Chapter 203 The Lesson of Blood

Snowflakes are flying, another winter is coming. Wrapped in a layer of silver, Vienna has become extraordinarily pleasant this winter.

Schönbrunn Palace

Metternich reported: "Your Majesty, the British and French ministers have forwarded the Ottomans' truce negotiation letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It seems that the Sudanese government is preparing for the aftermath."

This does not surprise Franz. Now that the war is over, the Ottomans are the ones who suffer the most, followed by the Russians. The losses of Britain and France are all drizzle and not worth mentioning.

Without strength, everything is empty. In the future, it is inevitable for the Ottomans to shrink their sphere of influence. Taking advantage of the support of Britain and France, ending the war with Austria ahead of schedule, it is more in their interests to shrink their forces and go back to beat the Greeks.

Franz thought for a while and said, "According to our original plan, we will talk to the Ottomans slowly, and first find out their bottom line."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Metternich replied

The second Bulgarian battle has been fought so far, and both sides have been exhausted. In recent days of high-intensity operations, the soldiers' war weariness is increasing day by day, and the morale of both sides of the war will inevitably decline.

Except for the Greeks who had just entered the war, and the Montenegrins who were dazzled by the victory, the rest were holding on.

It was obvious that the Russians had the upper hand, and Franz knew very well that this was just an appearance, and it was a lose-lose battle.

Just look at the Russian casualties. After more than four months of fierce fighting, the Russian casualties have exceeded 170,000.

Among them, only less than 60,000 people died directly, and the remaining more than 100,000 wounded, because they did not receive treatment in time, and because of lack of medical care and medicine, they finally survived less than eight layers.

First aid on the battlefield does not exist. There are very few medical soldiers in the Russian army. They can only guarantee the life safety of the officers. As for the soldiers, sorry, there is no time!

The gray animals are worthless, and they can only be simply bandaged when they are injured, and then the soldiers will slowly boil them.

The Russian army has not conducted battlefield first aid training, so it is more appropriate to bind wounds rather than bandages. There is no professional medical gauze, no disinfection, just find a piece of cloth and wrap it up.

Not to mention the seriously wounded, it is impossible to survive at all, and it is directly counted among the dead.

Many lightly wounded people were only hit by bullets on non-vital parts such as arms and thighs. They could have survived as long as they received proper wound treatment, but also died because of poor treatment.

In the Principality of Wallachia, the field emergency hospital opened by Franz is very busy now. Every day, the wounded Russian soldiers retire, and then they come to the hospital as soon as possible.

"Going to a doctor" is a gold-plated term. It is nothing more than cleaning the wound, disinfecting it, and then dressing it up again, and randomly prescribing some medicines with unknown efficacy.

The real life-saving is to clean the wound and disinfect it to avoid inflammation and infection. The medicines in the back mainly play a psychological role and make money by the way.

From the front line to the rear, after several days without dying, they are not seriously wounded. As long as the wound is not infected, they can basically survive.

These Russian soldiers didn't know it. They only saw that after the first aid, the mortality rate dropped rapidly, and they thought that everyone in the hospital was a genius doctor.

In fact, most of these medical staff are soldiers who have only received first aid training on the battlefield. Franz used the Russian wounded as guinea pigs to exercise their professional abilities.

Drugs depend on the situation. You get what you get for every penny. The sky-high price drugs must have an effect. Franz still has this little bit of integrity.

There is no need to expect cheap medicines, either various experimental medicines or made from flour + vegetables.

Among the cheap medicines, the most effective is decoction. It's a pity that this thing is considered by many people to be witchcraft, and most Russian soldiers are reluctant to drink it.

Moreover, this medicine was not intended to treat wounds in the first place, and there was no immediate effect, so it did not attract everyone's attention.

Nicholas I was still a good tsar. At least he also paid for the medical expenses of the soldiers. Of course, don't expect him to spend much money. The package price is ten rubles per wounded, and he will pay if he survives. (Silver rubles are about half a tael of silver)

For this amount of money, it is naturally impossible to expect any good service. Except for a few who can afford to pay out of pocket, most people enjoy the simplest treatment.

