The female tsar also felt that it was a pity, because the two robbers fought on their own, and Russia had a chance to recover the territory they had taken.

The Tsaress really planned to go to war, although she could not rest assured of the Russian army, but such a good opportunity was rare in a century, and when she created a reassuring army and successfully subdued the elite who controlled the army, the opportunity was missed.

The Tsaress, who had planned that she would even strike in two directions if the Australs were exhausted, if necessary, would not hesitate to make another general mobilization of the Urals, and her husband supported her, but unfortunately after only five weeks of fighting, Austria gave up fighting.

This made the female tsar unable to find a chance at all, and in five weeks, the Russian army could not even mobilize, even if it was an active force, it would not be enough time to assemble and drive to the border area. After all, the mobilization of the army is not a pedestrian rush, but also has to consider the complex supply of materials and logistics supply.

This also made the female tsar once again feel that the Russian army was backward compared to the European army, reform was necessary, didn't the Russian army become strong in the reform after repeated defeats, Peter the Great was defeated first and then victorious, and it took many years to defeat Sweden.

Prussia set an example for all countries, Moltke's general staff system became famous in one fell swoop, all countries have a general staff, but the general staff has never played a decisive role, Moltke's general staff is really not a general staff in the current context, more like a military command department, a command headquarters.

Military reform requires professional military personnel, and the most professional military personnel in Russia are still those aristocrats, those military aristocrats who have been exposed to military culture since childhood and are sent to military schools to study when they grow up. The Tsaress appointed one such person as the chairman of the Russian Military Reform Committee, who was responsible for promoting the reform of the Russian military in an all-round way.

This man's name is Muravyov, a Russian military officer who has committed a lot of blood debts to China in history and has made great contributions to Russia.

He came from a traditional aristocratic family and had a sizable estate in the countryside. He joined the army at the age of 19 and suppressed the Polish uprising and the Caucasus revolt, especially in the Caucasus, where he pursued a policy of genocide and forced the promotion of the Russian language and Orthodox Christianity, causing hundreds of thousands of Chechens to flee the Caucasus and join the Ottoman Empire.

He also served as a prisoner of China, studied Chinese and Western military theories in Chinese military academies, and dabbled in the latest military research, such as the theoretical study of the role of railways in warfare, the comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the reserve military service system of various countries, and other cutting-edge military theories.

But he was never a mainstream Russian aristocracy, and he was not much used in the era of Nicholas I and Alexander II, because in the time of Nicholas I, he wrote a book proposing the abolition of serfdom, which made the militaristic Nicholas I consider him a dangerous liberal, a member of the Twelve.

So he was transferred to the Caucasus Krai, and by suppressing the Caucasian hill peoples, he earned himself the rank of major general. Soon after, he became a Chinese prisoner and was captured on the Kazakh battlefield.

After nearly ten years of captivity, he fought again, because of the defeat of the Black Sea Front, he took over as the commander-in-chief of the Black Sea Army, but he was later dismissed from his post because he was surrounded and was again pursued by Alexander.

Such officers were not uncommon, and military defeats allowed Alexander II to depose a number of officers who had commanded on the Black Sea side, and a large number of them were prisoners who had returned from China.

These people were currently outliers in the army, not trusted either by other officers or by the returning nobility of Europe.

Such people were worthy of the tsaress, so after the war he promoted many such officers, thirty out of a hundred counts, Muravyov was one of them.

He demanded that Muravyov improve as soon as possible the mobilization system of Russia, which had lagged behind Western Europe since the time of Speransky, and let him go to Europe to conduct inspections, hire European consultants, and learn to introduce advanced European systems.

Muravyov affirmed that the Ural system of village soldiers was more worthy of learning from Russia, and that there were a large number of Russians living in the Urals, all of whom had been trained in the hands of Chinese and were very familiar with this system of village soldiers, including many officers who served under the female tsar, and Muravyov hoped to seconded these people to improve the Russian military service system.

Muravyov may not be a sycophant of the tsaress, but perhaps he really thinks so, believing that the Chinese rural soldier system, which is based on the patriarchal rural society, is most similar to the actual situation in Russia, after all, Russia has now become a rural society headed by rich peasants, which is similar to the rural society led by the Chinese gentry. The village communities, where several generations have lived together, are not much different from rural China, and they are all acquaintance societies based on the relationship between students and relatives.

The difference is that the Chinese population base is too large, and the Chinese emperor must also adopt the method of drawing soldiers while forming the world's largest reserve military service system, and Russia, although it is also a large population in Europe, but to confront the possible alliance formed by Western European countries such as Austria, Russia still needs a set of national mobilization mechanism, for the Russian population structure dominated by peasants, what is more suitable than the rural soldier system in the Urals?

Although not necessarily a pat on the horse, the Tsaress admired Muravyov's attitude, and she did not care whether she imitated the Chinese village soldier system or the Prussian reserve military service system, as long as it could quickly mobilize the army and send it to the battlefield. But Muravyov's method allowed a large number of Russian officers from the Urals under the female tsar to enter the upper echelons of the Russian army. This is definitely the most beneficial for strengthening one's own control over the Russian army.

