Chapter 585 Two Emperors

January 8, 916, Eagle's Nest, heart of the Prosin Empire, 0830 hours local time.

The emperor sat in his seat with a sullen face and listened to the Celtic marshal's report on the situation.

Marshal Celt: "Currently Rokossov not only has not attacked the Tenth Army on the west bank of the Suhayaveli River, but has even canceled its usual reconnaissance flights and conventional bombing.

"The Eleventh Army in the direction of Borsk has already had multiple units in contact with the well-equipped and experienced Ant troops. All of these units are equipped with sufficient artillery firepower, and heavy artillery of more than 150 mm is assigned to almost every regiment. "

The emperor interrupted Marshal Celtic: "It's impossible. If all the artillery in the entire Ant is concentrated, it's impossible to assign 150-mm heavy artillery to each regiment! They don't have 150-mm heavy infantry guns like ours."

Marshal Celtic: "Of course, this may be an exaggeration of the military situation by the troops under fierce attack. This situation is very common, even for experienced commanders."

"Or simply deliberately exaggerating the military situation in order to gain the attention of higher-level headquarters." The emperor said coldly.

Celtic Marshal: "Uh, this..."

Marshal Brian immediately came out to smooth things over: "Most commanders don't think so much in emergencies, and our military academy will teach officers at each level to identify exaggerations by their subordinates."

The emperor sneered: "Yes, I have learned it too. Continue to report, Chief of General Staff."

Marshal Celtic cleared his throat and continued: "The Eleventh Army has interrogated some wounded and captured prisoners, and the numbers of at least four armies have been confirmed so far."

Emperor: "Ante's group army is relatively small. The four group armies only have between 100,000 and 200,000 people."

Marshal Celtic: "But we have confirmed six of these armies with Guards numbers, and there may be more. These are all Ant veterans, and their weapons and equipment are much better than ordinary conscripts."

The emperor raised his head and stared at Marshal Celtic: "You said all this just to tell me that Borsk is Rokosov's main attack direction?"

Marshal Celtic glanced at Marshal Brian.

The old commander sighed: "Yes, but we don't mean to blame His Majesty. After all, we were also fooled by Rokosov. His cunning was beyond our expectations."

Emperor: "So we missed the first 24 hours after he started his offensive?"

"Yes." Marshal Celtic replied, "But the situation is not that bad. General Styria and General Shiplin have taken measures, so currently we still control the surrounding areas of Borsk. It's just that there is intelligence claiming that in Ant's cavalry was seen northeast of Borsk."

Marshal Brian responded: "Rokossov broke the cavalry into pieces and asked them to advance deeper into us and disrupt our command system. However, such a small group of cavalry has no ability to attack cities and seize territory, so it is not a big problem."

Emperor: "His cavalry has already reached the northeast of Borsk. Tell me, it's not a big problem. Is there any way we can get rid of these cavalry?"

The marshals looked at each other in confusion, and finally put the pressure on General Mao Qi, the director of armored forces who had always been trusted by the emperor.

General Moltke: "We don't have a good way to deal with these cavalry. We discovered this problem in the winter last year. The Imperial Academy of Military Sciences was ordered to solve this problem, but it has not yet come up with a solution.

"As an alternative, we decided to re-establish the cavalry force. However, our cavalry forces have all become armored reconnaissance battalions, and the officers have all become commanders of motorized units or commanders of armored units. So far we have established Three new cavalry regiments.”

The emperor asked: "Why is the formation of cavalry regiments so slow?"

"Because all the army horses were sent to the front line as pack horses." Marshal Celtic replied, "We put 800,000 army horses into the front line. If it weren't for these army horses, we would not be able to support the Sixth Army to reach the city of Abavahan. "

Emperor: "Eight hundred thousand! Have you never thought of leaving even 10,000 horses to reorganize the cavalry force?"

"No, because we can't find that many young people who can ride a horse anymore. Since trucks became popular, there are very few young people in the countryside who can ride a horse."

The emperor couldn't help but raise his forehead: "Damn it, now you actually tell me that even the cavalry can't deal with it? When attacking Melania, the joke about Melania's cavalry using sabers to chop tanks was the most popular joke after the war started! "

Giles couldn't help but said: "This has something to do with Ant's terrain. Although Melania has plains, the roads are dense and villages and towns are dotted. The most important thing is that the overall battle line is very short and the cavalry cannot use it.

"The distance between villages on the Nanant grassland is often thirty kilometers, and there is too much room for the cavalry to play."

The emperor looked frustrated: "So you are telling me that Rokosov's use of cavalry was a clever move based on local conditions?"