For example, if you want to perform an operation to remove the shrapnel from the wound, you don't have to think about it if you don't have a hundred rubles. There are too few people capable of doing this kind of surgery, and the price is naturally high.

Originally, Franz planned to outsource first aid on the battlefield, but considering that the risks on the battlefield were too great, and the tsarist government was unwilling to spend a lot of money, it was naturally impossible to negotiate.

Such a terrible casualty rate, even if the rear is constantly replenished, the combat effectiveness of the army will inevitably be affected.

In theory, after these wounded are cured and re-armed on the battlefield, all veterans will be more effective in combat.

It is a pity that the Russians are very bureaucratic and do not do a good job in the ideological work of the soldiers. Most of the wounded soldiers are reluctant to return to the battlefield, and some even bribe medical staff to delay the recovery time.

This is the case with the Russians, and the opposing coalition is even worse. The Ottoman Empire was incapable of providing medical care, even when fighting at home.

The casualties of the British army were not large, and they did not attract domestic attention. The angel who pioneered first aid in the field has not yet arrived at the front line.

Without first aid on the battlefield, it can only be left to fate and blessed by God or ***.

This is why the British and French commanders forced the Ottomans to be cannon fodder. To reduce casualties

, they can only die as a fellow Daoist and not as a poor Daoist.

The teacher who never forgets the past, and the lessons of the Near Eastern War, Franz naturally has to learn.

Franz asked the General Staff to summarize these messy things, and the cases on the battlefield were distributed to every commander and fighter.

The experience and lessons of logistics are also shared by all government departments, and relevant professional knowledge training and learning are also organized. In short, the same thing cannot happen in Austria.

In order to better implement these problems, the Austrian government has implemented the dual responsibility system of leadership and direct responsible person in the logistics department. If there is a problem in any link, then the relevant responsible person will go to the military court together.

Franz said cautiously: "Your Excellency Marshal, the General Staff will finalize the final westward operation plan as soon as possible, this time we are racing against time.

The army had to take Munich in a week, Bavaria in a month, and South Germany in two months.

If time is too late, we will also extend our tentacles to the central region of Germany, occupy favorable terrain, and lay the foundation for the future. "

The terrain of the German region is very complex: the North German region is a plain, with an average elevation of less than 100 meters; the Middle German region is a mountainous, highland from east to west; the Rhine Fault Valley region in the southwest is flanked by mountains and has steep valley walls; The regions are the Bavarian Plateau and the Alps.

This brought inconvenience to Austria's military operations. The best option for a quick solution was to attack along the Danube. All problems were not a problem.

If the enemy blocks the river, the challenge will come. To sweep the land of more than 100,000 square kilometers from the land attack, the challenge is indispensable.

Fortunately, these areas have been fully developed, and the South German region is a plateau, not a mountainous area, otherwise this task would not have been completed at all.

(Remarks: Plateau refers to an area with an altitude of more than 500 meters, flat terrain, and a vast enemy area with certain ups and downs)

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Marshal Radesky replied confidently

...

When Austria was making the final preparations, Napoleon III also made a decision-to increase troops.

There is no way, Napoleon III participated in this war not only because of France's interests in the Near East, but also to gain political prestige.

Had the Russians been victorious, his throne would have been unstable. The French people are not patient masters. If they cannot produce satisfactory results, another revolution is not a bad idea.

If it weren't for the sudden outbreak of a political crisis in the London government, the British and French forces would have marched into the Crimea Peninsula at this time.

Although the army did not move, the navy had already moved. Beginning at the end of November 1852, the British, French, and Ottoman navies continued to bombard Russian port cities along the Black Sea coast, causing thousands of casualties to the Russians.

In the face of the unbridled bombardment by Britain and France, those who dared to stay were all warriors. Apparently such warriors were few, and a large number of Russians fled inland.

St. Petersburg

When the British and French bombarded the coastal areas, Nicholas I was really angry. It is simply outrageous that Britain and France are so shameless and shoot directly at the civilians.

