Chapter 362： “Christmas in Constantinople”

The attendant attaché carrying the order of Nicholas I set off from the Imperial Village on the evening of the 23rd without disturbing others. After two days and one night of long-distance raids, they finally arrived at Bessarabia on the Russian border in the early morning of the 26th. The border town of Chisneov (renamed Chisinau in the Republic of Moldavia in 1991) is the capital of the future Republic of Moldavia.

On May 28, 1812, after the Russian Empire achieved another victory over the Ottoman Empire, it forced the Ottoman Empire to sign the "Peace of Bucharest", which included the territory between the Prut and Transnistria into the Russian territory. Bessarabia was also under the jurisdiction of the Holy King Alexander I as a province, in order to meet the "urgent" needs of the local people for religion, but also to add control over the area. The Emperor of the Russian Empire specially allocated funds to Bessarabia to build the Orthodox Church in the Kishnev area, and sent bishops to preach, and also stationed the army.

The few garlic-headed buildings originally built in the Kishneov area have also not been demolished, but now few believers in peace religion are willing to stay in an Orthodox country.

After more than 40 years of running in the Russian Empire and the presence of troops, the rebellion in Bisarabia is smaller than that in Crimea.

The fourth and fifth corps were scattered over the vast expanse of land centered on the Kishneov region, and the headquarters of the corps stationed here was set up in the city of Kishnev.

General Gorchakov, commander of the 4th and 5th regiments, and his wife were praying in a bishop's church in the Kishneov region on the day the attache came.

In this rare leisure time (the other time Gorchakov has been reselling army supplies), his wife ran all the way from Moscow to see him from St. Petersburg, and Gorchakov was naturally courteous.

In order to satisfy his devout Orthodox wife, General Gorchakov specially told the news to the local church one day and donated 50,000 rubles to the local church for worship funds.

After receiving the rubles from General Gorchakov, the "Emperor" of Bessarabia, the local church naturally became more dedicated.

The bishop of the church personally appeared in the church to preside over the work of General Gorchakov's wife.

In the middle of the service, an adjutant in a black single-breasted military uniform hurried in.

The sudden movement interrupted the bishop and his wife during the service, and also made Gorchakov's face show a displeased look.

Fortunately, the bishop was an understanding priest. The adjutant's expression told him that something must have happened in the bishop's army. He calmly nodded to General Gorchakov and his wife.

"What happened?" Gorchakov still had a displeased expression on his face.

If his lieutenant can't give a reasonable explanation, Gorchakov will definitely let him go.

The adjutant came to Gorchakov, leaned into Gorchakov's ear and whispered: "General! There is a guy who claims to be the special envoy of His Majesty the Tsar is at the headquarters! He said that he wanted to see something important. You! We don't know the situation, so we take the liberty to disturb you!"

"The Tsar's special envoy?" Gorchakov's face showed a touch of surprise. He didn't understand why His Majesty the Tsar sent a special envoy?

Generally speaking, if His Majesty wants to convey an order to him, he only needs to notify the Ministry of War, and then the Ministry of War will issue an order to Gorchakov, and specially send a special envoy to convey the order to himself. Some are too cumbersome.

"Go! Take me to see!" Gorchakov responded to the adjutant.

Then he turned his head to the bishop with an apologetic expression and said, "I'm really sorry! There are emergencies in the barracks waiting for me to deal with it!"

"Nothing!" The bishop expressed understanding for Gorchakov's behavior.

Afterwards, Gorchakov left his wife in the church to continue worship, and he returned to the military camp to see what the so-called special envoy was.

Gorchakov, who had left the church, ordered the surrounding soldiers to bring the red-brown Mongolian horse he had placed in the manger in the church's backyard.

The soldiers moved quickly, and Gorchakov's horse was quickly led in front of him.

Looking at the burly Mongolian horse in front of him, Gorchakov gently stroked its horse's face. The Mongolian horse gave Gorchakov two kisses as if it were human.

Gorchakov put one foot on the stirrup, grasped the arched ring on the saddle with both hands, and rolled over with a vigorous kick.

Gorchakov, with his feet on the stirrups, clenched the reins with both hands and kicked the horse lightly.

The Mongolian horse who received the signal raised his head and shouted, and ran towards the barracks with a "whoosh".

Several cavalrymen responsible for escorting Gorchakov back to the barracks could only follow Gorchakov to eat ashes.

After running for nearly 5 minutes, Gorchakov finally came to the edge of the city from the center of the city.

Not far from the edge of the city, there are camps, where is the location of a regiment under the Fourth Corps, which is also the headquarters of the Fourth and Fifth Corps.

