Chapter 1114 Blood Blade
"Qiutkalai! You mad dog! I'm not a traitor, I'm the chief of the Pest Police Department, I'm here to catch traitors! Stop firing!"
The bearded bald man roared, but only more Congreve rockets responded to him.
Although the Congreve rockets have poor accuracy and lethality, that's only relative. No matter what weapon is facing a crowd of people packed together like sardines, the lethality is great.
And the main function of the Congreve rocket is not to kill the enemy's manpower, but to burn buildings, which the Danes can testify to.
Qiutkalai's attack caused chaos in the crowd in the Pest Hotel, but soon some people realized that they were just watching the fun and eating and drinking, but they were not traitors.
So some people began to cry out for injustice and tried to walk out of the Pest Hotel.
But they were only met with bullets and rockets. It was obvious that Qiutkalai did not intend to let anyone go. It is obviously easier to eliminate all suspects than to identify the opposition members one by one.
Moreover, the Austrian army is approaching, and the Hungarian government has no time to identify them one by one. What they need now is to concentrate all their forces to deal with the upcoming attack.
Theoretically, the Austrian troops can reach the outskirts of Budapest in one day by boat.
If they march quickly, they will definitely be able to do so within two weeks. Even according to the most optimistic estimate, the Austrians will arrive in Budapest within a month at the latest.
At this time, there are less than 30,000 regular troops and about 6,000 police and gendarmes in Budapest and its surrounding areas, as well as 20,000 new recruits in training.
At first glance, the number seems to be not small, but in fact, there is a lot of water in it. Many people are both private armed forces of large families and regular troops of Hungary.
Using the country's money to raise private soldiers is not unique to the Ming Dynasty. These troops are not only seriously short of manpower, but it is also hard to say whether they will obey orders and whose orders they will obey.
The remaining so-called 20,000 new recruits, these new recruits who are being trained and have not been sent to the battlefield for a long time, are actually the essence of the Hungarian nation.
These people were the ones Kossuth was reluctant to send to the battlefield. They were students from several universities in Hungary and some young people who had received higher education.
College students in this era were indeed precious, but why were there tens of thousands of them in places like Vienna and Budapest?
You should know that at the same time, there were only 7 formal universities in the UK, and the total number of students on campus was far less than the tens of thousands in later generations.
The seven universities in the UK at that time were: Oxford University, Cambridge University, University of London, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, University of St. Andrews, and University of Aberdeen.
The total number of students on campus in the two most famous universities, Oxford and Cambridge, was only more than 3,000.
In fact, the number of universities in Germany was far more than that in the UK. There were seven universities in Prussia alone, and the number of students enrolled was twice that of the UK. There were more than 20 universities in the German region excluding Austria.
There were 18 universities in the Austrian Empire during the same period in history, and the 100,000 people in Vienna and the 20,000 people in Budapest were not just fresh college students, but also many former graduates waiting for official positions.
Therefore, these 20,000 new soldiers who have not been sent to the battlefield are definitely the essence of the Hungarian nation. They carry the future of Hungary to a considerable extent.
Even if it is now the end of the road, Kossuth does not want to send these people to the battlefield. They are the candidate elites of Hungary. If they are finished, then the inheritance of Hungary's elites may be broken.
If the existing troops are useless, then recruit civilians. Anyway, what Hungary lacks the least is people, especially those former serfs who have just been liberated and then lost their land and fled to the city. They are willing to fight as long as they have a piece of bread to eat.
Due to the failure of Hungary's land policy, there are as many such people as needed. Kossuth is confident that he can form another 300,000 troops within a month.
In history, Kossuth formed an army of more than 200,000 people out of thin air in less than ten days. This is not because he has the ability to turn beans into soldiers, but because the chaos at that time produced a large number of refugees.
(In history, only Chairman Chang and Tie were able to accomplish such a feat after a military defeat. Even Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were ashamed of themselves.)
These refugees were willing to do anything as long as they had a bite to eat, and the level of chaos in Hungary at this time was much higher than the level in the same period of history.
The fire in the Pest Hotel was getting more and more intense, and the bald man with a beard sent people to rush out several times but failed.
As for the lackeys of the beard, when they saw that "Hungary's bravest man" Qiutkalai was leading the Self-Defense Force to besiege the Pest Hotel, they all chose to look sideways and pass by.
The spirited young men who had just been cursing and clamoring for a fight suddenly became quiet, and then left quietly without taking a cloud with them.
Seeing the situation worsening, the police chief of Pest City's brain turned rapidly. He decided not to suffer a loss in front of him, and grabbed the old man in gorgeous clothes and walked out.
"Mr. Qiutkalai! I have caught the culprit, you should buy me a drink!"
There was a flattering smile on the greasy face of the beard.
However, he was still greeted by rockets and bullets. Since returning from the front line, Qiutkalai has been studying the Austrian tactics.
The Congreve rocket is really a good thing. This weapon is easy to manufacture and even easier to use (similar to an enlarged version of the Sky-piercing Monkey), which is very suitable for the Hungarian army, which lacks training.
However, the Congreve rocket also has its own shortcomings. The first and most important problem is that it is too expensive for Hungary at this time, because the Congreve rocket requires a lot of gunpowder, but Hungary's foreign trade is cut off at this time, and the price of gunpowder is rising wildly.
At this time, the source of gunpowder in Hungary mainly relies on smuggling, followed by inventory, and then the inferior gunpowder made by native methods.
These gunpowders can only maintain the basic needs of the Hungarian army. If you want to use rockets to open the way like the Austrians, it is simply unrealistic.
Another problem is its poor hit rate, which is basically less than 100 meters. Facing the largest building in the entire city of Pest, it often misses and occasionally blows up its own people.
But scholars at Pest University have begun to study new rockets with lightweight and high hit rates.
The old man with a beard and a gorgeous dress, as well as more people, turned into ashes along with the Pest Hotel.
However, the night had just begun. Tyutkal led the Hungarian Self-Defense Force to eliminate people one by one according to the list given by Kossuth.
Some people were plotting at home, some were trying to contact foreign forces, some were preparing to surrender to Austria, some were trying to persuade Kossuth, and some were just sleeping at home.
All the people on the list were targeted and eliminated, and the scope of the attack was expanded through interrogation. Even the real mastermind hiding in the basement was not spared.
Although Tyutkal killed people in a dark and dusty manner, ordinary people were not afraid and even wanted to join in.