"How much do you agree with Ruprecht?" That evening, Wilhelm II summoned Moltke the Younger and others to discuss the defense of East Prussia. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"Although the Russians did not perform well in the Russo-Japanese War, in addition to the command factor, it was more of a constraint of conditions, although the Russians had a lot of artillery, but they lacked sufficient transportation capacity, and the ammunition reserves were not sufficient, and this situation should not exist in Europe, they had several years to improve the fortifications, warehouses and transportation system in Poland, although it may not be possible to mobilize more than 9 percent of the troops in 15 days, but according to the prince, it is no problem to mobilize more than 6 percent of the troops in 18 days, Together with the garrisons in the Polish region, this is indeed a very formidable force. ”

On this kind of crucial issue, Moltke did not dare to draw conclusions, after all, if something went wrong in East Prussia, this responsibility was not something he could afford, so the best way was to anticipate the enemy and ...... lenient. It is estimated that this kind of thing has a big error, and if it is deliberately expanded, then the error will be really large.

"According to the information we have received, Ruprecht did have a great distrust of the fighting power of the Austro-Hungarian Legion, and when he negotiated with His Highness Ferdinand, he strongly demanded that an Austro-Hungarian army group be placed under his command, and suggested that the Austro-Hungarian Army should be mainly defensive, and that he should take on the offensive mission." General Heilingen on the side said.

At this time, neither the Kaiser nor Moltke believed at least eight points what the prince said, because no general would joke about his own army. In their opinion, the prince's request for Austria-Hungary to assign an army group built by Germany to his command was to make up for the lack of troops, and asked other Austro-Hungarian legions to defend rather than attack, because they were afraid that the attack would not succeed and the opponent would counterattack.

Moltke Jr. then took this inference a step further, that is, Ruprecht at least subjectively believed that the Bavarian legion plus four Austro-Hungarian legions had an advantage over four Russian legions, but not to crush them. If the Russians distributed their forces equally, the Austro-Hungarian front would be stable, but what about the East Prussian front? One Prussian regiment against two Russian regiments, this pressure is a bit high!

In this speculation, Moltke automatically defined the number of a Russian army group at about 250,000, that is, each Russian army was actually much larger than the Austro-Hungarian army, and a little more than the average German army.

"How long will it take us to take out France? The most conservative estimate. The Kaiser asked.

"It will take at least six weeks, and if the French choose to hold on in Paris, then it will be longer, and the most terrible thing is that if we can't catch the main force of the French, then even if we take Paris, the French may not necessarily surrender." Moltke finally voiced his concerns.

"yes, what if we can't guarantee the total annihilation of the French legions? What if we take Paris? Wilhelm II asked himself. The north-east of France was indeed a very important industrial base, but other places could also continue to support the war, and it would be difficult for the German legions to continue to advance into France, and if the French really intended to fight a jade-heavy street battle in Paris, then the result would be something that Germany absolutely did not want to see, in terms of time and material wear and tear.

And if the main army of the German Western Front is mired in war, then it will be miserable if the Eastern Front is blown up again, and the Russians can easily gain strategic advantages as long as they defend one side and attack the other, even if they do not fight East Prussia, what if Austria-Hungary cannot stop it?

This is entirely possible, according to the estimates of the German General Staff, although the Bavarian Corps is strong, with a variety of tanks and more heavy artillery, but it is difficult to say how effective these weapons are, a Bavarian Corps plus four Austro-Hungarian Corps against 5 Russian Corps, it is really difficult to say whether the winner or loser, not to mention anything else, on a frontline of several hundred kilometers, Austria-Hungary will definitely have problems, and Bavaria is strong. But after all, there are fewer troops. Even if there is an advantage, it is a local advantage.

"Ruprecht's greatest concern is that the Russians continue to replenish their capabilities, if it takes a month, maybe the second batch of Russians will be replenished, this wave may be another army group, and the Bavarian Army is constantly depleted in the campaign, a kingdom's replenishment capacity is very limited, with the loss of the first wave of elite troops, I am afraid that the entire Eastern Front will gradually deteriorate. Without the transfer of troops from the Western Front, I am afraid it will be difficult to sustain it. And the transfer of troops from the Western Front will make our chances of victory even more remote. Moltke said.

"This question needs to be thought through, what do you think?" The Kaiser asked.

"Can we add another army group?" Moltke asked tentatively.

"Don't even think about it! Unless we reduce the strength of each army group by 1 division and reorganize into a new army group, it will be impossible to add another army group in the next 5 years! The prime minister on the side said.

"Damn the budget!" The Kaiser also looked at his chief of staff with some helplessness. His Majesty the Emperor really has no way at all, if Ruprecht knew Moltke's thoughts, he would definitely persuade the other party to be content, this plane is expected to mobilize Germany after mobilization has nearly one more army group than in history, plus the increase in various technical equipment. Military spending is about 3 percent higher than the same period in history! Add to that the huge amount of supplies you have hoarded, what else are you not satisfied with? And then to create an army group at the beginning of the war? Are you kidding? What do you think?

"At least, Prussia's military spending is not enough to support this plan, and it is impossible to cut the naval military spending." The Kaiser said.

"But there's still an accident within the empire, isn't it?" Moltke said in his heart. Prussia's military spending has reached the limit, but it seems that as an outlier in the empire, the military expenditure of the Kingdom of Bavaria is far from the limit, in terms of government revenue, the Bavarian government accounts for one-sixth of Germany's total income, and it feeds less than one-sixth of the army, after all, the imperial government still has to support the navy. Compared to the GDP of the Kingdom of Bavaria, the government's income is still low, which means that there is still potential for improvement.

"Maybe it's a good idea to allow the Bavarian Army to expand further." Moltke was thinking about it. However, he came up with this idea in the hands of Rupresit, and didn't the prince expand the Russian army in order to obtain permission for further expansion?

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