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

Well, these are official rhetoric. The real situation is that after the collapse of the Luxembourg line, the situation in Belgium was eroded, and Leopold II could no longer control the field and had to go into exile.

Just think about it. With the strength of Belgium, it simply did not have the ability to hold out under the strong attack of the French.

However, the situation did not reach a time of despair, although the Luxembourg defense line collapsed, the German Confederation suffered heavy losses, and Belgium was about to fall, but it still could not change the fact that the war against France had just begun.

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

The strategic location of Belgium and the resources of the Rhineland region of the German Confederation are the root cause of their involvement.

Bede suffered heavy losses, but Austria, the leading big brother, was still strong. On the southern front, the Austrians also had the upper hand; On the battlefield in Africa, 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, and everyone focused on the Central European battlefield, so they felt that the French had the upper hand.

Before the time came when he had to fight desperately, Leopold II was not a reckless man, and after receiving the assurances of the Grand Duke Albrecht, he decisively chose a strategic shift.

By the time the war had progressed, the fate of Leopold II, or Belgium, had been tied to Austria.

Having won this war, the losses paid by Belgium could be recovered from the French, and it was even possible to take a small step forward; If the war was lost, Leopold II would have been a full-fledged member of the exiled army.

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

What happened behind the scenes, no one else knows, but Leopold II has heard about it.

It may not be clear what exactly has been experienced. Anyway, except for a few royal families who are naturally extinct, most of them are extinct.

Of course, behind these tragic figures, there are indispensable tricks to die. The content is brainless, and the general plot doesn't dare to describe it like that.

In a political system like Europe, as long as the king does not die, he does not die.

Napoleon is an example of this, he played so well and was only exiled, and the Bonaparte dynasty was not destroyed.

From the standpoint of Leopold II, to hold on to Brussels is to die. There are no eyes on the battlefield, but there is no distinction between high and low status, and it is still the kind that is not responsible.

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

The point is that the French have a motive to kill him, France wants to annex Belgium, and he, the king, is an eyesore.

The killing of kings is very serious in Europe, and if you don't deal with him on the battlefield, the French won't be able to do it afterwards.

The Kingdom of Sardinia is a ready-made example of this, where the royal family, which had been released under international pressure, now jumped out to block them.

Politics was bloody, and Leopold II did not dare to bet on the festiveness of the French. Besides, the French are not necessarily the only ones who want him to finish.

In addition to opponents at home, the British and Austrians are equally likely to be hacked.

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

……

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

Regardless of the strength of Belgium, they were part of the anti-French alliance, and if Leopold II could not think of surrendering to the French for a while, Austria would have suffered a great political loss.

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

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

Of course, they can't be counted on the battlefield anymore. But politically, the more countries participated, the more it proved that the war of aggression launched by the French was unpopular.

As long as there are more countries involved, when the international community defines this war in the future, Austria must be just and unblemished.

……

"Woo woo woo ......"

The air defense siren suddenly sounded, and Archduke Albrecht frowned, and ordered the guards: "Go out and see, what's going on?" ”

The French airship was rampant, and the Grand Duke Albrecht had heard of it for a long time, but it was the first time he had experienced it in person.

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

Many people won't believe it, the world's first airship, except for the power system is not up to par and the danger is high, everything else is fine.

With a length of 15.6 meters and a maximum diameter of 9.6 meters, it can generate more than 1,000 kilograms of lifting force after being filled with hydrogen and last for seven hours.

After Austria used airships in warfare, European countries realized the importance of airships and began to assemble their troops.

However, this thing, after all, is a high-tech product, and the cost is very expensive, and there are only a few big countries that really have the strength to equip it on a large scale.

After the outbreak of the anti-French war, the French airship troops were in great power, easily defeating the airships of the two countries and seizing air supremacy on the battlefield in one fell swoop.

In these years, the range of air defense weapons is limited, and the accuracy depends on luck, so as long as the airship does not lower its flight altitude, it is still very safe.

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

After a few moments, the guards returned and reported: "Marshal, the enemy's airship has come and seems to be scouting information. ”

"Humph!"

After a cold snort, Archduke Albrecht said expressionlessly: "Got it!

The order was sent and the engineer regiment was ordered to rush to work immediately and complete the construction of the airfield in the shortest possible time. ”

……

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

The young officer reluctantly explained, "I'm sorry, Colonel Lane. We don't have enough engineers, and we can't recruit enough people in a short period of time, so now you are the only ones left who have no tasks. ”

The vanguard of Austria was naturally the main force, and the sappers were only a very small minority, and most of these people were junior engineers trained in batches, mainly to solve the problems of position and road traffic.

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

Most of these people are young and strong laborers drawn from the local area, and if they want to continue to recruit people, they must have enough young and strong people in the local area.

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

There was no surprise that the Bremen Regiment had only one battalion, and Colonel Lane, who had the highest rank and had combat experience, became the battalion commander.

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

Not only the Bremen Army, but also the troops that were subsequently reorganized were successively turned into engineers, building roads and digging trenches.

Combat mission?

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

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

It is true that the German nobility has a tradition of serving in the army, but this does not mean that all the children of the nobility are qualified officers.

Not all states have military schools, and not all the children of the nobility have attended military schools, and many of the children of the nobility have only received military education from their families, and all kinds of combat experience and concepts are stuck in the last century.

Sending such troops to the battlefield cannot be counted on except to increase the enemy's achievements.

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

These were the link between the future Austrian rule in North Germany. In order to strengthen the ties with the locality, the Grand Duke of Albrecht could not allow the children of these nobles to die in large numbers.

……

At this moment, Colonel Lane, who knows nothing, is sweating for the construction of the airport with his troops.

Looking at the hardened large tract of land, Colonel Lane said with great regret: "Captain Henry, it doesn't have to be all hardened, it's really too extravagant. ”

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

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

However, this is also temporary, so I will make do with it first, and then I will rebuild it. ”

This is a fact, the airfield is not finished by building a dam. A temporary stop, but you can make do.

"Airport, what's that? Didn't you say that the airship should be repaired? ”

Colonel Ryan asked, confused.

It's not that he's unheard, not many people know about airplanes these days, and even fewer people know about airports.

Realizing the gaffe, Captain Henry replied coldly: "Colonel, you should memorize the secrecy regulations of the army, and don't ask what you shouldn't ask." ”

Whether the "airport" is classified as a matter of secrecy is not clear to Captain Henry. Anyway, there was no gag order from above, and Colonel Lane was also not informed of the news.

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

Didn't you see that during the construction of the airport, it was the captain who was commanding the colonel?

This is never possible anywhere else, but in the world of technology, it is commonplace.

Professional things are done by professionals, which is a major feature of the Austrian army, so the highest person in charge of the construction of the airport is Captain Henry, who has rich construction experience.

After a boring moment, Colonel Ryan turned his head and urged the soldiers to get to work instead of paying attention to the rigid engineer.

……