Struggle in Russia

Maganov dreamed of capturing Kiev, a big city as famous as Moscow and St. Petersburg. To put it bluntly, it was the heart and brain of Ukraine. Have you ever seen anyone survive without their heart and brain?

It's just that he has always had no good way to attack Kiev. At first, he tried to attack several times, but every time he was beaten back by the Russian army on the outskirts of the city.

Later, he got in touch with Ulanov, and he was able to take Kiev without any blood. Who would have thought that Nakhimov would interfere with his good deeds.

For a time, he wanted to kill Ulanov, a bastard who did not keep his promise, especially after initially reaching an agreement with several rebel leaders around him, he launched another tentative attack.

It's just that this time it was even worse than before. Not only was he beaten to death in front of the solid defense line of the Russian army, but he was also beaten back repeatedly by the Russian army's sharp counterattacks. If he hadn't been outnumbered, he would have been pushed back. .

Such an embarrassing result not only made him lose face, but also dealt a huge blow to his prestige among the rebels.

It took him a lot of effort to stabilize his position, but at this time the situation in northern Ukraine suddenly changed drastically. First, Odonrich was forced to surrender, and then Konotop, Sumy and Kharkov were successively captured. The Russian army recovered.

It means that all the friendly forces behind him have been destroyed. If he doesn't hurry up and take down Kiev, he will definitely be the next one to be destroyed.

For a moment, he was ready to give up on capturing Kiev and simply lead his troops westward, avoiding Dmitri's army and grabbing a way out.

At this moment, Ulanov suddenly contacted him again and told him that he wanted to continue cooperation.

At first, Maganov wanted to tell Ulanov's envoy to get lost. If I believe your lies again, I will be a fool.

But the conditions offered by Ulanov this time were too tempting. Not only did he promise to give him Kiev, he also gave him a key piece of information in advance, that is, there is a food shortage in the city. Now hundreds of thousands of residents and tens of thousands of troops are completely dependent on the Water transport on the Nieper River.

In other words, if he can cut off the water transportation of the Dnieper River, the city will soon fall into a food shortage, and the Russian army will be in chaos without a fight!

This news reminded Maganov, and he immediately sent people to investigate the water transportation situation on the Dnieper River and found that, as Ulanov said, several sailing ships carrying food entered Kiev every day.

What? Do you think this discovery is meaningless? The rebels had no naval force and could not help the Russian army's water transportation.

It cannot be said that if it is the spring and autumn high water period, Maganov really has nothing to do with the boats on the Dnieper River.

But now it is winter, when the water level of the Dnieper River is at its lowest, so the situation is completely different. The water level in some river sections is quite low. As long as artillery is set up, it is possible to wait and block the river.

Just do what you say Maganov immediately contacted other rebel leaders and called on everyone to concentrate all the artillery to block the river. In his words: "As long as Kiev's food route is cut off, the defenders in the city will immediately become insurgents without fighting. Then they will surrender without us having to fight, and then Kiev will have it at our fingertips!"

His idea immediately received positive responses from many rebel leaders. Isn't it just a little cannon for them? There is nothing wrong with using them concentratedly. Anyway, if they are dispersed in their hands, it is impossible to cause much damage to the Russian army in the city. If it is really possible to block the river and cut off Kiev's food supply, then how can the Russian army in the city not be in chaos? ?

As long as they are in chaos, then Kiev will be theirs!

Soon the rebels gathered all their artillery near the narrowest channel in the Kiev section of the Dnieper River. Although they didn't have many artillery in each family's hands, maybe a dozen or twenty, they were concentrated together. After that, the number became more substantial.

This group of people gathered together nearly a hundred cannons. After deducting nearly forty small-caliber six-pound cannons, there were more than forty 12-pound cannons, and the rest were eighteen-pound cannons and twenty-pound cannons.

The threat of these artillery pieces is indeed limited when dispersed, but they are still a bit bluffing when gathered together. At least in the eyes of Maganov and others, with so many cannons guarding the river, not even a fly can fly over!

Is this the case?

I'm afraid they got a little too happy too soon!

Nakhimov's headquarters, he was listening to reports from his subordinates on training new soldiers and consolidating city defense projects, when the messenger told him that Anton was coming.

Nakhimov suddenly became energetic and immediately asked his subordinates to stop reporting. He needed to see Anton first!

The reason is very simple. The task he gave to Anton was to pay close attention to Ulanov's movements and find evidence that Ulanov had colluded with the rebels.

Anton came to him so suddenly, he must have discovered something!

"How's it going? Have you taken the bait?" Nakhimov asked excitedly.

Anton smiled and nodded: "Yes, General, he took the bait. Just last night, his secret envoy sneaked out of the city and should have told the rebels the news!"

Nakhimov clapped his hands and laughed and said: "Great, this old fox finally took the bait, and it's not in vain that we have been acting for him."

Anton also smiled and nodded, saying that he was the one who came up with this fishing method. Who knows that Ulanov, the grandson of a tortoise, is really born in the year of the tortoise? After discovering that the situation was not good for him, he did not panic, but became more and more calm. For more than half a month, there was no movement at all. Those who didn't know thought he had changed his gender.

Ulanov can live with it, but he and Nakhimov cannot live with it. After all, there are 400,000 rebels outside the city, and one of them can drown both of them with a spitting breath. They must find ways to get rid of passivity, right?

The biggest passivity for them comes from the unstable factor of Ulanov. If they don't deal with him, who would have thought when this old bastard would stab him in the back?

So if Ulanov didn't move, they would have to take the initiative, so Anton made a suggestion.

He thought it was not that Ulanov didn't want to move, but that he didn't know how to move. After all, he basically had no cards to play with, and he would be beaten to death if he moved casually.

Anton believes that Ulanov's only way to reverse the passive situation is to use the rebels outside the city. If he can negotiate good terms to help the rebels enter the city, he can not only use the rebels to get rid of himself and Naxi Moff, by the way, can also absolve himself of responsibility.

Because the responsibility for losing Kiev at that time was all Anton and Nakhimov's, and it had little to do with him as the governor. Returning to St. Petersburg, it was not difficult to get away with some business.

But for Ulanov, how to help the rebels achieve this goal was a big problem, so Anton made a targeted suggestion...