Chapter 909 When the Airship Meets the Plane

On November 1, 1890, Archduke Albrecht and Leopold II had a historic meeting in Cologne, and the two sides had an in-depth exchange on anti-French issues.

Well, these are official statements. The real situation is that after the collapse of the Luxembourg defense line, the situation in Belgium followed the erosion, and Leopold II could no longer hold the scene and had to go into exile.

Stick to Brussels and think about it. With the strength of Belgium, there is simply no ability to persevere under the storm of the French.

However, the situation did not reach despair. Although the Luxembourg defense line collapsed, the German Confederation suffered heavy losses, and Belgium was about to fall, it still did not change the fact that the anti-French war had just begun.

In essence, this war was created by France and Austria in order to compete for hegemony on the European continent.

Belgium's strategic location and the resources of the German Federal Rhineland region are the source of their involvement.

Bieder suffered heavy losses, but Austria, the leading big brother, still had the strength. On the southern front, the Austrian army still had an advantage; on the African battlefield, Austria even pressed the French to the ground and ravaged them.

It's just that the Austrian army on the southern front did not make a substantial breakthrough, and the African battlefield was not taken seriously by everyone. Everyone focused their attention on the Central European battlefield, and they felt that the French had the upper hand.

Before the time when he had to work hard, Leopold II was not a reckless man. After receiving the assurance of Archduke Albrecht, he decisively chose a strategic shift.

The war has gone on to the present, and the fate of Leopold II, or the fate of Belgium, has been tied to Austria.

By winning the war, Belgium could recover all the losses from the French, possibly even taking a small step forward; if the war was lost, Leopold II would be a full member of the army in exile.

If you open the history book, you will find that in the history of the European continent, there have been more than 100 royal families in exile, but very few can be restored. Most of the royal families have disappeared in the long river of history.

What happened behind this, others do not know, but Leopold II has heard of it.

What exactly happened may have been unclear. Anyway, except for a few royal families who are naturally extinct, most of them are extinct.

Of course, behind these tragic characters, there are always tricks to die. The content is so brainless that the plot of a general novel would not dare to describe it that way.

In this political system in Europe, the king will not die as long as he does not die.

Napoleon is an example. Playing so much is just exile, and the Bonaparte dynasty has not been wiped out.

From the standpoint of Leopold II, sticking to Brussels is to die. On the battlefield, guns and guns have no eyes, but they do not distinguish between high and low status, and they are not responsible.

This is not the most critical, the king does not need to go to the battlefield, and the chance of being accidentally injured is still very low.

The key is that the French have motives to kill him. If France wants to annex Belgium, he will be an eyesore as a king.

Kingslaughter is very serious in Europe. If you don't solve it on the battlefield, the French will have no way to do it afterwards.

The Kingdom of Sardinia is a ready-made example. The royal family, which was released under international pressure at the time, has now jumped out to block them.

Politics was bloody, and Leopold II dared not gamble on the integrity of the French. Moreover, it is not necessarily only the French who want him to be finished.

In addition to domestic opponents, the British and Austrians are also likely to attack.

Although Leopold II and the British royal family belonged to the family, and they were in-laws with the Austrian royal family, the reality has proved that in the face of national interests, any kinship is unreliable.

...

Reassuring Leopold II, Archduke Albrecht breathed a sigh of relief. In his opinion, being a king's ideological work is more troublesome than fighting a war.

Regardless of Belgium's strength, they were all members of the anti-French alliance. If Leopold II surrendered to the French at a moment's notice, Austria's political losses would be too great.

According to Franz the Great, the essence of war is to make allies more and enemies less.

In order to achieve this goal, even Montenegro and Greece, which could only play soy sauce, were forcibly pulled into the chariot by the Vienna government.

Of course, they can't be counted on on the battlefield. But it is politically necessary. The more countries that participate, the more it will prove that the war of aggression launched by the French is unpopular.

As long as there are more participating countries, when the international community defines this war in the future, Austria must be just and one that does not treat any flaws.

...

"Uuuuuu..."

The air defense siren suddenly sounded, and Archduke Albrecht frowned and instructed the guard, "Go out and see, what happened?"

French airships are rampant, and Archduke Albrecht has long heard of it, but this is the first time he has experienced it personally.

Don't look at Austria's first use of airships in war, in fact, the French are the originators of airships. As early as 1784, the French built the first airship.

Many people will not believe it. The world's first airship is not bad except for the power system and the high danger.

It is 15.6 meters long and has a maximum diameter of 9.6 meters. After being filled with hydrogen, it can generate more than 1,000 kilograms of lift and last for seven hours of flight time.

