I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 554: Queen Mother, Grand Queen Mother

Both were princes, both joined the army at a young age, and both were from countries with similar strength, such as Germany and Russia. Since George became famous in the Russo-Japanese War, Frederick has often been compared with George in all aspects.

However, there is a big gap between Friedrich and George. George is now a marshal, while Friedrich is only a major, almost the same as Nicholas.

Nicholas still has some integrity and his current military rank is still colonel.

The Russo-Japanese War was just a small test for George, while the Balkan War was the real breakthrough.

The Russian Empire entered the war on September 9, and the Ottoman Empire surrendered on October 25. It took George only half a month to fulfill the centuries-old dream of the Russians.

In such a short period of time, even if other countries wanted to intervene, it was too late. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had not even completed its mobilization, and the Balkan War was over. It was so fast that it was hard to keep up.

The core idea of ​​the "Schlieffen Plan" is actually speed. The German army must defeat France before the Russian Empire completes mobilization, and then there is a possibility of winning the final victory.

After the end of the Balkan War, the Germans had begun to adjust the Schlieffen Plan and reassess the mobilization capabilities of the Russian Empire.

Previously, European countries generally believed that it would take the Russian Empire at least eight months to complete mobilization.

After the Balkan Wars, European countries were surprised to find that the Russian Empire had not mobilized at all, which was an almost impossible task.

The arrival of the reinforcements George transferred from East Asia to the Kingdom of Bulgaria exposed the true strength of the Russian Empire.

The Russian Empire has been disarming since George began military reforms.

This gave European countries the illusion that the Russian Empire had no intention of starting a war.

This matter was a coincidence. George originally wanted to paralyze the German-Austrian alliance, but he didn't expect that it was the Ottoman Empire that fell into the trap.

Just half a year before the outbreak of the Balkan War, the Ottoman Empire also disbanded part of its troops.

Unlike the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire laid off 7 guards.

George cut down the local troops with poor combat effectiveness, but not only did he not cut down the Guards, but he continued to strengthen them.

The Ottoman Empire actually cut down the Guards——

George didn't know what this idea was.

After two years of adjustments, the size of the Russian Imperial Guards is now about 40 people.

If mobilized, the size of the force can be increased to 160 million in a short period of time.

These 160 million are veterans who retired within three years and Cossacks who have received military training since childhood.

It should be noted that 160 million was not the limit of the Russian Empire, this was just the first mobilization.

So in general, European countries will take mobilized troops into account when measuring the strength of the Russian Empire.

Originally, European countries believed that the Russian Empire could only mobilize 160 million troops.

Now with Korea and Japan added in, the Russian Empire actually has more than 100 million troops that can be mobilized, not counting the mobilized troops, which is far beyond the estimates of European countries.

Since the iceberg under the sea has been exposed, George didn't mind exposing more, so in this Rovno exercise, the armored forces conducted infantry combat coordination exercises in front of observers from various countries.

Come on, the Russian Empire not only had 40 powerful Guards.

There are still 60 vassal troops that can be mobilized in the Far East.

There were over a million Cossacks in the Russian Empire ready to be recruited by the Tsar at any time.

Seeing that the Russian army, which has always been criticized for its backward equipment and conservatism, has actually begun to practice infantry combat coordination, there are many things worth reviewing in this Rovno exercise for observers from various countries.

George is not worried about triggering "Russophobia". In George's view, the Russian Empire is something to be feared, not liked.

2300 million square kilometers (after annexing the Black Sea estuary), 1.55 million people (data from 1912), the world's largest grain output, the world's richest resources -

If you are not afraid, come!

After the exercise, George and little Nicholas returned to St. Petersburg together.

Nicholas has been a little obsessed during this period. He studies the sand table sent by George every day. Today he adds a royal village in Constantinople, and tomorrow he builds a palace in Rhodes. He never gets tired of it.

Constantinople is OK.

Rhodes Island is not a good option because it is too close to the Ottoman Empire. The Romanov family has been a single-line family for two generations by Alexei's time, which is too dangerous for the royal family. Nicholas and Alexei have now lost their freedom to travel.

When Nicholas first got married, he was able to take the opportunity to travel abroad every year.

After Alexei was diagnosed with hemophilia, everyone in the empire hoped that Nicholas and Alex would have another son, but unfortunately they never did.

Alexei's illness tortured Nikolai and Alex so much that they were exhausted and had no mood to have children.

"Next winter, let's go to Constantinople for vacation together—" Nicholas has been in a good mood since the end of the Balkan War.

"It will take at least ten years to see the complete Constantinople."

George warned Nicholas not to be too optimistic.

