I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 575 Not Rare

Not only did George not want to provide aid, but he wanted the Balkan countries to pay protection fees.

If you don't want to pay protection fees, you can learn from the Kingdom of Bulgaria, fully open up to the Russian Empire, and allow the Russian Empire to station troops. The empire will naturally assume corresponding responsibilities and obligations.

The current situation is that some people want both. They clearly don't have the life of a princess, but they have contracted the princess's disease. This puts George in a difficult position.

From George's point of view, the Russian Empire has helped the Kingdom of Serbia gain independence. Serbia should not be grateful to Russia, but at least it should not demand too much.

However, Peter felt that since the Russian Empire had helped the Kingdom of Serbia to gain independence, why not continue to help Serbia realize its dream of "Greater Serbia".

When the Balkan Alliance was established, George had in-depth exchanges with Putnik, the Minister of Army of the Kingdom of Serbia, on this issue.

Peter I was the king after all, so George had to be more tactful.

Unfortunately, I don’t know whether Peter I had a poor understanding ability or was deliberately pretending to be stupid, but he actually misunderstood George’s refusal as acquiescence.

George didn't have much time to waste on Peter. He had been away from St. Petersburg for several months and had a lot of things piled up. As soon as he saw one Peter off, another Peter lined up at the door, making a seamless transition.

The Black Sea Fleet's Marine Corps played an important role in the Balkan Wars. This past winter, the Baltic Fleet also formed a Marine Corps with a total of two divisions.

Peter set his sights on the Army's armored fighting vehicles.

The biggest problem of the Marine Corps is the lack of heavy weapons and almost no offensive capabilities.

A few years ago, technicians in Vladivostok proposed an idea: since warships made of steel can float on the water, can the same idea be applied to armored vehicles?

Since there was no demand for the Siberian Fleet at the time, this idea remained on paper and was not verified.

Last winter, technicians at the Kronstadt Naval Base conducted a series of experiments and finally succeeded in manufacturing an amphibious armored vehicle.

Peter hopes to equip the Marine Corps with amphibious armored vehicles to enhance the Marine Corps' offensive capabilities.

The armored vehicles of the Russian Empire now have a wide range of weapons. In addition to machine guns, they can also be equipped with artillery, grenade launchers, and flamethrowers.

Armored vehicles can indeed effectively improve the combat effectiveness of the Marine Corps.

The only problem is funding.

This year's funding has been determined, and the destination of every kopeck is clear. If we want to purchase armored vehicles, we can only increase the budget.

The Guards have not yet completed their motorization transformation. Where will George find the funds to purchase armored vehicles?
George was not polite to Peter. He threw up his hands and said, "No money!"

"You are the most powerful Grand Duke Yuriev in the empire, how can you be without money——"

After the Russo-Japanese War, Peter married George's second sister, Catherine the Younger. Now, he often acts disrespectfully in front of George.

George can only say that he committed a sin, as this situation was caused by him alone.

When George read history books in his previous life, he hated his relatives by marriage.

Only now did George realize that marriage was the best way to form an alliance of interests. Peter, Vasily and Andrei either married George's sister or cousin, and the interests between them were unbreakable.

"A full heavy artillery battleship can purchase at least 200 armored vehicles, enough to equip two divisions."

Peter's demands were not high. A division of the Guards was equipped with 120 armored vehicles.

However, the size of the Marine Corps is not as large as that of the Guards, with one division having only 1.2 people.

A Guards division has 1.6 people.

George's eyes rolled and a plan came to his mind.

"I will include it in the budget preparation at the end of the year and start equipping it next year."

If a world war does not break out this year, it will be no problem to put it into service next year.

“How can we wait until next year when the situation is so tense now?”

Peter reminded George that time was of the essence.

"Can the Baltic Fleet defeat the German High Seas Fleet?"

George took the initiative to change the subject.

Peter's expression immediately became awkward.

If George was asking about the German Baltic Fleet, then Peter was indeed confident.

The High Seas Fleet is the main force of the German army, with a total of 17 all-heavy artillery battleships that have been built or are under construction. Germany just passed the "Navy Act of 1914" at the end of last year, and is preparing to start construction of super-dreadnoughts after the "King" class, and will build 5 ships like the "King" class.

To be honest, if George was not reborn in the Russian Empire but in Germany, he might really be able to overthrow the British Empire.

"You are the commander of the Baltic Fleet. Do your job well first."

George did not have high demands on the Baltic Fleet, as long as he could prevent the German army from landing in the Baltic Sea.

The High Seas Fleet is the mission of the Royal Navy.

After scolding Peter away, there were still a dozen people queuing outside George's office waiting to be met by George, and Christie only allocated 15 minutes to each person.

