The distance of forty kilometers, whether far or close, is roughly equivalent to the distance from Beijing to Langfang, maybe even less.
For an army, it takes about four or five hours to cover 40 kilometers at normal marching speed. If you include the artillery that is holding back, it can get there in six hours.
If Crown Prince Karl's Second Army can receive the troop deployment order from Old Moltke in the early morning and set off immediately, the entire army will definitely be able to reach the battlefield within one morning. If the most elite cavalry regiment breaks away from the army and charges, I am afraid that at nine o'clock You can reach the battlefield in just a few seconds.
Unfortunately, many problems in war are not simple mathematical problems. A short distance of forty kilometers is only a small section on the map, but in front of humans, it is a huge obstacle that can obscure the line of sight.
The Second Army did not have clairvoyance and ears. They could not see the explosions and flames forty kilometers away, nor could they hear the gunshots like heavy rain. Perhaps they were still packing up their camps slowly according to the original plan, preparing to attack the main force bit by bit. Closer.
"There is no time to waste. I am certain that all the cavalry and line maintenance engineers sent by the command have been killed by the enemy. Now Prince Karl does not even know that the war has started... It is even possible that Austria The army has set up an ambush on the only road, waiting for us to come to our door..."
With a bang, all the Chinese and Prussian officers present made a noise, and then Jonas spoke on behalf of several senior Prussian officers.
"Sir, what should we do now? Is it too late to notify the headquarters now? I ask the commander to order and request reinforcements immediately. We must open this lifeline..."
The Prussians were talking a lot, and Jonas anxiously translated for Xiao Letian, but what he got in return was Xiao Letian shaking his head.
"No, no, no, there is no time, and our troops on the battlefield are already smaller than the Austrian army. Do you think there will be many reserves for us? That is impossible..."
Having said this, Xiao Letian suddenly pointed to a point on the map. "Here is this nameless stone bridge. There is a gentle slope on the west side of the bridge. This should be the commanding height of the surrounding terrain. The area is enough for our two battalions." Troops deployed..."
"Luo Huo! You lead the cavalry company to rush to the west quickly, and deliver the military orders to Prince Karl as quickly as possible. Xiao Hexin, Sima Yun! All the remaining infantry regiments immediately march quickly and arrive at Shishi as quickly as possible. Bridge Heights, deploy your defenses immediately..."
"Yes, sir!" All the Asian officers immediately stood at attention and saluted without hesitation, but at that moment all the Prussian officers hesitated.
A group of officers gathered around Jonas and murmured for a long time. Then Jonas frowned and said, "Dear Prime Minister, we Prussian soldiers have different opinions. I hope you can refer to it..."
Jonas sighed, as if he had made a lot of determination, "I'm sorry, Prime Minister, we refuse to accept such an order. The order given to us by the general headquarters is just to convey the message and repair the line. We have no right to stop..."
At this time, Jonas cleared his throat, sorted out the opinions of the Prussian officers, and began to present facts and reason to Xiao Letian.
"Prime Minister, I hope you can understand our considerations. Modern warfare has long been a rigorous science. This is not an era in the Middle Ages where wars could be won with a burst of blood. Perhaps you thought that soldiers could be inspired by a burst of blood and courage. With such momentum, can we defeat more with less and turn the tide of the war?"
"Unfortunately, this traditional thinking is no longer appropriate. War has entered the age of roaring steel. No matter how much courage you have in your chest, you cannot stop a high-speed rotating bullet, or even a high-explosive artillery shell. …”
"Do you know how many artillery pieces there are in Austria now? At least eight hundred. Do you know how powerful a salvo of artillery is? It covers the sky and the sun. Even angels may not be able to withstand this killing force..."
Jonas was a little excited and his speaking speed slowly increased, "Prime Minister, please look at this war rationally. The General Staff has formulated all battle plans, and countless senior staff officers have even calculated food supplies." Every hour, all railway transportation in the Kingdom of Prussia has been converted to military use, and all roads are filled with horse-drawn carriages transporting supplies..."
"The entire kingdom is running at high speed like a precision machine tool, and every part has been given the task they need to complete. In this war, every soldier can get his own clear task before the battle. Every officer is better aware of the strategic intentions of his army, and even the logistics soldiers who transport supplies can know where they will send the canned meat today and into whose hands..."
“Countless train drivers know where their train of arms is going to be sent, countless factory owners also know how many muskets they need to produce overtime, and bankers in Berlin, Hamburg, and Hannover are working all night long to calculate overseas wars. The interest on the loan, using all wisdom to save every gold coin for the empire..."
Jonas took a few deep breaths to calm down his emotions, "Dear Prime Minister, the Kingdom of Prussia has been able to reach this day, from a weak country to a decisive battle with the powerful Austria, and to make the old power France not even think about it. Why do you dare to be so disrespectful?"
