Affected by the heavy casualties of the Russian army, the war on the Asia Minor Peninsula eased, and the coalition forces continued to harass and bomb, but also occasionally landed once in a dozen to cause sabotage.

The Ottoman government wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to counterattack, but unfortunately reality did not allow it. It has just experienced a major defeat, and the losses of personnel and materials are very serious. The Ottoman Empire was inaccessible, and there was no way to complete the replenishment in the short term.

In the Middle East theater of operations, Lieutenant General Fislav is looking at Jerusalem and sighing. Religious cities are trouble, there are too many landmark buildings in them, if you accidentally break them, it will be very troublesome later.

Otherwise, Fislav would have ordered the shelling long ago. The inability to use heavy firepower is only one aspect, he must also control the casualties of the main forces.

The main purpose of military training is to train, Austria is not Russia, and the lives of soldiers can not be taken seriously.

In order to reduce losses, Lieutenant General Fislav used cannon fodder troops to siege the city as much as possible, which also contributed to the slow progress.

The guard reminded, "General, the meeting is about to begin. ”

Fislav nodded, turned and entered the command.

……

A young officer stood up, his face full of sadness, with immature cheeks, no matter how you look at it, it makes people feel awkward.

"General, you can't attack like this. If this continues, the war will not be over, and the army in our hands will be lost first. ”

There is no doubt that the troops commanded by the young officers were used as cannon fodder. Indigenous soldiers had no status in the Austrian army, were not established in normal times, and were recruited only on an ad hoc basis when needed.

Fislav replied with a blank face: "Major Rick, war has always been cruel, and not being afraid of sacrifice is the essence of a soldier, what you have to do is to learn to adapt."

If you are worried about the heavy casualties of the troops, then you have to find a way to reduce the casualties yourself, instead of complaining to me here.

Now that you are in command of a colonial force, we can not care about such casualties. If one day you are in command of a regular army, this casualty figure can already send you to a court-martial. ”

It was cannon fodder that was sacrificed, and Fislav naturally did not care. If the losses of the regular army are so great, he will have to think about how to explain it to the country.

In fact, Franz didn't care about casualties, but they had to be valuable. If it is an officer's decision-making mistake that leads to heavy losses in the troops, even if the war is won, it is still necessary to hold accountable.

In contrast, the status of the cannon fodder troops is much lower, and if they die, they can be recruited again, and the Vienna government will not bother at all.

In this war, with the exception of Jerusalem, the command ability of young officers was cultivated through actual combat, and they were basically all highly equipped.

For example, Rick is a division commander in the colonial forces, or a major, and is not eligible to appear at military meetings.

Rick's young officer hurriedly explained: "No, general, I just don't think there is any point in this blind attack.

In the case that we cannot use heavy artillery, it is difficult for us to achieve results in such a strong attack, and perhaps a more effective way to siege the city is changed.

For example, recruiting young men on the spot, allowing the Ottomans to kill each other, and weakening the morale of the defenders in the city. Or drive people into the city and consume the enemy's food. ”

In fact, these two methods have already been mentioned at previous military conferences. The reason for the rejection is very simple, and that is because of reputation.

In order to make political capital, the Vienna government has shouted the slogan of recovering the Holy Land. The Holy See, which did not look at the loneliness, also spontaneously jumped out and waved its flag and shouted.

A large group of war correspondents who are not afraid of death have come here from the European continent. Every move of the Austrian army was watched by countless people, and Lieutenant General Fislav naturally did not take extreme measures.

Naturally, some people don't understand this approach, everyone's reputation is not good these days, and Austria's methods in the colonial movement are also unclean, so why care about reputation.

After hesitating for a moment, Fislav shook his head: "No, the military is for politics, and the status of Jerusalem is extraordinary, and we must consider the international implications."

If you have more than a third of the casualties in your hands, you can suspend the siege first, we have cut off the water supply, and the people inside will not last long.

This war is an actual combat training, and you will apply what you have learned to the battlefield, and losses will be secondary. ”

It seems to be a relaxed answer, but it is actually full of helplessness. Pinning your hopes on the enemy's lack of preparedness is not what a general should do.

But as reality requires, Fislav had already reported the situation to the Vienna government, and the reply was that it was okay if Jerusalem could not be defeated for a while, and that Austria was not short of time, but its international reputation could not be damaged.

Another young officer proposed: "Why don't we let go and send people to spread rumors and encourage local *** followers to enter Jerusalem to defend the Holy Land."

And if we capture the captives, we can also create an opportunity for them to escape back to Jerusalem. Whether the defenders of the city accept it or not, it will be in our favor. ”

This kind of obscure means seems to be much more civilized.

