CHAPTER 538: CHAPTER 530 ADVANCING ON SEVASTOPOL

When the Earl of Cardigan led more than a hundred cavalrymen back to the foot of Kurgan Mountain, Commander Lagren at the top of the mountain smiled and said to the adjutant and division commander beside him, "Let’s go! Let’s celebrate with the heroes!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Commander Lagren rode his horse down the mountain, followed by the generals beside him.

Upon seeing this, the Earl of Cardigan also led his cavalry team to advance toward the mountain peak, and the two men on horseback met halfway up Kurgan Mountain.

"Commander Lagren! The British Light Cavalry Brigade reports to you!" the Earl of Cardigan saluted Commander Lagren with a solemn expression.

"Brudnell (the name of the Earl of Cardigan), your cavalry team did excellently! You’ve shown me a cavalry battle that could be considered perfect!" Commander Lagren praised without holding back.

Though the cavalry battle just now wasn’t exactly perfect, as long as the cavalry completed the tasks he assigned, in Commander Lagren’s heart, it was a flawless cavalry battle.

The British Light Cavalry, led by the Duke of Cardigan, had clearly carried out Commander Lagren’s tasks outstandingly.

"You overrate me!" the Duke of Cardigan responded humbly.

"I will report your achievements to London! I hope you and your cavalry team will continue your efforts!" Commander Lagren said with a smile still on his face.

Upon hearing Commander Lagren’s intention to commend them to London, the solemn face of the Earl of Cardigan also revealed a smile.

To the Earl of Cardigan, honor was above all, even above his life.

"By the way!" Commander Lagren suddenly remembered something, changed the subject and asked, "I just made a rough count of your numbers at the top of the mountain earlier, why did you have only about a regiment when you attacked just now? Where did the rest go?"

"I was just about to report to you!" The Duke of Cardigan immediately reported to Commander Lagren what happened by the Kach River, and proposed his suggestion: "Commander, I suggest immediately dispatching an infantry division to the dressing station! If we’re lucky, we might capture a batch of retreating Russian troops!"

"Who among you is willing to go?" Commander Lagren glanced back at the First, Second, Third, Fourth Division, the Guard Division, the Light Infantry Division, and the Highland Brigade’s subordinates and asked.

"I will!" The seven generals present said in unison.

After looking at each of them, Commander Lagren said to Sir George Cathcart, the commander of the Fourth Division, "General Cathcart, this task will be assigned to your division!"

With the beginning of the war Sir George Cathcart, who was considered part of the reserve force, never expected that his army would get a task when the battle was about to end.

"I assure you! We will complete the task perfectly!" Sir George Cathcart replied to Commander Lagren with a firm tone.

"Alright! Go quickly and return fast!" Commander Lagren waved his hand and said.

Sir George Cathcart gave a grateful look to the Earl of Cardigan, and then rode off from Commander Lagren.

After watching Sir George Cathcart leave, Commander Lagren spoke again, "That means! The Sevastopol Fortress is now an empty city?"

The thought of being able to conquer the Sevastopol Fortress made Commander Lagren’s heartbeat quicken.

"It’s very possible!" Sir Cardigan nodded in response, then added, "However, that depends on our French allies! If they have indeed been blocking the main forces of Russia in the front..."

At this moment, a cavalryman dressed in French uniform gradually approached Commander Lagren from a distance. When this French cavalryman arrived in front of Commander Lagren, he finally realized, wasn’t this the young rascal from the House of Bonaparte?

"Commander Lagren!" Jerome Patterson saluted the senior commander of Britain before him.

"Jerome, you finally arrived!" Commander Lagren said to Jerome Patterson with a smile and then asked, "How is the battle at Sevastopol Path proceeding?"

"How did you know?" Jerome Patterson blurted out.

From France’s initiation of the Telegram Hill offensive to pursuing Admiral Kiriyako’s troops, and then fighting against Prince Peter Gorchakov, the entire process was conducted in silence. How exactly did Britain get this information? Could it be that they planted operatives within the French Army?

Commander Lagren’s next words shattered Jerome Patterson’s inner doubts: "We heard about this news from the defeated Russian army! I have to say, you did an amazing job! If only you could have informed us beforehand, it would have been even better!"

