"Release the Bilijin civilians we rescued from the flooded area this afternoon back?"
When Colonel Li Site heard this suggestion, he was genuinely taken aback for a moment, unable to quite process it. "But the division command sent a telegram this afternoon asking us to rescue some Bilijin civilians as we went, saying that when international public opinion leads to wrangling in the future, we would have more human evidence.
To prove that it was the Bilijin people who blew the dikes and released the floodwaters, preventing the Empire from being framed. If we release them now, won't we lose that human evidence? They'll definitely be detained, then coerced and pressured into recanting."
Lu Luxiu wiped his mouth, inwardly gaining a general understanding of these Demaniya people's level of propaganda strategy.
It had to be said—when it came to technology and engineering, they were competent, but when it came to strategy and psychological warfare, these people simply weren't enough before Eastern wisdom.
Since that was the case, today he would let them broaden their horizons.
So Lu Luxiu took another sip of wine, cleared his throat, and said solemnly, "Even if we need human evidence, we don't need hundreds of them. Just pick some representative ones; at least more than half can be released.
Moreover, we can filter them. For example, those who no longer have relatives in the enemy-occupied areas and have nowhere to turn to—we keep them. They have no weaknesses, so they'll speak relatively objectively and truthfully, and won't be easily threatened into lying.
Those who still have relatives in the Bilijin army's controlled areas can be released. Because they'll worry about retaliation if they speak carelessly, bringing disaster to their families; we might as well grant them a convenient favor.
And once they're released, they might privately spread word of our army's image as a benevolent and righteous force, as well as the disheveled spectacle of our desperate flight from the flooded area—indirectly proving it absolutely wasn't us who blew the dikes. If we had blown the dikes, our army wouldn't have been in the low-lying area at that time.
We've just repelled the Dejize'er offensive; if we coordinate this with propaganda to take advantage of the situation and strike at their hearts, disrupting the Bilijin army's thoughts and morale, perhaps the enemy will accelerate their collapse!"
The idea of combining military and propaganda, striking the enemy by any means necessary, was something Lu Luxiu had long possessed. He had mentioned it previously when advising Captain Andeli to broadcast warnings to the towns on both banks of the Yize'er River.
It's just that other frontline combat tasks had been more urgent, and he also had to prioritize; he had no time to continue delving into specific implementation methods.
If you don't first beat the enemy into submission on the battlefield, relying solely on moral condemnation to shake their morale is impossible. Condemnation served more to give them a way out when they'd already suffered military setbacks.
Now, the enemy had just suffered a disastrous defeat—this timing was excellent.
In just a few words, Lu Luxiu made the upright and militarily-minded Colonel Li Site gasp.
"Is he of Demaniya ethnicity? How is he even more treacherous than a Buliediannia person? To be able to think through such a problem so thoroughly in an instant—only those London financial dogs who spend every day scheming how to stab people in the back could manage that..." Li Site couldn't help but think such thoughts.
"In your opinion, when would be the best time to release them? Should we release them in the middle of the night?" The colonel and the other proper officers completely understood none of these underhanded tactics, so they weren't ashamed to ask and kept pressing Lu Luxiu alone for answers.
Fortunately, the Demaniya army had strict discipline and clear rewards and punishments, so there wasn't too much need to worry about others snatching the credit for his strategic contributions.
Since he'd already started helping, Lu Luxiu decided he might as well go all the way, immediately helping to analyze in depth: "I think we can begin preparations tonight, slowly screening which people need to be released, giving them a good meal before seeing them off, bestowing some small favors.
Then negotiate with the Bilijin army at dawn tomorrow, supplementing it with two additional moves: First, use the wireless to broadcast subversive telegrams to enemy senior officers, telling them that their king and cabinet have betrayed the people, and that their war decisions serve only the interests of the London bankers.
However, this move has no effect on enemies below regiment level, because ordinary soldiers simply don't have access to radios, so we need to coordinate it with another move—
For example, we can request instructions from superiors to requisition enough reconnaissance planes in the rear tonight, and then mimeograph and rush-print a batch of leaflets plus the photos of the enemy blowing the dam taken by yesterday's reconnaissance planes.
Tomorrow morning, have the planes approach and airdrop them, ensuring that large numbers of grassroots soldiers can pick up the leaflets and learn the truth. I refuse to believe their morale won't waver!"
Releasing refugees rescued through humanitarian efforts, radio broadcasts, and aircraft scattering leaflets.
Three-pronged propaganda warfare—let's see how the enemy blocks this!
These moves might not directly cause the enemy to surrender, but absolutely could make their will to fight plummet.
The colonel had never considered these issues before. Seeing how thorough Lu Luxiu's thoughts were, he completely trusted him.
He immediately stated that he would arrange for his adjutant to handle screening the refugees shortly, and at the same time have the regiment signalman send a telegram to request instructions from division command.
While saying this, the colonel deliberately demonstrated his concern for his subordinates:
"You've been sending telegrams for so long today, and you were just inspecting and deploying defenses with us—you must be very tired. Rest early. I'll have the regiment signalman handle the telegram requesting instructions from division command."
