How lethal are forest fires?

Of course, it depends on the area of the forest and the fire.

The hot air balloon unit was divided into four squadrons of thirty balloons each, attacking the entire forest belt from all directions. The effect of fuel and white phosphorus is very good, and it is difficult to extinguish it in a short time, even if the Rhine and Plantagenet work together, and it is difficult to extinguish it in a short time.

Australia, Rice, Brazil in the Age of Civilization...... Large-scale forest fires are extremely difficult to extinguish, even with helicopters and various advanced firefighting tools, let alone now.

Tianhao considered choosing a densely populated white city to drop bombs, but the impact of doing so was limited, and at best it would cause only a few million casualties.

It would not be the same to destroy the entire forest belt directly. This will trigger a cascade effect. In particular, water and air, all settlements around the forest area will be affected, and people will be forced to leave, triggering a massive flow of refugees.

Looking at the fire that was burning directly below and spreading rapidly in a short period of time, Libin was very satisfied with all this. He bent down to take out the signal flag from the hanging basket and waved it vigorously at the hot air balloon in the distance.

"Bomb drop, return."

And that's just the beginning.

……

Tianhao formed five hot air balloon units, and Libin served as the commander of the first flight team, with the largest number of balloons. The other second, third, fourth, and fifth flight teams had fewer balloons, half as many balloons.

The other four flying units set off earlier than Libin, and their targets were not forests, but large areas of farmland across the Rhine and Plantagenet.

The wheat fields are now in the middle of yellow and green, and the wheat that is about to ripen is the best combustible product. The incendiary canisters that fall from the sky create fires and destroy people's hopes.

More than half a month later, the flying units returned to the fortress.

Thirty-two hot air balloons were lost.

Some were shot with giant ballistae by prepared whites on the way back. Although there were no anti-aircraft machine guns in this era, it was always possible to find a similar alternative weapon.

Some deviated from course, were blown out to sea by the wind, and lost contact forever.

Some of them spontaneously combusted in the air because of peat heating problems.

However, as far as the feedback from all quarters is concerned, the operational plan has been successfully implemented and has achieved the desired results.

……

In the Rhine Kingdom, the crown prince of Mokel was urgently ordered to go to the northern counties with his important ministers to investigate the situation of refugees and fires, and to do everything possible to minimize the damage.

He was accompanied by Earl Barnat, Minister of Finance of the Kingdom, and Viscount Daiyota, Minister of Commerce. Their first stop was Wimble.

The castle guard, Count Bolson, received the crown prince and his party.

The banquet was quite sumptuous, but in terms of the dishes, it was obviously not as good as the quality of the court in the Rhine capital. Prince Mokiel took a bite of the bread and found that it was not the type he was familiar with, but it was mixed with some barley and had a relatively rough taste.

"Please forgive me, Your Highness, this is the best bread in Wimble City at the moment." Count Bolson sighed with a wry smile: "This fire came so suddenly, we didn't even prepare for it. ”

Count Barnut broke a piece of bread and dipped it in the soup and stuffed it into his mouth? He's a little hungry? Without waiting for the food in his mouth to be swallowed completely, he asked vaguely, "What is the specific situation?" How much of a fire have you been affected by here? ”

"The overall harvest in Wimburshire should be good? After all, I'm far from the northern border, and the Giant Fire Attack has only burned about five percent of the farmland. The people below reacted promptly? The fire extinguishing is fast, overall? Isn't this year's harvest shrinking too much? It is estimated to be equivalent to 90% last year. ”

Hearing this, the crown prince and the two ministers couldn't help but look at each other, and they both saw heavy gazes in each other's eyes.

Wimburshire is more than 120 kilometres from the capital city of Bavaria and more than 1,000 kilometres from the northern border. Can the giant's air force attack here? This meant that they could attack Bavaria in the same way.

The Earl of Barnut had more questions on his mind———— Wimbleshire's grain harvest was reduced by one percent due to fires? Further north, how severe will the loss of production in the other counties of the kingdom be?

