Mediterranean Hegemony Road

The battle on the southern front ended with the victory of Bulgaria. This result undoubtedly stimulated Nicholas II. Even if the results of this battle were not great, winning is winning!

The world is so cruel, everyone only pays attention to the results! Medieval chivalry is long gone, and Nicholas II naturally would not feel that Bulgaria is incapable of bullying more and winning less. He is not a junior in middle school. Besides, Mao Xiong's housekeeping skills are a sea of ​​people. Tactics!

The end of the battle on the southern front allowed Nicholas II to see clearly the realities of the Allies, and now the strength of the Germans on the eastern front has undoubtedly dropped to a historical low.

Although the Russian Empire is now seriously damaged, the 3 million 6th Army is still there, and so many troops are put into any battlefield, enough to set off a war that shocked the world!

The new Chief of General Staff Mikhail Vasilievich Alexeyev said excitedly to Nicholas II: Your Majesty, the main force of the Germans is fighting bloody battles with Britain and France on the Western Front, and they cannot be separated in a short period of time. Winning or losing, we regain lost ground at this time, and the Germans are powerless at all.

And they have just lost a battle on the southern front, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire has also transferred troops from the front line to return to the country. There are not many troops of the Allied countries on the front line.

Obviously the Russian military can't sit still, and is eager to fight the Allies in order to prove their ability to the outside world, and completely dump the responsibility of the last Eastern Front battle on the capitalists!

The most important thing is that there is no risk in counterattacking from the eastern front. Now, in order to resist the Bulgarian attack, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has already emptied all the troops on the eastern front, and only the Germans are left to defend alone.

And the 60,000-700,000-700,000 German army is scattered on this defensive line that stretches for thousands of miles. There are loopholes everywhere!

Insufficient troops, now the German army is useless even if it can fight again! The just-concluded battle on the southern front alone cost the Germans 300,000 troops, and the two battles on the east that exploded last year already cost the Germans over one million, not to mention the western front, which is definitely in the millions. of!

That is to say, from the beginning of the war to the present,

In fact, the loss of the German army has exceeded two million, and breaking the three million mark is just around the corner.

It's no wonder that the Germans are short of troops. Their population base is so large, and now they are doing their best to maintain an army of more than four million.

It is a pity that even the Germans have more than 4 million troops, and now they are not enough! The current situation is very obvious. The Germans on the Guangxi Front have invested more than 140 divisions, with a total strength of more than 2.6 million, while the Germans on the southern front still leave behind the remaining 300,000 troops. Stability of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This cost more than 3 million. In addition to the more than 700,000 troops of more than 40 German divisions on the Eastern Front, in fact, the current mobile force in the hands of the Hindenburg government is only more than 300,000. .

It sounds like the figure of more than 300,000 is already quite a lot. If it were a peaceful era, many countries would not have a standing army of more than 300,000.

But in a world war, this number is not enough, and casualties in any major battle are more than 300,000 people.

For the Germans, the number of this emergency force is too small, and even more than 300,000 troops on the battlefield are not enough for a month of war consumption.

Once the war on the Eastern Front breaks out again, the Hindenburg government really has nothing to do. The defense line on the Eastern Front is really too long. More than 700,000 troops have to be distributed on the borderline of thousands of miles. It is too simple for the enemy to find one of the breakthrough points.

To a certain extent, the Russians are losing a lot of territory and creating opportunities for this counter-offensive. After all, the border line between the two sides has become longer, and the Germans have not only allocated troops, but also lengthened the front line and increased the difficulty of supply!

Obviously everyone knows about this problem, but unfortunately the Germans simply cannot give up these lands now unless they want to go hungry.

After thinking about it, Nicholas II asked, What plans does the staff have?

Chief of Staff Mikhail Vasilievich Alexeyev said confidently: Your Majesty, now our border with the Germans is so long, and they and your troops are extremely limited, as long as we concentrate Troop strength, wanting to break through the enemy's defense line is not a problem at all.

