"Your Excellency, Marshal, our scouts discovered that the British troops were evacuating the fortress, and they were preparing to flee!"
Just when Washington was about to order the army to attack the fort, a scout captain hurriedly rode up to Washington and said loudly.
After hearing the news, Washington's face showed a look of astonishment and then ecstasy. It was God's blessing that the British army actually chose this time to evacuate the fortress.
You must know that the Continental Army has a lot of war horses, which means that at least in terms of mobility, the Continental Army surpasses the British Army and loses the protection of the fortress. On the plains, there are only more than a thousand British troops.
It is obviously very difficult for the army to withstand an attack that is more than five times the size of the Continental Army.
"Order the army to turn around immediately, and also order the cavalry to attack immediately to hold back the British!"
After Washington's order was issued, the Continental Army, which had been lined up neatly, suddenly looked a little messy and began to turn around and rush towards the other side of the fort.
"General, we have discovered Continental Army scouts on our perimeter. It seems that our actions cannot be hidden from the Continental Army. What do you think we should do?"
A British officer said to Monroe with an ugly expression.
At present, the British army led by Monroe to break through has more than 1,400 people, and among these more than 1,400 people, there are only more than 200 horses. This means that except for the cavalry on horseback, the rest of the British army
They can only move forward on their own two feet.
Although the British don't know how many horses the Continental Army has, but if you think about it, the Continental Army will definitely have no less horses than the British, maybe even more. After all, there are many places to breed war horses in North America. And the Continental Army has many horses.
When the army attacked Dayton before, the British troops on the city wall looked from a distance and saw a lot of cavalry behind the Continental Army.
"Don't panic, order the cavalry to stay behind. Immediately fight back after discovering the Continental Army's attack. You must delay the enemy for an hour and order the rest of the troops to speed up their march. You must leave before the Continental Army arrives and move all unnecessary supplies.
Throw it all away!”
Monroe said with a serious face.
After that, the Continental Army and the British Army started a chase on the plains west of Dayton.
Fortunately, although Washington ordered the cavalry of the Continental Army to attack, there were not many cavalry in the Continental Army. The 800 Continental Army cavalry and the 200 British cavalry blocking the attack were actually on par for a while.
This situation also made Washington look very ugly.
"Don't worry about the British cavalry. All the cavalry will continue to attack. Hold back the British infantry! Don't worry about any casualties. As long as it can hold back the British army, the cavalry will be the first contributor!"
.............................
"Your Majesty the Governor, as the news of the British army's disadvantages in the war spread, many people from the British colonies have begun to pour into our territory. In this regard, the government hopes to allocate 300,000 gold marks to provide for these
Refugees provide necessary livelihood security!”
In Bruneck's office, an official from the Prussian colonial government was reporting to Bruneck.
After the Continental Army resurrected and captured Indiana, some people in the British Governor's District of Pittsburgh began to flee to the Prussian colony, and this situation intensified after the news of the Continental Army's capture of Dayton spread.
Colonial states adjacent to the Prussian colonies, such as Virginia and North Carolina, saw a large number of refugees bringing their families with them.
Of course, the British colonial government also made a lot of efforts to this end. They set up a large number of sentries in the areas bordering the Prussian territory to intercept these refugees.
Originally, a Continental Army would not cause such a panic in the entire British Governorate Colony of Pittsburgh, but those so-called well-informed people took the lead in making the decision to flee after learning that the strength of the Continental Army exceeded 20,000.
This move caused quite a storm among these colonies.
Fortunately, because the British colonial government is quite capable, Prussia has only received less than 6,000 refugees so far. However, except for some of the 6,000 people who are wealthy people with assets, the rest
All of them were poor people, and the handling of these poor people was the key to embarrassment for the Prussian colonial government.
Each of these refugees needs to be carefully screened. This is mainly to prevent the Continental Army or British spies from being hidden among them. Secondly, after these poor refugees fled to the Prussian colonies, it became a big problem for them to make a living.
, and it is foreseeable that if these refugees feel that they cannot survive, they will inevitably create a series of riots, which the Prussian colonial government is not willing to see in any case.
"Three hundred thousand gold marks is too much. Now we need money in many places. Under such circumstances, we simply cannot afford three hundred thousand gold marks!"
As he spoke, Bruneck picked up the quill on the table and changed the number three on the document to one.
Seeing Bruneker's actions, the Prussian official standing opposite him looked a little embarrassed and said:
"Isn't one hundred thousand gold marks too little? If we want these refugees to settle down, the government needs to at least prepare some houses and supplies for them..."
