The railway is extending step by step, because there are the railways built by the original Russia, whether it is Warsaw, or Kiev, they are all big cities in Russia, they are all through the railway, just to renovate, replace these railways with German rails, for some roadbeds, bridges, tunnels and the like, to strengthen and widen, so that down, the amount of labor is greatly reduced, the speed of construction is also increasing, it is expected that by the end of September 1915, the railway from East Prussia to Constanta will be basically through.

Although it is only a single line, it uses more than 50 kilograms of heavy rail, and the capacity and speed of the railway are much faster than the previous railway, which is enough to support a large-scale transportation of troops to Constanta.

After 10 days of analysis, the German General Staff finally determined the final route of attack, Sochi, which is the closest route to Constanta, from which the distance in a straight line does not exceed 800 kilometers, as long as it is at an average speed of about 14 knots, that is, a maximum of 40 hours, it is possible to cross the Black Sea and land at the other end.

As an internal city of Russia, Sochi is much less tightly defended than Batumi and Sukhumi, as long as the landing fleet arrives, under the attack of shallow water heavy gunboats, it can be quickly conquered, which is also one of the most important reasons for deciding Sochi.

As for the danger near the Kerch Strait, after careful study by the Admiralty, it will choose to pass through the Crimean Peninsula at night, which will minimize the possibility of exposure, and as for the relationship between the Russian threat, after investigation, they found that the Black Sea Fleet is relatively strong, but it has not entered the Kerch Strait, as long as the right time is chosen and the Kerch Strait is blocked with submarines, it can play a role in guarantee. With the current 42 submarines of 200 tons and 18 submarines of more than 1,100 tons, it is enough to completely block the Kerch Strait.

It was in this way that the Germans chose the most radical and fastest northern route, and sent the telegram to Roddick with their personnel.

Black Sea shores. The Black Sea in Asia, near the Middle East, is only slightly cold after October, but it is not frozen, and the relationship between the seaside and the warm sea breeze makes the air here quite good, which is in stark contrast to the cold of the interior of Europe and Russia.

After several months of construction. To be precise, it is an assembly, only a simple dock, using China's sectional construction method, using the method of electric welding, it is impossible to develop the real computer-aided production of sectional construction here, but this is only a simple ship of less than 1000 tons, and there is no need to sail in such a bad environment on the sea, and the seaworthiness and other characteristics can be reduced to a minimum. As long as there are enough steps and processes, there is generally nothing wrong with that.

Germany needed enough ships. China is the only way to produce enough ships in a short period of time by weight, and the German landing must be sudden, as long as it can transport enough people, from the current German-controlled Constanta to Sochi, the straight-line distance is only a few hundred kilometers. In the relatively calm Black Sea, ordinary ships can pass, and at a speed of 480 kilometers per day, 2 days is enough to complete, as long as the time is right. It was night when passing through the Crimean Peninsula, so it was just right, and the time to arrive in Sochi would also be daytime, which was the most suitable place for landing.

The German side, which was anxious to attack the other side of the North Sea, did not let Turkey cooperate for the time being, but through the liaison officer, asked Turkey to start a war on another section of the Black Sea and strive to occupy Batumi.

Such a request has caused a lot of controversy at the top level of Turkey, and most of the high-ranking officials are unwilling to fight against Russia, and they have a shadow in the face of Russia, but when the German liaison officer revealed in a meeting that next, Germany may attack the Crimea, or even the Black Sea coast, to resist the main force of the Russian army, and then Turkey is tempted.

In the 9 Turkish-Russian wars, Turkey lost its land, and now Germany will take action on the Black Sea coast, maybe as long as the land in the north, then this part of the land close to Turkey is only the current Russian defenders, so the difficulty of conquering is extremely small, even if it doesn't work, Germany also promised to help attack it, as long as there are some valuable places, the rest, will be handed over to Turkey.

Although it was not revealed in the official talks, Germany's credibility is very high, and the recovery of the territory of this station is a huge temptation for Turkey, once, in the age of sailing, the Ottoman Empire, at its peak, had 5.5 million square kilometers of land, spanning Europe, Asia and Africa, but now, just over 1 million, almost less than eighty percent of the country, many of which were taken by Russia.

Of course, for Turkey, the greatest loss of blood is still in the Balkans, these lands that originally belonged to Turkey were replaced by independent states, and because these countries were not long established, they fought against each other, which also caused chaos in the Balkans, which directly led to the First World War.