Since it's December, Bessarabia is still cold, although it hasn't snowed. The gust of cold wind blowing on Gorchakov's face made Gorchakov extraordinarily awake, and he carefully thought about Nicholas I's intentions on the horse.

Gorchakov speculates that it is very likely that because Karl Nescher Roddy and others are no longer trusted by Emperor Nicholas I, Nicholas I will bypass them and give himself orders in person.

Thinking of this, Gorchakov's mind was constantly active.

If Karl Necherroddie lost his new position as the emperor, his position as foreign minister would certainly not last long, and his brother would not be able to take the position.

That's right, Gorchakov's brother is Alexander Mikhalovich Gorchakov, the future foreign minister of the Russian Empire.

He was excluded from the core circle of power in St. Petersburg due to being harassed by Karl Nescher Roddy. He is now serving as the special envoy of the Russian Empire to Austria in the Austrian Empire.

Once Mikhalovich became the foreign minister of the Empire, Gorchakov would have access to more political resources.

General Gorchakov, who was full of anxiety and excitement, came to the gate of the headquarters, handed over the Mongolian horse to the soldiers guarding the gate, and explained it.

Gorchakov entered the headquarters, where Gorchakov saw a young squire attache.

The attendant military attache also saw Gorchakov, and he quickly stood up with a smile on his face and said to Gorchakov: "General!"

"It's really hard for the messenger to come all the way!" Gorchakov showed a kind smile on his face, he came to the attendant and invited the attendant to sit down and asked: "I don't know how the messenger can prove that you are assigned by His Majesty the Tsar. Messenger! If not, then..."

Gorchakov paused for a while, his face changed from kind to serious, and his voice could not help revealing a murderous feeling: "That means you are a fake messenger!"

In the face of Gorchakov's questioning, the attendant attache did not intend to panic, and nodded slightly at Gorchakov.

This kind of calm temperament is definitely not something that an impostor can cultivate, and half of the doubts in Gorchakov's heart have disappeared.

"General, please see!" Then, the attendant military officer took out a short knife from his arms.

Gorchakov looked at the short knife from the arms of the attendant, and was a little lost for a while. This is not the one he saw in the collection room of His Majesty the Tsar.

So far, Gorchakov has believed 99% of the time.

Immediately afterwards, the attendant military officer took out a folded letter, and when he opened the letter, he could see the imperial crown and imperial shield emblem engraved on it.

Gorchakov recognized at first sight that the seal on the letter was stamped by the Tsar's personal seal.

This time, Gorchakov completely believed that the guy in front of him was not a fake.

"What is your majesty's order?" Gorchakov asked the attendant attaché.

"Your Majesty hopes, General Gorchakov, that you can send the 38,000 soldiers of the 4th and 5th Corps that you have accepted as the vanguard to the Principality of the Danube, and after taking control of the Principality of the Danube, advance to Constantinople..." Attendant The military attache dragged out the order of Nicholas I.

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will live up to Your Majesty's entrustment!" Gorchakov immediately assured the attendant attaché.

"I wish you a successful general!" the squire attache responded to Gorchakov: "I should go too!"

After speaking, the attendant attache Si got up and left.

Seeing this, Gorchakov wanted to retain the attaché, but the attaché immediately explained to Gorchakov that he was going to notify Prince Paskevich to ask Prince Paskevich to mobilize 92,000 people as support.

Gorchakov, who saw the squire attache and the task at hand, did not force the squire attache to stay, but gave the squire attache a gem he had snatched from a wealthy Kishnev businessman as an apology, and ordered the adjutant to Send a group of cavalry to follow the squire attaché to protect the squire attaché to Poland.

After the attendant attache left Gorchakov quickly ordered his cavalry to go to each regiment to notify the surrounding regiments to come to the meeting.

On the evening of the 26th, all the commanders of the 4th and 5th corps were all in Gorchakov's headquarters.

Gorchakov conveyed the order of Nicholas I to them, and the people who heard the order directly issued by the emperor did not think much and expressed their intention to fight hard.

Some of the regiments even shouted "Fight for the capture of Constantinople in 1853."

Gorchakov ordered the heads of the regiments to assemble and set off on the morning of the 27th.

After the meeting, Gorchakov returned to his residence in Kishnev and told his wife about the plan of the next possible advance.

After the wife heard that Gorchakov's forces marched into the Danube and landed in Constantinople, she kindly said that she would return to Moscow tomorrow.

On December 27, 1852, the Fourth and Fifth Corps of Bessarabia, led by the artillery General Gorchakov, advanced towards the Danube.