Chapter 1000: Burning the Coffin to Celebrate Success

The hasty ending of the Battle of Celesta was completely unexpected by Franz, but the supplies carried by the army should be just enough for nearby residents to use until winter.

In fact, before the battle ended, Franz had always believed that Duchess Fanny Cote would most likely die in a certain alley, and the rest of the Orléans army would disperse or be inspired to fight for a while before taking the Duchess with him. body comes back.

Franz even prepared a eulogy and a fine coffin.

Yet Fanny Cote survived and emerged victorious. According to post-war statistics, no senior officers in the coalition forces were killed in action, so this coffin was immediately useless.

Coffins also have levels, and using them indiscriminately will not only cause unnecessary arguments, but may even lead to unnecessary comparisons.

There are naturally heroes who died in battle, and even if Franz didn't exist, some would be created, but these heroes are even less suitable for use beyond the limit.

The heroes should only be transported back to their country with their ashes, military uniforms and merit medals. This is a helpless move to prevent enemies or third parties from taking the corpses and demanding a price.

There has never been a shortage of corpse thieves and tooth hunters on the European battlefield. These two professions have been popularized before, so I won’t go into details.

But as long as the value of the corpse is high enough, someone will definitely choose to take risks. In the anti-French war, many times during the anti-French war, the two sides were enemies during the day, but they were colleagues stealing corpses together at night.

Even if countries impose the most stringent criminal laws on corpse theft, this lucrative industry cannot be cut off.

In addition to the gold, silver, and jewelry carried by the corpse itself, clothes, weapons, hair, teeth, carrion, and even bones can be exchanged for money.

Wigs and fake beards have always been the favorites of the upper class. In this era of rough food and no daily protection for teeth, the demand for dentures has always been high.

Not only can carrion be used as fertilizer, but bones can also be burned into bone char and used as a decolorizing filter in sugar factories to process raw sugar into white sugar.

The British are particularly experienced in this regard. The editor-in-chief of a certain newspaper once publicly declared in the newspaper:

"It is estimated that more than one million bushels (1 bushel is equal to 8 gallons in the UK) of human and non-human bones were imported into the Port of Hull from mainland Europe last year.

They come from near Leipzig, Austerlitz and Waterloo, are ground into granules on Yorkshire bone grinders, made into bone fertilizer and sent to the largest agricultural markets, where they are then sold to farmers.

According to research by experts in our country, human bones can produce the best quality fertilizer.

There is no doubt that dead soldiers were still valuable commodities, and it is incomprehensible that Yorkshire farmers relied to a large extent on the bones of their children for their daily bread. "

At this moment, there are actually corpse thieves taking action, but Franz has already prepared a team of professional body pickers.

Most of them are refugees from Ireland. Many of these people cannot even speak English. They only know ancient Gaelic. Businessmen who want to bribe them need to hire a special translator.

Moreover, these Irish people have a special organization. Anyone who wants to contact them and get close to them can easily find out Franz.

If we don’t eliminate the upstream industrial chain and just try to catch some temporary workers, this trend will never end.

In addition, the cost of disposing of corpses is relatively low for Irish refugees. If other ethnic groups in Austria are used, it will easily cause criticism, but Irish people do not need to worry about these problems.

As for the issue of self-inflicted theft, the Irish as refugees are also more susceptible to more stringent inspections.

In terms of punishment, Franz did not have to worry about being criticized by the nobles and some opinion leaders due to excessive punishment.

Even if something goes wrong, Franz can always blame the British. After all, the Irish are from Britain.

The body pickers will first dig out the corpses of the German Allied Forces under the leadership of priests, then hold simple masses and cremate them one by one, and finally seal them and bring them back to the country.

The corpses of Celesta residents will be returned to the Celesta people, while the corpses of the French army will be gathered together. Whether to bury or burn them will be decided by the Celesta residents and representatives of the Orleans Dynasty.

As for the coffin and the eulogy, Franz was going to use them as fuel to hold a bonfire party.

What Franz didn't know was that his behavior had been over-interpreted.

"Have you heard? Archduke Franz actually went to the battlefield with a coffin!"

"Really?"

"Didn't you see it when the quartermaster passed by the camp with that coffin today?"

"Is that for Archduke Franz?"

"I didn't believe it at first, but after the news of the victory came back, Archduke Franz ordered the coffin to be chopped into firewood.

That's all fine wood! You can never afford it in your life! "

"Why should such good wood be chopped as firewood? What a waste! Can't we use it next time?"

The soldier's head was hit hard, and the meddling veteran roared angrily.

"Is it auspicious for you to use a coffin? Are you thinking that Archduke Franz, like you, can't live in a coffin, sleep or get up? You can take a broken coffin with you wherever you go?"

"Then why should it be used as firewood?" Xiaobing still couldn't accept that the good wood was wasted like this.

"Didn't you hear that there is going to be a celebration party?"

"I heard about it! They even gave me a bottle of wine and a piece of salted fish!"

Xiao Bing smacked his lips while counting. That salted fish is really good.

"Do you think all the big shots are like you? Are you satisfied with a salted fish? Archduke Franz will host a bonfire party for representatives of various states tonight!"

"Using coffins as firewood to hold a bonfire party? Aren't you afraid?"

The soldier couldn't help but complain, but then he was hit by the old soldier again.

"What do you know! The nobles in the city like to play exciting games! Burning coffins to hold a bonfire party is nothing! The British royal family even eats human flesh!"

At this point, a man wearing a white robe and carrying a Bible and a code on his waist stood up. As a preacher accompanying the army, Ace naturally knew the role of rumors, so he immediately began to correct the style of painting that was going astray.

"Carrying coffins to go to war, burning coffins to celebrate after a great victory, how can you make such a heroic thing sound so petty?"

The preacher is a kind of chaplain accompanying the Austrian army, but he has both church and military identities, and can even directly deal with low-level non-commissioned officers who make mistakes.

In addition, the two soldiers had no intention of defaming Franz, so they immediately changed their words.

"Yes! Carrying the coffin to the battle! Burning the coffin to celebrate the victory! Heroic spirit! Archduke Franz is mighty!"

"Remember this is the only version. If I hear other rumors, I guarantee that you will die without a burial place."

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

The two soldiers were about to leave.

"Come back!"

"Reverend, do you have any other instructions?"

"The pork chops are almost fried, stay and eat together."

The two soldiers gratefully shared the delicious fried pork chops with the Reverend, but Sister Ribi beside them was a little unhappy. The rare time spent together between the brother and sister was ruined.