Holy Roman Empire

488 Christmas

Vienna, wrapped in silver, once again ushered in the annual Christmas.The severe cold didn't dispel everyone's enthusiasm, and the atmosphere of the festival was already flooding Vienna.

The shop's window displays a variety of colorful Christmas gifts, and the Gothic fountain around the center of the square has built a colorful game shed for the Christmas market.

There are also many artists on the street who have started performing, classical, pop, rock, rhythm and blues, hip-hop, jazz, dance, alternative, country, Latin, folk ...

The charm of the international metropolis is undoubtedly revealed, where you can enjoy various European music, as well as different styles of dance and magic.

Franz still did not receive the South Africa ’s good news, it seems that this war cannot be ended before Christmas.No accident, all this was expected by Franz.

A little setback is also a good thing and can make people calm.Over the years, Austria has expanded so smoothly that many people have already drifted away.

If it were n’t for arrogance, it would n’t call out the occupation of Cape Town before Christmas.Now it failed, just tighten the reins of the Austrian carriage.

The era of colonial expansion is over, and all that remains is some optional scraps.Next, it is time to develop itself and transform loot into its own strength.

There are no successful examples in this respect. For reference, the performance of the major colonial empires in time and space failed.Without being able to transform into its own strength, the world war broke out.

Then there is no more, the power is greatly lost in the world war, the rise of new competitors, so that they lost their last chance.

The British Imperial Commonwealth plan and the French provincial strategy were all carried out too late, and they failed under the external interference of the United States and the Soviet Union.

The troublesome question temporarily left Franz's mind, and Christmas is still going to be over.This day is World Peace Day, and European countries will not engage in things at this time.

The ongoing British-British War has also ceased. Both parties can enjoy this special holiday without worrying about the other party launching a surprise attack.

The Christmas gifts prepared by Franz have been delivered to every soldier. Although they are just ordinary candy, everyone is still very happy.

Block-by-block Santas appeared in the barracks, covered with cards.This is also regarded as the welfare of compulsory education. Soldiers can write their own Christmas wishes.

The temporary church also opened on this day, and the priest of the army became busy.

Viscount Fickney sighed helplessly, the soldiers were celebrating the festival, but the officers were frowning.

Now that the war is in progress, the victory is still far away.China has already given a final reply. If Cape Town cannot be captured within the deadline, then a truce will be imposed.

The pits dug by oneself were filled by oneself. The original plan was to end the war within half a year. Now the time is relaxed to one year, and the war cannot be ended. Naturally, there is no need to continue.

If it wasn't for the later siege, all of them were attacking with cannon fodder, and the morale of the army might have collapsed long ago.

Even so, the soldiers also showed war exhaustion.Perhaps it is self-esteem, or a relationship of cultural tradition, these emotions are not expressed.

But the officers have already noticed it.Looking at the scene of flesh and blood flying every day, without a collapse of mentality, it is regarded as a strong heart.

At this time, the officers can only act as doctors in their hearts to appease everyone's uneasiness.Christmas is a good preparation. Relaxing tight nerves is still very good for relieving mental stress.

Compared to the lost Viscount Fickney, the Governor of Delphi in the city is really living like a year.After successive failures, the morale of Cape Town's army fell to the bottom.

Military supplies can also be guaranteed, and a large number of war refugees will be miserable.After losing their livelihoods, they simply cannot afford the high food prices and can only rely on government relief.

The Cape Town colonial government was also not rich. After being detained by the bureaucrats, the distribution of materials became a problem.Even at Christmas, there was only one extra 300 grams of fish.

This is the fishermen fishing from the sea, is now the main meat of Cape Town.The beef and mutton transported across the ocean are all expensive, and ordinary people simply cannot afford it.

The "Bohr Republic Army" has not stopped refugees from entering the city, and even intended to guide the surrounding British to gather in Cape Town.Now from Cape Town to the Cape of Good Hope, there are now refugees everywhere.

If the army is added, the total population of this small slap place has exceeded 400,000.If it were not for the Governor of Delphi ’s decisive order to expel blacks and mulattos, this number would be even greater.

More people is not necessarily more powerful, but more people must consume more.To feed so many people, at least 1,500 tons of living supplies must be consumed every day.

With the addition of various strategic materials, the Cape Town colony needs to transport at least 3,000 tons of materials from outside every day to meet basic needs.

