The Berlin General Staff, Hindenburg lit a cigarette and smoked it, his worst fears still happened, the defection of Austria-Hungary meant that the most critical moment of the German Empire had arrived!

At this moment, he was extremely angry with Field Marshal August von Mackensen, who refused to carry out the order, and in his opinion, if these German troops withdrew to Austria to "help Austria-Hungary defend Vienna", then the Viennese government would never dare to surrender so easily!

Of course, the most likely is that they didn't even have a chance to enter Vienna, as long as Ferdinand II was not stupid, he wouldn't let them in.

In this respect, Marshal August von Mackensen's decision was correct, after all, everyone was still an ally before the Austro-Hungarian Empire defected, and they refused to allow the German army to enter the capital, could it be that they could still storm it?

If you really want to storm the capital of your allies, it is estimated that the consequences will be even more serious than the defection of Austria-Hungary! If this happens, who will dare to be allies with the Germans in the future?

However, he can't care about settling accounts with August von Mackensen now, for these generals in the army, the deterrent power of the General Staff is getting lower and lower!

Under Ferdinand's butterfly effect, the Junker aristocracy represented by Hindenburg had no chance to perform, and several great victories won by the Germans in this war were during the reign of Wilhelm II.

Now many Germans think that Wilhelm II, who has two knives, has a better strategic level than the Hindenburg government, which is not good news for them!

As time goes by, Hindenburg is also constantly lowering the bottom line of ending this war in his heart, and now he no longer wants the French homeland, even if it is the territory of Belgium, Germany can give up, and the territory occupied by the Russians on the Eastern Front can also be returned, as long as the territorial integrity is kept, and the Allies compensate them in the colonies!

Well, his bottom line now is not as good as the peace talks conditions put forward by the black-clothed prime minister last year when he was in power, at least after the operation of others, most of the Polish mainland in Germany can be increased, and it is not in vain for them to start this war.

It's a pity that the interest group he represents doesn't agree! Even now, Hindenburg still can't convince the Junker nobles to accept his terms of peace talks!

The battlefield war has been fought for more than two years, and thousands of Junker aristocratic officers have been spilled on the battlefield, but they have not received the benefits to match, how to explain to the families of these people? For this problem, the bigwigs in the army also have a headache!

As the smoke wore out, Hindenburg extinguished the cigarette butt and let out a long sigh. Now there is not much room left for him to choose, either make a last fight regardless of it, or immediately admit defeat and stop loss!

……

Hindenburg anxiously asked, "What do the British and French say?" ”

He knows that now that he is in contact with the Entente, there is no need for Russia and Bulgaria to talk, and they have no bargaining chips in their hands to threaten these two countries at all!

Even if the Germans come and go to the army once, they won't be able to scare people! Fighting a war of attrition, who is afraid of whom?

Even if the Germans suddenly broke out and inflicted heavy losses on the Bulgarian army on the front line, Ferdinand would have suffered a pain at most, Bulgaria has not suffered a major defeat for so long since the war began, and it doesn't matter if it was defeated once, it can't be wiped out, right?

Not to mention the tsarist government, without these three million, it's a big deal to wait for next year to fight again, and the soldiers will lose their losses!

You must know that the Soviet Union lost more than 27 million people in World War II, and more than half of them were armies. Now the population of Russia is more than that of the Soviet Union, and it has only lost more than 10 million people since the start of the war.

Therefore, in this secret contact with the Entente, Hindenburg focused on Britain and France. After all, at this time, if the Germans really fought hard with Britain and France, they could still make them lose a lot!

For example, if you are in a hurry, the German Navy will directly have a stud with the British Royal Fleet, as long as it can be exchanged for one-third of the tonnage of the Royal Navy to sink, John Bull will not be able to stand it!

In the same way, the capital of the French has been exposed to the iron heel of the German army, and as soon as the defense of Paris begins, no matter what the outcome, Paris will be in ruins, and the French are destined to be the losers!

These are all the chips in the hands of the Germans now, and as for the problem of pulling tens of millions of people in northeastern France to burn jade, it is enough to talk about it, and it is impossible to implement it at all!

German Foreign Minister Simmons said with a wry smile: "The result is very bad, the British asked us to hand over all the capital ships and submarines of the navy free of charge, and sign a treaty to never develop the navy, before they agreed to end the war!"

The French demanded that we withdraw from their territory immediately, and they also demanded from us Lorraine and Alsace, and they agreed to end the war only if these conditions were met! ”

Hindenburg said coldly: "That is, we want to return to the pre-war period, and the Entente countries do not agree?" ”

Simmons thought for a while and said: "It can also be understood in this way, the Entente has no sincerity in peace talks at all now, Bulgaria is opening its mouth to pay 200 million pounds in war reparations, and the Russians even ask us for the territory of East Prussia, which is simply treating us as fat sheep!" ”

Hindenburg did not answer, he knew that the Entente had made a choice for them, and only after conquering Paris and inflicting heavy losses on the Anglo-French forces could they sit down calmly and negotiate again.

……

Well, if it was Ferdinand, it would probably be a compromise with Britain and France!

The British wanted Germany to give up developing a navy, this is no problem, it is already a land power country, why not do a proper job?

If you want to hand over all the capital ships, do the two sides still have to discuss, such as selling all of them to John Bull, or exchanging benefits?

The French want Alsace and Lorraine, this can also be discussed, such as exchanging colonies, so that everyone can have an explanation for the country!

It's a pity that Hindenburg is not a traverser, and he does not yet know what Germany has missed by suspending negotiations with the Entente now!

Then needless to say, the two sides will start a new round of PK! The main force of the Germans on the Western Front was one enemy and two, and they were fighting against the British and French forces!

