On the night of February 23, 1790, the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Empire quietly left its home port under the cover of darkness, and on the flagship of the fleet, Peter the Great, Ushakov was having a final deployment meeting with the top brass of the fleet.
In order to disguise the purpose of the whole fleet to go to sea, as early as three days ago, the home port of the Baltic Fleet was under martial law, and the pretext of martial law was that there were people in the fleet who were reselling military supplies, and His Majesty Paul I sent the Guards to block the port and thoroughly investigate the moths inside the fleet.
In order to be more realistic, Paul I did order the formation of a task force to thoroughly investigate the resale of military supplies, and even interviewed the generals of the Baltic Fleet a few days ago.
In addition to a few high-ranking officials in the Baltic Fleet, other generals really thought that Paul I thoroughly investigated the resale of military supplies, and even his own people were hidden from outsiders!
Therefore, the outside world was not surprised by the blockade of the Baltic Fleet's home port.
Unexpectedly, when this so-called task force interviewed the middle-level officers of the fleet, it was really found out that some people in the fleet were guilty of reselling military supplies.
In addition, in order to prevent accidents, Ushakov even claimed that the purpose of this trip to sea was to exercise the coordinated combat ability of all warships in the fleet, and as for the task of surprise attack on Riga, he did not show any tone.
Although the soldiers of the fleet were puzzled as to why they carried a large amount of ammunition for combat training at sea, it is not surprising that the entire fleet was dispatched at the same time this time, and the scale of the training must be very large, so it is not surprising that they carry ammunition according to combat standards.
The departure of the fleet did not alarm anyone, but on the night of the fleet's departure, Paul I lay on his bed and lost sleep.
Whether or not the Riga raid can succeed will have too many consequences for the rest of the war.
Unless it was a last resort, Paul I was reluctant to reveal his cards, and once the surprise attack on Riga was successful, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was a turning point in the war.
The plan to attack Riga is precisely divided into three parts, one part is that the fleet successfully sneaks into the Gulf of Riga without hiding the defenders on the island of Saaremaa.
The second part was to bombard the city of Riga with the artillery above the fleet, and the third part was to cover the landing of 8,000 soldiers on twenty troop carriers in the fleet.
At this moment, Paul mobilized all the warships of the Baltic Fleet, totaling 57 large and small warships, and mobilized 20 transport ships to carry soldiers, with a total of nearly 30,000 marines and navy.
The garrison of Riga was about 20,000 men, and after removing the 3,000 defenders on the island of Saaremaa, the army stationed near Riga was about 17,000 men.
If all goes well, the 8,000 troops will indeed be able to break through Riga, because they have the fire support of naval guns. .
After William took the map handed by Mehard, his expression became serious, it was absolutely impossible for Paul I to give up the superiority of the Baltic Fleet, and the current forbearance must have a shocking conspiracy.
With such considerations.
William discovered that for the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Empire, the cities on the Baltic coast were accessible to the Russian Navy.
Even Prussia, as long as the Russian Navy wants to, they can attack every city along the Prussian coast with impunity, it is just a matter of the size of the price they will pay.
Prussia and Sweden have not yet declared war on the Russians for the time being, so in such a situation, as long as Paul does not go crazy.
He will never take the initiative to launch provocations against the two countries.
As for the Finnish region, although there are now uprisings against the Russian Empire, the Finns have not stirred up too many waves, so the use of the Baltic Fleet to attack the Finnish resistance is undoubtedly overkill, and the remaining goals are obvious.
Kutuzov!
If Paul was going to use the Baltic Fleet to attack a certain power at this stage, then that force would be Kutuzov, because no other region would need the Baltic Fleet.
Like Prussia, Kutuzov's energies were devoted mainly to the development of the army, as for the navy.
For Kutuzov, the Navy is basically a luxury!
You must know that starting from the British, although the navy can obtain a lot of benefits for its own forces, but fundamentally speaking, the navy is still an aristocratic army, don't look at Kutuzov's ability to afford 40,000 elite army, but if he uses the same price, the money for raising 40,000 army is simply not enough to create a strong navy, and even the annual military expenditure of the Russian Empire on the Baltic Fleet is higher than the cost of Kutuzov's army.
