Nineteenth Century Medical Guide

Chapter 264 260. About "The Frog Who Knows He's About to Be Cooked Suddenly Finds the Water Temperature Has Cooled"

The Austrian army on the southern front became a variable on the western front.

But compared to the armies that are enemies on both sides of the battlefield, the small town of Otaka, far from the main road, is completely unaware of this.Even when the Sixth Army retreated eastward through the gravel road, they didn't even notice it.

The town is not too far away from the gravel road, but it is surrounded by a large dense forest and mountains. Without investigation, it is difficult to capture this information.This caused both teams in town to misjudge the situation and go further and further down the wrong path.

The food crisis is the evil result of various misjudgments, and this evil result will continue to lead them astray.

Time went back to the early morning of October 10. Mendelstein's team got up early to pick up the farm tools in the houses, and ran to the fields to cut the wheat.It takes time to turn wheat into bread. For the town of Otaka, which has no food, it is necessary to shorten the harvesting time as much as possible.

In order to improve efficiency, they even withdrew the guards inside the church and at the entrance of the town, which aroused the interest of Aleister, who had been lying in bed pretending to be a tuberculosis patient.

He lay on the bed, looked up at the door, and suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Smith?"

"In!" An arm was raised on the bench on the other side.

"Go to the gate to see if there are any guards." Aleister ordered, "If you encounter them, if you are asked, tell them that the toilet in the church has been occupied, and you have to go out to use the toilet."

"Yes!"

The guy named Smith lifted the blanket, got up quickly, looked around twice, and immediately ran to the door of the church.He looked out again through the glass on the door, and opened the door after finding nothing wrong.

Five minutes later, he hurried into the church with a message that was enough to make everyone excited: "Captain, the previous people are gone."

"Really gone???"

Smith closed the door and said, "I walked around a couple of times, and the soldiers outside the church also left. There really is no one there!"

"good chance!"

"Yes, captain, this is really a good opportunity!"

"We've been waiting for this opportunity for the past three days, let's break through!"

The "tuberculosis" patients around him who had been sluggish for three days all regained their spirits and sat up one by one, reminding Aleister.Watching the Prussian soldiers who killed their comrades all day, they really held back for too long.

"Don't worry, there is still time, I need to think about it."

"Consider? Don't think about this situation? They must be looking for food, or they will return to their original troops."

"Are you so sure?" Aleister must have thought much more than ordinary soldiers, "Their simple stretchers are still piled up here, and there are at least three wounded soldiers who cannot walk and can only be carried, how can they return to the army .”

"That is to find food."

"They have gone out to look for it before, but they have never withdrawn the guards here."

Aleister's sense of smell is really keen, even if the other party has been reducing the guard strength, giving people an attitude that they will ignore it immediately, but he still feels that there is a problem: "Even if the guards in the church are really removed, there should be someone Look at the wounded soldiers. But those wounded soldiers live very scatteredly, rather than sending a bunch of people to guard the wounded soldiers, it is better to send only two or three to guard us."

"In case you really believe us"

"Stop joking!" Aleister said, "A commander who is cautious at every step needs to be in a stable situation. This kind of person will only show his feet when he has to. He didn't need to withdraw the guards at all for such a big thing."

"Could it be a trap?"

"...Not necessarily." Aleister shook his head and said, "It's also possible that we are really looking for food, after all, we have run out of food."

"Captain, I think it's better to break through now." Smith said, "There is a shortage of food here. We can't pin our hopes on the Prussians. Staying here is waiting for death."

"Yes, Captain, let's break through! If it's really a trap, we'll fight them!"

Aleister looked at these brothers and was also troubled.

When I agreed to Carvey, I also saw the gap between them and the pursuers.This gap is not only reflected in the number of people and the firepower of weapons, but also in the strength of the main forces of the enemy and us.

Had it not been for the safety of Kawi and the medical team, as well as the main force of the First Army that might appear in front of everyone at any time, Aleister would definitely have a street fight with the opponent.

