Chapter 629 Note
The fighting on the front line did not stop because of the negotiations. Andrei seemed to be stimulated by something and fired 1.5 artillery shells at Budapest in one day. Fires broke out in many places in the city, which was strongly protested by Tisza István.

What even George didn't expect was that someone brought a note to Andre, asking Andre to stop shelling Budapest.

The note was delivered by an attendant general and was said to have been sent from Nicholas's headquarters.

Andrei sent someone to give the note to George, and George could tell at a glance that the note was definitely not written by Nicholas.

George was familiar with Nicholas' handwriting, and Nicholas would not give orders in such a crude way.

The key note not only contained grammatical errors, but also spelling errors, which certainly could not have happened to Nicola.

"That's why I had to retire from the Guards."

Demeter knew who had done this.

This note called "God's will" must have been sent from the base camp, but it was not written by Nicholas, nor was it even the will of Queen Alex. It came from the mysterious Grand Elder Rasputin.

This was the first time such a note appeared in the Balkans.

But in St. Petersburg, such notes have become seriously rampant, not only bringing benefits to countless people, but even affecting the appointment of important positions.

Rasputin once wrote a note to Mosolov, the head of the Palace Affairs Office, hoping to get a woman to become a soloist at the Royal Opera House.

Earlier this year, the Empress had sought a position for Protopopov, a nobleman from Novy Birsk, and soon after, Protopopov was appointed Minister of the Interior.

The incredible thing about this matter is that before the Queen sought a position for Protopopov, she had never summoned Protopopov and knew nothing about him.

George really didn't know that the Queen's influence on St. Petersburg had reached such a serious level.

It would be fine if it only affected St. Petersburg.

Now the Queen and Rasputin were trying to reach out to the front line, and George would never allow it.

George sent a telegram to Nicholas, asking what the note was about?

Nicholas called George back and downplayed the note as a "technical error."

"Everyone in St. Petersburg wants to kill Rasputin, but he is under the strict protection of the queen. The queen has equipped him with four military cars and guards from the palace. He lives at No. 64 Grokhovaya Street, which is called the Little Winter Palace by the people of St. Petersburg—"

Demeter was completely disappointed with St. Petersburg, or rather with Nicholas, and when he talked about these things, he was indifferent, as if they had nothing to do with him.

Demeter was right, George also wanted to kill Rasputin.

After Crown Prince Alexei returned from Amur, his condition was under control for a while. Rasputin fell out of favor and was forced to leave St. Petersburg and return to his hometown.

After the outbreak of the war, in order to strengthen the medical force on the front line, Alexei's personal health care team was sent to the front-line hospital, and Rasputin returned to St. Petersburg again.

Not only George, almost all the nobles in St. Petersburg wanted to kill Rasputin. Little Nicholas had repeatedly claimed that as long as he saw Rasputin appear in his base camp, he would hang Rasputin.

Rasputin was smart enough to stay in St. Petersburg and never leave.

Demeter didn't know much about the queen, and Anne explained to George why Alex had such a serious mental dependence on Rasputin.

"Sani was very lonely in St. Petersburg. The nobles of St. Petersburg did not like Sani and thought that she had brought disaster to the Romanov family. In some ways, Sani was a very stubborn person."

Anne's description was very tactful. Alex's problem could not be explained by "stubbornness".

Alex is like a rebellious little girl. The more people around her forbid her to do something, the more she insists on doing it.

It is understandable that this kind of rebellion appears in teenage girls.

The problem is that Alex is already 43 years old and she is still the Empress of the Empire.

George couldn't control Alex, and Andrei didn't stop the shelling of Budapest. The negotiations in St. Petersburg did not go smoothly. Nicholas gradually became disappointed with the negotiations and left St. Petersburg with Alexei to inspect the front line.

This patrol started from Riga on the Baltic Sea coast and lasted for three months to the Black Sea.

During the inspection, the command of the Russian army on the northern front was taken over by General Yanuszkiewicz, the former president of the General Staff Academy who succeeded Sukhomlinov as the chief of the general staff. After taking over the defense line, Yanuszkiewicz actively organized the defense and prepared to counterattack the German army and recapture Warsaw.

Hindenburg was also shrinking his defenses and voluntarily ceding some areas to the Russian army.

This action was immediately publicized by St. Petersburg as a great victory for the Tsar on the front line.

Well, battle reports can lie, but battle lines can't.

On the front line, the Russian army took back some areas occupied by the German army, but this had nothing to do with Nicholas.

Under the rule of the Russian Empire, Poland rebelled repeatedly and was the most unstable region of the Russian Empire.

Poland didn't fare much better under German rule.

During the rule of the Russian Empire, some conciliatory policies were implemented in Poland, including taxation, and the people were not living in dire straits as the Austrians had claimed.

Before the outbreak of the war, Germany had to import large amounts of grain from Russia every year to meet domestic consumption.

Now that trade between the two countries had completely ceased, Germany began to import grain from the United States at higher prices.

When importing from the United States, you either have to pay in U.S. dollars or directly use gold.

Germany does not have much foreign exchange reserves, and once the gold is exhausted, Germany will be forced to withdraw from the war.

Therefore, Germany's exploitation of Poland was more severe than that of the Russian Empire.

This is why Hindenburg retreated on the defensive, wanting to use more troops to suppress resistance in various places.

There were also remnants of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Bosnia and Herzegovina occupied by the Russian-Bulgarian coalition forces, especially in the southern mountainous areas, where some remnants of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were still entrenched and had not been eliminated.

Stamboliski, who came from the Peasant Party, was very good at working with peasants and knew what the peasants wanted most.

After the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary began negotiations, rumors spread in Bosnia and Herzegovina that the land that had been distributed to the peasants would be taken back by the Austro-Hungarian Empire once the Russian-Bulgarian coalition forces withdrew.

The news immediately caused panic in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In Sarajevo, where Archduke Ferdinand and his wife died, Stambolijski met with peasant representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Although they are said to be representatives of peasants, they are actually the aristocracy and landlord class, because only they have the organizational and appeal capabilities.

During the land distribution process in the previous stage, the nobles and landlords who were unwilling to cooperate were liquidated one after another. Not only was all the land distributed to the peasants, but all their property was also confiscated.

Smart nobles and landlords will adopt a cooperative attitude and actively participate in the new round of wealth and power distribution.

Ilovich, who was from Teslichi, studied in France in his youth. After the outbreak of the war, he took the initiative to provide assistance to the Russian-Bulgarian coalition forces and was commended by Brusinov.

Ilovich firmly opposed the peace talks between the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. He and other members of the delegation voluntarily joined the Kingdom of Bulgaria and no longer accepted the rule of the Kingdom of Hungary.

"Whether we are Serbs or Bosniaks, we are all Slavs. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, we are a foreign race and have never been trusted or accepted by the Emperor of Vienna. The King of Hungary imposes heavy taxes on us. We are the only region in the Kingdom of Hungary that requires military service. If Your Majesty is unwilling to protect us, we would rather go to the mountains and become savages than be ruled by the Austrians and Hungarians again!"

Ilovich was resolute and his words resonated strongly with all the peasant representatives.

"That's right, we want to join the Kingdom of Bulgaria!"

"We volunteered!"

"We need the protection of Grand Duke Yuriev—"

The inappropriate behavior of the young man caused a slight awkwardness in the meeting room, which was then drowned out by enthusiastic cheers of "Ura".

If you can't speak, don't speak.

(End of this chapter)

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