The year 1917 was very important for the whole of the First World War, and the first thing to mention is naturally the loss of Russia by the Entente as a very important country.

Britain and France were able to occupy a slight advantage on the Western Front, completely relying on Russia's containment on the Eastern Front, fortunately, at this time Austria-Hungary had begun to show signs of a total defeat, Germany was also a little unable to hold on, and the United States had the intention of entering the war, otherwise the outcome would really not dare to draw conclusions at will.

At this time, only the Czech principality still maintained its strength and even increased its strength, and the two sides were the powerful Germany and Austria-Hungary, which made the belly and back of the Czech principality have nothing to guard against, and the front of the eastern front battlefield belonging to the Czech principality was not too long, and the Czech principality with all its forces was naturally quite easy to defend. And because of its military strength, the Czech principality has always been in an advantageous state on the battlefield, and its strength has not been worn out too much.

The revolution caused a mess of Russian soldiers on the front line, and when a night attack caused the Czech principality to eliminate several important Russian positions, several Russian aristocratic generals chose to surrender under the persuasion of diplomats from the Czech principality, and more than 300,000 Russian soldiers became prisoners of the Czech principality.

At this time, no one thought about what to do with these surrendered generals, and the only thing that the diplomat from St. Petersburg mentioned was Russia's readiness to withdraw from the war. The main withdrawal from the war naturally required payment, especially at this time, when the Czech principality had always had the advantage.

The situation on the battlefield in Europe was clear at a glance, and the Russian Provisional Government knew that the Allies also wanted them to withdraw from the war quickly, but they did not dare to gamble, and they had no choice but to accept Ernst's more difficult conditions.

In May 1917 a canonization from Nicholas II came to Siberia at the same time as the appointment of the Provisional Government, but both appointments were the same thing, that is, Siberia became the territory of the Grand Duchess Maria, and she was also the governor of Siberia.

Later, the Czech Principality announced that it was married to the former Russian princess Archduchess Maria, although the Archduchess Maria did not come to Prague, but the two were still married, even though this seemed ridiculous to many.

The Russian Provisional Government, which had announced its withdrawal from the First World War, began to put in order its internal affairs, but none of this had anything to do with Ernst or the Czech Duchy, and at the same time Ernst and Archduchess Maria were busy with their own affairs, one was the Czech Duchy and the other was Siberia.

Among the more than 300,000 Russian soldiers, who were born in and near the areas controlled by the Czech principality at this time, were selected and reorganized into the Wehrmacht of the Czech principality to help Germany and Austria-Hungary fight on the Western Front. The rest of Ernst was not embarrassed and sent them home, but it is estimated that only Ernst and the top brass of the Department of Homeland Security know how many spies from the Czech principality there are.

With the withdrawal of Russia due to the internal revolution, the war in the Czech principality was temporarily ended, and after some reorganization, the number of land forces in the Czech principality has reached 350,000, of which 150,000 are the Royal Army and 200,000 are the Wehrmacht.

After several days of urgent consultations, the Prague garrison was formed, and 50,000 Royal Army troops were awarded the title of Royal First Legion, who were to be the security of Prague and Czech Grand Duke Ernst. The remaining 100,000 Royal Army troops were given the title of Royal Second Army, and they were in charge of the Eastern Front. The remaining 200,000 Wehrmacht troops marched to the aid of Austria-Hungary and Germany for the Third Army and the Fourth Army Corps, respectively.

Although the First Legion had the smallest number of the four legions, it was clear how they were fighting and armament under the name of royal and stationed in Prague, and it can be said that there was hardly a single non-commissioned officer and corporal in the entire First Legion, and even the most ordinary soldiers had the rank of sergeant on their shoulders.

After a simple military parade, the 3rd and 4th Army Corps began to march to both places, but by this time it was clear to Ernst that the Allies had been defeated and that his uncle, the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz, had not been in good health for long, and that he would have died of pneumonia at the end of last year. Although he was supported by the new drugs of Moravian Pharma for a while at this time, the level of treatment at this time was limited and he was old...... At this time, he was already lying on the hospital bed unconscious.

Faced with the situation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at this time, Ernst naturally wanted to seek some benefits for himself, and he still did not give up that idea, he hoped that Mesimilian would become the new emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ernst himself? If there is no Czech principality, it is still possible, but now...... Not to mention that there is no chance, even if there is Ernst, it will be refused.

