Chapter 247 Disaster Comes

The Battle of Constantinople has reached the present, and there are not many corpses in the corners of the city. Before they can be dealt with, they start to rot.

Both sides of the war just cleaned up the corpses in front of them, but in the corners of the city, they couldn't take care of it in the residential houses.

The hot summer comes, and in Constantinople in August, the whole city is filled with a rancid smell, and the atmosphere is depressing and terrible.

The artillery fire is still roaring, leaving only the remains of a broken wall, telling the past years. The Russians have paid too much to conquer the city.

Menshkov had long since ignored the reports of casualties sent every day. Thousands of casualties have to be paid every day, and he has been numb for several months.

The name "Constantinople Meat Grinder" has spread all over the world, and wherever there are Europeans, the cruelty of this war is spreading.

If you count the numbers, you will find that the losses of the Russian army here have exceeded the sum of the two Bulgarian battles, but the Russians are still fearless.

Just because the outer defense lines of Constantinople were all broken, it can be said that they were bombed, and after spending tens of thousands of tons of ammunition, these fortifications were turned into ruins.

The street battle has already begun, and now the two sides have entered a stage of pure life-threatening. The exchange ratio between the two sides has gradually dropped from five to one at the beginning to four to one, three to one... Now it is 1.3:1.

A middle-aged officer said in a deep voice: "Your Excellency Commander, our cannon fodder troops have been completely lost, and the Bulgarian guerrillas that have been incorporated have also suffered heavy losses.

At present, there are not many young men on the Balkans, and it may be difficult to replenish the troops now. "

Of course, there is not much left. The war has been going on so far, and the local people have suffered the most.

The Ottomans arrested the strong men to fight, the Russians also seized the strong men to fight, but Britain and France did not arrest the strong men, but the Ottomans helped them catch them.

The Balkan Peninsula has a total population of more than 10 million. How many young people are there? How could it be able to withstand such a toss?

Before the attack on Constantinople, most of the Russians did hard labor to capture the strong men, and the tactics of expelling the people to attack the city were rarely used by the Russians.

After arriving in the city, the situation changed, and the tragic casualties forced the Russians to use a lot of cannon fodder.

Menshkov replied in a gloomy voice: "I know, how many counts as much, if the cannon fodder is dead, we will be on our own.

The enemy is about to hold on, as long as the last city is conquered, we will win the war!

Order the Military Law Department to strictly enforce the military law, kill those who fail to face the battle, kill those who retreat lightly, and kill those who disturb the heart of the army! "

There is no way, this war is not only related to the fate of Russia, but also related to the fate of Menshkov himself.

If he can't conquer Constantinople, he'd better die on the battlefield, otherwise many people will want to tear him alive.

From a purely military point of view, Menshkov is a fool, completely fighting a dull battle, without caring about the casualties of the army.

In order to keep this war going, the Russian army relied on strict military law. In order to establish Vimenshkov, he did a big thing and executed aristocratic officers who violated the military law on the spot!

The number of noble officers who died in his hands was no longer one or two, and there were dozens of people together.

After conquering Constantinople, everything is good to say, he is the national hero of Russia, these executed nobles are synonymous with cowards, and the families behind them are despised.

It would have been different if Constantinople had not been conquered. In history, Nicholas I could not bear the consequences of the failure of the Crimean War, let alone Menshkov.

Menshkov didn't live enough, he didn't want to die so infamous, so now he was desperate. It doesn't matter who the person is or what background they have, as long as they dare to violate the military law, that is - kill.

"Yes, Commander!" the middle-aged officer replied solemnly

Not only Menshkov, but the top officers of the expeditionary force were all tied together. The battle of Constantinople was extraordinary, and if they lost here, they didn't want to have a good time.

...

On the Crimean Peninsula, before the Anglo-French coalition, which had the upper hand, had time to celebrate, a thunderbolt struck. In July 1854, a cholera occurred in the French army camp.

The hot weather and the unsanitary environment did not wait for the coalition to react, and the plague broke out at once, spreading from the French army camp to the British army camp.

Flies and mosquitoes on the Crimean peninsula became the best assistants for the spread of the virus, and a large number of coalition soldiers began to vomit and diarrhoea, and then died in their tents.

The public places of the coalition forces have always been filthy, and the sanitation system is useless. The number of patients rose sharply, and the plague temporarily reached the point of being out of control.

By early August, 500 British soldiers had died in the Varna region. The death toll of the French army has risen to more than 60 deaths per day.

This is just the beginning. This sudden plague was not discovered at first. With the flow of people, the plague also spread to other areas.

Constantinople

In the open space not far from the pier, more than ten French soldiers were resting when suddenly a soldier began to vomit, which attracted everyone's attention.

A young man asked with concern: "Alphonse, what's wrong with you?"

The man who vomited weakly replied: "I don't know, I just suddenly felt a little nauseous and wanted to spit it out."

