After receiving the order from the headquarters, Obodo was still confused, but after wandering around the streets and seeing the beggars everywhere, he understood what was going on.
Most of the Russian Army's main force was gathered in the Polish region. Under normal circumstances, it would never be the Fourth Division's turn to exterminate the bandits.
Now that they were given such a heavy responsibility, it was definitely not trust. With his relationship with Marshal Ivanov, there was no way he would be able to get a share of any easy missions.
After carefully studying the information sent by the headquarters, Obodo was half happy and half worried. Accepting this mission meant that the previous incident was over, and he did not have to worry about being held accountable by the military court.
Unfortunately, the mission to exterminate the Polish region was not easy. Even if Ivanov had ordered the other troops to cooperate with the Fourth Division, Obodo was still not confident that he could complete the mission within the stipulated time.
Putting down the document in his hand, Obodo ordered a young officer, "Invite the representatives of the Third, Sixth, Seventh, and Fifth Divisions over to discuss the extermination of the bandits."
"Wait!"
The person who stopped him was the chief of staff of the Fourth Division, Contreras, a middle-aged man with a full beard.
"Commander, it's not that simple. From what I know, the Third and Sixth Divisions have already sent troops multiple times and killed more than a hundred thousand bandits, but there was still no effect.
If we can't solve the problem from the source, no matter how many bandits we kill, the Polish region will not be stabilized. "
Everyone knew this problem, but no one was willing to bear the responsibility, so no one pointed it out.
Obodo was also hoping for a fluke. If he could solve the problem with force, he would not have to bear the infamy.
Unlike Obodo, who was the commander, Contreras had much less psychological pressure.
Under normal circumstances, people only remembered him as the commander. Other than the incident, Obodo was also the one being scolded. As the chief of staff, as long as he kept a low profile, no one would recognize him.
From Contreras' point of view, the most important thing was to complete the mission as soon as possible and make up for the mistake of the previous operation.
People were realistic. Lieutenant General Obodo had high prestige in the Fourth Division, but it was all in the past. Ever since the failure of the last operation, his prestige fell to the bottom.
No one would believe in a general who lost the battle, even if strictly speaking, Obodo did not lose the battle.
Although the Fourth Army had suffered heavy losses, they had bought enough time for the main force and played an important strategic role.
Obo waved his hand helplessly. "In theory, that's true. But my chief of staff, are you sure you want to solve the problem at its source?
These are millions of Polish refugees. Other than killing the chicken to warn the monkey, do you have any other way? "
No one was willing to bear the infamy of "butcher". That would leave one with a bad reputation for thousands of years. Obodo still wanted to struggle. Unless he had no other choice, he wouldn't give up.
Contreras said tentatively, "Maybe we can consider sending them away. Don't the Austrians need immigrants? We can do them a favor and send the refugees to them."
Obodo shook his head. "If the Austrians were willing to accept it, Marshal Ivanov would have done it long ago. This mission wouldn't have fallen to us.
Not just Austria, I've sent people to ask all the colonized countries. No family is willing to accept refugees, unless we can send them over. "
It wasn't that they didn't want it, it was that they couldn't afford it. Accepting millions of refugees at once would be very difficult even in the 21st century, let alone now.
Not to mention the high transportation costs, the key was how to transport millions of people in a short period of time.
If they couldn't be transported immediately, they had to provide resources for the refugees and raise them.
That wasn't all. Transporting the people to the colonies was only the beginning. They had to settle them down. Just the language barrier alone could cause the colonial government to collapse.
Based on a rough estimate, it would take two to three years to settle down so many refugees in the most ideal situation. It couldn't be done without hundreds of millions of Divine Shields.
It might not be possible to make people diligent for three years, but it would only take three days to make people lazy. Who could guarantee that these refugees would still be able to work peacefully during such a long period of time?
If it wasn't handled well, a good thing would become a bad thing. Not only did it not create wealth, but it also increased the burden of the colonial government.
With such a huge expense and such a huge risk, the cost was not proportional to the benefit. It was not strange that the major colonial empires were unwilling to accept this batch of refugees.
It could be seen from the immigration policies of the major colonial empires. They accepted the immigrants in batches and rarely accepted a large number of immigrants at once.
It was the same for Austria. Other than the fact that there were no restrictions on organizing immigrants from within the country, they had to go through screening when accepting immigrants from outside.
Moreover, the human heart was unpredictable. Who could guarantee that these refugees would continue to migrate after receiving the resources? They might even return home directly.
With so many people, no country would feel at ease if they were to rely on the moral principles of the Russians to supervise them.
The spirit of contracts was useless against refugees. It was precisely because it didn't exist that people advocated for it.
If they really relied on contracts to force immigrants, no one would dare to accept them even if they were sent to a place. Many of them had rich experience in guerrilla warfare.
Contreras was puzzled. "I passed by the Austrian embassy yesterday and saw many people applying for immigration. There were even beggars among them. They didn't say that they refused to accept refugees?"
Odo shook his head. "Most of them are Germans. The Government of Vienna has rules that as long as they consider themselves citizens of the Holy Roman Empire, they can avoid the restrictions.
