"Your Majesty, this is a telegram from the Russian side asking for help, please take a look." Foreign Secretary Dazzle, handing Arthur a list of supplies for which Russia had requested support, said with a slight frown.

In fact, the general material request Minister Daze can unilaterally agree, after all, these materials are not given for free, the Russian side will buy them at a slightly lower price than the market price, and it will definitely not be a loss for Australasia.

But the problem is that the amount of this list of supplies is so large that Minister Dazzle does not dare to make a decision easily, so he can only send this list to Arthur's hands and wait for Arthur's orders.

Arthur took the telegram and was a little surprised to see the great appetite of the Russians.

1,000,000 rifles, 2,000 artillery pieces of various calibers, 150,000 marching tents, 300,000,000 rounds of ammunition, 5,000,000 rounds of artillery shells, medicine worth 45 million rubles, 55,000,000 rubles of food, 300,000 military helmets

Australasia has transported supplies to Russia many times before, and although the stockpiling of supplies began several years ago, after such a high frequency of consumption, there is actually not much left.

The list of materials requested by the Russians is almost more than half of the total domestic reserves of Australasia at present, and some materials are even more than half of the reserves of Australasia.

Under such circumstances, Arthur could not have agreed to the demands of the Russians in their entirety.

After all, if supplies were to be transported to Russia in the quantities required by the list, Australasia's material reserves would also plummet, and some of them would even be sold out.

You must know that in the list of materials required by Russia, clothing, food and medicine are not only needed by the army, but also by the civilian population.

As King of Australasia, Arthur naturally prioritized the needs of the Australasian populace and seconded his obligations as an ally to transport supplies to Russia.

Not to mention anything else, just 1 million rifles, 2,000 artillery pieces and corresponding ammunition shells can arm at least two group armies and about 1 million combat troops.

Naturally, the Russians' needs could not have been so great, and since Russia had sent telegrams to Britain, France, and Italy asking for supplies, the actual needs of the Russians might not even be one-third.

After a little thought, Arthur decided to cut some of the supplies, and if the Russians agreed, the supplies could be loaded into trucks immediately.

If the Russians don't agree, it's not up to them. After all, as long as Arthur insisted that Australasia lacked supplies, could Russia still send someone to verify it?

In fact, the Russian government really did not expect Australasia to be able to transport supplies as required by the supply list.

After a pleasant exchange between the two governments, the amount of supplies to be purchased from Australasia was finalized, 300,000 rifles, 500 artillery pieces, 100 million rounds of ammunition, 3 million rounds of artillery shells, 200,000 military uniforms, 1 million tons of food, 500 tons of medicines.

The total value of these supplies had exceeded 20 million pounds, and at Arthur's repeated requests, the Russians adopted the payment method of 2 million people plus 15 million pounds.

Using a population of 2 million to offset the burden of 5 million pounds is not a loss at all for the Russian government, and it is even more profitable for the Australasian government.

You must know that the migration from other European countries has decreased significantly, and the only reliable source of immigration is Russia.

Russia's population of 2 million can accelerate Australasia's population towards the 20 million mark.

Perhaps by the end of World War I, Australasia's population would have crossed the 20 million mark, making up for its disadvantage in terms of population.

Of course, a population of 20 million can only be regarded as the foundation of a strong country. If you want to truly become a world power, or even become a top power and a world hegemon, you must have a population of at least hundreds of millions.

In order to deliver these supplies to the Russian front more quickly, Arthur and the Russians agreed to transport supplies to Russia in three ways.

The first way is to directly use airships, although a single airship can only transport up to 40 tons of supplies, but Australasian transport airships currently have dozens of them, which can transport up to about 2,000 tons of goods at a time.

Moreover, airship transportation is almost the fastest way, and it only takes more than half a month to go directly from Sydney to the Russian front.

In addition to the use of airships, the other two ways were to transport to Vladivostok by sea via the Trans-Siberian Railway, or directly by sea to the Black Sea coast of Russia, from where they would go directly to the Russian front by land.