"Regarding this matter, our Commander Pelissier specially instructed us to apologize to you, Commander Lagren! At the time, there was no room for us to think, we could only fully engage our troops!" Jerome Patterson explained to Commander Lagren.

"How is the situation on the Sevastopol Path?" Commander Lagren did not dwell on the communication issues between the two armies but directly asked about the current status of the Sevastopol Path skirmish.

"Mission accomplished!" Jerome Patterson reported the complete details of the Sevastopol Path skirmish to Commander Lagren.

When General Bosskey reported to Commander Pelissier at the middle of the front line about the capture of Telegraph Hill, Commander Pelissier immediately ordered the assault brigade to abandon the already occupied position and continue to pursue the fleeing Admiral Kiriyako.

Without hesitation, upon receiving the order from the messenger, General Bosskey led his troops in pursuit of the fleeing Admiral Kiriyako.

The two sides met at a point less than 5 kilometers from the north shore of Sevastopol. The unprepared Kiriyako was caught off guard by General Bosskey’s assault brigade. At a distance of 1400 yards, the Zouave soldiers, armed with Minie rifles, were the first to open fire, the sound of gunfire as dense as popping beans heralding the arrival of death, as countless sharp-nosed bullets were shot towards Kiriyako’s troops in the distance.

The panicked Russian Imperial soldiers once again experienced the terror of the Minie rifle, with many serf soldiers loudly shouting: "The Devil’s weapon!"

Panic spread once more throughout the entire army, with soldiers fleeing the battlefield in groups.

When the Zouave soldiers reached about 300 yards from the Russian soldiers, almost half of the Russian soldiers had chosen to flee.

The remaining half chose to surrender, with only a quarter of the Russian soldiers continuing to resist.

These Russian soldiers, under the orders of their officers, began to charge towards the vanguard of the assault brigade.

The vanguard, seeing the soldiers charging at them, decisively pulled the trigger, and after a round of shooting, dozens of Russian Imperial soldiers fell. Watching their comrades fall one after another, the courage that had just been mustered quickly dissipated again, and Russian soldiers began to retreat.

Seeing this situation, the vanguard decisively took the simplest and most brutal method to crush Russian Imperial morale, which was a bayonet charge.

With an order from the vanguard’s officer, the Zouave soldiers charged towards the Russian Imperial army like a pack of wolves.

When the vanguard of the assault brigade came into contact with the Moscow Corps, morale of the Moscow Corps soldiers collapsed completely after only one round, with some soldiers retreating chaotically backwards and to the left, spreading chaos to the Minsk Corps as well.

The soldiers of the two corps scattered in all directions, with the first skirmish ending in a complete victory for the French Empire.

The assault brigade, having just secured their first victory, did not rest long before they began a second battle against eight reinforcement battalions led by Prince Peter Gorchakov.

Compared to the first battle, the second battle was exceptionally perilous.

The elite troops under Prince Peter Gorchakov launched a frenzied attack on the assault brigade, trying to close the distance and use the Russian Imperial army’s customary bayonet to overpower the assault brigade.

This time, the tactics of the assault brigade differed from before, as under the orders of General Bosskey, the assault brigade soldiers both fired at the eight battalions of Prince Peter Gorchakov and simultaneously widened the distance, maintaining a distance of around 400 yards.

This rendered the smoothbore guns of the Russian Imperial soldiers as useless as fire sticks, and the two vanguard battalions of Prince Peter Gorchakov became sitting ducks under General Bosskey’s attack.

The two vanguard battalions suffered heavy casualties, with Prince Peter Gorchakov, charging at the forefront with his adjutants and staff officers, also being shot multiple times and falling to the ground.

The fall of Prince Peter Gorchakov caused the morale of these reinforcing Russian Imperial troops to plummet too, and the eight battalions began to scatter, with some officers placing Prince Peter Gorchakov’s not yet cold body on a horse and fleeing the battlefield, giving the French Empire its second victory.

After facing two battles, the assault brigade finally received reinforcements from Commander Pelissey, with the Guard Division arriving at the Sevastopol Path. Prince Menshikov, originally intending to lead his troops for a forced breakthrough, abandoned plans to head to the Sevastopol Fortress after seeing the French formation.

The Guard Division chased for a while before stopping and watching Prince Menshikov depart.

After three wars, the French army inflicted nearly 7,000 casualties on the Russian Empire.