"Returning to His Majesty, my subjects of the Russian Empire heard that His Majesty had taken over the command, and their blood was boiling, a large number of people enthusiastically joined the army, and the factories were constantly producing all kinds of military supplies. At present, the total number of armed forces of the empire has been successfully mobilized to 5.6 million, and more than 100 divisions of the new army are being reorganized and trained in the rear; As long as His Majesty gives an order, they will all launch a desperate attack on the German and Austrian army! ”

Alekseev smirked, the flattery on his face unmistakable. With a population of 173.2 million, Russia has almost three times as many troops at war disposal as Germany, and although it has suffered heavy losses in previous battles, the empire has been able to replenish all the losses of gray cattle by mobilization. In the face of the Tsar's inquiry, Alekseev naturally presented his only human resources that he could handle. However, this was Alekseev's method in response to the Tsar's inquiry: although the number of 5.6 million men may seem staggering, most of them were militia-like local guards, fortress garrisons, and logistical supply personnel, and the real field army numbered less than half of the total.

And not to mention the number of well-trained elite divisions. The previous battles in East Prussia and Poland had destroyed most of the last few capable soldiers in the Russian Empire; At present, except for the original regular army that came from the depths of Russia, the rest are all hastily mobilized reserve army "crop man", whose combat effectiveness is at most comparable to that of the Austro-Hungarian army, which does not understand the language and looks like a huge beast with dead nerves at its ends. As for the current extreme lack of weapons and equipment in the Russian army, it was ignored by Alekseev; Who would be so ignorant of current affairs? Expose your own shortcomings in front of the Tsar, who is currently in the right mood?

Hearing Alekseev's reply, Nikolai's eyes could not help but flash with excitement. Rao was already aware that his empire had an almost infinite pool of human resources, and he was still pleasantly surprised by the number of troops that were rapidly replenished. The joy on his face was a little stronger, and he said happily: "The empire has stepped on the right track of mobilizing war, and now it is time to deal the heaviest blow to the enemy. It is necessary for us to carry out an offensive to redeem the current unfavorable situation and regain the absolute initiative of our European gendarmes! ”

"Your Majesty, do you want to launch an offensive?" Alekseev's heart was shocked, and he hurriedly asked.

Nikolai nodded slightly. He looked at the huge battle map hanging on the wall, the smile on his face gradually retracted, and said, "We have just defeated the Romanian army in the Bessarabia region. Now is the time for our army to take advantage of the situation to expand the gains of the war and completely destroy this shameless country that dares to stab our Russian Empire in the back. Besides. The Empire also needs a victory to restore the morale of the current military that has fallen into a trough due to the defeat of the fronts, and to re-expand our territory to its prime! ”

Nikolai paused and added: "At present, the Germans have just captured the whole territory of Poland. The army's fighting spirit is at its peak; Although we have an absolute advantage in numbers. But if you want to defeat it in a large-scale decisive battle. It will certainly be an extremely difficult thing to do. The Austrians mobilized from the rear to form a large army group, and now they have gathered more than 2 million men in Galicia, which is also a force that we cannot shake. The Caucasus has rugged mountain roads. It was difficult for the army to move, and the Turks deployed nearly an army here to defend it to the death, which was also a hard bone for our army to gnaw on. The reason why I demoted the old fellow Nikolai (the Grand Duke) there was no intention to give him a chance to win. Therefore, looking at the current situation on the Western Front, only Romania, which has just joined the Central Powers, is suitable for us to attack. Germany was quite dependent on Romania for food and oil, and if we could launch a major offensive to capture it, it would be a heavy blow to the Allies! ”

When he said the last sentence, Nikolai couldn't help but raise his tone, and there was a hint of eagerness and hatred in his eyes. For Russia, it is a loss to go out and rob less, and the phrase "wherever the Russian flag is raised, we will never let it fall" is definitely not in vain; Because of this, Muscovy expanded into a world empire twice the size of Europe today. However, after the Russian inheritance passed into the hands of Nicholas II, it was a succession of failures in foreign expansion. It was just that the dream of the Yellow Russian had come to naught, after all, it was a piece of meat that had been cooked but had not yet reached its mouth; However, the loss of Poland, which had been carved up and operated by Russia for 150 years, was completely destroyed by the German attack, which was absolutely unacceptable to Nikolai. Even if it is difficult to recover Poland now, it is still not difficult to rip a piece of meat from the Romanians, right?

