The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1787 All the way east

After brief negotiations, Pavlos Michalis refused to lay down his arms and meet Otto I, and then the battle began.

As for evidence? What evidence is needed to wipe out rebels?
The battle ended two hours later, and the elite Greek force was completely annihilated.

Pavlos Michalis's army was indeed very strong, with more than 5,000 men, and more than half of them were killed before they chose to surrender.

To prevent being captured and humiliated, Pavlos Michalis killed his two brothers before shooting himself.

However, the soldiers of the Austrian Empire did not actually have much respect for this bandit army.

On the contrary, based on what they saw and felt, they had no sympathy whatsoever for the Greek rebels.

The soldiers of the Austrian Empire delivered the bodies of the Michalis brothers to the cities they had looted.

The goal, of course, is to appease the people. If the people in the occupied areas are not stable, the cost of maintaining stability will be too high.

At the same time, it was also meant to show the Ottomans on the other side that this kind of "slap and then sweet" approach has always been very effective.

Of course, usually no one would be willing to make such a sacrifice.
Using the heads of allies to stabilize morale might be a bit unethical, but using the heads of rebels carries no such burden.

After this battle, most of the Greek troops who had been looting abroad chose to return to their posts immediately.

Even if these people had good reason, it was difficult for them to regain Otto I's trust. On Franz's advice, Otto I replaced all the commanders of these armies with his confidants.

Those who refused to return to their ranks were mostly wiped out on the spot by the Austrian imperial army, while the remnants fled into the mountains.

Otto I regained military power, and the various legions of the Austrian Empire also made a fortune in the operation, making it a win-win situation for all.

The Austrian Empire's captured supplies were all purchased by merchants accompanying the army, and then money was distributed according to the size of the contribution.

This can reduce disputes arising from looting and also decrease the chances of people hiding their valuables.

After all, if someone seizes something but doesn't hand it in, you'll get less of it.

The soldiers loathed this selfish behavior, which inadvertently strengthened their sense of belonging and cohesion to the group.

On the other hand, General McClellan and Ahmed Yilmaz were both frustrated, or rather, the entire Anglo-Austrian coalition was frustrated.

The Ottoman new army, along with tens of thousands of Redshirts, watched the smoke rising across the river, and could only listen to the screams of their wives and children like an incompetent husband in some Japanese dramas, but dared not cross the line.

They could only hide behind the screen (Nestos River) and comfort themselves with words like "the water is too deep, the wind is too cold, someone will survive."

Both McClelland and Ahmed Yilmaz felt that the other should be held responsible for the current predicament, since the Austrians wouldn't have arrived so quickly if the other hadn't run so fast.

Of course, they really didn't dare to send troops, because once they crossed the river, it wouldn't be so easy for them to come back.

And what if it's a trap?
McCley's orders were to prioritize preserving his strength, and Ahmed Yilmaz shared the same idea; the new army was his foundation.

Nobody wants to take the gamble.

There really was a trap, and Gablenz knew perfectly well where both sides had the advantage. Eliminating the enemy in mobile warfare would be the best option; otherwise, they would have to take a detour.

Encirclement and siege is certainly a good option, but it doesn't matter if the other side holds firm and doesn't come out.

Because in most people's minds, this was not a matter of holding firm and not coming out, but rather a matter of letting the enemy die. Such behavior had an extremely devastating impact on morale. The morale of the British and Ottoman armies, who had already suffered a series of defeats, had now plummeted to rock bottom.

The two commanders didn't want to really fight to the death, so they didn't motivate the soldiers and could only choose to give up.

After being reorganized, the combined forces of Austria and Greece were much stronger, and all their supplies were transported to the Nestorus River front.

After the Battle of Nestorus began, the combined forces of the Ottomans and the British did not disappoint Franz, and they resumed their race.

British and Ottoman troops abandoned their positions and fled frantically toward the Merridge River line.
Gablenz felt a sense of powerlessness as he watched the Anglo-Austrian allied forces advance eastward.

With unknown enemy territory ahead and the raging Nestorus River behind, choosing to pursue would undoubtedly be a very irrational and risky move.

Consolidating the defenses in place and then steadily conquering eastern Macedonia would be a great achievement, while pursuing forward could lead to falling into enemy traps, encountering unforeseen emergencies, or even lack of reinforcements.

Not everyone possesses the unwavering courage and absolute self-confidence of figures like Huo Qubing and Alexander the Great.

Gablenz chose the most rational approach: to occupy the territory step by step.

To be fair, Gablenz was not a coward, but it would have been impossible if he hadn't encountered any resistance along the way without any doubt.

Gablenz simply chose what he considered the safest approach.

Gablenz walks along the Nestorus River defense line built by the Ottomans, which features low walls, ditches, and bastions.

If the Ottomans were to put up a fight, even without British assistance, the Austrian army optimistically estimated that it would take several months to completely conquer them.

Of course, the Ottoman defenses were actually riddled with holes, with some areas suffering from serious shoddy construction. If the Austrian army were to go all in, it would be easy to break through.

A more aggressive approach would be to bypass those towns and fortresses and head straight for the next line of defense, or to launch a flanking maneuver that would leave the Ottomans unable to defend themselves effectively.

Arriving on the former land of the Eastern Roman Empire inevitably evokes feelings of nostalgia and sorrow for the present. Just as Gablenz was about to write a short poem while touching the ancient stone wall, an officer ran over excitedly.

"General! Guess what we've discovered!"

Gablenz didn't bother to guess; it was probably nothing more than the seizure of some rare antiques or exotic beauties.

However, unable to refuse the officer's hospitality, he followed him to a warehouse.

However, he was dumbfounded when the warehouse door opened.

The warehouse was filled with neatly stacked weapons, gunpowder, and even cannons and rockets.

The second warehouse was filled with grain. Then came the third and fourth warehouses, overflowing with all sorts of supplies.

There were over 30,000 British-made Congreve rockets alone; if all of them were used on the battlefield, the effect would be unimaginable.

There were also grains, cotton-padded clothes, and charcoal.
These supplies were more than enough for a large army to hold out for months or even years, but at this point they had all become spoils of war for the Austrian army.

At this point, Gablenz even doubted whether the intelligence he had seen was false, since the intelligence from the Austrian Empire had never mentioned that the other side had such abundant resources.

It is true that the Ottomans had a lot of military supplies, but there was a generational gap in military equipment between the two sides. For example, these Congreve rockets are products that the British had phased out.

The rockets made by the British were similar to the early versions used by the Austrian Empire, and would only be rejected by the Austrian rocket forces, not to mention those obsolete models.