It was getting dark, and the town of Snaye, where the General Headquarters of the Eastern Front of the Austrian Army was located.

At the end of April, the air was still cold and damp. The town is very quiet, it is located on the eastern side of Mount Tenitsa in Moravia, and the Tisza River flows slowly south about 6 km northwest of it. There is a castle outside the town, which is the Slovak nobleman von Brown. Property owned by the Suetna family.

At present, almost all of the Duke Sutna's family were in Vienna, where Lehedon's Austro-Hungarian General Headquarters on the Eastern Front was located.

The entire castle and its surroundings were lit by makeshift electric lights, and the gates and some of the side gates were filled with heavily armed guards, and small groups of patrolmen walked up and down the castle, their figures appearing and disappearing among the trees.

Two Mercedes cars came from a distance, stopped at a checkpoint about 200 meters from the gate, and were cleared to drive directly outside the castle gates.

Colonel Schroer, the liaison officer of the command, got out of the car and led a colonel in a German uniform into the castle.

Colonel Hoffmann arrived at the Austrian headquarters as Admiral Hindenburg's liaison officer, and for a time the Austrians' cousin made the Germans angry. Without putting up any resistance, they put the Russians into Galicia, exposing the entire Silesia and East Prussia flanks to the Russians.

Hoffmann brought a letter from Falkenhain to be handed over to Kant, but he did not expect that the chief of the General Staff of the Austrian army was in Vienna. Colonel Schrohl surprised Hoffmann by telling him that the entire Austrian front army was under the personal command of the Crown Prince Archduke Istria. He had always thought that the entire Austro-Hungarian army was under the command of Baron Herzendorf, and that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, like Hindenburg's role in East Prussia, was only a symbol, and that the actual command was in the hands of the Chief of the General Staff, Ludendorff.

The situation of the Austrian army was different from what he thought, His Royal Highness the crown prince seemed to be the real leader, and Condra, it seemed, lost his command.

So he changed his mind and asked to see the Austro-Hungarian crown prince.

Colonel Schroier led him to the office of the chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Stelz, a slightly fat Austrian general who seemed enthusiastic but spoke more like a diplomat. Colonel Hoffmann showed him the letter written by Admiral Falkenhein, and Sterz was a little surprised.

"Falkenhain wants to send some advisers to the Austrian General Staff?" The lieutenant general asked.

"That's what he meant, he felt that there was a problem with the operation and command of the entire Austrian army." Hoffman said.

"What do you think?" Sterz said, staring at Hoffman.

"General Hindenburg, however, thought that this was grossly improper, and that the Austro-Hungarian army had so far had no major problems in warfare, but on the contrary surprised us at times." Hoffmann said that Hindenburg's speech was in fact his idea, and that there was no reason to anger the Austrians at this time, and that Falkenhein's approach would certainly arouse their strong resentment.

"That's fine, it seems that we still have the possibility of working together." Sterz breathed a sigh of relief, and he put Falkenhein's letter aside, "It's impossible to let the German military advisers take command in our place as if this hadn't happened." There is no need to let the crown prince know, so as not to make him lose his temper, but to create trouble for the next step of cooperation. ”

"Well, I'll listen to your advice." Hoffman sighed, "I want to be anxious to see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." ”

Sterz agreed, and went upstairs with small steps.

"Come with me." Soon the lieutenant general returned.

The Grand Duke of Istria was in an office room on the third floor of the castle, and he sat behind a large Italian-style desk, which was not very brightly lit. There was a lamp on the desk, and it was also on. On the wall behind the Grand Duke hangs a landscape painting that appears to be a lively market in Vienna, strangely not the portrait of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor or his wife, Princess Irene.

The room was large and the nice ceiling was high, but there was an electric light tied to the gold candlestick above. On the wall next to the door hangs a huge military map of Eastern Europe, centered on Poland.

"Welcome to Moravia." The Grand Duke of Istria was a little emaciated, and looked tired, and he extended a somewhat cold hand to greet Hoffman.

Hoffmann sat down on the couch and slowly but carefully recounted to the real ruler of Austria-Hungary the plans of the Hindenburg, in fact, the General Staff of the Eastern Front, headed by Ludendorff.

"General Hindenburg wants you to launch an offensive against Galicia as much as possible to complement our actions on the Eastern Front." Hoffman concluded.

"It's not about how we cooperate with you, but what kind of division of labor." The crown prince looked up, as if correcting some of Hoffman's miswording.

"Division of labor?" Hoffman asked, "In what way?" ”

"Want to hear about my plans?" The crown prince asked.

Hoffman nodded.

"If you don't listen to my advice, we'll fight each other. We will open up several passes in the Carpathians, put two Russian army groups into the Hungarian plain, and then eat them. The Crown Prince walked to the front of the map and gestured on it with a stick in his hand.

"Eaten? Two Russian armies? Hoffmann was surprised, and even more surprised by the composure of the Austrian Crown Prince, as if he was not paying attention to the three Russian armies on the Carpathian line, but was talking about something very ordinary.

"There's nothing wrong with that." "If you are willing to follow my plan," said the Grand Duke of Istria, "then the two sides will cooperate...... "The stick in his hand drew a large arc on the map, "and we will put all the Russian troops in the whole of Poland and Galicia." ”

That's a full 2 million Russian troops, Hoffman opened his mouth wide, but he didn't say anything.

The crown prince continued to explain his entire idea in front of the map, and Hoffman was so captivated by this bold and brilliant idea that he stood in front of the map and discussed it with the two princes. The Archduke of Istria had a somewhat strange idea, but it was very much to Hoffman's liking, which was to divide the Russian army as a whole, and then concentrate superior forces to annihilate them, while turning a blind eye to some well-defended fortresses and cities.

According to the Grand Duke's thinking, many places in Silesia, Hungary, and even East Prussia were undefended, and the Russians could penetrate the defenses there with a light pity.

"Your Excellency, according to your thoughts, there is a huge risk." Hoffman pointed to several points on the map, "The Russians can easily occupy these areas, such as the 2 armies of the Russian army in the Carpathians, and together with the Romanians, they have the potential to capture Budapest." ”

"So what? We ate their four army groups on the front line in Silesia and Galicia, what could they do even if they got half of Hungary, did they want to stay in Hungary? I'm afraid it won't even be possible to retreat," said Lechelton unconcernedly, "and leave them alone, the complex mountainous terrain of the Carpathians will slow them down." Our further goal is to flank the north and south, capture the Brest-Volyn line, and cut off all Russian retreats throughout Poland. He made a pincer motion with his hand.

"It's hard for me to imagine that your army has such a strong fighting force." Hoffman asks the last question.

"Rest assured, I confess that my army is not as tenacious as the German soldiers in times of adversity, but if you take prisoners, you will never be slower than you." Lechelton said with a smile.

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