Chapter 953: A political enticement to surrender at an explicit price
Chapter 934: The Political Seduction of the Explicit Price Tag
At a time when the international community is in turmoil, France and Austria’s struggle around Egypt has also come to an end. Facts have once again proved that modern warfare, is no longer able to win just by numbers.
Looking at the ever-increasing number of telegrams for help on his desk, Governor Jacob had begun to despair. Reinforcements are impossible, from the fall of the harbor, the French army in Egypt can only rely on themselves.
Originally, Governor Jacob also planned to rely on the hands of the troops and the Austrian army tangled for a year and a half, for the continental battle for time. Now it is even less than a month, it has already lost the momentum.
There is no way, from the Austrian armored forces on the line, Governor Jacob’s all strategic plans have been broken.
Faced with this unfamiliar enemy, Jacob’s entire being was dumbfounded. The fortifications that the French had painstakingly built in the Egyptian region were completely overwhelmed by the torrent of steel.
Originally, it was only to block the enemy infantry attack, but now it was facing an enemy with planes in the sky, airships, and armored tanks on the ground, with the infantry instead cooperating with the aid of these iron lumps.
Needless to say, flesh and blood can not fight against the steel torrent, but all field encounters, are to the French army tragedy ended. The original army of more than 800,000 troops has now been shocked to pieces.
Even after collecting the routed soldiers, Governor Jacob did not dare to order the troops to rally, because rallying will only make the French army lose faster.
In order to delay time as much as possible, Governor Jacob was forced to order his troops to find cities and dangerous terrain nearby, avoiding a head-on battle with the enemy’s steel torrent.
Just because they avoided the torrent of steel didn’t mean it was over. Into the city of the French army is good, the colonial government in advance of the stockpile of supplies, a moment and a half will not starve; scattered outside the French army on the tragedy, the dangerous terrain is limited to the enemy’s armored forces, but they want to eat ah!
The enemy’s air force is staring at the dead, how to deliver the supplies to these French troops has become a big problem.
In a sense, it wasn’t a problem, after all, Governor Jacob didn’t have much in his hands, and with the loss of local support, he could only hold out for a few months at most.
Now that there were fewer people, the French troops stationed in the cities, on the contrary, were able to support them for a longer period of time. It had to be said that this was also ironic.
If it was just the Egyptian battlefield collapsing, it wouldn’t actually cause Governor Jacob to break down, after all, it was expected and he had long been mentally prepared for it. Even at home he had only been asked to stall for time and had no illusions of defeating the enemy.
What really broke Jacob was the loss of hope, not only for the Egyptian battlefield, but also for France.
Jacob had learned firsthand the power of armored troops. This group of iron pimples not only in the field of battle on the infantry slaughter, in the siege of fortresses and fortresses in the same time have a miraculous effect.
Restraints may have existed, but they had nothing to do with Jacob, who was trapped inside the city of Cairo. By now, the war was so far advanced that the French army in the Egyptian region had lost the battle.
“Have our men arrived in Ethiopia yet?”
Governor Jacob asked.
Perhaps out of duty, perhaps because of patriotism, in any case, after encountering the Austrian armored forces, Governor Jacob sent a message home at the first opportunity.
The telegraph network to the outside world had long since been cut off by Austria, and if the Austrians wished, even the telegraph network between the various cities of Egypt could be cut off.
The only way to communicate with the outside world now was to cross the Austrian blockade into British Ethiopia and use British channels to pass on the news.
The African continent is too big, and the jungle is dense, sparsely populated, theoretically, a few people as long as they are careful, avoiding the Austrian blockade line is not impossible.
The real restriction on the spread of news is still the distance, from Cairo to British Ethiopia is thousands of miles, and now these areas are in the midst of war, the chance of accidents is really too high.
Major General Aristide, who was Jacob’s close confidant and the one who carried it out, replied, “In terms of time, the messenger we sent out should have entered British territory by now.
To be on the safe side, I have sent out more than two hundred messengers, so even if there is an accident in the middle of the journey, there will be someone to complete the mission.
Only, Your Excellency the Governor, does it really work? The enemy was able to use these secret weapons in the Egyptian region, and there will only be more deployed on the European continent.
Not to mention whether or not the news we report will get the attention of the country. Even if we know about it in advance, I’m afraid that we won’t be able to solve it for a while.”
It was a fact that discovering a problem was not the same as being able to solve it. If the threat could be solved simply by discovering the armored forces, then the armored forces wouldn’t have been able to shine in the original time and space.
“Alas!”
Governor Jacob sighed and said helplessly, “There’s no way, this news is too important. The country doesn’t know the power of these iron lumps of the enemy, and our troops in Central and Southern Europe are still looking for the Austrian army to duel.
You’ve felt it firsthand, if you’re not prepared beforehand, and suddenly encounter these iron pimples in a field battle, how big of an impact it will bring.
Now we can only hope that the Austrians are not yet ready, and that there are not enough armored units deployed on the continent. The country receives the news we provide and is able to draw attention to it.
