After the surgery, Kawei basically determined what he might encounter next.
If the Sixth Army held off the Prussians, his escorts and medical teams would have a chance to withdraw. If the Sixth Army couldn't stop him, he would probably have to be taken away. The two armies were fighting fiercely, and as a surgeon from the Prussian ally, he really had no reason not to help.
There is actually a chance, but it can only rely on two surgical assistants pretending to be French journalists.
France stood as a bystander in this war, using a policy very similar to Britain's balance of power policy on the European continent. He would help whoever loses between Prussia and Austria. The reason why he did not take action was entirely because Austria's losses were not big enough.
However, Mendelstein said that there were many reporter observation groups on the battlefield. If they went to the military headquarters, they would be very passive if they were discovered.
"For a newspaper as big as Le Figaro, there must be a lot of reporters, and it's normal if you don't know them." Ingnatz wrapped himself in a blanket and sat by the fire to warm himself. "The main thing is the soldiers in the escort. We have to let them survive."
"Today's operation was quite successful. The officer already has a good impression of us." Kawei walked to him and sat down, handing him a glass of hot water. "As long as the wounded soldiers are fine, he shouldn't make things difficult for us anymore." ”
"I hope so. After all, they are not wounded soldiers and are not protected by the Geneva Convention."
"Well, it's already amazing to abide by the Geneva Convention. I thought they would ignore it."
Ingnatz did not expect that Kawei would think of the war in such a dark way: "That was decided after discussions between many countries. Isn't it a breach of trust to ignore the convention? Besides, we are doctors in the first place, and doctors who are captured receive preferential treatment."
Kawei glanced at him and thought to himself, old Europeans still know the rules.
If time had gone forward eighty years and the Prussians had changed their leadership, things would have been very different. Due to the general environment, the whole world was like this at that time. The island countries in the east and the old America in the west were all representatives of unruly behavior.
It didn't take that long. Fifty years later, during the First World War, Europe became a meat grinder and poison gas was used on the battlefield.
What worries Kavi even more is the Spanish Flu that accompanies World War I...
In the three years of the pandemic, 1 billion people around the world were infected and 50 million died. Considering that there were limited channels for statistics in various places, and there was no complete public health system, coupled with underreporting at all levels, the number of deaths was only much higher.
At that time, doctors had no idea about viruses. It was not until 1933 that this virus was isolated and named h1n1.
The country is far away from the one-pot Europe, but it cannot avoid the ravages of the pandemic. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce issued a lot of prevention leaflets at that time, and the "News" and "Declaration" in the same city gave a brief introduction to this sudden epidemic.
The symptoms are nothing more than the familiar process:
[At the beginning, the whole body feels cold, the limbs are sore, the throat sounds hoarse, and there is cough. Then there is fever all over the body, which is lighter during the day and heavier at night, and the meridians are throbbing and painful, which is dangerous and abnormal. In addition, some people also experience dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea due to cold and heat, fatigue and inability to eat...】【1】
Even in the SH concession area, which has the best medical resources in the country, 418 people still died, and the mortality rate in Pudong exceeded 20%. Even with this level of infection, it has left the surrounding areas far behind and has become an area with mild epidemics.
H1N1 infection was called "dengue fever" or "five-day fever" at the time, mainly because of the symptoms of body aches and the duration of symptoms for about 3-7 days.
But the period of five days is actually very confusing. At that time, there were two recognized changes in the condition.
The first is [The cause of influenza is not a dangerous disease, but it is more difficult for the elderly and the very young to contract it]; the second is [What you can worry about is that the sick person will die spontaneously as soon as the illness subsides and the fever is low. When Yan Huoran recovered and went out for a walk, not only was the disease not completely gone, he could spread the disease to others, and he was also prone to pneumonia]
Prevention mainly relies on a very trendy [mask], which is actually a modern mask. 【2】
However, the protective power of masks at that time was very low, and few people were willing to wear them. As for the city-wide blockade method chosen by the United States in 1918, although it was effective, it was quickly rejected.
"It's really troublesome..."
Kawei suddenly muttered something in his mouth, and Yingenatz also sighed after hearing this: "The situation is already like this, and we have no other way. It would be good if we can save our lives, and don't think too much."
"Forehead......"