"It relies on our rigor, and it relies on the precision and orderliness of all people in the country like screws and gears. Yes, there is only one secret to our success, and that is order. What we in Prussia need is order..."
"Mr. Prime Minister, do you know how much changes will be caused to the entire battle if you act without military orders? And these variables will be geometrically amplified. You will change the status of our front. You It will affect the progress of other armies, and you may even disrupt the logistics supply schedule... No, no, no, this kind of uncontrollable change is really terrible, it is definitely a disaster..."
Xiao Letian and his brothers were stunned. They seemed to have only now understood how strict the Prussian nation was. Are they still human? This life has trained people into emotionless parts.
Yes, why is Old Moltke so unkind to him? You know that we defeated the French cavalry battalion and rescued orphans in Hamburg. Even if you, Moltke, don't recognize this kindness, you won't retaliate for kindness, right?
There are also these Prussian army officers. Although they complained a little on the training ground, they never compromised in executing orders. They could persevere as long as they were allowed to be ground rats. At that time, they never thought that they would disobey orders.
Everything is due to the root of the nation. This nation's fanatical worship of order is beyond the imagination of Xiao Letian and his men. Perhaps more than a hundred years of national service has made this nation abnormal, and they cannot tolerate the slightest bit of destruction in their eyes. Orderly behavior.
In their hearts, military orders, laws, and the morality taught by God are the cornerstones of maintaining order and must not be broken. Just like the 7th Division of the Prussian Army, which is currently in a bitter battle, it was attacked by two legions and still refused to retreat.
Why is this happening? Why don't they have any thoughts of retreat? It's not because they are war madmen in the sky. In fact, what they think in their hearts is very simple. If the military order tells us to do this, we will do it. There is no room for bargaining, and some can only be carried out tenaciously.
Only by treating themselves as cold, emotionless steel parts can people forget how scary death is, and only in this way can the Prussians protect the order they want.
Xiao Letian let out a long sigh and stretched out his hand to rub his temples, cursing in his mind. This group of elm lumps is simply unreasonable. This nation is so perverted that they can definitely compete with the Japanese. No wonder these two nations fought the most fiercely during World War II. Just because of the stubbornness in their minds, it’s really Copper peas without oil or salt.
But we can't blame them. The Prussian General Staff spent ten years just formulating the battle plan for this Prussian-Austrian War. In the past ten years, countless people have poured their efforts into it. Even if there is no time traveler like myself to disrupt the situation, Prussia can still win this seven-week battle.
It was his own appearance that created countless variables for people's grand strategy. Therefore, Old Mao Qi would rather put these two battalions next to his headquarters, and would rather waste them there than let Xiao Letian When going into battle, you must know that the Prussians hate unexpected variables to the extreme.
Now the officers of the Hamburg recruit camp have also expressed their strong dissatisfaction with their actions. To put it bluntly, they are just like Moltke, they only pursue order.
Military orders should be executed as they are. This has nothing to do with fear of life and death. They just want to tell Xiao Letian that it is wrong to break the rules at will. If all military officers fight as they please, what kind of general headquarters is there?
Xiao Letian secretly smiled bitterly in his heart. If he were an ordinary Chinese, he would probably do well when faced with such pressure, right? But it's a pity that what you met today is not a person, oh... Bah, bah, bah, of course I am a person, but I am a time-traveler, and don't the existence of time-travelers come to break the rules?
You want order? Haha, go ahead and dream, as long as I, Xiao Letian, am here, the order should be decided by me.
Just when Xiao Letian organized his words and wanted to speak, the angry Luo Huo was the first to be unable to bear it any longer. He yelled, "Cowards! Cowards... Are you new recruits afraid of death? Your Excellency didn't let you fight one against ten." , you don’t even dare to guard a high ground, you are a bunch of cowards!”
Although these Prussian officers could not understand what Luo Huo was talking about, they could tell just by looking at their expressions that they were not good words. These Nordic people with big noses were not easy to mess with, and their expressions looked a little unkind at that time.
Jonas's nose was so angry that he said, "General Luo Huo, please pay attention to your words! This is Europe, not your Qing Dynasty. There are no backward medieval infantry here for you to command. Soldiers here are not the private property of officers. It’s not something you can abuse casually…”
"Whether we Prussians are cowards or not has never been proved by a momentary performance. What we pursue is only the victory of the entire nation. Apart from that, we will not have the slightest distraction... To put it bluntly, you Chinese Why is it like this? It’s because you have too many distracting thoughts. Everyone has their own ideas. If you lose order, what else can you do except internal friction..."
I go! Xiao Letian didn't expect that Jonas also had a way of hurting people. This rhetoric really hit the Chinese people's heart. What they said was really correct.
"That's enough! Shut up... I, Xiao Le, are the highest commander here! There are nearly 200,000 people strangled together behind us. People are dying every minute and every second, and we are still engaged in a war of words. You Don’t you feel ashamed?”
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