Agreeing to rely on camouflage to deceive people is entirely out of security considerations.

While agreeing to this proposal, he also retained the power to break through.As long as he thinks the time is right, he will take everyone out of here, and Kavi must obey the order.

But what he didn't expect was that the opponent's commander was no less capable than him, and he was vigilant and cautious in every step.There are guards inside and outside the church, and they work in shifts in the morning and evening. They are called protection, but they are actually surveillance, and they are not given a chance at all.

What he didn't expect was that the Sixth Army was still entangled with the opponent's First Army.It can be guessed from the faint sound of artillery from a distance that the battle line has not moved at all.

These three days were indeed difficult, and Aleister was worried about accidents all the time.

He was afraid that this team of Prussian cavalry would suddenly attack and kill them all; he was afraid that the reinforcements from the other side would find this place and completely lose the opportunity to evacuate;

He was even worried about the failure of Kavey's operation, and he was also worried that someone would die due to incision ulceration after the operation, and he was also worried that his subordinates could not bear this kind of treatment and had a quarrel with the opposing guards
These unstable factors may arouse the anger of the other party and become an important reason for the reversal of the situation.

It can only be said that it is a blessing in misfortune that three days of camouflage can achieve this result.

But what really stuck in Aleister's chest was the lack of news.For the past three days, they could only stay in this small town, almost isolated from the outside world.

The captain of the guard was under tremendous pressure, but he still did not give up.He and his soldiers were not idle, and tried to walk around inside and outside the church as much as possible by occasionally going to the toilet, basking in the sun, washing, washing clothes, etc., and then gradually figured out the positions of the surrounding guards.

In addition, it is necessary to analyze the road map inside and outside the town, as well as the deployment of guards at the entrance of the town, to determine the escape direction, time, and methods to deal with the guards, which is not easy.

And it is impossible to give all these information to Aleister. Under the surveillance of the guards, they can only send the information to Aleister through casual chatting with each other through layers of transmission.

Aleister knew that the number of guards had been decreasing, there were 12 on the first day, only 9 on the second day, and dropped sharply to 5 yesterday.
Now all the manpower has been transferred away, but it always gives him an ominous premonition.

It was as if just about to heat up a pot of warm water for boiling frogs, the chef in front of the stove suddenly put down the seasoning and extinguished the fire.At this time, the frog is faced with a choice, should he continue to wait in the pot and take a bath, betting that the chef will find out with his conscience, or realize that the other party may want to change the cooking to roasting, and choose to jump away?

In this case, unless the chef expresses his opinion, there is no answer to this choice.

Thinking from the perspective of normal people, the latter must be better. The initiative to start and extinguish the fire is in the hands of others, and staying in the pot is waiting for death.But Aleister always felt that the chef was causing trouble, and jumping out in a daze might change the other party's mentality, which was very inappropriate.

"Smith, you've got to make another run."

"where to?"

"Go to a wounded soldier and ask him if he has anything to eat."

"Oh and see if there are guards there?"

"By the way, where have they all gone?"

"it is good!"

Aleister was cautious enough, and Mendelstein's reasons for leaving them were not too far-fetched.

The wheat harvest in the wheat field is not bad, and it needs to be harvested as soon as possible to make bread, but eating bread all the time is not an option, and more meat must be prepared.For this reason, sending more people to set traps in the woods and catch some voles and rabbits can improve the food to some extent.

"Looks like I'm really hungry."

"Captain, I think it's okay."

"Yeah, I didn't see many people in the town, so let's run straight to the north!" Smith said, "Even if we don't have dry food in hand, we can find other villages along the way, or..."

"What if they catch up?"

"It will be at least noon when we come back. Besides, they still have wounded soldiers to take care of. Their manpower has been halved, and they are on foot again. Unless they know our route, it will be difficult to catch up with us."

Aleister didn't want to sit still from the beginning, because the First Army would come here sooner or later.As long as the possibility of the other party setting a trap is aside, there will be a good opportunity in front of you.

