Human thinking has certain limitations, especially when encountering complex situations and limited time, this limitation will become more obvious. The current situation in the small town of Otaka is the result of this series of collisions of limitations.
If Mendelstein had stopped his losses in time and not pursued, or had chosen to return to the military headquarters with his wounded soldiers, there would have been no intersection between the two sides; if an observation post could have been placed along the gravel road heading east, he would have been able to see the return from the front. The retreating Austrian Sixth Army.
If Aleister gave up the mission and chose to surrender or give up staying and fled directly across the town, so many people in the escort would not have died; if he did not choose to disguise when he saw the Prussian pursuers but fled directly, maybe he could get rid of them entangled
But the reality is that there are no ifs. Now the escort has lost two more people, and only 11 people are left with Aleister.
Fortunately, the captain had his own understanding of the route selection and seemed to have avoided the two reinforcements that came to support him. And his target was different from what the other party predicted. It was not to the north, but to the east.
The first half of the action route was almost backtracking, only avoiding a residential area to the north. The safest place now is the church. Except for the few soldiers guarding the west, no one would have thought that they had returned to the church.
The second half of the route is rougher, and Aleister will make the team rush to the east exit as quickly as possible.
The east side is different from the west side. The road on the east side is narrow and short, and it is surrounded by the ruins of demolished rural mud houses. There is almost no place for the other side to make cold shots. Aleister still prepared three team members to scout ahead, ready to cover the departure of the large force at any time.
Every second counts now, and speed is the priority. If we encounter obstacles like the west side, we will encounter obstacles.
"Captain, if they encounter any obstruction, I will stop them." The person who spoke this time was Ronnie, who had just returned to the main force by luck. "I will delay them as long as I can."
Aleister patted him on the shoulder and directed the medical team behind him: "Hurry across the square in front, don't talk nonsense, and speed up! Keep up, keep up, hurry up."
The Austrian Empire never lacked experienced commanders or soldiers who sacrificed their lives. Although Aleister's plan will cause casualties, it will end with his side successfully escaping. Of course, this is the only chance for him and he can only take this path.
But two things surprised him.
The first point is the journey of the medical team. Counting from the time they left the church, 40 minutes have passed. For the guards who receive training all year round, it is a common thing to keep trotting for a long time and move quickly. But for medical staff who lack training, this becomes a torturous torture.
All doctors and nurses, including Kawei, suffered from asthma and fatigue to varying degrees. Even if the escort team cooperated and slowed down, there was still a disconnect in the entire team.
"Can you hurry up? We don't have time!"
"I can't run anymore."
"I'm out of breath. I'm out of breath. Can you rest for a while?"
Aleister saw them swaying behind the team one by one like snails, and he was full of anger: "Are you kidding? Do you still want to rest? Prussia may catch up at any time. If we are really surrounded, all our previous sacrifices will be lost." It’s all in vain!”
"But, we really can't run anymore."
"No!" Aleister was anxious, but he couldn't be rough with them, so he could only shout, "You have to run even if you can't run. You must speed up!"
Maybe the captain saw his team shrinking and pushed the doctors too hard. It may also be that the doctors and nurses have suffered too many grievances these days, coupled with physical fatigue, making their original firm patriotic beliefs more fragile.
Suddenly a nurse fell to the ground, or it could be said that she took the initiative to sit on the ground.
She threw the suitcase aside and scattered the contents on the floor. She breathed heavily and said, "I can't walk anyway. If you want to run away, just run away. I won't run away!"
Aleister can command a company of dozens of people to fight, and can even make the soldiers in his hands sacrifice their lives to achieve combat goals, but he couldn't handle a woman working in the hospital: "What do you mean? ??”
"No, it's not interesting. I just can't walk!" The nurse took a few deep breaths and massaged the sore calf muscles. "I'm not a soldier. I'm a nurse. How can I keep up with you?" speed."
This is the equipment nurse who has been following Kawei since she was at the Municipal General Hospital.
Originally, according to the requirements for women in the 19th century, they were not supposed to go to the operating table. During surgical operations, other assistants were often responsible for delivering the instruments. After all, female nurses are not a decent job, and those who are willing to work are those who don't have to take care of their families and are short of money.
But Kawei still gave all female nurses a chance. The three around him received training and stood out among many young doctors in half a month.
"Karen."
Kawei looked at her and shook her head, not knowing what to say.
However, the matter was not over yet. The other two nurses had already reached their limit.
One of them often handles other chores together with the third and fourth surgical assistants, while the other is dedicated to taking care of vital signs and is an indispensable role in Kawei's surgery. Seeing Karen like this, they also stopped: "We, we can't do it anymore, we need to rest."
There are differences in the physiques of men and women, so it is remarkable that they can endure such high-intensity exercise until now. Kawei really couldn't blame them. If he could blame it, he could only blame this troublesome war.
Aleister really can't deal with women, but as long as he is willing to change his mind, the whole thing will be much easier to handle: "Are you sure you want to stay?"
"yes."
"I can't walk anymore."
"Hugh, take a five-minute break."
"Okay, if you can't walk anymore, just stay here." Aleister pulled Kawei and said, "Doctor Kawei, let's go first."
Kawei was a little surprised: "What? They are all my nurses, how could they leave people here!?"
"They are the ones who want to stay and rest."
"As long as she slows down, she can keep up."
"Do you think we can slow down now?" Aleister looked at the exhausted members of the medical team and smiled, "In the end, our escort team is not protecting the entire medical team, but you. .The reason why you have been taking them with you is entirely due to your original request."
