I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 622 Regret
After the outbreak of the war, Adrianople's economy not only did not fall into depression, but became more prosperous. The most intuitive feeling was that the city's area became larger and larger, and its population increased.

Unlike most cities built along rivers, Adrianople was built around railways. Two railways, one vertical and one horizontal, pass through the city center. A highway connecting Constantinople and Sofia through Adrianople is also under construction.

This is the world's first expressway.

During the process of urban expansion, the Adrianople City Government strictly followed the designer's plan and equipped each community with complete infrastructure, including parks, hospitals, schools, shopping malls, churches, etc. The two new communities built last year also planned theaters and public libraries.

Today, Adrianople has become the most attractive city in the Balkans and is known as the "City of Paradise".

Being in the city of paradise, Prime Minister Alexander is really under a lot of pressure. His Peasant Party is still the largest party in the Bulgarian Parliament, but he has lost control of the parliament. Some members of the Peasant Party have also begun to be dissatisfied with his conservatism.

A month ago, a proposal by Vladimir, leader of the Great Bulgarian Party, had a serious impact on Alexander's prestige.

Vladimir demanded the annexation of the Kingdom of Serbia, the Kingdom of Montenegro, and Albania to establish the United Kingdom of Greater Bulgaria, and demanded the return of the territories lost in the Second Balkan War from the Kingdom of Romania and the Kingdom of Greece.

This proposal was strongly supported by many members of parliament.

Vladimir is the mayor of Adrianople, and he is also the cousin of Polis.

Vladimir's father was Catherine's second brother Julian, who was once the largest engineering contractor in Adrianople. The Adrianople Parliament Building and the Royal Palace in Polis were both built under the supervision of Vladimir.

After the Bulgarian Kingdom moved its capital to Adrianople, Vladimir became the mayor of Adrianople and founded the Great Bulgaria Party.

The Great Bulgaria Party is currently the second largest party in the Bulgarian Parliament.

Although Vladimir's proposal was very tempting, it was not passed by the Bulgarian Parliament.

Vladimir was disappointed and joined other opposition parties in demanding new elections in an attempt to force the plan through.

"Sir, I understand your feelings, but we cannot do that. We cannot repeat the mistakes of the Second Balkan War."

Alexander was worried that if the "Greater Bulgaria" proposal was passed, it would arouse opposition from all Balkan countries.

"Serbia is finished. Ferdinand of Romania is your Majesty's father-in-law. Our troops are stationed in Montenegro and Albania. This is a golden opportunity. Who would oppose us? Who dares!"

Vladimir is full of dominance, and with George in Constantinople, who dares to oppose Bulgaria?
Greece?
After the establishment of Greater Bulgaria, Georgy should immediately come to Adrianople to pay homage, otherwise the Kingdom of Greece will also be annexed by Greater Bulgaria.

Vladimir: That’s not even talking about Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"Our most important task now is to win the war."

Alexander was worried that the establishment of Greater Bulgaria would affect the cooperation of the Balkan League.

"Winning the war is the Grand Duke's mission, and this opportunity was created for us by the Grand Duke!"

Vladimir really disliked Alexander's conservatism, and wasting opportunities would bring divine punishment.

"Is this what the Grand Duke meant?"

After all, Alexander lacked the ambition that a prime minister of a great country should have.

This is understandable.

Before becoming prime minister, Alexander was a newspaper editor. The reason he became prime minister was not because of his outstanding abilities, but because he had devoted the first half of his life to safeguarding the interests of farmers, which coincided with Bulgaria's national policy at the time.

The reason why the Peasant Party became the largest party in the Bulgarian Parliament was not because its program was so attractive, but because Bulgaria lacked competitive political parties at that time, so the Peasant Party became the only dominant party.

The Great Bulgarian Party founded by Vladimir had the program of restoring the largest territory in the history of the Bulgarian Kingdom and unifying the Balkan Peninsula.

Compared with the program of the Peasant Party, the program of the Great Bulgaria Party is obviously more attractive.

Many MPs from the Peasant Party were also attracted by the program of the Great Bulgaria Party. If there were a re-election now, many MPs from the Peasant Party would probably directly join the Great Bulgaria Party.

"The Grand Duke is the Grand Duke of the Russian Empire and he would certainly not say that, but the Grand Duke would be disappointed if we did not seize this opportunity."

Vladimir was indifferent, and anyone who prevented the formation of Greater Bulgaria had to be eliminated.

Alexander was not sure if this was what George meant, so after Polis returned to Adrianople, Alexander took the initiative to come to the palace.

Vladimir was one step faster than Alexander.

"If we can annex Bosnia and Herzegovina, why don't we annex Croatia as well?"

