Chapter 398

The change in the British foreign policy quickly caused a chain reaction. In the end, the French could not resist the temptation and accepted the British to join the alliance. The pressure was shifted to Austria.

This winter in Vienna was particularly cold. Before Christmas, the Palazzo Belvedere was already covered with a layer of silver.

Stepping on the snow, the squeaking sound was still so pleasing to the eye.

Franz, who was in a good mood, did not have a headache about the change in the diplomatic situation. Since the French dared to let the British join the alliance, he did not mind having an ally who stirred up shit.

The Fao and the UK were already unstable. Now with the addition of the British with ulterior motives, Franz could already see the future of the alliance collapsing.

Of course, it was still good for everyone in the short term. The British, Fao and the UK forming an alliance could bring everyone's reputation to the peak. All the countries in the world would tremble under this alliance.

Entering the conference room, Minister of Foreign Affairs Wesenberg was already in the room. There was a cup of hot coffee on the table. Obviously, he had been here for a while.

The purpose was self-evident. It was to communicate with Franz in advance whether to form an alliance with the British.

Thanks to the good reputation of the British, the Government of Vienna had never been enthusiastic about forming an alliance with them. Even the pro-British faction in the government did not think that the British were a good ally.

After the polite greetings, Franz asked directly, "What do you think?"

Foreign Minister Wesenberg paused as if he was organizing his words. After a moment, he replied, "Your Majesty, the French have already compromised. We do not need to continue the stalemate.

The British have joined the alliance, and the life of this alliance is destined to not be long. However, the Fao alliance is originally a combination of interests, and it will expire in a few years.

We do not have a long-term plan to maintain the alliance. In this case, it may not be a bad thing to let the British come in and tear up the alliance earlier. "

Franz nodded. The purpose of the alliance was to win time for peaceful development. Now that the French had been brought into the trap, they would not be able to do anything in the European continent in a short period of time. The original purpose had been achieved.

At this time, the importance of the alliance to Austria had become dispensable. In this case, there was no need to hold on to it. It was also a good choice to make the last use of the waste and improve Austria's reputation in the world.

"The Foreign Ministry will continue to negotiate with the British and try to delay the alliance until the second half of next year without affecting the outcome of the negotiations.

The South African war will not end in a short period of time. The people have invested so much, we need to create an opportunity for them. "

As a good leader, Franz was clear about the contributions of the African nobles. Many nobles had done their best for this war.

Although the government of Vienna was paying for the military expenses, people died in the war. The loss of the trusted private army couldn't be made up in a day or two.

Not to mention, some poor nobles had fallen on the battlefield. of the war. No matter what, they had sacrificed for the national interest, and now the Vienna government needed to give them an explanation.

If they were incompetent and failed to conquer Cape Town, then they would not be able to bury the hole they dug themselves. No one would have any objections.

If the Vienna government forcibly stopped the war for diplomatic reasons, wouldn't their efforts be in vain?

Without military merits, there would be no rewards. If they couldn't advance further, they wouldn't even be able to recoup their costs with the government's pay.

Franz would never do anything that would disappoint people. It was worth it to delay for a few months to increase the loyalty of the African nobles.

Anyway, these expenses could be recovered with South Africa's mineral resources. The more beautiful the war was, the more confidence they had in negotiating after the war.

As for the decline in the local population because of the war, there was nothing they could do. Everything came with a price.

Wesenberg replied, "Yes, Your Majesty. The Foreign Ministry will try to buy time for the front line. Blood will not be shed in vain. "

At this point in the war, the losses on the South African battlefield were astronomical. The Boer Republic had lost a total of 341,500 soldiers. Well, the fraction at the back was Austria's real casualties.

Otherwise, everyone in the Boer Republic would have to die twice to barely make up the numbers.

The British army was not much better. The number of casualties was also in the hundreds of thousands, and they were mainly cannon fodder. The white soldiers lost more than 20,000 people, a large number of whom were prisoners, and only seven or eight thousand died in battle.

