I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 811 Playing with Fire
Andre is very good at judging people and responding to them. He only talks big to Britain and strikes hard against Italy.

The reason for talking nonsense about Britain is that the Royal Navy is still strong.

What is in the Kingdom of Italy?
Are they going to make the Russian army laugh to death with the Italian army’s poor performance?

If Russia wants to attack Italy, it does not need help from other military regions. One Balkan Military Region is enough.

Vasily traveled to Adrianople urgently after the outbreak of the conflict between Yugoslavia and Italy and took the initiative to ask Polis if he needed help.

This fully demonstrates the deep affection between Russia and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

In order to get the help of the Grand Duchy of Yuriev, Theo took the initiative to open up resources to the Grand Duchy of Yuriev. Gordon almost danced for Alexander and his attitude was as nice as it could be.

The fighting had just broken out in Yugoslavia, and Vasily, the commander of the military region, had no reserve at all and just came over when he smelled the war. It was really undignified.

Polis was calm and did not want to escalate the conflict.

The conflict between the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Italy was not irreconcilable. As long as Italy admitted its mistakes and stopped thinking about all those messy things, Boris had no intention of dragging all Yugoslavs into the war.

Polis has not had an easy time in recent years.

Yugoslavia is a multi-ethnic country with a more complicated domestic situation than Russia. More than 67% of its territory was annexed in the past decade. Most people do not have a high degree of identification with the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Slavs, as the main ethnic group, account for less than 50% of the total population.

Fortunately, the original power structure of Yugoslavia was completely broken by the addition of these territories, which left enough room for Polis to transform these newly added regions according to its own will.

After 10 years of hard work, Yugoslavia's construction began to show results. Boris did not want to interrupt the development momentum of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia because of war.

"No, no, no, you are wrong. Your country is in urgent need of a foreign war to enhance the cohesion and centripetal force of its people."

Vasily spoke frankly that war was not necessarily a bad thing, especially against a rare and good opponent like the Kingdom of Italy.

Although the Kingdom of Italy is not very powerful, it is very famous and is, after all, a permanent member of the League of Nations.

During the World War, the 12 Battles of the Isonzo River between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire caused heavy casualties to the Slovenes and Croats. The Italians were certainly resentful of this, and the Slovenes and Croats were equally unforgettable.

If Yugoslavia could defeat Italy with a resounding victory, it would prompt Slovenes and Croats to strongly identify with the identity of "Yugoslavs".

Boris was surprised. Could a war be fought like this?

"Economic development is important, but national self-confidence is equally important. The Kingdom of Yugoslavia has neither a glorious history nor strong military power. How can Yugoslavs be proud of their identity?"

Vasily lived up to his surname and had a deep understanding of war.

Since the benefits are so great, let’s fight.

Like Polis, Mussolini was not ready to declare war on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Although Lorenzo was jumping up and down in the League of Nations, Italy was actively contacting France, hoping that France would mediate and end the conflict in a decent way.

Mussolini had good intentions, but unfortunately he picked the wrong target.

France is Italy's biggest competitor in the Mediterranean, so the French would rather see Italy in trouble than offer help.

The French were also cunning. Although they had made up their minds not to help, they did not directly reject the Italians, leaving the Italians with enough hope. As a result, Italy missed the best opportunity to end the conflict.

On February 2, the well-prepared Yugoslav army launched a fierce attack on the unprepared Italy, penetrated into Italian territory in one fell swoop, annihilated 21 enemies, and captured as many as 4000.

this--

It has been 10 years since the World War, and the Italians have not made any progress!
When the news reached the League of Nations, Lorenzo had not yet figured out how to admit defeat, so Edward stepped in to mediate the conflict between Italy and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Mediation is necessary. If Italy is completely defeated, it means that most of the Mediterranean will be under Russia's sphere of influence, which is unacceptable to Britain.

If Britain lends a helping hand, it can pull Italy into the British camp, which is beneficial to both Britain and Italy.

Negotiations are not impossible, but we must not lose any territory or pay any compensation.

Lorenzo has a bottom line: compensation is acceptable, but the land must not be ceded.

"If you don't agree, then keep fighting! Fight until one of you completely admits defeat!"

Andrei shouted wildly, Russia hasn't come out yet, and you're not happy about it, is that it?

Lorenzo's face turned as red as a purple eggplant and he couldn't utter a word.

