CHAPTER 546: CHAPTER 538: SEVASTOPOL NORTH SHORE OFFENSIVE

"Then, what is your basis for Russia occupying this territory? Are you saying it’s because your Slavic ancestors once lived here?"

The voice of Brigadier General Troche was not loud, but every word he spoke held tremendous power for Tolstoy.

No matter how much Tolstoy tried to whitewash the Tsarist government, he could not avoid the fact that the Russian Empire seized the Crimea Peninsula through force.

"You... you!" After pondering for a moment, Tolstoy refuted Brigadier General Troche: "Weren’t you also invading Algeria? How are you any better than us!"

"Yes! We did indeed invade!" Brigadier General Troche did not deny the act of invasion, and he even said with some righteousness: "Precisely because of this, we won’t position ourselves as victims like you just did! If any country dares to secretly sabotage in Algeria, we, France, don’t mind showing them the fury of France! Only weak nations cry and plead to others about injustice in the market. Strong nations always use their fists to teach others the true nature of the world!"

"You... that’s absurd!" Tolstoy’s face turned slightly red, and the romantic ideas in him were angered by Brigadier General Troche’s theory. He loudly refuted: "If the world were like you say, then where would fairness come from? Our world shouldn’t be like this!"

"Fairness?" Brigadier General Troche laughed heartily after hearing Tolstoy’s innate words: "You, as a noble, actually believe in fairness! If this world were truly fair, then why are some people born into wealth and luxury while others can only manage to make ends meet their whole lives? Is that fair?"

"Well... I believe we can gradually improve!" Tolstoy responded hesitantly to Brigadier General Troche.

"Improve? When will the agriculture and livestock system of the Russian Empire be abolished? Talk to us about improvement when you reach that point!" Brigadier General Troche looked dismissively at this naive noble from the Russian Empire.

"We will abolish it! Just like you did in France!" Tolstoy said firmly to Brigadier General Troche.

Brigadier General Troche merely smiled slightly. He did not tell Tolstoy how many nobles France had to kill when abolishing feudal obligations.

The influence of the Great Revolution still affects France to this day.

This young noble viewed the abolition of serfdom as a simple task that could be accomplished with a single command from the Tsar, where all nobles would eagerly follow the Tsar’s orders.

In reality, abolishing the agriculture and livestock system and feudal obligations requires completely removing the soil that bred them.

Either transition like Britain or resolve the nobility issue in one fell swoop like France did.

The Russian Empire has no such soil; their transformation is bound to face a heap of problems.

"Alright! Mr. Tolstoy, let’s not discuss who is right or wrong anymore!" Brigadier General Troche decided to end this utterly fruitless discussion.

"General, I think so too!" Knowing he couldn’t win the argument, Tolstoy nodded to Brigadier General Troche.

After that, Brigadier General Troche discussed many topics with Tolstoy. When the conversation turned to literary matters, Brigadier General Troche suddenly found that this Senior Sergeant before him seemed like a completely different person.

Brigadier General Troche couldn’t help but remark: "You actually shouldn’t have come to the battlefield. In my humble opinion, your talent is enough to earn you a place in the literary world!"

Tolstoy responded with a shy smile: "Actually, I’ve already planned to devote myself to literature after the war ends!"

"Oh?" Brigadier General Troche casually asked: "I wonder if our great writer is considering leaving a masterpiece for the world?"

"My first work is in my backpack!" Tolstoy said to Brigadier General Troche.

"Where is your backpack?" Brigadier General Troche asked Tolstoy with interest.

Being able to read a novel in this setting is indeed a pleasure.

For now, Brigadier General Troche had no plans to continue the attack. His task was to consolidate this position until the main force in the North Bay formally resumed.

"It’s in my room!" Tolstoy responded.

"Could our great writer take me to your room for a look?" Brigadier General Troche was somewhat curious about Tolstoy’s work.

"Follow me!"

With Tolstoy leading the way, Brigadier General Troche arrived at the door of Tolstoy’s room.

"Please come in!" Tolstoy opened the door and said to Brigadier General Troche.

After Brigadier General Troche entered the room, he found Tolstoy’s backpack on the desk.

Brigadier General Trochu opened his backpack and discovered a thick stack of manuscripts. After taking the manuscripts out of the backpack, he glanced at their contents.

The manuscripts were written entirely in French, not Russian. On the first page, the title "Childhood" was prominently displayed; this was presumably the name of the still incomplete book.

...