Since it was the Battle of Paris, Paris naturally became a battlefield, and the two sides fought a brutal battle around the city, until the Bulgarian army reached southern Germany and the Russian army entered East Prussia, and the Germans conceded defeat!

Of course, it's all in the future! Now everyone is still busy with the defection of Austria-Hungary?

With the defection of Austria-Hungary, it was natural that the Bulgarian army could directly attack South Germany. In order to pay the petition, whether the Vienna government wanted it or not, they still sent 300,000 Austro-Hungarian troops to act together with Bulgaria!

Now everyone is busy making preparations, the logistics of a million expeditionary troops is not a small number, even if Bulgaria is amazingly efficient, there is no ten days and half a month, and it is impossible to get all these strategic materials together.

Without more than a month of preparation time, the Bulgarian army will not take the initiative to attack, after all, transportation also takes time, if there are not enough strategic materials, the troops on the front line will not have the confidence to start a war!

Bulgaria, as the party that took the initiative to attack, only needed to prepare supplies, and the Anglo-French troops who were pressed and beaten were miserable, and they were struggling to fight the Germans!

However, whether it was passive or active, Britain, France and Bulgaria were all doing their best, hoping to end the war as soon as possible, while the other member of the Entente was different.

For the defection of Austria-Hungary, Nicholas II was more angry than happy, and the duck that was about to arrive flew like this!

It is obvious that everyone is limiting the development of the Russian Empire, but the problem is that Nicholas II can do nothing about it, and the only thing he can do now is to urge the Russian army to move faster and take as much land as possible!

Nicholas II said fiercely: "Order the front-line troops, speed up the offensive, be sure to take East Prussia before the Germans surrender, and turn the Baltic Sea into our inland sea!" ”

Anyway, as long as the established facts are created, no one can let the Russian Empire spit out the benefits in their hands again, and this time they will not be able to eat enough in Austria-Hungary, so they can only arrest the Germans!

It can only be said that the appetite of the woolly bears is good, and a Poland can't feed them! If it weren't for the fact that they were defeated on the Eastern Front last year and injured their vitality, and now they still can't do without the support of the Entente, it is estimated that everyone would have fallen out long ago!

Chief of Staff Brusilov persuaded: "Your Majesty don't worry, Britain and France can let go of Austria-Hungary, but they will definitely not let go of the Germans!"

There is no way to ease the contradictions between Germany and France, and the French will definitely try their best to suppress the Germans after the war; The British wanted to destroy the German navy, and they couldn't let the Germans get out of the way!

We just need to go according to the original plan, and after taking the Baltic Sea, the last shortcoming of the Russian Empire will be filled! ”

Listening to the analysis of Chief of Staff Brusilov, Nicholas II was in a much better mood, and in any case, the most important strategy of Russia was realized in this war.

As for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which escaped, he still didn't pay attention to this defeated general, Nicholas II, and there was an opportunity to clean them up in the future, and what gave him even more headaches was Bulgaria, which rose in the Balkans.

Now it is no longer the "Prussia of the Balkans", it is about to become the Germany of the Balkans! Their industrial strength has surpassed that of the great Russian Empire, and the military strength they have shown is enough to pose a substantial threat to the Russian Empire!

This is embarrassing, I was just going to support a little brother, but now I am actually playing and directly supporting a competitor to come out!

Of course, he can't say this directly, now the friendship between Russia and Russia is still the political correctness of the two countries, and if the contradictions between the two countries are provoked, the people below can say that only he and Ferdinand can't say it, otherwise they will be misinterpreted by the people below and cause unnecessary trouble!

Of course, this is also the after-effect of the defeat of the Russians on the Eastern Front last year, otherwise the Russian Empire would still have the strength to suppress this little brother, and there would not be so much trouble!

As for how to limit the development of Bulgaria after the war, Nicholas II really did not think of a good way. After all, the economic ties between the Russian Empire and Bulgaria are too close now, and the economic sanctions against each other will not be able to destroy themselves together!

Now more than 90% of the import and export trade of the Russian Empire is with Bulgaria, of course, this is mainly caused by the war, and this proportion will definitely fall after the war, but no matter how it declines, Russia and Russia are still each other's largest trading partners!

According to the analysis of economic experts, the creation of an integrated economic circle for the protection of Russia is the most suitable choice for the Russian Empire, using economic interests to bind the two countries together.

This is also the national policy that both sides are implementing now, so no matter how big the political differences between the two countries are, under the effect of common interests, the two countries are still the closest allies on the surface!

Nicholas II thought for a while and said: "Well, but we still have to get the Baltic Sea into our hands quickly, if it takes a long time, the British will definitely make trouble for us again!"

Now the Japanese in the Far East are active again, and according to the news from the Far Eastern Front, they are going to carry out a big operation again, and they simply do not take the empire seriously! When the war is over, we will have to deal with the troubles in the east! ”

Brusilov was slightly stunned, and reacted casually, it seems that His Majesty the Tsar is still angry with the Japanese.

But for the Russian Empire, this is a good thing, instead of focusing on the European continent and the French, it is better to go to the Far East and pinch the soft persimmon of the Japanese!

Of course, this is a matter of the future, even if the war ends in the short term, everyone still has to lick their wounds, and without ten or eight years, European countries will not be able to recover.

After thinking about it, Brusilov said confidently: "Yes! Your Majesty, rest assured, in a month at most we will be able to inflict heavy losses on the German forces on the Eastern Front, and the Baltic Sea will be ours! ”

Nicholas II nodded with satisfaction, the Russian Empire has been fighting for the ocean strategy for hundreds of years, and it is the first time that it is so close to victory!

……