After the capture of the Ava region, the Russian army did not stop the pace of war, but went straight to the Bosphorus, which is the first gateway to the Black Sea and crucial.

If a few decades ago, it would have been possible to cross the sea directly from Constantinople, but now it is not possible. With the development of artillery technology, it was too easy for shore artillery to block the straits.

The coalition also considered attacking from the Sea of Marmara, but before the outbreak of war, the Ottomans concentrated all their navy.

Austria did not have many warships left in the Sea of Marmara, and it was okay to suppress the Ottoman navy, but it was impossible to destroy them.

In the face of the enemy cowering in the harbor, it is more convenient to fight it on land, and the price to be paid for the navy to rush into the decisive battle is too great.

In the Ava headquarters, Lieutenant General Harroslav, who had made meritorious contributions, reported in a low voice: "Your Excellency, the attack on the front has been blocked, and the enemy's resistance is too fierce.

They even disguised themselves as old and weak women and children very despicably, so that our army could relax their vigilance and launch a sneak attack again. The front-line troops were making slow progress and requested support from airship bombardment teams. ”

What is "disguised as old and weak women and children", it is clearly the old and weak women and children. The makeup skills of these years are not so awesome, and the difference in body shape still can't be hidden.

With the propaganda of the Sudanese government, the Russian army has turned into a cannibal, and the people have long been mobilized, either voluntarily or forced, and these people have caused a lot of trouble for the Russian army.

Admiral Ivanov glared fiercely, and his dissatisfaction was overflowing: "Waste, could it be that without the airship unit, our soldiers would not have fought?"

Tell the front-line troops that the airship troops are not their nannies, and they have to find their own way to fight their own battles.

Now the airship unit is carrying out strategic bombing missions, which is related to the entire war situation, and it is not specifically for them to wipe their butts. ”

The size of the Austrian airship force is somewhat, and even if they are all sent, there are only a few people, and while carrying out strategic bombing, there is simply not enough troops to support the Russian army on the front line.

Ivanov was able to become the commander of the Russian army, but he was not afraid of being in the top position, and his strategic vision was still not lacking.

In terms of the overall situation of the war, it is much more important to bomb the Ottoman cities now, weaken the enemy's war potential, blow up the roads and bridges along the way, and increase the pressure on the enemy's logistical supplies.

If you just stare at the battlefield in front of you, you will be stupid and hard, and you will collide all the way. Not to mention 150,000 Russian troops, even if it is 1.5 million Russian troops, there will not be many people left in the end.

Ivanov still takes a very high opinion of Lieutenant General Harroslav's subordinates, otherwise he would be able to let him go home to retire in the matter of Ava, how could he stay and make meritorious contributions?

Ivanov knew very well that the war in the Near East was seen by many as a good opportunity for gilding, and that the 150,000-strong Russian army was mixed with a large number of connections.

I wanted to ask for help at every turn, and most of it was done by the officer of the related household. If the Austrian airship unit was under his command, Ivanov would also be happy to sell his favors.

Unfortunately, this time the two sides were in separate commands. Since the Russian army insisted on launching the Black Sea Strait Attack, the General Headquarters of the Coalition Forces has been completely reduced to a logistics office + relationship coordination committee.

Now both sides are fighting their own battles, and joint operations do not exist. Austria's cooperation was also limited to providing them with logistics and, if necessary, ships to transport troops.

There was no problem with this mode of command, the Austrian army was fighting in the Middle East, and the Russian army was fighting the Asia Minor peninsula, and the two places were far apart and could not be united.

Forget it about the airship troops, because of the asymmetry of information, there were accidents that accidentally injured friendly troops in the first few cooperations, and the two sides even had a big quarrel.

Then, Arest completely released the Russians, no matter how the Russian army fought, they pretended not to see it. All the airship units were sent out to carry out strategic bombing, far from the front line.

Distance produces beauty, and without the cooperation of the airship troops, the Russian army immediately misses the advantage of having someone to cooperate with. The airship unit may not be able to kill many enemies and destroy many fortifications, but it is very important in breaking the hearts and minds of the enemy.

According to past experience, no matter how fierce the resistance of the Ottoman army was, as long as a few bombs fell from the sky, the morale dropped by a notch in an instant.

It is impossible for Ivanov to admit that the Russian army will not be able to fight without the help of Austria, so he can only go on with it. Moreover, the strategic bombing carried out by the airship unit is also beneficial to the entire battlefield.

