Chapter 626: Overestimating one's capabilities
In fact, Alex cannot be blamed for this matter. Both George and Nicholas Jr. have heavy troops. If Alex is defenseless, then she is not a qualified queen. .
Nicola already trusted George very much. If it were anyone else, George would go to Constantinople, while Anne and the children would stay in St. Petersburg as hostages.
Although this is the truth, George still feels very uncomfortable.
George is not without foundation in St. Petersburg. If Alex has a plan against George, George can also receive the news in advance.
The next day at Alexander's place, George learned even more exciting news.
The real reason that led to Nicholas Jr.'s resignation was a letter from Alex to Nicholas.
After the fall of Warsaw, Alex wrote in a letter to Nikolai: If he (young Nikolai) must still serve as a front-line commander, then let all defeats fall onto his head.
Alex did not seem to realize that this vicious curse was not only for little Nicholas, but also for the Russian Empire.
Little Nicholas’s base camp has no secrets from the Winter Palace.
The reverse is also true.
The letters between the Tsar and the Empress could actually leak out of the summer palace, which shows the chaos in St. Petersburg.
After deciding to serve as commander-in-chief, Nicholas was in an extremely excited state, and he finally began to kill decisively like a real czar.
On July 5, Nicholas appointed the chief nobleman of Moscow, Samarin, to replace Sarleb as the director of the Orthodox Church.
On the 6th, Nicholas appointed Khvostov to replace Sheglovitov as Minister of Justice.
As Nicholas Jr.'s and Sukhomlinov's families lost power successively, Nicholas was forced to use a group of veteran generals, including Kuropatkin, who served as the commander-in-chief of the Russian army during the Russo-Japanese War.
Fortunately, Nicholas finally did not wake Alexeyev up from the grave.
Nicholas and the old generals held military meetings every day at the Summer Palace or Tsarskoye Selo. The old generals showed their talents and came up with strange tricks. Some people suggested that the main force of the navy be recalled from the Mediterranean to cover the Guards. Landed in Hamburg and attacked the German army from behind.
Some people also suggested that the 11th Army and the 12th Army be transferred from the Balkan Theater to reinforce the European Theater. The reason is that George has the Balkan Allied Forces and the High Japanese Army to fight against the German and Austrian Allied Forces.
George bid farewell to Nicholas and returned to Constantinople.
Before leaving, Nicholas hosted a banquet for George at the summer palace.
This is George's first time back in St. Petersburg and having dinner at the Summer Palace.
“Let us forget for the moment all other questions, including the important national questions, but not the absolutely necessary questions of the moment, and nothing should divert our thoughts, will, and strength from it. The only goal now is to drive the Germans out of Russian soil!”
Nicholas was very excited, as if he would be able to win as soon as he started.
George reminded Nicholas not to underestimate the enemy, Hindenburg is definitely a good opponent.
For George, Hindenburg was indeed a good opponent.
But not for Nikolai.
Nicholas probably couldn't defeat Hindenburg.
On the train back to Constantinople, George finally received a reply from the Queen Mother Maria.
Maria said in the letter: That is all her - she alone will be responsible for everything that is about to happen. This is not what my lovely child should do.
Maria is right.
But what’s the point of talking about it now. Alex is not responsible for anyone else but her husband and her children.
George has too many people to be responsible for.
Mišić’s invitation to Polis to be the king of Serbia sparked strong opposition in Belgrade and the Serbian parliament demanded the selection of a new king.
Mišić personally led the Serbian army to Belgrade and arrested all Serbian parliamentarians who opposed Polis as king on charges of treason. Then he dissolved the parliament and declared martial law in Belgrade.
It doesn’t matter whether you quit or not. Belgrade’s total population is now less than 3,000, and it will take at least 20 years to return to pre-war conditions.
Yankov is relocating the population from the former demilitarized zone along the Black Sea estuary in preparation for post-war negotiations.
Stamboliski personally led Bulgarian officials to the areas occupied by the 11th Army to appease the local residents. The occupied areas here include not only Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also Romania and Albania.
Nicolas of Montenegro has returned to Cetinje to resume rule over the Kingdom of Montenegro.
Prince Stowe still serves as the theater liaison officer.
On July 12, George returned to Constantinople, and Demeter submitted an unsafe list to George.
There are a total of 125 people on the unsafe list. None of them have passed the review of the Security Department and have more or less problems.
George did not have time to identify them one by one and transferred all these people from the headquarters to completely eliminate hidden dangers.
On July 15, Vasily launched an attack on the outer defense line of Budapest. The armored combat vehicles finally came into play. With the cooperation of the heavy artillery force and the air force, it took only 48 hours to penetrate Mackensen's defense line. .
On the 18th, the Russian army surrounded Budapest.
Dmit is very happy. Budapest is the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary. If Budapest is captured, it will be a major victory for the Russian army in the Balkans.
George sent a telegram to Vasily, ordering Vasily not to launch an attack on Budapest and to encircle the area for reinforcements.
Although the Kingdom of Hungary is weakly armed, it has an elite Guards Army with a total strength of approximately 4 divisions and 60,000 people.
Including the Mackensen Army, there are more than 200,000 defenders in Budapest. If the Russian army wants to take Budapest, it is expected that the casualties will be more than 100,000.
George ordered the 13th Army led by Demeter to set up positions around Budapest, while Vasily led the 12th Army to snipe possible reinforcements.
The 11th Army led by Brusinov must also be prepared. If the German army comes for reinforcements, the 11th Army must outflank the German army and strive for a beautiful battle of annihilation.
Brushinov called George back. Due to the serious dispersion of his troops, there were only 70,000 troops left that could be used for roundabouts.
George sent telegrams to Ferdinand and Georgi respectively, urging the Kingdom of Romania and the Kingdom of Greece to speed up mobilization. At the same time, he sent telegrams to Mario and Yelohinov, ordering Amur to start mobilization.
So far, the reinforcements that George has transferred from the Far East, except for the Fu Division, the Ha Division, and the Ni Division, are all from the Gaori Army.
Amur has made every effort to improve its industrial capabilities since the outbreak of the war, but has not yet carried out mobilization.
Petrograd is hopeless now. Thank God for Nikolai's ability to withstand Hindenburg.
If George wanted to get reinforcements, he could only find a way from Amur.
Ye Luoxin did not disappoint George. The first phase of mobilization mobilized 200,000 people, more than half of whom were Chinese.
(End of this chapter)