Lu Luxiu himself also felt very tired. Especially since he hadn't eaten anything the entire day; he'd just wolfed down dinner, and with large amounts of blood supply concentrating in his stomach, he grew even drowsier.
But hearing the colonel's arrangements, he inexplicably felt a jolt in his heart and quickly realized another problem.
Before transmigrating, he had read so much WWI and WWII military history. He knew full well that Demaniya's codes were like tissue paper before the Buliediannia people.
Shortly after every world war began, they were deciphered by the enemy.
For this stratagem he had designed, to achieve the best effect, surprise was crucial. That's why he had just suggested finding the right timing and making the three-pronged simultaneous move, leaving the enemy no chance to defend.
But if they now first sent a radio request to the rear division command, or even forwarded it to request instructions from army group command, a whole series of hassles would consume half the night.
And since the enemy could decipher codes, everything would long since have been leaked by then.
Perhaps by tomorrow morning the Bilijin army would already be strictly controlling public opinion on full alert, preemptively forbidding soldiers from picking up any leaflets to read—then the propaganda effect would definitely be greatly reduced.
The element of surprise in propaganda was very important.
"Can we do it like this afternoon's flood warning, and only request instructions an hour or two before things come to a head?" Lu Luxiu naturally thought of this afternoon's successful experience and ran through it in his mind, somewhat path-dependent.
If they sent a temporary telegram, the enemy wouldn't have time to react—interception, analysis, and decryption all required time.
But Lu Luxiu quickly realized the situations of the two were completely different.
This afternoon's request: once division command made the decision, they could immediately begin implementation here, without needing to set aside preparation time.
But mimeographing leaflets, printing aerial photographs, and dispatching enough leaflet-dropping planes—all of that required time, roughly a whole night.
If he delayed sending the telegram until the latter half of the night to avoid giving the enemy time to decrypt in advance, the higher-ups definitely wouldn't have time to prepare.
Therefore this telegram absolutely had to be sent out as soon as possible in the first half of the night. It would be best if they could send it securely; if there was truly no way to keep it secret, they could only abandon the pursuit of surprise.
Thinking this, Lu Luxiu couldn't help but finally offer the colonel a tactful reminder: "Sir, the element of surprise in propaganda is very important. If we use the radio to send a telegram a night in advance, the enemy might grow alert beforehand..."
Li Site's brows furrowed. "You think our coded telegrams will be intercepted and deciphered by the enemy?"
Lu Luxiu really wanted to directly answer yes, but he couldn't say it; he had absolutely no evidence. Moreover, he didn't want to expose that fact. So after hesitating, he could only speak vaguely: "Regardless of whether they can decipher it, in tonight's life-or-death crisis, if our telegrams with the rear are too frequent, it will in any case make the enemy more alert."
Colonel Li Site rubbed the stubble on his chin, thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered something: "Right, didn't you just mention that your platoon was sent here this morning specifically to repair the town's wired telegraph cable? Can it be fixed?
If we communicate with the rear via wired telegraph, wouldn't that prevent the enemy from intercepting it? Then the enemy wouldn't even know these telegrams exist—how could they spy on or suspect anything!"
Lu Luxiu's eyes instantly brightened.
That's right—how had he forgotten the mission that the body's original owner had received before his transmigration and possession?
Wired telegrams sent through cables were first and foremost much harder to intercept than wireless ones.
When sending wireless telegrams, electromagnetic waves spread indiscriminately in all directions through the atmosphere. For example, to send to the rear headquarters one hundred kilometers away, anyone within a one-hundred-kilometer radius of the transmission point could potentially intercept it as long as they tuned to that receiving frequency.
But wired telegraph was different; the electric current only traveled along the cable, with almost no effect in the air.
It wasn't impossible to eavesdrop on wired communications, but either you had to eavesdrop at signal relay stations, receiving stations, and the like by planting spies; or you could only count on physically accessing the cables midway—even cutting the cable and splicing a parallel section onto it, then listening on that parallel line.
In other words, eavesdropping on wired communications required direct physical contact.
By the late stages of WWI, the Buliediannia people had invented a semi-contact eavesdropping method, not requiring one to cut and parallel the cable to be monitored, but simply wrapping a coil around the outside of the target cable and using electromagnetic induction principles to listen.
But it was still only 1914; this technology didn't yet exist.
"While it's dark now and we won't be easily disturbed by the enemy, I'll immediately take people to see if we can repair that telegraph cable. Please give me two hours, Colonel. If assessment shows it can't be completed, you can then use the radio to request instructions from the rear."
Once Lu Luxiu figured it out, he promptly volunteered.
It was approximately eight o'clock in the evening now; if it wasn't repaired by ten, there would be no time to worry about the surprise factor of the propaganda request.
The colonel looked at his watch and nodded decisively in agreement: "Very well, we'll prepare other things first and wait for you until ten o'clock. You just focus on your own task; don't worry about combat operations."
——
P.S.: New book seeking comments, follows, collections, and votes. Thank you.