I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 668 Eat melon and eat it on your own head
The Balkan theater is doing relatively well, with each division's strength maintained at around 1.5 people.

After the Russian troops on the northern front regrouped, each division had only 1.2 men left, and due to a severe lack of weapons and equipment, the situation of three men sharing one gun finally occurred.

The weapons and equipment of the Russian army on the northern front were confiscated by the Provisional Government and used to arm the troops formed by the Provisional Government.

The problem of weapons is easy to solve, but it is not so easy to form an officer echelon.

Russia's military officers were from the aristocratic class and they did not agree with the Provisional Executive Committee's decision to withdraw from the World War and were very resistant to it.

The world war had lasted for four years, and Russia had lost nearly 10 million people, with countless friends and acquaintances killed in the war. Now the provisional government was going to withdraw from the war in such a disgraceful manner at the mere word of one, which aroused great anger among the officer class.

After the reorganization of the Russian army on the northern front, the number of officers was sufficient to allow them to be used as infantry.

In the army formed by the provisional government, most officers were nominated by the soldiers themselves, and the number of staff officers was particularly scarce. Many of them could not even do basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, so it was extremely difficult for them to calculate the logistical supplies needed for the army.

There are also problems with the training of the troops.

Rifles are easy to use and can be used on the battlefield after simple training.

There is no way to deal with some branches with higher technical content, such as artillery, armored troops and air force.

Due to the lack of technical arms, artillery, especially heavy artillery, the provisional government was seriously insufficient. Many armored vehicles were directly abandoned after being damaged because the soldiers driving them did not know how to repair them.

There is nothing we can do because we don't have the parts needed for repair.

Vasily gave the Provisional Government no chance to breathe. While attacking Tula, he also began his attack on Moscow.

The Provisional Government finally made a mistake and withdrew some troops from Tula back to Moscow.

Vasily seized the opportunity and launched a fierce attack on Tula.

After the reinforcements arrived, the number of troops attacking Tula increased to 20, and the disadvantage in military strength was quickly reduced.

Vasily deployed 1500 artillery pieces, more than half of which were heavy artillery.

Vasily also has 250 armored vehicles. Although the number is not large, they are all new models produced after the second half of last year.

Compared with the previous generation of armored vehicles, the new vehicle has increased the caliber of its artillery from 40 mm to 57 mm, and the thickness of its front armor has also been greatly increased, improving both its firepower and protection capabilities.

As many as 800 bombers carried out bombing missions on Tula every day. The Tula Arsenal, which was protected by the Provisional Government, had been completely destroyed. The Provisional Government's defense line was also severely damaged, and it had to retreat to the city of Tula to prepare for street fighting with the Second Army.

On the 22nd, Vasily issued an ultimatum to the Tula defenders, demanding that they surrender within 24 hours, otherwise they would suffer a devastating blow.

When Vasily issued his ultimatum, Nicholas the Younger was presiding over the liquidation in St. Petersburg.

After Nicholas abdicated, two governments coexisted in St. Petersburg, with one taking over and the other taking over, creating a chaotic situation.

In the eyes of little Nicholas, all the people of St. Petersburg were guilty, and even if every person died once, it would not be enough to satisfy their hatred.

As Nicholas the Younger's adjutant, Alexander came to St. Petersburg with Nicholas the Younger.

After the recapture of St. Petersburg, Peter led the Baltic Fleet along the Baltic Sea to sweep through the Russian cities occupied by Germany; Mannerheim led the Finnish army towards Moscow to assist Vasily in encircling the Second Provisional Government.

St. Petersburg is still under martial law, and the commander of the Baltic Fleet is Yuri.

Little Nicholas and Alexander were greeted by the wine merchant Yuri.

Over the past year, even in the most dangerous times, Yuri did not leave St. Petersburg. As the chairman of the St. Petersburg Wine Merchants Union, he became a supplier to the Provisional Government and the Provisional Executive Committee.

The current St. Petersburg is very unfamiliar to little Nicholas and Alexander.

Yuri is familiar with every corner of St. Petersburg.

What disappointed little Nicholas was that, in Yuri's words, all that was left in St. Petersburg were "poor creatures."

When Nicholas abdicated, those who did not accept the Provisional Government left St. Petersburg and went far away. This group of people were mainly nobles.

After the Provisional Government was overthrown, a group of bourgeoisie who supported the Provisional Government fled, and the rest were supporters of the Provisional Executive Committee.

But these supporters are not all rebels. Most of them are people who are being coerced or are lower-class people without funds.

Little Nicholas ordered the sailors to search for the rebels house by house.

This job is actually very easy to do.

As the capital of the empire, St. Petersburg is home to countless dignitaries. Even the grand dukes stationed outside the city have mansions in St. Petersburg.

During the rule of the Provisional Government, St. Petersburg remained relatively orderly and private property was not greatly damaged.

