Chapter 690:

  Chapter 675.

The winter wind blew away the drifting clouds, mixing with the earthy scent that was mesmerizing.

In the quiet village, a wisp of cooking smoke rose, blown to the east and west, as if telling of the many hardships of life.

As night fell, Joseph Han, the militiaman in charge of guarding the area, breathed a sigh of relief that the day was finally safe. Not having read a book, Joseph Han did not know how to feel, and could only sigh helplessly.

Since the outbreak of the Russo-Prussian War, the atmosphere in the border area has been tense, especially after the Cossack cavalry ravaged the area, but also pushed the atmosphere to a climax.

Budaschi village was located in Lubusen, less than a hundred kilometers away from the front line, and was naturally a key alert area.

In order to combat the arrogance of the enemy, the Berlin government formed a militia on the spot and issued weapons.

The borderline between Prussia and Russia was simply too long, and against the background of the main force of the Prussian army being held in check, the rear, even if it was tightly guarded, could not fully defend against the enemy’s invasion.

Large cities are fine, there is an army garrison, the Cossack cavalry will not go to gnaw on the bones, scattered around the towns and villages will be blood luck, became the favorite of the “robbers”.

Joseph Han himself had been to a village that had been baptized by the “bandits”, and it was a complete hell on earth.

Burning houses, human heads hanging at the entrance of the village, wreckage on the ground, survivors with missing arms and legs …… are all telling of the atrocities committed by the “bandits”.

In reality forced, honest Joseph Han took up arms, joined the militia to defend the peace of the village.

But they are not strong enough to fight the enemy. The main task of the militia was to signal the enemy when they found out, cover the people to enter the castle, defend the castle, and wait for the regular army to come over.

Not every place has a castle, not every castle has the ability to defend, only a small number of big nobles of the castle can withstand “robbers” looting.

In the last hundred years, Poland has been hit by many wars, and many of the local nobles have fallen out of favor. The new nobles were not well off and many of them were influenced by new ideas and gave up building castles.

Without castles and fortresses in the plains, it was almost impossible to resist the plundering of the cavalry.

In order to be safe, the local people have long acted, organized by the government, to repair or rebuild their castles to resist the invasion of the “bandits”.

In this regard, the European people are very talented, every war is accompanied by looting, thousands of years down the road, we have developed a unique ability to save their lives.

This time, the enemy is just a little more ferocious, but the day will go on as usual.

Under the crisis of being robbed by robbers at any time, darkness has become everyone’s favorite, and the enemy will not act at this time.

Letting go of their nervousness, the militia went home in twos and threes, and Joseph Han was among them. Perhaps physically and mentally exhausted, everyone tacitly did not speak.

Back home, his wife had already prepared dinner, the food was very simple, baked potatoes and vegetables, all home-grown.

A family of five, only six fist-sized baked potatoes, obviously not enough to eat, not even enough for Joseph Han to eat alone.

There was no way around it, people’s livelihoods were difficult. In normal times, they all only had two meals, in the morning and afternoon, and they didn’t need to work in the evening, so there was no dinner.

Joseph Han joined the militia and had to train every day, so his nutrition had to keep up; his wife and children had to go to repair the fortress, so they also needed to increase their nutrition, and that’s why he ruthlessly added a dinner.

It was so dark tonight, with not a hint of moonlight, that his wife, always thrifty, had to be ruthless and light candles.

Perhaps the stomach is too hungry, or perhaps can not afford to give up, even the potato skin did not peel, Joseph Han stuffed into the mouth.

“Han, I heard that the town of Fik, twenty miles away, was sacked by the Russians, and all the militia were killed; you must be careful when you go out!”

His wife’s apprehensive voice made Joseph Han’s heart tremble. He had also heard about the situation in Fike Town, not only were all the militia killed, even the old, weak, women and children were also killed and injured.

The enemy killed all those who resisted, and the survivors were either injured or disabled. It was obvious that the Russians were deliberately creating casualties to increase the burden on the Berlin government.

Either because there were too many wounded for the government to accommodate, or in order to inspire the people to resist, a few wounded were placed in small villages.

Joseph Han: “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. You guys be careful too, as soon as you realize the enemy is coming, hide in the cellar, the Russians won’t stay long.”

Obviously, Joseph Han had no faith in the castle being built. It was now the age of hot weapons, and the castles being built were stuck in the last century.

