Eder is accompanying his wife, who is about to give birth, and the situation in Europe is also irreversible.

After Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July, Russia's military mobilization also changed from a secret state to an operational one, with 1.1 million reservists mobilized into the Russian army.

Faced with Russia's aggressive attitude, Austria-Hungary, which had messed things up, turned to Germany, its most reliable ally, for help. Faced with the huge army that Russia had begun to assemble, Kaiser Wilhelm II convened important ministers to conflate. The next day, after learning that Russia had secretly mobilized for a few days, Germany demanded that Russia cancel its military mobilization on the grounds that it threatened Germany's security, and that it should reply within 12 hours.

Faced with German demands, the Russian government ignored them. So Germany, also signed by Wilhelm II, began its military mobilization on July 31. Military martial law was introduced in Germany, the army stopped taking vacations, servicemen began to return to the barracks, the press was regulated, etc. At the same time, Germany's most important railway system was placed under the jurisdiction of the army.

In response to Germany's response, the French government, which had long regarded it as the greatest threat, began a military mobilization on August 1, while sending additional troops to defend the border with Germany. In fact, the French government had already begun to prepare, and when Russia began to secretly mobilize, France quietly gathered its troops in North Africa to major ports, and Germany's military mobilization allowed France to speed up its movements.

Then came the familiar moment of declaration of war. Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary, Austria-Hungary and Germany on Russia, and France on Germany and Austria-Hungary. Germany invades Belgium and Britain declares war on it. It is worth mentioning here that Italy, with the Treaty of the Three Emperors' Alliance, stipulates that war can only be declared if an ally is attacked, so Italy remains neutral when countries declare war on each other. Even if Italy was neutral, Europe was now already fighting a porridge war, and Romania was now being co-opted by both warring parties.

In the palace, Eder had been completely absent from accompanying his wife, who was about to give birth, and now that the war in Europe had begun, he had been checking the latest news from various countries almost every day to see which of them would be useful to Romania. Now he is summoning the chief of the General Staff, General Prishan, the Minister of War, General Courtois, and other high-ranking military officials in his office to check the latest battle reports.

This is a telegram from the German army in Belgium to capture the fortress of Liege.

As a key point for the defense of Germany by a small Belgian country, the fortress of Liège was built in the last decade of the 19th century, and 12 permanent fortifications were arranged in a ring around the city. The forts were equipped with 252 guns of various calibers and were densely packed with machine-gun firing points and infantry firing holes. Fortified was the Belgian 3rd Infantry Division, which consisted of four brigades and several other combat regiments, with a total strength of about 36,000 men.

The fortress was destroyed by heavy artillery after 10 days of holding off the Germans, and now the telegram was in front of Eder and the Romanian military hierarchy.

"I didn't expect that the current military fortress would be destroyed in a few days, which was unthinkable twenty or thirty years ago."

After reading the telegram, General Courtois, Secretary of the Army, spoke with emotion. You must know that in the Russo-Japanese War ten years ago, it took 5 months and 61,000 casualties to conquer the Arthur Fortress. The Germans took only ten days to conquer the fortress of Liege, and suffered 10,000 casualties before taking this fortified fortress. This made Admiral Courtois sigh that the world is changing too fast, and he is a little out of step with the times.

"Actually, this fortress still works."

Hearing Admiral Courtois's exclamation, Admiral Priej stood up and spoke. "Without this fortress, the Belgian army would not be able to stop it for even ten days, let alone whether he would be able to complete the task of recruiting troops."

In the face of Prishan's words, the army leaders present nodded secretly. In the face of the attack of Germany, the strongest army in Europe, even if the Belgian king Albert sent all his troops over, it was estimated that it would be impossible to resist Germany's "left hook".

"It's just that it costs a lot of manpower and material resources to resist 10 days, isn't it too much to gain and lose?"

Lieutenant General Fereitt, who has only been in the post of director of education in the army for a few months, expressed his considerations in terms of cost performance.

In the past few months, Lieutenant General Fereitt has been cautious in his position as director of education, partly because of his own lack of experience, and partly because he is bent on giving a good result and getting himself to be recognized by his colleagues. Because he knew that if he wanted to continue to be promoted, he had to have a good impression not only in the hearts of the crown prince, but also in the hearts of his colleagues, so he was deeply afraid that he had made a mistake that he should not have.

The high-ranking members of the army present also thought about Lieutenant General Fereitt's words. This can also be used as a reference, and there are also many strategic points in Romania. Previously, because of military spending and external pressure, the army did not invest too much money on these points. Among them, the Minister of the Army, Colonel-General Courtois, and the Chief of the General Staff, Colonel-General Prishan, were most deeply touched on this issue. In their drawer, there is already a full drawer of applications for the construction of fortresses on strategic points.

Eder also said after thinking about Lieutenant General Fereitt's words. "On the question of whether we still have to build a fortress, I think we can reduce the amount of construction. After all, the German army has already demonstrated this problem to us. However, as for the extent of reduction, we still need to let the staff officers make a deduction after General Prisan and General Courtois go back, and we are not rich, and we need to make the most reasonable plan with the least amount of money. ”

Edel paused and continued. "However, the coastal defense fortress still needs to be built, after all, our navy is still too weak, and our port city is also the essence of the area, and there is no room for loss."

Prþsan and Courtois, who were named by Eder, both nodded in agreement with the Crown Prince's words, and Prühlsan also spoke to the Crown Prince. "Your Highness, after we finish the meeting, we will let the staff officers do this, and we will definitely come up with a reasonable plan."

After Admiral Prigsan finished speaking, a group of military top brass looked at the Minister of the Navy, Rear Admiral Lomodan. The two lowest-ranking generals to attend the meeting, even if he was a minister (unfortunately the Admiralty) were Alexander.

In the face of the crown prince's inquiry, Major General Lomodan could only speak after the speech of Prishman. "Your Highness, our Admiralty is mainly doing Varna's coastal defense plan for the current coastal defense fortress, and we plan to purchase 10 specially customized extra-long tube 240 cannons from the arsenal as Varna's coastal defense guns. As for other small ports, we will also prepare five 210 cannons as mobile batteries for defense. ”

After hearing Major General Lomodan's words, Eder asked with concern. "So do you have enough money?"

Eder knew that the navy's funding had been low, and now the pressure on the shore defense was relatively high, so he asked to avoid an unexpected situation.

In the face of the crown prince's inquiry, Major General Lomodan still said very boldly. "The Navy can still afford the funding."

After hearing Rear Admiral Lomodan's words, Eder was still satisfied, at least for now, the navy was sufficient. Just then, a guard came in, and he quietly walked up to the crown prince and whispered. "Your Highness, the King has returned. I heard that the German Ambassador Baslober went to the station to meet the king, and talked with His Majesty alone for a few minutes. ”

When Edel heard this, he spoke quietly to the guards. "I see, you go down."

Eder then continued to discuss with the military hierarchy the impact of the war on the Romanian army. As if indifferent to what he heard, only those who knew him well could see that in the ensuing deliberations, the crown prince had spoken much less.

PS； Regarding the chapter of the previous outbreak, Mantou wants to explain here, this is not a paste copy. This is a condensed collection of information about the book before and after the outbreak of World War I, which was specially bought by Mantou. After reading the steamed buns, I sorted them out by myself. I saw that everyone's reaction was a bit intense.,So the steamed bun doesn't continue to describe in detail.,If you don't like it before, skip it.,The steamed bun is going to be the main Romanian.。