In the evening, four or five officers gathered around a bonfire. No one spoke for a long time, and the atmosphere was very depressing.
It was Hutier and the others. Judging from the scene, it was obvious that they had lost the battle. They were busy running for their lives. Otherwise, they would have a temporary command center.
Potiorek, who was the most active, was the first to break the silence. "Say something. All of you look like you're crying. It's like someone died in your family.
Didn't we just lose the battle? From the beginning, we planned to fight and run at the same time. It's just that we ended up in a sorry state this time. "
There were only a few people in the rebel army who were truly on their side. The others were just cannon fodder. No one cared about their lives.
They were sad, but it was definitely not because the cannon fodder had suffered heavy casualties. To put it bluntly, the 8th Division was just a motley crew. As long as everyone was willing, they could continue to replenish their numbers.
What made everyone depressed was that they had lost the battle, and it was not an ordinary defeat.
In order to achieve greater results, the rebel army had made full use of the advantage of being the first to ambush the French vanguard.
Everything had gone smoothly at the beginning. The French had been caught off guard and had fallen into the encirclement.
However, while Hutier and the others had expected the beginning, they had not expected the end.
Even though the ambush had succeeded and caught the French off guard, and the rebel army had the absolute advantage in numbers, they still could not avoid the fate of defeat in the end.
Defeat was defeat. It was normal for there to be wins and losses on the battlefield. Unfortunately, the French chased the routed soldiers all the way to the rebel camp. The well-prepared 8th Division was still defeated.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Hutier and the others decisively chose to run. Fortunately, there were many routed soldiers. The French did not notice them, and they managed to escape.
By the time they got out of danger, the rebel army, which had more than 200,000 soldiers at its peak, had less than 10% left.
The rest had either died on the battlefield or been captured by the French. Of course, most of them fled to the countryside after their defeat.
Hutier lit a cigarette and took a deep breath. He said slowly, "This is my responsibility. I knew that the French were not to be trifled with, but I still ran over to take advantage of them greedily.
As a result, the rebel army suffered heavy losses and lost their morale. They lost the ability to continue fighting the French. "
Naturally, Hutier was not the only one who was greedy. The smooth progress in the early stages made everyone overestimate their own commanding abilities.
Ambushing the vanguard of the French army was a unanimous decision, but in the face of absolute power, all strategies and tactics were not worth mentioning.
Fajinhan said, "Lieutenant Colonel, there's no need to blame yourself. The ambush plan was devised by all of us together. If anyone is to be held accountable, all of us here should be held accountable.
Before we were sent here, Governor Friedrich had clearly told us to learn how to save our own lives before making trouble for the French.
The country has never had confidence in the Rebel Army and has never asked us to save the Rebel Army.
In fact, the situation has developed to this point, and we have already completed our mission, so there is no so-called responsibility.
As for this loss, it was already within our expectations, but we didn't think that we would lose so miserably. We didn't even have time to prepare a backup plan.
Two months ago, when the main force of the Revolutionary Army ambushed the French vanguard, their outcome was only slightly better than ours.
Considering that this is the main force of the French army transferred from the country, their combat power is stronger than the colonial troops. In fact, we … "
Although the reasoning was sound, everyone, including Fajinhan himself, was not at ease.
This was like playing with a stock that had hit its upper limit three times in a row. He was about to sell it for cash, but he was too greedy and stayed for a while, only to see the price plummet again.
Seeing the profits shrink, no matter how much he comforted himself that he had made a profit anyway, he still felt uncomfortable.
It didn't take long for the older Hutier to recover. "Well, now that things have come to this, there's no point in saying anything more.
This time, we only encountered the French vanguard. Their strength is limited, and they seem to have won, but they can't stop the rebel soldiers from fleeing.
I think everyone knows how destructive the defeated soldiers are. Some of the hundreds of thousands of defeated soldiers have a blood feud with the French. If they can't beat the French head-on, can't they do damage in the back?
Originally, we were still considering leaving some soldiers here to fight as guerrillas, but everyone's fighting spirit is not high enough. Now, the French have completed the plan for us.
Next … "
This wasn't purely self-consolation. Since failure was inevitable, they could only look for something beneficial from the failure.
…
In the temporary palace in Paris, ever since he received the news of Egypt's victory, the haze on Napoleon Iv's face was swept away.
