I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 624 Extinction
Before the war broke out, George had fantasized whether the Russian Empire could escape this disaster.

Now it seems that George's preparations were not completely useless, but they were also completely unable to save the empire.

In this case, George can't just hang himself on a tree. He must at least start making preparations for both scenarios.

There is no need to worry about the retreat. Even if Amur cannot be defended, George can still retreat to East Indies.

The outlet of the Black Sea is the third cave George prepared for himself.

After Yankov invaded the Anatolian Peninsula, most of the Ottomans in the occupied areas were killed or fled, with only one in ten surviving.

George could give part of the Asia Minor Peninsula to Greece, but no one would be allowed to get their hands on the Black Sea outlet.

Even if the Russian Empire no longer existed, George could still leave the Black Sea outlet to Polis.

Georgy did not dwell too much on the issue of access to the Black Sea. He was already satisfied with getting part of the Anatolian Peninsula.

The only problem now is that the mobilization of the Kingdom of Greece and the Kingdom of Romania will not be completed until September at the latest.

Until then, little Nicholas can only wish for the best.

Hindenburg did not give young Nicholas a chance to breathe. This time he made sufficient preparations. After besieging Warsaw, he did not stop and continued to attack northwards.

Another serious consequence of the Northern Front's complete defeat was that the Western Front's flank was completely exposed.

Alexeev was forced to retreat and handed over the recently captured Przemyśl Fortress to Ludendorff.

At this point, all the advantages gained by the Russian army through the Silesian Campaign had been lost.

5月，第11集团军和第12、13集团军会师，战线拉长到600公里。

The weakness of von Bilo and Mackensen's insufficient manpower was infinitely magnified.

On May 5, the 2th Army captured Sarajevo.

Subsequently, the 12th Army led by Vasily finally broke through Mackensen's defense line at the cost of 6 people.

Mackensen was not much better off. The 10th Army he led suffered heavy casualties. Four of the five divisions were crippled, more than half of the troops were lost. After retreating to Budapest, Mackensen regrouped his forces, and only less than three of the five divisions under his command were left.

This is also thanks to the German 10nd Guards Division for withstanding the repeated and frenzied attacks by the Gao Ri Corps, otherwise the th Army would have been surrounded and annihilated at the Tisza River.

The Austrian Fifth Army, which cooperated with Mackensen in the battle, was not so lucky.

Before the Battle of the Tisza River, the Austrian Fifth Army had been supplemented and its total strength reached 15, which was equivalent to the 13th Army led by Andre.

After the battle started, Andre seized the opportunity and ordered the Sakhalin 10nd Division, which was mainly composed of Japanese soldiers, to break into the junction of the positions of the German th Army and the Austrian th Army.

The 2nd Sakhalin Division was then besieged by the German and Austrian armies and suffered heavy losses.

Division commander Zakharov requested to retreat, but was strictly prohibited by Andrei.

After Andre diverted the Austrian army's attention to the 2nd Sakhalin Division, he concentrated his superior forces to make a breakthrough from the right wing of the Fifth Army.

The Fifth Army was divided and surrounded, its commander-in-chief, Wobel, was killed in West, and its chief of staff, Tenerau, led the remaining troops to surrender to Andre.

Before George had time to send a congratulatory message to Vasily and Andrei, bad news came from Minsk.

On May 5, Warsaw fell.

Warsaw was the most important city of Imperial Russia in the direction of Germany. After the fall of Warsaw, the Russian Northern Front and Western Front were also isolated.

In order to avoid being divided and surrounded, the Northern and Western Fronts retreated 150 kilometers before they stabilized their defense line after the fall of Warsaw.

At this time, the defense line had already penetrated deep into Russian territory.

After the fall of Warsaw, Nicholas could no longer shelter little Nicholas.

On June 6, Nicholas Jr. was forced to resign.

Nicholas did not approve it immediately.

In the entire Russian Empire, the only people Nicholas could truly trust were George and little Nicholas.

George was unable to extricate himself from the three-front war in the Balkan theater.

After Nicholas Jr. resigns, who can replace him and take charge of the European battlefield?

At present, the person most likely to replace Nicholas Jr. is the Chief of General Staff Sukhomlinov.

