A large number of warships docked in the harbor, and the harbor was crowded with people.

Uncle Tzimiszia took us off the boat.

"Glory to Rome!"

"In the service of Rome!"

The regiment commanders of the Imperial Kiev Front Army and their generals, who had been waiting for a long time, were very enthusiastic. The local governor quickly asked his attendants to carry the luggage, and then reported the preparations to Uncle Tsimischia.

We rode together towards the city hall.

Uncle Tzimiszia immediately asked about the Russians' developments in the city hall.

To the northeast, there was not much movement among the Russians in Kharkov. Not only was there no movement, even the Cossacks who often came to rob were nowhere to be seen. The Russians in Kiev led their troops to kill the Russian Ambassador on the first day after his return.

To the south, their commander is Lukic, an unknown person, and they are still looting in a straight line. The nobles and big landowners there have been clamoring for the empire to send troops to protect them for three days.

It was more than twenty days before the Russians left Constantinople. On October 17, the empire had already gathered the Second Byzantine Army, the Third Spartan Army, and the Eighth Mograine near Odessa.

Legion, these three legions have a total of 21,300 troops, the Fifth Rehnshian Legion and the Tenth Spartan Legion, are still on their way. One is expected to arrive in Odessa within eleven days, and the other is expected to

They will arrive in Odessa within thirteen days. If they are combined, the Imperial Kiev Front Army will have five legions, totaling 32,500 soldiers.

According to the order, Uncle Tzimiszia could not wait for them. He held a military meeting that day and told everyone the old Duke Bringas' strategy to attack Kiev!

As far as we know, Russia has deployed more than 30,000 troops in Minsk to defend against Swedish attacks at any time. However, considering that the Russians are thinking of going south again, the Russian troops stationed in Minsk will be more, at least more than us.

The Kiev Front Army Group was a transportation hub for attacking Sweden from the north, invading the Empire from the south, and moving left into the German plains.

Uncle Tzimiszia carried the map with him and unfolded it, analyzing the strategy of this group army to the generals of the three legions.

Kiev and Kharkiv, these two cities are not only the forward base for the Russians to attack the south, but also the bridgehead for attacking the heart of the Russian territory. However, Kiev, a city that straddles the middle reaches of the Dnieper River, is more powerful than the city that is separated by the Dnieper River.

Kharkiv is more threatening to the southern territory. Therefore, if you want to ensure the security of the southern provinces, Kiev will bear the brunt. If the Russians continue to control this city, the empire will be very passive.

Dozens of people discussed the key points of this battle, and then everyone disagreed on the way forward. Should they choose to take the land route and march in a straight line to Kiev, or should they choose to march to Kiev along the Dnieper River?

The advantage of taking the land route is that it takes less time. The straight line between two points is the shortest. From Odessa to Kiev, a distance of 500 kilometers. According to the accelerated marching speed, it only takes 24 days. If we force the march, it can be increased to 18 days.

The disadvantages are also obvious. The distance from Odessa to Kiev is so long that logistical supplies are very difficult! The generals of the Second Byzantine Army and the Third Spartan Army who had fought in Damascus all believed that it was best to go north along the nearby river.

good.

"How many carriages do we have in total?" Uncle Tzimiszia suddenly asked this question during the discussion.

The four-wheeled carriage is something that my predecessor modeled on the vehicle formations of the peasant uprising army in the Hussite War. The front axle of this four-wheeled carriage is made with double shaft rods, and is connected to the chassis through a rotating pivot, which is very convenient.

Turning. When the enemy attacks, the vehicles can form a square or circular formation to cover the infantry. In the first hundred years or so, it was the empire's weapon against the Mongols and Western Europe's pigs. It was also the successor to the classical Roman legion and the Byzantine cavalry legion.

A century-old military system.

But now, due to the popularity of artillery, the empire's former great weapon has become the main logistics force of the Imperial Regiment.

The commanders of the three legions reported to their quartermasters the carriages in their legions. The Eighth Mograine Legion coming out of the northern border had the most carriages, 415 heavy four-wheeled carriages, 110 light carriages, and others.

Both legions have only 300 heavy carriages. The three legions have a total of 1,071 heavy four-wheeled carriages and 333 light carriages for supply.

Each heavy-duty carriage can carry 1.5 tons of supplies, and the load-carrying capacity of light carriages is even worse. The total carrying capacity is just over 1,900 tons. After deducting tents, sundries, ammunition, gunpowder and artillery shells, it can be used to carry food and feed, but it is only 1,600 tons.

Around 800 tons, that is to say, except for the accompanying ammunition and gunpowder, which can transport grain, the feed carriage is missing part of it, and half of the grain and grass is carried with the army. Only half of the carriage that travels between the front line and the supply base is left, that is, about 800 tons.

.

According to the conversion given by the empire's logistics system, if our army has 20,000 people, it will require 30,000 daily loaves of bread. The current baking ratio is 3:4, so producing 1 pound of bread requires 12 ounces of flour, 1

Pounds = 16 ounces. Assuming that the bread for each day is 2 pounds, the total amount of flour required during 10 days is 30,000x2x10x34=450,200 tons.

