Theory and reality often go against each other. Perhaps it is because Oppodo's response is effective, or perhaps the officers have no way out, and the besieged Russian Fourth Army broke out in combat effectiveness beyond the expectations of the General Army.

Seven days passed by, and the Fourth Army was still stuck there like a nail, causing the Pu army to be in a dilemma.

Looking at the increasing number of casualties in his hands, he thought of his own mission. General Hansgrohe, who was responsible for encircling and annihilation of the Fourth Army, was almost worried.

The enemy suffered more than half of the casualties, and there was still no sign of surrender, which was clearly necessary to fight to the end.

If the Russian army was so tenacious, there would be no need to fight this war. The Popo Federation has a limited population and cannot fight at all.

After rubbing his forehead, Hansghe ordered to the adjutant: "Give power to the headquarters, report on our situation in detail, and tell Marshal Moltke to give us another five days to ensure that we can annihilate this enemy army.

If other areas need support, we can first draw some troops to leave. Now there is no need for so many troops to surround us."

After these days of battle, Hansgrohe has confirmed that the enemy will not run away. In order to complete the task, he even deliberately set a way to lure the enemy into breaking through.

As a result, the enemy seemed to have not seen it, and still stood firmly in place, without giving him any opportunity to take advantage of it.

It is completely unreasonable to not run away if you have the chance. Hansgroah didn't know what the Russian commander thought, but he was very depressed.

"Yes, General!"

...

Not only the Pu army was depressed, but Lieutenant General Obodo was even more depressed. The Pu army was as crazy as he launched an attack without rushing casualties, and the Fourth Army had no ability to resist and had no power to fight back.

After being trapped in the encirclement, he knew nothing about the situation outside and had no idea why the enemy was going crazy.

The whistling sounded, and airships flew from the horizon. This was the most joyful and tense moment of the day for the Russian army.

I don’t know when the whistling airship became the spiritual pillar of the Fourth Army, bringing them hope for life.

This is the most tense time. Except for the first few days, every time the airship troops come, there is an air battle.

In just ten days, the Russian army paid a total of thirty-five crashes, and almost every day three airships were finished in air battles.

Of course, the Prussian army was not feeling well, and the gap between the two sides was almost the same. The airship unit may be the closest combat effectiveness of Prussia and Russia.

Oppodo picked up the telescope and observed the thrilling air battle. He also silently said in his heart: "1, 2, 3, 4...49".

The number of "49" airship made Obodo ecstatic, an increase of one third compared to yesterday, while the enemy on the opposite side was only half of this number.

The number gap is half, and even if there are transport airships among the Russian airships, they still have absolute advantages.

Although combat airships and transport airships have been divided these days, it is common for transport airships to be used as combat airships.

Airships are all big guys, and they can still withstand a few ordinary bullets. The heavy machine gun used by the Air Force has not been invented, and the real killer move is still artillery.

Whether it is a combat airship or a transport airship, you can go to the battlefield with cannons, but the hit rate is pitifully low. If you hit it, the result will be the same, and everyone is a slim product.

In essence, airships are not used for fighting each other. The high cost is enough to make any country hurt. The Prussian-Russian War has also begun the earliest air war in human history.

Seeing that things were not done, the Prussian airship unit decided to retreat. The Russian army wanted to release strategic materials, but they didn't care about chasing them at all.

Perhaps the number of the Fourth Army has decreased; or perhaps the masters at the headquarters have expressed kindness and sympathy for the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Army to fight hard, and today's materials are particularly rich.

The rare vegetables, fresh beef, ham, cheese, bread, butter, bean flour, and Obodo was hungry.

As the commander, Oppodo soon woke up. It was probably not that the masters were kind-hearted, but that the value of the Fourth Army had increased.

If you drag the 500,000 and 600,000 troops here, it means that the Fourth Army has the greatest value. If they need to work hard, their treatment will naturally increase.

Shaking his head and dispelling the thoughts in his mind, Oppodo ordered the guards beside him: "Send someone to look for it carefully to see if there is any order from the headquarters."

Without waiting for the guards to answer, a young officer ran over with a document: "General, this is a war report from the headquarters."

Aopold avoided the file and quickly opened it and started reading it. The more he looked, the darker his face became, as if the sky had fallen.

It’s not that the situation is bad, but the overall situation on the battlefield is very good, and the Russian army is getting closer and closer to winning the war.

On October 28, 1880, the Fifth Army and the Seventh Army launched attacks on the Warsaw area from the northeastern sides, and now they are at the city of Warsaw.

On November 1, the Russian First Army and the Second Army launched the Battle of East Prussia.

Under the cover of the navy, on November 3, the Russian army launched a landing battle in the Gdynia region and won a great victory.

On November 5, the Russian army launched a landing operation in Kovobrzeg, and it was confirmed to be successful again.

On November 7, the Southern Russian Front Army tore through the Prussian army's defense line.

The next day, the Russian army divided into three groups, the Eighth Army drove straight into Berlin, the Ninth Army turned north to attack Poznan, and the Tenth Army was responsible for supporting the center.

...

There was good news on the battlefield, but there was no news of rescuing the Fourth Army. What this means was self-evident. Although it was not stated explicitly, the warning was very obvious.

The Russian army's rapid advancement was inseparable from the efforts of the Fourth Army. If they had not delayed the mobile forces of the Prussian army, the Fifth Army and the Seventh Army would not have the courage to come to Warsaw, and the Southern Front would not dare to divide the troops into three groups.

In this situation, whoever loses the chain and destroys the hard-won overall situation will be responsible for it.