At this most critical moment, a scandal about Sukhomlinov suddenly broke out in Petrograd.

Long before Nicholas the Younger resigned, the scandal of Sukhomlinov's corruption was spreading in Petrograd.

On June 6, Lieutenant Colonel Matravich, a logistics officer of the General Staff, publicly disclosed evidence of Sukhomlinov's corruption to the St. Petersburg Daily, saying that Sukhomlinov had a huge amount of money stored in Deutsche Bank. As soon as the news came out, Petrograd was completely detonated.

After the outbreak of the war, the Russian army's successive defeats on the front lines had already made all Russians furious.

The Russian army has suffered losses of more than 250 million people so far.

At the end of last year, the Russian army counted its losses and found that they were only 150 million.

Just halfway through June this year, Russian military losses have exceeded 100 million.

Considering the breakthroughs made by the Russian army in the Balkans and the Anatolian Peninsula, the Russians could still accept the losses on the European battlefield.

Now there is a scandal that the Russian Chief of General Staff has huge deposits in Germany, which is unacceptable to everyone.

The Russian and German armies are at war.

Even if you have deposits in the UK or France, why do you have to keep them in Deutsche Bank?
Sukhomlinov had no way to defend himself.

If you say that the money is in Britain or France, Nicholas will have to give an explanation to Britain and France as soon as he sends a telegram.

How to prove the existence of Deutsche Bank?

If Nicholas asked William II, William II might reply: Yes, yes, not only Sukhomlinov has deposits in Deutsche Bank, but also Grand Duke Nikolayevich and Grand Duke Yuriev -

What to do then?
Even little Nicholas and George should retreat together?

Sukhomlinov was unable to prove his innocence and was forced to resign.

Nicholas also did not approve.

Although Sukhomlinov could not prove himself, the evidence provided by Lieutenant Colonel Matravich could not be confirmed either.

At this critical moment, it is a joke to replace the Chief of General Staff based solely on the one-sided statement of Lieutenant Colonel Matravic.

George was in no mood to pay attention to the soap opera in Petrograd. After defeating Mackensen's Corps, the Russian army headed straight for Budapest, which attracted Falkenhayn's strong attention.

On June 6, the second batch of reinforcements sent by Falkenhayn arrived in Budapest.

Also in June, after two months of preparation, the British and French forces finally launched an attack on the German army.

This time the attack was much ado about nothing. The Anglo-French coalition sent a total of 6.5 troops. The British sent all British-Indian troops, while the French sent foreign legions.

After Mackensen's Corps was defeated, von Bilow's Corps also retreated and took the initiative to move closer to Budapest.

George telegraphed Brusinov, asking him not to prevent von Bilow's corps from joining forces with Mackensen's corps and to turn the direction of the attack towards Romania.

At this time, Bosnia and Herzegovina had been completely taken over by Brusinov.

On June 6, King Peter I of Serbia died in Petrograd.

What George didn't expect was that after Peter I's death, a guy claiming to be Peter I's nephew suddenly appeared in London and claimed that he had the right to inherit the Serbian king.

What’s even more amazing is that this guy was immediately recognized by the UK.

Demeter reminded George that this man must be a puppet of the British.

Do I need to be reminded of this?
Even if this man was really Peter I's nephew, he was not qualified to be the King of Serbia.

The era when a few European countries could hold a meeting and randomly pick a prince to become king in a Balkan country is gone forever.

George sent a telegram to London, asking someone who claimed to have the right to inherit the Serbian king to come to Belgrade to take charge of the situation.

August hurried to George's headquarters and asked George about his real purpose.

"Let him come. How can the King of Serbia be enthroned in London——"

George didn't deny it either. If he wanted to be king, he had to pay a price.

The price may be life.

"I bring a statement from General Mišić that General Mišić and the remaining Serbian troops wish to invite King Boris of Bulgaria to become King of Serbia."

August brought what George needed most.

How can you become the King of Serbia without the consent of the Serbian people?

The Serbian king and crown prince were killed one after another, and the Karadjordjevic family was extinct. As the supreme commander of the Serbian army, Mišić was qualified to choose a new king for Serbia.

As for how this statement came about and whether Mihich was willing to make it, it doesn't matter.

(End of this chapter)