NOVPUBIn West Asia, under the slaughter of the "Persian Blade," the large groups of refugees quickly dispersed and fled, and the Ottoman Government could no longer control the direction of the refugees.
Other than those who died, only a small portion of the remaining refugees fled deep into Persia, while more chose to return to the Ottoman Empire.
People fear death, and facing the Persians wielding killing knives, the refugees had already cowered.
It is easy to go out but hard to return home; the Ottoman Government had somehow managed to send the refugees away, so how could they possibly accept this trouble again?
After successfully expelling the refugees, Major Shen Di’erc’s military rank had already been promoted to Lieutenant General, and should he manage to resolve the current trouble, it would be very possible for him to receive another promotion.
In return, Shen Di’erc had already gained notorious infamy and was affectionately referred to by the international media as "The Most Insidious Butcher."
The media must thank him, for his actions ensured that there was no shortage of hot news this year. After the Persian massacre, newspaper sales across Europe had risen by thirty percent.
Inside the command center, a middle-aged officer reported with a worried expression, "General, the number of refugees outside is increasing, and we are close to being unable to hold them back."
Lieutenant General Shen Di’erc ignored him, instead fiddling with a pair of walnuts in his hand. After a long while, he asked indifferently, "Do you all still remember how our ancestors established the Ottoman Empire?"
The crowd was instantly dumbfounded as the history of how the Ottoman Empire was established was clearly recorded in history books. Even though it was somewhat glorified, the general situation was still documented.
However, this question seemed to have no relevance to the current situation. After a pause and seeing that no one responded, Shen Di’erc wasn’t angry.
These days, the quality of officers in the Ottoman Empire was pitiful. There were few capable officers to begin with, and due to the Near East war, many were scapegoated and held accountable—retired. Most of the rest were in their positions due to connections.
Someone like Shen Di’erc, who came from a distinguished background and was capable, was extremely rare.
The filthy affairs of officialdom were even more severe within the military. The principle that doing nothing incurs no errors, and more actions lead to more errors, applied here as well.
If you actually wanted to do something, you had to be prepared to face criticism. In such a harsh environment, most people’s first thought was to protect themselves wisely.
Shen Di’erc had gained such a bad reputation so quickly largely because of his competitors’ maneuvers. Otherwise, how would the outside world know that it was he who had driven out the refugees?
Faced with harsh reality, Shen Di’erc had no illusions about how clever or capable his subordinates were. As long as they could complete the tasks he assigned as required, that was enough.
"Survival of the fittest, you are not unfamiliar with this term, are you?"
"The way our ancestors survived disasters is also something you must have heard about.
The bottom line is only one—reduction of the population. Whether waging wars externally or conducting internal purges, the essence was to reduce the number of people, so there would be enough food for the fewer mouths to feed.
Now, with so many refugees outside, we cannot manage to provide relief even if we wanted to. Since that’s the case, let’s employ the oldest method—survival of the fittest."
The colors drained from the faces of the crowd as if they had experienced an epiphany and suddenly came to a realization, slapping flattery on each other immediately.
Shen Di’erc, angered, slammed the table. Even at this point, no one took the hint. Clearly, everyone was smart, unwilling to take responsibility and wanting to protect themselves wisely.
"Enough! Pass the order down, tell the refugees that we do not have enough food. Following our ancestors’ ancient traditions, only the strong can survive.
Only those who bring five human heads can qualify to live. They can submit in batches, with people registering them. Outside the barracks, they are allowed to use any means necessary."
Shen Di’erc couldn’t be bothered with the crowd anymore; what success could come from fearing responsibility? Times have changed. The Ottoman Young Turks are in power now.
Idealism is the most terrifying— for the sake of their goals, they can sacrifice everything. They could even discard their own fortunes and lives, let alone a bunch of refugees, right?
Infamy might be disastrous in other countries, but it was nothing in the Ottoman Empire. In the eyes of the rulers, such an infamous general was instead more reliable.
With so many refugees outside and the Ottoman Government lacking sufficient food for aid, for the sake of internal stability, it was necessary to keep them outside the national borders.
Under such circumstances, having the refugees kill each other was undoubtedly the best choice. Don’t be fooled by Shen Di’erc mentioning that those who brought five heads could qualify to survive; the survival rate might seem to be one-sixth.
Eventually, once the refugees start fighting one another, it would be difficult to stop. The number that could survive in the end wouldn’t be one-sixth, perhaps not even one-tenth or twenty to one.