The actual demand is much larger than this.Building materials for building fortifications is an astronomical figure.

If the war continues, Cape Town will become the most dense city of bunkers and fortresses in the world.

Even more tragic is the lack of water in Cape Town, which is the world ’s most water-scarce city in future generations, and it is no exception now.

The external tap water supply was cut off by the enemy early, and they could only find a way in this small area between Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope.

The largest source of fresh water resources is rain in the sky.Groundwater can't be expected at all, otherwise why desalination?

There is no shortage of water for nothing. Now the British can only buy water from the Portuguese. If one day does not send thousands of tons of water, the crisis will erupt immediately.

In order to save water, all the fortifications are now built with sea water.The Governor of Delphi, who has sequelae, can no longer care about it, as long as he can make up for it now.

It can be said that the current Cape Town is short of everything except the population.Water, food, fuel, building materials ... There is nothing in the local area that can be self-sufficient.

Even in Britain, it seems a bit difficult to supply so many supplies.

In order to alleviate the pressure of supplies, every time a ship carrying supplies comes, it will take away a refugee.

The population has declined, and what will happen to Cape Town's development in the future, I can't care about that much now.

By Christmas Eve, the local population had successfully dropped by 120,000, alleviating the pressure of feeding.Otherwise, even this bit of fish may not be able to be taken out.

This is still summer, the rain is relatively abundant, and fuel is not needed for heating.If it is winter, this material pressure will be even greater.

Considering the impact of the monsoon again, in the winter, dozens of meters of killing waves are not uncommon. Every year in July, August, and September, the Cape of Good Hope route is barely open.

Even now, the British have paid a great price in order to transport supplies. Almost two percent of the ships are finished halfway.

There is no way, the wind-resistant wooden ship's ability to resist wind limits is too weak, various natural disasters are not so easy to resist, and there are sometimes human disasters.

In recent times, the Royal Navy has repeatedly attacked and killed pirates.

Sometimes Governor Delphi wanted to pry open the pirate's head to see what was inside. Why didn't he even know about the pre-surveillance? Some ships carrying fresh water and stones were robbed.

In the high position, he did not know the suffering of the pirates. It was so easy to collect intelligence. Except for individual pirate groups, most pirates were robbed by merchant ships.

Since learning that the next batch of reinforcements was the Indian Colonial Army, Governor Delphi was ready to go home to take shelter.As for the counterattack of the Boer people to atone for his sins, he is not so big-hearted.

Like most British people, Governor Delphi did not look down upon the Indian Colonial Army. In his eyes, this force had about the same combat effectiveness as the black cannon fodder outside.

The only value is to use cannon fodder against cannon fodder, which can reduce the casualties of the boys.The troops in the Cape Town area need to be rehabilitated, and in this way the army will be abandoned.

For details, please refer to the Near East War. At that time, the British army performed well.However, because the rear was not replenished in time and effective restorative recovery was not carried out, most of the British soldiers who took part in the battle after the end of the war were abolished.

This kind of "waste" is not physically, but in the heart.Mainly manifested as war exhaustion, fear of war, anti-war, especially the British soldiers mixed with the Italians, it brought back a bunch of bad things.

The failure of the subsequent Persian war, the slow suppression of the Indian rebellion and the failure to make achievements, and the expedition to Ethelbia's hard work proved that the British military's combat effectiveness declined.

Not to mention the South African War. The record of the fight was not embarrassed to be spoken by Governor Delphi.

On the one hand, the colonial forces maintained a good position, and even the most basic training could not be guaranteed; on the other hand, the combat effectiveness of the main force declined, and many tactics remained in the rifle era.

Neither the colonial army nor the regular army can fight, so it is not surprising that they failed on the battlefield.

Otherwise, there will not be a joke that hundreds of thousands of people besieged the Republic of Boer and won three years ago.

The more you know, the greater the pressure from Governor Delphi.The British Empire on the surface has begun to decay inside.

In this state, can Britain meet the challenges of France and Austria?Deep inside, Delphi had already doubted.

The defeat of this war is also a heavy blow to his body and mind, no longer the arrogance of the past.

The night was deep, and the laughter and laughter outside was over.In contemplation, Governor Delphi, his thoughts run further and further.

From the initial anxiety about the war in Cape Town, then worrying about his personal future, and then worrying about the future of Britain.

This Christmas night, Delphi stayed awake all night.

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