Lieutenant General Harroslav explained: "Your Excellency, the casualties of our army have indeed been somewhat large recently, and the casualties in the last two days have exceeded a thousand.

At such a great cost, we can only advance more than ten kilometers a day, and with the casualties of the Battle of Ava, the casualties of our army have exceeded 8,000.

At the current pace, it will take at least a month to conquer the Bosphorus. The casualties that need to be paid can be in the tens of thousands.

This is already beyond our capacity, and the Bosphorus is only the beginning, and it is only a small step from the first stage of the strategic mission.

If this situation is not changed, we will not be able to win this war with our current forces. Even if the country can continue to increase its troops, there are still many problems that need to be involved. ”

If the enemy is not desperate, the battle will naturally be difficult to fight. In just over a week, the Russian army has set a record of defeating 58,000 enemy troops, annihilating 12,000 enemy troops, and capturing 836 enemy troops.

The fact that there are so few prisoners is the result of propaganda by the Sudanese government. The Ottoman soldiers thought that the Russian army would be wiped out, and naturally they would not surrender.

The captured prisoners were basically the results of the previous landing battles. Since news of the massacre of Ava spread, Ottoman soldiers rarely surrendered again.

The enemy chose to fight to the end, and the number of Russian casualties inevitably rose. At present, the Russian army has suffered more than 8,000 casualties, including more than 2,000 killed in battle, and even if they receive effective treatment, only half of them can return to the battlefield in the end.

Ivanov shook his head: "I also know these situations, but it still doesn't work. The airship units were not our army, and the command was in the hands of the Austrians.

The headquarters of the coalition forces was still in Constantinople, and there was no intention of moving the nest at all. Even if we coordinated, we would have to send someone back to Constantinople first.

How long does it take to go back and forth? Every time you come like this, how will you fight the battle in the future?

We had a clear agreement with Austria that now it would be enough to ask them for help once or twice, and if we needed their help for the whole war if we were to be victorious, it would not be so simple.

Countries look at interests among themselves, and no one will blindly give. Behind every request for help, there is a price to pay, and these are the interests that should belong to the Russian Empire. ”

Anything that involves politics becomes more than simple. The stabbing between allies, both sides did not do less.

It's just embarrassing that the Austrians are more obscure, and they can't grasp the handle at all on the surface; On the contrary, it was the tsarist government that did the work, and many things were caught right.

These open and secret battles, the people below are not clear, Ivanov has already been in contact. For the sake of interests, these contradictions and conflicts have been suppressed by both sides.

But the estrangement has been buried, today you plot against me, tomorrow I plot against you, almost every time a contradiction arises, the relationship between the two countries is even farther away.

The Vienna government refused to renew the contract, and the tsarist government did not jump out to accuse, that is, because Austria had too many tricks to catch it, and it was unreasonable to fight with words.

These things are not exposed, or hello, hello, hello, everyone, once the lid is lifted, the rest of the matter will not end well, at least the hostility between the two countries is indispensable.

The high-level intrigue directly pitted the officers and soldiers below. Otherwise, even if there is a shortage of airship troops, can't the Vienna government replenish it?

It cannot be said that Austria does not even have a single airship reserve, only the one hundred and twenty airships on the front.

You must know that the Austrian airship unit has existed for more than ten years, and for such a long time, there are naturally many airships that have been retired halfway, and these airships have not been dismantled and sold for scrap metal, and are still sealed.

It can be activated at any time if the Vienna government so wishes. Anyway, the Ottomans did not have anti-aircraft firepower, and even if the airship was a little worse in performance, it would not be a big problem to bomb the enemy.

It is not impossible to change this situation, as long as the tsarist government is willing to bow its head, or is willing to pay a certain price, it can achieve its goal.

Unfortunately, this can only be wishful thinking. In this war in the Near East, the two countries joined forces solely because of interests. Since interests are involved, there is no way to compromise on many issues.

How could it be possible to give in to the casualties of a few soldiers, who were not seen by the tsarist government at all?

The fire of war on the front line is still burning, and the Russian soldiers rush forward one after another to fight hard with the Ottomans, and the two sides are fighting in the dark.

St. Petersburg was also not calm, and since the receipt of the election of the king in the Polish Parliament, the tsarist government could not sit still.

