Chapter 508: Accidental Incident

  Chapter 497 Accident

The news of the British proposed negotiations back to Vienna, Franz approved the first time. Although the battlefield losses are not big, but hurt money ah!

Since they couldn’t conquer Cape Town, it would be a waste of time to continue fighting. Looking at the intelligence coming from the front, Franz is also helpless.

In this era, the British Empire’s bravado, completely beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Millions of pounds said to smash into it, a glance at the dense fortifications, how to fight?

The original Cape Town Raiders, under the British tycoon tactics, simply can not play its due role.

Do not look at the British fell into the wind, in fact, they still ruthlessly to the world to show off the strength of this South African war Britain before and after the funds smashed into, I’m afraid to break the billion.

On this child financial strength, in addition to Britain, the world no longer any country can afford. If the place is easy, Franz early retreat, no money is so short of ambition.

Even in the battlefield advantage, the Vienna government to pay the same price is not small. The war has gone on so far, has smashed in more than 40 million guilders.

Not able to conquer Cape Town, Franz summarized the reason, not the soldiers can not fight, not the front line commander incompetence, mainly no money is not enough luxury.

Otherwise, at all costs to transport thousands of heavy artillery, hit one million eight hundred thousand tons of shells, and then more fortifications have been blown flat.

Oh, it seems like we have to build roads first. Otherwise, the logistics on the battlefield can’t be guaranteed, and if you have guns but no shells, it’s still all for naught.

Putting these expenses, after a preliminary estimation, it is estimated that there are two to three hundred million divine guilders, which is almost enough.

This is not the Vienna government can afford, otherwise the construction of railroads in Africa would not be so slow. If the railroad had been extended to the Transvaal earlier, the British would not have dared to provoke a war.

The Anglo-Boer War was not without its benefits, and the reality once again taught the world a lesson: war is a gold swallowing beast, don’t fight if you don’t have money.

South Africa’s gold has not yet been mined on a large scale, and the outside world generally believes that there is no winner in this war. Austria topped the Boer vest and won the British, but did not capture the Cape of Good Hope, the strategic objective was not achieved.

Economically, on the undeveloped South Africa, can not be worth more than 50 million guilders. When the British bought Cape Town, it was because of the Cape of Good Hope, without this strategic location of South Africa, its own value of ten not one.

Compared to the small loss of Austria, the British are blood loss. In order to the Boer Republic that piece of general value of the colony, took the initiative to start this war.

The British spent a lot of war funds, paid tens of thousands of casualties, not only did not achieve the goal, but also pushed back by the enemy to Cape Town.

Negotiation is also costly. It is easy to start a war, but difficult to end it. Other than that, whether the lost land should be recovered or not is a headache.

Even if this is a colony and worthless, the strategic security of the Cape of Good Hope has to be considered, right? If there is a conflict and the enemy is at the city’s doorstep, will we still be able to live our lives?

Even if we don’t start a war, no one can stand it if the daily living materials are in the hands of others and the prices go up every now and then.

Therefore, other places can not want, but outside the city of water, coal, farms, these urban necessities, the British must be taken back.

Empty promises are obviously impossible, top the vest of the Boer Republic, does not mean that the enemy outside the city is the Boer Republic. To get it all at the negotiating table, a price had to be paid.

What kind of result is negotiated, Franz does not care. Anyway, can not lose, if the British are not in a hurry, so the stalemate is quite good.

Austria’s life supplies, the Boer Republic can provide most of the front-line troops to eat the problem can be solved nearby.

The British in the city is a tragedy, even fresh water has to be transported from Madagascar, or to buy from the Portuguese. Other living materials, not to mention, all have to be transported from the outside world.

Don’t look at the convenience of sea transportation, but also have to consider what kind of place it is. The Cape of Good Hope is not a good place, has always been the high incidence of shipwrecks, another month or two, the monsoon is coming is the world of murderous waves.

There were two paths before the British, either stockpile enough supplies for winter now, or end the war before winter sets in.

Plans never change quickly, and just as the Anglo-British negotiations began, a sudden outbreak of plague struck.

It first appeared in the Indian colonial army, the British did not pay attention to it, just thought it was a case of malnutrition, so what should be done is what should be done.

In the course of the engagement, the plague was also brought into the Boer Republican cannon fodder units. On a battlefield where men were dying every day, it was equally normal for a few to fall ill, let alone the unappreciated artillery fodder troops.

The poor sanitary conditions in the barracks accelerated the spread of the epidemic. Soon a large number of soldiers fell ill. The plague did not recognize people, and white soldiers were not immune.

It was the British who were the first to notice, and as the side defending the city, the British troops were much denser, as the lack of water in the city exacerbated the deteriorating sanitary conditions again.

All of these conditions facilitated the spread of the plague, and a large number of British soldiers fell ill, attracting the attention of the army doctor, Horace, who realized that the plague had come only after a check.