"I have ordered the establishment of refugee shelters throughout the county, and at the same time the food stockpiles will be shipped to the capital county." Count Bolson admitted: "Since last week, there have been refugees from the northern counties? There will be more to come. ”

Viscount Dayuta asked, "How many refugees do you think there will be?" ”

"I don't know." Count Bolson shook his head: "Incalculable. On the one hand, there are too few messages to refer to, and on the other hand, many of the messages I receive so far are not accurate...... But one thing is for sure? The northern counties were disproportionately affected by the fires, especially in the northern wooded areas? It has now been burned out. ”

The crown prince had no sleep all night.

He never imagined that with the end of the Northern Campaign, the situation in the Rhine Kingdom would deteriorate to such an extent.

Is the death of Duke Calis good news? But the price paid was too heavy———— as many as a million troops? There are also countless amounts of money and supplies.

Right now? Fire and refugees again.

Further north, on his way to his next stop, Brandonshire, the Crown Prince saw a flood of refugees pouring into the southern part of the kingdom.

Gray clothes, black clothes, and of course some red clothes, but there are not many of them, and the first two are basic colors. This is the case with all refugees, there is no blue or green, and the clothing is of poor quality, mostly homespun cloth woven by the people, with large and rough mesh.

Count Bolson, who accompanied him, explained: "The fire came very suddenly, and many people were working outdoors at the time. They work hard all year round to buy several new clothes, especially women, they all like blue and green dresses, but because of dyes and craftsmanship, such clothes are usually more expensive and sell very expensive. So they only take it out and wear it on festivals. Usually when I work in the field, I dress more casually, as long as it is strong and wear-resistant. ”

The crown prince of Mokel understood the subtext of the count's words: "This fire has left them with nothing?" They failed to snatch anything out of the fire? ”

The thin-faced Count Bolson hesitated for a moment, then nodded slowly. He sighed deeply: "The proximity of the village to the farmland makes it easy to cultivate, and the people who live in the village like to build their houses in the fields, or on separate open spaces close to each other. Therefore, once the wheat field catches fire, as long as there is a slight wind, the buildings next to it will inevitably be affected. ”

Prince Mokair rode on his horse and watched with a gloomy gaze at the refugees who had passed in a group in front of him. One by one, they described them as withered and disheveled. Many of them had scorched hair and could see black marks. Some were burned, lying on improvised stretchers, and were carried by others. The shedding of different areas of skin is the most characteristic feature of these wounded, because the wounds cannot be bandaged, only a thin layer of animal fat can be applied, and these poor creatures are allowed to moan in the cold and pain.

"A fire that burned everything that belonged to them." The voice of Count Bolson continued to be heard beside the Prince: "When the first refugees from the North arrived at Wimble, they were like shipwrecked at sea who had not eaten for weeks. I rushed to deliver five tons of bread, and it took them only four days to eat them clean. ”

The crown prince turned around and frowned: "Is there a lot of refugees?" ”

The Count nodded heavily: "The whole north has been hit by fire...... I think Your Highness should go to Brandon City as soon as possible, for the city guards there must know much better than I do about the current situation. ”

The Earl of Bolson accompanied him only out of courtesy and respect for the royal family. Wimbledshire also have a lot of tricky things to deal with. He continued with his escort for about five kilometres, and when he entered the outskirts of Brandon, the Count bid farewell to the Crown Prince and his party, and turned back.

There are more refugees here than in Wimble, even more than those seen along the way. They were so dense and shoulder to shoulder that it was impossible to count the numbers.

"It's like a sardine caught out of the sea by a big net......," said Count Barnett, shocked by the sight, and let out an indescribable sigh.

If it's a festival or some kind of celebration, he'll be happy to see so many people. That means prosperity and happiness, and it means where the strength of the country lies.

But now, Banat saw no hope in the faces of these people, and they were like a group of walking corpses heading south. The faces that had been burned by the fire were all in tatters, and their bodies were covered with black and gray smoke, and many people were barefoot, and the men were not wearing pants, and the women were not wearing shirts...... But neither men nor women have the intention of looking at many sides, nor do they have the slightest desire to do so.