So the female tsar strongly supported Muravyov's reform proposals.

The reserve military service system can borrow the experience of the Urals, but the staff headquarters system has no reference, and the secret of the large-scale operations of the Chinese army depends on better obedience on the one hand, and on experienced commanders on the other, both of which the Russian army does not have, and the requirements for people are too high, and it is not an institutionalized thing.

So the female tsar still wanted to introduce the Prussian model.

Moltke's reforms in Poland were based on Prince Wilhelm's 20 years of Prussianization, while Russia wasted its time in the reform of serfdom and its successive wars between the East and the West.

Even if it had the mobilization capacity and speed of Prussia or the Napoleonic era, Russia would not have lost the opportunity to take advantage of the fire in the Austro-Prussian War, which is now regretted by everyone.

However, what Zhou Chun said was a pity, but he was not lamenting that Russia failed to seize the opportunity, he was lamenting France.

"Napoleon has lost a great opportunity!"

Zhou Chun sighed.

The Tsaress wondered: "What chance?" ”

Zhou Chun smiled: "A chance to dominate Europe!" ”

The female tsar wondered: "Can France dominate Europe?" ”

Zhou Chun sighed: "It's a pity, it's a pity!" In the event of a direct war against Prussia, France had an eighty percent chance of winning. ”

The female tsar exclaimed: "How is this possible? Prussia easily defeated Austria, and even if the French army was stronger than Austria, it was impossible to easily defeat Prussia. Not to mention the fact that Prussia also had the union of Poland. ”

Zhou Chun snorted: "Don't forget the Sino-French Alliance. ”

The female tsar tentatively: "You mean that France will attack Prussia, and China will enter the war." But China's alliance with France does not include conflicts in Europe. ”

Zhou Chun shook his head: "As long as France goes to war against Prussia, Britain will never stand idly by." Britain could not have let Prussia spend British money for nothing, and they were anxious to take advantage of Prussia's military power. At this time, the Prussian army was at its strongest, and Britain would definitely find an excuse to go to war against France. Then it led to a world war between China and France against the two major alliances of Britain, the United States and Prussia, at which point Britain was most likely to take advantage of the efficient mobilization and weapons superiority established by Prussia to defeat France in a short time. Thus the time to win, the British will not miss this opportunity! ”

The female tsar nodded: "Yes, this is a good opportunity for Britain." It's not French. ”

Zhou Chun said: "You forgot that there is still China." Once the world war broke out, the Chinese navy went out of the Black Sea and joined forces with the French navy, and the British navy had to retreat to Gibraltar and wait for the result of the Franco-Prussian decisive battle. But at this time, after mastering the sea supremacy, the Chinese army supported France from the Black Sea. As long as the five million main Chinese forces arrive, there will be nothing at all with a rapid mobilization system and an efficient command system. The Franco-Chinese forces will easily destroy Prussia! ”

The Tsaress, after thinking about it, also felt that it made sense, unless Prussia could defeat France within three or five weeks. Even so, as long as the French were willing to sacrifice, even if they gave up Paris, as long as they controlled a port in the Mediterranean for three months, it would be enough for the Chinese army to land in France.

But what does this have to do with dominating Europe?

"What if France won?"

The Tsaress asked.

Zhou Chun sighed: "Austria is finished, they restored the Hungarian constitution and adopted the Austro-Hungarian Entente!" After the defeat of Prussia by France, there will be no counterweight to France in Central Europe. However, France was afraid of Prussia's ability to mobilize quickly and the technological superiority of advanced weapons, and gave up the opportunity to interfere in the regent of the Prince of Prussia. It's a pity, you say, it's a pity? ”

The Tsaresses didn't understand at all.

What she didn't understand was not whether France could defeat Prussia.

Rather: "Why do you say that the Austrian Empire is finished?" ”

This question is too critical, as Russia's largest neighbor, if Austria is finished, it will be of great significance to Russia, but how to look at Austria is still a big country, a war lost, almost no territory was lost, and Prussia asked for not much reparations.

The territory and population are there, there was no tug-of-war in the war, the damage to the economy is very limited, Austria is still a large European empire with a population of more than 36 million, the second largest territory in Europe, and the industrial power is second only to Britain and France!

Zhou Chun was puzzled: "Didn't you read the newspaper?" Or do Russian consuls abroad never collect intelligence? Don't you know that the Austrian Emperor included the entire Middle Danube Plain in the Kingdom of Hungary? ”

The female tsar was puzzled: "Isn't this very reasonable?" The history and geographical location of the Kingdom of Hungary allowed him to inherit the Hungarian plain region reasonably. It's just one more Bosnia. This is also a natural extension of the Hungarian plain! ”

Zhou Chun sighed: "Natural extension? When is politics dictated by geography? In this way, Austria-Hungary can only be two kingdoms, Austria and Hungary, and will never cease to be one empire! ”

The Tsaress said: "Why? ”

Zhou Chun said: "You take a good look at the map of China and understand why Shaanxi Province spans the Qinling Mountains, and why Jiangsu, Anhui, and Hubei provinces cross the Yangtze River, instead of dividing the Yangtze River. You know what real political geography is! ”