Chapter 575 Not Rare
Not only did George not want to provide assistance, but he also wanted the Balkan countries to pay protection fees.
It’s okay if you don’t want to pay protection fees. Just follow the example of the Kingdom of Bulgaria, fully open up to the Russian Empire, and allow the Russian Empire to garrison troops. The empire will naturally assume corresponding responsibilities and obligations.
The current situation is that some people want both. They obviously do not have the princess's life, but they contract the princess's disease. This makes George very embarrassed.
From George's perspective, the Russian Empire has helped the Kingdom of Serbia gain its independent status. Not to mention that Serbia is grateful to Russia, at least it should not be too demanding.
Peter felt that since the Russian Empire had helped the Kingdom of Serbia become independent, why not continue to help Serbia realize its dream of "Greater Serbia".
When the Balkan Alliance was established, George had in-depth exchanges with the Minister of Army of the Kingdom of Serbia Putnik on this issue.
Peter I is the king after all, George must be more tactful.
But unfortunately, I don’t know whether Peter I was incapable of understanding or deliberately pretending to be stupid. He actually interpreted George’s refusal as acquiescence.
George didn't have much time to waste on Peter. He had been away from St. Petersburg for several months and had a lot of things to pile up. As soon as he saw Peter off, another Peter lined up at the door, seamlessly connecting.
During the Balkan War, the Marine Corps of the Black Sea Fleet played an important role. This past winter, the Baltic Fleet also formed a Marine Corps, a total of two divisions.
Peter set his sights on the Army's armored fighting vehicles.
The biggest problem of the Marine Corps is the lack of heavy weapons and almost no ability to attack fortresses.
A few years ago, Vladivostok technicians put forward an idea. Since warships made of steel can float on the water, can the same idea be transplanted to armored combat vehicles?
Since there was no demand for the Siberian Fleet at the time, this idea only remained on paper and no relevant verification was carried out.
Last winter, technicians at the Kronstadt Naval Base conducted a series of experiments and finally succeeded in creating an amphibious armored fighting vehicle.
Peter hopes to issue amphibious armored fighting vehicles to the Marine Corps to enhance the Marine Corps' ability to attack critical areas.
Nowadays, the armored fighting vehicles of the Russian Empire have a wide range of weapons. In addition to machine guns, they can also be equipped with artillery and grenade launchers, as well as flamethrowers.
Armored fighting vehicles can indeed effectively improve the combat effectiveness of the Marine Corps.
The only problem is funding.
This year's funding has been determined, and the destination of every kopeck has been clarified. To purchase armored fighting vehicles, we can only increase the budget.
The Guards has not yet completed its motorized transformation, so where can George find the funds to purchase armored vehicles?
Towards this Peter, George was not polite, and completely messed up his hands: “No money!”
“You are the most powerful Grand Duke Yuriev in the empire, how can you have no money——”
After the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the second sister Peter and George Little Catherine got married, and now she often looks the same in front of George.
George can only say that he has done evil, and this situation was also caused by him.
When George was reading history books in his previous life, he hated his relatives deeply.
Now George knows that marriage is the best way to form an alliance of interests. Peter, Vasily, and Andrei either married George's sister or cousin, and the interests between them have become unbreakable.
“A fully heavy artillery battleship can purchase at least 200 armored fighting vehicles, enough to equip two divisions.”
Peter’s requirements are not high. One Guards division is equipped with 120 armored fighting vehicles. An armored fighting vehicle.
However, the Marine Corps is not as large as the Guards, with only 12,000 people per division.
A division of the Guards has 16,000 people.
George rolled his eyes and thought about it.
"I will include it in the budget preparation at the end of the year, and the installation will begin next year."
If the world war does not start this year, then there will be no problem in the installation next year.
"The situation is so tense now, how can we wait until next year?"
Peter reminded George that time does not wait for us.
“Can the Baltic Fleet defeat the German High Seas Fleet?”
George took the initiative to change the topic.
Peter's expression immediately became awkward.
If George was asking about the German Baltic Fleet, then Peter was indeed confident.
The High Seas Fleet is the main force of the German army. There are 17 all-heavy artillery battleships that have been built or are under construction. Germany just passed the "1914 Naval Act" at the end of last year and is preparing to start construction of the super-dreadnought after the "King" class. Like the "King" class, 5 ships will be built.
To be honest, if George was not reborn in the Russian Empire, but in Germany, then George might really be able to overthrow the British Empire.
"You are the commander of the Baltic Fleet, do your job first."
George's requirements for the Baltic Fleet are not high, as long as the German troops are not allowed to land from the Baltic Sea.
The High Seas Fleet is the mission of the Royal Navy.
Scold this Peter away. There are more than a dozen people from all walks of life queuing up outside George's office, waiting for George to meet him. Christie only allocates 15 minutes to each person.
