The Anglo-French-Saudi-Turkish Four-Nation Alliance Army halted on the northern bank of the Alma River, and then arranged themselves into 2-3 rows, with each company positioned approximately 2-3 meters apart.

From Kurgan Mountain and Telegraph Hill on the southern bank looking towards the north bank, one could clearly see the seemingly endless formation.

Even soldiers with unwavering confidence in the Russian Empire could not help but feel a surge of fear towards the over hundred thousand troops of the Allied Forces on the southern bank.

As for the generals of the Russian Empire, they held a different perspective entirely.

Prince Menshikov, serving as the dual governor of Crimea and the Caucasus, after enduring a wave of surprise attacks, found his confidence unprecedentedly reinforced. He believed that with over 50,000 troops at his command, he could certainly defend for several weeks!

As long as he could hold out until His Majesty Nicholas I sent reinforcements, he could coordinate a pincer movement with the arriving troops to crush the Allied Forces, ensuring they understand the might they face.

The generals under Prince Menshikov's command lacked any understanding of the Four-Nation Army of England, France, Sardinia, and Turkey, confidently believing that as long as the Allied Forces dared approach, it would spell their doom.

They were certain that the weak Allied Forces could not be a match for the great Russian Empire in bayonet clashes, and all they needed to do was wait on Kurgan Mountain for one wave of Allied Forces after another to come to their deaths.

Thus, the lower-ranked soldiers of the Russian Empire were unaware of the mindset of the upper-ranked officers, while the upper-ranked officers had no interest in understanding the thoughts of the lower-ranked soldiers. This disconnect between ranks foreshadowed the failure the Russian Empire would eventually face.

Meanwhile, on the Allied Forces' side, General Pelissey, Commander of France, observed the situation on the southern bank of the Alma River through his binoculars before quickly returning to a wooden hut near the seaside.

Inside the hut, General Pelissey saw Brigadier General Troche, who was leading a group of General Staff officers to add details to the map of the southern bank of the Alma River. General Pelissey's arrival prompted Brigadier General Troche to momentarily pause his work and salute, saying, "Commander Pelissier!"

"Hmm!" Pelissey nodded calmly, then asked Troche, "How far along is your redrawn map of Crimea?"

"This version of the map is mostly corrected, but it's missing some parameters!" Brigadier General Troche replied to Pelissey.

"What parameters?" Pelissey inquired of Brigadier General Troche.

"The deployment of Russian Imperial troops and the position of the artillery!" Brigadier General Troche responded to Pelissey.

"What method do you plan to use to obtain this information? Our troops can't easily approach Alma! The enemy's cannons are constantly aiming at us!" Pelissey questioned Brigadier General Troche.

"Commander, we don't need to get close!" Brigadier General Troche replied to General Pelissey, "Please follow me!"

Saying this, Brigadier General Troche left the hut, followed by General Pelissey.

Guided by Brigadier General Troche, General Pelissey arrived at an open area where there lay colorful tattered fabric, a "fire basket," and a basket large enough for two people.

"What is this..." General Pelissey asked Brigadier General Troche, looking at the pile of junks before him.

"Commander, please wait a moment!" Brigadier General Troche replied to General Pelissey, then ordered the engineers in the clearing to assemble all the scraps that Pelissey saw.

It took nearly an hour for dozens of soldiers from the Paris Institute of Technology to finally assemble the pile of "junk."

When the engineers ignited the fuel inside the metal brazier, the fabric seemed to be imbued with some force, billowing up.

"What is this..." Pelissey expressed surprise as he watched the scene unfold.

"Commander, this is a hot air balloon!" Brigadier General Troche introduced the principle and uses of the hot air balloon to Pelissey.

Hearing Brigadier General Troche's introduction, Pelissey couldn't help but marvel, "What a great invention! Who on earth invented this thing?"

"The person who invented it has long since died during the time of poor King Louis XVI!" Brigadier General Troche shrugged as he responded to General Pelissey.

"Honestly, why didn't anyone think of using this method for reconnaissance before?" Pelissey muttered to himself.

"Because it's easy to let this thing float, but getting it down is difficult! If not careful, lives could be lost!" Brigadier General Troche explained to Pelissey.

Due to the uncertainties of manned hot air balloons, this technology had fallen into a complete halt after Louis XVI.

"Lives? In the army, lives are the least of concerns!" Pelissey replied indifferently to Brigadier General Troche, then gazed obsessively at the small device in front of him, saying, "This thing will be of immense help to us, even if it means losing an entire company!"

Then, Pellissier gave Brigadier General Troche the order to take to the skies, and a manned hot air balloon carrying staff members soared into the air.

To prevent the hot air balloon from being blown into the Russian Empire's camp by the wind, Brigadier General Troche deliberately attached a rope to the gondola of the balloon, allowing ground personnel to control the balloon and keep it within the Allies' control.