Kiev is about 500 kilometers away from Odessa. According to the daily marching speed of 25 kilometers in the empire and 15 kilometers in the enemy's territory, 20,000 people would have to travel for four weeks. This kind of army carrying capacity is not enough for field battles, let alone

How many people need to be sent to protect that long logistics supply line? By the way, that’s not counting the losses on the road. What’s more, what Vasily and several other famous Russian generals are best at is cutting off food routes and forcing the enemy back.

.

Then walk along the river?

The generals of the Second Byzantine Army and the Third Spartan Army had another disagreement here. The generals of the Second Byzantine Army suggested taking the Dnieper River. The Dnieper River will not freeze before December, and the river channel is wide and the narrowest.

The area is also 100 meters long. Although the water level is very low in autumn and winter, it can still accommodate ships entering and exiting. Take the single-deck rowing boats they used to go in and out of the river as an example. A single-deck rowing boat is only thirty meters long and only three meters wide.

meters, with a load capacity of 250 tons. The load capacity of ten rowing boats can be comparable to a thousand carriages. Twenty rowing boats, 5,000 tons, is enough for the Kiev Army Group to fight for two hundred and fifty days. With so much supplies,

The advantage is that within a year and a half, we don't need to think about supply lines! Of course, Odessa does not have that many resources, but twenty rowing boats can carry soldiers up the river.

Then build a fortress below Kiev. Even if Kiev cannot be captured, there will still be a large amount of supplies and strong fortresses to contain the Russians stationed in the direction of Minsk.

The generals of the Third Spartan Army believe that walking along the Dnieper River is obviously not in line with our Kiev Army Group's strategy of quickly attacking Kiev. Because the distance from the Dnieper River outlet to Kiev is almost half of the distance. From the map

According to the distance measured above, the total is more than 780 kilometers. It is more than 280 kilometers longer than walking in a straight line from Odessa. In addition, the carriages of several legions have been stuffed with supplies and are ready to set off at any time.

, but it is time-consuming to move these supplies from carriages to ships, and to fill the rowing boats accompanying the expedition, supplies must be mobilized from other places. It will take at least twenty days to complete this.

At this time, coming out at this time will completely violate our strategic instructions, and it is easy to take a boat without the ability to fight back during the raid.

They think that we can transport supplies from the South Bug River. Even though the South Bug River is not as wide as the Dnieper River, the widest is only a hundred meters. They cannot put in a large number of transport ships at once. Five ships is the limit. Before November, another

It will be frozen, but because it is within the Polish cities that have surrendered to the empire, it is an internal transportation and is relatively safe. The army can set up a supply point on the left bank of the South Bug River below Kiev. Through continuous transportation of ships, and then use horse-drawn carriages to

The army besieging Kiev imported food. However, in this way, we also exposed the transportation line. It is more than 100 kilometers from the supply base to Kiev. Although there are many hills around, it cannot stop the Russians. This gives the Russians the opportunity to cut us off.

The transportation lines force us to run out of food and then retreat. Moreover, setting up supply points will inevitably require repairing the defenses of the supply points, which will take a lot of time and divert a lot of troops.

Also, as a military port, Odessa does not have rowing boats for inland rivers, and it is not close to the South Bug River. We can only load the grain on large ships and transport it to the mouth of the South Bug River.

But in any case, the two army commanders rushed from the garrison area to Poland, a place they were unfamiliar with. After hearing the strategic instructions, they immediately followed the map and explained it succinctly. They had done their homework to some extent and were dedicated soldiers.

"We came all the way here from all over to help them fight the Russians, and they still want us to find food for ourselves? Don't waste time, I've been bored for seven years, let's eat all the way! Beat up Russia

What a meal! Hahaha, I really miss the days when I used to go out and beat people up when I had nothing to do in Aleppo!"

The commander of the 8th Mograine Legion, this is a typical Spartan, a foodie Spartan. It was he who provoked everyone's debate at the beginning of the meeting and suggested taking the land route.

Uncle Zhimiszia narrowed his eyes and turned coldly to the commander of the Eighth Mograine Legion: "A group of nobles who can't even protect their own country, do you expect them to protect people from other countries?

We cannot leave our lives to the Poles."

"General, I have something to say!" Valens, who was standing behind me consciously, came out. As a young boy, dozens of uncles looked at him with bright eyes, "We can let one person stay and let

The governor cooperated, and he was responsible for scheduling the food transportation in Odessa, and established a stronghold by expropriation on the left bank of the South Bug River. This stronghold did not need to be too close to Kiev, but it had to be in the local city, and then passed through this stronghold

, we will use a few more cities as transit, use the peripheral Polish cities as protection, and extend to Kiev. Considering that we cannot eat all the food originally carried by the carriage on the road, I think we can send a group of cavalry first to let

The towns along the road prepared food in advance. We bought carriages and food from the Poles as we walked. Then we loaded the extra carriages with local food. In this way, the originally tight carriages not only did not lose, but increased. And the people who came from behind were on the road.

The two legions can arrive at our established supply point by boat and then set off to join the main force."

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I've obviously uploaded it, but I haven't shown the starting point. It's really a tragedy...
Chapter completed!