After Austria used airships in the war, European countries realized the importance of airships and began to install troops one after another.

However, this thing, after all, is a high-tech product, and the cost is very expensive, and only a few big countries are really capable of large-scale equipment.

After the outbreak of the anti-French war, the French airship force showed great power, easily defeated the airships of the two countries, and seized the air supremacy on the battlefield in one fell swoop.

These days, the range of air defense weapons is limited, and the accuracy depends on luck. As long as the airship does not lower the flight altitude, it is still very safe.

Of course, the high-altitude bombing is safe, and the hit rate is also very touching. The record is all blessed by God.

After a while, the guard returned to Hui and reported: "Marshal, the enemy airship is here, and it seems to be investigating intelligence."

"Humph!"

After a cold drink, Archduke Albrecht said expressionlessly: "I see!

The order went on, and the engineer corps was ordered to rush to work immediately and complete the airport construction in the shortest time. "

...

Colonel Lane was shocked and said: "What, let's go to repair the airship? Major, are you mistaken, we are not engineers."

The young officer explained helplessly: "Sorry, Colonel Lane. Our engineering troops are insufficient, and we can't recruit enough civilians in a short period of time. Now you are the only ones left without tasks."

Austria's vanguard is naturally the main force, and there are only a very small number of engineers. Most of these people are junior engineers trained in batches, mainly to solve the problem of position and road traffic.

Originally, the labor issue had been coordinated, and the German Confederation provided the people. However, the Luxembourg line of defense suddenly collapsed, losing not only a large number of troops, but also a large number of civilians.

Most of these civilians are young laborers from the local area. If you want to continue recruiting civilians, you must have enough young people in the local area.

Finally, the glorious and great task of repairing the airport fell to the Bremen Legion that had just completed its reorganization.

There was no accident. The Bremen Legion only had one battalion. Colonel Ryan, who had the highest rank and had combat experience, became the battalion commander.

The order has been given. Whether he wants it or not, Colonel Lane must accept the reality of becoming a sapper.

Not only the Bremen Army Corps, but also the units that were reorganized in the future have been converted into engineers one after another, those who build roads and those who dig trenches.

combat mission?

Archduke Albrecht said that he was not insane, and he knew very well how rubbish the combat effectiveness of this temporarily reorganized army was.

Not only is the morale of the army depleted, but even the training of the soldiers is seriously insufficient. What's more troublesome is that many officers are children of nobles who are temporarily recruited.

It is true that the nobles in the German region have a tradition of joining the army, but this does not mean that all the children of nobles are qualified officers.

Not all states have military schools, and not all children of nobles have attended military schools. Many children of nobles have only received family military education, and all kinds of combat experience and concepts are stuck in the last century.

Sending such troops to the battlefield can't be counted on except to increase the enemy's record.

It is okay to pit teammates, but not to pit one's own people. Since these guys are willing to accept the reorganization, it means that they recognize Austria.

These people are the ties of future Austrian domination of North Germany. In order to strengthen the connection with the local area, Archduke Albrecht could not let these noble children die in large numbers.

...

At this moment, Colonel Ryan, who knows nothing, is bringing his troops to sweat for the construction of the airport.

Looking at the large area of ​​hardened land, Colonel Lane said regretfully: "Captain Henry, it is not necessary to harden all of it, it is too extravagant."

Concrete is not cheap these days, and the cost of hardening dozens of hectares of land at one time is not a small sum.

Captain Henry shook his head: "It's to hurry now, in fact, the construction of this airport is not qualified at all.

But this is also temporary, make do with it first, and then rebuild it later. "

It is a fact that the airport is not finished with a dam. Temporary stop, but it can make do.

"Airport, what is that? Didn't you say repair the airship?"

Colonel Lane asked suspiciously.

It's not that he is ignorant. Not many people know about planes these days, and even fewer people know about airports.

Realizing the slip of the tongue, Captain Henry replied coldly: "Colonel, you should have recited the secrecy regulations of the army, and don't ask what you shouldn't ask."

Whether "airport" belongs to the category of secrecy is not clear to Captain Henry. Anyway, no gag order was issued, nor did Colonel Lane be informed of the news.

In the case of confusion, Captain Henry will naturally not explain. As for the difference in military rank between the two sides, that's not a problem.

Didn't you see that during the construction of the airport, all the captains were commanding the colonels?

In other places, this kind of thing is absolutely impossible, but in the field of technology, this kind of thing is commonplace.

Professional things are done by professionals. This is a major feature of the Austrian army. Therefore, the highest person in charge of the airport construction is the experienced Captain Henry.

After a boring discussion, Colonel Lane turned his head and urged the soldiers to work, ignoring the rigid engineer.

...