Ideally, all of these supplies could be delivered to Russia in about a month and a half to two months.

Even the Russian army only needs to hold out for about half a month before it can usher in the arrival of the first batch of supplies.

Referring to the current shortage of weapons and ammunition in the Russian army, the first batch of supplies to arrive quickly by airships will be a part of rifles, a large number of bullets and shells.

With the support of these weapons and ammunition, the Russian army can also hold on for more time and wait for more supplies to arrive.

When Nicholas II received Arthur's call back, his frown finally stretched slightly.

Britain and France also pledged to support some supplies, and with the promised material support from Australasia, the material crisis that Russia is currently facing has finally been resolved.

However, the attitude of the European allies, especially Italy, who directly rejected Russia's request for help, made Nicholas II very dissatisfied, and even complained directly in a telegram to Britain and France, saying that Italy was a weak and incompetent wall-to-wall grass that only cared about its own interests.

In order to take care of Italy's face, Britain and France did not respond, but judging by Italy's performance in the war, Italy would not enter the inner circle of the Entente after the war.

Although Britain and France provided timely supplies, Nicholas II also understood that the previous statement by Foreign Minister Alexei that Britain and France would provide the full cost of the campaign was a fiction.

Although this campaign was a great success, it shared enormous pressure on the Western Front, and even directly led to the eastward shift of German strategy.

But the problem is that this is good news for the countries of the Western Front represented by Britain, France, Australia and Italy, but it is not good news for Russia, which is struggling to support itself on the Eastern Front.

This campaign consumed most of Russia's ammunition reserves, which directly led to the current shortage of weapons and ammunition in the Russian front-line army.

At this time, Germany launched a large-scale attack, which directly led to heavy casualties in the Russian Tenth Army.

With such a huge responsibility, the tsarist government needed someone to take the blame. Regardless of whether Minister Alexei did anything wrong before, in short, the anger of the people needs a bearer, and the fault of the government needs a bearer.

At the new Imperial Council, in the presence of all cabinet ministers and military leaders, Nicholas II officially announced that Alexei would be dismissed from his post as foreign minister and that Alexei would be investigated.

Minister Alexei's forehead was covered with cold sweat, but at this time no one dared to stop the order of Nicholas II.

After ordering the Prime Minister to concurrently serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs for a short time, Nicholas II turned his gaze to Grand Duke Nicholas and asked: "Can the army hold back the German attack before the aid of the allies arrives?" ”

"No problem, Your Majesty." Grand Duke Nikolai replied decisively: "The new army group has arrived at the front, and as long as there is still a soldier on the front, it will be impossible for the Germans to cross the front line and enter our territory." ”

Well, that's pretty normal. Before the Germans set foot on their territory, the army would retreat, ensuring that there was not a single living person in the front-line positions.

While the Russians were struggling to receive material support from their allies, the Germans, Austria-Hungary, were already planning their next offensive on the side of the Central Powers.

Of course, it was the Germans who made the plans. For Austria-Hungary, if it was not very necessary, they were no longer going to attack.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire has suffered so many casualties that they have even reached the Russians, and their losses have exceeded those of the Russians.

Of all the great powers, Austria-Hungary was the only one that lost not only a large part of its main army, but also a large part of its territory.

If it weren't for Germany's timely strategic shift, which now crippled a Russian army group and attracted some Russian troops to Austria-Hungary, I am afraid that Austria-Hungary would have been discussing how to surrender.

This dualist state is destined to be unanimous in the face of danger.

In fact, after the Russian occupation of Galicia, the Hungarian government repeatedly asked the Vienna government for help, asking the Vienna government to deploy more troops on the Hungarian border, and even directly drive the Russians out of Galicia to protect the stability of Hungary.

But the Vienna government was also weak at this time, and the defeat of the Galician campaign, Austria-Hungary lost hundreds of thousands of troops, and at this time there was little left of the main army, and it had to face a joint attack by Italy, the Balkan countries and Russia.

