Struggle in Russia

Odonrich probably didn't expect that in Dmitri's eyes, his artillerymen were just a bunch of little Karami who were not worthy of attention at all. He was even afraid that one of them would scare him away if he used too much force.

So when his artillery began to fire "violently" and the target position was reduced to billowing smoke, he was quite happy. He felt that as long as he charged one more time, it would be stable.

But the artillery stopped firing, and Odonrich once again took the lead and rushed out of the trenches. It has to be said that for this reason, it is normal for his troops to have high morale and strong combat effectiveness.

This is much better than the Russian army. It’s not that every officer in the Russian army is greedy for life and afraid of death, but that some senior commanders are like this. Before the war started, they had basically no understanding of the situation on the battlefield or the situation of the troops. , he just gave an order that he took for granted, and then when the fight started, he would wave his hand and let his men charge in human flesh. Once he found that he couldn't beat the first one, he would run away.

Such a commander really hurts morale. Don't say too much, the morale of the entire unit will collapse after just two or three.

It's just that the dangers of Odonrich's play are not ordinary. Once he risks his own life, not to mention his own life, and the troops are leaderless, I am afraid that the ship will capsize directly.

But no matter how he dares to play like this, you have to admire his courage. No matter what, he adds a layer of positive BUFF to his troops, which is better than the brainless commanders like the Russian army.

What's even more frightening is that this guy is indeed the biological son of Goddess Luck. He is immune to bullets and bullets. He is even more powerful than the Ding Crab in the stock market. In short, he will be fine even if others die.

Even the group of rebels who followed him in the charge seemed to be intoxicated, each and every one of them was as fierce as if they had eaten two bottles of "Vigor".

Dmitri could only smile and shake his head when he saw it, and had to order the mortar troops to open fire again, repelling Odonrich's charge with fierce shelling.

To be honest, he really didn't want to use mortars all the time, not because the shells were limited, but because he was afraid that Odonrich would see the clues and scare him away, wouldn't it be a waste of time?

"Actually, we can give up part of the position to them," Li Xiao knew what was bothering him and suggested: "Anyway, we are also prepared for this. It is not a big problem to even give up all Srebnoye to him."

Dmitri sighed and said: "I know, but we can't let it go so fast. And if you look at the combat effectiveness of our front-line troops, it's simply outrageous!"

The combat effectiveness of the Russian frontline troops is indeed a bit stretched. It is true that Odonrich is very fierce, but you can't collapse at the first touch, right? You have to fight someone for two rounds, right?

It’s just that this is the current situation of the Russian army. After the Crimean War, the layer of bravery BUFF added to the Russian army since defeating Napoleon seemed to be suddenly exposed. The Russian army that was not afraid of death suddenly became No more, most soldiers became passive and war-weary, and subconsciously ran away when they heard the sound of gunfire.

This is a bit fatal. If this trend cannot be reversed, won't it mean that no matter how good the equipment is for them, they will only lose their lives?

Li Xiao didn't have a good way to deal with this. He could only tell Dmitri to strictly enforce battlefield discipline.

The so-called serious battlefield discipline is actually to kill one person as a warning to others. Killing the one who takes the lead in escaping can always scare a group of people.

But what made Dmitry feel embarrassed was that the leaders of the escape were some officers. It seemed inappropriate to kill them in strict battlefield discipline.

It's not that Dmitri didn't dare to kill them or was reluctant to kill them, but he knew that the reason why these people ran away was partly because they were afraid of death, but most of them couldn't afford to die!

As mentioned before, the living security of middle and lower-level officers in the Russian army is actually quite poor. It is common for military pay to be delayed, delayed or discounted, which results in them having to deduct soldiers' blood. Even here, they can only barely make ends meet.

And now the failure of the Crimean War has caused Russia's finances to be extremely tight. Not to mention military pay, the pensions that should be given according to Alexander II's promise are basically not in place.

This has resulted in a large number of family members of officers who were killed or disabled in action and have no guarantee of life, and their lives are miserable!

Can this situation be hidden from others or from the colleagues and officers of these officers?

Absolutely not. If you think about it, the salary was pitifully low in the first place. Now that you can’t even pay for working hard, then who is willing to work hard?

If you die and become disabled, how will your family live?

As a result, there are naturally fewer and fewer middle- and low-level officers who are willing to work hard. It has to be said that this is called a penny that can stump a heroic man.

This was very embarrassing from Dmitry's point of view. He understood the suffering of the grassroots officers, but as the commander-in-chief, he couldn't watch them mess up. You can imagine how conflicted he was.

Sometimes he wanted to simply use the gold and silver collected from the rebels as rewards to boost morale. But Li Xiao persuaded him: "Strictly speaking, these money are stolen goods. They all belong to the owner and need to be recovered. As the coach, if you just give it out like this, it will certainly solve the temporary problem, but the subsequent problems will be solved." What about responsibility?”

The subtext of this statement is very simple, that is, what would you do if some big shots in St. Petersburg who don't like you use the stolen money to accuse you?

Even if you have to spend money to boost morale, you have to report to Alexander II first and wait until he agrees before you can do it. Otherwise, no matter how good you are in countering the rebellion, there will be no good results in the end. .

If it was just because he was worried about being blamed, Dmitri was really not that afraid. From the moment he came to Ukraine without hesitation, he put his personal honor, disgrace and interests aside.

He has no regrets about sacrificing some personal interests to benefit the entire country!

But Li Xiao’s next admonition made him give up the idea of ​​giving money, because Li Xiao said: “Although there must be brave men under heavy rewards, if an army must rely on money to stimulate and maintain morale, what is the difference between it and bandits? . Even if you can afford the money, if you start this way and spread the word from now on, all junior officers will fight wars only for money, and that will be dangerous!"

There is no need for Li Xiao to elaborate that Dmitri is also aware of the risks involved. Isn't this a mercenary? Were Swiss mercenaries famous back then? But look at their ridiculous operations on the battlefield, including adding money before the battle, or taking advantage of Party A and Party B.

As long as they can get money, they have no bottom line!

But as the most important weapon of the country, the military must have principles and a bottom line, otherwise everything will be in chaos, and the country will not be harmed if it really does not help the country!

After thinking about this, Dmitri immediately gave up the idea, for fear that he would become a sinner through the ages!