Chapter 1185: The Journey of New Soldiers
Hungary.
In a small village that had not yet been affected by the war, several uninvited guests appeared. They were recruiters of the Hun Empire, and they came here for only one purpose, which was to recruit soldiers.
In the previous rounds of conscription, there were no young and strong men in the village. Starting a month ago, even young women were sent to the battlefield, supposedly to help with cooking and washing clothes.
Although the Hungarian government made an explanation, the country people at that time believed that women should stay at home. Not to mention accompanying the army, even leaving their families was immoral.
In 19th century Europe, the legal status and rights of women were largely restricted. They were usually considered subordinates of men, and men had guardianship over them.
In the actual situation in the countryside, young women took on most of the labor at this time when there was a lack of young and strong labor, and no family was willing to continue to lose labor.
"Budapest, the great capital of our Hungarian Empire, is under attack by the evil Austrians. They are trampling on our land and trying to take it from us!
Heroic sons and daughters with Hungarian blood! How can we continue to endure humiliation? We must take up arms to defend our homeland!"
The conscription officer was shouting at the top of his lungs. To be honest, the person who wrote the manuscript was quite capable and had already moved the conscription officer.
However, this could not move the peasants here. They were all serfs in the past. Even after the Hungarian government announced the liberation of serfs, they were still the property of the landlords.
Because the landlords suddenly became parliamentarians, the parliamentarians were obviously much more cruel than the landlords. After all, the landlords had to follow traditions, but the parliamentarians didn't care about any traditions at all.
One day, the parliamentarian was suddenly frightened and ran away with his family without even the land. In this way, the villagers got the land, but the parliamentarians hadn't been gone for a few days when the conscription officer came again.
Now I think the parliamentarians are better. After all, the parliamentarians only want money, not life. But if possible, they still want to be serfs, after all, at that time, they don't have to consider the problem of money or life.
The old people think so, but the children don't think so. After all, in their eyes, these military masters are much more powerful than the parliamentarians and landlords.
"We want to join the army!"
"We want to join the army!"
Suddenly, a group of young boys rushed out of the crowd as if they had discussed it. The old people from each family hurriedly stopped them, but it was too late.
A few soldiers handed over the bags of food for the family, and everyone knew that if they dared to move forward, they would be sent to the battlefield together.
So some of the old people began to kneel, some covered their faces and cried, and some wanted to bribe the officials with their family heirlooms to exchange for their children.
The conscription officer had long been accustomed to such scenes, but these children were just a little taller than the guns. How much use could such children really have on the battlefield?
(At this time, Hungary's main rifle was the Austrian M1798 flintlock, with a length of about 1250-1333mm.)
"Thor! Come back! Don't go! Come back to your mother!"
A woman screamed at the top of her lungs. She had lost her husband, father, and two sons.
An old woman behind the woman hugged her tightly and prevented her from moving forward. The old woman also lost her husband, son, and two grandsons. Now she was about to lose the third one, but there were still two living children in the family, and there was still hope. She couldn't watch her daughter-in-law step into the fire pit.
The little boy pretended to be calm and looked at his mother with tears in his eyes.
"Mom! I have to go! Budapest needs us! With the food for the family, my brother, sister, grandma and you can fill your stomachs!"
Such scenes were staged one after another, and even little girls cut their hair short to mix in.
"She's a girl! Angela! Come back soon!"
"No! Mom! I'm not afraid of death! I can endure any hardship! I will definitely come back alive!"
Of course, there are also complete idiots in this world.
"Ha hehe! It's time to go to war! I want to be a general!"
"I want to be a king!"
"Mom, why don't you go with us? You can see your father on the battlefield! Then our family can be together again!"
The two gendarmes walked towards the beautiful peasant woman with a lewd smile.
"Madam, you can also go with the army. Your son may still need your care."
The peasant woman shook her head instinctively. The villagers next to her wanted to pull the peasant woman back, but they were stopped by other gendarmes.
"Take her with you! My mother cooks delicious food!"
The two then loaded the peasant woman with limp legs and the child into the carriage.
The conscription officer wanted to scold, but what was the use? If the Hun Empire was gone, what was the use of morality? Would these children continue to be slaves? He sighed.
The cold wind was like a knife, and dots of red sprinkled on the white snow.
The road ahead was long, and the ice and snow made it more difficult to move forward. The wild beasts that appeared from time to time and the uncollected corpses on the roadside all told of the cruelty of this war.
Passing through deserted villages and bypassing bridges that were blown up by unknown people, people kept falling behind.
The children couldn't help but have doubts.
"Can we win?"
"We will win. We are just."
The conscription officer smiled and answered.
"Justice will prevail." The children also regained their smiles, but the girls no longer had the spirit of the past, and just followed the slogans.
After countless days and nights, they finally arrived at the legendary holy land - Budapest.
The siege had been going on for half a year. The whole city was like a dead city, with broken walls and broken bricks everywhere. Even the air was filled with gunpowder and the faint smell of blood.
However, the biggest problem for this reinforcement force at this time was how to enter the city of Budapest.
During this half-year period, the Austrian army built long fortifications outside the city. Although covered with snow, they were still hideous like scars on the earth.
With a sharp sound of breaking through the air, rockets took off, with long tail flames, and finally landed in Budapest.
The sky-high flames even briefly dispelled the low-hanging clouds in the sky, and the huge explosion sounded more like winter thunder.
In the sky illuminated by the winter thunder, there were steel monsters, and they spewed out hot white light from time to time like a meteor shower.
The children standing far away could not help but drool. This was beyond their imagination. Everything in front of them was simply a war in mythology.
Some people were so scared that they cried, some clenched their fists and were eager to try, and the officer had no expression on his face, because it was not the first time he had seen such a scene.
"Set up camp!"
The officer roared in a low voice.
Facing the officer's order, everyone looked at each other.
"The enemy is right in front of us! What if they find us?"
"Budapest is right in front of us! This city needs us! How can we..."
The officer raised his hand to interrupt the chattering of everyone.
"Set up camp here tonight and enter the city tomorrow. There will be many opportunities to serve the country in the future. Have a good rest today.
You don't need to worry. The arrogance and stupidity of the Austrians make them disdain to launch a sneak attack on us. As long as we don't get close to their positions, they will not attack us if we walk through the middle of the road tomorrow."
The soldiers were even more confused.
"How could this happen?"
"Today you can eat and drink as much as you want, and those who haven't eaten meat can eat meat. From now on, you may not have another chance."