I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 577: Not Afraid of Death, But Afraid of Foreigners

If Kuropatkin had not suffered a crushing defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, he would not have been unemployed until now.

But for the Russian Empire, the cost of verifying whether a general is qualified is too high.

The key point is that George and Nicholas do not agree on the eligibility criteria.

George needed generals who could bring victory to the empire.

Nicholas needed obedient generals.

George's output was very effective. In May, the rebellion in the Galicia region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire escalated into an uprising. The Poles organized a national restoration army and formally declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Nicholas summoned George into the palace and reminded him not to overdo it.

George didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

After the Galician Poles officially raised the banner of "restoration of the nation", the Poles in the Russian Empire and Germany became restless. Zhilinski returned to Warsaw overnight, and Nicholas the Younger also sent reinforcements to Warsaw to take precautions in advance.

Nicholas was worried that George's output would backfire on the Russian Empire and affect the stability of the Warsaw area.

"I wish this would happen sooner."

George wasn't worried.

The war is approaching, and it is a good thing that some hidden dangers of the empire are exposed in advance. Even if it causes temporary chaos, it is better than making things worse during the war.

"George, Warsaw cannot be in chaos—"

Nicholas was horrified, because Warsaw was the Warsaw of the Russian Empire.

"I believe that General Zhilinsky is capable of handling this matter."

George finally said something that made Nicholas happy, which was a recognition of Nicholas' vision.

Nicholas summoned George to the palace because of French President Raymond Poincaré's visit to Russia.

Poincaré planned to lead the French fleet to visit Russia in mid-May. As the Minister of the Navy, George would assist Nicholas in receiving the fleet.

To be honest, George really didn't want to bother with this shit.

If it was the French Army, George would be somewhat interested.

navy--

Does France still have a navy?
Even when facing the Italian Navy, the French Navy was not sure of victory.

Not to mention the German High Seas Fleet.

As an ally of the Russian Empire, what were the French doing when both the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were about to mobilize their entire nations because of the Balkan conflict?

The French are discussing the affair between the former prime minister and his wife.

In 1911, Joseph Caillaud served as Prime Minister of France, but stepped down the following year because of secret negotiations with Germany.

Last year Joseph Kayo was appointed Minister of Finance.

Joseph Caillaud and his wife Henriette Caillaud were both remarried, but they had been together before their marriage.

Joseph Caillaud was from the Radical Socialist Party, so Caston, the editor-in-chief of Le Figaro, who held an opposition stance, launched a fierce attack on Caillaud.

In just three months, Caston published 110 cartoons, anecdotes and articles attacking Joseph Caillaud in Le Figaro; he also published the letters between Caillaud and Henriette Caillaud 13 years ago.

Thirteen years ago, Joseph and Henriette were not married and each had a family.

So this involves extramarital affairs and unethical political dealings.

Caston's actions broke an unwritten rule that a politician's right to privacy is sacrosanct.

So a month ago, Mrs. Caillio broke into Gaston's office with a Browning automatic pistol and fired six shots at Gaston, killing him.

This incident sparked a heated discussion in France. Almost everyone was paying attention to it, and no one noticed that the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire had already begun mobilization. With such an ally, it was difficult for George to believe how much role France could play in the world war.

For George, France was less important than the Balkan Alliance.

Although the Balkan countries have their own thoughts, when it comes to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, their stance is absolutely firm and they are consistent with the Russian Empire.

The French position is more flexible.

Caillaux was not the first French politician to fall from power over his secret contacts with Germany.

It should be noted that the person who activated Caill was the current French President Raymond Poincaré.

Unlike George, Nicholas still attaches great importance to France.

However, what Nicholas valued was not France’s military strength, but its economic strength.

George actually has something to say about this.

Capitalists are the smartest, so even though Paris is all about singing and dancing and being keen on the romantic affairs of politicians, French capitalists must have smelled the smell of gunpowder, so they increased their investment in the Russian Empire.

If they don't invest in the Russian Empire, will they stay in France and wait to be snatched away by the Germans?

"I am going to issue national debt in Britain and France to raise funds for the construction of a new class of all-heavy artillery battleships."

Nicholas just went to England in January, and no one knows what kind of love potion George V gave Nicholas.

But it doesn’t matter. Now that the money is in George’s hands, it’s up to him to decide how to spend it.

George would rather buy amphibious vehicles for the Marine Corps than continue to invest in battleships.

"I plan to build two aircraft carriers for the Baltic Fleet and one for the Mediterranean Fleet."

George hopes that the Russian Empire can train more qualified carrier-based aircraft pilots.

Compared with naval gunners, carrier-based aircraft pilots are more professional, have higher requirements, and take longer to train.

After gaining Constantinople, the Russian Empire had more and more maritime interests to maintain, and it was better to build aircraft carriers than battleships.

After learning about the cost of an aircraft carrier, Nicholas fully supported George's decision.

"Two are not enough, three!"

Three ships will do, one for missions, one for maintenance, and one for training, perfect.

Although French did not get the answer he wanted from George, George still sent a telegram to Vasily, asking Vasily to cooperate with French's investigation within the scope of his authority.

Russia's vassal troops are all in Bulgaria.

French did not stay in St. Petersburg for long. After getting George's permission, French went straight to the Kingdom of Bulgaria.

Vasily has been very angry these days. He has encountered a very troublesome problem. The Koreans and Japanese are a little hesitant when facing Europeans.

The Koreans are fine.

The Japanese had fought against the Cossacks in the Russo-Japanese War, so how could they be afraid of them?

It really does.

The Japanese army, which was extremely brutal in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, was extremely restrained in the Russo-Japanese War. Not only did they not dare to raise their knives against the wounded Russian soldiers, they also did not dare to abuse the surrendered Russian prisoners of war. Even when the Japanese army was starving on the front line, the prisoners of war were guaranteed food rations.

During the training in the Far East, both the Koreans and the Japanese performed well.

After arriving in Bulgaria, the weak side of the Korean and Japanese characters was finally fully exposed.

This problem is not difficult to solve.

Vasily went to Brusinov and asked for the task of executing the death row prisoners. From then on, any death row prisoners to be executed in the Kingdom of Bulgaria would be carried out by the soldiers of the Gaori vassal army.

(End of this chapter)