Alekseev was surprised in his heart, as if he did not expect that the mediocre and dim-witted monarch in front of him could have such a good understanding of the current war situation. He had also been apprehensive that Nikolai would be preoccupied by the loss of Poland and order an attack along the Baltic Sea, because at present all armies had developed a great fear of the German army, and a forced attack on it would almost certainly have a disastrous result; Now it seems that he can breathe a sigh of relief. Compared with Austria-Hungary, the Romanian army was an out-and-out soft persimmon, and the Russian army did not have any psychological pressure at all. Even though the intelligence showed that there were 2 German divisions fighting with the Romanian army, it was obviously impossible to turn the tide with such a small number alone!

Although, to be sure, Alekseev did not want to launch a large-scale offensive at this time, because the large Russian army was in desperate need of various arms supplies to recover; However, looking at the Tsar's face full of determination, Alekseev swallowed the words that came to his lips again. An active attack, while not in line with the current situation, is barely acceptable if the target is Romanian. What's more, he has only gained the power of the current prime minister's entire army thanks to the favor of the tsar, and if there is any disobedience against him on this issue, some people will take the opportunity to replace him!

"His Majesty is far-sighted and has a deep understanding of the situation on the battlefield, looking at the hundreds of years of history of our Russian Empire, how can there be such a genius as His Majesty? Under the wise command of His Majesty, the army of the Russian Empire will break through Bregast and send the stubborn old Carol King into exile on the island of Saint-Jena! Alekseev spoke respectfully, and without psychological pressure, he boasted that Nikolai had become a genius military strategist who surpassed Kuznetsov, Duke Suvorov and other famous generals.

Nikolai waved his hand slightly, indicating that he was not as wise and great as Alekseev said, but the smug smile that could not be hidden at the corner of his mouth completely exposed his true heart. He withdrew his gaze from the map and smiled, "Well, this plan was so happily decided. Alekseev, you are responsible for drawing up a specific battle plan, and at the same time preparing the supply of food, arms and other materials with Sukh Holymnov in St. Petersburg. In addition, he called the Holy Master Rasputin in the royal village and asked him to pray to the Virgin Mary and bless the Russian Imperial Army to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop. ”

Alekseev Gong claimed that it was, but his heart was so ecstatic that he was about to explode: let himself be the governor of logistics, I don't know how much oil and water I can get from it! After this trip to business, how can I have a hundred thousand or even millions of rubles into my account, and those lovely little girls who are raised by themselves are not obediently washed and peeled after receiving various gifts such as gold and jade jewelry, and obediently get into their own quilts?

――――――――――――――――

By order of Nicholas II, the Russian army began a full-scale dispatch of the offensive against Romania. A large number of troops are massing in southern Ukraine, and their numbers have already involved 4 army groups. However, compared with the dispatch of German counterparts, the speed of the Russian army's transfer is much slower. Since the rail density in the European part was only one-tenth that of Germany, the transportation capacity was very limited, and a large number of troops had to reach their destinations on foot; However, what makes these Russian troops feel "lucky" is that because the materials and baggage are very limited, artillery is a precious thing in the army, so that the Russian army is almost in a light state of maneuvering, and its dispatch speed is also quite impressive.

However, this offensive plan of the Russian army was exposed to Germany and Austria from the very beginning. This time, however, it was not because of a radio leak, but because of a message from Austria-Hungary's core spy lurking in Russia.

In 1906, Russian War Minister Sukh Holymnov fell in love with the stunning wife of a provincial governor, and tried in every possible way to frame the governor, overthrow him and forcibly seize his wife. The Austro-Hungarian spy chieftain Alteschile took the opportunity to provide conclusive evidence for the fall of the governor and his wife and his divorce. In his ecstasy, Sukh Hollimnov made Alt Schiller a close friend, and he was allowed to come and go as he pleases his mansion and office, both of which were scattered (as has happened in history...... ）！

Less than five hours after the Tsar's order to prepare arms supplies in southern Ukraine reached Sukh Holymnov, this top-secret information was placed in front of the Austro-Hungarian commander-in-chief Herzendorff. After some analysis, the German-Austrian command guessed exactly what the Russian army was about to do. Knowing the plans of the other side, Xing Lu was full of ambition and determined to deal an unprecedented blow to the Russians. (To be continued......)