Early July

Richard arrived in Vienna with only a few henchmen, the first time in 48 years that he had visited this beautiful metropolis in the Alps, the last time during the Austro-Prussian War.

Half a century later

Vienna doesn't seem to have changed much, time freezes in this Danube-on-Danube city, and on this beautiful July month, the whole city is shrouded in sadness and anger.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire gathered 100,000 troops to attack Serbia, only to suffer a humiliating defeat and be disgraced by the combined Serbian-Romanian forces.

In the Balkan theater

The Austro-Hungarian army was severely taught a lesson by the Tsarist army, and was defeated again and again, until 6 German divisions were reinforced to stabilize the front, which can be described as humiliating.

The Germans taught the Tsarist army a hard lesson on the Eastern Front, and the Tsarist army taught the Austro-Hungarian army a hard lesson in the Balkan theater, proving that they were not soft persimmons.

It turns out

The Germans had a poor eye for choosing allies, and an Austro-Hungarian Empire and an Italian kingdom were all burdens, and they were discarded by Tsarist Russia and several small Balkan states.

On the contrary, Bulgaria, one of the allies, fought vigorously, held its own front steadily, and still had the strength to launch a counterattack.

Unfortunately, Bulgaria is too small and has too little population, and at best more than 200,000 troops cannot change the overall passive situation in the Balkan theater.

It was in this atmosphere that Richard came to Vienna, and most of the Austro-Hungarian Empire also belonged to the German-speaking region, but their combat effectiveness was not satisfactory, ranking only in the third-rate level of Europe.

Basically, it is difficult to be brothers with the Kingdom of Italy, and the strength is limited.

Vienna is the cultural capital of Europe, the capital of music, and there is a romantic feeling in its bones, and those who engage in art do not like war.

Walking through the streets of old Vienna, you can see centuries-old buildings, and the old people on the street are playing violin music, and the sound of the piano is like crying.

More than half a year has passed since the outbreak of World War I, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire has suffered more than 770,000 casualties, and a large number of young men have been conscripted into the army and filled the Eastern Front and the Balkan Theater.

On the streets of Vienna, Richard rarely saw young men.

The lads were either in factories or front-line trenches, and in the cities there were more women and old people, and people's faces revealed deep anxiety about the war.

He had seen this in Berlin and Frankfurt.

As time went on, the casualties of the front-line troops became heavier, and the frenzied optimism of the early days of the war had long since disappeared and was replaced by deep apprehension.

No one knows when the war will end?

Familiar relatives were constantly being conscripted into the army, from young to middle-aged, and the army was constantly forming new infantry divisions, both in Austria-Hungary and Germany.

"My lord, the war had a much greater impact on the countries of Europe than we thought, and during the busy farming season, most of the people who worked in the fields were women and children. The city's economy is also in a state of depression and feels like it has lost its vitality. Xu Jinxun said very optimistically.

Richard nodded, and said;

"Neither of the two major military blocs in Europe can afford to lose, and the sunk cost is too high, so we can only keep filling in the chips and hoping to overwhelm each other.

From a military point of view

There is no end in sight to the 1 million or 3 million or 10 million people who died in the war.

They lacked the decisive military power to take out the enemy with a single hammer, and the war that spread around the world has turned into a real war of attrition, until the power of one side is completely collapsed.

The weakness in the camp of the Allies was Italy, and the weakness in the camp of the Entente was Tsarist Russia.

The German High Command had seen this clearly, so it invested more military forces on the Eastern Front, trying to defeat the Russian army first, and then move troops westward.

The idea is good, but where can a great power country of such a large size as Tsarist Russia be easily defeated? ”

"Master, according to the news from the imperial government, the British government strongly asked our Datang to implement large-scale economic assistance to Russia, and this request has been decisively refused."

"Well, don't get involved in that now, it's in the Empire's interest to remain neutral."

"I understand that the latest war reports show that the war has spread to the Middle East and the Arab region."

"It didn't affect Kuwait, did it?"

"Not yet, the Ottomans and the Germans wisely did not provoke us, and the Imperial side sent an additional infantry division to Kuwait, Yemen and Jeddah, all reinforced by a field artillery regiment. Soldiers were recruited in Yunzhong Province and locally, adding a total of 52,000 troops. ”

"Well, it is necessary to strengthen the troops. The Germans would not have many troops available in the Near East, and with the help of Britain and France, they would be safe in the control areas of the Arabian Peninsula and Yunzhong Province. But we cannot hope for the self-control of a potential enemy, at least the Ottoman Empire is so angry with our control of the central and southern part of the Arabian Peninsula that we have to guard against it. ”

"Sir, China has also seen this, and is strengthening the strength of the Red Naval Region."

"Well, be prepared!"

Richard and Xu Jinxun walked along the street and chatted, but after a few steps, they were stopped by a woman in a shawl.