But he couldn't make a decision right away: "Do you all think we want to break out?"

"Break out, there's no point in waiting any longer, it's better to fight."

"Breakout, there's no time!"

"We are in the same heart, but I have to consider the choice of the medical team." Aleister said, "After all, we need to take them and leave together. Without Kawei, it will be difficult for us to go back."

"He promised to obey the order."

"But now he has saved the lives of the opponent's adjutant and several soldiers, and has long been the opponent's guest."

"Do you think Dr. Carvey will defect to Prussia?"

This statement is very dangerous, whether it is for oneself, the other party, or the central point of the topic, Kavey.Seeing this, Aleister quickly poured cold water on their excited emotions: "Aren't you foolish in the church? Dr. Carvey is an imperial military doctor, how could he betray!"

"I'm just talking casually"

"It's not okay to talk casually!"

Aleister looked at the 12 subordinates who were determined to leave, and took a deep breath: "Now go and tell Dr. Carvey and his medical team, let them organize all their belongings within 15 minutes, and leave here immediately. "

"Yes!"

I talked with Ignatz until late last night, when Kavey was still sleeping in the room.

Just like what the guards said, Carvey and the doctors who helped on the operating table did get rewards.Not only is there a private house to live in, but also food is taken care of. Mendelstein's gratitude is real.

However, for workaholics, these three days are too leisurely. Apart from taking care of the wounded Prussian soldiers, there is nothing else to do.

Originally, Carvey wanted to take out the manuscript and add some details to the military doctor's manual.But the Prussian captain often came to him to "chat", so in order not to expose the content of the German military doctor, he could only hide it at the bottom of the box.

As a substitute, there was a copy of "Maxillofacial Trauma and Tracheotomy" written in Latin on the table. (see future episode)
This handwritten paper seems to have dispelled Mendelstein's doubts and allowed Carvey to gain the respect of the other party.At least as Ignatz said last night, no matter what happens, they should be safe.

So when he heard that Aleister wanted to break out immediately, he still hesitated, and even wanted to object: "I don't think it's a good time to break out, the other side didn't suspect us, and didn't take away our food , but divided all the dry food equally.”

"The act of sharing dry food equally is indeed generous, but in our eyes, it is only for those wounded soldiers." Smith's attitude is very tough, "It doesn't matter, the key problem is that Captain Aleister is sure that now is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. !"

"That's fine."

In any case, Kavi also hopes to leave the town and return to his Fortress Hospital in Olmitz.

So he said that he shouldn't break out of the siege, but he has already started to pack his luggage: "Has he considered other possibilities, such as the other party still has many soldiers hiding in the town, once we find out we will definitely There will be violent conflicts and lost in time."

Before he could finish his sentence, he felt that someone had pushed his lower back with a hard object.

This feeling is already a little strange, but it can pull out the memory hidden in his mind.

This should be a gun, a pistol made by an unknown manufacturer, and the position of the muzzle is exactly the same as that chosen by Mick.

"Smith, what do you mean?" Carvey stopped the movement of his hands, "I just made some comments, and I did not refuse to accept Aleister's order. As you can see, I have been packing my luggage."

"You have been speaking for the Prussians, and I have to consider some possible uncertainties for the safety of the escort." Smith pushed forward again, "Don't blame me, I have no choice, after all, the time left for us is not enough. too much."

Carvey can't help it. The medical team doesn't have any weapons. At this time, they can only be led by the nose by the guards.

And before disguising, he did promise to obey the command of the other party.

While packing his things under Smith's surveillance, he analyzed the current situation in his mind and found that no matter whether it was time, food, number of people or speed of travel, they were not good for them.

Even if Mendelstein hadn't played tricks and had indeed removed all the guards for food, he would still be capable enough to catch up to them.At that time, it will be an unavoidable team encounter, and casualties are inevitable.

What's more, Mendelstein in Carvey's eyes is not so naive at all.

All this is likely to be a trap.

(End of this chapter)