"Your Majesty. The morale of our officers and men is still high, and we still have strong combat effectiveness. As long as the logistics can be maintained, what about the attack on Orenburg? ”

"The defense of Orenburg was a product of the era of flintlock pistols and smoothbore guns. In the face of the current artillery fire, there is no possibility of resistance at all. Although it is the center of gravity of Russia in Central Asia, it does not necessarily have one-tenth of the defense power of Almaty! ”

……

With the end of the Aral Sea battle, a very intuitive choice was also placed in front of Liu Xian - how to deal with the Russians?

It was Alexander III who took the bull and firmly conquered Orenburg, although it was impossible to overthrow the entire Russian rule in Central Asia in one fell swoop, but it was able to give time to a wide range of 'movements' in the vast Central Asian region. With the Central Asia Action Team as the core, it only needs to pull up a few anti-Russian and anti-Russian teams, and the spark can start a prairie fire. If you show some support for this movement, then after the Third Sino-Russian War, even if China withdraws from the many occupied areas in Central Asia, countless anti-Russian forces will make Russia troubled and anxious in the next few years.

Or send peace to Russia again. Although this is a bit faceless for China, it is more affordable. Because the Central Asia-Pacific region is large, the conditions here are not as harsh as Siberia, and there are not a few people, and China can swallow half of Siberia, or even more Siberia, but not half of Central Asia, by winning repeated victories over the Russian army.

Liu Xian must make a decision as soon as possible. Because the Russian army is desperate to reinforce Orenburg. This ancient fortress, built in 1735, is being repaired and strengthened by the Russians every second.

In addition, the Russians also set up defensive positions on the hill of Guberlinsk at an altitude of six or seven hundred meters, in the southeast - the position of the Aral Sea. Set up defensive positions. There are many inland lakes in the southeast of Orenburg, if the Russian army is really prepared. But there will be a lot of trouble.

Fortunately, however, the Wehrmacht will completely clear the Aral Sea region of the scattered Russian troops. Liu Xian still has a few days to think.

But the same thing is just as urgent for St. Petersburg, as it is for Britain and France!

The money of Britain and France was not blown by the wind, and the mountains of gold and silver were delivered to the Russians, and they could be heard when they were thrown into the sea, and they were all easily lost in the hands of the Russians.

The Russians, with the money given to them by Britain and France, brandished checks to buy large quantities of small-caliber rifles from all over Europe, and purchased cannons of various calibers. There are also countless military supplies, and Russia does not know how many bureaucrats are working on it, but fortunately, at this time, the salaries of Russian soldiers can still be guaranteed, so St. Petersburg has organized the first batch of new troops of nearly 200,000 people, and replaced the old troops with new troops, and the old army of more than 100,000 or 200,000 is now on the way to Central Asia and Siberia. It's just that the distance is far and near, some have already seen the shadow of the Urals, and some have not yet reached Moscow.

But will these forces be able to win the war? If it loses again, will Russia continue to fight?

It is different from the actual interests that Liu Xian considers. The Russians are now thinking about their national fortunes. The loss of hundreds of thousands of troops is a nerve-wracking blow to any country. Even such a large country as China and Russia, which have a large population.

The Russians lost all the prestige they had just won from the Turks in a second Sino-Russian war. Now there is a third Sino-Russian war with ten times more losses. This is definitely a much heavier trauma for Russia than the Crimean War. At the beginning, Nicholas I committed suicide by poisoning in desperation, and the pressure of Alexander III now is so great that you can think about it. He was not a wise man like his son, Alexander II. Alexander III was only a king. A very mediocre and timid person.

The high loans of Britain and France were interest-bearing and had to be repaid. It's not that the Russians took it and spent it. Britain and France put the two countries together. The Russians can't afford to settle their accounts.

Even if Britain and France do not have any demand to collect debts from the Russians in a short period of time, Russia will bow its eyebrows and be pleasing to the eyes of the two creditor countries. I don't have any confidence in my heart. In that case, how can Russia's interests in the Balkans be guaranteed? How else can Russia's interests in Europe be safeguarded?

The relationship between the German Empire and the British Empire is still very hot. Wilhelm II, who brought the Second German Reich to hell, kicked the iron-blooded chancellor Bismarck home, and Germany had just established its own big naval plan, Wilhelm II already had a very bad impression of Britain in his heart, but the Anglo-German 'friendship' was still very good.

