Struggle in Russia

Of course Li Xiao knew what Dmitry Milutin wanted to do, but if he did that, he might offend Prince Mikhail. To be honest, it was a bit stupid.

Although Duke Mikhail is often as difficult to deal with as old fritters, and sometimes even cheats you out of interest considerations, but he has to admit that in the cesspit of Russian officialdom, he belongs to the part that can be united.

Li Xiao is well aware of how powerful their enemy is. Even though the reformers took advantage of the disastrous defeat in the Crimean War in history to severely attack the conservatives and regain the dominance, the conservatives still won the final battle. group.

The reforms of Alexander II turned into a flash in the pan, and it was quickly extinguished after giving Russia a little hope.

What's more, now that Nicholas I is in power, the conservatives are in full swing. At this time, you still don't cherish your friends and push your friends out? Isn't that the same as committing suicide!

Li Xiao never wanted to die, so he decided to give Duke Mikhail a face: "Duke, regarding the matter of Leonid, it is a matter of principle for Alexei. If he continues to disobey orders, object Our normal decision-making, so it is meaningless to let him come back, the conflict will break out again sooner or later, and that will hurt the relationship even more!"

Prince Mikhail clicked his tongue. The reason why he was so naughty just now was not because he wanted to confuse this issue. Because he also knew Leonid's bad temper, it was impossible for him to succumb.

What he meant was to get the matter out of the way first, and when the war really broke out, he would just find an excuse to let Leonid attack with his main force, and naturally there would be no conflict with Alexei.

But Li Xiao put it bluntly, making it impossible for him to get along with him, which made him feel a little bit annoyed.

The old fox could only bite the bullet and replied: "I have already criticized him. Soldiers take obedience to orders as their bounden duty. No matter what the reason is, it is intolerable to refuse to carry out orders from superiors. I believe he already knows his mistake!"

Li Xiao snorted and said, "Really? Knowing the mistake should be used to admit it, how about this, when Leonid will make a public review on this, when will we resume his position, how about it?"

Prince Mikhail was speechless because it was impossible for Leonid to publicly review it, which was more uncomfortable than killing him.

This made him spit on Li Xiao again, thinking that this kid is a difficult vixen!

Prince Mikhail stopped talking, and Li Xiao didn't take the initiative to speak. He just looked at him with a smile, and was a little embarrassed to see the old fox. Then Li Xiao said: "If this method doesn't work, let Officer Leonid Reinstatement is inappropriate..."

Seems like things froze?

No,

Because Li Xiao said this on purpose, the above words are just used to stop Duke Mikhail from being a hooligan, because Li Xiao and the others definitely cannot accept the plan of reinstating Leonid's direct officer, which is tantamount to letting them Slapping yourself in the face is directly discrediting your prestige.

What's more, let Leonid come back and give him another chance. After all, this is a favor, and there can't be no benefits at all, right?

Anyway, Li Xiao couldn't accept the result of Duke Mikhail opening his mouth with red mouth and white teeth, and then stuffing back the big trouble of Leonid, that would be too embarrassing!

Li Xiao's plan is that if Leonid must come back, he must give enough benefits, otherwise the discussion will be avoided!

"Duke," Li Xiao said with a smile, "Your Excellency the Governor, and General Dmitry agree that it is necessary to build a new volunteer army in Wallachia. The source of the troops mainly comes from the employment of retired domestic veterans. We have already started to do related work. Some, but if you can personally respond, I think domestic veterans should sign up more enthusiastically, are you interested in this?"

Alexei and Dmitry were a little stunned, not understanding why Li Xiao suddenly mentioned the matter of mercenaries, hadn't Marshal Vorontsov been entrusted with this matter? Why did you go to Prince Mikhail again?

What's more, with your forceful refusal just now, why should people sell this face to you? Do you think people have self-abuse tendencies!

It’s just that Alexei and Dmitry didn’t understand, but the old fox, Prince Mikhail, understood. This was telling him that it would be useless to reinstate Officer Leonid unless he publicly reviewed it. But, they don't want to do things so badly, isn't there a volunteer army? If he can support one or two, it will not be difficult at all to stuff Leonid into the volunteer army.

However, Duke Mikhail is also a thousand-year-old fox. He has seen too many volunteers and volunteers recently, such as the volunteer army of Grand Duke Constantine. To be honest, he doesn’t feel very good about these miscellaneous troops. The source of troops is uneven. , Most of the soldiers came here to make money, and in his opinion there was no belief at all.

Anyway, he thinks most of the Volunteers and Volunteers’ combat effectiveness is worrying, and Leonid is his nephew, who is the key training object of the Gorchakov family. Let him take a bunch of belly on the battlefield. Is this a chance or a fight? their faces?

Naturally, Prince Mikhail was not ready to accept Li Xiao's proposal immediately, unless Li Xiao could prove that these fish bellies were valuable.

Seeing that Duke Mikhail was silent, Li Xiao naturally knew what he was worried about. He smiled and said: "Since it is a volunteer army composed of retired soldiers and officers, it is natural to give priority to recruiting the most experienced fighters. If the Duke You have recommended candidates, I believe His Excellency the Governor will be happy to appoint them!"

Prince Mikhail understood again. He was telling him that he or Leonid could appoint a part of the officers of the Volunteer Army. In this regard, Alexei would give the green light.

Duke Mikhail thought about it, if the quality of the officers could be guaranteed, then he would help check the source of troops, and it would not be too difficult to gather a unit that could still fight.

"Then how many volunteers do you plan to recruit?"

Li Xiao laughed, because Duke Mikhail was tempted, and he immediately replied: "30,000 to 50,000 people! The minimum limit is 30,000 people!"

When he heard about the size of the army, Duke Mikhail was even more tempted. After all, Leonid was only a brigade commander before, and he only had 5,000 troops under his command. There are 30,000 to 50,000 people, if they can all be handed over to Leonid to command...

It's just that Li Xiao immediately poured cold water on him: "Because Wallachia has limited financial resources and urgently needs active forces to improve the construction of defense projects, I personally think that the number of volunteers for offensive operations should be around 10,000... ..."