Romanian Eagle

Edel is accompanying his soon-to-be-born wife, and the situation in Europe is unfolding irreversibly.

After the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia on July 28, Russia's military mobilization also changed from a secret state to a clear view of the operation, and 1.1 million reserve soldiers were mobilized by Russia into the army.

In the face of Russia's poking attitude, Austria-Hungary, which screwed up, turned to its most reliable ally, Germany, for help. Facing the huge army that began to assemble in Russia, Kaiser Wilhelm II summoned important ministers to discuss. After learning that Russia had been mobilizing secretly for a few days, Germany the next day asked Russia to cancel the military mobilization, on the grounds that Russia's military mobilization threatened Germany's security, and to reply within 12 hours.

In the face of German demands, the Russian government ignored them. So Germany, under the signature of Wilhelm II, began military mobilization on July 31. Military martial law began in Germany, the army stopped taking vacations, the soldiers began to return to the barracks, the news was controlled, etc. At the same time, Germany's most important railway system was also placed under the jurisdiction of the army.

In the face of Germany's reaction, the French government, which has always regarded it as the biggest threat, also began military mobilization on August 1, and at the same time sent additional troops to defend the border with Germany. In fact, the French government has already begun preparations. When Russia began to secretly mobilize, France quietly assembled its troops in North Africa to major ports, and Germany's military mobilization allowed France to speed up its actions.

Then came the familiar declaration of war moment. Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary, Austria-Hungary and Germany declared war on Russia, and France declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. Germany invades Belgium and Britain declares war on it. It is worth mentioning here that Italy, the Italian government stipulates in the Treaty of the Three Emperors Alliance that war can only be declared when attacked and only allies are attacked, so Italy remains neutral when countries declare war on each other. Even if Italy is neutral, Europe has already started a war that has been porridge, and Romania is also drawn by the warring parties at this time.

In the palace, Eder has completely neglected to accompany his wife who is about to give birth. Now after the start of the European war, he is checking the latest news from various countries almost every day to see which one of them can be useful to Romania. Now he is summoning the chief of the general staff, General Preshan, the Minister of the Army, General Courtois and other senior military officials in the office to check the latest battle report together.

This is a telegram of the German army conquering the Liege Fortress in Belgium.

The Liege Fortress is also well-known in Europe today. As a key point for the small Belgian country to defend against Germany, in the last 10 years of the 19th century, huge manpower and material resources were spent to build the Liege Fortress. 12 permanent fortifications were arranged in a circle around the city. These forts are equipped with 252 artillery pieces of various calibers, and are densely populated with machine gun fire points and infantry firing holes. Holding the fortress was the Belgian 3rd Infantry Division, which consisted of 4 brigades and several other combat regiments with a total strength of about 36,000 troops.

The fortress was destroyed by heavy artillery after holding back the Germans for 10 days, and now this telegram is in front of Eder and the Romanian military high-ranking.

"I didn't expect that the current military fortress was destroyed in a few days. It was unimaginable 20 or 30 years ago."

After reading the telegram, General Courtois, Minister of the Army, said with emotion. You must know that in the Russo-Japanese War ten years ago, the Lushun Fortress took 5 months and 61,000 casualties to conquer. The German army took only ten days to conquer the Lieyang Fortress, and it took 10,000 casualties to take this strong fortress. This made Admiral Courtois sigh that the world is changing too fast, and he is a little behind the times.

"Actually, this fortress is still functioning."

Hearing the sigh of Admiral Courtois, Admiral Priest stood up and spoke. "Without this fortress, the Belgian army would not be able to stop it for ten days, let alone whether he would be able to complete the task of conscripting the army."

In the face of Pulishan,

All the senior army officers present here nodded secretly. In the face of the attack of Germany, the most powerful army in Europe, even the Belgian King Albert sent all his troops over, and it is estimated that it is impossible to resist Germany's "left hook".

"It just took a huge amount of human and material resources to resist for 10 days. Isn't it too much to lose?"

Lieutenant General Freiit, who has only been serving as the director of military education for a few months, expressed his consideration in terms of cost-effectiveness.

In the past few months, Lieutenant General Freiette has been cautious in his role as director of education. One is that he has no experience, and the other is that he is determined to give a good grade and let him get other colleagues. recognition. Because he knows that if he wants to continue his promotion, he must not only have a good impression in the crown prince's mind, but also have a good impression in the minds of his colleagues, so he is deeply afraid that he has made undeserved mistakes.

The military executives present also had some thoughts on Lieutenant General Fereit's words. This can also be used for reference. Romania also has many strategic points. Previously, due to low military spending and external pressure, the military did not invest too much money in these points. Among them, General Courtois, Minister of the Army, and General Prieshan, Chief of the General Staff, were most deeply touched by this issue. In their drawer, there is already a drawer full of requests to build fortresses at strategic points.

Eder also said after thinking about the words of Lieutenant General Freiit. "On the issue of whether we still need 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. But as to how much to reduce, we still need General Pulishan and Kuomintang. After General Artois goes back, let the staff do a deduction, we are not rich, 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 continue to be built. After all, our navy is still too weak, and our port city is also an elite area that cannot be lost."

Both Preshan and Courtois, who were named by Eder, nodded in agreement with the crown prince's words, and Preshan also spoke to the crown prince. "His Royal Highness, after the meeting, we will ask the staff to do this, and we will definitely come up with a reasonable plan."

After Admiral Pleasant finished speaking, a group of senior military officials looked at Rear Admiral Lomodan, the Minister of the Navy. The two lowest-ranked generals who participated in this meeting, even if he was a minister, was Alexander.

In the face of the crown prince's inquiry, Major General Lomodan could only speak after Pulieshan spoke. "His Royal Highness, our Admiralty is mainly working on the coastal defense plan of Varna for the current coastal defense fortresses. We plan to purchase 10 specially customized super-long-barreled 240 cannons from the arsenal as coastal defense guns in Varna. As for other small ports , we will also prepare five 210 cannons as mobile turrets to provide defense."

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

Edel knew that the navy's funding had always been low, and now the pressure on coastal defense is relatively high, so he asked to avoid unexpected situations.

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

After hearing the words of Admiral Lomodan, Edel was still satisfied that at least the navy is still enough for now. Just then a guard came in and he quietly walked over to the crown prince and said in a low voice. "His Royal Highness, the king is back. I heard that the German Ambassador Baslob went to the station to meet the king, and had a few minutes with His Majesty alone."

After hearing it, Edel calmly spoke to the guard. "I see, you go down."

Eder then continued to discuss with the top military officials about the impact of the war on the Romanian army. Seemingly indifferent to what he heard, only those who knew him well could see that in the ensuing deliberations, the crown prince said much less.

ps; Regarding the chapter about the outbreak of the previous station, Mantou should explain it here, this is not a paste copy. This is a condensed information about the book check before and after the outbreak of World War I, which was bought by Mantou. After reading the buns, I sorted them out by myself. Seeing that everyone's reaction was a bit intense, so Mantou did not continue to describe it in detail. If you don't like the previous one, just skip it. Mantou plans to focus on Romania.