Could these people really survive? Don’t dream about it. Those who would come out holding five human heads would all be hated figures. If this group harboring grudges against the Ottoman Empire were allowed to survive, it is likely that no one could sleep soundly.
Shen Di’erc had already prepared for the breach of contract, though it couldn’t really be considered a breach. Murder was against the law, even in the Ottoman Empire.
Such an act of killing several people in succession was considered a major offense anywhere and executing the perpetrator outright wouldn’t be considered excessive.
It might seem cruel, but to Shen Di’erc, it was a way of eliminating hidden dangers for the Empire. If he didn’t do this and allowed the refugees to flood into the Ottoman Empire, the entire country would be doomed by disaster.
In the face of harsh reality, there is no such thing as right or wrong, good or evil. In this brutal era, everyone is striving for survival.
Being kind-hearted and soft-handed means you won’t survive in this survival of the fittest era.
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After a long period of fleeing famine, the refugees’ nerves had already been on the verge of collapse, with many indeed having already broken down.
The arrival of Shen Di’erc’s orders undoubtedly ignited their last bout of madness. No one knew who initiated it, but the refugee camp descended into complete chaos.
Apart from a few who retained their sanity and took the opportunity to flee to the outskirts, most people began attacking those around them desperately, as if trying to exchange the heads of others for a slim chance of their own survival.
There is no greater hell on earth than this.
...
In the Vienna Palace, Franz was stunned by the report in his hand. He didn’t join the world’s newspapers in criticizing the Ottoman Government, but instead rationally analyzed and summarized the gains and losses.
It had to be acknowledged that the Ottoman Empire shone brilliantly for so many years because it had its own unique way of survival.
At least in terms of cruelty, the countries of Europe are no match. They are not only ruthless to their enemies but even more so to their own people.
Even during the Near East war when the Russian Army invaded, they were wary of international opinion and didn’t dare to act like this, yet the Ottoman Government dared to do so.
Despite Shen Di’erc being severely criticized, in Franz’s view, he was just made to take the fall, and the real decision-makers were still the Ottoman Government far away in Ankara.
Prime Minister Felix said, "We have still underestimated the Ottoman Empire. With the kind of ruthlessness they have shown, they cannot be taken lightly.
I propose we intensify our suppression of the Ottoman Empire, seize this opportunity to send troops to intervene and support the independence of the Armenians, not leaving the Ottoman Empire any chance to rise again."
The brash fear the bold, and the bold fear those who are reckless.
This saying applies to countries as well. Facing a country that acts recklessly, everyone feels a headache. The Ottoman Empire now has something of this reckless aura.
The prestige the Ottoman Empire had built over hundreds of years won’t dissipate easily. The ruthlessness revealed now has made Prime Minister Felix recollect the past and he couldn’t help but become more vigilant.
Franz shook his head: "The ruthlessness of the Ottoman Empire indeed cannot be taken lightly, but after this battle, the chances for their revival have become impossible.
We are now in the industrial age, and population is the most valuable asset. How many people does the Ottoman Empire have left, and how many of them are of working age and capability?
For the Ottoman Empire to develop, it would take decades of work. That’s just a theoretical number, without considering domestic ethnic and religious issues.
Supporting Armenian independence now seems to weaken the Ottoman Empire, but in fact, it’s doing a great favor for the Sultan Government. It reduces a portion of the territory and alleviates the ethnic strife within the country.
Instead of this, it would be better to covertly support the Armenian independence movement, letting them consume the strength of the Ottoman Empire internally.
Meanwhile, we should bolster the confidence of England and France, directing some of their vigorous energy into the quagmire that is the Ottoman Empire, to prevent them from focusing solely on us."
It’s not that Franz looks down upon the Ottoman Empire, but the reality tells him that the Empire has lost the possibility to rise again.
It’s an unknown whether the current Ottoman Empire even has a population of ten million, and this number includes a significant portion of minority groups. After the civil war ends, the population will decrease even further.
To undergo industrialization, the Ottoman Empire must resolve not only a shortage of labor but also internal religious issues.
By the time they resolve these fundamental issues, years will have passed. Without tackling these core problems, even with the backing of England and France, they could at most establish an army that only appears formidable on the surface.
Too many examples from original history have proven that for a country to become powerful, it must be powerful in all aspects. Merely training a new army, in reality, won’t make much difference.
