The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria’s Mandate of Heaven - Vol 3 Chapter 33

four days ago.

December 27, 1842.

Fortress of Liege, Belgium.

This barracks is located at the confluence of the Meuse River and the Urt River, bordering the Dutch border to the north and the Ardennes Forest to the south.

The news of the German Confederation declaring war had reached the fortress, but at this time the Belgian soldiers were still the same as usual, except that they did not need to participate in training.

The rare “holiday” soldiers flocked to the river, because if the news is true, I am afraid that they will not have the opportunity to take a bath for weeks, or even months.

The soldiers were still taking a bath, and a few workers who were in charge of cleaning up dumped the carloads of excrement into the river.

“I’m sorry, what are you doing! Didn’t you see that we are still taking a bath? This water is undrinkable now, let alone taking a bath!”

The soldiers were immediately annoyed when they saw the unethical behavior of those workers, but the latter said calmly.

“This was ordered by General Jurgen, and it is a greeting gift for Austria and Prussia.”

“This is too disgusting!” said a soldier, holding his nose.

“This effect is what you want. If the river is undrinkable, what will those guys do?” asked the foreman.

“Dig a well?” a soldier asked tentatively.

“No, those troublesome officers always let the soldiers drink directly, they don’t care about the life and death of the people below. Then dysentery and typhoid will break out in their army, and they will surrender without us fighting. ”

The foreman had an adoring look on his face. Although the soldiers felt that this move was a bit detrimental, it seemed very practical and effective. Anyway, they were not the ones who died, so they laughed.

At this time, the earth trembled, and the birds were startled out of the forest.

“Something is coming! Get dressed!”

“What the hell? Grizzlies? Wolves?”

The workers and soldiers immediately prepared to retreat in the direction of the barracks, but they were soon overtaken by a cavalry unit. The other party saw that although they were wearing Belgian uniforms, they had no weapons and did not embarrass them.

“Are you the soldiers of the Liege Fortress?” The leading officer said it again in blunt Dutch, and fearing that these people would not understand, he said it again in French.

The besieged Belgians nodded their heads. They don’t even know whether the other party is a German, a Dutchman, or a Frenchman. But without weapons, they have no chance of winning in the face of so many well-equipped cavalry.

“How many of you are there?”

“Two regiments. A total of 2,100 people.”

“Why aren’t you in the barracks?”

“Today the general said that there is no need for training, so we sneaked out to take a shower…”

“Besides the 150 of you, how many people have escaped?”

“There will be a war in a while, so the officers have gone to the Moonlight Castle in the city to relax these days. We are not controlled by anyone, so naturally there is no need to stick to our posts…”

The Belgian soldiers said with a bit of resentment and a bit of self-blame.

“We are the advance team of the First Army of the German Confederation Volunteers. You can go to the defenders in the barracks to persuade you to surrender. If you succeed, you can not only avoid unnecessary casualties, but also get a reward of 10,000 florins. Otherwise, we will be in two hours. If you launch an attack later, it will be too late for you to surrender.”

It was Grand Duke Albrecht himself who was speaking, and he knew one thing very well, that is, the speed of soldiers is very important. At this time, the troops in the Liege Fortress are empty, and it is a good time to go all out.

Once the fortress of Liege is conquered, the road to Brussels will be flat. The 5,000 people led by Albrecht were Franz’s Royal Dragoons and his family’s guards, and 1,000 elites drawn from various troops in Vienna.

The weapon he carried was the latest siege-type m42 rocket developed by the Austrian Empire. The explosive power of this rocket may not be enough, but it is a good hand at destroying cities.

General Vincentz, Austria’s chief weapon designer, called it the “City Destroyer” because the explosion range of this rocket is very large, and a lot of combustible materials are added inside, which makes the fire difficult to extinguish, and it is easy to destroy large wooden buildings. burn.

Of course, this thing is actually used to burn ships, but during the experiment, it was found that the hit rate was so low that it was too heavy to be used for sea combat, so it became a siege rocket.

In fact, there are some high-performance bombs in Albrecht’s team’s truck, which are dozens of times more powerful than black powder. However, the technology of this kind of picric acid explosive is not mature, and he does not want to sacrifice the lives of his soldiers unless it is absolutely necessary. .

The soldiers of the Liege Fortress were still very excited to hear that 10,000 florins, because this money is enough for them to spend the rest of their lives in other countries.

It’s just that before they had time to persuade their comrades to surrender, the defenders of the fortress surrendered.

The advance team continued to advance, and Albrecht had to wait for follow-up reinforcements to consolidate the defense of the Liege fortress. After all, this is the lifeline of the German Confederation Volunteers.

“I have one last question, who poured the dirty water into the river?”

Albrecht is usually a very magnanimous person, but he is unexpectedly narrow-minded in some places.

At that time, Albrecht was just about to let his beloved horse drink some water so that he could continue on his way, but when he saw a large amount of filth floating upstream, he immediately became furious and led the contingent to track down the source of the filth.

The Belgian captives pointed at the foreman.

“Let him eat all the filth in the river, and tell the nearby residents that this person polluted the water~www.mtlnovel.com~ Albrecht ordered.

“Grand Duke, spare your life! General Jorgen asked me to do it, and I was also forced to do it.”

The foreman immediately begged for mercy.

“Where is General Jorgen?” Albrecht asked.

“In Moonlight Castle, he and the officers in the fortress have all gone.”

The foreman betrayed the general without even thinking about it.

“Bring him, let’s go to General Jorgen. Listen carefully, it is the water source that General Jorgen ordered to pollute, and you have to explain it clearly to the residents here. Did you hear everything clearly?”

Albrecht growled.

“Listen clearly.” The captured Belgian soldiers nodded one after another.

So the advance team began to split up, some of them continued to advance to Brussels, and the other went to Liege to capture General Jorgen.

Albrecht remembered what Franz had said about the trial assembly model.

When they found General Jorgen and his men, they were still immersed in tenderness.

Soon these guys who polluted water sources were sent to the square in the center of the city, and then more black material was exposed. General Jorgen is a disease lover. He likes to watch people get sick, and then records and observes for fun.

This kind of person makes Albrecht feel sick, but he also knows that there are many such people in this world. So Albrecht left it on the square in the center of the city after the trial was completed.

Soon more volunteers were sent to the front along the railway lines within the German Confederation. More than 10,000 people were transported in just three days, which was a number that was unimaginable before.

Reinforced, Albrecht moved on, but he soon received a piece of news that he couldn’t believe.

King Leopold I of Belgium is captured and the city of Brussels is occupied.