Recently, he had been under too much pressure. A group of international food-exporting countries were giving him trouble every day. The people at home were also worried, coming to protest every few days.
Although the news of Egypt's victory on the battlefield couldn't solve the international problems, it was enough to appease the people at home.
Foreign Minister Terence Burkin: "Your Majesty, due to the impact of the British's food self-sufficiency plan, relations between Britain and Russia have deteriorated sharply.
Not long ago, the Tsarist government threatened to withdraw from the free trade system in an attempt to force the Government of the United Kingdom to give in. The opportunity we have been waiting for has come. "
As the only country in Europe outside the free trade system, France had to bear too many strange gazes.
Although on the surface, the Government of Paris pretended to be dismissive, only they knew the bitterness and bitterness within.
Tariff barriers also came with a price. While restricting other people's goods from entering the market, they naturally couldn't avoid being restricted by others.
As a result of this, France's total import and export volume plummeted by almost three-quarters.
It was impossible to return to the free trade system, at least before France's industry gained an advantage, the Government of Paris wouldn't consider this issue.
So the only way was to destroy this system and pull everyone back to the era of tariff barriers, then obtain a relatively fair opportunity for competition.
Napoleon Iv wondered, "The British are still in the discussion in parliament and haven't made a decision. Why are the Russians so anxious?"
Foreign Minister Terence Burkin explained, "Your Majesty, the Russian Empire is the world's number one food exporter.
Our farm project has already caused them to suffer heavy losses. If they lose the British market, Russia's agriculture will be hit hard.
Also, after losing the source of income from food exports, Russia's finance will soon fall into an embarrassing situation where it can't make ends meet. It's normal for the Tsarist government to be anxious. "
After pondering for a moment, Napoleon Iv slowly said, "You mean to take the opportunity to rope in the Russians and dismantle the free trade system?"
Terence Burkin shook his head, "Not only the free trade system, but also the Russo-Austrian Alliance.
As long as the British plan becomes a reality, the Austrian-led food export alliance will immediately collapse, and the major food exporting countries will be caught in a cruel competition.
No matter how good the relationship between Russia and Austria is, Austria itself is a food exporting country. In the context of the shrinking international market, they have no way to consume the huge production capacity of the Russians.
At this time, we extend an olive branch, and the Tsarist government has no way to refuse.
Anyway, our large farm plan can't be completed in a day. At worst, we can reduce some of the later projects.
We can reach an agreement with the Russians to import a portion of food from the Russian Empire every year in exchange for domestic industrial and commercial products to enter the Russian market.
If there is a problem in the chain of common interests, as time goes by, no matter how good the relationship between the Russo-Austrian Alliance is, there will be problems.
As long as we drive a wedge between Russia and Austria, the strategic crisis we are facing will no longer exist. "
In fact, the Government of Paris's large farm plan sounded good. If they wanted to implement it, they would need to invest a lot of manpower and financial resources.
With the financial resources of the Government of Paris, it was impossible to start this big plan in a short period of time, which meant that the large farm plan would shrink.
With a plan that would shrink, driving a wedge between Russia and Austria, or even breaking up the alliance, to get rid of the strategic crisis of France being isolated in Europe, it was undoubtedly a big profit.
Napoleon Iv nodded. He really couldn't find a reason to refuse this kind of multi-purpose thing.
"But how do we convince the British? The premise of all this is that the Government of the United Kingdom is willing to cooperate and create enough pressure on the Russians. "
The crux of the problem was that betraying the Russo-Austrian Alliance would also have to pay a heavy price. If it wasn't a last resort, the Russians would definitely not do this.
Foreign Minister Terence Burkin replied unhurriedly, "Your Majesty, the Russo-Austrian Alliance is not only a threat to us, but also to the British.
Don't you think that Russia and Austria are a bit too close to India?
In the eyes of the British, India is the best colony, and any country will be tempted.
In order to break up the Russo-Austrian Alliance, the Government of the United Kingdom has done a lot of things. Now that the opportunity is presented to us, I don't believe that the Government of the United Kingdom will refuse. "
Even if the Russo-Austrian Alliance was not the common enemy of Britain and France, it was still a threat to both countries. On this issue, everyone's interests were the same.
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