On December 27, more than thirty-eight thousand troops of the Fourth and Fifth Corps crossed the Bessarabian border area into the Duchy of Wallachia.
Perhaps because the Russian Army frequently traversed the Moldavian Duchy over the past few decades, the Moldavians residing in the Moldavian Duchy and the (puppet) ruler, the Grand Duke of Moldavia, chose not to resist. Instead, they allowed Gorchakov's troops to enter the Moldavian Duchy. Many Moldavian merchants even voluntarily followed the Russian Imperial Army providing outsourced services such as selling watered-down wine, moldy black bread, and offering soldiers certain physiological services.
This type of accompanying merchant was already common during the Roman Empire and reached another peak in the early 19th century under Emperor Napoleon.
