London

The British government, which had finally mustered up the courage and was determined to fight the Russians, was directly confused by Lieutenant General Patrick's telegram asking for help.

Putting down the telegram in his hand, Prime Minister Gladstone asked suspiciously: "Isn't there already 400,000 troops on the front line?" Why do you need reinforcements? ”

It's not that Prime Minister Gladstone is making a fuss, it's really that Britain has never played such a big chess game in its history.

Before the war broke out, more than 400,000 troops had gathered on the front line, and if 20 more infantry divisions were to be reinforced, the total strength would approach the 700,000 mark.

A local war is so big that it is completely beyond the scope of Prime Minister Gladstone's cognition.

Secretary of War Rosario: "Your Excellency, the War Office has carefully studied Lieutenant General Patrick's telegram asking for help, and can basically determine that his request is reasonable.

The Russians are menacing, and according to intelligence, they have invested half a million troops in Central Asia, and the possibility of continuing to increase troops in the future cannot be ruled out.

Because of the distance, the enemy's troop increase will be much faster than ours, and it is necessary to ensure that the front line has sufficient troops.

Otherwise, in the event of an emergency, you can only count on the support of the Viceroyalty of India. IMHO, the Indian Viceroyalty does not have the capacity to deal with contingencies.

In the event of war with the Russians, the Indian region would also become unstable, and maintaining stability in the Indian region was the most important job of the Indian governor.

If you are not prepared in advance, it is irresponsible to suddenly draw too many troops from India to the front line after the outbreak of war.

Secondly, Afghanistan has always been at odds with the Russians, and the locals and Russians have colluded to resist our rule.

Due to the mountainous nature of Afghanistan and the fact that the base camps of the rebel groups are deep in the mountains and forests, our troops in Afghanistan have carried out many encirclement and suppression, but they have not been wiped out.

Once the war with the Russians breaks out, these people will jump out and wreak havoc, and we must leave enough troops to deal with the unexpected situation and prevent them from colluding with the Russians.

……”

There are a lot of reasons, and there is only one way to sum it up, that is, to expand the army quickly, the front line is about to wait.

Although he has always been raised by his mother, the army also has pursuits. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand the armed forces will not be given up by anyone.

Rosario, who was born as a civilian, is naturally aware of the twists and turns, but as Minister of War, his ass has already decided his position.

If the military platform is dismantled at this time, then there is no need to do the rest of the work, and the people below have a way to trap him.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Xiaoji Childers sneered: "Your Excellency, you should know the situation in Afghanistan. To maintain 700,000 troops on the front line, how many people are your War Department prepared to use to ensure logistics?

A million or two million, or three million, or even four million? ”

This is the most real problem, Afghanistan is a landlocked country, and supplies such as food and cloth may be sent out of the Indian Viceroyalty, but weapons and ammunition must be transported from the mainland.

If all the production and transportation personnel are combined, there are not millions of people serving the troops on the front line, and there is simply no way to support a labor expedition of this scale.

War Minister Rosario shook his head: "These problems do exist, but we don't have a choice, do we?"

The Russians don't care if we have difficulties or not, as long as they are ready, the Russian army will come over.

For the sake of India's security, we must take the initiative. If we don't fight the war to defend Afghanistan now, we will have to fight a battle to defend the Ganges River in the future.

As for the difficulties we are facing now, it is not impossible to overcome them, and the last thing we lack is labor.

Directly recruit laborers from India, and the highest part of the labor cost is nothing more than the domestic production and transportation process, and it will be over if you grit your teeth and persevere.

With the financial situation of the Russian Empire, it is impossible for them to fight us for Afghanistan for a long time.

As long as the Russians are defeated once or twice, and they are aware of the difference in strength between the two sides, the rest of the problem will be easy to solve. ”

Throwing money, this is also something that has to be done.

The strength of the Russian Empire is not weak, and the biggest problem is in finances, and Britain, which has deep pockets, has no reason to let go of this obvious loophole, not to fight with them financially, and to run to play Armageddon.

Stud's sudden play of Armageddon seems to be majestic, but in fact, he is dancing with his head on his waist, and once he fails, he will put the national fortune into it.

The sun never sets empire without India, can it still be regarded as an empire on which the sun never sets? I'm afraid that in three or five years, I will have to abdicate and make way for Xian.

This is also the most tangled place for everyone, sending troops and reinforcements is too expensive, and Britain will feel pain in the flesh; Without sending reinforcements, and fearing that the front line would get out of control, the Russians would threaten India's security.