Of course, Kutuzov's territory was not without a fight against the Russian Navy.
There are coastal fortifications in some important coastal cities, and these coastal fortifications may not be able to completely defend against the Russian navy, but it can be done at some cost.
William's hair turned gray when he thought about it, and he didn't figure out where the Russians would start, and Kutuzov had many important strongholds.
From East Poland to Latvia, Kutuzov's logistical lines and important urban strongholds were scattered all over it, and the Baltic Fleet could attack any point using the coastline, but this point had to be valuable, otherwise it would be worth it to force Kutuzov in vain.
After thinking about it for a long time, William didn't come up with a reason, he closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead, and at this moment, Mehard, who was sitting in front of him, said: "Your Majesty, you" Hearing Mehard's voice, William woke up suddenly, he looked at Mehad in front of him, his heart suddenly moved, only to see William open his mouth and ask: "Mehard, if you were the admiral of the Russians, and now Paul asked you to choose a fatal place in Kutuzov's territory to lead your navy on a mission, which place would you choose?"
Hearing William's question, Mehad was stunned, he didn't understand what William meant.
Seeing the look of doubt on Mehard's face, William frowned and said: "That is, if you were a Russian, and now you were asked to lead the navy to attack Kutuzov, where would you attack?"
Mehard heard it clearly, and his head immediately buried himself on the map in front of William, and after a while, Mehard solemnly pointed out a point to William, and this point made William feel excited, and this point was the Bay of Riga.
Looking at the point on the map that Mehad had pointed out, William waved his hand and said: "Why did you choose this place?"
"Because it's the best value!"
"But this is Kutuzov's center of gravity, and more than half of his army is concentrated near this point!"
"Your Majesty, it is precisely because this point is Kutuzov's center of gravity that he will do his best to attack here, the characteristic of the navy is that it is an offensive branch, the reason why the British have become a strong force in the world is that they know how to make good use of the navy, although it is dangerous here, but the pay is proportional to the reward, the city of Riga is on the edge of the Gulf of Riga, and the naval guns are enough to cover most of the city of Riga."
After listening to Mehard's description, William admitted that he had a point "Okay, you go down first, I'll think about it alone" Mehad bowed to William and left William's room, and after he left, William took out a pen and drew a small circle around the point on the map, and when he was done, William dropped the pen.
"If it's true, then Paul you must be one of my biggest opponents!"
Everyone does everything at risk, for example, you will get hit by a bicycle on the road for no reason, but people don't give up on their actions because of this potential risk.
But the risks are big and small, some people dare to gamble hundreds, thousands, some big bosses even dare to gamble tens of thousands, but you let them block all their net worth in a game, then there are almost no such people, because they can't afford to take such a risk.
And at the level of the state, everything is extremely risky, an order of the monarch affects not the net worth of two people but the net worth of thousands, if Paul really uses the Baltic Fleet to attack Riga, then he is either an idiot or a genius, but in any case, the madness in his character is obvious, and a crazy opponent is a headache for anyone.
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Escorted by Hornder, Anna had already left the territory of Austria, and from the moment Anna set foot on Prussian territory, the young county lord told himself in his heart to be strong, that he was a son and daughter of the Habsburgs, and that no matter how big the storm was, he could not knock him down!
But looking at the surroundings and Vienna completely different environment, listening to the Prussian language that is completely incompatible with Austria, Anna's eyes still involuntarily moistened, although she only came to Prussia to familiarize herself with the environment and did not marry into Prussia, but looking at Prussia in a foreign country, Anna's heart is still sad.
After entering Bohemia, in order to curry favor with the future queen of Prussia, the local officials held a grand ball for Anna very enthusiastically, and even invited the Austrian song and dance troupe for Anna at the ball.
However, all this did not impress Anna, the indifference on her face was incompatible with the excitement around her, and after the officials learned from Horn that Anna had spoken disrespectfully to the Hohenzollerns, these officials immediately changed their appearance, and they sent Anna away like a plague god.
The huge difference in treatment before and after made Anna sneer even more in her heart.
To be continued.
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