In the twilight near sunset, an army marched through the cracks of the hills of the Balkan Peninsula. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The army was lined up in long columns, the formation was very tight, and it was evident that after a long period of training, the infantry and cavalry had been assembled separately, and thousands of triangular bayonets gleamed golden in the twilight light, and the whole line was in good order, exuding the solemn air characteristic of a disciplined, battle-hardened army.

From the end of the line, thousands of soldiers' boots and uniforms were mixed into a blurred color, as if they had been fused together through the rigorous training of the army. As far as the eye can see, it looks like a long blue and red dragon, winding through the hills.

At this time, the shadow of the sun was already slanting to the west, and the shadow of the hills was stretched and covered above the entire army, and the golden floating clouds floated in the sky, making the surrounding fields somewhat stained with some golden brilliance, and also making the sky and the earth seem to become a huge stage, full of illusion.

The hot summer breeze swept through the soldiers' caps, caressing the feathers and brown feathers on the hats of the officers and cavalrymen, like a breeze sweeping through a pond, rippling one ripple after another. Although it was already afternoon, the wind still carried some unbearable heat, which made everyone a little anxious, and it was precisely for this reason that the officers and soldiers on the march loosened their clothes, so that the originally strict military appearance became a lot more relaxed, and even the original loud military songs during the march became a little muffled.

However, no one can doubt that when they are challenged by the enemy, their slack spirit will immediately tense up, and they will plunge into the battle with great enthusiasm.

These silent marching troops, with their different weapons and uniforms, and the different colors of flags, look a little chaotic, but they are not untidy. Between the ranks, there were a number of dragoons who acted as heralds, passing orders from one line to another, and trying to assist the commanders in keeping the ranks of the entire army in order.

At the front of the procession, the standard-bearers, holding the flags of their respective units and the eagles of the Imperial Army, marched to the sound of the drums of the military musicians, their flags waving in the wind, and their swarthy faces were all radiant, and they did not seem to be slacking off at all because of the sweltering heat of the time.

The commander of this unit is also at the forefront of the team.

He rode on a tall black horse with white hooves, his tall body accentuated by the majesty, and like his soldiers, he wore a blue uniform and red breeches, riding boots, and a cylindrical cap. The red ribbon of the Medal of Honor was pinned to his chest, a small saber hung from his waist, and the eyes of countless people next to him and behind him were focused on him from all corners at the same time, but he didn't seem to realize it.

He was none other than Colonel Lucien-Leflaire, commander of the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Division of the French Army, and commander of this unit.

He had been in the army for many years, but he had always been depressed, but then, because of the good fortune that he didn't know where he came from, he first won the favor of a young lady, and then the favor of the Tréville family.

Under the tutelage of the Montreville family, he soon entered the circle of Bonapartists, became one of the Bonapartes' henchmen in the army, and finally participated in the coup d'état that made His Excellency the President His Majesty His Majesty the Emperor.

Relying on such feats, since the re-establishment of the empire, he rose through the ranks of the army, and finally became a brigade commander.

Now, he is one step away from being a general, and everyone believes that sooner or later he will become a general.

However, despite this enviable luck, the colonel was at all free from the swagger and domineering that was common among the upstarts, and remained humble and focused on maintaining relationships with his colleagues and caring for his subordinates.

It is for this reason that he is rarely hated, and his subordinates love this commander very much.

Soon after the outbreak of war between the Empire and Russia, the 2nd Division was selected as the first part of the expeditionary force, and his brigade was the vanguard of the expeditionary force.

After a period of rest and assembly, the entire division was fully equipped, and at this time the British also rushed over, and after the coordination of the two commanders-in-chief of the coalition forces, they finally reached an agreed plan - with the goal of a decisive battle with the Russians as soon as possible, first seek to land in the Odessa area to cut off the supply lines of the Russian army, if the conditions are not ripe, land in Bulgaria, and then go north to meet the Russian army moving south.

According to this plan, the British and French combined fleet shelled Odessa to test the defensive strength of the Russian army, but although the fleet smashed most of the port of Odessa into ruins, it found that the defensive strength of the Russian army should not be underestimated and could not land directly, so it had to retreat to the second half, first land in the Balkans according to the plan of the second half, and then seek to engage the Russians.

Once the coalition forces were unanimous, the entire war machine began to run in order, and soon the coalition forces landed in the famous Bulgarian port of Varna.

It was at this time that most of the troops of the 2nd French Division, to which Lucien belonged, landed, and immediately after landing and resting, they marched north on the orders of the Allied Commander-in-Chief.

It is no wonder that the top of the coalition forces are in such a hurry, in fact, their unit is a fire brigade, and there is no time to wait for the rear to slowly gather troops - because at this time the Russian army is besieging the local Turkish defenders, and according to the reports of the defenders, the situation is already quite critical.

