Chapter 386: Comprehensive Defense

The heavy snow lasted for a week. Although the snow stopped, it was still so cold that it was still dying, and the temperature was already more than ten degrees below zero. The sudden severe cold caused the French military's military operations to be cancelled, and everyone hid in the house to keep warm. But even so, the French army's casualties were still very heavy, and countless people were frozen to death and frostbite.

By the end of October, the temperature had returned, but it was still below zero. At the same time, after intense financing, the first batch of winter supplies transported from China finally arrived at the front line, which made everyone, including Xiao Jie, feel relieved. However, the subsequent casualties report made everyone feel extremely low.

"Your Majesty, the losses of each unit have been counted. After summarizing it, the final result has been released." Dugor said with an extremely ugly expression.

Without going to pick up the report, Xiao Jie leaned on the chair and said, "Read it."

Dugor opened the report and read: "After the statistics of various troops and summarizing it, in the heavy snow, our troops frozen to death by more than 114,000 people and frostbite more than 80,000 people. A total of more than 200,000 casualties were reached. Among them, the 2nd French Legion and the 3rd French Legion had the largest casualties, and the two legions had reduced their personnel to 30%.

Listening to those numbers, Xiao Jie felt that his heart was bleeding. More than 200,000 people! That was one-quarter of all the troops on the front line, and it was gone. There were more soldiers who lost in the battle with the Russian army.

"Your Majesty, the wounded must be sent back to the country immediately, otherwise the situation will be very critical." Dugor said.

"Arrang to send them back. Take a group of people from land, and the rest go to sea and send them back for treatment as soon as possible. In addition, we instruct the country to treat these wounded people at all costs. Whoever dares to be passive and dies will be punished for treason." Xiao Jie said in a deep voice. The injuries of these wounded people are relatively serious. With the current situation on the front line, there is no way to treat them at all, so they have to be sent back to China for treatment.

Dugore nodded, he knew what to do. "By the way, your Majesty, except for the 2nd and 3rd French Legions, the commanders of each legion have arrived. Do you see if the military meeting can be started?" Dugore asked. Some time ago, everyone's energy was focused on fighting the severe cold, and all military operations were cancelled. Now the weather has improved, and it is time to make the next stage of deployment.

"Let them go to the conference room and hold a meeting in half an hour." Xiao Jie said. Then he began to sort out his thoughts. No matter what, the matter had already happened, and he had to do his best to face it now.

In the spacious conference room, several large stoves emit heat outward, making this large conference room very warm. A long conference table was filled with senior generals from various legions. However, these generals did not play as usual, because the legions suffered heavy losses in this heavy snow, so the atmosphere seemed very silent.

Xiao Jie pushed open the door and walked in, looked at everyone, then went straight to the main seat, and said, "Before the meeting begins, everyone will be silent for 3 minutes to the sacrificed soldiers."

Everyone lowered their heads, and a sad atmosphere was confused throughout the conference room.

Three minutes later, Xiao Jie took a deep breath, calmed down and said, "Okay, we will start the meeting now. In item 1, each legion will report the losses of its troops and the current situation."

Thomas, the commander of the 88th Legion, who was sitting at Xiao Jie, stood up and said, "During this heavy snow, the 88th Legion lost 15% of its members. At present, the troops are stationed in Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan. Now the troops lack clothing and fuel for wintering, and the morale of the soldiers is also very low."

Then, Saint-Sil, the commander of the 4th French Army, also stood up and said: "During this heavy snow, the 4th French Army reduced its personnel by 25%. At present, the troops are stationed in the Penza area. Now the troops lack clothing and fuel for winter, and the morale of the soldiers is also very low."

Afterwards, the commanders of two Iberian legions also reported that the reduction in personnel of these two legions reached 20%, and the morale was also low and lacked clothing and fuel for winter. The two legions were stationed in the Saratov region and the Ulyanovsk region respectively.