Before the official could finish speaking, Bruneck waved his hand and said:
"One hundred thousand gold marks is already a lot. This money is mainly used to disperse these refugees to the edge areas of various states. They cannot be allowed to gather together. As for the houses and food, they are just refugees.
It would not be in our Prussian interests to invest a lot of money in these people!"
After Bruneke finished speaking, the official opposite him was speechless.
According to the government's plan, these 300,000 gold marks are used to build a town in the current border area with the British colonies to accommodate these refugees, so the cost is naturally set with the goal of building a town.
After all, these refugees are only the first batch. No one knows what the next battle will be like. If the British army goes unfavorably and even loses Ohio, it is foreseeable that more refugees will flow into Prussia.
on the territory of.
This number may not be several thousand, but may be tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of refugees.
After the official left, Bruneck rubbed his temples. The busy government affairs during the recent period had really made him a little exhausted. Fortunately, Scharnhorst was with the army. Bruneck
It’s better to leave military matters to Scharnhorst.
Just when Bruneck was looking at the sky outside the window and was about to ask someone to arrange afternoon tea, Scharnhorst hurried in.
"Scharnhorst. Why are you here?"
Seeing Scharnhorst's arrival, Bruneck's face looked a little surprised, but Scharnhorst's next words made Bruneck's expression change.
"Your Majesty the Governor, according to my observation, there are a lot of problems in the Third and Fourth Colonial Divisions. Not only did these two divisions fail to conduct necessary drills in accordance with the requirements of the Governor's Palace, they even concealed the truth.
Report the number of soldiers, pay and other issues!"
The so-called Third Colonial Division and the Fourth Colonial Division are executing the products of the Shadow Division in Prussia. Previously, there were only two divisions stationed in the North American colonies to which Prussia belonged. Later, due to the continuous expansion of the colonies and the Continental Congress,
The resurgence caused Bruneck to immediately start expanding the two divisions.
According to previous reports, these two newly expanded divisions have initially completed their reorganization and will be able to form combat effectiveness in just one month.
But what Bruneker didn't expect was that at this time, such a scandal would come out of these two newly expanded divisions.
"Scharnhorst, please explain the situation in detail. Also, do you know how many vacancies there are in the army?"
Since ancient times, it has not been uncommon for the army to live on empty pay. After all, for the generals in the army, unlike local officials, they can use their power in exchange for a large amount of money in the local area. Making a fortune in the army
The number of paths is relatively much less.
In this case, especially when there is currently no effective soldier identity management mechanism, empty pay has become a means for some unscrupulous officers in the army to make money.
By concealing the number of soldiers, officers can successfully disguise the identity of some non-existent people as soldiers in the army, and then the monthly military pay of these soldiers will naturally go into the pockets of the officers, and more importantly
Yes, these forged identities can be completely erased in a large-scale war or two years later using a death in action. Not only will the matter be concealed, but the pensions issued by the Prussian government may also be
They were enriched by these officers.
"Your Majesty the Governor, the Third Colonial Division should have a total of 10,358 soldiers, but now there are only 8,421. The Fourth Colonial Division should have a total of 9,611 soldiers.
Seventeen people, but currently there are only 6,329 people!
The total strength of the two divisions should be 19,975, but now there are only 14,750. The total number of forged soldiers in the two divisions is 5,200.
Twenty-five people!
These generals are so audacious that they dare to forge more than 5,000 people to defraud their troops and kill them a hundred times without any injustice!"
As he said this, Scharnhorst's face was extremely angry.
Although it is not a rare phenomenon for officers to be paid on an empty basis in this era, at least in Prussia, during the reign of Frederick the Great, the phenomenon of empty pay was also very serious in the army at that time, and later Frederick the Great
They also severely punished this situation, and even several generals had to retire sadly because of this. This stopped the bad atmosphere in the Prussian army.
But what people didn't expect was that this situation actually appeared in the colonial army, and suddenly there were more than 5,000 vacancies.
What is the concept of more than five thousand people? More than five thousand people is equivalent to the Prussian government spending the same amount of money, but it suddenly lost half a division. More than five thousand people, even if they are the lowest-level soldiers, every month
Military pay is ten gold marks, and more than five thousand people means that every month the Prussian military has at least more than fifty thousand gold marks falling into the pockets of those ruthless officers.
"When did you discover this situation?"
Compared with the angry look on Scharnhorst's face, Bruneck's face turned red and white.
You must know that he gave the original order to form two new divisions, and the main generals of the two new divisions were also appointed by Bruneke.