It’s not that people don’t want to build stronger, castles are being built all over the place, and there is a lack of steel, cement, and stone, so they can only build earthen walls.

The Berlin government has increased imports, but how can the high cost, can only be used in strategic places, the city defense projects are not enough, not even the turn of the ordinary village.

Some have suggested evacuating the villages and concentrating the population in the cities to reduce civilian casualties.

Unfortunately, this can only be thought about.

Because of the war, the food production of the Pupo Federation had dropped drastically, and it would be a great victory to retain 80% of its capacity in 1880.

If you give up the border areas, these major food-producing areas, the food production capacity of the Pupo Federation will further decline. The gap of millions of tons of grain per year is not so easy to make up.

“Got it.”

Their tired bodies and minds gave them no interest in chatting. After finishing dinner in the shortest possible time, his wife hurriedly put out the candles.

……

The sign “Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs” shines brightly in the sunlight.

A special diplomatic carriage stopped in front of the building, a middle-aged man in a suit stepped down from the carriage, holding a thick stack of documents, striding into the building.

The secretary whispered, “Your Excellency the Minister, Count Kovacevich, the minister of the Pupo Federation in Vienna, is visiting.”

Weissenberg put down the coffee in his hand and asked, “Did he have a prior appointment?”

As the Foreign Minister Weissenberg had a lot of work, almost every day his schedule was full, unless it was a special circumstance, general diplomatic activities needed to be booked in advance.

The secretary replied, “No. But Kovacevich’s face was very hard to see, and repeatedly emphasized that there was an urgent matter and he had to see you immediately.”

“There is an urgent matter,” Wessenberg, who was ready to refuse, was shocked, immediately thought of the Russo-Prussian War, and slowly said, “Ask him to come in. Remember to tell him that I have only half an hour to spare.”

……

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Minister Kovacevich handed thick documents to Wessenberg and said, “Your Excellency the Minister, these photographs and information have been provided by enthusiasts on the atrocities committed by the Russians.”

After receiving the documents and casually turning them over, Weissenberg saw in the photographs corpses all over the ground, burning houses, and hanging heads, all telling of barbaric evils.

Around is well-informed Weissenberg, also was shocked. Without continuing to look at it, he directly closed the document and turned his attention to Kovacevic.

“Your Excellency the Minister, your country has always been a major force in maintaining world peace and international order, and for God’s sake, we hope that your country will intervene to stop the atrocities of the Russians.”

The Berlin government was exhausted by the underhanded tactics of the Russians and had no choice but to turn to the international community.

No matter how cruel the nature of the world may be, on the European continent countries still know to temper their tactics, and this type of play by the Russians has long since become obsolete.

Ignoring Kovacevich’s boasting, Weissenberg slowly replied: “This issue is very involved, we must be investigated to determine before we can give your country to reply.

However, Your Excellency the Minister can rest assured that as long as the above content is proven to be true, the righteous people of the world will not let such atrocities exist.”

There is no doubt that this is dragging out the word. The atrocities of the Russians were no secret at all; Austria had sent a military observer mission, and knew exactly what was happening at the front.

Knowing it, the Vienna government would not intervene without sufficient interest.

Similar things, not only the Russians are doing, the massacre of villages and towns of things the Prussian army has not done, the major colonial empires overseas to do more extreme.

Only the lid was not lifted, and everyone unspokenly chose to ignore it. This time, the Tsarist government has gone too far, and the civilian casualties in the PBF have reached hundreds of thousands.

In times of war, small-scale killings are inevitable, and large-scale massacres break the rules.

The Russian army didn’t massacre, and the massacre was almost as bad, except for the dead, the rest were all wounded, and a large portion of them were still permanently crippled.

Minister Kovacevich had a bitter expression, “Your Excellency the Minister, these photos were taken by enthusiasts, risking their lives, and I can guarantee that all of them are true.

Every day now, thousands of people, die under the Russian butcher’s knife ……”

Weissenberg waved his hand, “Don’t worry, Your Excellency the Minister. What is true cannot be false, and what is false cannot be true.

Anyone who is a member of the civilized camp will not let this happen. I’ll arrange for someone to investigate now, so go back and wait for news!”

After sending Kovacevich away, Weissenberg had another headache. To interfere or not to interfere, this was a headache.

(End of chapter)