The defeat of the Central Powers is already a certain thing, and it is not a good thing to sit on the throne of the Austro-Constitutional Emperor at this time, the fact that the Czech Duchy can be retained after the war does not mean that Austria-Hungary can also, and if you are not careful, you may even lose the Czech Duchy in your own hands.

But anyone in power likes to gamble, but it is a fool to gamble knowing that the results will not outweigh the losses. Ernst was not a fool, because it was most appropriate for Messimilian to sit on the throne of Austria-Hungary, and the next emperor was not necessarily the son of Messimilian, and it was not uncommon for younger brothers in the West to inherit the throne of their brothers.

There was only one thing that stood in the way of Ernst, and that was their noble union, and if Mysimilian could sit on the throne of Austria-Hungary, then in the future, Ernst would not be strongly opposed by the nobles if he wanted to sit down. Compared to Ernst himself, the aristocracy was much less opposed to Misimian.

Everything is good, but things often like to be unexpected. Just as Archduchess Maria began to form the Siberian Legion, news from Vienna reached Prague that Emperor Franz Josef of the Austro-Hungarian Empire had died.

If it weren't for the news of his own intelligence officer, Ernst even wondered if the royal family had deliberately concealed the news for a few days before telling him, otherwise how could he have been so sudden that he didn't even have a chance to prepare?

At this time, one thing was in front of him, whether he should go to the funeral of Emperor Franz. Is it okay not to go at all? Don't forget that Ernst was still a member of the Habsburgs, and the death of the patriarch could not be justified by the fact that he was not a member of his own line, plus an important member. Attend? What if Archduke Karl, who was about to become Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, put himself under house arrest in Vienna?

It is not impossible for such a thing to happen, it has nothing to do with the honor of the country, after all, Ernst and Archduke Karl were members of the Habsburg family, because some "things" are very normal in Vienna, and the Czech Duchy cannot start any war here because of this.

It is undeniable that the Austro-Populan Empire was still very influential in the Czech Duchy, and if Archduke Karl had taken the orders of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor and forged Ernst orders in Ernst's absence, the Czech Duchy would have been able to return to the arms of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

At that time, even if Ernst was released, he could only admit it, what if he had hundreds of thousands of loyal troops? Could he really have done anything to Austria-Hungary?

The honor of the family is higher than life, there is this sentence to understand the importance of the family, Ernst is also a member of the Habsburg family anyway, Austria-Hungary is the Habsburg Gernst, if the use of force then betray not only the country but also the family.

Ernst was very entangled, and Archduchess Maria was also very entangled, she was already the queen of the Czech principality, and even if she did not go to Prague for the wedding, she could not go at all.

Siberia was reorganized and there were still about 200,000 troops left, and a large number of young people were retrenched and returned to the farms. This result was also the last resort of the Grand Duchess Maria, after all, without the support of Russia, Siberia alone could not support an army of up to 300,000.

The new army was headed by the new Marshal of the Kingdom of Siberia (e.g., the Kingdom of Bavaria in the German Empire), General Schellner, and the staff was located in the city of Siberia, where Archduchess Maria also set up her place of residence.

Because I don't know what the attitude of St. Petersburg is now, General Schellner set up 200,000 troops on the border between Siberia and Russia, after all, Russia is the main enemy of Siberia at this time.

Except for a small part of the remaining troops left in the city of Siberia, the rest were concentrated in the southeast corner to guard against Japan, and with the disintegration of the Beiyang government and the revolution in Russia, Japan finally couldn't help but start to move. Schellner's original intention was not to care about the Japanese side, but the officers of Chinese descent who came from the Czech Army Academy did not dare to despise the Japanese, and it was their strong demand that allowed Schellner to place more than 70,000 troops in the Vladivostok area.

But the more than 70,000 Siberian Army is naturally not very safe, after all, the elite Foreign Legion has been transferred to the Western Front to guard against Russia, and the Russian troops who are placed in Vladivostok are somewhat scattered. Fortunately, there is also Zhang Zuolin in the northeast who echoes each other, otherwise the southeast region of Siberia is in danger of being captured by Japan.