CHAPTER 545: CHAPTER 537: TOLSTOY CAPTURED

Before landing at Karatina Port, Brigadier General Troche never dreamed that the Anglo-French Alliance Army he led would win continuous victories within two hours of landing there.

With just a force of 5,000, they fought from Karatina Port to the vicinity of the Fort near the South Shore of Sevastopol.

The garrison tasked with defending the Fort witnessed the defeated and returning escapees, as well as the "heavenly soldiers" of the Anglo-French Alliance Army.

The hard-earned morale quickly deflated, and in the eyes of these Russian soldiers, the Anglo-French Alliance Army had transformed into a force of demonic power (Don’t ask me, 19th-century Slav soldiers thought this way, and even modern old folks believe in local wild cults). Captain Pirelep, guarding the Fort, fled directly.

After seeing the captain flee the Fort, the soldiers of the Russian Empire rushed to escape into Sevastopol.

A few soldiers with the bigger picture in mind tried to stop other Russian soldiers in the Fort from fleeing.

"Stop! If you run, what will happen to the Russian Empire? What about the residents of Sevastopol?" A Russian Senior Sergeant stood in front of the fleeing soldiers, righteously chastising these soldiers of the Russian Empire.

The sergeant’s heartfelt words wavered the resolve of the front-row soldiers who initially wanted to flee; they stopped after exchanging glances.

"Move aside! Move aside!" The soldiers in the back row shouted loudly twice, squeezing to the front.

In the sergeant’s astonished gaze, one of them lifted his leg and kicked the sergeant in the abdomen.

The sergeant was kicked to the ground, and this slightly roguish Russian soldier cursed, "If you want to die here, I won’t stop you, but I’m not dying here!"

He then turned to the soldiers behind him, saying, "Brothers, don’t listen to his nonsense! Even our officers have abandoned this Fort, what’s the point of us staying here! Wake up! Can we really contend with the army outside?"

Yes, our officers have already fled, what’s the point of us staying here! Can we really contend with them with our numbers?

The Russian soldiers who were inclined to hold their ground became more determined to abandon the Fort.

"No...it’s not true! Cough...cough," the sergeant, kicked out, coughed heavily twice and said, "The Anglo-French Alliance Army is made up of people just like us! They have no special abilities; if we unite, we can definitely defeat them!"

"Don’t joke! If we could really defeat them, how did our army deployed at Alma fail? I’ve seen through it; you guys just want to use our lives to earn medals!" a Russian Empire soldier retorted, then shouted to the others, "Brothers, charge with me!"

At his command, the soldiers behind him stormed toward the Fort’s gate.

The few soldiers stationed at the gate saw this and dared not obstruct them in any way.

The Fort’s gates were opened by Russian Empire soldiers seeking to flee, and they ran toward the South Shore Pier District of Sevastopol.

Unfortunately, these soldiers, who had barely left the Fort, soon encountered a small squad of Lobster Soldiers.

British soldiers, armed with Lee-Enfield 1853 rifles, quickly pulled the triggers.

Bullets rained densely as they shot at the fleeing Russian soldiers, and in the blink of an eye, several fell.

The remaining soldiers, seeing this, hurriedly turned to flee, only to run into a squad of Zouave Soldiers.

With the Zouave and Lobster Soldiers attacking from both front and rear, these Russian Empire soldiers had no choice but to lay down their weapons and surrender.

Faced with the surrendering Russian soldiers, the Anglo-French Alliance had to allocate part of their forces to escort them to the rear.

Before the transport, the Anglo-French Alliance asked these captured soldiers about the situation inside the Fort.

"There aren’t many people left in the Fort!" The soldier answering this question was none other than the arrogant fellow from earlier in the Fort; now, under the Alliance’s guns, he had become a "good boy" who answered every question obediently.

"Very well!" The soon-to-be-promoted Lieutenant Baptiste nodded and then ordered his men to escort him to the rear.

Subsequently, Baptiste, with the remaining members of his squad, entered the Fort.

Advancing through the Fort, Baptiste quickly encountered the remaining Russian soldiers.

They leveled their muskets at the French soldiers in front of them.

"Give up! You can’t win!" Sergeant Baptiste told the Russian soldiers facing him.

