Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Gun King

Volume 8 From the Mediterranean to... Chapter 91 The Mission of the Baltic Naval Regiment (...

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    While the 10th Army Corps was engaged in a face-to-face fight to the death with the Russians, Desai's Baltic Marine Corps was responsible for the important mission of appeasing the area, guarding the rear supplies of friendly forces, and destroying Russian guerrilla forces.  At this time, Napoleon's reckless Grand Army had already stayed away from its rear base and continued its long-distance march. Due to the inability of transportation to keep up, the troops lacked supplies and supplies. Hundreds of thousands of French soldiers had been starving for a long time and had no food.  Next meal.  As a result, every rural town along the way became a food collection point for the French army, and soldiers broke into Russian houses privately without the permission of their commanders.  After the residents left under the threat of bayonets, the French stuffed all the things that could fill their stomachs into their satchels and lunch boxes.  Afterwards, the military officers and military police rarely punished the soldiers who violated discipline, and did not provide any cash compensation to the farmers.  In order to quell the dissatisfaction of the looted Russian people, when they were stationed in Smolensk, Marshal Victor and Marshal Murat actually made an ingenious farce.  They found a printing workshop abandoned by the Russians in the city, so they organized painters, craftsmen and engineers with the army to randomly print a large number of fake ruble banknotes, specifically to fool illiterate Russian peasants.  But soon, after being exposed at this time, it aroused a larger-scale resistance among the Russian people.  At this time, on the battlefield in north-central Lithuania, neither the Prussian soldiers nor the Polish army had to worry about food and military supplies.  Thanks to the convenient (sea) waterways of the Baltic Sea and the Neman River Basin, quartermasters can regularly sign for and receive various flours, meats, sugars, cans, brandy, and even delicious food transported by the trains.  Vodka shots.  As for non-combat attrition caused by disease, the number has also been greatly reduced with the help of Count Cava and field hospitals.  Some Jewish, Polish, and Catalan businessmen who obtained franchise rights from the military police supplied various special military supplies to the regimental camps of the above-mentioned troops for a fee.  On the stalls near the military camp, there is a dazzling array of products, even to the point of luxury.  Coffee and cocoa tea from Cape Verde, authentic champagne wine from France, high-quality ham from Prussia, seasonal fruits from Poland and Lithuania, etc. are all available, and even prostitute groups organized by the madams.  Of course, these special supplies are usually expensive, 3 to 5 times higher than Danzig and Warsaw.  In addition to the price increase caused by long-distance transportation, merchants and madams also need to pay a large amount of taxes to the gendarmerie as protection fees.  However, when frontline soldiers were unable to pay for goods, merchants also accepted "equivalent exchange" with various trophies.  At this time, in Smolensk, due to a serious shortage of transportation capacity, coupled with repeated harassment by Cossart cavalry and guerrillas, the front line was extremely poor in supplies, causing the French army to endure the pain of hunger from time to time.  The officers often had no choice but to sit at the campfire where the soldiers usually used to eat, and forcefully gnaw on a few slices of black bread and wild vegetable soup.  In contrast, the soldiers belonging to Desai and Macdonald could gather around the fire, hugging the big-assed prostitutes, and comfortably roast fragrant chicken, duck and mutton, with ham mixed with eggs.  The fire was squeaking; as for the officers, even in the fiercest moments of the battle, they could take time off to enjoy the wonderful time of afternoon tea.  ¡­ The day after Marshal Macdonald led his troops on the expedition, the main force of the Eastern Expedition also left Klaipeda. In addition to leaving two infantry regiments to cooperate with the navy to continue to garrison this Baltic Sea port, General Hugo¡¯s third  The army was ordered to use the city of Tershiai as its base, and then proceed northward toward the southern shore of the Irbe Strait to clear out the small number of remaining Russian troops in the area; At the same time, the second army commanded by General Barbanegger  The army marched to the city of Panevez, 180 kilometers away, and used the city as a base to "recover" the eastern region of Lithuania and restore the Kingdom of Poland's rule in the area; as for the Guards Division, it continued to serve as a  The general reserve force of the legion moves together with the legion headquarters.  On July 31, Desai arrived between the Second Army and the Third Army. Siauliai, famous for its leather manufacturing, personally took command.  For Desai and his Eastern Expedition, the main task in July and August was not to find and eliminate the remaining Russian troops, but to conquer Lithuania and Latvia as soon as possible and try their best to gain the support of the local people.  support.  The day after the war broke out, the Duke of Oldenburg, the brother-in-law of Tsar Alexander, the husband of Grand Duchess Catherine, and the Governor-General of Lithuania, ordered the lower reaches of the Neman River to lead to the Riga Fortress on the orders of St. Petersburg.  People along the way must unconditionally burn their granaries, take away their livestock, leave their homes, migrate northeast, and take refuge in the city of Riga.  Because Lithuania was too close to the first battlefield, this policy of fortifying the walls and clearing the country was not resolutely implemented under the rapid and fierce attack of the French army without declaring war.  Only Russian immigrants, andThe Lithuanian nobles who were loyal to St. Petersburg obeyed the tsar's edict; but most of the Lithuanian peasants refused to comply with the evacuation order from St. Petersburg. They were neither willing to leave the land and home where their ancestors had worked hard for generations, nor were they willing to burn down their entire families for more than half a year.  rations and slaughtered the only livestock they relied on for survival.  