Otherwise this continental war, is the battle of France’s buried bones. Losing this war, the great French Empire is going to become history.”
Jacob was able to stand out from the many competitors and become a high-powered governor, in addition to his personal ability, it was more because of Napoleon IV’s trust.
A close confidant was no mean feat, in other words: his personal destiny and the fate of his family were tied to the Bonaparte dynasty.
The defeat of France in this continental war may not be the end of the country, but the Bonaparte dynasty will certainly be finished. As a hardcore supporter of the Bonaparte dynasty, Jacob naturally couldn’t have a good time.
If it is not the interests of the bundle is too deep, in the Egyptian region after the situation has gone, Jacob governor will not choose to resist, after all, only one life.
“Wooooooooo……”
The air defense siren sounded again, and the mood of the people in the command headquarters became heavier and heavier. Air defense is about equal to nothing, anti-aircraft artillery Europe’s main force is not enough, as a stepchild of the colonial troops is naturally even less.
The anti-aircraft weapons allocated to the Egyptian theater were mainly based on anti-aircraft rifles. Although the domestic arms dealers bragged about the anti-aircraft rifles, the real value is not even comparable to chicken ribs.
In addition to a longer range and the ability to fire directly into the air, the rest are all shortcomings, such as: low hit rate, large recoil, easy to blow up ……
The air defense siren sounded, but the expected bombing did not come. The familiar sound of explosions was not heard, but an uneasy feeling spread within the command headquarters.
Time seemed to have fallen silent, no one spoke, the atmosphere in the room was extraordinarily tense and depressing, on the verge of breaking down.
“His Excellency the Governor, this is a leaflet thrown by the enemy outside, please take a look.”
The guard’s voice broke the silence, after receiving the flyer and scanning it, Governor Jacob’s eyes widened, and the look of horror on his face already betrayed his inner thoughts.
After half a sound, Governor Jacob, who had regained his senses, said bitterly, “The enemy has begun to bully, and all of the above have begun to explicitly mark up the price.
Ordinary soldiers who voluntarily surrender before engaging in battle, each person is rewarded with one divine shield; officers who surrender in formation with their troops, the company platoon increases by twenty percent on top of this, the battalion level increases by thirty percent, and the regiment level increases by forty percent ……
The increased rewards are freely distributed by the officers and guarantee the preservation of personal property, and all surrendered officers and soldiers enjoy the corresponding preferential treatment for prisoners of war.
If they resist, they will no longer receive prisoners after the outbreak of war. There is only one chance: live or die.”
There is no doubt that this leaflet was intended to demoralize the last vestiges of the French army and force them to surrender.
No one wanted to die, and it was not fashionable in Europe to fight to the death. If there was still a chance to win, Jacob had a way to mobilize everyone to let go.
Now, sitting in a lonely city, and no reinforcements, can not see any hope, and then want everyone to fight to the death will be difficult.
Hearing this bad news, the people in the command center looked different, but soon returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.
Major General Aristide fearfully suggested, “His Excellency the Governor, we must immediately order the collection of the leaflets, if the news spreads, it will make us very passive.”
There was no way around it, the people present were sure that even if war broke out, the Austrian army would likewise take prisoners or else force people to fight for their lives, but the officers and soldiers at the bottom would not think so.
The war had been going on for so long that the sentiment of defeat had long spread through the French army, and many did not want to continue this hopeless war.
According to the tradition of the European continent, the surrender of the nobility is certainly favored, but the bottom of the officers and soldiers is not the same, do hard labor, starvation are routine operations, or even directly be clicked off.
Even if the Austrians will receive prisoners later, but angry with the enemy, still want to have good fruit to eat?
Killing does not necessarily have to use a knife, no day and night labor, the same can also be exhausted people.
The French army’s morale was already in the doldrums, and the Austrians’ leaflets were likely to be the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
Anyway, the situation is now finalized, sooner or later will have to surrender, rather than meaningless fight, early surrender to receive a sum of money, he does not smell good?
Jacob shook his head, ”It’s too late, we all got the flyers, the soldiers outside will only get them earlier.
By this time the news will have already spread, to collect the flyers again will not have any meaning except to intensify the conflict.
The enemy’s promises are very deceptive. Just because we won’t fall for it doesn’t mean that the bottom officers and soldiers won’t be deceived either. It’s imperative that we find a way to stabilize the military’s heart.”
“Fooled” and “deceived” were words that Jacob himself would not believe. The enemy did engage in luring, but the problem was that people weren’t bidding high anymore.
Full count, now the Egyptian region of the French army is only four or five hundred thousand, even if the collective surrender, the so-called buyout fee is only one million eight hundred thousand guilders, so little money is not worth the Austrian default.
Moreover, prisoners of war are not collected for nothing, the big deal is added to the ransom inside the line. Eventually all the expenses, or by the French government to pay the bill.
(End of chapter)