If it weren't for the fact that the Italian army was too distant, I'm afraid that Austria-Hungary would have been discussing how to pay war reparations by now.

21 May 1915, Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Conference.

"Your Majesty, this is a counteroffensive plan orchestrated by the Germans. The Germans have already shifted their main forces to the Eastern Front, and they intend to quickly defeat the Russians, withdraw Russia from the war, and relieve the pressure on our Eastern Front. It's just that this counteroffensive plan needs our cooperation. A conservative estimate is that we need to send 500,000 troops. The Chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff, Conrad, handed over a plan of action to the old Emperor Franz and whispered.

If it was at the beginning of the war, for the mighty Austro-Hungarian Empire, 500,000 troops were nothing at all.

But it was already in the middle of the war, and Austria-Hungary had suffered a large number of casualties, and the current total number of troops was just over a million.

In addition to the 100,000 garrisons on the Austro-Italian border and the 300,000 troops on the Bosnian and Serbian borders, there are only more than 600,000 combat troops left in Austria-Hungary and Russia, and Germany's plan of action requires 500,000 troops, which is the vast majority of the forces that Austria-Hungary can mobilize at present.

The old emperor Franz took the document and did not rush to check it, but rubbed his brows and asked: "How many troops has the German side prepared?" What is their battle plan? How do we need to cooperate? ”

For Austria-Hungary at the moment, sending 500,000 troops is equivalent to a desperate gamble. If this German-planned campaign fails, and Austria-Hungary again bears a large number of casualties, it is very likely that the country will be directly destroyed.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire could continue to recruit troops, it was impossible for those recruits to develop a certain combat effectiveness without half a year of training.

What's more, with the Austro-Hungarian Empire losing wars everywhere, the Austrians were okay, and the Hungarians were no longer very supportive of the war.

The Hungarians were already quite dissatisfied with the large amount of war money paid, and if the Hungarians were allowed to contribute money and efforts, I am afraid that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would directly disintegrate.

"Your Majesty, the German side has now gathered more than 1 million troops on the eastern front. Over the next two months, at least 200,000 more troops will arrive at the front. If we are able to dispatch 500,000 troops, the total number of our coalition forces will exceed 2 million, and the number of troops on the Russian side will be suppressed. The Germans were going to break through from East Prussia and Silesia, and they wanted us to go north along the Carpathians, directly encircle the Russian forces in Poland and Galicia, and annihilate them all. The Russian army in some areas was the absolute main force of Russia, and if they were eliminated, the war on the Eastern Front would be won. Chief of Staff Conrad said confidently.

Judging by the data alone, this battle plan is feasible. The Germans claimed that they had received news that Russia was short of supplies, and if this was the case, there was hope for the Russian army to break through and encircle Poland and Galicia.

The German-Austrian army of 2 million against the Russian army of less than 2 million, and the Russian army lacks logistical supplies, it can be won with toe planning.

Franz I did not rush to agree, but frowned at the military's map of the distribution of front-line troops, and fell into a long contemplation.

But this did look like a good opportunity to defeat the Russians, but the problem was that if the Russians were not defeated and the main Russian army escaped, it would be a completely unbearable blow for Austria-Hungary.

This is like a big gamble, everyone is happy if you win, and if you lose the bet, the country may be ruined.

After half a ring, Franz I nodded with a wry smile and finally agreed to the plan of the Germans.

This was the last chance of Austria-Hungary to turn the tables and by far the most promising chance to win the war.

In fact, Austria-Hungary had no choice. Without the Germans inflicting heavy losses and even defeating Russia, Austria-Hungary could not have held out for long under the combined attack of Italy, Russia and the Balkan states, and defeat was only a matter of time.

Unless Austria-Hungary can organize at least 1 million more troops, it will be able to stabilize the current situation on the battlefield.

But the problem is that it will take at least half a year to train and organize an army of 1 million, and in the current situation, neither the Balkan countries nor Russia can give Austria-Hungary more than half a year to develop.

4000 words for the first update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

There will be a change later, about one o'clock.

(End of chapter)