The woman's hair was unkempt and her face was thin and frightening, and she timidly stretched out a hand and said; "Kind sir, I haven't eaten a little for three days, could you please give me a piece of bread? I can do anything you need. ”

Xu Jinxun frowned and looked around, and there were more women in the alley looking at it with longing eyes.

Due to the severe impact of the war, the number of men in the city was greatly reduced, and the women who used to sell prostitution in Vienna lost their livelihoods.

The poor at the bottom lived in poverty, while the Viennese aristocracy continued to spend money and live in luxury.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire, a dualistic empire, was a relatively backward and corrupt country in Europe, with a serious lag in industrialization and an economy dominated by agriculture and animal husbandry.

Seeing this woman blocking the way, Xu Jinxun took the initiative to stand up and said;

"Call out all your companions, and I'll buy you a loaf of bread for each of you, but don't pull or wrap around us, keep a certain distance."

"Thank you so much, merciful sir."

With that, a group of women walked out and followed behind Xu Jinxun.

Helpless

Xu Jinxun could only go to the bakery on the side of the street and buy more than 20 baguettes, one for each person.

Many women devoured it on the street, and it made people frown.

In this case, Richard can't help it.

About a third of the population in Vienna was starving, and the war caused the Austro-Hungarian Empire to lose millions of young and middle-aged laborers, a large number of fields were barren, and the harvest was naturally not ideal.

The food produced was to be supplied to the German troops on the Eastern and Western Fronts on a priority basis, and to the armies of the country participating in the war were to be given priority to the male able-bodied laborers, and to the aristocracy.

As a vulnerable group, women and children are the last in line, which also leads to hundreds of people starving to death every day in Vienna, which is very common, in towns and cities, large and small.

Throughout the war

Germany lost more than 7 million people to disease and starvation, compared to 4.2 million in Austria-Hungary, far more than the number of troops killed on the battlefield.

The price of bread had risen more than tenfold since before the war, and the situation was exacerbated by the hoarding and price gouging of many Jewish merchants.

Honestly, everything sucks.

Today's Europe and North America are two worlds, one shrouded in the clouds of war, where panic, hunger and death afflict the warring nations.

Britain and France and other countries are much better, after all, there are a large number of materials imported from the Tang Empire, and coffee, tobacco, toffee, cocoa, canned food, frozen meat and medicines can still be seen on the market, and there are far fewer people dying of hunger and disease.

Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy were in a much worse situation, and in the case of a total blockade by the Entente, the import of goods through smuggling channels was a drop in the bucket and it was difficult to meet the demand.

So in many cities, the shelves are empty, and you can't buy food with money.

The Tang Empire in North America and other countries in North America are prosperous, and cars are increasingly entering middle-class families, and driving a vacation has become a new way of life.

Thousands of gas stations have sprung up throughout the Americas, roads leading to cities and villages, new department stores and grocery stores are stocking up on goods, and people's living standards are rising.

War and peace, reflected in society, are completely different scenes.

After the six countries joined forces to kill Brazil, today's America is the hall of the Tang Empire, and the remaining Venezuela hastily signed a comprehensive military alliance treaty with the Tang Empire and invited the Tang Empire to garrison troops.

Except for Canada, there is one in the entire American country, all of which are under the military protection of the Tang Empire, and there are more or less military bases of the Tang Empire, and they all bear part of the garrison costs to a greater or lesser extent.

Fortunately, the army of the Tang Empire is not much, and there are only two or three thousand troops stationed in these countries in Venezuela, and the annual garrison cost is more than 100,000 Tang Yuan, which can be affordable by small and weak countries.

If you put it another way, it's protection money.

Almost half of the Royal Army units of more than 360,000 people in the Tang Empire are stationed in the Americas, and these countries allocate military bases free of charge to bear the cost of garrisoning.

The Royal Praetorian Guard is funded by the Royal Ministry of Internal Affairs, so the annual military expenditure of the Tang Empire is extremely low, which is about 130 million Tang Yuan per year, of which eighty percent is allocated by the Royal Navy.

Due to the outbreak of the 1st World War

The Royal Navy of the Tang Empire has accelerated its military construction, completing and launching two post-dreadnought-class ironclad battleships every year, and continuously updating the lineup of the main battlefleet.

Globally

The Royal Navy of the Tang Empire ranks third after Britain and Germany, with 11 new battleships, 18 old 10,000-ton ironclad ships, and more than 130 cruisers and destroyers, and the main fleet lineup is quite impressive.

The most powerful is the Atlantic Fleet, which has the ports of New York, New Jersey, Miami, Guantanamo, Buenos Aires, and Storm Harbor as naval bases, covering the entire Atlantic coast of the Americas.

Such a strong strength is the confidence of the Tang Empire to maintain a policy of neutrality.