A new day began, and snow continued to fall thickly from the sky. Normally, in weather like this, neither the coalition forces nor the French army would launch any major offensives. However, Captain Hoeg, who was on patrol, didn’t dare to let his guard down. Just because a large-scale attack was unlikely didn’t mean that smaller raids wouldn’t happen. In the past two weeks alone, the 25th Division, to which Captain Hoeg belonged, had already been hit by French forces seven times, resulting in over a hundred casualties. Of course, the coalition had also carried out multiple retaliatory strikes. On the whole, both sides had their wins and losses, though the Austrians had managed to come out slightly ahead. Bracing against the biting wind, Captain Hoeg sneezed. A sense of foreboding crept over him. “Stay sharp, all of you. Don’t get caught off guard by a French sniper.” The battlefield was the best teacher, and experience came only through trial and error. At some point, both sides had grown fond of sniper-style skirmishes. They would station three to five good marksmen around 400 to 500 meters away to ambush enemy patrols. Even a full platoon might hesitate to engage them. Because of limitations in rifle accuracy, only elite soldiers could achieve a hit rate above 30 percent at 200 meters. At 400 to 500 meters, it was pure luck for regular troops and posed no real threat. The ambushers would engage if the odds were in their favor and retreat if they weren’t. Most of the recent casualties on both sides had come from these kinds of skirmishes. “Don’t worry, Captain. The terrain here is flat. We can see everything within two or three miles. There’s no way anyone could hide. Look ahead. It’s all a vast expanse of white. No sign of movement at all, unless the French buried themselves in the snow sometime during the night.” The one who responded was a middle-aged veteran who had rejoined the army after the war broke out. From the way the others looked at him, it was clear that he held a position of some authority within the patrol unit. In the military, strength and capability earned respect. The veteran was clearly respected because of his combat experience and the military honors he had earned. Almost every Austrian unit had veterans like him. Their purpose was to pass down battlefield knowledge and experience. Captain Hoeg raised his binoculars and scanned the area ahead. Seeing no signs of movement, he let out a sigh of relief. There was no way anyone could be lying in ambush overnight. Temperatures dropped well below freezing at night. Without any form of heating, staying out in the snow would be fatal. As for digging foxholes or building cover, that only happened in war movies. In reality, frozen ground wasn’t something that could be easily dug up. How could anyone possibly dig silently in just one night? Just as he was about to lower the binoculars, he caught a glimpse of faint, shadowy figures in the distance. His expression instantly turned serious. “Send the signal. We have enemy movement.” The figures were too far away to make out clearly, even through binoculars. While it didn’t make much sense for the French to launch an attack in this kind of weather, war was never about what made sense. Captain Hoeg was a military academy graduate, and countless historical battles had taught him that victories often came from breaking with convention. Just because something seemed impractical in theory didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen in practice. For the French, attacking in snow and ice was certainly difficult, but not without advantages. In weather like this, Austrian planes and airships were grounded. There was no threat from the skies. The patrol’s job was to spot enemy activity and report it. Having noticed something suspicious, Captain Hoeg naturally had to raise the alarm. “Captain, are you sure they’re French troops? Launching an offensive now wouldn’t do them any good. Fighting in this kind of weather would result in heavy casualties.” Under normal conditions, injured soldiers could at least be retrieved and treated by evening when the fallen were collected. But in this snow and ice, wounded men lying in the open for hours would suffer from severe complications. Their chances of survival would drop significantly. Anyone with a bit of military knowledge knew that the number of wounded on the battlefield was often several times that of the dead, sometimes even tenfold. If those wounded couldn’t be saved, casualty rates would skyrocket. France wasn’t a country with a large population, and losses like that would be hard to bear. Captain Hoeg shook his head and said, “Lieutenant Hans, tell me, besides the French, who else would be heading our way in groups in this cursed weather? Don’t forget, we’re at war. This is the front line between us and the French. No sane person would wander into a battlefield like this to die!” On the battlefield, stray bullets didn’t discriminate. Between two armies, there was no such thing as an innocent bystander. Anyone who came close was likely to be killed without question. The locals had already fled long ago. No one stuck around to get bombed. Captain Hoeg had ruled out the possibility that they were civilians. Hans, a middle-aged officer, argued, “No, Captain. Don’t forget, mines and factories in the Rhineland have all shut down. With no way to earn a living, ordinary people can’t hold out for long. In this kind of weather, the French can barely manage their own logistics. There’s no way they’d be distributing aid. From past experience, every war produces a large number of refugees. Take the last Near East War, for example. We created a massive wave of refugees for the Ottoman Empire.” It was clear that Lieutenant Hans wasn’t just theorizing, he had lived through it, and the memory was vivid. With such a successful precedent, the French had no reason not to follow suit. As for the consequences, those were beyond Hans’ concern. Hearing this explanation, Captain Hoeg abandoned the idea of immediately retreating. The enemy was still far away, and it wouldn’t hurt to wait a bit longer. “Hold off on sending the signal. Dispatch a scout to move forward a kilometer and observe. We need to confirm whether that group ahead is actually French troops.” Mistakes on the battlefield came with grave consequences. If they accidentally mistook refugees for the enemy and called in artillery, it would end in tragedy. Captain Hoeg had a conscience and didn’t want to be the one responsible for such a disaster. … At the Coalition Command Headquarters, the senior leadership of