Thinking that what he was talking about was not the same thing as him, Kawei also changed his mood.
After all, it was still early for the pandemic to appear, and I would be almost 70 by then. I had to say whether I was there or not: "It was my first time on the battlefield. I just felt emotional."
"Your response has been very good. I thought I would die here." Yinggnaz took two sips of hot water and said with a smile, "But what really surprised me was the Sixth Army. It’s been three days and there’s still no news.”
Kavi also felt strange.
Aleister had previously judged that it was remarkable that the Sixth Army could survive the first day with its current strength. There is a gap in military strength and there is a gap in weapons, but the real gap lies in morale. The problem can be seen from the number of deserters in the past.
But now the Prussian First Army has no forward pressure at all, and Mendelstein, who sent the messenger, has no intention of leaving, which shows that the battle on the front line is very anxious.
"The Prussians have been having a meeting in the school all afternoon, and there are fewer people guarding us." Kawei said, "It means that the Sixth Army has dealt with it well, maybe..."
"No, no, it's impossible..." Yingnaz said immediately after seeing many battles, "Without reinforcements from the rear, the Sixth Army will definitely not be able to hold on."
"I'm also quite puzzled. Where are our reinforcements?"
"Fifth Army? Tomorrow afternoon at the earliest."
"If reinforcements come, will we have a chance to get out of here?"
"Not necessarily." Yinggnaz stood up, put down the tea cup, patted Kawei's knee and said, "You're a surgeon, so don't think too much. If you have time to think about this, you might as well talk to me more. Previous surgeries.”
"The teacher is the chief surgeon, but I brought them all here." Kawei carried the life of the entire medical team on his shoulders, "You should go back the same way you came out."
"Have you eaten all the food today?" Yingnaz finally came to the most troublesome issue, "There will be nothing to eat tomorrow."
"Yeah, who would have thought it would take so long..."
...
At this time, in the principal's office of a primary school in the small town of Otaka, Mendelstein and his soldiers were also full of doubts.
Since the afternoon three days ago, he had sent five people to deliver orders to the front line, but none of them returned. The cavalry artillerymen who had stayed on the road had also lost their traces. According to his inference, they should have returned to the front line, but the direction of the war made him feel uneasy.
"We can't wait."
Opal's face was covered with gauze and bandages, and the horns from her neck had been removed and replaced with two sutures and a closed incision. He sat aside, trying to reduce his words and reduce the pain on his lips and surrounding wounds: "Should we go or stay?"
"Go? Where? Back to the military headquarters?" Mendelstein shook his head. "None of the messengers have returned. The front line must be extremely dangerous. I can't take this risk."
"Keep?"
"It's very troublesome to stay here. We've run out of dry food. There isn't much food on those guys' carriages. They'll run out of food tomorrow." Mendelstein, like Kavi, has the lives of the remaining soldiers of the cavalry company on his shoulders, and it's a headache. " There isn’t much to eat in the surrounding woods, and there aren’t any rivers or streams around.”
"If I had known better, I would have eaten less."
"I originally thought that we should be able to see our military flag early the next morning. Who knows..."
Now Mendelstein's cavalry company is stuck in this small town. If it didn't matter at ordinary times, reconnaissance would have been very dangerous, and they had long been used to it. But now with so many wounded soldiers, it is very inconvenient to move, and the messengers have been cut off. No one knows what is happening on the front line.
"How about going to other villages to look for food tomorrow?"
Mendelstein sighed and said: "A lot of people went out yesterday afternoon and this morning. There is a village nearby, and it's the same as here. I can't find half a piece of bread."
"Have you been to the gravel road?"
Opal's question was very simple, and only his old comrades could understand what he meant: "Are you asking about the war horses? We sent people there before, and the horses should have been taken back by the mounted artillery gunners."
"What should we do now?"
"Considering that we may need to stay here for a while, we have to take back the wheat at the entrance of the town." Mendelstein said, "At least we can still eat bread."
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His commander gave the order, and the soldiers were very positive: "No problem!"
"But that's not the important thing." Mendelstein explained. "The important thing is that the doctors who live in the church have been paying less attention to them recently. We will go to the fields to harvest wheat tomorrow, and they might escape. when......"
"When the time comes, we will stay on the perimeter and catch them off guard?"
"right."
