1890 King of Southeast Asia

In mid-March, Nicholas II recalled Alexeev, who was preparing to attack East Prussia, and asked him about Romania.

"Alexeev, did you know about Romania's participation in the war?" Nicholas II returned to his office with a smile from the heart.

The recent offensive of the Russian army has been very smooth. The Germans seem to have lost their ability to resist. The Russian army is approaching East Prussia, that is, the German mainland, every day.

This made Nicholas II, who had been tortured by foreign wars and internal chaos for three years, very happy, especially with the news of the victory of the battle, the domestic situation has also stabilized a lot.

"Dear Tsar, I heard the news from the newspaper. There are 3 million Romanians living in Transylvania under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Dobruja controlled by Bulgaria is also a key area of ​​dispute between the two sides."

"The reason why Romania has not joined the war until now, I think it is all the credit of the Hohenzollern family."

Alexeev nodded.

"After Ferdinand succeeded to the throne, he gave up the Hohenzollern family that could not bring them protection and benefits, abandoned Carol's hypocritical position, and made the right choice."

"After Romania joined the war, we were no longer fighting alone. Although their strength was weak, they could share the pressure from Gallia and part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire."

"This also prevented the Austro-Hungarian Empire from concentrating enough power to force and influence our actions, and it could support our spring offensive. The British finally did a good thing."

Nicholas II seemed very excited. Not only did Romania's joining make the Russian army no longer support the Eastern Front alone, but also dispersed the pressure.

In fact, Nicholas II did not value Romania's hundreds of thousands of troops very much. The only thing he valued was Romania's oil fields. He did not want to own them, but he could not let the Germans get them.

What made Nicholas II feel relieved was that the Romanian royal family was a branch of the Hohenzollern family. In the era of Carol I, the former king of Romania, Romania was an ally of Germany and Austria and was under the influence of Germany.

Romania has always been pro-Confederate in the upper class and pro-Allied in the middle and lower classes, making it difficult for Russia to make a choice. It can neither start directly nor continue to expand its influence.

The internal strife of the Hohenzollern family this time made Nicholas II in a good mood.

"Alexeyev, how is our armament?" Nicholas II walked to his seat and sat down, then looked at Alexeyev with a smile.

It can be seen that he is in a very good mood.

But Alexeyev's mood is not so beautiful. After hearing Nicholas II's inquiry, his heart is even more alarmed.

"It's still normal at the moment, dear Majesty. The army's armament reserves can guarantee the current daily combat needs. If things go well, we won't have too much gap in weapons and ammunition."

Alexeyev knew what Nicholas II was going to do, but he couldn't do it, even if it would make Nicholas II's good mood disappear, so he tactfully pointed out the lack of Russian armaments, hoping that Nicholas II could give up this idea.

Unfortunately, he still didn't know Nicholas II well enough.

"Can we squeeze out a batch of temporarily unused military equipment and ammunition to support our new allies? The Romanians joined the war hastily, and their preparations were not sufficient. They might have a hard time facing the Bulgarians and the Ottomans."

"The Romanians asked us for help. In order to maintain the empire's influence in the Balkans, we need to set an example."

Just as Alexeev thought, Nicholas II wanted to strengthen the relationship between the Russian Empire and Romania, and the most direct manifestation was military assistance.

At any time, military assistance is a very serious matter. Using weapons of the same caliber and common ammunition standards is a direct manifestation of very solid allies.

As a country bordering Tsarist Russia, Romania has always been deeply influenced by the Russian Empire and is relatively pro-Russian.

If a batch or even a large number of weapons can be provided, and then its entire military-industrial structure can be changed, the Russian Empire's control over Romania can be strengthened.

(Romania's standard rifle is the 1893 Mannlicher rifle, but the caliber is 5mm, which is a gun of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.)

"No, Your Majesty, our existing weapons and equipment need to be used to further expand the fruits of victory, and then consolidate the defense line to prevent the German counterattack."

"The Germans have not launched a large-scale counterattack. We need to prevent the tragedy of the Battle of Tannenberg from happening again."

Alekseyev was a little anxious and spoke without thinking.

"This batch of armaments did not disappear just like that. It was allocated from the Russian army in advance. The armaments supported by the British have been loaded on the ship. When the weapons provided by the British arrive, they will be shipped to the front line as soon as possible."

"This time will not be long. The weapons will definitely arrive within two weeks to one month, and it will not affect the army's offensive plan."

"I believe that the weapons reserves on the front line should be enough to support more than one month of fighting."