The facts are in front of us, and there is not even a strong rival for William I in this election, and there is no suspense about victory.

Once Poland and Prussia were re-crowned, the union of the two countries was bound to become even closer, and it was even possible to merge into a single state.

The tsarist government led to the tightening of the union of the two countries, and the existence of the Russian Empire put heavy pressure on the ruling classes of the two countries, and the people of insight in both countries knew that only by uniting could they have the strength to fight the Russians.

This is not something that can be resisted by individuals, and it was the intervention of the Great Powers that prevented all of this from happening. After all, after the Russo-Prussian War, the Russian Empire was somewhat miserable, and the tsarist government looked like it could collapse at any moment.

Britain, France and Austria did not want to add a share of the cake to the table, so they strongly interfered in the election of the Polish throne and kicked William I out of the game as soon as possible. Not to be outdone, the Prussians simply pushed the revolutionaries to power and secretly supported the revolutionaries in preventing the election to the throne.

The delay in resolving the Polish throne was the result of the joint intervention of all parties. Now the situation has changed, and no one expected that after the reforms of Alexander II, the Russian Empire would be restored so quickly.

It may not be as strong as it was at its peak, but it is much stronger than Prussia and Poland now. If the combined national strength is calculated, the Russians are almost twice as large as Prussia + Poland combined.

This action of the Berlin government was also forced. Without the annexation of the Kingdom of Poland, then the war that followed was almost doomed.

After the reforms of Alexander II, the Russian Empire was much more solid. There is no panic in the heart of having food in hand, even if it is painful in the agricultural crisis, but in the war years this is an advantage.

The tsarist government was able to manage the fed, and the gray cattle had a fighting ability. If you want to consume the Russians, don't be funny, the tsarist government hasn't retreated to Moscow yet?

No matter how many battles were lost at the front, the tsarist government with food in its hands would not collapse. After the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, Alexander II gritted his teeth and directly collected grain as taxes, turning this grain into a strategic reserve, which was the root cause of the tsarist government's financial bankruptcy.

Otherwise, after the tax reform, so many moths have been cleaned up. Even if a large area of territory was lost, the tsarist government's financial revenues should have exceeded before, how could it be about to go bankrupt?

Glancing at the crowd, Alexander II asked, "What do you think of Wilhelm I jumping out to fight for the Polish throne at this time?" ”

The tsar was also not easy to do, and from the beginning of his accession to the throne, Alexander II did not have a good life for a few days.

Because of his misjudgment, he tried to limit Austria at the beginning of his succession and ignored the threat of the Kingdom of Prussia, which led to the current unfavorable situation, and the internal criticism has not stopped.

If it weren't for Alexander II's political skill, he would have been ousted long ago. The change of the tsar did not happen in the Russian Empire.

The last example was Peter III, who also happened to be pro-Pu. Alexander II clearly learned his lesson and decisively chose to beat Prussia, and despite losing the war, he retained the throne.

As long as the tsar can see the inside of the government, and the people at the bottom can fill their stomachs, they will not rebel because of the defeat in the war.

Foreign Secretary Chris Basham: "Your Majesty, the Prussians are acting at this time in connection with the current international situation.

Napoleon III died of illness, and the French government was caught in the whirlpool of power struggles, and for a short time there was no energy to participate in international affairs. As long as the Prussians are willing to pay a certain price, it is not difficult to keep the French on the sidelines.

With the cooling of Russian-Austrian relations, the Vienna government did not have the idea of supporting Prussia to contain us. Even if it doesn't exist now, it will be in the future.

Right now. A large part of our and Austria's energies were held back in the war in the Near East, and if the Prussians were willing to pay a lot of money, the Viennese government might acquiesce in their actions.

After leveling the two countries, it will not be difficult to convince the British. Even if the London government was against it, it would not send troops to intervene.

If Britain, France and Austria do not intervene, even if we send troops to intervene, the Prussians will not let go, which will inevitably lead to a new war.

We are not ready, the war in the near East has held back another part of our strength, and now the outbreak of war is very unfavorable to us. The Prussians must have seen this opportunity before taking the opportunity. ”

After Chris Basham's brush, the matter is clear. Unfortunately, although there was a solution, the decision-making power was not in the hands of the tsarist government.

If France and Austria do not take action, they alone will not be able to intimidate the Prussians at all. They are all enemies anyway, and the Berlin government doesn't care what they think.

……

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