Chapter 169: The Empress's Decision Catherine II sat in the palace in St.
Petersburg with a glazed look because she had just flipped through the reports of Russian intelligence agencies and officials of Russian Poland, which wrote in bold font that King Wilhelm of Prussia had led 30,000 Prussian troops and 40,000 troops led by Kutuzov in East Prussia. //.// In addition, a great uprising broke out in northern Poland, this time led by a former Polish nobleman's son named Jeviski, and now the rebel team has cut off the communication channel between Warsaw and Kutuzov's army, and assumed the posture of attacking Russian Poland, in response to the provocation of the Polish mob, General Kulichkov, who remained in Warsaw, led 6,000 troops to suppress it.
Although she was holding only a light piece of paper in her hand, Catherine II felt that what she was holding in her hand was definitely a thousand pounds, and she did not know how to express the mixed feelings in her heart.
War with Prussia, although Catherine II's plan has this, but now is not the best time to start a war with Prussia, and Kutuzov's fool actually led the Russian ** team out of the nest without her permission, now it's okay, as soon as the main force of the Russian ** team leaves, Poland will begin to turmoil.
Thinking about it, Her Majesty always felt that there seemed to be a shadow in front of her, there was definitely something to do with the Polish uprising and Prussia, but why did it swell so quickly in just a few days, even with the support of Prussia, it should not be possible, and there must be people behind these rebels who they can't see.
And the battle between Kutuzov and the Prussian army, Catherine II also felt a lot of headaches, although it seems that the Russian army has more than 40,000 compared to the Prussian army of 30,000 seems to have the upper hand, but the report is very clear that only 20,000 of the more than 40,000 troops are Russian troops, and the rest are Polish troops with worrying combat effectiveness, so that the balance of forces between the two sides does not have much advantage, at most the Russian army has a numerical advantage, but don't forget that the Prussian army is fighting on its own land.
If anything happens, the Prussian army can mobilize another batch of troops in the shortest possible time, but on the other hand, because the Russian army is far away from home and the logistics line is cut off, the soldiers are completely dead and one is missing, and there is no replenishment at all.
In this way, if Kutuzov cannot fight quickly, then it will be the Russian army that will suffer in the end, and the strong woman Catherine II has no doubts about this.
But these troops are all her Russian army, and they are relatively sharp troops, it is no exaggeration to say that the quality of the Russian army in Poland is less than 80,000 in the whole of Russia, Russia's standing equipment seems to be a lot, but because Russia's territory is too vast, and the vast territory makes Russia have to station a large number of troops in some areas, but these troops are basically only responsible for basic tasks such as guarding the city and law enforcement, and there are few that can really be taken out for field warfare.
And there are very few Jingrui troops like Kutuzov's who have fought against the Ottomans, Tatars, Sweden, and Eastern European countries.
It is not easy to cultivate such a hundred battle heroes, and the reason why it was handed over to Kutuzov in the first place, Her Majesty the Empress also took a fancy to Kutuzov's calm and perseverance, but who knew that Kutuzov, who has always been calm, would be so rash this time.
But how could Her Majesty stand idly by and watch what happened to Kutuzov, how could she bear to let her elite troops fight alone.
The Empress sat all night, and when she met the courtiers the next day, many of the ministers noticed the bloodshot in Her Majesty's eyes, which made the Russian ministers, who had basically heard of Poland, genuinely afraid.
"Let's talk about it, Kutuzov took 20,000 Russian troops to East Prussia and started a war with the king of Prussia, and now the war is in full swing, and there is a rebellion in northern Poland because most of the army has been transferred, if you have any countermeasures or ideas, please speak out and discuss" Catherine II sat down and looked at the Russian ministers in the palace and said in a deep voice.
Although Her Majesty's tone was not so serious, the ministers who knew the Empress well knew that the anger in the Empress's heart should be beyond measure.
"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that although Kutuzov made a big mistake, but after all, he is a senior general of our country, and now since General Kutuzov has exchanged fire with the Prussians, then we should provide assistance to him anyway, of course, Kutuzov made such a big mistake, he died innocently, but after all, the 20,000 soldiers under his command are the children of our country, if his troops are allowed to be annihilated by the Prussian army, then it will inevitably have a bad impact in the world, this" Seeing that the ministers around him were like turtles with shrunken heads, each lowering their heads than the other, Potemkin, who was standing in front, had to bite the bullet and say.
"Marshal Potemkin, this is a big mistake" Potemkin turned his head to look, only to see Ovorov standing up with his head up and his chest up "Your Majesty, Ministers, Kutuzov's unauthorized dispatch of troops to East Prussia, which caused a war with the Kingdom of Prussia, is clearly a provocation to the majesty of Her Majesty the Great Empress, and because the defense of northern Poland has been voided by his large army, it has created an opportunity for the rebels to rebel, and therefore the Minister thinks that it is necessary to negotiate with Prussia immediately, and punish Kutuzov severely after the rescue of our soldiers."
