The snow is falling, and winter is coming again. Vienna, covered in a layer of silver, is particularly pleasant this winter.

Schönbrunn Palace

Metternich reported: "Your Majesty, the British and French ministers have transmitted to the Foreign Office the Ottoman armistice negotiations, and it seems that the Sultan government is preparing for the aftermath. ”

This did not come as a surprise to Franz, the war was fought now, and the heaviest losses were the Ottomans, followed by the Russians, and the losses of Britain and France were all drizzle and not worth mentioning.

Without strength, everything is empty, and it is inevitable that the Ottomans will shrink their sphere of influence in the future, and it is more in their interests to take advantage of the support of Britain and France to end the war with Austria ahead of schedule and shrink their forces to beat the Greeks.

Franz thought for a moment and said, "Follow our original plan, talk to the Ottomans slowly, and find out their bottom line first." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Metternich replied

The Second Battle of Bulgaria has been fought so far, and both sides are exhausted. In the past few days of high-intensity fighting, the soldiers' war-weariness has increased day by day, and the morale of the soldiers on both sides of the war has inevitably declined.

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

On the surface, the Russians had the upper hand, and Franz knew very well that this was just a façade, that 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, less than 60,000 people died directly in the battle, and the remaining more than 100,000 wounded survived less than eight layers because they did not receive timely treatment and lack of medical treatment.

Battlefield first aid does not exist, the medical soldiers in the Russian army are rare, they can only ensure the safety of the officers' lives, as for the soldiers, they can't stand it, they are not available!

The gray cattle were worthless, and if they were wounded, they could only be bandaged simply, and then they would slowly survive on the soldiers themselves.

The Russian army has not been trained in battlefield first aid, and it is more appropriate to tie up the wound than to bandage. There is no professional medical gauze, there is no disinfection, just find a piece of cloth and wrap it, and it's over.

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

Many lightly injured people were only hit by bullets in their arms, thighs and other non-critical parts, and they could have survived as long as they had been properly treated, but they also died because of the unfavorable treatment.

In the Principality of Wallachia, Franz's field emergency hospital is now very busy, and every day the wounded Russians retreat and then run to seek medical treatment as soon as possible.

"Medical treatment" is a golden statement, which is nothing more than cleaning the wound, eliminating the poison, and then bandaging it again, and casually prescribing some drugs with unknown efficacy.

The real life-saving thing is to clean the wound and disinfect it to avoid inflammation and infection.

From the front line to the rear, if you don't die for several days, you are not seriously wounded, as long as the wound does not become infected, you can basically survive.

These Russian soldiers didn't know, they only saw the rapid decline in mortality after the first aid, and they thought that all the doctors in the hospital were miracle doctors.

In fact, most of these medical personnel were soldiers who had only undergone battlefield first aid training, and Franz used the Russian wounded as guinea pigs to exercise their professional ability.

Drugs depend on the situation, you get what you pay for, and the sky-high price of drugs must have an effect, and Franz still has this little bit of discipline.

There is no need to expect cheap medicines, either they are all kinds of experimental drugs, or they are made of flour + vegetables.

The most effective of cheap medicines is decoction, which is simply a pot of heat-clearing and detoxification or traditional Chinese medicine. Unfortunately, this thing was considered witchcraft by many people, and most Russian soldiers were reluctant to drink it.

Moreover, this medicine was not intended to treat wounds, and it did not have an 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, the package price is ten rubles per wounded, and if he survives, he will pay for it. (Silver rubles are about half a tael of silver)

With this amount of money, it is naturally impossible to expect any good service. With the exception of 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, remove the shrapnel from the wound, you don't have to think about it without a hundred rubles. There are too few people who can afford this kind of surgery, and the price is naturally high.

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

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

Theoretically, after these wounded are healed and rearmed on the battlefield, the combat effectiveness of the veterans will be stronger.

It is a pity that the Russian bureaucracy has a serious style and does not do a good job in the ideological work of the soldiers, most of the wounded soldiers are unwilling to return to the battlefield, and some even buy medical personnel to delay the recovery time.

The Russians are like this, and the coalition forces on the opposite side are even worse. The Ottomans were not capable of providing medical care, even if they were fighting on their own soil.

The casualties of the British army were not large, and they did not attract the attention of the country, and the angel who created a precedent for battlefield first aid had not yet reached the front line.

Without battlefield first aid, then you can only resign yourself to fate and rely on God or *** to bless.

This is also the reason why the British and French commanders forced the Ottomans to be cannon fodder. In order to reduce the casualty rate, they can only die in the Dao and not in the poor.

The past does not forget the lessons of the future, and the lessons of the war in the Near East are naturally to be learned by Franz.

Franz had already summed up these messy and bad things to the General Staff, and the cases on the battlefield were distributed to every commander and fighter.

The lessons learned in terms of logistics, the fact that all government departments have a share of the work, and the relevant professional 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 a dual responsibility system of leadership and direct responsibility in the logistics department.

Franz said cautiously: "Your Excellency Marshal, the General Staff has finalized the final battle plan for the westward advance as soon as possible, and this time we are racing against time.

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

If time comes, we will also extend our tentacles to the central part of Germany, occupy the favorable terrain, and lay the foundation for the future. ”

The terrain of the German region is complex: the North German region is a plain, with an average altitude of less than 100 meters; Central Germany is a mountainous region with east-west highlands; The Rhine Fault Valley region in the southwest, lined with mountains and steep valley walls; The South German region is the Bavarian Plateau and the Alps.

