The Rise of the Empire

"How much do you agree with Ruprecht's point of view?" That night, William II summoned Moltke and others to discuss the defense of East Prussia.

"Although the performance of the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War was not good, in addition to command factors, it was more limited by conditions. Although the Russians had a lot of artillery, they lacked sufficient transportation capacity and insufficient ammunition reserves. This situation should not exist in Europe. They have several years to improve the fortifications, warehouses and transportation system in Poland. Although it may not be possible to mobilize more than 90% of the troops within 15 days, according to the prince, It is no problem to mobilize more than 60% of the troops within 18 days, plus the garrison troops in Poland, this is indeed a very powerful force."

On this kind of key issue, Xiao Maoqi did not dare to jump to conclusions. After all, if something goes wrong in East Prussia, the responsibility is not something he can afford, so the best way is to be lenient to the enemy... ... And it is estimated that there is a big error in this kind of thing, and if it is deliberately enlarged, the error will be really big.

"According to the information we got, Ruprecht really didn't trust the fighting power of the Austro-Hungarian Army. When negotiating with His Royal Highness Ferdinand, he strongly demanded that an army group of the Austro-Hungarian Empire be included under his command. , and suggested that the Austro-Hungarian Army should focus on defense, and let him take on the offensive mission." General Herlingen said.

This time, both the Kaiser and Little Maoqi believed at least eight points of what the prince said, because no general would make fun of his own army. In their view, the prince asked the Austro-Hungarian Empire to assign an army group aided by Germany to his own command to make up for the shortage of troops, and asked other Austro-Hungarian corps to defend instead of attack, because they were afraid that the attack would be counterattacked by the opponent.

Then Moltke took this inference a step further, that is, at least subjectively, Ruprecht believed that the Bavarian Legion plus 4 Austro-Hungarian Legions had an advantage in facing 4 Russian Legions, but it would not crush them. . If the Russians distribute their troops equally, the Austro-Hungarian front line is considered stable, but what about the East Prussian front line? A Prussian legion is facing two Russian legions, the pressure is a bit high!

In this guess, Xiao Maoqi automatically defined the number of Russian army groups as about 250,000. That is to say, each Russian army is actually much larger than the Austro-Hungarian army, and it is also larger than the average German army. a bit more.

"How long will it take us to kill France? The most conservative estimate." The Kaiser asked.

"It will take at least 6 weeks. If the French choose to stick to Paris, then the time will be longer. The most terrible thing is that if we cannot capture the main force of the French, then even if we capture Paris, the French will not May not surrender." Xiao Maoqi finally expressed his concerns.

"Yeah, what if we can't guarantee the complete annihilation of the French Legion? What if we occupy Paris?" William II asked himself. Northeast France is indeed a very important industrial base, but other places can also continue to support the war, and it will be difficult if the German Legion is to continue to advance deep into France, and if the French really plan to fight in Paris If there is a street battle where everything is destroyed, let alone the result, the pure loss of time and materials is something that Germany absolutely does not want to see.

And if the main force on the German Western Front falls into the quagmire of war, then it will be a disaster if the Eastern Front is bombed again, and the Russians only need to stay on one side.

You can easily gain a strategic advantage by attacking one side. Even if you don't fight East Prussia, what if the Austro-Hungarian Empire can't stop it?

This is entirely possible. According to the estimates of the German General Staff, although the Bavarian Legion is powerful, with various tanks and more heavy artillery, it is hard to say how effective these weapons are. One Bavarian Legion plus four Austro-Hungarian Legions face For the five Russian legions, it is really hard to say who will win or lose. Among other things, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will definitely have problems on the front of hundreds of kilometers, but Bavaria is strong. But after all, there are fewer troops. Even if there is an advantage, it is a local advantage.

"What Ruprecht is most worried about is the continuous replenishment of the Russians. If it takes a month, maybe the second batch of Russian troops will be replenished. This wave may be another group army, and the Bavarian Army With constant consumption during the battle, a kingdom’s replenishment capacity is very limited. With the loss of the first wave of elite troops, I am afraid that the entire Eastern Front will gradually deteriorate. It may be difficult to maintain it if troops are not transferred from the Western Front. And from the West If we deploy our troops on the front line, our chances of winning will be even slimmer." Xiao Maoqi said.

"This question needs to be carefully considered. What do you think?" the Kaiser asked.

"Can we add another army group?" Little Maoqi asked tentatively.

"Don't even think about it! Unless we reduce the strength of one division in each army and reorganize a new army, it will be impossible to add another army in the next five years!" said the Prime Minister on the side.

"Damn the budget!" The Kaiser also looked at his chief of staff helplessly. His Majesty the Emperor really has nothing to do. If Ruprecht knew what Little Moltke was thinking, he would definitely persuade the other party to be content. After the mobilization of this plane, Germany is expected to have nearly one more army than in history. , coupled with the increase of various technical equipment. Military spending is about 30% higher than the same period in history! Coupled with the large amount of materials hoarded, what else are you dissatisfied with? Create a group army at the beginning of the war? Just kidding? What are you thinking?

"At least, Prussia's military expenditure is not enough to support this plan, and the navy's military expenditure cannot be reduced," said the Kaiser.

"But there is still an accident in the empire after all, isn't it?" Little Maoqi said in his heart. Prussia's military spending has reached its limit, but it seems that as an anomaly in the empire, the military spending of the Kingdom of Bavaria is far from reaching its limit. From the perspective of government revenue, the Bavarian government accounts for one-sixth of Germany's total revenue, and the army it supports It must be less than one-sixth, after all, the imperial government still needs to support the navy. Compared with the GDP of the Kingdom of Bavaria, the government's income is still low, which means there is still potential for improvement.

"Perhaps it is a good idea to allow the Bavarian Legion to expand further." Little Moqi thought to himself. However, he came up with this idea in Ruprecht's hands. Wasn't the prince's expansion of Russia's military power just to obtain permission for further military expansion?

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