"Marshal, news has come from Rome that Lieutenant General Karl has defeated the army of the Kingdom of Italy attacking the Papal States, and they are ready to counterattack Florence!" The intelligence officer rushed to the headquarters of the Grand Duke Albrecht with a telegram, and Albrecht took the telegram and confirmed it.

"Very good, pass my order, cross the river, and attack on all fronts." Archduke Albrecht said excitedly, "Now it depends on how Emmanuel II chooses, if the army is withdrawn, the front line is turbulent, if it is not withdrawn, the expeditionary force can go straight to Florence, hahaha." Albrecht laughed.

As for the urgent reappearance of the Kingdom of Italy to recruit a group of personnel to defend Florence, it is naturally feasible, but the Austro-Hungarian Expeditionary Force is the most elite unit of the Empire, and it belongs to the best of the best, how can it be resisted by the rabble that has just laid down its hoe and has been temporarily organized by the Kingdom of Italy.

Moreover, it is still unknown how many peasants the Kingdom of Italy can mobilize, and if the number of people is small, it will not make much difference.

Albrecht has been waiting for news from Rome these days, and this time Austria-Hungary has three battlefields with the Kingdom of Italy, and in addition to the Eastern Front and Rome, there is also a naval naval battlefield.

If you want to open the situation, the easiest is Rome, so after the Roman telegram came, Albrecht no longer hesitated.

With the order issued, the Austro-Hungarian army, which had long been unable to resist, passed through the forward positions on the west bank of the Isonzo River and headed towards the Italian defense line along the Isonzo River, which had long been reduced to ruins by artillery fire, and soon the first line of defense in Italy was completely destroyed.

……

On the same day that the Austro-Hungarian Empire launched a full-scale attack on the Kingdom of Italy, the Battle of Sedan also began, and Prussia used 248 infantry battalions, 189 cavalry battalions and more than 800 artillery pieces, totaling more than 200,000 men, to attack the French army, which had only 120,000 men, and Napoleon III was in a more dangerous situation than in history.

"Your Majesty, the artillery fire of the Prussians is so fierce that our artillery will not do much to them at all!"

"Your Majesty, just now, Marshal McMahon was wounded by fragments blown up by a shell, and now Marshal McMahon is in very bad condition."

"Our troops suffered heavy casualties......"

Bad news continued to spread into Napoleon III's bunker, and despair spread among the French army.

At this time, Wilhelm I and Bismarck stood on a hill in the distance, watching with satisfaction as the troops attacked the French positions.

"That's the Bavarian army, although their numbers are not small, but their organizational skills are too poor, and they still have to practice more in the future."

"The performance of the Heixingen Brigade is not bad, young and vibrant, but unfortunately the number is too small."

"The level of Baden and Württemberg is too poor, and they have not experienced war for too long, and now they are all raised by them, but the command level of the officers is still online, but unfortunately the ordinary soldiers can't."

"Our army is generally qualified, but the French are still relatively tenacious, and there are no technical errors, but unfortunately, there can only be one winner."

William I commented on the troops in the distance.

"Your Majesty, if nothing else, the victory of the kingdom this time is decided, and the last obstacle to the unification of Germany has been cleared." Bismarck said, standing behind Wilhelm I.

"Well, by the way, I heard that the Hexingen Brigade is going to withdraw from the war in the future?"

"Yes, after all, the Hexingen Brigade is an army of students, and other armies can be replenished, but the Hexingen Brigade cannot do this, so His Highness Ernst has decided to arrange for the Hexingen Brigade to return to rest after the Battle of Sedan." Moltke explained.

"That's fine, but then it's almost certain that France's defeat is imminent, and the other states are going to Paris to get a piece of the pie, and the Bavarian follow-up army has already set off, and it's a pity that Heixingen withdraws at this time." William I said.

According to the virtue of most armies in this era, it is basically certain that there will be a catastrophe on French soil in the future, even if the French army itself is the same, in fact, some French troops have already embarked on the fast track to "make a fortune" in their own country, military discipline is completely corrupted, and their emperor is besieged in Sedan, unable to move an inch.

……

While the European theater was in full swing, East Africa, which was the first to sound the clarion call for war, made extremely slow progress, mainly because long supply lines and poor transportation hindered East Africa's expansion.

The first to complete the mission was the 1,000-strong Southwestern Army, whose destination was the Okavango Delta in the former Botswana, close to Zambia, so the distance was not too far, only 100 kilometers southwest across the Zambezi River.

Botswana, located in the Kalahari Basin, has a tropical desert climate for most of its country, with 70% of the desert area, especially in the west, which is more barren than Somalia.

The Kalahari Desert is a strange part of the desert because it is full of plants, mostly succulents and shrubs, and there are some trees in the east and north.

Because there will still be some rain here in the rainy season, and the rest of the time is extremely dry, and the Kalahari Desert is too vast, about more than 600,000 square kilometers, in fact, look at the population of Botswana and Namibia in the previous world to know how difficult it is to survive here, the combined land area of the two countries is more than 1.3 million square kilometers, but only 5 million people, and Burundi, which is less than 30,000 square kilometers, has a population of more than 10 million, so East Africa gave up the exploration of the desert inland when making decisions.

The place in the east near Zimbabwe still has some ecological value, but it is up to the Southern Route Army to conquer, and further south it should be South Africa.

"There are so many mosquitoes here!" An East African soldier complained.

Even after spending so much time in Africa, it's rare to see a place like the Okavango Delta where mosquitoes can carry people away.

"The main thing is that it's all swampland, and the water environment is not very good, although there are a lot of mosquitoes near the Great Lakes, but it's still too exaggerated like this." As he spoke, Carl took his hat and began to repel the mosquitoes around him.

"Don't complain, it's only the right thing to get the house up quickly, so let's hurry up and cut wood! Otherwise, if you continue to camp, you will feel like your blood will be sucked out. ”

"How can it be so exaggerated! But the marching tent really can't stop those mosquitoes, yesterday through the rain cloth also bit me a few bites, fortunately it's not too hot now (the southern hemisphere is in the middle of winter and spring, but the latitude here is relatively low, so there will still be mosquitoes), otherwise it would be really fatal. ”

(End of chapter)