August 18, the Emperor's birthday.

Joseph I entered the eighty-sixth year of his life.

Rudolph did not want to judge the emperor and his past. In any case, he represents an era. Like the emperor in his twilight years, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was at the end of its life.

Once the old emperor is gone, his successor will implement his own political ideas, and this patchwork empire will come to the end of history with his founder.

Like a burning candle, the old emperor is still illuminating the road with a dim light. It is not known who will go to the end first with him and his empire.

They died together. An offensive ended three empires, and the old emperor soon died after hearing the bad news. Although he was not a dead king, Rudolph believed that he must have foreseen the end.

Dim candlelight makes it difficult to illuminate the darkness. Everyone knows that the ancient empire is in a life-or-death crisis.

Some prayed silently, some looked sad, and some were utterly desperate. The last moment has not yet come, the victory or defeat has not yet been decided, and the empire still exists.

Willingly or not, 50 million people are fighting for the Motherland. They were already inseparable, and this period of history would not come to an end until they attended the final funeral and divided the empire's legacy.

"God bless the Empire." Rudolph prayed silently, and the High Command approved the battle plan he had drawn up, codenamed "August Storm".

The plan applied not only to Rudolph's army, but also to another four hundred thousand troops on the Southern Front. Rudolph has laid out a beautiful blueprint for the crown prince and the military, and he will solve the Balkan problem once and for all.

This time the opportunity was very rare, the main German forces had been transferred to the Eastern Front, the Russians were very badly beaten, and it was only a matter of time before Warsaw was captured. The Austrian forces on the Eastern Front independently supported the long front from southern Poland to the Romanian border, tacitly maintaining a standoff with the Russians.

The cooperation on the side of the Entente was not very good. The emergence of Romania has made Austria's precarious situation even worse. Russia followed suit, planning to crush the Austrian army in Ukraine.

There was a rare truce on the Western Front, and successive offensives by Britain and France ended in vain. The German General Staff was growing in calls for a reverse Schlieffen plan.

The performance of the Russian army in the north is constantly lowering the lower limit, and in addition to the objective factor of the disparity in the strength of the army, it is also inseparable from the extreme chaos and poor command.

From the miracle of Lake Masurian to the Battle of Lodz, the Russian army has the upper hand every time, suffered a crushing defeat each time, and finally achieved the honor of a German general on the Eastern Front.

The Italians were very active, and they had been climbing the cliffs and gnawing on the stones, in vain to launch a new battle of the Isonzo River. Such an attitude is worthy of recognition, as for the result, in addition to containing 300,000 Austrian troops, it is to make General Boroyevich begin to doubt the achievements of his predecessors in Italy.

Even so, Austria-Hungary could only go on the defensive, and the four-front operation was almost suffocating. Now it seems that the situation in the Balkans can only be ended as soon as possible, and this is the consensus of everyone.

Marshal Conrad cried for the destruction of Serbia, but the crown prince did not hesitate to refuse. Although the Balkan Front managed to capture Belgrade and drag Serbia down by defense. But Vienna was not satisfied, they only saw that Serbia still existed, and Conrad had no results and lost some cities.

In fact, this is an unsolvable task at all, Conrad's troops are always less than his opponents, and it is good to be able to get a draw.

Rudolph also did not defend the Chief of the General Staff, and in his heart, Conrad's command was only on the passing line. It's just that the stupidity of General Potiorek in history has set off Conrad's achievements today.

The task of the main attack was entrusted to Rudolph, and such a decision was understandable. Looking at the entire army, Rudolph was really the only talent available. Whether it is commanding operations or reorganizing armaments, his performance is worthy of recognition.

It's just that this is the first time he has commanded a corps battle. Putting an army of 100,000 in the hands of a division commander is a bit reckless no matter how you look at it. In the eyes of the outside world, the only thing Rudolph can trust in addition to his high education is that he contributed to the Austrians' biggest victory to date.

In short, Rudolph went to war like this. He's confident, and if he's not sure he's going to win, he's at least prepared. Now it's just a matter of expecting and not too much change.

The first to act was the commander of the 19th Army, General Stefan, who was to command four Hungarian divisions as the backbone.

The 38th and 93rd Divisions at the forefront, forming a salient, had routed the Romanian 6th Division in the battle a few days earlier and forced the troops on both flanks of it to retreat.

They killed about 2,000 enemy soldiers and captured 4,700 prisoners.

As a result, the raid was a success. The overwhelming Luo army would never have thought that Rudolph would take the initiative to attack. The enemy was taken by surprise, and nearly half of the Romanian 4th Army was on the march, and they wanted to go all the way south, cross the Mures River from three directions with friendly forces, annihilate the 9th Army, capture Cluj, and declare the reconquest of Transylvania once and for all.

Rudolph shattered their illusions, and the Romanians learned the majesty of an empire. After a fierce offensive, the commander of the Romanian 4th Army, General Prezan, turned back in horror to see that a fresh force had entered his unit.

Without much strategy, Prezan came up with the most direct countermeasures, and the main forces of the Luo army in the south began to move towards the 19th Army. At this time, there were only two divisions on the front, 38 and 93, and the remaining two divisions were still marching to the front. As for the rest of Rudolph's troops, they were either deployed in other theaters or as reserves.

Before the battle began, Rudolph already had a definite idea of the situation. It was not because he was unpredictable and predicted things like a god, but according to the field reconnaissance of the aviation forces and the decipherment of the enemy's telegrams by the intelligence department, Rudolph had a general understanding of the movement of the Romanian army.

This advantage by relying on technical means was very obvious, Prezan was still imagining the size of the Austrian army, Rudolph already knew the opponent's hole cards, he not only knew the opponent's combat intentions, but also the battle sequence of the Romanian 4th Army was also placed on his table.

The 19th Army seized a large amount of information, and the prisoners of war also confessed those military secrets. Now it's just a matter of pinpointing an entry point and stabbing the Achilles heel with a sword.

Major General Terle, the commander of the Front, reminded Rudolph for the last time, "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, you are sure of your operational disposition. ”

"The order to fight has been given."

"Just wait and see." Terler's face froze, trying to hide his worries.

"You can also silently bless us." Rudolph paused and said word for word.

"God willing." The major general reverently closed his eyes and clasped his hands to his chest.