Even before the translator following the French Army could translate French into Russian, the Russian soldier opposite Baptiste said fluently in French: "I know!"

Baptiste’s face showed a hint of surprise; this guy in front of him actually knew French, so he must be a noble of the Russian Empire!

Thinking of this, Baptiste’s tone inevitably became somewhat respectful: "Since you already know the outcome, please lay down your weapons and surrender! I can guarantee that you will enjoy noble treatment in the French camp!"

When the translator conveyed this sentence to them, the few remaining Russian soldiers in the fort were somewhat moved, and they glanced at their officer with the corner of their eyes, hoping to hear him say surrender.

Perceptively, Baptiste, noticing the unusual reluctance of the Russian soldiers to fight, seized the opportunity to say: "Even if you don’t think for yourself, you should consider your soldiers! Why let them die in vain? They’re still so young!"

The noble officer on the opposite side, after hearing Baptiste’s persuasion, glanced at the soldiers beside him.

He personally wanted to be loyal to the Tsar, but this group of Russian soldiers under him clearly hadn’t yet developed any sense of loyalty to the Tsar; was he really going to lead them down this path of death?

"I..." The noble sighed deeply and eventually ordered his men to lay down their guns. He came alone to Baptiste and said: "You are quite eloquent!"

"You flatter me!" Baptiste replied modestly.

Subsequently, Baptiste curiously inquired about the noble’s name and position.

"Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, previously participated in battles in the Caucasus region, with the rank of Senior Sergeant!"

Yes, the person in front of him was none other than the future renowned Russian literary giant, Tolstoy.

In history, Tolstoy had fought in the Caucasus region before going to serve under Prince Paskevich in the Danube River Region, and after Prince Paskevich led his troops back to Bessarabia, Tolstoy followed Commander Gorchakov to the Sevastopol Fortress.

Due to the timeline where Prince Paskevich ended the Danube operations early, Tolstoy did not go to the Danube army as in history but was directly transferred by Prince Menshikov to Sevastopol.

Tolstoy, who hadn’t even stayed in Sevastopol for two months, had now become a prisoner of the French Army.

While being captured by the French Empire was quite embarrassing, it indirectly spared Tolstoy from subsequent battles.

Because the battles that followed were even bloodier, inattention could transform this future literary giant into mere fodder for the Tsar, buried on this land.

Of course, the present Tolstoy was unaware of what would happen next, nor did he know he would become a legendary literary figure.

Baptiste, having taken over the fort, quickly ordered the lowering of the Russian Empire’s flag hanging over the fort, an action announcing to the surroundings that the Russian Empire had lost this position.

In the distance, Brigadier General Troche, through binoculars, spotted the Russian Empire’s flag being lowered and smiled with joy.

Riding a warhorse "acquired" near the South Bay of Sevastopol, Brigadier General Troche immediately ordered the regimental chief of staff by his side: "Quick! Redeploy a battalion’s troops over there!"

"Yes!" The regimental chief of staff, upon hearing Brigadier General Troche’s command, promptly sprang into action, as likewise did Brigadier General Troche, riding towards the direction of the fort.

When Brigadier General Troche arrived near the fort, he saw Baptiste and his soldiers at the fort’s gate.

Brigadier General Troche hastily dismounted and came to Baptiste, shaking his hand excitedly: "You’ve done well!"

"You praise me too much!" Baptiste humbly replied, then introduced the remaining Russian Empire soldiers inside the fort to Brigadier General Troche.

"Brigadier General, this is Tolstoy, a noble of the Russian Empire!" Baptiste said to Brigadier General Troche.

Brigadier General Troche sized Tolstoy up from top to bottom, saying: "You didn’t escape?"

"Why should I escape! This is on our Russian Empire’s soil!" Tolstoy replied righteously to Brigadier General Troche: "Shouldn’t it be you who should leave here?"

"Your land?" Brigadier General Troche responded to Tolstoy with a sneer: "You’ve occupied here for less than 100 years, and you audaciously call this your land! This is Ottoman soil; we are here to help the Ottomans reclaim their land!"

"I..." Tolstoy, lacking confidence, said: "You don’t have that right!"

"Then what right did you Russians rely on to occupy this land?"