After hesitating for a moment, Prime Minister Gladstone said slowly: "Let's vote collectively and report the final resolution to Parliament for approval by the Senate and the House of Representatives." ”

In situations where the situation is unclear and there is a reluctance to take responsibility alone, collective resolution is undoubtedly the best option.

Even if there is a certain problem with the resolution, it is the result of democracy, which can minimize everyone's responsibility.

As for the cost, of course, the efficiency has decreased a little bit. The cabinet can make a decision right away, but when it comes to parliamentary discussions, no one knows how much time it will take.

However, one thing is certain: as long as the Anglo-Russian war breaks out, the efficiency of the British parliament will also passively increase.

……

St. Petersburg, where good news has been reported at the front in recent times, Alexander III is in a better mood.

The tsar of the fighting nation is also not easy to be, and he must always pay attention to the changes in the battle situation at the front.

In the event of a defeat at the front, the tsar had to deal with the aftermath as soon as possible, so as not to make things bigger and affect his own prestige.

Alexander III asked: "The passage to Afghanistan to the south has been opened, now it depends on the logistics department, how long will it take for you to get the supplies to the front?" ”

Logistics Minister Argent hurriedly replied: "In two months at most, we will be able to deliver all the planned strategic materials to the combat units on the front line." ”

I don't know when it began, going south to India became the most important national policy of the tsarist government, and all the strategic plans were carried out around this core.

At such a critical time, Argent did not dare to discount it. Even if he is dissatisfied with the Russian troops on the front line, he does not dare to do things here.

Otherwise, once something goes wrong on the battlefield, the tsar will also kill people, and even without the tsar doing anything, the domestic interest groups will shut him up forever.

Alexander III frowned, then shook his head: "No, the speed is still too slow."

We are preparing, and the British are not idle. The British parliament is debating the question of whether to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan, and once the enemy's main reinforcements arrive, it will be difficult for the war to end in a short time. ”

There are no secrets in the British Parliament, and any valuable news that comes here will appear in the newspapers of London in the shortest possible time.

It was published in the newspapers, and no matter how weak the intelligence capabilities of the tsarist government were, it would have received this news.

In order to be able to achieve a quick solution and not fall into the stalemate of the Russo-General War, Alexander III of course had to be in a hurry.

After wandering left and right in his heart for a while, Argent gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, in fact, the attack can be advanced.

The troops on the front line are not able to consume all the supplies in a day. Judging from the current material reserves of the troops in Central Asia, they can fully support more than 40 days of continuous operations.

In the meantime, we will have supplies arriving one after another. The actual combat time that the front-line troops can support will be longer.

As long as the front-line troops do not rush forward with merit, our logistics will be able to keep up and there will be no problems. ”

In theory, Argent's statement is not problematic at all.

There is a part of the material reserve on the front line, and the logistics department will transport the materials in batches, as long as the connection is good, there will be no problems, and there is no need to wait for all the materials to be in place.

However, these are theoretical. If it were to be put into practice, it would have to test the organizational skills of the tsarist government.

The military demanded that the war materials be stockpiled for half a year in advance before launching a full-scale offensive, and in addition to the need to rest the troops after the Central Asian war, more people still could not trust the domestic bureaucrats.

If something goes wrong in the transportation process, the supplies are one step slower, or the delivery location is wrong, it is enough to kill a troop.

At that time, even if all the responsible people are pulled out and clicked, it will not be of any value to the overall situation.

After pondering for a while, Alexander III, who was a little tempted, reconfirmed: "Can the logistics department really ensure that the supplies arrive on time?" ”

There is no guarantee, and all those who are engaged in logistics know that there are too many unexpected situations here, especially the force majeure of nature.

Argent replied stubbornly: "The logistics department will try to ensure that most of the supplies arrive on time, and there is no way to guarantee each unit."

In addition to the military informing us of the battle plan in advance, the logistics department made preparations in advance, so that it was possible to keep up with the rhythm of the front-line troops. ”

Listening to this explanation, Alexander III was not sad but happy. As long as the total supply is sufficient, the material of individual units is delayed, and that is an inevitable result.

The battlefield is ever-changing, and today the troops are stationed in the east, tomorrow they may go to the west, and the day after tomorrow they may change places.

In front of the absence of a radio station, once the logistics convoy set off, it could only be chased by horseback if it wanted to make contact, and it was normal that it could not be coordinated.

After a pause, Alexander III said cautiously: "Give you another half a month to send as many supplies as possible to the front line, we can't miss this fighter." ”

Seeing the resolute attitude of the tsar, Marshal Ivanov wanted to speak again and again. He always felt that there was something wrong with it, but he couldn't find what the problem was.

……