The Turks had foreseen a war before the Russians could attack, and they were prepared to meet the Russians under the leadership of their commander, Omar Pasha.

Omar Pasha was a brainy and calm general, he knew in his heart that the quality of his troops could not be compared with the Russian army, so he did not intend to directly lead his army to a decisive battle with the Russians, he set a defense-oriented strategy from the beginning, intending to use the defensive strategy to consume the Russian army's troops, while waiting for domestic reinforcements to be mobilized.

After the Russian army launched an offensive, the Turkish army began to retreat, and then retreated to various fortresses in the rear, especially the fortresses of Rushuk and Silistra on the right flank of the Russian army, which were even more highly expected by the Turkish army, hoping to use them to contain the Russian army, so that the Russian army could not directly advance to Sumra and Varna, two decisive Turkish strongholds in the eastern defense of the Balkan Peninsula.

And the deployment of the Turkish army, of course, did not escape the attention of the Russian army, and after crossing the border, the Russian army marched in stride, occupied the lands abandoned by the Turks, and then immediately launched the siege of the fortress of Silistra.

The fierce offensive and defensive battles had been going on for months, and during this time, the entry of Britain and France into the war was the most exciting news for the Turks, and this news made the Turkish troops trapped in the fortress even more combative, knowing that as long as they could hold on, the final victory would definitely belong to the Turks.

However, although the fortress of Silistra is still in the hands of the Turks, from the information obtained by the British and French forces, the condition of the fortress is no longer particularly ideal, and there is a risk of falling at any time, so the coalition forces do not want to delay time, and directly send the first batch of troops who landed in Varna to rush north to rescue the besieged fortress of Silistra.

They were given orders - to do everything possible to help the fortress to hold on, and if it was impossible to break the siege, to contain as many Russian troops as possible, and to share the pressure on the fortress; If the worst-case scenario were for the fort to fall before the relief force arrived, the force would be on standby waiting for reinforcements from the coalition forces to the north.

Undoubtedly, this order threw Colonel Lucien-Leflair into danger, and they had to face the advance of the Russian army, and then pray that the men they were trying to help would not be defeated before they arrived. However, orders are orders after all, and they must be carried out no matter how difficult they are, so Lucien and his men set out on their journey north without complaining.

After two days of marching, they were already very close to Silistra, that is to say, to the Russian corps, and although Lucien was very calm on the surface, he was full of spirits, and never relaxed his reconnaissance of the surrounding situation, and cautiously but unswervingly approached his intended destination.

In the middle of the desolate valley, the army marched silently, silent except for the unintentional metallic clatter of weapons and the rumble of horses' hooves against the ground, the gentle sound of which was like the thunder that heralded a storm, proclaiming the vigor of a military empire and its determination to destroy all obstacles.

It was a sparsely populated area, dotted with only a few farmhouses, and after the outbreak of war, most of the local farmers went into hiding or simply fled their hometowns, making the scene even more desolate.

Although this meant that it was difficult for them to collect food and other supplies from the surrounding villages, it also gave Lucien a lot of peace of mind, as it meant that the Russians could not gather information about the French army through the surrounding villagers.

Unfortunately, although this was Turkish territory, Lucien knew that the Slavic inhabitants were more inclined to the Russians, so he did not hope for the help of the locals at first, and only expected them to be neutral - to be honest, even within the French army, there were many officers and soldiers who were quite complaining about the Empire and the British, and then going to help a pagan country to fight the Christians, but fortunately, through strict military discipline, this kind of talk was suppressed so as not to shake morale.

Of course, the difficulties encountered by the French army were by no means limited to that.

They encountered some unforeseen conditions, so much so that they found them, not the Russians, to be their worst enemies.

Because of the hot weather and the fatigue of the boats, many officers and men suffered from heat stroke during the repeated landings and embarkations, and these dehydrated soldiers lost their combat effectiveness, and Lucien had to leave them in the port of Varna, unable to allow them to participate in the rest of the battle.

What made Lucien even more uneasy was that with the hot weather, diseases began to run rampant in the army, malaria, cholera, dysentery and other diseases had begun to invade his troops, making the officers and soldiers who were already physically weak even more miserable, Lucien's own troops, a large number of soldiers were reduced due to illness, and he almost lost a battalion of troops before engaging the enemy.

Even his immediate superior, General Michel Ney, Duke of Elchingen, commander of the 2nd Division, contracted the disease after landing in Varna and collapsed on his bed, temporarily unable to command the battle, which made the whole division uneasy.

Ney, a heroic surname, was able to lift the spirits of the officers and men even fifty years later, and made them understand the legacy they carried on their shoulders, and the absence of General Ney did make the French army a little uneasy.