After the Provisional Government was overthrown, especially after the Provisional Executive Committee declared the Romanov family guilty, order in St. Petersburg fell into complete chaos, and even the civilians of St. Petersburg joined in the feast of division.

If sailors found items that did not belong to them in civilian homes, they would be treated severely as mutineers.

This work is very easy to identify. For example, the items used in the Yuriev Palace, including a handkerchief, have the Yuriev family emblem on them, which is very eye-catching.

Under normal circumstances, items from the Yuriev Palace would not appear in civilian homes.

If it appears, whether it is bought or picked up, it is a grab.

What little Nicholas didn't expect was that this work had just begun, and a person who made little Nicholas unexpected also came to St. Petersburg. After the provisional government was overthrown, Kerensky disguised himself as a woman and fled, and then went to Paris.

After George's uprising, Kerensky, as the Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, called on all Russians to unite and eliminate German spies who served German interests.

This is really laughable.

During Nicholas's time, the Provisional Government attacked Alex as a "German spy", and even Nicholas himself became the "number one spy".

Now Kerensky attacked the Provisional Executive Committee with "spies", as if he regarded "spies" as a magic weapon to defeat the enemy.

You know what, Kerensky's tricks actually found a market in Russia, allowing him to fool a group of officers and soldiers who tried to establish the merit of "following the dragon" and form a "government army."

All weapons and equipment for this 8000-man army were provided by the British.

On the 25th, Kerensky returned to St. Petersburg in the name of Prime Minister and demanded the restoration of power of the Provisional Government.

Little Nicholas received Kerensky at Tsarskoye Selo.

Little Nicholas's home was completely destroyed after being robbed and set on fire.

The Winter Palace was also severely damaged due to frequent fighting.

On the contrary, the Imperial Village located in the suburbs did not suffer much loss because it was far away from St. Petersburg.

The so-called "not much loss" means that the main building was not damaged and all property was missing.

After Nicholas abdicated, he was imprisoned in Tsarskoye Selo for eight months, during which time Kerensky visited him many times.

Because Kerensky behaved very gently in front of Nicholas, Nicholas thought Kerensky was a good man and hoped that Kerensky "had more power."

Little Nicholas received Kerensky in the Tsar's reception room, which used to be decorated with crystal chandeliers, covered with brightly colored handmade carpets, and had portraits of successive tsars on the walls, as well as masterpieces collected by successive tsars.

Now all these things have disappeared, and little Nicholas only had a chair placed in the reception room.

This chair, of course, was not prepared for Kerensky.

Kerensky remained gentle and graceful, ready to use his eloquence.

But his tricks lost their appeal with little Nicholas.

It was because of these that Kerensky gained the trust of many people, including the Tsar.

It cannot be said that the current situation in Russia is entirely Kerensky’s responsibility.

Even if Kerensky was responsible for only 10% of it, it would be enough for Nicholas the Younger to hang him 100 times.

"Where did you hide His Majesty?"

When little Nicholas saw Kerensky, he shouted at him.

"Your Majesty has lived here without any harassment while I was in charge of St. Petersburg."

What Kerensky meant was that not only should little Nicholas not blame him, but he should be grateful to him for protecting Nicholas' family.

"Ha! You hypocrite, wait and see how I expose you——"

There are both witnesses and evidence of little Nicholas, so there is no need to worry about Kerensky's excuses.

The person invited by Little Nicholas was Kotzebue, the chief guard who was in charge of the security of the Tsarskoye Selo. Kotzebue's brother had long served as Little Nicholas' adjutant, and Little Nicholas knew everyone in the family.

"Grand Duke, part of what he said is correct. Your Majesty's family has indeed been living here. However, they are not undisturbed, but imprisoned here."

Kotzebue glared at Kerensky, his hand remaining on the holster at his waist.

"That's not imprisonment, that's protection! You all know the situation in St. Petersburg at that time. If the Tsar was not protected, would the Provisional Executive Committee let him go?"

Kerensky was panicked and only then realized that returning to St. Petersburg was a huge mistake.

This cannot be blamed on Kerensky; it was his self-confidence that ruined him.

After all, he was the one who could say, "I can't feed you, but I can let you die gloriously in battle." Kerensky's brain circuit structure was different from that of ordinary people.

"Since you want to protect Nikki, why don't you send Nikki abroad, or to Constantinople?"

Little Nicholas spoke sharply.

"We contacted Britain and Denmark respectively, but neither country was willing to accept the Tsar—"

Kerensky tried hard to argue that the Tsar's family was a hot potato and no one was willing to take over.

"I also considered sending the Tsar to Constantinople, but that would be like harming Grand Duke Yuriev."

Kerensky did not seem to notice that Alexander, dressed in a lieutenant's uniform, was standing next to little Nicholas.

Compared to when he killed Rasputin, Alexander had changed a lot. Not only was his temperament different, but he even didn't shave because he was so busy during that time.

Alexander, who was watching the fun, didn't expect that he would end up eating the melon himself: What do you mean by that?
(End of this chapter)