Taking into account the actual situation, the staff plans to first recapture the Ukraine area, then join forces with Bulgaria to attack the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and after the Austro-Hungarian Empire is destroyed, the four countries will join forces to deal with the Germans!

There is no doubt that last year's battle on the Eastern Front has awakened the Russians. They know that the Germans are not easy to mess with, and now they are starting to become conservative in formulating strategies.

Nicholas II nodded with satisfaction. Conservative strategy is good. Now he likes to be conservative. The Russian Empire can no longer withstand a big defeat. If the situation of last year happens again now, he will never find anyone to blame. object.

Well, a very good battle plan, I approved it, let's implement it as soon as possible! Nicholas II said

Chief of Staff Mikhail Vasilievich Alekseev continued: Your Majesty, I am afraid this will take some time, our ammunition and weapons reserves are limited, and at most we can only support the recovery of Ukraine!

Up to now, we have 3.366 million troops, but we are only equipped with more than 1.6 million rifles, more than 5,300 light and heavy machine guns, more than 4,800 artillery pieces, 230 Sixteen tanks, 200 million bullets and more than two million shells.

We still have a quarter of our soldiers without weapons, and only enough ammunition to fight a medium-sized campaign, so...

Nicholas II interrupted coldly: Stop, I know everything you said, but we don't have to choose now, do we?

You are also very clear about the situation on the battlefield now. The Allies are about to die. The British, French, and Patriarchs have opened up a new front in Italy. The Allies have lost the battle on the southern front. How long do you think Austria-Hungary can support?

Once Austria-Hungary surrendered, how long could the Germans hold out? It can't be the same as the surrender of the allies. We still have a lot of land in the hands of the enemy, right?

If this happens, the war will be in vain. The Allied countries have agreed to use the contribution on the battlefield as the principle of dividing up the spoils after the war. Our current performance is not qualified to get everything we want. !

Once war is linked to politics, it will deteriorate. The military must make concessions to politics, and no matter how unreasonable the military is, it must be fought!

Mikhail Vasilyevich Alekseev could only smile wryly in the face of a tsar who had just used his own belly, but now the situation is very good, at least Nicholas II did not let them immediately and The Germans fought a decisive battle.

From a theoretical point of view, with four times the superior force, even if they fight the Germans immediately, their chances of winning are very large.

Unfortunately, it is no longer the era of cold weapons. The victory of war is not determined by force alone. In the Eastern Front War last year, the Russian army has lost most of its wealth, and it will not be able to recover in the short term.

If it weren't for the coming of winter, perhaps in last year's war, the Russian Empire would have had to admit defeat.

To a certain extent, it was the German-Russian negotiation that saved Russia. The Germans made the wrong judgment that Russia would withdraw from the war and did not undertake a military adventure before winter.

Mikhail Vasilievich Alexeyev thought for a while and said: Your Majesty, let's ask the Allies for help. As long as they provide enough weapons and ammunition, we can attack immediately! Or Let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs communicate with Bulgaria and let them deliver ahead of schedule?

After being silent for a while, Nicholas II said: We urge the Foreign Ministry to do it, but you must be mentally prepared. Now the British, French and Germans are fighting very fiercely on the battlefield on the Western Front. I'm afraid there is not much spare capacity to provide us with assistance!

Bulgaria's military production capacity is also limited. It should not be a problem if only some weapons and equipment are delivered in advance, but it is impossible for them to complete all our orders in advance!

Mikhail Vasilievich Alexeyev said with a wry smile: Yes, Your Majesty! But something is better than nothing, at least let the Bulgarians come out with 200 to 300 million bullets, and let us be in an emergency. !

Both of them tacitly did not mention domestic military production. At its peak, the Russian Empire could produce 500 million or 600 million bullets a year. This figure can only satisfy a quarter of the consumption of the Russian army itself!

