Chapter 425: Chapter 419 Tiger Tiger Tiger (Part 1)
After learning from De Luy’s mouth that the French Empire and the Russian Empire were about to start a war, the three foreign envoys, unable to persuade the French Empire to abandon its action, could only choose to fulfill their duties as diplomatic envoys by conveying the information they had learned back to their respective countries, hoping that their nations would make the right decisions after the war began.
While the three foreign envoys were taking a carriage from the dock in the Seventh District back to their respective embassies, a secret military meeting was being held at the Tuileries Palace on the Champs-Élysées.
In addition to the Chief of General Staff of the Army, Saint Arno, the Minister of War, Kuzen Montebon, and the Minister of the Navy, Deco (who also served as the Chief of Naval Staff due to the Navy’s lack of suitable personnel), the attendees of this military meeting included Major General Leboeuf, Major General Niel, Major General Canrobert, Brigadier General Bazan, Brigadier General Troche... a series of members who had been more or less involved in planning the Near East war.
This war, which had been secretly planned since 1849, finally officially began in 1853.
Four years of planning allowed the General Staff (formerly the Military Secretariat of the Ministry of War) to anticipate all possible actions of the Russian Empire and prepare several sets of responses.
A detailed military map of the Near East was pinned to the wall of the meeting hall at the Tuileries Palace. The border areas of the Danube Duchy and the Bulgarian Region were marked densely with infantry markers, representing all the Russian Empire’s troops currently present in the Danube border area.
"According to intelligence we received from the Ottoman Empire, about 150,000 troops of the Russian Empire have gathered in the scene area of the Wallachia Duchy, including some troops led by Paskievich, who were previously stationed in Poland and were the main force that helped the Austrian Empire suppress Hungary. They are equipped with many old-fashioned muskets and a few rifles.
Although the equipment level of this army is far behind our army, their will to war is very tenacious," emphasized Brigadier General Leboeuf, who was responsible for giving a military explanation and analysis for the Near East region, as he pointed at the infantry marker map with a wooden pointer and then looked nervously at Jerome Bonaparte, seated in the first row of the audience of the meeting hall.
This military rehearsal, which should have been explained and deployed by Chief of General Staff Saint Arno, was now being explained by someone like Leboeuf, a "mere" major general level staff officer, which was indeed a bit "demanding" for him.
The "demanding" here does not mean that Major General Leboeuf himself had any defects in command capability, but rather that within the French Army, which valued seniority, Major General Leboeuf’s qualifications were far too thin.
Many "students" in the audience, though they shared the rank of major general with him, differed greatly in prestige, making it difficult for him, a younger officer, to teach a group of army veterans.
And the person who decided to have Leboeuf on the stage was none other than the Emperor of the Empire, Jerome Bonaparte.
The reason why Jerome Bonaparte was willing to let Leboeuf display his abilities in front of many older men was not only to pave the way for Leboeuf’s future promotion but also because Leboeuf had been involved in the Near East combat plan from start to finish and thus knew it better than anyone else.
At this moment, Jerome Bonaparte also caught Leboeuf’s gaze and smiled encouragingly at him with a nod.
Feeling the implicit encouragement from Jerome Bonaparte, Leboeuf shook off his previous unease and, with a passionate tone, continued to point the pointer at another infantry marker next to the one symbolizing Paskievich: "Another unit is the Bessarabia troops led by Mikhail Gorchakov. Most of these troops are newly formed by drawing from the Caucasus regions.
In both quantity and quality, they are inferior to the troops led by Paskievich!
However, the troops stationed in the Bessarabia Province are better equipped to deal with small-scale guerrilla forces than the troops under Paskievich, thanks to military strategies learned from the Caucasus.
In addition to these two units, a small number of St. Petersburg Guard troops have also joined. They are the most elite troops under Nicholas I, with a quality far superior to the armies of Paskievich and Gorchakov, but their numbers are far fewer than these two armies, amounting to only two or three regiments."
Then, Leboeuf flattered Jerome Bonaparte by saying, "However, their armies, regardless of equipment quality or personnel, are not as good as ours, all thanks to Your Majesty’s efforts!"
"Enough flattery, continue speaking!" Jerome Bonaparte’s face showed a hint of a smile at Leboeuf’s blatant flattery, and he gently "reprimanded" him.