Even so, they must know German if they want to get by. How many of these refugees do you think are proficient in German? "
The reason why there was a long line outside the Austrian embassy was because the Government of Berlin had vigorously promoted German in the Polish region.
Unfortunately, the time was too short. Coupled with the resistance of the Poles, there were not many people who were proficient in German. Most of them were immigrants from the Rhineland region.
Of course, this was only a small number for all the refugees. In fact, there were still hundreds of thousands of them.
After pondering for a while, Contreras said fiercely, "If that's the case, then we might as well expel the refugees to the Kingdom of Prussia and let the enemy have a headache."
Odo sighed. "This is very difficult to do. The number of refugees is huge, and they won't listen to our commands at all. Once the news spreads, they will most likely scatter and flee.
Moreover, it won't be long before we launch an attack on the enemy again. These refugees will still have to be dealt with by us in the end. "
Contreras shook his head. "Odo, you've changed. The original you wouldn't be so indecisive.
We definitely won't be able to expel all of the refugees, and we don't need to expel all of them. As long as we expel more than half of them, the rest won't be able to do much.
As for the future, we can talk about it when the time comes. What we need to do now is to complete the mission. After the war, we have plenty of time to deal with the refugees. "
Obo nodded. "Perhaps. People have to grow up. The lesson from last time was enough. Now, I have to think more before doing things. Perhaps this is the real me.
However, expelling the refugees is a good suggestion. At least it's more acceptable than slaughtering the refugees. Perhaps this is what St. Peter Castle wants to see. "
…
With Odo's order, the Polish region was in complete chaos.
First, it started with the cities. The Russian Army didn't have that much time. Many citizens in tattered clothes were also caught in the undeserved calamity.
It made people panic. Ordinary people didn't dare to go out easily, for fear that they would be treated as refugees.
Where there was oppression, there would be resistance.
However, how could ordinary people be a match for the army? The Russian Army was famous for being ruthless. There was only one way to deal with it — kill!
If one person resisted, they would kill one. If 1,000 people resisted, they would kill 1,000.
In short, the Russians firmly believed that there was no problem that couldn't be solved with a butcher's knife. If there was, it must be because they hadn't killed enough people.
Reality proved that the carnage Odo stirred up was very effective. There was no need for the army to expel the refugees. At the sight of the Russian Army, the refugees spontaneously ran away.
For a time, all the bandits disappeared. They either ran away or hid. Only the guerrillas were left fighting alone.
…
In the Austrian embassy in Warsaw, Minister Andrew was in a terrible mood. Ever since the Russian Army expelled the refugees, the number of people applying for immigration had instantly decreased.
It wasn't that the Russians were stopping Austria from accepting immigrants. The main reason was that while they were expelling the refugees, they were also expelling the people who could have immigrated.
It wasn't that the Russians were deliberately causing trouble. They were all mixed in with the refugees. Unless they took the initiative to reveal their identity, the Russian Army soldiers wouldn't be able to distinguish them.
Looking at the murderous Russian Army soldiers, there were too few people who dared to take the initiative to reveal their identity. Most of them just went with the flow and ran away with the main force.
By the time Minister Andrew reacted and protested to the Russians, it was already too late. They had already left. They couldn't possibly let the Russians rush back, right?
Without the refugees as the main force, the number of immigration applications instantly dropped. Unless the review standards were relaxed, the immigration work wouldn't be completed.
The immigration officer, Boruca, asked, "Your Excellency, what did the Russians say?"
Andrew replied with a bitter smile, "Regretful, sorry, there's no other way!"
This answer really made people speechless, but it happened to be the truth. The Russians really had no other way now, and Austria couldn't possibly pester this problem.
"Then what about our immigration work? Not long ago, we promised our country that we could get at least 300,000 immigrants in the Polish region.
Looking at the current situation, I'm afraid we've only completed half of the task. Damn Slavic barbarians, they don't even know how to use their brains … "Boruca grumbled unhappily.
Minister Andrew understood Boruca's feelings very well. The cooked duck suddenly flew away. No one would be happy. However, things had already come to this point, and it was useless to scold him.
"Mr. Boruca, now is not the time to complain. It's better to report this matter to our country as soon as possible. What happens next is not something we can handle.
However, looking at the current situation, our country also has no other way. After the Russians deport the refugees to Prussia, I'm afraid these people will be crippled. "
Potocika nodded. He understood what Minister Andrew meant. "Crippled" didn't mean that they would be crippled physically, but mainly mentally.
When the Russian Army controlled the Warsaw region, they distributed relief rations once a week, and the refugees were still able to abide by the basic social order.
When the Russians came, they stopped the relief rations, and the social order was naturally broken. Those who had reserves were still struggling to survive, and those who didn't had already found a living outside.
They dug wild vegetables, gnawed on tree bark, or became bandits. The Russians had just arrived, and the famine hadn't broken out for long. Everyone was still able to survive, and most people still maintained their sanity.
With the expulsion of the Russian Army, this crisis would be magnified. There wasn't that much food on the road. Once a person was extremely hungry, they would do anything.
"Swapping children for food" wasn't just a historical allusion, but it was about to begin.
People who experienced this kind of thing, even if they survived, were no longer real people. They could only be regarded as animals walking upright, and their minds were completely crippled.
…
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