After the situation is peeled off, as long as the core motivation is revealed, the next step will become clear.
In fact, Aleister was unwilling to play this bad card unless it was absolutely necessary. It was also the mission of the imperial soldiers to protect these military doctors and nurses. But now it was really at the last minute, and he had to make a choice. As long as he could keep the "handsome" Kawei, it didn't matter even if he gave away the entire game.
"I disagree!"
"I know you won't agree, but it's useless not to agree." This time the threat was replaced by Aleister, "Please come with us. If you can't walk anymore, we will take turns carrying you on our backs. But if you choose to stay, you do so at your own risk.”
Kawei believes that he can deal with many emergencies, but now the situation is too special, and the other party's purpose has been deviated in the small town confrontation. It seemed that he had no choice but to leave the others behind and follow them.
"As long as the others follow the team, we will definitely protect you." Since Aleister has chosen this path, it is impossible for him to take care of the medical team. "If you want to stay, I will respect your wishes and will not force you. .”
After saying that, he took the other members of the guard and Kavi and walked towards a path behind the church.
Aleister believed that this choice was correct. As long as Kavi returned to Olmitz Hospital at the minimum, their mission would be completed. As for the others, they are all dispensable accessories.
But he did not realize that these people left behind would reveal the direction of escape, nor did he realize that another key point was missing from the entire layout plan, which was Mendelstein's judgment.
The style of the commander of the Prussian cavalry reconnaissance company was steady, as shown when deploying troops at the town's entrance. After hearing gunshots at the southern intersection, he took 10 people with him to prepare to support the west.
However, he did not pursue speed, but considered that the troops in the west were thin and the opponent might flee in the town, so he chose a more reliable support route.
Return to the church.
When Aleister led the escort through the open space in front of the church, hearty laughter sounded around him: "You have worked really hard these days."
Everyone in the escort knew that things were in trouble, but they still followed their captain, wanting to take a few more steps across the open space. However, a bullet fired from a distance hit the stone bricks at Aleister's feet. It bounced off and quickly grazed his ankle, leaving a deep blood mark.
"Whoever touches them will die." Mendelstein pointed at them and said, "Be obedient and surrender. It will be good for you and me."
The sudden appearance of the Prussians completely cut off their escape route. For Aleister and all members of the escort, the mission was basically equivalent to failure.
According to the verbal "agreement" Franz had made with them before, since the success of the mission would lead to great rewards, the failure of the mission would mean the end of life and even a devastating blow to the family.
To the king, this was a trivial matter, but to them it was a big deal.
The opponent doesn't have many people, so it's obviously not their style to just surrender now.
"Spread out quickly!!!"
Aleister was the first to attack, dragging Kavi and sprinting directly towards the church. The other team members also obeyed the order decisively and ran at full speed to the nearest house, tree or other shelter.
Mendelstein really didn't expect that the other party would do this.
The distance between the two sides was not that far, and their actions were so fast that they didn't have any chance to shoot. But missing the target does not mean not shooting. The current location is so special that a single gunshot may not have much impact, but if the noise is denser, it will become the best sign and attract everyone else here.
"Adam, August, go up to this building and quickly find a shooting position."
"yes."
"Erich, go to the front house and observe the other party's position."
"yes."
"Bauer, Duke, you follow me. The others continue to shoot. Each person only needs to keep 5 bullets. Shoot out all the others and attract everyone else from the west."
"yes!!!"
Just as Aleister's purpose had deviated, Mendelstein's purpose of besieging them also had a major deviation in these three days.
He originally thought that this was a convoy that protected important officers. If he caught the officers, he would be promoted, and thus his brothers who had been following him would also be promoted. So his purpose is very clear, which is to capture enemy officers.
Of course, there is also a hint of revenge for one's own dead soldiers.
But later he discovered that there were no officers here at all. In addition to those doctors who have medical knowledge and speak multiple languages, what needs attention are the few "patients" who stay in the church.
The conditions in the church were very poor, and the food was also very poor. In the end, they had to rely on marching rations, which were not even enough to fill their stomachs. But the so-called tuberculosis patients living in the church behaved naturally and no one complained.
It is difficult to conceal the changes in mood caused by the huge gap in living conditions. The only explanation is that there are no important officers here at all.
Without officers, who are the convoys protecting? Was it really like what they said, that they all died in the previous blocking battle?
This is obviously impossible. Based on the medical team members' understanding of the surrounding terrain and routes, it is impossible to find this town with such accuracy without a convoy. So the answer becomes extremely simple. It is naturally these doctors who are protected by the escort team.
But are these really "these" doctors?
After these days of observation, especially the emergency surgery on the afternoon when he first came to the town, Mendelstein's attention was fully focused on Kawi and Ignatz.
Ignatz is much older and has really good medical skills. He can preside over surgeries and is called a teacher by everyone. Kawei is very young and can only be the most ordinary assistant according to common sense, but he is able to handle troublesome maxillofacial trauma on his own, and his ability is self-evident.
The surgery on Craig's right leg further proved his judgment. Judging from the gap between the military doctors on both sides, this medical team is indeed worth the protection of an entire escort team.
However, since Mendelstein had never studied medicine, he only thought that surgery was powerful, but he did not know who was really powerful. He could only rely on his repeated harassment of the other party's questions and his judgment to temporarily target Kawei and Ignatz.
Now, his purpose has changed from intercepting officers to intercepting military doctors.
And when the gunfire sounded just now, the difference in treatment between the two directly showed who the other party really wanted to protect.
"It turns out it's really you, Dr. Carvey."
(End of chapter)