The rest can only be supplemented by the outside world. On the issue, what Russia lacks is more than bullets. They basically lack all kinds of strategic materials. Even the great British and French families can meet their own needs. Inability to meet all the needs of the Russians.

Even with the addition of Bulgaria's military production, it is still unable to meet the needs of the Russians. There is no way to do this. Bulgaria must also give priority to meeting its own needs. Ferdinand does not have the spirit of internationalism that bursts out for the sake of the Russians. !

That is to say, since the outbreak of the World War, the weapons and ammunition of the Russian army have never been sufficient, and naturally the combat effectiveness of the Russian army has never been bursting!

Constrained by transportation, the Russian military production capacity did not continue to grow after the outbreak of the World War, but instead shrank. After the production reached its peak in 1915, it began to decline all the way.

In particular, after Nicholas II moved the St. Petersburg purge, the enraged capitalists artificially reduced the production capacity of the military industry. Except for the factories in St. Petersburg, military industrial enterprises in other parts of Russia have reduced production for various reasons!

At its peak, Russian military-industrial enterprises could produce 50 million bullets a month, but now there are only 13 million left.

Under this background, the tsarist government had to turn its attention to the outside world. First, Bulgaria, which was next to it, received a large number of orders. Now it has to deliver more than 50 million bullets and more than one million artillery shells to the Russians every month. , more than 200,000 rifles, more than 500 artillery pieces, more than 300 aircraft...

And the more the better, in order to stimulate the Bulgarian military industry to increase production capacity, the Russians even announced that they will accept all the extra products.

A few months ago, Ferdinand was worried that his company would suffer heavy losses due to the war, and he was preparing to rescue the market. It didn't take long for the huge order from the Russians to get them out of the predicament.

After all, the weapons and equipment purchased by the government are given at the cost price, but for the products sold to the Russians, no one cares what price you want to sell them, and now all enterprises that produce for the military during the war are tax-free.

Of course, it is not exempt from taxation. People have been selling goods at cost price before, so what tax is there if there is no profit? It's just that now there is an extra bear to be taken advantage of, so that everyone can return some blood.

However, it seems that all heavy industrial enterprises in Bulgaria have never paid taxes. This policy has been implemented since Ferdinand succeeded to the throne, otherwise they would not have developed so fast!

Oh, in fact the Russians don't want to be the victim of this, mainly because they are forced to do nothing!

At the beginning of the war, the Russians were reluctant to bid for weapons and ammunition from Bulgaria. They hoped that they could purchase at cost prices like the Bulgarian government.

Then there is no such thing. Everyone is not an idiot. If there is not enough profit, who will take their orders?

Then they tried several times to purchase weapons and ammunition from the Bulgarian government. Ferdinand was not a vegetarian, and he sold what kind of weapons at any price.

After rummaging around in the warehouse, I packed all the weapons and ammunition seized during the Balkan War to the Russians. Anyway, as long as I bribed the purchasing officials, they are qualified products whether they can be used or not.

When the junk is sold out, the transaction will naturally end. Anyway, the lack of production capacity is the best reason. What happened to the Russians in the Eastern Front battle last year? Isn't Ferdinand watching the show?

It was not until they were about to be defeated that they were provided with a batch of weapons to rescue them, and then Mao Xiong was tragic.

So now Mao Xiong has learned to behave, they know that Bulgarian capitalists are not easy to mess with, people who have no money will not buy it, and the tsarist government has to spend a lot of money to purchase.

Well, in fact, these are also the faults of the Russian capitalists, who have made the wrong judgment that this war will not last long at all.

For their own benefit, they naturally have to hinder the government's foreign procurement, and then they use their influence to prompt the Russian officials in charge of material procurement to make wrong decisions.

Therefore, before the war, the government trade volume between Bulgaria and Russia was not very large, but private trade exhibitions were very fast.

Now that the Russian capitalists have lost control of the country, they naturally cannot continue to hinder normal trade between the two countries.

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