"Yes!" Leboeuf promptly resumed his attitude and continued to explain: "Based on recent intelligence from the General Staff. Once war breaks out between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire will undoubtedly launch a frenzied attack here!"
Leboeuf placed the pointer on Silistra: "This is a military fortress built relying on the Danube River, and it is also the biggest guarantee of the Ottoman Empire against the Russian Empire’s army! If Silistra is breached by Russian troops, they will reenact the events of 1828."
In 1828, Nicholas I of the Russian Empire led 65,000 Russian soldiers and Cossack troops to launch an attack on Silistra. After occupying Silistra, Tsar Nicholas I followed the flow downstream and occupied Varna and Edirne (the former capital of the Ottoman Empire).
It was during that time that Nicholas I came closest to Constantinople, but unfortunately, due to the intervention of Britain and the European countries, the Russian Empire had to leave in disgrace, which also became a lasting pain for Nicholas I.
"Can the defense of Silistra withstand an attack by 130,000 Russian soldiers?" Jerome Bonaparte asked Leboeuf.
"Due to its location, the Russian Empire cannot efficiently deploy troops at Silistra, as long as Silistra itself is properly defended! The Russian forces will not be able to break through the Silestra Fortress Group!" Leboeuf confidently assured Jerome Bonaparte: "Moreover, the Russian Empire has already lost this opportunity; nearly 30,000 troops have been deployed in Silistra, and these troops are fully capable of resisting Russian advances. Therefore, the Imperial Army’s original plan to be stationed in Varna can still be executed."
Leboeuf’s words received the approval of some generals in the audience. They were not concerned about the survival of the Ottoman Empire but had to defend Varna behind Silistra.
If Silistra falls, Varna will face the onslaught of Russian forces.
According to the French Empire’s landing plan, all large-scale materials such as locomotives, rails, and siege cannons must first gather at the Rhodes Island port before being transported to Varna.
This also means large equipment cannot be transported there at the first instance; the Imperial generals present did not wish to engage in war with the Russian Empire before establishing a foothold at Varna.
Where there is approval, there will also be opposition. Some generals believed that the Russian Empire might advance southwest from Bucharest towards Ruse. In that case, if Bulgaria and Serbia staged uprisings, the Russian Empire could assist the rebels nearby.
"If Nicholas I were in command, he might choose this risky method, but Paskievich is a cautious fellow who wouldn’t agree to this plan!" Leboeuf immediately countered these views and explained: "If the Russian Imperial Army enters to support Serbia via Ruse, it is bound to incite panic in the Austrian Empire. At that point, the Russian Empire would find itself in a dilemma."
"The Austrian Empire has already agreed to join the French Empire in issuing a withdrawal warning to the Russian Empire, so the Austrian Army will be a threat, not an aid, to the Russian Empire!" Jerome Bonaparte also chimed in.
Because the joint operations between the French Empire and the Austrian Empire against the Russian Empire had remained a secret conducted privately, the vast majority of generals present were unaware of the Austrian Empire’s betrayal of the Russian Empire.
Jerome Bonaparte’s words made all the generals present agree with Leboeuf’s views.
Afterward, Leboeuf proposed the landing battle plan prepared in advance by the General Staff.
The first wave of troops in the landing battle plan was the six battalions of the Zuav Corps from the Algerian colonies. They would reinforce the positions at Varna under the transport of transport ships conscripted by the Navy, and the six battalions of the Zuav Corps would be reorganized into two regiments, with Brigadier General MacMahon and Brigadier General Bazan as the regimental commanders.
There was no objection among the generals present regarding the Zuavs serving as the vanguard force, as the Zuavs had always been the elite troops of France.
However, when it came to transporting the members of the second batch of conscripted troops, all the generals present began to quarrel with flushed faces.
According to the General Staff’s plan, the second batch of troops to be deployed consisted of the First Brigade and the Third Brigade of the Paris First Division and the Third Brigade of the Second Division.
While the military commanders of the First and Second Divisions naturally had no objections to the General Staff’s plan, the commander of the Third (Guard Division) opposed the deployment of the First and Second Divisions.
The desire for merit and glory led these generals to engage in a fierce quarrel.