the God of War the master of the entire world.

The original text is available at 6 # 9 @shu/bar!

In this thick fog covered by bullets, the French army stepped over clusters of bushes and thorns and charged forward on the uneven mud. The sparse woods became a major obstacle for them. The ground was full of large trenches half-covered with mud. However, they ignored such obstacles and rushed towards the Russian soldiers on the opposite side at a very fast speed.

The first encounter took place here. The French soldiers formed dense columns in rows and rushed towards the Russian positions like a blue flood. The Russian army dispersed slightly and then rushed towards the French army as well. The soldiers of both armies had thrown away their cumbersome backpacks. They shouted sharply and fought at each other with bayonets. When one battalion was repelled, another battalion rushed up immediately, so that this small flat ground was soon filled with corpses.

The artillery fire never stopped, and shells continued to pour down on the French army. These shells fell to the ground with sharp whistles, raising pieces of dust. However, the French army rushed forward, and the gray and blue uniforms were mixed together in the shouting, and finally turned into pieces of red blood. On the bloody pile of corpses, the two armies shot at each other without mercy and stabbed the enemy's chest and abdomen with bayonets.

In such a battle, reason has no effect. Everything can only be left to the instinct of human beings to fight against their own kind. However, because the French army's formation is more dense and the assault is more determined, the situation gradually favors the French army.

And just to the side of the Russian army, a hunting cavalry wielding sabers rushed through the wilderness where the fighting was deafening, rushed towards the Russian defense line, and marched towards those artillery units.

It was these artillery companies that had just bombarded their comrades cruelly and ruthlessly. With the sound of rapid horse hooves, these cavalrymen rushed towards these Russian soldiers so quickly, sweeping towards the artillerymen like a tornado.

The sabers swung in the air with sharp cold light, and when they hit the guns and human bodies, they made a dense and dull sound, just like a blacksmith forging iron. Pieces of blood fell to the ground, making the soil more bright red. Under the horrified gaze of the artillerymen, this group of cavalrymen suddenly rushed in front of them under the bullets. A cavalryman was hit on the shoulder by the infantry bayonet to protect his comrade next to him. Although blood was scattered, he did not feel any pain at all. He grabbed the horse's mane tightly and clamped the horse with his legs, making the animal that had been with him for many days like being clamped by a clamp. Then, he used the horse's horsepower to suddenly rein in his body and chopped down heavily.

"Puff"

The dull sound of the saber cutting into the human body brought out a large piece of flesh and blood, and the white bones were exposed with screams. The Russian soldier fell to the ground miserably, but no one cared about his death. The person who killed him fiercely drew his saber and killed the next target.

Lucien watched the fight in front of him quietly. Although it was a cruel scene, he was not moved at all. He had been in the army for too long, and no matter how many bloody scenes there were, he would not hesitate or be afraid, because he knew that hesitation and fear would only kill more people.

There was still a group of soldiers around him who did not move. Although they were eager to fight after seeing their comrades, he still did not give orders for them to go to reinforce.

Because they were alone and deep in the enemy's territory, and the enemy's situation was not very clear, he had to put his men's lives first. Everything was limited to preserving the entire army, so he had to keep the reserve in his hands. He did not want to use the reserve of these two battalions anyway. If necessary, he would even prefer to retreat temporarily. He could not trap the entire army in pursuit of victory in a battle.

His order was to help the Silistra Fortress to break the siege. If it failed, he would hold on and wait for help, tie down part of the Russian army, and ease the crisis faced by the fortress - so as long as he could preserve the troops, he would have achieved his goal. The Russians had to allocate a large number of troops to confront him, and the threat to the fortress would be reduced a lot.

He was very satisfied to see that while the infantry were fighting, his cavalry had attacked the Russian artillery positions from the flank. Although the Russians were desperately resisting, their artillery had suffered heavy losses.

In his eyes, the victory of this battle was now leaning towards him.

As if to confirm his opinion, the Russians stopped charging, and the surviving soldiers slowly retreated under his sight.

If only I had some cuirassiers here!

Lucien couldn't help but think with regret as he watched the enemy slowly retreat in front of him.

But he also knew that such an idea was meaningless. They had originally gone north from the landing site to rescue the fortress in order to save time. Now the heavy cavalry had not landed at all. Even if they had landed, the hills and trails they passed along the way would definitely not be convenient for them to march.

Now that there were some hussars following this unit, Lucien was already very grateful.

Although he won the first battle and repelled the Russians, he did not dare to pursue them now, because he knew that there were too many troops behind the Russian army that could be mobilized, and he did not want to take too many risks.

Under his order, the French army stopped fighting, and at this time, there were too many traces of the battle left on the ground.

With the help of a telescope, he saw that in the area where the two armies had just engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat, many people fell to the ground, and some even had incomplete limbs - just one or two hours ago, they were still alive, with fear and hope, but now, they had nothing.

It was impossible to tell who was who, and there was no need to tell who was who.

Lucien only knew that he had repelled the Russians in the first battle and completed the task assigned to him by the commander-in-chief.

However, he felt painfully that his current troops were insufficient and could only perform a diversionary task, which made him feel very nervous, because as long as the Russians continued to launch an attack regardless of everything, they would be in a very difficult situation at a disadvantage in terms of troops, and the Turkish soldiers in the fortress might not be able to coordinate with them.

However, his worries were in vain, and on the second day, the Russians did not launch an attack.

The originally noisy battlefield became strangely quiet, and the French army was puzzled.

However, they soon got the answer in the next few days. Lucien was pleasantly surprised to find that the Russians were gradually retreating from the fortress.

Of course, this was not too strange. The Russians had been besieging the fortress for several months, and the losses must have been considerable. Moreover, they did not know that it was only a small French force that was heading north to rescue them. They must have thought that the British and French forces were preparing to fight a decisive battle with them. The initial defeat further damaged their confidence.

The Tsar would not allow his army to take such a risk. They were ready to withdraw to the rear positions and then fight a decisive battle with the British and French forces.

So the coalition forces would follow the original plan, avoid the Balkans and Ukraine, and not attack their positions that were on high alert, but choose to land in their soft belly and continue to attack the Russian army.

"We are going to Crimea!" Colonel Lucien Leflair said to them calmly when he was surrounded by his subordinates to congratulate him.