Ovorov thought about it all night last night, and since Ovorov returned to St.
Petersburg, he no longer hoped to regain the favor of His Majesty the Empress, but Potemkin was like a mountain in front of him, and His Majesty the Empress only had Potemkin in his heart, which made Ovorov hate him to the core.
"Count Ovorov, I don't agree with what you said, now the king of Prussia is fighting with General Kutuzov with his army, negotiating at this moment, who knows what outrageous price the Prussians will offer, and no matter what the situation of the battle on the front line is, will the blood of my casualties on the front line be shed in vain!"
Saying that, Potemkin said to Catherine II: "Your Majesty the Empress, no matter what Kutuzov's behavior is, but after all, he is the general of my Russian Empire, and now my 20,000 troops are deep in Prussia, I think our top priority should be to send troops to aid His Excellency Kutuzov, otherwise, the entire 20,000 troops will be your own efforts."
"Your Majesty, Marshal Potemkin is utter nonsense, we are not at all ready for a full-scale war with Prussia at the moment, Kutuzov's actions have dragged him to his death, and if our country continues to send reinforcements, it will undoubtedly bring the Prussians to a full-scale war with our country.
Moreover, the Turks in the south, the Tatars in the east, and the Swedes in the north, in the event of an all-out war with the Prussians, these enemies will pounce on us like hungry wolves that have smelled blood, and the hard-won good situation in our country will be destroyed once and for all!
Your Majesty" Ovorov said affectionately to Catherine II, and his words resonated with most of the ministers in the palace, in the past, the whole of Russia was immersed in the frenzy of opening up the territory, but now looking back, the vast territory brought them countless enemies, if these enemies were to attack together, the Russian Empire would undoubtedly be in a very dangerous position, and this time the main opponent was Prussia.
For Prussia, the Russian high-level has never despised it, many ministers in the palace have personally participated in the Seven Years War and Prussia to fight, the Seven Years' War, such a difficult environment was actually survived by the Prussians, and in the early days of the war when Prussia and Russia fought, the heroic Prussian army also gave a deep impression to the Russian ministers.
Moreover, Prussia is a big country, and if it is fully mobilized, it can pick up hundreds of thousands of troops, and these armies are not people who have no combat experience and fighting skills.
Because Prussia's territory was relatively narrow and long, and its location was relatively special, it led to a major war breaking out almost every ten years, and every man in the prime of life in Prussia received strict military training every year.
A war with such a big country is, at least at this stage, very irrational, and this is the resonance of many high-ranking Russian leaders, even on Potemkin's side, many ministers agree with this statement.
Ovorov's words won the applause of the whole house, and the ministers in the palace were full of chatter, and the inability to go to war with Prussia dominated the mainstream.
Potemkin saw that the direction of the wind had changed because of Ovorov's words, and his face immediately fell, especially when he saw that many people in his camp agreed with Ovorov's opinion, which made Potemkin feel a little unbearable.
But Empress Catherine II was indifferent to all this in front of her, she just sat quietly on the throne and watched indifferently what was happening under the steps.
"Well, needless to say, the troops still have to be transferred, of course, these soldiers are not going to East Prussia to reinforce Kutuzov, Count Ovorov is right just now, this is really not a good opportunity for a full-scale war with Prussia, and we are not ready, but I cannot tolerate chaos in Poland.
Marshal Potemkin, I authorize you to command the garrisons of Ukraine and the Courland region, and I will transfer 20,000 guards to you, and you have only one task, that is, to calm the chaos in the Polish region for me, and those who dare to resist will only end up with death, do you understand" After a while, the empress who sat at the top spoke, and her words made Potemkin happy, it was obvious that he had not fallen out of favor because of this, the garrisons of Ukraine and Courland combined were nearly 40,000 people, plus 20,000 guards, that is, about 60,000.
With 60,000 Russian troops to quell the chaos in Poland, Potemkin was still very confident, and he was overjoyed, and immediately made a loud promise to the empress.
And Ovorov's face on the side completely turned into a pig's liver after listening to the empress's order, and the empress did not abandon Potemkin because of this, which is the biggest bad news, but then Ovorov quietly comforted himself in his heart, as long as Potemkin left St.
Petersburg, he could more easily regain the favor of Her Majesty, Ovorov made up his mind to regain the empress's favor before Potemkin returned.
"By the way, Ovorov, you go and get in touch with the Prussians, see if you can get those Prussians to stop fighting with us, remember what we have to do politely" After saying that, Catherine II ignored the crowd and stepped down from the throne with the support of the maid, and then left the hall.
Ovorov's face, which had been assigned by the empress, turned rosy from the original pork liver, and he replied loudly while saluting the empress, while Potemkin on the side quietly clenched his fists. ps: Thank you for your support, originally I was going to have three more today, but because my head hurt when I read the book, I really can't play it, and I ask you to bear with me, on the construction site If you want to get ahead, you can only read the book and research, please forgive me.