The main reason for the disparity in casualties was not only the defeat of the British army at the beginning, but also the attack and defense of Cape Town.

On average, it now took more than a dozen cannon fodder to kill one British soldier. The number of casualties on both sides was naturally different.

This situation would probably continue until the arrival of the Indian colonial army, and then the two colonial empires would have a big battle of cannon fodder.

Viscount Fickney was still aware of the decisions of the two countries' higher-ups. The rising number of casualties made him, the colonial leader, shocked.

At this moment, he somewhat admired the Russians. They were actually able to pile up human lives and force the French to give up the Constantinople.

It was important to know that the South African battlefield was filled with indigenous people, while the Russians used their own people as cannon fodder. It was a completely different concept.

Christmas was approaching, and Cape Town was still unmoved. After so many days of war, the Boer Republic Army had only knocked out the outer fortifications of the British.

Even this was filled with more than a hundred thousand cannon fodder troops. If they continued to fight like this, the young adults in the South African region would definitely not be enough.

Viscount Fickney said with some exhaustion, "Everyone is clear about the situation on the battlefield. I have already contacted the governor of the Congo, and they promised to send over a hundred thousand cannon fodder in the near future. The East African Governor District also agreed to send fifty thousand people.

There is no hope for the further West African region. There are not many indigenous people there, and the distance is too far. It will take too long.

Not to mention the South African region, other than the indigenous tribes deep in the mountains and forests, the rest have been conscripted. There are not many young adults left.

It is not a solution to continue like this. Even if we use up the hundreds of thousands of cannon fodder in our hands and kill all the cannon fodder troops from all over the country, we may not be able to conquer Cape Town.

The plan to conquer Cape Town before Christmas has now failed, and the British reinforcements will arrive soon.

At this time, we need a new tactic. At least, we have to reduce the casualties of the attacking troops. Otherwise, it will be difficult to exhaust the British. "

Viscount Fickney could not afford to let the main forces attack head-on. That was why he chose to use the cannon fodder troops to fight a war of attrition.

No matter how disparate the exchange ratio was, the besieged British would be at a disadvantage. Once the losses exceeded the limit they could bear, the British would also admit defeat.

Of course, this was the ideal situation. With the importance of the Cape of Good Hope, the British would not easily give up. War was fought for money and food. If it continued for too long, Austria would also not be able to afford it.

Chief of Staff Jacob thought about it and said, "It is not that there is no way, but if we use it now, it will be difficult to play a role in the future. I am afraid it will be impossible to end this war before Christmas. "

Blindly attacking was the stupidest method. Doing this at the beginning was because the logistics could not keep up. There was not much food in the army, and they could not afford to feed so many cannon fodder. They could only be sent to be used up.

As time passed, the logistics problem had been gradually solved. The number of cannon fodder troops had also plummeted. There was no need to continue sending them to their deaths.

After all, there were still many areas that needed cannon fodder. Even if they tore apart the British defense line, they would still need a large number of lives to fill in the gaps.

Viscount Fickney shook his head and said, "Don't worry so much. If there is a way, use it first. At most, when the British reinforcements arrive, we will use the second set of plans.

The British have sea transport channels to replenish their supplies. This kind of attack will cause too many losses. The chances of conquering Cape Town are not high.

With just these last few days, even if the main forces were to be deployed, it would be impossible to end the war before Christmas. "

It was not that Viscount Fickney was reluctant to suffer casualties. The main reason was that the number of main forces was limited. They really could not afford to lose them. If there were heavy losses, even if they tore apart the defense line, it was possible that the British would counter-attack.

Otherwise, with the firepower advantage, they could suppress the British's firepower. The cannon fodder troops would not even be able to touch the British's hair.

Jacob nodded and said, "Then dig a trench and close the distance as much as possible. Then dig a tunnel to blow up the enemy's fortifications.

The British never thought that there would be enemies in the inland areas. These fortifications are mostly temporary. As long as the foundation is loosened, ordinary artillery can take care of it. "

In fact, it could be directly broken through with artillery, but it would require heavy artillery. The number of heavy artillery in the Boer Republic's army was limited. They could not simultaneously suppress the enemy's firepower.