However, due to the Russian authorities' fear of the French army's cannibalistic propaganda, when the local residents learned about the arrival of the Eastern Expeditionary Corps, some people still took their wives and children and hid in the depths of the forest or on the edge of the swamp; as for those brave enough to stay  The people below were also in closed rooms, holding old-fashioned matchlock guns or machetes, guarding their homes with fear.  When the Eastern Expedition Corps left Klaipeda, Desai's instructions to the troops were very clear: "For those Lithuanian residents who are willing to cooperate, the army shall not infringe on their interests, rob their livestock and women, or plunder personal property."  . When it is necessary to collect food and military supplies from the residents, the full amount of zloty silver coins must be paid in accordance with the reference price list issued by the military police. "In Desai's view, the so-called national interest is not suitable for Russia.  Lithuania (including Latvia) has been successfully ruled by people for more than 20 years.  After experiencing the wars of conquest in Girona, Catalonia and Portugal, the travelers are well aware of the simple view that remains in the hearts of the people in the occupied areas, that is, an army that is not strong in food and women is a good army with strict discipline!  On August 5, the King of Poland issued an edict in which he promised to give the Lithuanian people the following fair rights: First, to protect the relevant rights and interests of law-abiding people, and the Gendarmerie will handle various legal disputes fairly; second, to preserve the ethnic identity of the local people.  Life customs, church worship and religious freedom shall not be interfered with.  Most of the residents of Lithuania and Latvia believe in Lutheran Christianity; third, the private land of law-abiding citizens is sacred and inviolable; fourth, the Polish army has the obligation and responsibility to resettle the subjects who have sworn allegiance to His Majesty Desai and provide land and daily necessities so that  They can live independently.  But similarly, Desai and his army also have two faces: kindness and cruelty.  Once the situation worsens, soldiers can complete this transformation in an instant.  If a village is found to be harboring or contacting Russian guerrillas, they can mercilessly sack the village and hang the rebels; if someone in a village shoots at soldiers on duty, they will brutally execute the entire village.  , farmland and its crops will be completely burned.  In the 20 days from mid-July to early August, the Second Army, the Third Army and the Guards Division, on the charge of violating the appeasement policy and colluding with the Russian army, looted and set fire to 35 towns in the area.  ; In addition, armed villagers in 8 villages suffered collective massacres; for those 378 towns and villages that were, at least on the surface, willing to surrender and be loyal to the King of Poland and maintain friendly relations with the occupying forces, Desai's soldiers under the close supervision of the gendarmerie  Basically, we have achieved peaceful coexistence and never made any mistakes.  Desai knew that this seemingly harmonious situation was achieved under the threat of a bayonet and was not actually very secure.  Once Napoleon was forced to evacuate Moscow and the emperor's Grand Army suffered a disastrous defeat, and the situation took a turn for the worse, the Russian army would surely make a comeback, and those Lithuanian people who had surrendered or were loyal to Desai would naturally change their flags and jump out.  Welcome to St. Petersburg.  Therefore, some radical measures must be taken to tie more than two million people in the occupied areas, central and northern Lithuania, and southern Latvia to Desai's tanks, forcing them to have to fight with the Polish army.  Cooperate in all directions to counter the upcoming Russian attack.  Therefore, 90% of the landless or landless serfs in the territory became the targets of Desai.  In late August, Napoleon led the Guards to leave Smolensk and set out on the long road to Moscow.  Twelve days later, on September 5, when Napoleon led his troops to Borodino for the battle with Tukuzov, Desai, despite the objections of Marshal MacDonald, insisted on formally issuing an edict to the people in the occupied areas as the King of Poland.  Lithuanians and Latvians will implement the "Serf Liberation Plan" and the "Land Reform Plan" from now on.  The "Plan for the Liberation of Serfs" is very similar to Poland's reforms. It directly abolished agricultural slavery and all trade monopolies. It also stopped various feudal privileges such as military tax, monopoly rights, buy-back rights, and judicial rights. It also allowed nobles and commoners to intermarry with each other.  .  The "Land Reform Law" is different from the land redemption policy in Poland. It is supported by force, arbitrarily deprives the fleeing nobles and serf owners of their original rights and interests, and allocates land to serfs or farmers for free based on political leanings.  revolution.  In mid-July, when serfs were released throughout Poland and the land policy was implemented, some Polish Jacobin radicals who complained about the mild reform measures taken by the Warsaw cabinet but did not oppose King Desai were secretly summoned by the Military Intelligence Bureau led by Colonel Jacques.  got up and concentrated on "business training" in the Danzig area.In early September, these people rushed to Lithuania and Latvia under the occupation of the Polish army. With the support of the Military Intelligence Bureau and the Gendarmerie, they organized the "Management Committee for the Liberation of Serfs" locally.  According to the provisions of the land law, these more than 20 "agricultural committees" with real power can confiscate the property of all Lithuanian and Latvian nobles (serf owners) who voluntarily fled with the Russian army, as well as officials dispatched by Russia, and non-Lithuanian and Latvian immigrants.  Production materials and tools such as land, forest farms, lakes, canals, houses, livestock, agricultural tools, etc.  The "Council of Agriculture" registered all these production resources, and then distributed half of the land and forest farms free of charge to subjects who were willing to swear allegiance to His Majesty Desai.  Of course, those Baltic people who voluntarily join the Polish army or organize a self-defense army will not only obtain the best location, largest area, and most fertile land, but also enjoy tax reduction and exemption policies.  ¡­¡­
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report