Vladimir had a big appetite, and Croatia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

"Uncle Vova, Croatia will belong to Petrograd, and we will only take what we deserve."

Polis is not greedy and is already very satisfied to have taken over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"The Grand Duke should go to Petrograd. The Empire is big enough!"

Vladimir thought that as long as George asked, Nikolai would agree to George's request.

Alexander was horrified when he heard this, but he couldn't help but let his imagination run wild.

If all this could really be achieved, Alexander would be willing to die now.

Polis still respected Alexander and asked him what he thought about the matter.

"We should not make unreasonable demands on the Grand Duke and Petrograd—" Alexander sticks to his duties, which is his strength and weakness.

“What’s unreasonable about these requests?”

Vladimir carried the parliamentary dispute into the palace.

"Your Majesty, if you insist, I will have no choice but to resign."

Alexander did not want to become the public enemy of the Balkans.

"If you really want to resign, submit your resignation to Congress."

Vladimir refused to keep the prime minister, so he resigned, which was a good opportunity for new elections.

"Uncle Vova—"

Before Boris could stop him, his tone became accusatory.

Polis was still very satisfied with Alexander. Except for being a little conservative, Alexander was impeccable.

Vladimir failed to drive Alexander away, left the reception room in Polis, and turned to look for Catherine.

Catherine was accompanying Elizabeth, who was pregnant.

The efforts of Boris and Elizabeth were fruitful. Just now, the doctor confirmed that Elizabeth was pregnant, and Catherine had arranged for someone to send telegrams to George and Ferdinand respectively to announce the good news.

"Great, we must conquer Croatia as a gift for the children."

Vladimir hoped that Elizabeth was pregnant with a son so that Polis could focus all his energy on external expansion.

“Where is Croatia?”

Catherine wanted to give all the treasures in the world to her great-grandson.

Vladimir took the opportunity to severely accuse Alexander.

"Parliament has the power to depose the king? How can this be possible!"

Catherine was very angry and such a parliament should be dissolved.

"Yes, so we must not only hold new elections, but also amend the constitution to strengthen the royal power and limit the power of parliament."

Vladimir threw a full set of combination punches and received full praise from Ekaterina.

"Just do it, now!"

Catherine decided to go to Constantinople and ask George to give greater support to Polis.

George doesn't know that a fire is about to break out in the backyard. Mackensen seems to have found a way to deal with the armored vehicles, and Vasily and Andrei are making slow progress.

Armored vehicles have very high requirements for the environment, but the area near the Tisza River is densely covered with water networks and swamps, which brings many difficulties to the advancement of armored vehicles.

Vasily's attack was thwarted and he was furious. He ordered his troops to intensify the attack and launch the most violent attack on Mackensen's Corps even without the cover of armored vehicles.

The battle was brutal. Within 48 hours, both the German and Russian armies suffered losses of more than 2 men.

George could still accept this level of loss.

Just now, Hindenburg deployed 17 divisions to launch the Second Battle of Warsaw.

Although Nicholas the Younger personally served as the commander-in-chief of the Northern Front, he did not bring any fundamental improvements to the Northern Front.

Hindenburg took the risk of using cavalry to conduct a large-scale penetration to divide and encircle the Russian 27th Army.

In the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes, the 27th Army suffered heavy losses but was not replenished in time.

Faced with the frenzied attack of the German Army, the 27th Army was unable to resist and most of it was annihilated. The Northern Front was also defeated across the board. Finally, Nicholas the Younger realized the strength of Ruzynski.

When Ruzynski was the commander-in-chief of the Northern Front, he was able to fight back and forth with Hindenburg. Although he did not gain much advantage, he did not suffer a complete defeat, and he was always able to push back in the end.

Hindenburg was well prepared this time. The German army assembled more than 1000 artillery pieces and used bombers to bomb Warsaw.

Russian fighter planes were dispatched frantically and engaged in fierce air battles with the German army. The largest air battle since the outbreak of the war broke out over Warsaw. The Northern Front was in a state of emergency. Nicholas the Younger sent telegrams to Joffre and Haig, who had just become the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, hoping that the British and French forces would launch an attack on the German army on the Western Front to tie down the German forces.

What young Nicholas did not expect was that Joffre and Haig did not respond to his request immediately.

Little Nicholas was so angry that he started cursing, but this could not save the Russian army from defeat.

When the German army was implementing the "Schlieffen Plan", Nicholas the Younger ordered Zhilinsky to invade Germany and force the German army to retreat to defend, and Moltke the Younger's plan failed.

Now it was the Russian Empire's turn to need the help of the British and French forces, but Joffre and Haig began to play dead.

Little Nicholas was filled with grief and indignation, and regretted his actions.

(End of this chapter)