There was no order, but this battle report was the best order. Oppodo knew very well that now it was not just about treating the Fourth Army as abandoned children, but clearly treating them as dead soldiers.

If they break through ahead, they will lose their heads personally; if they run away now, the whole family will follow them to the guillotine.

Don’t think that killing aristocrats is not popular in Europe, so you can really rest assured. Alexander II has the reputation of being a "butcher". If people do not kill, how could the reform succeed?

After a little thought, Oppodo ordered: "Tell the whole army this good news and tell everyone that victory is right in front of you. As long as we persist for another half a month, we will take Warsaw!"

"Seeing through but not saying it out" is also one of the laws of survival in this cruel world. Smart people can naturally see it clearly, and those who can't understand it are all stubborn. If this battle report comes to their hands, that is the real good news.

Persist for half a month?

Oppodo himself didn't believe it. Deep down, he felt that the Fourth Army could last until now, and he had performed well.

However, people are blindly following, especially when they are closest to victory, everyone can always hypnotize themselves and burst into combat power beyond imagination.

Deep in his heart, Oppodo had decided that the main force of the Prussian army would be able to restrain it as long as possible. If he couldn't hold on, he would leave the local rats behind.

As long as the Fourth Army did not run away and was still leaving here to fight, others could not put the blame on him.

Fortunately, the soldiers didn't know Oppodo's unscrupulous thoughts, otherwise everyone's morale would be vented again.

Sometimes ignorance is also a blessing. It is better to be immersed in the ocean of hope than to despair after knowing the truth.

...

The Prussian army was at a disadvantage on the battlefield, and the Berlin government was completely panicked. Even if Moltke repeatedly guaranteed it, it would not dispel everyone's doubts.

National mobilization is necessary. As long as you can withstand the gun, you must go to the battlefield.

It doesn’t matter if there are insufficient officers. If the officers of the main force cannot move, they will be drawn from the local forces.

If it really doesn't work, just find someone to take it first and wait until there is a suitable one before changing it. If there is no suitable one, then naturally there is no need to change it.

The enemy is about to reach Berlin, who can care about the quality? Getting the quantity first can at least increase everyone's sense of security.

While Berlin was mobilizing armed forces, it did not forget to launch a diplomatic offensive.

The small characters of the Ottomans, Central Asian countries, and the German Federation are useless, and they have lost the ability to influence the outcome of the war.

At this point, the Popo Federation needs the support of the great powers. Unlike other regions, the European continent has obtained things on the battlefield and the negotiating table may also be spit out.

The Berlin government did not expect to make the Russians come back in vain, but it still had to be done to gain the support of the great powers and protect their strength as much as possible.

In Vienna Palace, Franz had just sent an envoy sent by the Berlin government.

Frankly speaking, he was very puzzled in his heart. Why should the Berlin government be so anxious if it has not even decided to win or lose in the war?

The Russians seemed to be advancing on the battlefield, but the war was not over yet. There were still 600,000 new recruits in the Popo Federation. No matter how weak the combat effectiveness of these troops was, could they always make do with defending the city?

Faced with Franz's doubts, Chief of Staff Albrecht explained: "Your Majesty, until the battle is underway, the number of casualties in the army of the Popo Federation has long exceeded one million, and the number of casualties alone has exceeded 300,000.

If the losses of ordinary soldiers can be supplemented immediately, but the losses of grassroots officers are difficult to make up for.

According to the data we have collected, the death rate of the nobles of the Pu army is far higher than 13.5% of ordinary soldiers, and has approached 20%.

The number of officers in the Prussian army was insufficient, not only this war, but also the impact of the last war.

During the First Plain Russian War, the new generation of Junker nobles suffered heavy casualties. Now they are not only short of grassroots officers, but also middle-level officers, and high-level officers are not enough.

The insufficient number of qualified officers has a great impact on the combat effectiveness of the army. Compared with the early stages of the outbreak of the war, the combat effectiveness of the PLA has actually declined.

It can be seen from their besieging the Fourth Russian Army that if it were the Pu army at its peak, it would not have to be delayed for so long.

The insufficient number of officers is not the responsibility of anyone. The Popo Federation has done a good job, and the officers they reserved in advance are enough to command one and a half million troops.

This number is theoretically enough to deal with any war. Before the outbreak of the Prussian-Russian War, no one knew that this war could reach its current scale.

Whether it is the Popo Federation or the Russian Empire, their mobilization ability is beyond our imagination.”

Not to mention people of this era, even Franz, a time traveler, did not know in advance that Pratt and Russia could do what they are now.

This mobilization ability is almost in line with the war. The Popo Federation mobilized more than 2.6 million troops, and the Russians were even more crazy about mobilizing nearly 4 million troops.

This number is not the end yet. The number of troops on both sides is like blowing balloons, constantly expanding.

Like balloons, while the number of troops expands, your combat effectiveness in the army is also declining.

The Pu army performed more clearly, mainly because they took the quality route; the Russians started with quantity, although the combat effectiveness of the troops also decreased, because the quality was not very good at the beginning, so the decline was not that large.

Franz asked in confusion: "As far as I know, many other officials of the Berlin government are from the army. Now is a time of crisis, so it should be no big problem to restore them to emergency rescue.

If these people have taken offense and promoted some civilian soldiers to serve as officers, the problem of insufficient grassroots officers will be solved. There is no need for the Berlin government to get angry so anxiously, right?"

This is not Franz's nonsense. Many officials of the Berlin government were from the army. Not only the Popo Federation, but also Austria.
To be continued...