Not daring to be slow, Horace immediately reported the news of the discovery of the epidemic. Reported level by level to the hands of the governor of Delphi, it is already May 18, 1871.

When the epidemic first appeared is no longer verifiable. The medical system of the British was not yet so perfect as to give Indian soldiers a full-time doctor.

A bolt from the blue this was, and for Governor Telford, it was the worst possible news bar none. Without any hesitation, Governor Delphi immediately called a high-level meeting and gave the order to prevent the epidemic:

“Immediately quarantine all patients, and send a telegram to the mainland requesting that professional plague prevention experts be sent from home. Epidemic prevention is to be done now, and you will consult the doctors on what to do.”

This is all he can do, the plague this thing and uncontrolled, this era of medical technology is limited, can only listen to God’s fate.

Shortly after the British discovered the epidemic, the Boer Republican army outside the city also discovered the epidemic.

The first to be infected was Ensign Merckx, who had been sent over to command the cannon fodder troops, and was gossiping during a doctor’s appointment, complaining about the number of sick men under his command, sparking the curiosity of a trainee doctor.

Curiosity doesn’t always kill the cat, so Dr. Luke goes to the Negro barracks to check it out on the ground, and he’s shocked.

This is clearly the plague, but still spread the plague. The number of people infected in a single unit is not scary, but if the total number is added up, it is very scary.

After the news was reported, Viscount Fikeni immediately sent people to investigate, the results of a check only to find that the number of infected people has been determined to be as high as more than 2,000 people, of which the Boer soldiers have eighty-seven people.

This is only the ones that have developed the disease, the virus carriers that have not developed the disease, still don’t know how many. Looking at the data in his hands, Viscount Fikeni was speechless for a long time.

Fortunately, the cannon fodder troops and the main force were stationed separately, and apart from the officers managing this force, the main force still rarely came into contact with them.

There was no need to say that the work of epidemic prevention automatically began to unfold. The Austrian army had a special anti-epidemic department, usually doubled up by military doctors, and this unit, which was wearing the vest of the Boer Republican army, was no exception.

The units were organized and carried out their work in accordance with the regulations that had been issued for the prevention of epidemics.

Viscount Fikeni asked with concern: “Has the type of epidemic been determined? What triggered this plague?”

The plague is also divided into three, six, nine classes, the most lethal is naturally the first bubonic plague, including the Black Death that nearly exterminated Europe, is a kind of bubonic plague, and then smallpox, cholera, malaria, influenza.

Each is afraid of killers, not divided into high and low, they are all killed.

Presided over the epidemic prevention work of Lesnar military doctor thought for a moment and said: “the plague’s transmission pathway can not be determined, its origin is initially judged to have two cases.

The biggest possibility is that the corpses on the battlefield were mishandled, leading to the growth of the virus, which finally triggered the plague.

The other possibility is that it was brought from outside, according to the information we have collected, the plague also broke out in India not long ago, it is very likely that it was brought by the Indians.

If the virus originated from India, then this plague is not difficult to solve, it has been proved that the outbreak of plague in India is not strong in spreading.

From the current situation, the former is more likely. If the virus originated from India, then it is the virus that has mutated.”

Wars are often accompanied by diseases, and this South African war seems insignificant, but the death toll is definitely ranked in human history.

Not only were people dying on the battlefield, but the number of people who died outside the battlefield was not much less than on the battlefield. After this war, the total population of South Africa is less than thirty percent of what it was before the war.

With so many people dead, the disposal of corpses became a problem. On the surface, most of the corpses on the battlefield were burned or dug pits and buried.

But there are always leftovers from the bloody parts. It may not seem like much of a hazard, but there’s no telling what will happen when it accumulates.

At the beginning of the outbreak of the war, Franz secretly gave orders to do a good job of preventing epidemics. So this Boer Republican Army was not unprepared, just did not expect the plague actually broke out when the war was about to end.

The source of the plague, this was just what the professionals were concerned about. Viscount Fikeni was more interested in combating, no matter how it came about, as long as the epidemic could be controlled.

After a little thought, Viscount Fikeni made a decision, “Order the main force, first withdraw from the already occupied streets, and let the 7th Division of the South African Special Dispatch take over the defense.”

In front of the plague, all the battle results are just floating clouds. With such broken streets, no one knows which corner there is a leaking corpse.

It was too dangerous to have the main force stationed in such a place; it was safer to station them outside the city.

This 7th Division of the South African Special Dispatch is the unit with the worst outbreak of the epidemic, and letting them take over the defense is a waste of time.

If the British ran off to attack, it would be better to give it to them. Viscount Fikeni had already decided to put the quarantine camp at the forefront to see if he could get the British to add a few more patients.

Even if it didn’t work, it would still disgust the British. Give vent to the grievances in their hearts, the war had been fought to this point, and both sides had long since formed a blood feud.

(End of chapter)