Fislav nodded: "This is a good suggestion, order the patrol team in the north to release the water, deliberately leaving a gap to allow people to enter and exit."

Then send someone to talk to the local powerful faction, and let them guide the local *** into Jerusalem, and if they don't cooperate, they will directly find an excuse to deal with it.

Regardless of whether the defenders in the city let people into the city or not, send them to the city first. Be careful not to let people find out. ”

……

The blood-red sunset is gradually fading, Russia and Poland are still fighting fiercely, and the battlefield is already a sea of corpses and blood.

In the moment of life and death, the Russians were taken aback by the courage shown by the Polish army. However, this changed the course of the war, and as time went on, the inferiority of the Polish army in strength was gradually revealed.

Night fell, and the darkness blocked the advance of the Russian army, and both sides were forced to withdraw their troops. Crumbling Kyiv held out for another day, and Pretal, as a garrison officer, was exhausted.

With less than one-fifth of the strength of the Russian army, he had been holding the city for a week, and reinforcements had still not arrived. The friendly forces around it have long been defeated, and Kyiv has been reduced to an isolated city.

Dragging his tired body and counting the casualties, Prettal was left with only a sigh.

The Polish government has deployed an infantry division and two garrison regiments in the Kyiv region, with a total strength of 16,000 troops, less than half of which are now capable of fighting.

This is the result of the outbreak of the war, Pretar withstood the pressure and concentrated all the troops in the Kyiv area, otherwise he would not be able to stop the Russian army for a week.

The strategic points outside the city have been almost lost, and the Russian army has entered the city during the day, and if there are no reinforcements, the loss of Kyiv is a doomed result.

Prettal had no illusions about reinforcements, and he just hoped that the government would not waste the lives of the 16,000 defenders.

Late at night, after deploying the garrison, Prettal wrote his last letter, or suicide note, to the Polish government.

The telegram from the Kiev region to Warsaw has been cut off, and now only primitive means of communication can be used, and it is unknown whether the letter will reach the Polish government.

This time Prettal did not call for help, and reason told him that it was very foolish to fight the Russians in the Kiev region.

The best battlefield is in Warsaw, although the losses in the capital can be very large. But without a popular base, it is too difficult to defeat the strong with the weak.

War always requires sacrifice, and in Pretal's view, there is no price that cannot be paid for victory.

Today the defenders of the Kiev region can sacrifice for the country, then tomorrow Warsaw, as the capital, can also make sacrifices.

As one of the leaders of the Polish Revolution, after the independence of Poland, Prettal voluntarily left the center of power and chose to guard the most unpopular Kiev front.

When this decision was made, he was ready to sacrifice for his country. The Russian Empire was difficult to deal with, and the tsarist government made a comeback, as many expected.

It's just that this time came too early, and Poland did not recover after independence, and after just a few years, it was reduced to fish again.

……

In Warsaw, when Prime Minister Dombrovsky received Pretar's suicide note, the news of the fall of the Kiev region and Pretar's suicide also came, pulling out the last nail, and the Russians pointed straight at the Sluch River.

Putting down the letter in his hand, Dombrovsky shook his head. In his opinion, Prettal was too idealistic, and it would be good if the Kingdom of Poland could hold on to it at this point.

Instead of fantasizing about concentrating forces to inflict heavy losses on the Russian army in the Warsaw area, it is better to count on the arrival of Prussian reinforcements soon.

Just one day before the fall of Kiev, the Polish parliament had elected Wilhelm I as king, and the confluence of Pubo was a foregone conclusion.

By the time the war had been waged, the Kingdom of Poland had already lost. In this short period of half a month, the Kingdom of Poland has lost 80,000 troops and a fifth of its territory.

Someone is always responsible for the defeat of the war, and as the loser, Dombrovsky, the interim prime minister, is not far from the day when he will resign.

There was no way, under the pressure of the Russians, all sectors of Polish society advocated a compromise with the Prussians in exchange for the Berlin government to send troops to protect them.

In these years of political career, Dombrovsky has not been in vain, and he is no longer the simple revolutionary he was at the beginning.

Based on an analysis of the current situation, he knew that there was a secret deal between Prussia and Russia. It is impossible for the Berlin government not to know the truth, but the fact that the Prussians are still slow is enough to say a lot.

What will end the war is no longer up to the Polish government to decide. It is estimated that when the Russians get the agreed territory, it will be time for everyone to sit down and negotiate.

The intervention of the international community saw only thunder but no rain. If Britain and France really wanted to intervene in this war, then they would directly send troops to the Baltic Sea to threaten St. Petersburg, and the tsarist government would make a compromise.