It's just that now, including Austria-Hungary and Germany, they all have interests in the Balkans, and they do not support or oppose Turkey's approach, and Turkey itself has no ability to capture the Balkans, so it can only put it aside first, and it is also a good choice to recover these lands located on the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.

In this time and space, due to the emergence of the northwest, the construction of the 3B railway and the support and promotion of the northwest, Germany had the confidence to preemptively strike in advance, and first opened the European war, as the fuse of the Balkans and Austria-Hungary, did not become the fuse and victim, and the main position of the war was also placed in Europe, not the Balkans, in the face of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Italy, many countries in the Balkans, did not join the Entente in the group, but began to compete with each other, For Turkey, there is still the possibility of retraction, as long as it is strong and stronger, there is still the possibility of retraction.

After almost half a year of preparation, finally, in October 1915, with enough ships, finally completed, Germany launched an attack on the Black Sea coast almost without hesitation, and the first target, of course, was Sochi. This city, which had only just become a settlement at the beginning of the 20th century, was a Russian attempt to resist Turkey, and its proximity to the interior and its defenses were not too strong, making it the best target.

More than 80 gunboats, 4 shallow water heavy gunboats, more than 30 destroyers, and nearly 100 submarines, this is almost the strongest fleet that Germany can provide, as an inland sea, a country around the inland sea, has the ability to build battleships, but unfortunately this construction, except for Turkey, is completely useless, battleships are almost impossible to appear on the Black Sea, especially for Russia, because the Black Sea access to the sea, is controlled by Turkey, the Black Sea to the west through the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, The Dardanelles is connected to the Mediterranean Sea, whether it is the Bosphorus Strait or the Dardanelles, it is not too wide, and it is in the hinterland of Turkey, between the two straits, it is Istanbul, unless Turkey is really completely destroyed, and the Black Sea wants to come out, it is impossible.

In order to fight a decisive battle with Turkey, battleships were arranged in the Black Sea Fleet, and because of the Russo-Japanese War in 1906, the losses were almost there, before World War I, with the help of the ambiguity between Britain and Turkey, after leaving, the Black Sea Fleet no longer had battleships, only a few heavy cruisers, but in the face of more than 100 submarines, including a large number of ocean-going attack submarines, the Kerch Strait was actually closed.

In this battle, Germany itself is preparing to pull Turkey along, but now the main force of the Russian Black Sea Fleet is in the Sea of Azov, and there is no way to pass through the Kerch Strait for the time being, although it is impossible for submarines to guard the strait for a long time, and the continuous combat capability of submarines is not strong, especially those of 200 tons.

What Germany has to do is that as long as the speed is fast enough and enough troops are put on it, not too much, 300,000 is enough, Transcaucasia, Georgia, is an important oil-producing area in Russia, and at present, Russia is full of bags, they have no way to take care of it, the total strength is only 120,000, and it is still distributed in many cities, most of which are still second-line troops.

Constance survey port, in the dark night, the first batch of troops set off, this is nearly a hundred submarines of all kinds, even if only 200 tons, but they are still high-spirited, although because of the appearance of sonar, so that the North Atlantic submarine losses are huge, the previous meritorious sea wolf troops, were beaten scattered, but the spirit of the sea wolf still exists, they set off in the dark night, without hesitation, they will block the entire Kerch Strait in batches, and at least hold on to 4 days and nights.

This is a difficult task, as long as the Russian army in Crimea discovers that the German army has crossed the Black Sea, the Russian Black Sea Fleet located in the Sea of Azov will definitely set off, and at that time, even if it is backward to the Black Sea Fleet, the impact on the Kerch Strait will put huge pressure on the submarine forces, not to mention the attack on Sochi, they cannot let a Russian capital ship leave the Sea of Azov, otherwise, the landing force will usher in losses, only when all the troops land, these ships will turn to Turkish waters, and seek the protection of the Turkish fleet, This is considered safe, and 4 days is really not enough.

In any case, they set off, the second group of shallow-water heavy gunboats that departed before the early hours of the morning, they were a little slower, 17 knots below the average speed of the fleet, so they had to depart a few hours earlier, and in the future, after crossing the Crimean Peninsula, the follow-up fleet would catch up with them, and then go to Sochi together, a large-scale landing in the European inland sea, which was about to kick off the battle. (To be continued.) )