There was one word clearly written on everyone's faces———— hunger.

The crown prince and his entourage were prominent among the refugees, and although they moved out of the way and walked slowly along the side of the road in a one-way manner, they still inevitably attracted the attention of the refugees. The rich costumes, and the horses under their crotches, seemed to the refugees to be the embodiment of wealth and food. Prince Mokiel saw a crowd staring at his horses, their throats twitching up and down, and their eyes even showing a wolf-like look...... For a few seconds, the crown prince felt a cold sweat dripping down his back, and he believed that if it weren't for the burly knights in armor around him who drew their swords in demonstration, and the attendants of the guards who were nearby with muskets in hand, these desperately hungry men would have swooped down and tore themselves and their horses to pieces.

He couldn't help but pick up his pace, desperate to get to Brandon.

The silhouette of the city could be seen in the distance, and soldiers finally appeared on the side of the road to maintain order. There were only a few hundred of them, but both the uniforms on their bodies and the arquebuses on their backs gave people an indescribable sense of security.

Mokel rode up to the nearest soldier, who looked curiously at the richly dressed young man, and the knight of the guard beside the prince was about to reprimand the soldier who did not know the height of the sky, but was stopped by Mokel raising his hand. He jumped off his horse, raised his hand and pointed in the direction of the dense buildings in the distance, and asked the soldier with a pleasant face, "Brandon City ahead?" ”

"Yes." The soldier glanced at the royal banner held in the hand of the knight of the guard not far away, and asked uncertainly, "...... Are you His Royal Highness the Crown Prince? ”

Although Mokyl is the successor to the crown, he has no shelf, not to mention that the question he is concerned about at the moment is the disaster itself: "Is the damage in Brandon County serious?" ”

The soldier sighed: "The fire has been extinguished, but everything has been burned and nothing is left." ”

The crown prince and the two important ministers couldn't help but feel a tightening in their hearts.

"See them?" The soldier didn't pay attention to their expressions, turned sideways, and pointed to a group of people who were passing by.

Following his lead, Mokel saw twenty or thirty adult men and women gathered in a group following the crowd forward. What makes them special is that they are pushing a wooden cart. This is a common four-wheeled carriage among the people, without compartments and roofs on both sides, and is specially used to pull goods. There were a few people lying in the car, and when I got closer, I saw that they were all children, sleeping in strange positions, lying there motionless.

Viscount Daiyuta frowned and asked, "Are they all their children?" Why take the corpse with you? Are you going to ship it somewhere and bury it? ”

Only then did Mokel realize that the children lying on the wooden cart were dead.

"They don't have food anymore." The soldiers must have seen too many similar scenes these days, not so much because they were not surprised, but because they were numb to their thoughts: "The crops in the fields are burned, and they will not survive the winter if they continue to stay here." I used to say that the northern giants were savage man-eating monsters, but I didn't expect ......"

He didn't finish the rest of the sentence, just sighed and kept shaking his head.

Finally entered Brandon City and met Viscount Sosa, the county warden and city guard.

It was dinner time, and the viscount welcomed the arrival of the crown prince and his party, and he specially told the attendants beside him: "Let the kitchen add a few dishes." ”

This sentence was said in front of the crown prince and two important ministers. However, it can be seen that this is out of respect, not deliberate.

After a day's journey, the crown prince was indeed a little hungry.

Dinner is simple: a chicken stew, half a ham, a large plate of vegetable salad. Next to the shabby dish lay a basket of bread, two long sticks that seemed to Mokel to be a little less, and grayish in color, presumably the same as those eaten in Wimble, mixed with a lot of barley.

Although Viscount Sosa repeatedly claimed that "there is still bread, not enough to add more", the crown prince doubted the veracity of this statement.

The attendant brought a large apple pie. According to the Rhine dining habits, the last dish must be dessert, which means that no other food will appear on the table.

For the average family, such a dinner is undoubtedly a sumptuous meal. However, in the eyes of the crown prince and the two important ministers, such a meal was really difficult to see.