Seeing him like this, Opal still had a different opinion: "They are doctors."
Mendelstein nodded, stepped forward and said to him: "I know they are doctors, and I also know that they are most likely not Italian doctors. Although they have been defending, saying that the bullets and military uniforms on the carriage are not theirs, but I I have a hunch that they are Austrian military doctors.”
"They saved me," Opal said, looking at him.
"I know they saved you, and I'm grateful to them, but as you can see, their surgical skills are very superb." Mendelstein said, "It is a blow to us to have such a surgical team in Austria. Don’t worry, I’m not trying to harm them, they can completely commit themselves to the Prussian army and continue their great cause.”
...
Three days of isolated life not only confused those in the small town of Otaka, but also confused Prince Friedrich Karl, commander of the Prussian First Army.
The originally envisioned quick-battle tactics were not realized, and the declaration to end the battle within 24 hours was shattered two days ago. He did not expect that the Austrian Sixth Army, which had suffered two consecutive defeats, would withstand his indiscriminate bombardment despite a bad start.
"That's 220 artillery pieces!!!" Prince Carl raised his hand and slammed the table: "I gathered all the artillery pieces from the three armies, how could they still have the strength to resist?"
"This is the fact, Your Excellency the Prince." The Chief of Staff on the side also felt very strange, "This is completely unlike the Sixth Army we encountered before. Its morale and counterattack momentum were very high, and it caused our charging troops to suffer a lot. .”
"This morning, after our eighth round of bombardment, we no longer had enough shells."
"Where are the supplies?" The prince looked at the general aside, "Let the supply transport team follow as soon as possible!"
"Supplies also take time," the chief of staff said.
"If we can't chew this bone, our battle line will be blocked at this position." The prince turned back to look at the map on the wall and said, "Look at Kischin in the rear. If reinforcements from their fifth army arrive, our front will be blocked." Three days of hard work have been wasted!”
The army chief of staff shook his head and disagreed with this statement: "Your Excellency, you still overestimate the opponent's athletic ability."
"How to say?"
"Based on my observations over the past few days, the Austrian infantry is not moving very fast. It takes at least three days to get here from Kisschin." said the chief of staff. "So I think we can directly form an encirclement, block the communication road, and then incoming reinforcements." Blocking on the road should have good results."
Prince Carl thought for a moment, exhaled, shook his head and said, "Why don't you think they retreat?"
"Maybe they think they will be defeated if they retreat."
"Before, they retreated as soon as they fought. It would be much easier for us to pursue them this way. Maybe we could push all the way to Kischin. As long as we capture Kischin, Austria's western barrier will be completely shattered! In this case, If we attack the northern front again, we will definitely get very good results!"
"What a pity!!!" Karl kept tapping the map with his fingers and said, "Okay, just do as you say and completely surround them here. Anyone who doesn't surrender will be killed!"
"yes!"
Just when the chief of staff received the new order, the guard's voice came from the door: "Your Excellency, there is a letter from headquarters!"
"Letter? Whose is it?"
"Chief of General Staff's!"
"Bring it quickly!!!"
This is an order sent from the Berlin headquarters. It should have been set out two days ago. The text in the letter is not long, but the content is enough to make Prince Karl collapse [3]: "This... this is too strange. It’s unbelievable, how could things be like this???”
"What happened? What did the Chief of General Staff say?"
"See for yourselves."
Karl gave the letter to the chief of staff, and then sat in his chair. Feeling powerless from his forehead to the soles of his feet, he was not even willing to look up at the strategic map.
Because it would be useless to look at it now.
"Your Excellency, if these are true, judging from the time, we should withdraw our troops now!"
"Yes, the situation is not good for us, and there is no point in spending any more time with the Sixth Army."
"No wonder the Sixth Army fought so fiercely. It turns out they got the news!"
Karl rubbed his browbones with his hands: "Let me think about it..."
"Our First Group Army has fought hard for so long and suffered heavy losses. It really needs to rest and recuperate." The chief of staff stepped forward and continued to suggest, "Besides, this is what the chief of general staff meant!"
Karl looked up at the generals in the command post, stood up with his hands on the handles of the chair, stared at Gablenz behind the battle line, and gave the order helplessly: "Oh... withdraw! Withdraw!" Garbrentz!”