George was very busy, and Nicholas was not resting either.
Whether the Russian Empire carried out deterrent mobilization against the Austria-Hungary Empire is the focus of most concern to all countries.
Another servant division from East Asia arrived in Bulgaria in the past two days. The number of troops stationed in Bulgaria increased to 7 divisions, with a total strength of more than 100,000 troops.
After the Balkan War, the Kingdom of Romania and the Kingdom of Greece greatly reduced their armies, with the remaining troops remaining at about 100,000.
After the mobilization of the Kingdom of Serbia, the total military strength increased to 300,000. Together with Montenegro and Albania, the total strength of the Balkan Alliance once again exceeded 500,000, which made the Austro-Hungarian Empire feel a huge threat.
George keeps saying not to mobilize, but he keeps adding troops to the Balkans. The military supplies hoarded in Constantinople have piled up in docks and warehouses. What do you want to do? ?
George is a savage and has difficulty communicating.
Therefore, in the past few days, the Winter Palace was crowded with people, and there was an endless stream of envoys from various countries who came to test Nicholas's words.
Gray was helpless. This was his third visit to St. Petersburg in the past year.
Arriving in St. Petersburg with Gray was Field Marshal John French.
John French was born in 1852 and started serving in the army in 1866, which has been 48 years so far.
In November last year, the Irish National Volunteer Army was established to resist British colonial rule with force.
John French, then Chief of Staff of the British Army, dispatched the Culler Cavalry Brigade to suppress the attack, but 60 officers, including the brigade commander, preferred to retire rather than go, so John French resigned.
John French’s trip was to examine the mobilization capabilities of the Russian Empire.
Within the Allied Powers, the navy is dominated by the British, and in terms of the army, the Russian army is the main force.
Although the French are obsessed with "the best army in the world", the French built a defense line on the French-German border, which fully proves the guilty conscience of the French.
The Russian army performed in a very embarrassing manner during the Russo-Japanese War.
In the Balkan War, the Russian army's performance was amazing. It captured Constantinople neatly, and other countries did not even have time to mobilize.
John French was curious about George.
So after John French arrived in St. Petersburg, he did not go to see Nicholas Jr., but came to the Admiralty to find George under the guise of inspecting the servant army.
This is the right person.
The British army in the Second Boer War was a servant army composed mainly of British and colonial soldiers. It almost did not participate in the war and only undertook some logistics work.
The course of the war made the whole world fully aware of how terrible the British army's combat effectiveness was, and the British also began to reflect.
The troops that George transferred to Bulgaria were all Gao Ri's servants.
This made John French wonder. Isn't George worried about the combat effectiveness of the servant army?
The main reason why Britain insists on staying in India is India's human resources.
The British also considered recruiting Indians to form a servant army, but due to some reasons, they have never been able to implement it.
So John French came to George for advice.
“Indian——”
George really didn’t dare to say another word.
Although the British army's performance in the Boer War was poor, it was in line with the true level of the British army and did not penetrate the bottom line.
After forming the Indian Servant Army, the British will truly realize what it means that mud cannot stick to the wall.
George was fearless because the Russian Empire had 5 million Cossacks who were good at fighting.
Throw George to India, and the only thing George can count on is Gurkha.
But the problem is, Gurkha is not British.
So it is impossible for the British to give real trust to Gurkha. For the British, Gurkha is just a consumable. This is the key to the problem.
“It is better to count on the Australians than to count on the Indians.”
George's sincere advice.
Australia——
Australia, in particular, really cared about the British father. With a total population of 5.5 million, 500,000 people were recruited to form the Anzac Corps to fight in Europe during World War I. , worthy of being called the eldest son of the British Empire——
The second son.
Britain is Canada.
"Australia's population is too small and its potential is limited."
John French still doesn't know how much potential Australia can unleash.
Then there is nothing George can do.
Japan is still under British-Russian condominium control. London also learned from the Russian Empire and recruited Japanese to form a servant army.
The problem is that all Japanese people now believe that if Britain had not contributed to the fire, Japan would not have embarked on the path of external expansion. Therefore, the reason why Japan has fallen to the point where it is today is the fault of Britain.
Once the Japanese form a consensus, it is almost ingrained and unchangeable.
So the Japanese did not respond positively to the British recruitment, and even had strong resistance, and the British had to give up.
In this case, we really have to give the guns to the Japanese. It’s hard to say who the Japanese will aim their guns at.
John French brought good news to George, and the King of England decided to award George the honor of field marshal.
George doesn't want it, he is attentive to nothing, he is either a traitor or a thief.
John French is curious, don’t you want the honor that comes to your door?
Oh——
Who cares!
(End of this chapter)