Winter in Kiev ended earlier than in Moscow. Although the wind was still very strong, it was no longer a biting cold wind, but a southerly wind full of moisture.

Napoleon stood on the edge of the Pripyat River, feeling the spring breeze blowing on his face.

The river ice has thawed, and large pieces of river ice collided with each other on the Pripyat River, making "clicking" and "clicking" sounds.

Although only more than a month has passed, the battlefield situation has undergone earth-shaking changes.

The first is that the defeat of the Prussian army in the Vyazma area did not affect the French army on the southern front.

During this month, the French army continued to advance forward.

A large area of ​​land lost last year was recovered, and even three days ago, Kharkov was successfully recaptured.

A little further north, the allied forces of Israel and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, relying on their superior strength, are fiercely attacking Kursk.

The war is tense and stalemate, but I believe that after a period of time and paying a certain price, we can finally get it back.

When the situation on the entire front was looking good, the Ottoman Empire troops suddenly landed in Crimea.

This really made Napoleon nervous for a while, but soon the Israeli army contained the Ottoman Empire's continued expansion.

If it weren't for the Ming Dynasty's overly powerful naval firepower as backup, the Ottoman Empire's army would have been driven off the Black Sea.

Although the Ottoman Empire's army was no match, their move still involved a lot of Israeli forces.

At least 100,000 Israeli troops are trapped in the Crimean Peninsula and cannot move.

Compared to the idle Prussian army on the northern front, the French army on the southern front could be considered to be victorious.

But behind the successive victories, Napoleon was very uneasy.

Because during the battle, the Ming army was rarely seen. There were even fewer planes hanging above our heads!

Most of the troops annihilated on the front line were Russian troops.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, General Leclerc has returned from the front." The aide walked carefully to His Majesty the Emperor.

Ever since His Majesty the Emperor returned to the front line, his temper has become somewhat irritable.

These attendants were always on tenterhooks, fearing that if something went wrong, they would offend the irritable Emperor and be sent to the front line as cannon fodder.

"Oh!" Napoleon nodded, turned and left the river bank.

His headquarters is located on the bank of the Pripyat River. This is a three-story villa, which is said to have been the private property of a count.

"Your Majesty the Emperor!" Seeing Napoleon walking in, Leclerc quickly saluted with a military salute.

As a newly promoted general, Leclerc was very grateful to Napoleon for his promotion.

If it weren't for Napoleon, he would still be just a colonel commander of an infantry regiment on the front line, leading the infantry regiment to fight tooth and nail.

"Well! You've had a hard time going to Kharkov this time. How is the situation on the front line?" Napoleon sat on his seat. Seeing that Leclerc was still standing upright, he pointed to the seat next to him.

“When I went to Kharkov this time, the situation I saw was similar to what was reported in the battle report.

On the battlefield, not a single corpse of a Ming soldier was seen.

In addition to the Russian army, there is also the Russian army.

I personally interrogated some Russian prisoners, and they also said they had not seen the Ming army for a long time.

A captain said that the Ming army had withdrawn to Tsaritsyn.

Others say that the Ming army went to support the Kursk battlefield.

Anyway, there are many theories. But the whereabouts of the Ming army is still a mystery."

After Leclerc sat down, he briefly talked about his experience in Kharkov.

The purpose of Napoleon sending him this time was to find out where the Ming army was going.

Without aerial reconnaissance, he was afraid that his troops would be suddenly surrounded by the Ming army.

The Prussians learned a very painful lesson in Vyazma. The distance of only a dozen kilometers turned out to be an eternal distance between heaven and man.

The French army's current military operations are very cautious, and the troops are almost in a group, rolling forward to attack.

Although this kind of attack is safe, its progress is very slow.

Many times, due to being too cautious, the opportunity to fight was delayed. A good battle of annihilation turned into a battle of defeat.

"Oh, by the way! This is the Russian army's rations. I brought some back. Take a look!" Leclerc brought over a coarse cloth bag, which was bulging.

This shows Leclerc's cleverness, successfully attracting Napoleon's attention to the Russian army's rations, instead of pursuing himself for not finding out the Ming army's movements.

"Oh, rations for the Russian army." Napoleon took the bag and untied the noose.

He stretched out his hand and took out a handful of white and slightly yellowish things from the bag.

"This is...!" Napoleon looked at Leclerc hesitantly.

"This is a field ration invented by the Ming Dynasty. They call it fried noodles.

The flour is fried in a pot and some salt is added to it.

There is also beef fat, mutton fat or lard, which is fried and cooked to become this thing.

Because the water is dried out by frying, this stuff is very durable for storage.

Moreover, this kind of bag is easy to carry when you carry it on your back.

It’s just..., the taste is a bit off, too dry!”

Leclerc's introduction piqued Napoleon's interest.

He reached out and grabbed a handful and tried to stuff it into his mouth.

"Cough cough cough...!" A violent coughing sound came.

The fried noodles in your mouth spurted out so far!

Napoleon choked on his fried noodles and coughed until his face turned red.

A group of attendants were frightened and hurriedly gathered around. Some slapped him on the back, and some asked Leclerc what he had given to His Majesty the Emperor.

Others are already looking for guards to arrest Leclerc.

"Water!" Napoleon shouted with difficulty.

"Water...water...!" a group of attendants shouted.

A guard had already ran in and held Leclerc at gunpoint.

Finally someone brought a bowl of water, and Napoleon grabbed it and drank it in a gulp.

In the desert of Egypt, I never drank water like this.

After drinking the water, Napoleon leaned on his chair and panted violently.

"Let him go, all of you, get out." Just after catching his breath, Napoleon shooed away all the attendants and guards like flies.

"Your Majesty the Emperor!"

Leclerc's face turned pale, and he regretted his actions. If he really killed His Majesty the Emperor, his whole family would not be able to survive.

"Don't worry, I just choked. This thing is too... too damn dry." Napoleon, who almost choked on the fried noodles, looked at the package of fried noodles on the table with lingering fear.

"This thing needs to be licked bit by bit with the tongue. Soldiers would grab a handful and lick it slowly when they were resting during the march or when they had nothing to do.

It’s said to be a staple food, but the way it’s eaten is closer to a snack.”

Leclerc said carefully.

"What do you do?" Napoleon drank another glass of water.

"Russian soldiers eat on snow.

One bite of fried noodles and one bite of snow will make it taste less dry.

Some people mix this stuff with snow.

Then put it on a warm place on your chest, and soon the two things will merge together.

It tastes a little weird, but it can fill your stomach."

"The people of Ming Dynasty really thought that this kind of military rations is easy to carry, even more convenient than our bread."

The bread Napoleon was talking about was not the fluffy bread on his table.

It is a baguette that is as hard as a stone. This kind of bread is also baked extremely dry, making it easy to store for a long time.

It's just that eating that food makes your teeth very useless.

Many people have to wet the bread with saliva before they can chew off a layer.

The way to eat it is very disgusting!

"The Russian army likes this kind of military rations very much. They said that before they could only eat potatoes and corn cobs.

Before that, they could only eat bread mixed with sawdust.

This kind of military rations was only distributed more than a month ago."

"Haha! Corn and potatoes must have been supported by the people of Ming Dynasty.
To be continued...