Sure enough, when Nicholas II mentioned the previous failure, his mood suddenly became not beautiful.

In the Battle of Tannenberg, the Russian army was out of touch with each other, and the advancing troops were also out of touch with their own supply teams. Eventually, the German army seized the opportunity to defeat them one by one.

The 1st and 12th elite Russian armies were completely destroyed in this battle, and the Russian army lost hundreds of artillery and 2.3 million elite soldiers at once.

It was after this battle that the Russian army became passive on the Russo-German front, and the battlefield shifted to the Polish region within Russia, and never took the initiative to launch an active offensive again.

This situation has only changed recently, and Alexeev's spring offensive is taking back the land lost by the Russian army in the Battle of Tannenberg.

So Alexeev not only brought up the past failures, but also praised his own merits. It was nothing to others, but for the weak and suspicious Nicholas II, it was like Alexeev deliberately showing his importance and merits.

As a feudal empire. The constitutional monarchy of the Russian Empire followed the German route, but because the influence of the emperor on the nobles was very huge, its rights were essentially not restricted.

Unlike Germany, even if the German emperor had great power in theory, there were still many forces that could restrain the German emperor, such as the royal families within the empire, the Junker aristocracy and capitalists.

The emperor of the Russian Empire had great power, but he had to become suspicious by nature. Especially when Nicholas II was in power, the crown prince had hemophilia and had to believe in Rasputin. There were also many internal contradictions. Russia was weakening day by day. Under the influence of various factors, Nicholas II became sensitive and suspicious.

This is why he ordered a bloody suppression when he learned about the protest strike, instead of talking about it to figure out the situation first. His mental state was essentially abnormal.

But he was not sick, just a little abnormal, just like a social animal who has worked overtime for many years, who doesn’t have some mental illness? Depression is also. (Not depression.)

"I understand, Your Majesty, Minsk still has a batch of stored weapons and ammunition, which should be enough for Romania for a while."

Alekseyev was silent for a while and sighed. He knew he was wrong.

Nicholas II was like a child. You can't go against him. You have to do what he wants to do, even if what you do is actually different from what Nicholas II wants.

Now, if he still wants to keep his position as Chief of the General Staff, he must make a choice.

"How many?" Nicholas II asked.

Originally, he would not ask this question. Someone would ask his opinion on specific matters, but who made him unhappy now?

"60,000 rifles, 200 machine guns, 60 artillery pieces, and matching ammunition. I need to go back and check the records for the specific numbers."

"These materials were supposed to be transported to Kaunas by rail in 3 days, and then transported to the front line, so they are currently being prepared for loading."

"If you want to support Romania, these weapons can be transported as quickly as possible."

Alexeev could only reluctantly spit out some of the weapons to supplement the front line, and mentioned the efficiency of Nicholas II's support that he could not refuse.

However, he played a word game. He still knew the approximate data of ammunition, but the weapons could be sent out because this batch of weapons was mainly rifles, and the Russian army in the attack could collect a large number of rifles from the dead and wounded, so they were not very scarce.

If the ammunition was handed over, it would be different. The Russian army on the front line was more short of heavy weapons and ammunition, and light weapons were not in short supply for the time being.

After all, many Russian soldiers died, and most of their weapons were still usable, enough to fill the gap. This is why there is such a big gap in the storage quantity of rifles and other weapons.

"Send it to the Romanians. The supplies to the front will be delivered by early April at the latest." Nicholas II's expression eased a little.

Even if he is conceited, he has to admit that Alexeev is a man of great talent, and he really can't do without him now.

"Follow your orders, Your Majesty." Alexeev lowered his head and left the office.

"April... The snow in St. Petersburg will melt soon, and the spring rain will come."

"April..."

After Alexeev walked out of the palace, he looked at the gloomy weather and the surrounding woods and grasslands covered with snow.

In mid-March, the temperature in St. Petersburg was still below 0, and the lowest could reach 5 degrees below 0, and the snow was still there.

In the Warsaw area on the front line, the temperature has reached around 0 degrees, and the lowest will not be lower than 2 degrees below 0, but the highest can exceed 6 degrees.

At this time, all it takes is one opportunity, such as the sun after a sleet, to melt the snow on a large scale, and then the originally hard road surface will turn into a pool of mud.

By April, even in cold places like St. Petersburg and Moscow, there will be "spring rains", and precipitation will no longer fall in the form of snowflakes.

This is a good thing, meaning that the land has thawed and farmers can grow food to keep the whole society running, but this is something that Alekseyev tried his best to avoid. The muddy road is enough to make any vehicle difficult to move.

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