Civilian casualties are nothing, and there are now hundreds of thousands of refugees on the issue, waiting for relief from the Tsarist government.

Fortunately, the Ukrainian region is a grain-producing area, otherwise human tragedy will appear again. No, it has already appeared.

The inefficiency of the Russian bureaucracy was revealed at this time. Facing the influx of refugees, local officials did not take effective measures and were very mechanically waiting for orders from St. Petersburg.

The consequences are of course serious, St. Petersburg is so far away, the tsar's order has not yet come down, and the rebellion of the starving people has broken out.

It can't be called a rebellion. These people didn't rebel, they just went around grabbing food, and they haven't attacked the city yet.

In suppressing the rebellion, the bureaucrats have rarely been efficient. There are still many Russian troops in Ukraine waiting to reinforce the Balkan battlefield. Now it is naturally not a problem to suppress the rebellion.

The unorganized uprising of the hungry people was extinguished at the very beginning.

Of course, these Nicholas I don't know, maybe they will never know, no official will use this little thing to trouble the great Tsar's majesty.

Nicholas I asked: "The enemy has been attacking our coastal cities for so long, do you have nothing to do? What is the Black Sea Fleet doing to eat, why is it not playing any role!"

The Admiralty said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the Black Sea Fleet was severely damaged in the battle with the enemy, and there are only a few small boats left, which are no longer able to fight."

The statement that the vitality is greatly damaged is very conservative, and it may be more appropriate to use the entire army to annihilate. Facing the siege of the British, French, and Ottoman navies, the Black Sea Fleet was simply powerless.

Originally, the Admiralty thought that the enemy would not dare to kill them by hiding in the port and being protected by fortress artillery. Unexpectedly, these "advanced" fortress guns simply cannot be used normally.

Since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, there has been no threat of foreign enemies along the Black Sea coast. Naturally, the rotten bureaucrats of the tsarist government can save what they can, and the shore artillery has become a fake. Either the product of the last century, or the product of the last century, and there are many more shoddy products.

After some probing, the British and French navies bluntly launched an attack. After struggling for a while, the Black Sea Fleet made a heroic sacrifice.

This is nothing to be ashamed of. The British and French navies have joined forces with no country in the world to resist. The Black Sea Fleet did not surrender to the enemy, which is enough to show their heroism.

.

Mainly because there is no chance of surrender, it will be finished directly. Since Menshkov entered the navy, the Russian navy has been standing still for decades, and now it has fallen behind the enemy by two eras.

(A ruthless man who dares to use the army code and practice the navy)

"Humph!"

Nicholas I gave a cold drink, expressing his dissatisfaction.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Karl Woossel persuaded: "Your Majesty, we can only give up these cities first, as long as we can conquer Constantinople and block the Bosphorus Strait, this kind of thing will not happen again. It won't happen either."

At this moment, the tsarist government's desire for Constantinople increased again, and they experienced the terrible consequences of losing sea power.

Nicholas I nodded, he was not really angry that the Black Sea Fleet was finished. He had expected this outcome from the day Britain and France entered the war.

What really pissed him off was how corrupt the government bureaucracy was when the defenses along the coast were weak and didn't cause any trouble for the enemy.

The problem is the problem. Now is the time of war, domestic stability is overwhelming, and Nicholas I cannot purge the bureaucracy at this time.

"Has the loss been counted?" Nicholas I asked with concern

"Your Majesty, it's just a preliminary count. We have hoarded strategic materials in coastal areas out of ten. About 300,000 people have been displaced, and the direct economic loss has exceeded 200 million rubles." replied

Obviously, Aristan Lirod did not expect that the people below would dare to act so daringly. Even if the warehouse where they hoarded strategic materials was exposed, the enemy would not be able to hit so accurately?

Even if it is a fixed target, the navy's hit rate is not high, and it is not possible to blow up all their material warehouses in a short time.

Do you really think the enemy's shells don't cost money?

Nicholas I sneered and said: "Check, send someone to investigate me!"

Even if you can't move them now, isn't there a word called "Qiuhou Reckoning"? The Tsar is very vengeful, remember these issues first, and there will be time to settle in the future.