However, it was precisely because of this difficulty that Lucien realized that he had to put on the most resolute attitude in order to stabilize the morale of the army. It was precisely because of the friendship he usually formed with his subordinate officers and soldiers that his troops were able to overcome all the difficulties above so quickly and plunge into the march again with high will.

At the moment, it was already getting dark, and Lucien picked up his binoculars to observe the surrounding situation, preparing to find a suitable place for his troops to camp in the wilderness. According to his calculations, if he marched at this rate to-morrow, he would probably reach the city of Sillistra by tomorrow afternoon, and they would certainly face a terrible test by then, so it was extremely important to recharge their batteries now.

Soon, he found a flat plateau outside the valley, which was open and had a good view, and seemed to be large enough to accommodate his troops.

Just as he was still judging in his heart, he suddenly heard a whistling, which was the whistling of the light cavalry he had left on the periphery to reconnoiter the enemy's situation.

He immediately re-raised his telescope and looked in the direction where the sound was made. In the lens of the telescope, the sky and the earth have turned dark gold, and the yellow phantom makes the lens seem to be covered with a curtain, and on this curtain, there are many phantoms that seem to be shaking.

The phantom grew larger and larger, and with the help of the darkness of dusk, Lucien finally saw the situation on the other side clearly.

It was a group of horsemen, and they whizzed towards their side, but the line was not very neat, but it was evident that everyone was skilled in horsemanship.

Gradually, the men on their horses became more and more visible, wearing red overcoats, black cylinder hats embellished with feathers, sabers in their hands, and pistols pinned to their waists.

It's exactly like the image he saw in comic books when he was a kid.

"Cossacks!"

Not only Lucien, but even some of the officers behind saw the true identities of those on the other side, and then each took a breath.

Ever since Napoleon's Russian army was ruthlessly pursued by the Russians in the ice and snow of Russia, divided and wiped out little by little, and finally almost completely annihilated, the image of these horsemanlike, rough and savage Tsar's personal guards has left too heavy a shadow in the hearts of the French, even if there is only a small group of people in front of them, they can't help but make these French soldiers feel a chill in their hearts.

Lucien stretched out his hand, immediately stopped the commotion of the officers, and then gave orders to his herald.

"Order the troops to halt their advance and prepare to camp and rest."

"Yes!" The herald immediately led the order to ride away, and soon the troops behind also received the order and stopped.

The long queue of thousands of people remained in place, looking like a long blue-red snake lying in a long row from a distance.

At this time, the Cossacks were getting closer and closer, and they seemed to want to reconnoiter the specifics of this sudden army, which aptly reminded the French soldiers that they were already close to the Russian regiments.

"Sir, will I let my men leave the guests behind?" The commander of the cavalry battalion, Major Samuel, looked eager to take the plunge.

"No, we're going to wait for them to come." Lucien calmly replied, "They're just flies, and if we drive them away now, they'll run away." ”

Then, he immediately gave an order to Major Misha, the commander of the ninth battalion beside him. "Get your men ready to take on them, and ask for the best marksmanship."

"Yes!" The soldiers who followed the brigade commander at the forefront moved one after another, and with great speed and skill, they turned their columns into horizontal formations, raised their guns flat, and aimed them at the Cossacks on the opposite side.

Seeing that the enemy was already on the front of the enemy, the Cossacks slowed down their horses, stopped at what they thought were safe, and then wandered around the front of the French army, ready to observe the total strength of the army and its composition.

This arrogant gesture angered the French officers and soldiers, but Lucien did not waver, and he looked carefully at the Cossacks opposite, their bright red enlarged in his eyes, like a dancing flame.

Little by little, the Cossacks were still approaching, thinking they were safe, but they had no idea that the rifled Giverny 1850 rifles that the French were now armed with were far more accurate and ranged than would normally be estimated to be on the two sides.

That's enough.

When they came to the distance that Lucien had determined in his heart, the colonel meditated in his heart.

"Fire." Then, he whispered.

"Fire!"

The company commander shouted out.

"Bang!" As the officers shouted, a dense burst of gunfire rang out almost simultaneously, and a large number of bullets swirled and whizzed towards the opposite side......

Blood burst out on the red clothes, the horses neighed miserably, and suddenly several Cossacks fell from their horses, as if they had been struck by a hammer in the air.

Like frightened gulls, the Cossacks let out a terrible scream, and then the surviving Cossacks reined in and turned their horses' heads, and then rushed to the rear with all their might, not even having time to take the bodies of their comrades.

Looking at this miserable scene, the French officers and soldiers let out a burst of cheers.

However, Lucien, who had already fought many times in North Africa, knew that this was not even a dessert before a big meal.

"Tell the whole army to prepare to rest." He said to the herald. "We're camping here tonight."