Chapter 870 The Outbreak of the Anglo-Russian War

London

The British government, which had finally gathered up the courage and was determined to fight the Russians, was directly confused by Lieutenant General Patrick's telegram for help.

Putting down the telegram in his hand, Prime Minister Gladstone asked suspiciously, "Isn't there already 400,000 troops on the front line? Why do we need reinforcements?"

It's not that Prime Minister Gladstone is making a fuss, it's true that Britain has never played a strategy game on such a scale.

Before the war broke out, more than 400,000 troops had gathered on the front line. If 20 infantry divisions were reinforced, the total strength would be approaching the 700,000 mark.

A local war is so big that it is completely beyond the scope of Prime Minister Gladstone's cognition.

Secretary of the Army Rosario: "Your Excellency Prime Minister, the War Department has carefully studied Lieutenant General Patrick's telegram and can basically determine that his request is reasonable.

The Russians are aggressive. According to intelligence, they have invested half a million troops in Central Asia, and they cannot rule out the possibility of continuing to increase their troops later.

Because of the distance, the enemy's increase in troops will be much faster than ours, and it is necessary to ensure sufficient troops on the front line.

Otherwise, in the event of an emergency, we can only count on the support of the Governor General of India. With all due respect, the Indian Governorate does not have the capacity to deal with emergencies.

Once the war with the Russians begins, the Indian region will also become unstable. Maintaining the stability of the Indian region is the most important job of the Governor of India.

If there is no preparation in advance, it would be irresponsible to suddenly draw too many troops from the Indian region into the front line after the outbreak of the war.

Second, the region of Afghanistan has never been peaceful, with locals and Russians colluding against our rule.

Due to the mountainous area of ​​Afghanistan, the base camps of the resistance groups are all deep in the mountains and old forests. Our troops in Afghanistan have carried out many encirclement and suppression campaigns, but they have not been completely captured.

Once the war with the Russians breaks out, these people will jump out to do damage. We must leave enough troops to deal with emergencies and prevent them from cooperating with the Russians.

 …”

There are a lot of reasons, but to sum it up, it is to expand the army quickly, the front line can't wait.

Although he has always been a stepmother, the army also has pursuits. No one will give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for military expansion.

Rosario, who came from a civil service, is naturally aware of the twists and turns here, but as the Minister of War, his butt has already decided his position.

If the military's platform is dismantled at this time, then there is no need to do the following work, and the people below have a way to kill him.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Xiaozhi Childers sneered: "Your Excellency, you should know the situation in Afghanistan. The front line needs to maintain 700,000 troops to fight, how many people does your War Department plan to use to support the logistics?

One million people or two million people, or three million people, or even four million people? "

This is the most realistic problem. Afghanistan is a landlocked country. Materials such as food and cloth may be available to the Governor of India, but weapons and ammunition must be delivered from the mainland.

If the production and transportation personnel are all added up, without millions of people serving the troops on the front line, it is impossible to support the labor and division expedition of this scale.

War Secretary Rosario shook his head: "These problems do exist, but we don't have a choice, do we?

The Russians don't care whether we have difficulties or not, as long as we are ready, the Russian army will come.

For India's security, we must take the initiative to fight. Instead of fighting the defense of Afghanistan now, we will fight the Ganges defense in the future.

As for the difficulties we are facing now, it is not impossible to overcome them. The most important thing we do not lack is labor.

It is enough to recruit labor directly from India. The highest labor cost is nothing more than the domestic production and transportation process. It will be over if you bite your teeth and persist.

With the financial situation of the Russian Empire, it is impossible for them to compete with us for the Afghan region for a long time.

Just beat the Russians once or twice and make them aware of the strength gap between the two sides, and the rest of the problem will be easy to deal with. "

Spending money, this is also what has to be done.

The Russian Empire is not weak, and the biggest problem is finance. Great Britain has no reason to let go of this obvious loophole. Instead of fighting their financial resources, they go to play the big battle.

Stud played a decisive battle all of a sudden, seemingly majestic, but in fact he was dancing with his head on his waist, and if he failed, he would take Guoyun into it.

Can the sun never set an empire without India? I am afraid that in three or five years, I can only abdicate and let the sages.

This is also the most tangled point for everyone. Sending troops for reinforcements is too expensive, and Britain, which has a big family, will also feel pain; if no troops are used for reinforcements, they are worried that the front line will be out of control, and the Russians will threaten the security of India.

After hesitating for a while, Prime Minister Gladstone said slowly: "Let's vote collectively and report the final resolution to Parliament for approval by the Senate and the House of Representatives."