If the Italian army had performed better and not lost so badly, Lorenzo would not have been in such an embarrassing situation.

Not all of Italy's 30-strong army is deployed in Italy. The North African colonies have not yet completely surrendered, and southern Somalia also needs garrisons. Italy is now more empty than ever before. If the Yugoslav army continues to move south, Italy will be in danger of being destroyed.

Kostic decided to quit while he was ahead and demanded that Italy cede the Isonzo River basin to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and pay the Kingdom of Yugoslavia compensation in gold equivalent to 1.5 million rubles as food expenses for 12 prisoners.

And after the redefinition of the border, the Kingdom of Italy shall not station troops within 50 kilometers of the border.

Lorenzo didn't dare to agree to any of them. Negotiations are like this, there are sky-high prices, and there are low prices. As long as the conditions are set, it is a good start.

The key to the negotiations still lies in Russia.

On March 3, Mussolini visited Russia and had a cordial and friendly exchange with Felix.

"Italy agreed to open the port of Catania to us and allowed us to send management personnel to Catania in the name of exchange. At the same time, it also signed a procurement contract with us worth 1 million rubles."

Felix was very happy that Russia had reaped a lot of benefits this time.

George didn't expect that Mussolini would make such a big concession.

This was definitely not the Mussolini George was familiar with.

"There's only one problem left. I have to find out where I can find weapons and ammunition that are about to expire—"

Felix was very proud. No one else could have achieved such a good result.

George could understand it, after all, it was not shameful to lose to Russia.

As long as we don't lose to Yugoslavia.

The hidden danger of doing so is that it would push the Kingdom of Italy completely towards Britain.

The wisest thing for Russia to do is to give the Italians a way out so that Italy can admit defeat in a relatively decent manner.

Although the current result is most beneficial to Russia, it also deepens Italy's hatred towards Russia, which is not worth the loss in the long run.

But this can't be blamed on Felix.

The fence-sitters in Italy are like the idle hooligans in the village who do nothing and always worry about their neighbors' trivial matters. We must strike hard at such people to let them know who they can and cannot mess with.

As for the UK.

If Britain's allies were all like Italy, George would not have to worry about Britain at all.

What George really cares about is America.

The alliance between Germany and Russia did not affect the enthusiasm of American capital to invest in Germany. After the New Year, investment from the United States poured into Germany at an even crazier rate, providing stronger impetus for the development of the German economy.

On the surface, Germany's economy is getting better and better. It has surpassed Britain and France and has once again become the second largest economy in Europe.

However, the German people have not been able to share the dividends of rapid economic development. The gap between the rich and the poor in the country is getting bigger and bigger, and people's lives are still very difficult.

George reminded old Carl to pay attention to domestic conflicts.

"We are trying to make the people understand the true face of the Hebrews—"

Old Carl wanted to divert the blame and use the power of the people to bury the Hebrew community.

The power of the Hebrews in Germany was too great. To completely eradicate this cancer, all Germans had to be mobilized. It would be difficult to eradicate it entirely relying on the Junker aristocracy alone.

The Hebrews are notorious all over the world, but they have not disappeared after wandering for thousands of years. This shows their tenacious vitality, which is comparable to that of the gypsies.

The Hebrews were widely present in all walks of life in Germany and were deeply rooted. If they had taken direct action like they did in Russia, it would have had a huge impact on German society, and the Weimar government did not dare to take the risk.

"Guide it appropriately, and be careful not to let the fire burn too strongly."

George was worried that old Carl would play with fire and get burned.

Mobilizing the people is a double-edged sword. The Russian Empire is a lesson learned from the past. If you are not careful, the entire empire will be buried.

What Old Carl did was right. The key is whether he can control himself.

"If Russia cannot provide Germany with industrial goods at a lower price, we will have to import them from the United States."

Old Carl didn't want to dwell on this issue.

“Increase imports from the United States!”

George took the initiative to add fuel to the fire. The more exports to Germany, the more money American capitalists would invest in expanding productivity.

Old Karl was curious and didn't understand why George handed over the German market of 6000 million people to the United States.

For the sake of Australia, a country with a population of 550 million, Russia is willing to turn against Britain.

Isn't Germany, with a population of 6000 million, worthy of Russia's attention?
George is also playing with fire.

(End of this chapter)