But who could have known that these generals who had been recruited as generals by Bruneck would actually do such a thing!
Don't talk about the situation in the division. The chief officers of the division don't know about it. Even if these chief officers really don't know about it, it can only mean that these generals are all stupid and incompetent people. After all, there is nothing wrong with the troops under their command.
If you know, why should you dispatch the troops on the battlefield?
"Your Majesty the Governor, I discovered this situation accidentally last month, but in order not to alert others, I did not mention it to outsiders. I just ordered a few trustworthy people to conduct a secret investigation in the army. But who knows
The result is actually so shocking!”
Scharnhorst discovered that the incident was just as accidental as he said.
After Scharnhorst came to the North American colonies, Bruneck not only appointed him as the commander of the First Colonial Division, but also gave Scharnhorst the right to oversee the formation of the new division.
Last month, Scharnhorst happened to see the army expansion document on his desk. The document showed that in less than two months, the two newly formed divisions had actually been integrated by more than 70%. At that time, Scharnhorst
On a whim, Enghorst went to inspect the army.
Originally, he was just inspecting a regiment of troops. But who knew that something was wrong when he was watching a company in the regiment counting the rosters.
There should be about a hundred men in a company, and there were indeed one hundred and twenty-one men on the roster, but as it turned out, only sixty-three men were present at Scharnhorst, and the rest were not at all.
At that time, the reason given by the officer accompanying Scharnhorst on his inspection tour was that these people were taking turns to rest and were temporarily out of the military camp because they had no combat missions.
But Scharnhorst knew the rules in the army. Soldiers who rested should rest, but there would definitely be a fake note. But at that time, Scharnhorst asked all over and did not see the existence of the fake note.
However, Scharnhorst did not say anything at the time. In his opinion, if it was indeed just a lack of fake notes, it would only mean that there were loopholes in management. For the newly formed army, this problem is not unforgivable, but
Who knew that the conclusion of the investigation would be so shocking.
"Scharnhorst, I give you full authority over this matter, and we must investigate it thoroughly. No matter who is involved, we will never tolerate it! I will immediately send someone to hand over Fred and Arbery to the Governor
When the government comes, I will put them under house arrest for a week. Within a week, I want you to find out the truth completely!"
Bruneck was heartbroken and could no longer suppress the anger in his heart. He slammed the table in front of Scharnhorst and roared.
Fred and Albery were two of Bruneck's generals, and they were also the division commanders of the newly formed colonial third and fourth divisions.
Seeing Bruneck's statement, Scharnhorst immediately agreed loudly and left Bruneck's office.
But just after Scharnhorst left, Bruneck lay down on the sofa with an ugly expression.
When Scharnhorst arrived before, Bruneck received a personal letter from William. In this letter, William not only expressed his condolences to Bruneck, but also hinted that Brandenburg
We will never forget a hero who made great achievements in Prussia, and Bruneck had every chance to become the Minister of Military Affairs of Prussia.
Bruneck understood that with the arrival of Scharnhorst, his time in the North American colonies had entered a countdown. After staying in North America for more than ten years, Bruneck had indeed developed feelings, but this did not mean that
Bruneke then hoped to stay in North America as his native emperor.
What is the concept of the Prussian Minister of Military Affairs? That is the position of the second person in the Prussian military besides His Majesty the King. It would be a complete lie to say that Bruneck was not tempted.
It is precisely because he understood this that Bruneck not only fully delegated power to Scharnhorst in the colonial army, but also allowed him to participate in colonial government affairs, because Bruneck understood that after he left, he would take over.
It's definitely Scharnhorst.
Under this situation, Bruneck naturally also needs to consider those who have been following him. It is under such circumstances that Bruneck took advantage of the opportunity to form two new divisions.
He will promote two of his cronies to division commanders.
But who would have thought that these two guys would actually create such a big hole for themselves!
If this news reached Brandenburg, Bruneck would simply not dare to continue imagining it.
Obviously if Brandenburg learned this bad news, then Bruneck still wanted to become the Minister of Military Affairs? It was simply a dream!
Who doesn't know that there are still many people vying for the position of Minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs. I am afraid that if these people know about this, they will definitely take the opportunity to suppress Bruneck!
For a moment, Bruneck suddenly had the idea of silencing Scharnhorst to hide this matter.
However, this thought only appeared for a moment and was driven out of Bruneck's mind. Just kidding, no one can see William's intention to cultivate Scharnhorst. If Scharnhorst had an accident,
,Can William let him go?
Thinking of this, Bruneck had a wry smile on his face. (To be continued...)