Rudolph read out the farewell telegram from the front, and then took off his military cap. Some were moved to say, "Gentlemen, please salute them." ”

In the trenches, Major Luxey, who was in command of the battle, ordered the soldiers to lay down their arms.

Vincent threw away his rifle as ordered and sat down on the ground in a daze. With their own courage, they marched through thousands of armies and defeated enemies several times their size. Now, it's time for everything to come to an end.

"We won. Soldiers, your bravery symbolizes the will of the great Motherland. Lay down your arms, the war will soon be over, quietly wait for your loved ones, and the general salutes you. ”

Vincent staggered to his feet, supporting the wounded beside him. This scene was the ending he did not expect, and the brilliance was smeared with a layer of tragedy. Vincent was soon relieved, though, and walked out of the trench with his head up.

Vincent's mission is accomplished, and Rudolph is still in the middle of the crisis. It was supposed to be a turning point, but Rudolph was a little crying without tears. Germany recovered East Prussia, and Austria-Hungary theoretically recovered Lemberg. The Polish region became a natural salient.

The Russian army withdrew to the line of the Vistula River, and the First Army immediately let itself go and went all the way north, taking over the lands and cities abandoned by the Russians. However, the southern battlefield has nothing to do with them, the key is still the remaining troops.

Rudolph did not want to despise the tsar all the time these days, and the fourth, third, and second armies and the Russian army were inextricably fought. The Russian reinforcements were endless, and they were fighting for every inch of the Austrian army. And the tsar and the Russian generals seem to have been broken by the Germans last year, and as soon as the Germans attacked, they took the initiative to retreat, leaving nearly 100,000 prisoners behind.

Rudolph is now out of reinforcements, or rather, there is no aid from the reinforcements. He watched the Seventh Army every day, and this unit stood still. Nominally Russia had three armies, which were on par with them, but in reality there was only one 8th Army, and the remaining two armies were already in name only.

At this pace, Rudolph might as well count on the Second Army coming from the north.

In the past two days, Rudolph has been basically busy communicating telegrams with the rear. These telegrams came from all sides, first the command contacted him, and the staff officers suggested that Rudolph lead his troops to break through, but this plan was too dangerous and the slightest mistake would destroy the whole army.

The crown prince and Archduke Friedrich were still concerned about Rudolph's safety, and Archduke Friedrich suggested that Rudolf return by plane. This plan was opposed by everyone, and his escape would not only dishonor Rudolph's personal reputation, but also bring shame on the royal family. Rudolph, surnamed Habsburg, was also the heir to the duke. The crown prince is his uncle, and the second heir is his cousin, and he is also a dozen heirs to the throne in terms of seniority.

Rudolf could not run away in any case, he was already speechless to Friedrich, the supreme commander. From any point of view, he couldn't make such a suggestion, perhaps he was really thinking about Rudolph's safety.

It's risky to be in the limelight, if only he was more stable. In less than half a year, when the army expands, the post of army commander will definitely be indispensable.

But for now, Rudolph should still think about visiting St. Petersburg.

The crown prince did not make a proposal, and what he needed was to listen and then make a choice. The thoughts of the parties were obviously important, and Rudolph was still inclined to hold on to the city and wait for reinforcements. He demanded that some troops be transferred to increase the offensive against the Russian army. Rudolph has been holding out for two weeks, and reinforcements are still far away. The command also had a blank face, but they really didn't have a single unit on their hands that could fight.

The elite of the Seventh Army and the 12th Army were almost none, and their daily task was to send the marching brigades and supplementary regiments that had just been transported to attack, and these troops were very reluctant to defend, and sending them to attack did nothing but increase casualties.

Rudolf directly named several troops, the Croatian local defense forces and the garrison of the Dalmatian coast. This was almost the last standing Austro-Hungarian army, which had long since lost its authority over these areas, although they were nominally part of Hungary.

The crown prince agreed, and two divisions would be transferred from Croatia to the front. Croatia has no shortage of troops, and since the beginning of the war, Croats have enthusiastically joined the army for the independence of their territory. But Croatia, and the rest of the country, is now a new barracks. Before the war, all four divisions of the Croatian Local Defense Force were on the battlefield, and the 52nd Division, which is now transferred, is the last of these four standing divisions to complete their training.

The other division consisted of four coastal garrison regiments, which were reorganized into the 1st Marine Division.

Now that the troops and their supplies have been put on the train, they will arrive in batches in two days. During the military reform, the transportation system was also a focus. The efficiency of the Austro-Hungarian military trains was not even comparable to that of civilian ones, with only fifty carriages per train, while civilian trains could carry a hundred. Since the improvement of load and dispatch, logistics support capacity has been significantly improved.

In order to support Rudolf as soon as possible, the crown prince also plans to transfer troops from Hungary. But the Hungarians did not buy Ferdinand's account at all, and were unwilling to draw their own troops. In the end, it was Rudolf's father who came forward, relying on the in-law relationship with the Hungarian nobles, knowing and promising to benefit. The Hungarians agreed to send their own 23rd Division and the 6th Hussar Regiment.

Rudolph thought he would be able to hold out for at least ten more days, and the command did not dare to set a deadline, only emphasizing that they would go to Lemberg with all their might. Rudolph didn't know when the reinforcements would come, and the priority was to hold Lomberg.

Rudolph was running out of a full force, and the 146 regiment defended in the southeastern heights, where they fought for four days and suffered more than a thousand casualties. Rudolph really couldn't expect them to hold on to the death, the 146th Regiment was essentially a supplementary regiment, and the more than 2,000 Slovaks who fought for no reason at all, were originally peasants, and received only three weeks of military training a year. After half of the casualties, the force will collapse immediately if there are no officers to sustain it.

On March 1, the 146th Regiment withdrew. With the loss of the last key position outside the city, the 41st Regiment in the south of the city also had to withdraw.

On March 2, Russian troops arrived in the city from the south, and street fighting began.

In order to shrink the defensive line, Rudolph withdrew his troops from the east. The offensive of the Russian army in the east was not strong, and the 41st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment and volunteers never allowed the Russian army to break through the ruins of the suburbs. They suffered only 400 casualties, and the remaining 1,000 volunteers have been trained on the battlefield and have transformed from reservists to soldiers, and they will be an important force in the future.