The Bessarabian Campaing (M&B With Fire and Sword)

After a successful revolution and after securing peace with the Poles, Tsar Zephyr Zapadrus' decided to deal with his last enemies, the Crimean Khanate.

Izmail
Leaving his marshal and army in Crimea, the Tsar himself moved into Bessarabia. His first goal was the ill-defended Izmail Fortess. The Tsar passed unexpected through Cossack-controlled Ukraine and appeared near this north Bessarabian fort without friend or foe realizing

Though the Tsar was outnumbered, the Crimean army lacked quality. The Moscuvity army also first tried the prototype tactic of igniting the walls with explosives. Until then, ladders were used for that purpose. Destroying the wall, the veteran and well equipped Russians overran the fortress, which fell with the first attack.

Akkerman
The next goal was the strategic city of Akkerman in south Bessarabia. The city had a greater garrison and better defenses than Izmail, however the explosives blew up the wall once again. Immediately after that, though, the Moscuvity troops were met with wooden barricades, however gunfire and a frontal assault pushed the Crimeans back.

The tide of the battle was turned when the Tsar was shot and injured, and so the troops retreated. Soon however, they launched another attack which took the city. It would serve as a base for Moscuvite actions in Bessarabia

Kiliburn
Kiliburn Fortress was the last objective of the campaing, it's position in eastern Bessarabia was the eastern border of the Bessarabian exclave. With the walls failing to break from an explosion, ladders were used to climb the walls. With initial successes, the strike team was cornered and killed, with the Tsar escaping severely wounded.

A new explosive broke the wall and the fort was taken.

Aftermath
The campaing distracted the Crimean armies, who retaliated to take back the castles, and led to a Moscuvite advance in Crimea that led to the siege of Perekop