This caused inconvenience to the Austrian military operation, and the best option for a quick solution was to attack along the Danube, and all the problems were not a problem.

In the event that the enemy blocks the river, the challenge comes, and it is indispensable to sweep through the more than 100,000 square kilometers of land from the land attack.

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

(Note: Plateau refers to a vast enemy area with an altitude of more than 500 meters above sea level and flat terrain, which can have a certain amount of undulation)

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Marshal Radesky replied confidently

……

While Austria was making its final preparations, Napoleon III also made a decision - to increase the number of troops.

There was no way, Napoleon III participated in this war, not only because of French interests in the Near East, but also for the sake of political prestige.

If the Russians were to be victorious, his throne would be precarious. The French people are not patient lords, and if they do not produce satisfactory results, another revolution is not inevitable.

If it were not for the sudden outbreak of a political crisis in the London government, the Anglo-French forces would have marched on the Crimean peninsula at this time.

Although the army did not move, the navy has long since moved. Beginning at the end of November 1852, the British, French, and Ottoman navies continued to bombard the port cities on the Black Sea coast of the Russians, inflicting thousands of casualties on the Russians.

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

saint petersburg

When he received the bombardment of the coastal areas by the British and French, Nicholas I was really angry. It is simply unreasonable that Britain and France are so shameless and directly fire at civilians.

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

Fortunately, the Ukrainian region is a grain-producing region, otherwise human tragedy will appear again. No, it's already there.

The inefficiency of the Russian bureaucracy was evident at this time. In the face of the influx of refugees, local officials did not take effective measures and very mechanically waited for St. Petersburg's orders.

The consequences, naturally, were serious, St. Petersburg was so far away, the tsar's order had not yet come down, and the rebellion of the hungry people had already broken out.

It can't be considered a rebellion, these people didn't rebel, they just went around looting food, and they didn't attack the city yet.

In the suppression of the rebellion, the bureaucrats are rarely efficient, and there are still many Russian troops in the Ukrainian region waiting to reinforce the Balkan battlefield, and now it is naturally not a problem to suppress the rebellion.

The unorganized riot of the hungry was extinguished at the very beginning.

Naturally, these Nicholas I did not know, and probably never even knew, that no official would be an idiot to bother His Majesty the Great Tsar with such a trivial matter.

Nicholas I asked: "The enemy has been attacking our coastal cities for so long, and you have nothing to do?" What does the Black Sea Fleet do to eat, how come it doesn't play a role at all! ”

The Minister of the Navy said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the Black Sea Fleet has suffered a great loss of vitality in the battle with the enemy, and only a few small ships are left, and it is no longer able to fight. ”

The term "great injury" is very conservative, and perhaps it is more appropriate to use the annihilation of the whole army. In the face of 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 if they were hiding in the harbor and covered by fortress artillery. Unexpectedly, these "advanced" fortress guns simply could not be used normally.

Since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, there has been no threat of foreign enemies on the Black Sea coast, and the rotten bureaucrats of the tsarist government have naturally been able to save money, and the shore artillery has become a good thing. Either the products of the last century, or the products of the last century, and there are many more shoddy products.

After some temptation, the British and French navies launched an offensive unceremoniously, and the Black Sea Fleet struggled for a while before dying heroically.

There is nothing to be ashamed of, the British and French navies joined forces with no country in the whole world can resist, and the fact that the Black Sea Fleet did not surrender to the enemy is enough to show their heroism.

The main thing is that there is no chance of surrender, and it is simply finished. Since Menshkov entered the navy, the Russian navy has remained unchanged for decades, and now it is two generations behind the enemy.

(Dare to use the army drill code and drill the ruthless people of the navy)

"Humph!"

Nicholas I snorted coldly, expressing his dissatisfaction in his heart.

Foreign Secretary Karl Vorsail opened his mouth and persuaded him: "Your Majesty, we can only abandon these cities first, as long as we can conquer Constantinople and block the Bosphorus, this kind of thing will never happen again." ”

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

Nicholas I nodded, he wasn't really angry about the end of the Black Sea Fleet. From the day the Anglo-French entered the war, he had expected such an outcome.

What really angered him was that the defense line in the coastal areas was so weak that it did not cause the enemy a single problem, and the government bureaucracy was so corrupt.

The problem is that it is a time of war, the stability of the country is overwhelming, and Nicholas I could not purge the bureaucracy at this time.

"Have you counted the damage?" Nicholas I asked with concern

"Your Majesty, just a preliminary statistic, we have hoarded not one in ten strategic materials in the coastal areas, about 300,000 people have been displaced, and the direct economic loss is more than 200 million rubles." Chancellor of the Exchequer Arry Stanley Rhodes replied with a trembling voice

Obviously, Arry Stanley Rhodes didn't expect the people under him to dare to act so boldly, even if the warehouse where they hoarded strategic materials was exposed, the enemy would not be able to hit it 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 that the enemy's shells don't cost money?

Nicholas I sneered and said: "Check, send someone to check it for me!" ”

Even if you can't touch them now, isn't there another word called settling accounts after the autumn? The tsar is very vindictive, remember these questions first, and there will be time for reckoning in the future.