Melodious waltzes, long dresses swirling on the dance floor, and battles ahead, but the Imperial Palace in Vienna seems to be singing and dancing. After a welcome dinner for the German Emperor, the ball began.

At this time, in a secret room on the second floor of the palace hall, the emperors of Germany and Austria, Marshal Ludendorff, Admiral Spee, Marshal Boloyevich and Admiral Negovan, representing the military of the two countries, were engaged in a dirty deal about the future division of spheres of influence in North Africa and the Middle East.

"Very well, the Sinai Peninsula and Asia Minor are yours, Egypt and British Somaliland are to Germany, and the Suez Canal Zone is under the joint administration of Germany and Austria. In compensation, Germany agreed to give the Crimean Peninsula to Austria-Hungary. Wilhelm II was glad to be generous, Germany coveted Lithuania, Belarus and Latvia, and the Austrians did not want to get involved in their affairs with the Russians. The division of power in North Africa seemed to have taken advantage of the Germans, who had gained control of Egypt.

Lehydon didn't want it, but the Suez Canal was a must. As long as the Germans refused to give up Egypt, their feud with the British would continue forever, and the German-Austrian alliance would be strengthened, and Germany would have to accommodate Austria-Hungary in many international affairs and disputes, acting as a free protector.

"Well, after taking control of the Suez Canal Zone, we can sit down with the British and the Americans to discuss the issue of peace, as far as the current situation is concerned, the possibility of landing in Britain is very small, and our navy is not superior to the British and Americans." "How are the negotiations with the Russians going?" ”

"It's not very smooth, although the Socialist Workers' Party is now in power in Russia, and they want to get out of the war as much as possible, but they feel that the peace conditions we have proposed are too harsh." Ludendorff said.

However, this is better than unconditional surrender, although such a peace treaty is not very decent, and the war reparations of 3 billion rubles are not small. It seems that we will continue to exert military pressure on them. Lechelton said. Germany and Austria proposed to Russia the harsh terms of peace talks in which Poland, Lithuania, and parts of Estonia, as well as parts of Latvia and Belarus, were ceded to Germany, and all of Ukraine were ceded to Austria-Hungary, and an indemnity of 3 billion rubles was paid.

Nevertheless, the war on the Eastern Front was effectively over, and the Petrograd regime could now command only about 350,000 Red Army, which was simply unable to withstand the German-Austrian offensive.

"Yes, Your Majesty, we are working on a new battle plan and are ready to put more pressure on the Russians." Bolojevic said.

"Very well, when are we going to attack Egypt?" Wilhelm II said.

"According to the campaign plan drawn up by Field Marshal Mackensen and Admiral Covis, the Egyptian campaign will be launched around mid-November, and we plan to commit a total of about 900,000 troops in four army groups, and the Austro-Hungarian North African Corps will also attack Alexandria at the same time." Ludendorff said.

"Haydn, I heard that you are preparing to dispatch a Chinese army in the Middle East?" Wilhelm II suddenly said, "Will those yellow people fight?" The British and Americans were putting pressure on that eastern country. ”

"William, the East is a big market, they have more than 400 million people." "In the history of the East, there was a very famous prime minister in ancient times, who, when he was a merchant, met a prince of Qin who was a hostage in the capital of Zhao. At that time, the great power in the East had not yet been united, and it was divided into many countries that were at war with each other. In order to avoid war, sometimes princes of lower status would be sent to the other country's country as hostages. Immediately upon seeing the prince, the merchant said: 'Investing in a prince and supporting him to become king is a profitable business!' So he spent a great deal of money on this prince, and finally let this prince inherit the throne, so that he would be in control of the country, and he would become the prime minister, and he would be the richest man in the whole world. ”

"What do you mean by that? Do you want to control that country? William said in amazement.

"Why not? In order to control it, it is worth it no matter how much it costs, and in the end we will get a good return. Li Haidon smiled and said, "In the current situation, the most effective way to control this country is to control their army. You see what I mean, Stosur? He turned to Bolojevic and said.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I understand your intentions a little." However, the emperor said that the emperor's majesty had said that the officers sent by that country were now divided into two factions, but that these two factions each controlled about half of the Chinese labor force, and that no one seemed to be biased, and no one supported it. He didn't quite know what the Emperor meant by doing this, but there were some things that could not be said right now in the presence of the German Emperor.

After the dirty agreement was reached, Boloyevich quickly rushed back to the front line in Ukraine, and he now needs to work with the Germans to give the Russians another taste of defeat and collapse, and only then can the Russians quickly accept the humiliating pact that is close to unconditional surrender.

Russia is finished, and the question now is how far the German-Austrian forces want to advance, and if the Russians are pushed to a hurry, they can withdraw to Siberia and continue a long war of resistance with Germany and Austria, which will outweigh the losses. But the problem was that a strong Russia was in no way in the interests of Germany, much less in the interests of Austria-Hungary. The British have been shirking responsibility for the war, accusing that the real cause of the war was that Austria-Hungary wanted to annex Serbia, thus drawing all countries into the war.

In fact, there is a deeper reason for this, the Russians have always coveted the Balkans and delusionally dreamed of establishing a large Slavic state dominated by Orthodox Christianity, which is naturally inextricably contradictory to the Catholic Austro-Hungarian Empire. In fact, Nicholas II did not dare to risk war with Austria-Hungary without the backing of the British.

It is useless to comment on this qiē now, the tsar has fallen, and his entire family is said to have been imprisoned. Now the poor ex-tsar has lost even the ability to protect his family.

To weaken Russia as much as possible on the greatest extent possible was a strategy devised by the Emperor himself. A divided former empire was of course in the best interests of Austria-Hungary, but on what basis did the emperor confidently say that there would be turmoil in Russia? At least for the time being, there is no such sign that the Soviets have taken control of the situation in Russia, and in fact the political situation in Russia has become stable after the overthrow of Kerensky's Provisional Government.

The Soviet regime also announced that the first Duma elections would be held in December.

In any case, there is no sign of any unrest at all.

"Where's the opportunity?" Bolojevic was thinking.

I1153