Chloe couldn't help but laugh, "It's incredible that you've ever thought about escaping." I remember you were just teaching me that there is no escaping it. ”

Rudolph immediately denied, "I am not running away, but embracing the future with determination." Maybe there will be many people who will laugh at or even blame us for the end in the future, but now we are brave enough to bear the future. I'm not a defeatist about war. It's just that I've been too leisurely these days, thinking about some things, and my mood is a little negative. But believe me, I have a soul that has the power to love and luck. ”

"Thank you, I will definitely be faithful to life and love it." Chloe was relieved. Although the two talked about it from beginning to end, they understood each other that there are many things in life that can only be accepted, and there are many things that can be changed.

Since that night's separation, Rudolph has not visited her. Chloe may still be reminiscing about those obscure truths, but Rudolph has no time to be a philosopher, and what he needs is not to think about the world, but to change it.

On March 21, Rudolph's vacation ended, and after several twists and turns, he returned to the General Staff.

The General Staff in Vienna was depleted, and now only a deputy chief of the General Staff in charge of administration remained. Rudolph was appointed deputy minister of operations, and in peacetime, he would not know the official or minor until he was in the capital, but now, he is an out-and-out leader. The Chief of the General Staff was in a stalemate with Serbia on the Southern Front, and the Chief of Operations went to Przemyśl.

Rudolph never presided over a single operational meeting and did not draw up a single battle plan. The staff officers of the Operations Division have been divided between the two battlefields, and Rudolph is now more like a logistics chief, in charge of the Organization Department and the Military Order Department under his command.

Life in the office lasted more than a week, and Rudolph's daily job was to review reports and sign documents. He had a lot of power and responsibilities, and in theory, Rudolph needed to deal with the entire army.

But he didn't enjoy the joy of being in power at all, and everyone was struggling with him.

The commanders of the Eastern Front planned to launch another offensive against Russia, and the operational deployment was already drawn up at the general staff in Przemyśl. But the troops that were planned to participate in the offensive are still repairing in the rear.

Field Marshal Conrad, having seen the victory on the Eastern Front, intended to solve the Serbian problem in one fell swoop. Almost a year after the start of the war, his two army groups have stalled, and so far remain in Belgrade on the border.

They wanted everything, and the order reached Rudolph, and he could not refute it, since it was an order, it needed to be carried out.

Rudolph had a hard time deciding, the army and supplies were all there for, and according to his judgment, an attack was unrealistic. Although the Eastern Front was victorious, the various units also suffered heavy losses. The troops on the front line were basically replenished, but with the influx of new recruits, their combat effectiveness deteriorated. And the troops that remain in the rear are even more equivalent to the militia. For example, the 27th Division commanded by Rudolph, as a model unit of the entire army, now only has one 36 regiment left, and more than half of its weapons and equipment have been lost, and expensive tanks have become one-time consumables. This elite unit was withdrawn to the rear for repair, but it was difficult to replenish the troops.

The troops in the rear were poorly trained, and those soldiers were peasants with hoes a few months ago. Rudolph was skeptical that they would be able to make a difference when they arrived on the battlefield.

Before Rudolph could complain to his superiors, they quarreled on their own. The two sides argued with each other, argued with reason, and finally concluded that the army was no longer capable of attacking.

Rudolph did not escape the catastrophe, and the defense also needed an army. Seeing that the Russian army was defeated, the Serbs were pushed up by the British and French, and they vowed to regain their capital.

Belgrade had to hold on, and Austria-Hungary could claim victory over Serbia. As soon as the army is withdrawn from Serbian soil, the whole country will suffer from turmoil.

Rudolph sent one Bosnian division, two Romanian divisions, quite a few in number, the combat effectiveness was at the bottom, and it should be enough to do a good job of defense. Serbia was limited in strength after all, and Rudolph always regarded them as a disease of scabies. Austria-Hungary had succeeded on the battlefield on the Southern Front, and after nearly a year of uninterrupted fighting, Serbia had run out of gas, men had been drafted into the army, and the national economy had suffered a devastating blow.

In fact, they were completely coerced by Britain and France to take the initiative to attack. After the defeat in the Battle of Galicia, Austria-Hungary focused on the Eastern Front. The Serbian commander Putnik moved his troops into the mountains, and the Austrians, having occupied northeastern Serbia, stopped. Rudolfo had to thank the Serbian youth for the bomb, and after Potiorek was wounded, the fiasco on the southern front was finally averted. This general on paper will treat all terrain as his desk.

After returning to Vienna, Rudolf also saw the trigger for the war. After Potiorek recovered, he became Minister of War. If it weren't for his health, he might have replaced Conrad as Chief of the General Staff. Conrad had been estranged from the crown prince before the war, and after the outbreak of the war, as chief of the general staff, he was sent to the secondary battlefield of the Southern Front. Fighting Serbia was a thankless job, and he had limited forces and could only defend according to plan.

Conrad had previously lost Valjevo and was now forced back to Belgrade by the enemy. He has been the subject of criticism, and everyone takes it for granted that Serbia is vulnerable. Rudolph also explained for him that he had completed the task by dragging Serbia down under limited conditions. It's a pity that only the army can understand, which is the fundamental reason why the crown prince did not remove him.

As soon as April approached, the battle on the southern front began. In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, at the request of the military department, Rudolph transferred two more artillery regiments, and also mobilized troops from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, ready to be put into battle at any time. The Hungarians also struck, and they moved the local defense forces to the south.

Rudolf stepped down from his post with peace of mind, and the only thing he could do during this time was to rectify the propaganda department and collect a donation from the two million citizens of Vienna.

Archduke Ferdinand sent him to this post, naturally not to ask him to sit in his office and take care of the logistics of the army. The crown prince and the military took a fancy to some of his ideas on army building and wanted to reorganize the army and even the country.

Rudolph was constrained at every turn, and his ideas could not be realized. His appointment as Quartermaster General may sound like it has something to do with logistics, but once he is empowered, he will influence and even govern every aspect of the country.