Celtic Marshal: "Yes, so far it seems so."

"Okay, let's not talk about these useless things. The question now is, how do we face this situation. Can the 11th Army hold Borsk?"

Marshal Brian: "They reported yesterday that they only had 60% of their strength. In addition, the armored corps of the group army has a serious shortage of tanks. Most of the tanks are under long-term repair, and some of them have been returned to the factory.

"General Styria also strengthened the last two armored divisions in his hands to the 11th Army, but these two armored divisions combined only have 100 tanks in combat readiness."

Emperor: "Well, it sounds like the situation is much better than when the Sixth Army was surrounded. At least there are no armored divisions and only seven tanks left for combat readiness."

After saying that, the emperor stood up: "I will not make the same mistake twice. Since defending Bolsk is full of uncertainties now, let's be more conservative. Army Group B has been defeated. We cannot afford another army group." The group lost.

"The headquarters took action and formulated a plan to deploy both land and water fronts at the same time to withdraw Army Group A."

The Celtic marshal seemed to be unable to believe his ears: "Did you say retreat? Your Majesty?"

"Yes, retreat! Or do you think I am a person who will not learn lessons? No, I can get to this point only by constantly learning lessons.

"Withdraw Army Group A. Hold Bolsk as long as you can. If you can't hold it, retreat to our starting line last summer. There are complete logistical support and ready-made solid fortifications there."

Marshal Celtic immediately turned around and issued orders to the staff, and the entire war room suddenly became busy.

The emperor sat there, let out a long sigh, and then gritted his teeth and read out the name: "Rokosov!"

————

In the days after Christmas in 916, the first thing Olga did when she woke up every day was to run to the headquarters to see the updated battle map.

On the morning of January 9, because she was too impatient, she even escaped being chased by the maid, but ended up being scolded by the lady of state for almost half an hour.

"You are His Majesty the Tsar. How can you appear in front of the staff without makeup? For the staff and officers who work hard all night, you must stay beautiful and smile at them!"

The lady of state said so.

So on the morning of the 10th, Olga dressed up beautifully and hurried to the war room to look at the map.

As a result, because she took the time to dress up, the staff officers on the night shift got off work, and the war room was full of staff officers who had just gone to work.

General Turgenev was also in the war room. When he saw Olga, he sighed: "Your Majesty, it is good to pay attention to the situation on the front line, but you coming to the war room so frequently affects our work efficiency too much."

Olga: "Why? I have already smiled at everyone, shouldn't everyone be full of energy?"

"No, on the contrary, everyone here has become reserved in order not to lose their etiquette. Please go to the office and wait to see the daily summary of the battle. In addition, you should have a lot of documents to review."

Olga pouted, glanced at the map, and confirmed that the area controlled by the Abavahan Front led by Rokossov had become larger today. Then she turned around with satisfaction: "Okay, okay, I'm the one who handles the documents." It’s my job. Hey, most of the documents have the annotations of the church and even Belinsky, I’m just a stamped vase.”

Everyone who heard this looked serious and tried their best to pretend not to hear.

General Turgenev: "Your Majesty, what you say will make people misunderstand that the relationship between the church, the royal family and even the military is not good. Don't say such things in the future. We have been able to resist until now, in addition to relying on the assistance of the United States. , also relies heavily on the strong mobilization and organizational capabilities of the church.

"If it were the old Ant, now the soldiers have mutinied and are taking the train to fight back to the capital, ready to do something big."

Olga: "Ah, I know, you mentioned this in the history of the Civil War!"

"Studying history allows us to see into the future, Your Majesty." Turgenev said.

At this moment, the confidential secretary came in with a telegram: "Telegram from the Abavahan Front."

Turgenev glanced at Olga, sighed, and said to the confidential secretary: "Just read it directly. Your Majesty also wants to hear it."

The secretary took out the telegram from the folder and began to read: "Our troops captured some of the peripheral positions of Bolsk this morning. Our cavalry has circled to the rear of Bolsk and laid mines on the main roads. It is expected that within two days our troops will The siege of Borsk will be completed - General Rokossov, commander of the Abavahan Front."

Olga: "Okay! Great! Write a commendation telegram in my name!"

"No!" Turgenev shouted, "Now is not the time, at least wait until Bolsk is captured. By then the whole country can be electrified, and the important town of Bolsk will be recovered half a year after its fall. But now, you can't do anything. !”

Olga: "Okay."

Turgenev: "Go and deal with the documents, Your Majesty! This work is also very important!"

"Okay." Olga left angrily.