George was very busy, and Nicholas was also busy.

Whether the Russian Empire would carry out deterrent mobilization against the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the focus of most attention among all countries.

In the past two days, another vassal division from East Asia arrived in Bulgaria, and the troops stationed in Bulgaria increased to 7 divisions, with a total strength of more than 10.

After the end of the Balkan War, the Kingdom of Romania and the Kingdom of Greece made major reductions in their military forces, retaining around 10 troops each.

After the mobilization of the Kingdom of Serbia, the total force increased to 30. Together with Montenegro and Albania, the total force of the Balkan League once again exceeded 50, which posed a huge threat to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

George keeps saying that he will not mobilize, but he is constantly sending troops to the Balkan Peninsula. The military supplies stockpiled in Constantinople have filled the docks and warehouses. What on earth do you want to do?
George is a savage and difficult to communicate with.

So the Winter Palace was crowded with people these days, and envoys from various countries came one after another to test Nicholas' attitude.

Gray was helpless. This was his third time in St. Petersburg in the past year.

Grey arrived in St. Petersburg with Field Marshal John French.

John French was born in 1852 and started serving in the army in 1866, which was 48 years ago.

Last November, the Irish National Volunteer Army was established to use force to resist British colonial rule.

John French, then Chief of the British General Staff, dispatched the Culler Cavalry Brigade to suppress the rebellion, but 60 officers, including the brigade commander, would rather retire than go, so John French resigned.

John French's trip was to investigate the mobilization capabilities of the Russian Empire.

Within the Allied Powers, the navy was dominated by Britain, while the army was dominated by the Russian army.

Although the French are obsessed with being the "best army in the world", the fact that they are building a defense line on the Franco-German border fully proves their guilty conscience.

The Russian army performed very poorly in the Russo-Japanese War.

During the Balkan War, the Russian army's performance was amazing. It captured Constantinople quickly and efficiently, and other countries did not even have time to mobilize.

John French was curious about George.

So after John French arrived in St. Petersburg, he did not go to find Nicholas the Younger, but went to the Admiralty to find George under the pretext of inspecting the vassal army.

This is the right person.

The British Army in the Second Boer War was a vassal army composed mainly of British people and colonial soldiers. It hardly participated in the war and only undertook some logistical work.

The course of the war made the whole world fully realize how weak the British army's combat effectiveness was, and the British began to reflect.

All the troops George transferred to Bulgaria were Gao Ri's vassal troops.

This made John French wonder, doesn't George worry about the combat effectiveness of the vassal army?

The main reason why Britain refuses to leave India is India’s human resources.

The British also considered recruiting Indians to form a vassal army, but for some reasons, it was never implemented.

So John French came to George for advice.

"Indians——"

George really didn't dare to say another word.

Although the British Army's performance in the Boer War was poor, it was in line with the true level of the British Army and did not cross the bottom line.

After forming the Indian puppet army, the British people finally realized what it meant to be a piece of rotten wood that could not be plastered on a wall.

George was fearless because the Russian Empire had 500 million capable and warlike Cossacks.

If George is thrown into India, the only people he can rely on are probably the Gurkhas.

But the thing is, the Gurkhas are not British.

Therefore, it is impossible for the British to give Gurkhas real trust. To the British, Gurkhas are just consumables. This is the crux of the problem.

"It's better to rely on Australians than on Indians."

George sincerely suggested.

Australia--

Australia, in particular, is really devoted to its British father. With a total population of 550 million, it recruited 50 people to form the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps to fight in Europe during the First World War. It is worthy of being the eldest son of the British Empire.

Good Er'er.

The big brother of Britain is Canada.

"Australia's population is too small and its potential is limited."

John French doesn't yet know the potential Australia can unleash.

Then there was nothing George could do.

Japan is still under the joint rule of Britain and Russia. London has also learned from the Russian Empire and recruited Japanese to form a vassal army.

The problem is that all Japanese now believe that if it weren't for Britain's fanning the flames, Japan would never have embarked on the path of external expansion. Therefore, it is Britain's fault that Japan has fallen to its current state.

Once the Japanese reach a consensus, it is almost always deeply rooted and unchangeable.

Therefore, the Japanese did not respond positively to Britain's conscription, and even showed strong resistance, so Britain had to give up.

In this situation, if we really give the gun to the Japanese, it is hard to say who they will point the gun at.

John French brought good news to George that the King of England decided to award George the honor of Field Marshal.

George, don't do that. Anyone who shows you kindness for no reason is either a traitor or a thief.

John French was curious, why didn't you want the honor that was offered to you?
Ah--

Who cares!
(End of this chapter)