The changes in the British foreign policy soon caused a chain reaction. The French did not resist the temptation and accepted the British to join the alliance, and the pressure turned to Austria.

This winter Vienna is particularly cold. Before Christmas, Schönbrunn Palace was covered with a layer of silver.

When stepping on the snow, the squeaking sound is still so pleasing to the eye.

Franz is in a good mood and is not worried about diplomatic changes. Since the French dare to let the British join the alliance, he doesn't care about having another ally insult.

Originally, France and Austria were unstable, and now there was an Englishman with ulterior motives. Franz has seen the collapse of the alliance.

Of course, it is still beneficial to everyone in a short period of time. The alliance between Britain, France and Austria can bring everyone's reputation to the peak, and countries around the world will tremble under this alliance.

After entering the conference room, Foreign Minister Wesenberg had already appeared indoors, and there was a cup of coffee with a hint of steam on the table. It was obvious that he had been here for a while.

The purpose is self-evident, and it is naturally to communicate with Franz in advance, whether to form an alliance with the British.

Thanks to the good reputation of the British, the Vienna government has never been very enthusiastic about forming alliances with them. Even the pro-British factions in the government do not think that the British are a good ally.

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

Foreign Minister Wesenberg paused, as if he was organizing the language, and after a moment of time he replied: "Your Majesty, the French have compromised, and there is no need for us to continue the stalemate.

The British joined the alliance, and the lifespan of this alliance was destined to be long. However, the French-Austrian alliance was originally a combination of interests, and it expired in just a few years.

We have no plan to maintain the alliance for a long time. Since we let the British come in and disrupt the situation, it may not be a bad thing to tear the alliance earlier."

Franz nodded, the purpose of forming an alliance was to win peace and peace. Now the French have been brought into the pit and are unable to do anything in the European Big 6 in a short period of time. The original purpose has been achieved.

At this time, the importance of the alliance to Austria has become dispensable. Since this is the case, there is no need to stick to it. It is also a good choice to make the final use of waste and increase Austria's reputation in the world.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to negotiate with the British, and without affecting the results of the negotiation, try to delay the alliance until the second half of next year.

The South African War has been in its current situation and it will be difficult to end in a short period of time. The people below have invested so much, so we need to create an opportunity for them.”

As a good leader, Franz was still clear about the efforts of the African nobles. Many nobles did their best for this war.

Although the Vienna government is bearing military expenses, war will kill people, and the losses of the private army of trusted people cannot be compensated in a day or two.

Not to mention some unlucky nobles fell directly on the battlefield. No matter what, they all sacrificed for national interests, and the Vienna government now needs to give them an explanation.

If they were incompetent and unable to conquer Cape Town, then no one would have any objection to the pits they could dig and buried by themselves.

If the Vienna government forced the war to stop because of diplomatic reasons, wouldn’t their efforts be wasted?

Without military merit, there will be no reward. If we cannot go further, they will not even be able to recover the cost based on the government's military pay alone.

Franz never did anything disappointing. It was worth it to delay for a few months to increase the loyalty of African nobles.

Anyway, South Africa's mineral resources can be recovered. The more beautiful the battle is on the battlefield, the more confident the post-war negotiations will be.

As for the decline in the local population due to the war, there is nothing we can do about it, and anything needs to be paid.

Wesenberg replied: "Yes, Your Majesty. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will buy time for the frontlines as much as possible, and will not flow in vain."

The war has gone through now, and the losses on the battlefield in South Africa are also an astronomical figure. The Boer Republic has lost a total of 341,500 troops. Well, the fraction behind is the real casualties in Austria.

Otherwise, everyone in the Boer Republic would have to die twice before they could barely get enough people.

The British army was not much better, and the number of casualties was more than 100,000, which was also mainly the cannon fodder troops. The white soldiers lost more than 20,000 people, and a large part of them were prisoners, and only seven or eight thousand were killed in battle.

