Tents scattered among the mountains and meadows around Vladivostok were like a huge barracks in the Far East, where several ships full of supplies and soldiers sailed almost every day, and many more came to the Far East from Siberia, thousands of versts, from far away Europe.

When these soldiers arrived in the Far East, their boots were broken and their uniforms were in pieces, but fortunately they had been prepared in the Far East with new uniforms and boots, and they would rest in tents outside the city, while the sappers quickly cut down wood and built simple wooden houses among the meadows.

As Russians, they know better than anyone how cold the Siberian winters can be, which is why the resting troops have sappers to build barracks using the abundant timber in the forest. This seemingly simple task, for hundreds of thousands of Russian troops, has to be called a test.

Perhaps the abundant forests of the region could provide them with enough timber for their houses, but the weak industries of the Far East could not provide the simplest building material, nails, and almost all of their development depended on foreign imports, just as the soldiers here fed, clothed and used.

For the Russian Empire, this cannot but be said to be a heavy burden. The world has long formed a concept about Russia and the army, that is, the Cossacks plus the millions of strong, tame and obedient peasants who are not afraid of being exhausted. The Russian army is staggeringly large, and in people's minds, Russia and the army are a behemoth. At first, it is inevitably bloated and sluggish. But once fully mobilized and put into action. Wave after wave of never-ending waves of people, no matter how big the casualties, it will be indomitable, one after the other, rolling forward.

No one will doubt that this "new crusade" will allow Russia to win the final victory, but no one will notice the movement and transportation of nearly a million troops. But it is gradually consuming the limited wealth of the Russian Empire, and Russia cannot provide a steady stream of financial support compared to the continuous supply of troops.

Three months after the outbreak of the war, while the whole world was watching this "crusade", in the Vladivostok City Hall, now in the army headquarters, fierce debates have been raging, and since the outbreak of the war, when the huge war machine of the Russian Empire was mobilized, the debate has not stopped.

The reason why the generals of the General Staff and the units were at loggerheads was very simple - landing. There was no objection to the landing, and every single one of them knew it. The war was perhaps the most widely supported expedition in Russian history, and if it succeeded, the boots of the Russian Empire would reach into the warm Pacific Ocean.

Support for Russia in Europe was extensive, hundreds of millions of rubles in bonds were bought up in just two months by the people of European countries who "hated the same enemy", Britain, France and Germany all rented their merchant ships at the same time, and merchant ships loaded with supplies and soldiers quickly transported hundreds of thousands of troops to the Far East.

This is the best environment ever, and such an environment was bought with the lives of the crown prince and prince of the Russian Empire, whether it is Russia's mission to the east, or out of the honor of the military and the hatred of the nation, the generals are eager to wipe Japan off the face of the earth, plant the Russian flag on Mt. Fuji, and send the so-called Meiji Emperor to St. Petersburg as a prisoner of the land king of Central Asia, and become a symbol of imperial glory.

But on the other hand, everyone knew the difficulty of occupying Japan -- fighting across the sea, and hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops on the other side of the sea were waiting to meet any possible invasion, which was why they had to deal with it cautiously, and if it were on land, I am afraid that hundreds of thousands of Russian troops would have already poured through the Japanese defense line like a tide and tore Tokyo to pieces, but there was a sea between Russia and Japan.

While the generals on the front line were arguing, St. Petersburg's telegrams came one after another, each asking about the time of the attack, and although there was no urging, the telegram conveyed the meaning of telling them that Russia and Europe could not wait.

"What a bunch of bastards!"

Annoyed and angry, Vladimir complained loudly almost as soon as he walked out of the headquarters, a month ago, he led the newly formed 27th Cavalry Division, crossed the Ural Mountains, crossed Siberia to the Far East, although he was only a cavalry officer, but after coming to the Far East, he still collected as much information as possible about Japan, and at the same time understood the problems of cross-sea operations, and today, after the final decision of the command, he could not control his temper at all.

"Aleksandrovich, there's no need to be so annoyed, it's just war!"

Suddenly, a voice reached his ears, and Vladimir hurriedly turned around and gave a military salute to the approaching Grand Duke Nicholas.