Far on the North Shore of Sevastopol, Pellissier and Marshal Saint Arnauld, upon receiving the message from Brigadier General Trochu in South Bay, could hardly believe that the Russian Army on the South Shore of Sevastopol would be foolish enough to engage in field battles with the Anglo-French Alliance, particularly within the range of naval artillery.

"Map!" Marshal Saint Arnaud commanded Commander Pellissier, who was beside him.

General Pellissier hastily fetched the map of the South Shore of Sevastopol.

Although the map’s annotations of the South Shore of Sevastopol were not very detailed, they were sufficient to locate Brigadier General Trochu’s position on the map.

Marshal Saint Arnauld quickly found Brigadier General Trochu’s position, at that moment less than 2 kilometers from the South Shore dock, and ahead of him lay the residential area of the South Shore of Sevastopol.

Brigadier General Trochu now resembled a fishbone firmly stuck in the throat of the South Shore of Sevastopol, making it difficult for Sevastopol’s South Shore to either expel or accept him.

"If I were the commander of the South Shore army, I would try everything possible to expel him! At any cost!" Saint Arnauld pointed to the annotations on the map and said to General Pellissier.

"I think the same way!" Commander Pellissier nodded and responded to Marshal Saint Arnauld: "By the way, I remember Brigadier General Trochu and his forces seem to be without artillery, aren’t they?"

"That’s right! That’s exactly what I’m most worried about!" Marshal Saint Arnauld circled the area where Trochu was located and responded to General Pellissier: "The Russian army on the South Shore is very likely to carry out indiscriminate artillery bombardment on this area! Without artillery, they could likely be repulsed! So we must do something!"

"Marshal Saint Arnaud, I suggest that we immediately launch an attack on the Russian Army on the North Shore!" Commander Pellissier responded to Marshal Saint Arnauld.

"But our troops are not yet prepared for battle!" Marshal Saint Arnauld expressed some concerns.

"Now is not the time for hesitation!" General Pellissier exhibited the decisiveness of a top commander, "We must act swiftly! That is the only way to draw some of the naval artillery fire and relieve the pressure on the South Shore units!"

"Alright then!" Marshal Saint Arnauld gritted his teeth and said to General Pellissier: "Let’s do it your way!"

Subsequently, General Pellissier informed Marshal Saint Arnaud that the French gunships and ironclads could set sail towards the entrance of the Sevastopol Fortress.

Although there were shipwrecks blocking the way, General Pellissier believed that the range of the French Navy would undoubtedly inflict damage on the fleet within the harbor and the South Shore batteries, preventing them from effectively supporting the South Shore.

Saint Arnauld immediately agreed with Pellissier’s approach and ordered his subordinates to quickly relay the message to the French Fleet.

"It’s 3 PM now, and I plan to launch the attack on the North Shore of Sevastopol at 4:40!" Marshal Saint Arnauld said to Pellissier after pulling out his pocket watch.

"Yes, sir!" Pellissier replied with a serious expression, then turned and headed to the Staff Department to report to the staff about Marshal Saint Arnauld’s impending attack and requested them to devise an effective strategy within 40 minutes.

The members of the Staff Department felt a sudden pressure upon hearing the attack was moved up, realizing that modifying the original plan within 40 minutes would indeed be a challenge for them.

"Commander Pellissier, will this new plan involve only one French unit launching the attack?" one of the staff members inquired of Pellissier.

"That’s right!" Pellissier nodded and said to them: "Due to the suddenness of the situation, we haven’t informed the armies of the other three countries. This attack can only be carried out independently by us. It shouldn’t be a problem, right!"

"Well..." The Staff Department hesitated for a moment and then nodded to Pellissier: "Indeed, there’s no problem, but which unit should be responsible for the main assault on the Star Fortress?"

"The First Division!" General Pellissier responded decisively to them.

General Pellissier hadn’t forgotten General Canrobert’s "favor" to him.

If it weren’t for Canrobert’s "retirement," he probably wouldn’t have been qualified to serve as the Commander-in-Chief of the French Expeditionary Army.

Assigning the task of assaulting the Star Fortress to the First Division would also count as his repayment to Canrobert, and Pellissier believed that the First Division could undoubtedly complete the task excellently.

"Understood!" The staff members nodded in response to Pellissier and then commenced their intense work.

Having left the Staff Department, Pellissier called for his adjutant, Jerome Patterson, and ordered him to summon the commanders of the First and Second Divisions.

Upon receiving the order, Jerome Patterson quickly took action, and after about 15 minutes, Canrobert and General Bosskey appeared before Pellissier.