The manned hot air balloon slowly ascended, soon reaching a height of over 600 meters. The personnel on the balloon used binoculars to observe the Russian Imperial Army on the south bank of the Alma River, while also marking the positions of the Russian Empire's soldiers on the south bank of the Alma River.

The soldiers stationed on the south bank of the Alma River were greatly astonished when they saw the hot air balloon and exclaimed, "Oh! My God! Look at that!"

Once the first Russian Empire soldier discovered the staff on the manned balloon, he immediately informed the soldier next to him, and then it spread rapidly. The soldiers on Kurgan Mountain and Telegraph Hill also spotted the manned balloon, with many attempting to shoot it down using muskets, only to find that the bullets could not reach the personnel on the balloon.

Although Prince Menshikov knew that the floating object in the sky was likely there to relay their troop deployments to the Allies on the ground, he had no way to intervene. At this moment, his troops could not undertake any large-scale maneuvers, as any movement might be a precursor to collapse.

Twenty minutes passed, and after recording all the deployments in Alma, the staff waited quietly for the hot air balloon to descend.

The flames on the brazier weakened over time, causing the manned hot air balloon to gradually lower.

After twenty-five minutes, the gondola gently touched down on the ground, and Commander Pellissier and Brigadier General Troche applauded the brave individual before them.

The staff member smiled shyly and then handed over the Alma deployment records he had captured from the sky to Brigadier General Troche.

Commander Pellissier and Brigadier General Troche returned once more to the cabin, where Brigadier General Troche shared the deployment situation across the Alma River with the other staff inside the cabin.

The staff responsible for the Crimea Peninsula began to act, adding military units to the drawn up plans.

After quietly waiting for more than an hour, Commander Pellissier finally had the map of the Alma River placed in front of him by the expeditionary army's staff department.

Brigadier General Troche proposed to Pellissier, "Given the severe shortage of Russian Imperial troops in the Telegraph Hill area, our suggestion is to use part of our forces to attack Kurgan Mountain, creating the impression of a full-scale assault on Kurgan Mountain. This will effectively pin down the troops Menshikov has deployed there, while allowing us to redeploy some forces to form a pincer movement from the left and right flanks..."

"Very well said!" Pellissier praised Brigadier General Troche enthusiastically.

He then took the plan provided by Brigadier General Troche and returned to the front-line troops.

At this moment, Pellissier was unaware that during his tactical discussion with Brigadier General Troche, the Russian Imperial Army on Kurgan Mountain and the British Army on the north bank of the Alma River had already begun their first engagement.

This was Commander Largren's first, and only instance of unilaterally attacking the Russian Empire's positions without consultation with the French Empire. In this attack, the Kingdom of Britain deployed a brigade (with actual combat numbers around the size of a battalion), and they faced the Kazan Infantry Brigade deployed by the Russian Empire on Kurgan Mountain.

As the battle commenced, nearly a hundred heavy cannons surrounding the Kazan Infantry Brigade (some of which were ship cannons dismantled for this purpose) fiercely attacked in the direction of Britain. The Kingdom of Britain was not to be outdone, using 6-pounder cannons to launch an attack on the Kazan Infantry Brigade at the Dome Fort.

After both sides exchanged hundreds of artillery rounds, the Kazan Infantry Brigade at the Dome Fort suffered only a dozen casualties due to the protection of trenches, while the British Army exposed near the Alma River also suffered only over a hundred casualties (equivalent to the size of half a company).

Previously fearsome artillery had now gradually turned into a deterrent weapon, with fewer soldiers dying by cannon and more by rifle.

Of course, this was only the case at longer distances. In close proximity and with no cover, artillery remained the God of War.

The roaring artillery did not halt the advance of the British Army. The Kingdom of Britain continued to move towards the banks of the Alma River in rigid formations of three lines.

Once the first company waded across the Alma River to reach the north bank, the subsequent forces began to construct planks on the banks of the Alma River.

The Kazan Infantry Brigade at the Dome Fort, noticing the planks on the Alma River and the cavalry artillery units at the back of the infantry column, immediately recognized the intention of the British opposite. They wanted to construct a bridge on the Alma River for the cavalry artillery to advance.

Of course, the Kazan Infantry Brigade would not allow the British Army to succeed so easily. They promptly sought help from the surrounding artillery units. This time, the artillery finally did not adhere to the edge-shooting method during duels, and they fired loaded shells at the planks and British soldiers at the foot of the mountain.

Dozens of shells savagely landed on the Alma River, with two notably hitting the floating bridge, which was half constructed, tearing it to pieces in an instant.

The situation was equally dire for the British soldiers at the foot of the mountain. Solid cannonballs slammed into their neatly arranged columns at close range, causing massive casualties. The previously orderly "red line" gradually became twisted, and many soldiers instinctively began to retreat. Observing this, Commander Largren quickly ordered his subordinates to sound the horn for withdrawal.

[P.S.: Because the soldiers of the Kingdom of Britain wore red uniforms and liked to launch attacks in columns, they were referred to as the "red line."]

The British soldiers who crossed the Alma River retreated like a tide.

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