On March 9, 1888, Kaiser Wilhelm I died. Wilhelm II's father was crowned Frederick III, the second emperor of the Second German Empire, but died of throat cancer 99 days later, and in June of the same year, Wilhelm II, at the age of 29, succeeded him as emperor. Since Frederick III was misdiagnosed by quacks and died, William once said angrily: "The English doctor killed my father!" ”

William II's mother was the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Adelaide. Mary. Princess Louise. Because of his physical disability, Wilhelm II was born with a breech presentation and suffered from Elb's palsy, which led to atrophy of his left arm. It was because of the strict discipline of Wilhelm II since he was a child, and he constantly forced Wilhelm II to exercise diligently, which led to a very bad relationship between Wilhelm II and his mother. In addition, because Empress Frederick was born into the British royal family, she often instilled in her son the concept of the supremacy of British status. She insisted on calling her son only by his English name: Wilhelm was "Wilhelm" in German, but she called him "William"; The second son's name was "Heinrich", so he was called "Henry". As a result, Wilhelm II, the current Emperor of the Second German Empire, had extremely mixed feelings about Britain from an early age, and it may have changed Germany's foreign policy towards Britain as a result.

It's just that now Wilhelm II has been on the throne for a short time, and relations between Britain and Germany have not broken down. The friendship between the two countries is still very strong. Therefore, with Germany as the trump card in hand, Britain has many ways to deal with the Russians, which is a real threat. And Germany also has the good buddy of Austria-Hungary, which has a serious conflict with the interests of the Russians in the Balkans, and of course Britain also intervenes in the Balkans. So the Russians are really worried that if they are financially constrained, will they let their lifeline be controlled by Britain and France? Because in the face of the interests of the country, it is difficult for you to believe that it is pure to deal with. Who knows if Britain and France will take the opportunity to pinch the Russians and let Russia spit out some of their own interests in Eastern Europe and the Balkans when Russia is in dire need of military spending?

"His Majesty the Emperor of China has won another commendable victory, but it is still very far from defeating Russia." When the Austro-Hungarian envoy Rice arrived at 10 Downing Street, he addressed the Marquess of Salisbury. "Russia is a powerful country, but when all their energies are shifted to the East, their power in the West will inevitably weaken."

"We don't need to touch the nerves of the Otosophorians in Eastern Europe. But in the distant Balkans, can't we cut off the disgusting tentacles of the Russians? ”

In recent years, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has expanded in southeastern Europe, in the Balkan Peninsula. If it were only the Turks, Austria-Hungary was not afraid, but in addition to Turkey they also had Russia, a formidable enemy.

Rice's smile was very gentle. "Your Excellency Prime Minister, doesn't the British Empire want to organize the Netherlands and Spain to conclude a long-term agreement or treaty with the Chinese for the sake of peace in Southeast Asia?"

"When the British Empire looks at the Balkans, I don't think His Majesty the Great Emperor of China will refuse this friendly request from the British Empire."

"It's a deal that's good for everyone but Russia."

Rice smiled unusually brightly. In 1881, the Berlin Conference was convened, and the Treaty of Berlin was signed, which greatly reduced Russia's interests in the Balkans, and Bosnia and Herzegovina was placed under the administration of Austria-Hungary, although they were still nominally part of Ottoman Turkey.

The Berlin Conference rapidly deteriorated relations between Germany and Austria with Russia. At that time, in order to prevent the union of Russia and France, Bismarck made himself vulnerable to the enemy on both sides; Russia also wanted to unite with Germany to contend with Britain in the Near East and the Two Straits, so after the Berlin Conference, Bismarck signed a three-country agreement with the ambassadors of Russia and Austria in Berlin, which is known as the Second Three Emperors Alliance. However, with the convening of the Second Berlin Conference, and with the intensification of the conflict between Russia and Austria in the Balkans, this comical alliance of the Three Emperors has moved towards 'nominal and non-real' at the fastest speed. During this period, Bismarck's diplomatic strategy was also chaotic, in order to deal with the unstoppable Russian-French approach, he tried his best to maintain Russian-German relations on the one hand, and on the other hand, he planned to preemptively strike in the event of a change, seeking to conclude an anti-Russian alliance with Austria-Hungary, and concluded a secret offensive and defensive alliance treaty with Austria-Hungary in Vienna. Soon after, Romania and Austria-Hungary also entered into a treaty of alliance in Vienna, the main purpose of which was to oppose Russian expansion in the Balkans. On the same day, Germany declared its accession. In this way, a new Triple Alliance was formed against Russia.

From the perspective of an onlooker, Bismarck's foreign policy in the last decade of his political career was a failure. He did not repair the rift between Germany and Russia at all, but gradually widened the distance between the two sides.

At the same time, it also laid a deep foundation for the trip of the Austro-Hungarian envoy to London.

You say, if the differences between Germany and Russia were not obvious, could the Austro-Hungarian envoy go to London so arrogantly and plot to pull the British to calculate the Russians?

And it also counts China.

-- The British have dragged the Russians back in the Balkans, and China, which is fighting fiercely with the Russians, will accept this 'favor' of the British. Britain pushed the boat down the river, and it also had the capital to bargain with China in Southeast Asia.

This is a good thing for Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Spain and the Netherlands. It is also good for China, and only bad for Russia. (To be continued......)