If it was just a palace, it would only take a few months to build. All the hard work would be spent on decorative carvings, and there would be no upper limit. The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, built by Yasan to commemorate the assassination of Yasser, took a total of 24 years.

Constantinople was rebuilt on the ruins, and Nicholas took out 1 million rubles from his private treasury with a stroke of his pen, which was also a huge loss for Nicholas.

That's fine, it's better to use Nicholas' private treasury to rebuild Constantinople than to have it confiscated.

"It doesn't matter, we are still young and can wait!"

Nicholas is very optimistic about the future. He is only 44 years old this year, which is indeed very young for a monarch.

Nicholas was quite good to George. While he was building the Tsarskoye Selo, he did not forget to give George some land, which was right next to the Tsarskoye Selo and only slightly smaller in area.

George now has very low material desires. Even though he is already a marshal, he still wears a Guards uniform all day long, does not wear any medals, and never touches the field marshal's dress uniform.

In the past, George would wear a formal dress when attending court banquets out of politeness.

Now that George has completely let himself go, no one says that George is dishonorable. Instead, everyone speaks in unison, praising George for his noble character.

George just haha, he still likes others to treat him as a barbarian.

After returning from Vladivostok, Alexei's health condition improved greatly. His headaches and insomnia improved significantly, and he has not had any attacks in the past six months.

Anne assigned a medical team to Alexei, and this medical team is currently in the Winter Palace. While taking care of Alexei, they are also responsible for the health of Nikolai's family.

Rasputin fell out of favor and was placed in a monastery outside St. Petersburg, which was another safety line.

Back at her home, Anne inquired about Boris's situation.

In Varna, Polis awarded medals to pilots who had made outstanding contributions in the Balkan Wars.

In North Africa, the Air Force was only trying its hand.

In the Balkan Wars, the Air Force was the real stunner.

Traditionally, a fleet cannot fight against an artillery battery. During the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese Combined Fleet was taught a lesson by the Vladivostok artillery battery.

During the Balkan Wars, the Ottoman Empire's artillery batteries in the Bosphorus Strait were completely destroyed by the Russian Air Force, paving the way for subsequent landings.

The bombing of Constantinople destroyed the Ottoman Sultan's will to resist.

During the ten Russo-Turkish wars, Constantinople had never been directly attacked by the Russian army. When the Ottoman Empire was at its worst, the Russian army only approached Constantinople. No matter how the war turned out, the Sultan's safety was guaranteed.

In this situation, the Ottoman Sultan's attitude towards war is certainly to accept all comers. After all, if he cannot win, there is always the joint intervention of European countries.

When the Russian Air Force bombed Constantinople, it focused on the Ottoman Sultan's palace as its primary target. The Sultan's safety was seriously threatened, which was also the main reason why the Sultan surrendered quickly.

Boris was very generous and prepared the Order of Asbaruch for all Russian pilots who participated in the war.

In the 6th century AD, the Slavs came to Bulgaria and merged with the Bulgars led by Asparuk to form Bulgaria.

"Asbarukh" is the first medal designed by Polis for Bulgaria. There are four levels in total. The first-level large ribbon is made of gold inlaid with diamonds, the second-level collar badge is made of gold inlaid with gems, the third-level chest badge is made of gold, and the fourth-level sword badge is only used for the emblem of the Yuriev family.

All Russian pilots who participated in the war received medals of the second, third and fourth classes according to their merits. So far, only Brusinov has received the first class grand ribbon.

Brusinov has concluded his work in Burgas, all the participants in the rebellion have been arrested and their property has been confiscated.

In addition to awarding medals, Boris also took the initiative to send a signal to the pilots that if the pilots are willing to stay, they will become the first veterans of the Bulgarian Air Force.

Instead of completely disarming, Bulgaria disbanded its old army and formed a new one, which was more in line with the interests of the Kingdom of Bulgaria.

The Air Force and Navy are the focus of the Bulgarian Kingdom's new army formation. Limited by the financial situation of the Bulgarian Kingdom, the scale of neither will be too large at present. Although large warships will not be built, aircraft can still be afforded.

After defeating the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Bulgaria changed from the front line against the Ottoman Empire to the rear base against the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The role of airplanes became very important at this time.

In the event of war, the Kingdoms of Serbia and Romania, along with Montenegro and Albania, were the front lines against Austria-Hungary.

The Kingdom of Bulgaria could provide support to the front line from the rear with its air force.

This was a tactic George had devised for the post-Balkan League era.

After Boris became the King of Bulgaria, not only did Anne give Boris a sum of money, but Catherine, who was far away in Vladivostok, also auctioned off her own private collection and raised a large sum of money for her eldest grandson, who then gave the money directly to all Bulgarians.

This is the real loser.

(End of this chapter)