The main factors that caused the huge gap in casualties, in addition to the British army's defeat at the beginning, are more of the reasons for the offensive and defensive battle in Cape Town.

On average, it is now necessary to fight over a dozen cannon fodders to defeat a British soldier, and the number of casualties on both sides naturally widens the distance.

This situation is probably going to last until the arrival of the Indian colonial army, and then two colonial empires will have a cannon fodder pk.

Viscount Ficney was also aware of the decisions made by the top leaders of the two countries, and the rising casualties made him, the colonial leader, shocked him.

At this moment, he was a little impressed by the Russians. He was able to rely on human life to pile up, making the French unable to withstand casualties and were forced to give up Constantinople.

You should know that the South African battlefields are filled with indigenous people, and the Russians use their own people as cannon fodder, which is not a concept at all.

As Christmas approaches, Cape Town is still as still as a mountain. After so many days of war, the Boer Republic Army only knocked out the British fortifications.

All of them were filled in with more than 100,000 cannon fodder troops. If you continue to fight like this, the young and strong people in South Africa will definitely not be enough to fill in.

Viscount Ficney said tiredly: "Everyone knows the situation on the battlefield. I have contacted the Governor of Congo. They promised to send 100,000 cannon fodders to the near future. The Governor of East Africa also agreed to send 50,000 people.

There is no need to rely on the farther West Africa region. There are not many indigenous people there, and the distance is too far, so it takes too long.

Not to mention the South African region, except for the indigenous tribes in the deep mountains and forests, the rest were all conscripted and not much stronger.

It is not a solution to continue to consume this way. Even if we use up more than 100,000 cannon fodder in our hands and then fight 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 is now bankrupt, and the British reinforcements will arrive soon.

At this time, we need new tactics, at least to reduce casualties in the offensive troops, otherwise it will be difficult to kill the British."

The main force suffered too much loss in frontal attacks, and Viscount Ficney could not afford such losses, so he chose to use the cannon fodder troops to fight the war of attrition.

No matter how huge the exchange ratio is, the besieged British people suffer losses. Once the losses exceed the limit, the British will admit defeat.

Of course, this is the most ideal state. With the importance of the Cape of Good Hope, the British could not easily stop. The war is about money and food. If it lasts too long, Austria will not be able to bear it.

Chief of Staff Jacob thought for a while and said, "It's not impossible to use it now, but it's used now, and it's difficult to play a role later. It's probably impossible to end this war before Christmas."

Blindly attacking is the stupidest way. When I first started, I did this because the logistics did not keep up. There was not much food in the army and I couldn’t afford to raise so much cannon fodder, so I could only send it to consume it.

As time goes by, logistics problems have been gradually resolved, and the number of cannon fodder troops has also plummeted, so there is no need to continue to die.

After all, there are many places that need cannon fodder behind it. Even if the British defense line is torn open, a large number of lives still need to be filled up.

Viscount Ficney shook his head and said, "No matter how many you have, you can use it first. At worst, we can start the second plan after the British reinforcements arrive.

The British had maritime transportation channels to supplement it. The losses of this kind of battle were too great, and the chances of conquering Cape Town were not high.

In just the last few days, even if you pull the main force up, it is impossible to end the war before Christmas."

It’s not that Viscount Fickney is reluctant to bear casualties, but mainly because the number of main forces is limited, so it really cannot afford to lose. If the losses are heavy, even if the defense line is torn through, it may be pushed back by the British.

Otherwise, if there is a firepower advantage, it will suppress the British firepower, and the cannon fodder troops alone will probably not even touch the British's hair.

Jacob nodded and said, "Then dig the trenches, close the distance as close as possible, and then dig tunnels to blow up the enemy's fortifications.

The British never thought that there would be enemies in the inner six areas. Most of these fortifications were built temporarily. As long as the foundation was loosened, ordinary artillery could be solved."

