The gunfire began to thin out, and the desperate Hungarians surrendered. They were completely surrounded, and the main forces of the Austro-Hungarian army had been outflanked from the rear.

The Hungarians, who were weak, were defeated.

The last rays of the sunset were slowly setting, and the half-day fierce battle seemed like a dream for Rudolph. Instinctively laying out the finishing touches, Rudolph sat down in the trench.

Today, he killed someone. Rudolph clasped his hands and struggled to overcome his discomfort.

The Hungarian rebellion was quickly quelled, and the old nobles, accustomed to seeing the wind at the helm, quickly declared those who were rebels and that they would unconditionally support the reforms of the Reichstag.

Politics had little to do with Rudolph, the aftermath of the civil war needed to be resolved urgently, and it was believed that the crown prince and his government would be supported by all nationalities.

As a man of outstanding military achievements, Rudolph was undoubtedly the winner of this war. Against the backdrop of 40,000 incompetent allies, Rudolph is like the reincarnation of Prince Eugen. Rudolph, with half a regiment and without artillery and fortifications, bravely held off a cavalry division. He killed and wounded 1,300 opponents, and only lost 400 of his own.

At the commendation meeting, Rudolph had an additional six-pointed star on his collar badge, and he and the leading officers of the regiment were awarded the Order of Merit for War. In addition, as the commander of this battle, Rudolph showed admirable courage and qualities, and he was also awarded a Joseph Cross of the 4th degree.

As a hot new star, Rudolph failed to stay in the grassroots army. The General Staff immediately transferred him back to the Arms Reform Group.

The war woke up the top brass of the Austro-Hungarian army, who were deeply aware that the army was completely behind the times in terms of equipment and tactics. For this war, Austria-Hungary paid a heavy price of 35,000 casualties, and the main casualties were not actually the rout on the southern front. Austria-Hungary paid the price of nearly 30,000 men to conquer the city, while the defenders, with only 14,000 men, lacked artillery and machine guns, and 6,000 of them defected.

"The hypocritical look at their name, the glorious look at the cause of the Fatherland." At the review meeting, the crown prince judged the battle in this way.

Grand Duke Augusta stood up and took the initiative to make a review, "Our division commanders, regimental commanders are too far from the front line, and they cannot make adjustments in time. ”

General Danktor scoffed, "But we can't let our officers block the bullets." ”

Conrad added, "One of the main reasons for the collapse of the army was the number of casualties among the junior officers who did not command the troops. ”

After thinking about it, Conrad continued: "Napoleon could never recognize this world with railways, roads, airplanes, telephones, and telegraphs. Our tactics are still stuck in the last century, and this army is no longer adapted to modern warfare. ”

War Secretary Offenberg, who was the main promoter of military reform, asked Rudolph: "Young man, do you have any ideas?" ”

Rudolph stood up and did not answer the question directly: "We are on the verge of war, the Serbs want to rebuild their Greater Serbian kingdom, and these barbarians believe that where the Serbs live, is their territory. Now they are not only in power by radicals, but also with the full support of the Russians. The Russians have been exporting pan-Slavism to the Balkans, and as the controllers of neighboring countries and Bosnia, we are the first to bear them. ”

Rudolph first introduced the theory of the Russian threat.

Conrad cursed, "Serbia is a kingdom of utter evil. ”

Others were talking, and after this actual battle, they obviously lacked confidence.

The crown prince saw that something was wrong with the situation and immediately came out to stabilize the morale of the army. "We don't have internal constraints, and the government will allocate sufficient funds. We must establish effective reforms to ensure the combat effectiveness of the army. Here I need to repeat that the Balkans are the only future, and the contradictions with the Russians are irreconcilable. ”

In a state of panic, the post-war conference ended. After a short war life, Rudolph returned to the General Staff in Vienna.

The head of the reform team this time is, of course, the chief of staff Conrad. But he is not in charge of specific matters, only in charge of coordination. For this reform, Austria-Hungary recruited all military and industrial personnel, and the ambitious crown prince raised $800 million for this purpose, which was roughly equivalent to two years of military spending.

This huge amount of money did not come easily, and it can be called a patchwork. The liberation of the nation has led to economic vitality, and this year's high fiscal revenues in the Slavic regions have been their reciprocal benefits. But the wounds of the civil war, the discontent of the Hungarians, still need to be soothed, and even though the Vienna government has opened up and cut costs, there is still a shortfall of 500 million dollars.

Archduke Ferdinand could only turn to foreign countries, Britain and France, the world's first and second largest financial countries, but they were well funded. However, under the premise of the confrontation between the two major military alliances, no large loans and bonds of Austria-Hungary could be approved. The German and Italian allies, well, the two emerging powers, without colonial blood transfusions, were probably more financially strained than Austria-Hungary.

Looking around the world, the crown prince found the lighthouse country across the ocean. Through various channels, we borrowed 250 million US dollars, and from JPMorgan Group alone, we borrowed nearly 100 million. For this money, the Habsburgs sold all their face. Modern people may not have an exact concept of this money, you must know that in the whole World War, the loan of Britain and France from Morgan was only 500 million. More than 10 billion loans tied the United States to the chariot. Wilson heard this advice: "If the money borrowed to Europe becomes a bad debt, even God must walk away from it." ”

For individuals, this money is a huge amount of money that can never be used up, but for a country's armament reform, it can only be sufficient. In order to ensure that every kronor is spent on the knife edge, and to ensure that the money does not go elsewhere, the military has set up a special monitoring team.

The days in Vienna were peaceful and peaceful, Rudolf was like a white-collar worker every day, got up at seven in the morning, had breakfast, walked along the streets of Vienna, and arrived at the staff headquarters not far from Hofburg at half past eight.

Regular and full of his daily life, Rudolph sometimes meditates alone, thinking about himself, his future, and his hopeful reforms. From time to time, I discussed with colleagues or chatted, feeling the life of that generation and the characteristics of the times. Rudolph enjoyed it, after all, as a person from hereafter, everything here made him curious and fascinated.

There is life outside of work, and Rudolph has come out of the loneliness and sorrow when he first came, and he has begun to integrate here in every way.

Time is not right, and years are long. I don't know when the war will come, but life and work are the things that need to be done right now.