Chapter 683 The Storm is Coming
Chapter 684 The storm is coming
Molkov was obviously a little surprised. He quickly ordered the cavalry to come up and asked:
"What's the damage?"
"General, the Poles destroyed 5 trucks of grain and barley, and 7 ammunition trucks. There were more than 200 casualties in the supply camp."
Morkov breathed a sigh of relief and smiled disdainfully:
"These poor cowards can only carry out this small-scale harassment."
The ranger was stunned for a moment and said carefully:
"General, according to Kiev's reconnaissance, there should be more than 10,000 Polish troops present there."
Because of the sudden incident, the Kiev garrison was unable to find out the specific situation of Kosciuszko's department.
In fact, the King's 3rd Infantry Division alone has tens of thousands of people. Together with the King's Cavalry Battalion, five winged cavalry squadrons, the Warsaw Grenadier Regiment, etc., the total strength reaches 17,000.
"So many?" Morkov couldn't help but narrowed his eyes, "What do the Poles want to do?"
The staff officer on the side said:
"General, they must have discovered that Mozyri would be lost, so they made a desperate move and planned to disrupt our army's supply and delay the pace of our attack."
Morkov nodded slightly:
“In other words, Mozyr’s defensive strength will now be very weak.
"The town of Marice must be captured at all costs today, and the attack on Mozyr will begin tomorrow."
A major general standing beside him thought:
"General, the Poles have been hiding behind the defense line, which has made our army's progress very slow.
"Now that they have escaped on their own, we can take advantage of this opportunity to eliminate the more than 10,000 enemy troops in Kiev. This is much easier than killing them behind the defense line."
After hearing this, Morkov also hesitated.
General Suvorov's order to him was to quickly seize the area on the west bank of the Dnieper River and form a pincer offensive against Warsaw with the Lithuanian Front.
Now that his advance has been much slower than expected, it is rare for the Polish army stationed in Mozyr to leave. The top priority should be to seize the opportunity to capture this place.
He looked at the major general: "General Smirnov, you lead the Ukrainian Army, plus 6 Cossack cavalry squadrons, and cooperate with Colonel Chaperov to hold back the Polish army harassing Kiev."
"Yes, General!"
Chaperov is the commander-in-chief of the Kiev garrison. At present, there are nearly 4,000 Russian troops in Kiev. Together with Smirnov's troops, the total strength reaches 15,000, which is enough to entangle the Polish troops deep in Kiev.
Morkov looked at the staff officer again: "Purdarev, fire all the artillery into the town of Marice, I don't want to go on like this anymore!"
"Yes, General!"
"After we capture Mozyr, we will go to Kiev to deal with that little mouse."
…
Prussia.
Potsdam.
Prince Heinrich walked quickly into the music hall of Sanssouci Palace with an unconcealable smile on his face.
He found the figure of William II on the high platform next to the band, hurriedly stepped forward to salute, and then whispered:
"Your Majesty, Russia has sent troops."
The latter immediately showed joy, signaled Prince Heinrich to come to the room next to the hall, and asked impatiently:
"How's the battle going?"
The latter took out a report and handed it to him:
"Your Majesty, Russia's 120,000-strong army launched an attack from Mozyr and Braslav at the same time.
"The good news is that currently almost all of Poland's forces are concentrated on the eastern front, and even Warsaw has less than 3,000 soldiers left."
This was the result after Joseph continued to "force" Poland to divest Prussia's military influence. Historically, there were a large number of Prussian officers in the Polish army, and information such as military mobilization was simply transparent to Prussia.
Even now, the Prussians in Poland will continue to send news back to Potsdam, but they are unable to access the core information.
William II clenched his fists excitedly and said: "Great, then when do you think it is appropriate for us to send troops? Now?"
"Ah, maybe we can wait and see, Your Majesty." Prince Heinrich said, "After the Russian army consumes more Polish soldiers, we can achieve the goal with fewer troops. This can save us money A lot of military spending.”
Prussia's economic situation was originally the worst among the great powers. After the depletion of the Silesian War with Austria, its finances were already very difficult. If it were not for the 300,000 pounds provided by the United Kingdom, it would have been very difficult to maintain the finances from collapse, let alone go to war.
Originally, William II planned to invade Poland with 40,000 to 50,000 troops, but now it seems that under Russia's powerful offensive, Prussia's 30,000 troops are probably enough.
William II nodded: "Then you can mobilize the army to the border according to the appropriate scale. This time we must obtain the entire Greater Poland area, and, most importantly, Gdansk."
Wielkopolska refers to the provinces in the westernmost part of Poland, from Sieraz to Poznań. It is a very rich area of Poland.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Prince Heinrich bowed slightly, thought of something again, and hesitated: "There is one more thing, Your Majesty."
"Speak, dear uncle."
"Catholics in provinces such as Kulm and Nakwo have shown a tendency to sympathize with Poland. You know, whether we send troops to Poznan or attack Gdansk, we must start from these places."
Although the state religion of Prussia is Protestantism, the three provinces of Kulm, Inowroclaw and Naklo in the east are Catholic territories - they were just snatched from Poland during the "Imperialist War" and the religion has not yet been reversed.
The so-called "sympathy for Poland" is naturally also the credit of Mesmer.
Although he did not directly enter the three provinces of Prussia to preach the Crusades, he gave many speeches calling for holy wars in the neighboring Poznan. The news easily spread to the three provinces where many residents speak Polish.
William II frowned and said to Prince Heinrich: "Let the secret police get rid of the instigators. I don't want to hear that the dispatch of troops will be affected by this."
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will definitely handle it properly."
...
Austria.
Vienna.
In Schönbrunn Palace, Franz II waved his hand impatiently at Count Rheinfels:
"I don't want to see him, please find a way to get rid of that guy."
The "guy" the Holy Roman Emperor was referring to was Count Szczesny Potocki, the Polish Foreign Minister. He came to ask Austria to send troops to help Poland resist the Russian invasion.
According to Austria's consistent policy, it is to protect the territorial integrity of Poland.
But this time Franz II planned to sit at the table and participate in this feast.
He looked at the Minister of State next to him:
"Baron Thugut, how is the troop mobilization going?"
The latter immediately said:
"Your Majesty, 8 Royal German Infantry Regiments, as well as the Krems Corps and the Royal Vienna Cavalry Regiment, a total of 24,000 soldiers have arrived in Nowy Szczech..."