In fact, it can be broken by directly using artillery, but heavy artillery is required. The number of heavy artillery in the Boer Republic army is limited, and it is impossible to take into account both while suppressing the enemy's firepower.

This is an inadequate estimate. It is considered that the cement in the Cape Town area is limited and a large number of reinforced concrete fortresses cannot be built in a short period of time, and the number of heavy artillery prepared is insufficient.

Viscount Ficney wanted to end the war before Christmas because it was based on the fact that the British did not build a modern fortress. Unexpectedly, the old fox Delphi had people prepared in advance.

As soon as they rushed to the gate of Cape Town, they were greeted by rows of temporary fortresses. Although not very perfect, this also shattered the dream of Viscount Ficney's battle.

Now the combat objectives have also changed. Viscount Ficney no longer fantasizes about ending the war before Christmas, but instead consumes as much force as possible before the British reinforcements arrive.

In order to implement the second plan, lure the enemy into deeper, change the battlefield and then carry out the decisive battle.

The biggest problem with the second set of solutions is that the British must dare to come out, otherwise, no matter how many deployments are made, it will be useless.

This requires enough reinforcements from the British to bring enough confidence to Governor Delphi, so that this frightened bird can come out.

Now we are constantly putting pressure on the British in the city to ask for reinforcements from the London government. The more reinforcements, the greater the possibility that the British will be trapped.

As for the question of whether there are too many enemies, whether they will choke to death, it is not within Viscount Fykney's consideration.

The British can increase their troops, while Austria can also increase their troops. On the African 6, the British have almost no chance of winning.

Viscount Ficney made a decision without hesitation: "Then try it first and see what the effect is."

...

Perhaps God does not like war, and South Africa is particularly hot this summer. The sun is like a fireball, scorching the earth, the air is stuffy, and the ground is hot, and people feel hot when walking on the ground.

The hot summer days have brought great trouble to the siege army. If it weren't for the slight coolness that brought the wind from time to time, I wonder how many people would have heatstroke under the scorching sun.

Major Hanks, who was commanding the army, reached out to wipe the sweat from his forehead and cursed helplessly: "This damn ghost weather."

The roaring cannon sounded again, which was a signal of attack. Without any hesitation, Major Hanks immediately urged: "Get up quickly, you guys are getting out of here, it's time to gather."

While speaking, he kicked with his feet. At the same time, it was not only Major Hanks who acted, but also some black officers.

It took about a quarter of an hour before the mob team gathered. It took another quarter of an hour, and with the help of the black officers, Major Hanks barely sent the troops to the battlefield.

Major Hanks was already desperate about this cannon fodder unit. Anyone who was a little motivated was an officer. The role of the officer was to assist in managing this cannon fodder unit and did not need to charge in person.

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

At first, he was preparing to train this cannon fodder unit and act as the main auxiliary force.

After all, the untrained cannon fodder troops have too poor combat effectiveness and cannot undertake real combat tasks. The Boer Republic army also needs an auxiliary corps with certain combat effectiveness, perhaps high-level cannon fodder.

It turns out that Hanks is not a war god and has not turned decay into magical power. After two months of attempts, he was forced to give up his original fantasy.

Since there is no value in training, I can only be given a primary cannon fodder. I will attack every day on a routine basis, and if I die, I will be over. I will continue to repeat this work without technical content while I am alive.

As long as you kill a British man, you can be promoted to an officer, provided that you can come back alive and bring back as evidence of military achievements.

This kind of lucky person is only a few, most of them fall on the road to charge, and some of them fall on the battlefield while killing the British.

After delaying for more than half an hour, this future-free unit attacked the enemy under the deterrence of the supervision team.

The scene of flesh and blood flying could no longer touch Major Hanks. Now he only cared about one thing, that is, the estimation of the outcome of the battle.

A general succeeded and his bones were undone. In the midst of blood, I don’t know how many young Austrian officers were baptized and grew up.
Chapter completed!