When the situation is unclear and you are unwilling to take responsibility alone, collective resolution is undoubtedly the best choice.

Even if there is a certain problem with the resolution, it is the result of democracy, which can minimize everyone's responsibility.

As for the cost, of course, the efficiency has dropped a little bit. The cabinet can make a decision right away, but when it comes to parliamentary discussions, no one knows how long it will take.

But one thing is certain, as long as the Anglo-Russian war breaks out, the efficiency of the British Parliament will be passively improved.

...

In St. Petersburg, there have been frequent reports of good news on the front line recently, and Alexander III's mood has also improved.

It is not easy to be the czar of a fighting nation, and you must always pay attention to the changes in the battle situation on the front line.

In the event of a defeat on the front line, the tsar must take care of the aftermath as soon as possible, so as not to make things worse and affect his reputation.

Alexander III asked: "The passage to Afghanistan to the south has been opened. Now it's up to the logistics department. How long will it take you to transport the supplies to the front line?"

Logistics Minister Argent hurriedly replied: "In two months at most, we will be able to deliver all the planned strategic materials to the combat troops on the front line."

I don't know since when, going south to India has become the most important national policy of the tsarist government. All strategic plans are carried out around this core.

At such a critical time, Argent could not dare to discount. Even if he was dissatisfied with the Russian army on the front line, he would not dare to do anything here.

Otherwise, once there is a mistake on the battlefield, the tsar will kill people, and even without the tsar's action, the domestic interest groups will let him shut up forever.

Alexander III frowned, then shook his head: "No, the speed is still too slow.

We are preparing and the British are not idle. The British Parliament is discussing whether to increase troops in Afghanistan. Once the main reinforcement of the enemy arrives, it will be difficult for the war to end in a short time. "

The British Parliament has no secrets, and any valuable news entering here will appear in the London newspapers in the shortest possible time.

It was published in the newspapers that no matter how weak the intelligence capabilities of the tsarist government were, they would receive this news.

In order to be able to make a quick decision and not fall into the stalemate of the Prussian-Russian War, Alexander III of course had to be anxious.

After wandering around in his heart for a while, Argent gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, in fact, the attack can be advanced.

The troops on the front line are not able to consume all the supplies in one day. According to the current material reserves of the troops in Central Asia, they can fully support continuous operations for more than 40 days.

During this period, we will have supplies arriving one after another. The actual combat time that the front-line troops can support will be longer.

As long as the front-line troops are not greedy for their achievements, our logistics will be able to keep up, and there will be no problems. "

In theory, there is nothing wrong with Argent's claim.

The front line has some material reserves, and the logistics department will deliver the materials in batches. As long as the connection is good, there will be no problems. There is absolutely no need to wait for all the materials to be in place.

However, these are theoretical. If it were to be carried out in practice, it would be a test of the organizational capacity of the tsarist government.

The military requested to reserve half a year's worth of combat materials in advance, and then launch a full-scale offensive. Apart from the fact that the troops had just finished the Central Asian War and needed to rest their troops, they still couldn't trust the domestic bureaucrats.

If there is a problem in any part of the transportation process, the material is one step slow, or the delivery location is wrong, it will be enough to kill an army.

At that time, even if all the responsible persons are found out, it will not be of any value to the overall situation.

After pondering for a while, the somewhat tempted Alexander III confirmed again: "Can the logistics department really ensure that the supplies arrive on time?"

Guarantees do not exist. All logistics operators know that there are too many unexpected situations, especially the force majeure of nature.

Argent bit the bullet and replied: "The logistics department will try to ensure that most of the supplies arrive on time, and there is no way to guarantee each unit.

In addition to the military notifying us of the battle plan in advance, and the logistics department preparing in advance, it is possible to keep up with the rhythm of the front-line troops. "

Hearing this explanation, Alexander III was not worried but happy. As long as the total supply is sufficient, and the materials of individual units are sluggish, it is an inevitable result.

The battlefield is ever-changing. Today the troops are stationed in the east, tomorrow may go to the west, and the day after tomorrow may change their place.

Before there was no radio station, once the logistics transport team set off, they could only rely on horseback to get in touch, and it was normal for them to fail to coordinate.

After a pause, Alexander III said cautiously: "Give you another half a month to deliver as much supplies to the front as possible. We can't miss this fighter jet."

Seeing the firm attitude of the Tsar, Marshal Ivanlov hesitated. He always felt that there was a problem here, but he couldn't find where the problem was.

...