After listening to everyone's report, Xiao Jie frowned. He knew that the biggest problem facing the troops now is the lack of winter supplies and morale issues. But in this case, both problems are very difficult to solve. "The country is already working hard, and a large amount of winter supplies are being transported from the country. Please rest assured. If you persist for a while, the troops will never be sad about the winter supplies. As for morale issues, I will go back and comfort them more." Xiao Jie said helplessly. Fortunately, before the heavy snow came, the main force of the Russian army had been eliminated by the French army, otherwise they would have to prevent the Russian army from taking the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

"My Majesty, I have a suggestion," Dugor said suddenly;

"Tell me." Xiao Jie said after looking at him.

"Now the legions have advanced to the depths of Russia's hinterland. This is not a problem in normal times, but now it hides a great crisis for us. In this case, the troops are far away from the supply center, causing the front line to be too large and the logistics supply line is very fragile. In addition, it is very cold now, which makes the logistics supply line of each legion likely to be cut off at any time. Once such a thing happens, it will bring us a catastrophe. Although the Russian army has been severely damaged by our army, God knows whether they have the strength to counterattack? Therefore, I think that the troops should immediately evacuate their current garrison and retreat to the vicinity of Moscow. On the one hand, this is conducive to supply, and on the other hand, it can also strengthen our army's defense." Dugor said.

"What about everyone's opinions?" Xiao Jie asked. He knew that everyone had spent so much effort and finally made such a big breakthrough. If you just asked everyone to give up, someone would probably be unable to think about it.

Fortunately, Xiao Jie's concern did not happen, and everyone still understood the current situation very well. After a brief discussion, they all agreed to withdraw the rest near Moscow.

After discussion, Xiao Jie finally ordered the front-line legions to retreat to the Moscow area after the disaster. Among them, the 88th Legion retreated to the area near Moscow. The 4th French Legion retreated to the area near Liangzan, the 1st Iberian Legion retreated to the area near Tula, and the 2nd Iberian Legion retreated to the area near Voronezh. At the same time, the combat plans of each unit were also greatly modified. The previous combat plan was to pursue the fleeing Russian army, but now it is Mo.

The four major cities of Sko, Ryazan, Tula and Voronezh are fulcrums, and small cities near these big cities form a solid line of defense to prevent the Russian army from counterattacking in winter. Therefore, after each unit arrives at a new station, the primary task is to build a line of defense and store winter supplies. The main combat task of eliminating the Russian army, the most important combat task, has to be postponed until next spring. In this way, it also marks that the French army's strategic goal has changed from strategic offensive to comprehensive defense.

During the heavy snow, the French 2nd and 3rd Legions suffered the most serious losses. At the same time, their strategic task of capturing St. Petersburg was not completed. In order to reduce the losses of the troops, Xiao Jie asked them to stop the attack and retreat to the Riga region along the Baltic Sea coast, where they built defense lines to prevent possible counterattacks from the Russian army.

The southern front troops composed of the 3rd Iberian Army and the Russian People's Liberation Army were located in the southern part of Russia, and the heavy snow did not have any impact on it. In the battles some time ago, they had successfully defeated the remnants of the Russian Southern Front and part of the Don Front, occupied the Rostov area, and drove the Russian army to the lower reaches of the Volga River.

In mid-November, the second batch of frozen supplies arrived, which fundamentally changed the situation on the front line. Almost all soldiers wore thick coats, wood, coal and other fuels were transported one after another, leaving the troops without any worries.

By the end of November, the new defense line had begun to take shape and only some follow-up work was needed. It was not until this time that Xiao Jie felt relieved.

"Your Majesty, there is no war now. Do you think you will go back to Paris first? I'll stay." Dugor suggested.

Xiao Jie nodded and said, "Okay, I'm going to return to Paris. But you go back too. I believe Thomas and the others are enough to deal with any emergencies." He has been away from Paris for several months and should have gone back. I guess the various documents on the desk have been piled up like a mountain. Being an emperor is really hard! Xiao Jie thought of it with a little ridiculed.

"Okay, then I'll go back too." Dugor thought for a while and said.

"I wonder if we have too many troops left in Russia. There is no war now, and the Russian army has been severely damaged. Even if they launch a counterattack, it is impossible to gather too many troops. It is enough for us to leave about two legions to properly force. The rest of the legions will all retreat to Poland, Prussia or Austria for rest. This will enable the troops to recover their combat effectiveness as soon as possible." Xiao Jie thought for a while and said.
Chapter completed!