Struggle in Russia

The winter in St. Petersburg is always dark and night, and the sunshine for several hours a day makes people feel like the sun has just dawned and then set. This made Li Xiao somewhat uncomfortable, and the dripping water turned into ice, even if he wore a cotton bun, he didn't feel warm.

At this time, Li Xiao understood the ambitions of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, and understood why they wanted to fight south with all their lives. This ghostly place is really not suitable for human living and development.

Of course, in the anti-human Russian winter, it is only the poor who need to worry about sunshine and heating. Wealthy nobles have already had hardworking serfs to cut wood and mine coal, and the hot fireplace will not be extinguished throughout the winter. If you have more money or power, you can go to the warm Black Sea coast or directly go abroad, go to France or Spain to enjoy sunbathing.

For example, Nicholas I would take his family to visit relatives in Prussia in winter (Nicholas I was the son-in-law of King Frederick William III of Prussia), and he would wait until the harshest winter passed by. Return to St. Petersburg.

However, Li Xiao had never enjoyed this kind of treatment. Nicholas I would not let this unsightly nephew interfere with his family visit trip. In previous years, when dripping water turned into ice, Li Xiao would be ordered to stay behind and go to the center of the lawn of the Summer Palace to guard the snow lotus of Catherine the Great.

That was Nicholas I's favorite story. It is said that the emperor did not understand why there was a soldier guarding the snow lotus in the summer palace. After extensive verification, it was discovered that when Catherine the Great was walking in the summer palace in winter, she saw this snow lotus spit out in the heavy snow. Bud, he ordered to take good care of this flower.

Then according to the emperor's order, the snow lotus has been guarded by soldiers. During the great flood in St. Petersburg, even though the flood came but the guards did not receive the evacuation order, they still faithfully performed their mission until they were drowned.

Whether this story is true or not, Li Xiao doesn't know, but he can be sure that at most the part about Catherine the Great is true. As for the foolish soldiers who drowned in the flood, they were definitely fabricated by Nicholas I's henchmen. That guy likes to play this kind of tricks the most, just to make everyone obey him unconditionally.

Li Xiao also knew what it was like to stand on the lawn of the summer palace and drink the northwest wind in the severe cold season. His uncle simply wanted to freeze him to death and make him, the bastard prince, a part of the allusion. Maybe he replaced the soldier who was loyal to his duty and drowned in the flood, and became the idiot Grand Duke who was loyal to Nicholas I to carry out his mission through frost and snow and unfortunately died.

Li Xiao is very glad that he got rid of the Preobrazhensky Guards, otherwise, when the blizzard fell, he would still be freezing on the lawn of the Summer Palace instead of sitting in front of the raging fire drinking cocoa.

"How's the soldier doing? No one has frostbite?" he asked.

"Fortunately, we built a new barracks in time and harvested enough wood. Although the winter clothes are still not satisfactory, the boys have a good ability to withstand the cold, and it will not be a problem to survive this winter!"

Boris rubbed his hands. He had just returned from inspecting the camp, his face was flushed from the cold, and he quickly took two gulps of vodka.

He casually asked, "How's the cram school going?"

Li Xiao held the cup of hot cocoa and sighed: "It's more troublesome than I imagined."

Boris curled his lips and said: "I told you a long time ago, this is not what we should do. This is the army, not a small school. Literacy should be handed over to teachers and churches. This is their job! And I don't I think those mud-legged people have the talent to read and write, and it is enough for them to learn to carry out orders honestly!"

Li Xiao raised his head, glared at the big man, and retorted: "It's not enough. An uneducated soldier has no soul. What I want is elites, not cannon fodder! So I've decided on this cram school!"

Boris shrugged. They had argued about this issue after Li Xiao proposed a cram school. Vishniak also supports his view,

But Li Xiao couldn't be persuaded at all, this person was stubborn to the bone.

"Training class, what is that?"

The follower slammed the door, and two tall and handsome figures broke into the Second Company Headquarters. The leader was the deputy commander Leonid, and behind him was Vishniak with a constipated expression.

Both Li Xiao and Boris were taken aback, and quickly stood up and saluted. It's not that they respect Leonid so much. In fact, the relationship between the two parties is not very good. After all, the thing about the Knights of St. Andrew is still there, and Leonid still has a distinct crown prince label, so everyone is not the same.

But after all, Leonid is the deputy head and the officer. Even if Li Xiao and Boris have no feelings for him, the etiquette on the scene is necessary, otherwise the gendarme colonel Adlerberg who is eyeing him will teach them immediately. How to be a person.

"Deputy Head!"

Leonid replied sternly, and said: "Sit down! You have done a good job. You have prepared firewood for heating in advance, built barracks that are windproof and frost-resistant, and the soldiers have enough winter clothes and bedding. Unlike The other companies started to worry only when it was snowing, several young men were frozen to death, and countless were frostbitten...Damn it!"

Leonid was indeed very angry. Before the heavy snowfall, he repeatedly emphasized the importance of heating work to the battalions, but most of the officers ignored it. Only when the heavy snow fell and the soldiers froze into pieces did they rush to find firewood to build house.

Hey, don't these idiots know that there is no way to do engineering in winter in Russia. The land is frozen hard, and the iron rods can't be moved. How can we build houses?

Only the second battalion was considered good. Battalion commander Vishniak did not disappoint him. He started building houses before the snow fell. The second company even made preparations for the winter a month in advance. When other companies were frozen into ice sculptures and had to hug each other to keep warm, this company actually had the energy to carry out winter training.

I really want to compare goods and throw them away, and people are more popular than others!

Of course, Leonid wasn't just angry, he also blamed himself. He was still not quite used to working at the grassroots level, and underestimated the inertia and slackness of the bastard officers below. If he didn't just send out a reminder notice, but urged him one after another, I'm afraid he wouldn't freeze to death like he is now!

Leonid hated unnecessary casualties and felt that every life was precious, but now he was not much better than those hateful murderers, which made him very uncomfortable who had always claimed to be an elite.

Leonid knew that he had to speed up his adaptation, and he had to be more careful and cautious in the future, so as not to let this tragedy happen again. And he is also a person who will do it when he thinks about it. Since he has insufficient experience, he should ask someone with experience for advice!

Who in the 748th regiment really cares about the situation of the soldiers? Who is more experienced?

Undoubtedly it was Li Xiao's group. So Leonid came to learn the scriptures, but he heard Li Xiao's complaint when he walked to the door, and immediately he began to pay attention to the idea of ​​the cultural cram school.

He asked straightforwardly, "What is this cram school for? What's the use?"