This was due to an insufficient estimate. They took it for granted that the cement in the Cape Town area was limited. They could not build a large number of reinforced concrete fortifications in a short period of time, and they did not prepare enough heavy artillery.

Viscount Fickney wanted to end the war before Christmas based on the premise that the British did not build modern fortifications. He did not expect that old fox Delphi to prepare in advance.

As soon as they broke through the gates of Cape Town, they were greeted by rows of temporary fortifications. Even though it was not very perfect, it shattered Viscount Fickney's dream of ending the war quickly.

Now, the battle goal had also changed. Viscount Fickney no longer fantasized about ending the war before Christmas. Instead, he wanted to deplete the British's forces as much as possible before their reinforcements arrived.

So that he could implement the second set of plans, which was to lure the enemy deep in and change the battlefield to fight the final battle.

The biggest problem with the second set of plans was that the British had to dare to come out. Otherwise, it would be useless no matter how many deployments they had.

This required enough British reinforcements to be able to bring enough confidence to Governor Delphi. Only then would this frightened bird be able to come out.

Now, he had to continuously exert pressure and make the British in the city ask for reinforcements from the Government of London. The more reinforcements there were, the more likely it was that the British would fall into the trap.

As for the problem of choking to death if there were too many enemies, it was not within Viscount Fickney's consideration at all.

The British could increase their troops, and so could the Austrians. On the African continent, the British had almost no chance of winning.

Viscount Fickney made a decision without hesitation. "Then let's give it a try first and see the effect."

…

Perhaps God did not like war. This summer in South Africa was exceptionally hot. The sun was like a fireball, scorching the earth. The air was stuffy, and the ground was boiling hot. People felt their feet burning when they walked on the ground.

The hot summer brought great trouble to the attacking army. If it were not for the occasional breeze that brought a hint of coolness, who knew how many people would have suffered heatstroke under the scorching sun.

Major Hanks, who was commanding the troops, reached out and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He cursed helplessly, "This damn weather."

The roar of the cannons rang out again. This was the signal to attack. Without any hesitation, Major Hanks immediately urged, "Get up, you bastards. It's time to assemble."

As he spoke, he kicked. At the same time, Major Hanks was not the only one moving. There were also some black officers.

After about a quarter of an hour, this motley crew finally assembled. It took about another quarter of an hour, and with the help of the black officers, Major Hanks barely managed to send this troop to the battlefield.

Major Hanks had already lost all hope for this cannon fodder troop. Anyone with a bit of ambition was an officer. The role of the officer was to assist and manage this cannon fodder troop. He did not need to personally charge and break through the enemy lines.

War was the best teacher. After experiencing the baptism of blood and fire, Major Hanks had completed his transformation.

In the beginning, he had even planned to train this cannon fodder troop to serve as a support corps for the main force.

After all, an untrained cannon fodder troop would be too weak to take on real combat missions. The Boer Republic's army still needed a support corps with a certain level of combat power, or perhaps high-grade cannon fodder.

As it turned out, Hanks was not a god of war. He did not have the power to turn something rotten into something magical. After two months of trying, he was forced to give up on his initial fantasies.

Since there was no value in training them, they could only be sent forward as beginner cannon fodder. Every day, they would launch an attack as a routine. If they died, everything would be over. If they lived, they would continue to repeat this unskilled job.

As long as they killed an Englishman, they could be promoted to an officer. The prerequisite was that they could return alive and bring back proof of their military exploits.

These lucky ones were in the minority. Most of them fell on the path of the charge, and some of them fell on the battlefield while killing the Englishmen.

After a delay of more than half an hour, this troop with no future launched an attack on the enemy under the deterrence of the supervising troops.

The scene of flesh and blood splattering could no longer move Major Hanks. Right now, he only cared about one thing, and that was to estimate the results of the battle.

A general's success was built on the bones of thousands. In this blood and fire, who knew how many young Austrian officers had been baptized and matured.