Struggle in Russia

The abnormal behavior of the rebels is likely to mean that the situation in Ukraine is deteriorating rapidly, and the rebels facing a survival crisis can only step out of their comfort zone.

This means that time is running out, and Dmitry and Li Xiao know that there is not much time left for them.

"We can only seize Chernihiv as soon as possible!" Dmitri sighed and said worriedly.

Li Xiao's face was not particularly good-looking, but he was not worried about the difficulties in attacking Chernihiv, but was worried about the chain reaction caused by the great deterioration of the living environment in Ukraine.

Once the rebels have to take risks, it means that the people of Ukraine may not be able to survive. As a result, more serfs will revolt, and more areas will fall into turmoil.

And the troops Dmitri had on hand were very limited. Facing the locust-like rebel army, he might lose sight of one thing. Maybe the front foot has just recovered Chernihiv and the back foot will be in chaos again when Dmitry leaves.

At that time, counterinsurgency will really turn into a game of whack-a-mole, where the gourd floats when you press it!

What's worse is that he still can't tell Dmitri not to act too hastily, because time is really too tight and he can't even move.

"We can only seek a decisive battle with the rebels as much as possible and eliminate their effective forces as much as possible!" Li Xiao said with a long sigh.

Demitri nodded with a heavy expression. This was indeed the only way. But doing so will inevitably lead to bloodshed. You must know that the rebels are a strong labor force. If you simply kill them all, although the temporary problem can be solved, the subsequent post-war reconstruction will be troublesome.

"Take it one step at a time!" Dmitri thought over and over again and finally gave the order: "Concentrate our forces to capture Chernihiv first!"

Following his order, the already assembled 5th Cossack Cavalry Brigade, 17th Brigade and 8th Infantry Division quickly moved towards Chernihiv, easily defeating several rebel armies along the way and advancing to all levels in one fell swoop. The suburb of Ernihiv.

At this time, the rebels were also a little confused. When they launched an attack on Dmitri before, they did not take Dmitri's troops seriously. After all, it was not like they had never fought against government forces before. Relying on the human wave tactics, they defeated the Russian army "easily".

Who would have thought that the number of Russian troops this time was not large, but they were all hard-core. The attacking troops were defeated in minutes, and they were defeated like people driving sheep all the way. Many of them reached the door of their house.

There were immediate differences within the Chernihiv rebels. Some of them advocated immediately turning to defense and relying on the city to stalemate with Dmitri. As for the other rebels, this is definitely not a big deal. After all, they have not been beaten by government troops before. They were once driven all over the ground by the government troops. Later, they turned against the wind and pushed the government troops to the ground and rubbed them. .

Therefore, they did not think that the government forces had anything to fear. They even believed that Dmitri had come to die on his own initiative. Then they could concentrate their forces in Chernihiv to annihilate the last resistance of the government forces in one fell swoop.

So which opinion is more reasonable?

It should be said that they all make sense, but they also have problems. It is not impossible to rely on city defense, but why did the rebels in Chernihiv take the initiative to provoke Dmitry?

It's not because there is not enough food to eat, so they can only continue to go north to rob places where they have not caused trouble.

To hold on, they first need to have sufficient supplies. Otherwise, if they are besieged in the city for a long time, they will have to be in chaos without Dmitry attacking them.

Then take the initiative?

This is actually a problem. In the past, they were able to defeat the government forces not because they had the ability to confront the government forces head-on, but because they relied on flexible and roaming tactics to disperse the government forces and lengthen their supply lines, waiting for the government forces. When the teacher asked the question, they all rushed forward and beat the old master to death with random punches.

But this time Dmitri's troops were gathered together, with almost all the main forces concentrated together, and they also had two brigades of Cossack cavalry. The cavalry was much more maneuverable than the two-legged rebels.

For the rebels, they couldn't stop the cavalry in a head-on confrontation. They couldn't escape the cavalry's pursuit when they ran away. If they were stuck, they would die.

As for harassing the supply lines, the question is how far is it from Dmitry's supply base Gomel to Chernihiv? Dmitry left two regiments of cavalry to patrol back and forth along the supply line, basically eliminating the rebel stragglers in this area.

In other words, it is difficult for the rebels to cause big trouble for Dmitri's supplies. Facing the government forces that have concentrated forces and sufficient supplies, can the rebels have a chance of winning in a head-on collision?

"Then we can't sit still and wait for death!" Ivan Shalakov slammed the table.

As the leader of the most powerful First Army among the rebels in the Chernihiv region, he has nearly 20,000 strong men under his command. He has also seized a lot of weapons and equipment abandoned by the Russian army, including nearly 3,000 flintlock muskets. There were five or six cannons.

This kind of strength is the first in Kharkov and even Kiev, not to mention Chernihiv.

To be honest, Shalakov didn't take Dmitri very seriously. He sent someone to inquire before and found that Dmitri's men only had more than 10,000 and less than 20,000 troops. Who can be frightened by a few troops?

As long as the other few listen to his command, everyone will swarm forward like a pack of wolves, and they will eat each other until no bones are left in a matter of minutes.

But what left him speechless was that these idiots disagreed!

"Ivan, be careful. They are coming in force this time. I'm afraid they won't be easy to deal with!"

"That's right, that's right, Nikolai Crooked Mouth wiped out everyone in one encounter. Of the more than 4,000 people, less than 300 escaped. These damn black dogs are different from the previous ones!"

As soon as he heard this, Shalakov became angry. What a crooked Nikolai? He only had three or four thousand rubbish with sickles and pickaxes under his command, and dared him to blow his beard and stare. It was not surprising that he was killed.

He has real guys under his command, so there is nothing to be afraid of!

He snorted coldly: "That's because he overestimates his capabilities, doesn't listen to orders and is self-righteous. He's dead! We are different. Why should we be afraid of those black dogs when we have guns and cannons in our hands? And let me remind you, there is no need to store food. Too much, and if the delay continues, everyone will have no choice but to drink from the northwest wind!"

Upon hearing this, the rebel leaders suddenly stopped talking. Food is indeed a big problem. They were surprised. They had obviously robbed so much food before and piled it up as high as a hill. It looked like they had eaten it in several lifetimes. Why was it that the warehouse was already bottoming out in just a few months?

But even if the problem of food is imminent, these people are still worried...