the German, Belgian, and Austrian coalition forces had all gathered. Archduke Albrecht spoke with a grave expression, “Gentlemen, we have just received a report from the front lines. A wave of refugees is heading toward us. Unlike the scattered groups we’ve seen before, this time the number may reach as high as ten million. The pressure on us will be enormous. All signs point to this being a famine deliberately created by the French, forcing civilians to flee. The French are out of options. Unable to defeat us on the battlefield, they are resorting to despicable methods like this to wear us down.” The Austrian officers remained composed, but the German and Belgian officers reacted with alarm, especially Leopold II, who was visibly shaken. On the surface, the arrival of so many refugees would consume coalition supplies and place a heavy burden on the anti-French alliance’s logistics. But looking at the situation more deeply, it was clear this was France’s prelude to fully annexing Belgium and the Rhineland. Once the local populations were gone, there would be no one left to resist the French occupation. If the French government resettled new citizens in these areas, it would become a de facto annexation. Even if the war ended and the rest of Europe tried to intervene, there would be no way to restore Belgium. After all, the land would now be filled with French people. This tactic had already been used when Austria annexed parts of the Ottoman Empire. By the time European powers realized what was happening and attempted to intervene, most of the Ottomans had already been displaced. With the facts on the ground already changed, there was no way to return the displaced populations from Russia, and the rest of Europe could do nothing but watch Austria complete the annexation. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Leopold II immediately declared, “Marshal, no matter what, we must provide relief to these refugees.” He had no choice. The very foundation of his rule over Belgium now existed among those fleeing civilians. A nation exists because of its people. Without people, there can be no country. If Leopold II wanted to restore his kingdom, he had to protect these refugees. Otherwise, after a famine, Belgium, already a country with a small population, would be finished. When it came to aiding the refugees, relying on the anti-French alliance was less realistic than relying on Austria. The alliance had many members, but only Austria truly had the capacity to help. As the world’s leading agricultural exporter, Austria was the only country capable of providing such a vast amount of food. Archduke Albrecht nodded and replied, “Of course, providing relief to the refugees is the alliance's responsibility. But how we provide that relief is another matter. The combined population of Belgium and the Rhineland was over eleven million. Even if war has caused a population drop, the number would not be less than ten million. Since the French have taken action, they will not stop halfway. Unless something unexpected happens, we will likely be receiving between nine to ten million refugees. Feeding, housing, and caring for that many people is not a simple task. We must arrange their resettlement properly, or there will be serious consequences.” Resettlement was not as easy as it sounded. It was simple to scatter people, but gathering them again would be extremely difficult. No matter how close the alliance appeared, Austria was still a great power with its own interests. With so many able-bodied laborers flowing in, if Austria absorbed them, it would be nearly impossible to recover them later. A statement like “they are free to stay or leave” would be enough to silence any protests and force others to accept the situation. Austria might not retain everyone, but keeping half was definitely possible. Those who had lived through war understood the true value of peace. Living next to France was far too dangerous, and small nations like Belgium had no real sense of security. If Austria offered a better life, why would anyone want to return? And that was assuming Austria acted with integrity. If the Austrian government chose to quietly create bureaucratic obstacles that made leaving difficult, then the situation would become even more problematic. Leopold II quickly objected, “Marshal, this isn’t right. As long as we win this war, the refugees will eventually return home. Considering people’s attachment to their homeland and the convenience of returning in the future, I propose we establish refugee camps nearby to accommodate them.” He had no choice but to speak up. The German Federation was a scattered coalition, and the Rhineland region did not belong to any single state. The representatives present would not step forward on this issue. Since it did not affect their direct interests, as long as Austria agreed to provide money and food to support the refugees, the rest was open to negotiation. Archduke Albrecht shook his head and said, “Your Majesty, in principle, I support your proposal. But the problem is that it simply cannot be done. Just maintaining supplies for the allied forces already puts tremendous pressure on our logistics. Now, with nearly ten million more refugees, it’s simply impossible. After all, refugees need clothing and food. With so many people, just daily necessities would require tens of thousands of tons of supplies per day. We cannot sustain that. If we don’t want to see large numbers of refugees freezing or starving to death, the only solution is to send them to the rear for dispersed resettlement. In fact, even dispersing and resettling so many people in such a short time is an enormous burden for us.” It was a shocking realization. When everyone heard that tens of thousands of tons of supplies would be needed daily, no one could remain calm. Even if not everyone was good at math, they could be certain Archduke Albrecht wouldn’t lie about something so critical. Leopold II’s face darkened. Deep down, he wanted to argue, but the harsh reality left him in despair. No amount of reasoning could compete with cold, hard numbers. Without a solution to the supply issue, he had no choice but to accept Austria’s proposal. As for the future, he could only hope that the Austrian court would show some restraint. For now, Belgium had lost the ability to negotiate.
*** https://postimg.cc/gallery/PwXsBkC (Maps of the current territories of the countries in this novel made by ScH) Support the translation and read more chapters at https://ko-fi.com/dragonlegion
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