"His Royal Highness!"

Nikolai? Grand Duke Nikolayevich was the uncle of the assassinated Crown Prince Nikolai and also the deputy chief of staff of the command, and at the previous meeting, he was the only person who supported Vladimir.

"Your Highness, how can I not be annoyed? Just like His Excellency the Commander said, nearly 700,000 troops, the daily expenditure is more than 2 million rubles, we need to pay 75 to 125 rubles for every soldier we transport to Asia, the war is constantly depleting Russia's wealth, at this time, what we need is to put aside a scruples, transport the army to the most unexpected place, and end this war with the most fierce attack, but if we fight according to the plan formulated now, even if we occupy Hokkaido, What can it be? Do you want our soldiers to raise cattle there? ”

The most unexpected thing in Vladimir's mouth is precisely this cross-sea operation, facing Japan across the sea, after months of discussion, they formulated the largest maritime expedition in the history of mankind, and the core of this expedition is to transport hundreds of thousands of troops across the sea by merchant ships to land in Japan.

It was for this reason that they decided to turn this sea crossing into a surprise attack, not along the narrowest straits, but to turn the sea into grasslands, and merchant ships into war horses, transporting troops to the "rear" where the Japanese defense was weakest, and thus landing on Japan.

"However, what they insisted on is also very reasonable, we, so that the whole world does not have such a scale of cross-sea operations, no one knows what difficulties will be faced during the landing, if we attack Honshu Island directly, then we may face a counterattack of more than 300,000 Japanese troops at any time, so, for the sake of safety, Hokkaido, which is poorly defended, is undoubtedly the best target, and it is also the most ideal place to test this tactic, Vladimir, after all, now the whole of Europe, the whole world is looking at us, We can't afford to make any mistakes! ”

Grand Duke Nikolai comforted Vladimir in a calm tone, although deep down he was equally eager to avenge the death of his two nephews, but reason told him that he must be cautious now, otherwise Russia would suffer even more humiliation than the assassination of the crown prince.

"However, Your Highness, if this is the case, the war is likely to drag on for half a year, or even longer, Your Highness, if Britain and France refuse to take out the loan at that time, I am afraid it will be difficult for us to continue this war!"

After the outbreak of the war, the huge financial expenditures that exceeded imagination were gradually overdrawing Russia's vitality, and Vladimir, despite being a soldier, knew very well what money meant for the war.

"If we had a railway, then we wouldn't have to pay expensive freight to transport the army and the qiē they needed halfway around the world to the Far East, but now, we even need to import bread from abroad......"

This is exactly what Vladimir feared, the backward industry and agriculture of the Far East could not support the war, and the embarrassed finances of the Russian Empire were severely challenged, saving millions of rubles for each day of early completion.

"This problem is what we have to face, this war, we are not prepared, if ......"

If the Trans-Siberian Railway had been built, the problem would have been gone, and Russia would have been able to obtain a steady supply of supplies from Europe via the Guò Railway, but now it would have to buy from abroad, which was more expensive to ship from home.

"But war will never be a matter of our will, and if our landing on Honshu is frustrated, then all of Europe will be disappointed in us, and the Japanese can use their victory to lobby Britain for neutrality, and then we will lose more than money,"

Compared with Vladimir's purely military consideration, Grand Duke Nicholas, who was born in the royal family, undoubtedly considered more and more fully the problems, and many political issues were unavoidable.

"St. Petersburg needs us to attack, and with a brilliant victory, to tell the bankers and investors of Europe that we will win the war, and they can buy our shares with confidence, and in this case, there is no better target than Hokkaido!"

When the voice fell, Grand Duke Nikolai looked at Vladimir, who was still extremely helpless, and said with a smile.

"Vladimir, my friend, we have to take a long-term view, don't forget that compared to poor Central Asia, Japan is an extremely rich place, I heard that Werther has made a corresponding plan, it only takes ten years, we can get Japan back, okay, my friend!"

After a pause, Nikolai's gaze was cast towards the Golden Horn, which was full of warships and merchant ships.

"Let's get ready for the next battle! The whole world is waiting for news from us! (To be continued......)