On the other side, just as Gablenz was at his wits' end, several students from Barcelona Military Academy came to find him.
"Your Excellency, why are we stopping the attack?"
"I'm sorry, young gentlemen. I can't take your lives and spend them on something meaningless. You all saw the attack just now. We lost three hundred men in a single push.
"The enemy even launched a countercharge against us. I'm not certain how many more men we'll lose if we keep fighting this way.
"Three thousand, five thousand, perhaps even more. And as long as we hold here, in a few days at most, they'll have no choice but to surrender."
Gablenz was extremely courteous toward these military academy students. After all, Barcelona Military Academy had been founded by the Austrian Empire, its purpose being to train military talent into the local backbone.
And in Gablenz's eyes, these military academy students were his juniors. They were his own people.
These Spaniards likewise did not regard themselves as outsiders, and immediately retorted.
"Are you afraid of sacrifice, or do you simply have no way to deal with the enemy before you?"
Gablenz hated these greenhorn brats most of all, but he could not take his anger out on them. After all, once they entered the military academy, they were officers. He spread his hands.
"Do as you like! The cowards in the city refuse to cooperate with us. If we launch an attack alone, our casualties will certainly be enormous.
"Even if we win this battle, it will be meaningless. Instead, it will slow our progress in liberating all of Spain."
To hide his embarrassment, Gablenz could only bring out the so-called bigger picture.
However, the reason young people were young was precisely because they carried a fearless, headlong drive in