A man looking like an officer

Zi said: "It may be a cold. You should pay attention to yourself. If it doesn't work tomorrow, then you can go to the military doctor to see."

Obviously, he just thought that Alphonse had caught a cold. People usually rely on their bodies to resist such minor problems, and only go to the military doctor if they are serious.

Although the French army is better than the British in logistics, medical resources are also very scarce. Unless they are middle and upper-level officers, it is also difficult for ordinary soldiers to obtain effective treatment.

At this time, another person said: "No way, I'm going to make it easier."

After speaking, without looking back, he ran not far away to solve it.

Such a small episode obviously won't attract everyone's attention. They were reinforcements who had just arrived a few days ago and are now adjusting to the climate of Constantinople.

Everyone has seen a lot of adverse reactions due to acclimatization. Usually it will be fine as long as they stay for a while.

However, most were reluctant to be repatriated, even though the casualty rate on the battlefield of Constantinople remained high.

Because the body is unable to adapt to the climate, it has caused adverse reactions, usually unable to return safely, and most of them will die on the road.

The sea in this era is not easy to mess with, and the environment on the ship is quite bad. In the case of lack of medical care and medicine, once he falls ill, he will step into the gate of hell.

Looking at the increasing number of sick people, the French army commander Aimable Jean-Jacques Perlisier finally found out that something was wrong, but unfortunately it was too late.

Too many people died in Constantinople. In order to defend this fortress city, more than 100,000 French soldiers fell. The Russians will only die more, and the civilian casualties in the city cannot be counted.

Because of the war, the French army had no way to clean up the corpses in the city. In fact, many corpses were buried by collapsed buildings, and it was impossible to clean them up.

This has created a superior living environment for the mice and flies. This summer, the number of mice and flies in Constantinople broke the record high, as if they were the masters of the city.

Pelissier named the guard: "Please ask Dr. Ambroise to come and give him these materials."

Despite his suspicions, Pelissier was not sure there was a plague outbreak. Until this time, the news of the outbreak of the plague in the Crimean Peninsula had not been communicated to him.

Busy all day defending Constantinople, Pelissier didn't have the energy to pay attention to the gossip. Of course, if he wanted to pay attention to him, he might not be able to pay attention.

Since the beginning of the Crimean Peninsula, the coalition forces have been plagued by illnesses. This is no longer news. After a long time, everyone is used to it.

Moreover, the coalition forces on the Crimean Peninsula determined that the outbreak of the plague was only a few days earlier than Pelissier, and the virus had entered the city before that.

Because of the war, a large number of people die here every day. After a long time, people's spirits become numb to death. What does it mean to die from illness?

...

Ambroise said solemnly: "Your Excellency Commander, I just went to the hospital to have a look. Based on this data, we can preliminarily judge that the plague is coming!"

Pelissier's face sank, and the worst had happened. Constantinople is connected to the sea, and whether reinforcements or supplies can be sent continuously, as long as he is willing to suffer casualties, he is confident to stick to it.

There is only one exception, and that is the plague. Humans are vulnerable in the face of disease. Pelissier can defeat the Russians, but is helpless in the face of disease.

"Can you control it?" Perlisier asked with concern

It's just control, he doesn't look forward to treatment anymore. In this era, if you are infected with the plague, you can only resign yourself to fate, and there is no special medicine.

Ambroise thought for a while and said, "Sorry, Your Excellency Commander, I can't answer you this question.

It depends on the spread of the plague, and how many people have been infected with the virus now, and then the final conclusion can be drawn.

But now is the war period, the army is mobilized too frequently, our doctors are seriously insufficient, it is impossible to disperse to the army for diagnosis and treatment, and it is impossible to determine which is the common cold and which is the plague.

In fact, from the symptoms, these symptoms may also occur in the common cold. If the mortality rate is not too high, I suspect that this is just a highly contagious influenza. "

The reason why the plague is terrible is the speed of transmission and the high mortality rate.

Pelissier continued to ask: "Can the attributes of this plague be determined?"

Plague is also classified, and different classifications have different final lethality.

Ambroise shook his head and said: "At present, we have too little information to determine the source of the plague and the route of transmission, and we cannot rule out the possibility of plague.

From a professional point of view, I personally think that Constantinople is not suitable for continuing to stay.

Too many people died in the city, and many times we could smell the smell of carrion in the stinky ditch. War was the source of the plague. "

Pelissier smiled bitterly and said, "Okay, Dr. Ambroise, I have given you the task of investigating the plague and preventing it.

As for the question of whether or not Constantinople is suitable for living, I cannot answer you, it is not only a military issue, but also political. "

Constantinople is not suitable for staying any longer. Pelissier also knows this truth. The plague has broken out, and it is definitely not suitable to continue to stay.

But the consequences of giving up Constantinople are too serious, at least he, the expeditionary commander

Lingguan couldn't help it, he didn't even have a say in this issue.

Ambroise replied: "Well then, Your Excellency Commander. I can only say that I do my best, and the final result cannot be guaranteed!"