Kafka says...

"It looks as if much has been neglected in our country's system of defense.We have not concerned ourselves with it till now and have gone about our daily work;but things that have been happening recently begin to trouble us.
I have a cobblers workshop in the square that lies before the Emperor's palace.Scarcely have I taken my shutters down,at the first glimmer of dawn,when I see armed soldiers already posted in the mouth of every street opening on the square. But these soldiers are not ours, they are obviously nomads from the North.
In some way that is incomprehensible to me they have pushed right into the capital,although it is a long way from the frontier.
At any rate,here they are;it seems that every morning there are more of them."