Chapter 405 A Helpless Choice

"Your Majesty, this is a telegram from Russia asking for help. Please take a look." Foreign Minister Dize handed Arthur a list of materials that Russia requested for support, frowning slightly.

In fact, Minister Dize can agree to general material requests unilaterally. After all, these materials are not given for free. Russia will buy them at a price slightly lower than the market price, which will definitely not be a loss for Australasia.

But the problem is that the number of materials on this list is so large that Minister Dize dare not make a decision easily. He can only send this list to Arthur and wait for Arthur's order.

Arthur took the telegram and was a little surprised to see the Russians' appetite.

1 million rifles, 2,000 artillery pieces of various calibers, 150,000 marching tents, 300 million bullets, 5 million shells of various types, medicines worth 45 million rubles, food worth 55 million rubles, and 300,000 military helmets

Australasia has transported supplies to Russia many times before. Although it started hoarding supplies a few years ago, after such high-frequency consumption, there are actually not many left.

The list of supplies currently required by the Russians is almost more than half of the total reserves in Australasia, and some supplies are even more than half of Australasia's reserves.

In this case, Arthur naturally cannot agree to all the Russians' requests.

After all, if supplies are transported to Russia according to the quantity required by the list, Australasia's material reserves will also take a sharp turn, and some supplies will even run out directly.

You know, in the list of supplies required by Russia, clothing, food and medicine are not only needed by the army, but also by the people.

As the king of Australasia, Arthur would naturally give priority to the needs of the Australasia people, and then fulfill his obligations as an ally and transport supplies to Russia.

Apart from anything else, just 1 million rifles, 2,000 artillery pieces and corresponding ammunition and shells can arm at least two armies and a combat force of about 1 million people.

The Russians' needs are naturally not that great. In addition, Russia has sent telegrams to Britain, France and Italy for supplies. Therefore, the actual needs of the Russians may be less than one-third.

After a little thought, Arthur decided to reduce the amount of some supplies. If the Russians agree, the supplies can be loaded and transported immediately.

If the Russians disagree, it is not up to them. After all, as long as Arthur insists that Australasia lacks supplies, can Russia send people to verify it?

In fact, the Russian government really didn't think that Australasia could transport supplies as required by the list of supplies.

After a pleasant exchange between the two governments, the amount of materials to be purchased from Australasia was finally determined, including 300,000 rifles, 500 artillery pieces, 100 million rounds of ammunition, 3 million rounds of artillery shells, 200,000 uniforms, 1 million tons of food, and 500 tons of medicine.

The total value of these materials has exceeded 20 million pounds. At Arthur's repeated request, the Russians adopted a payment method of 2 million people plus 15 million pounds.

Using 2 million people to offset the burden of 5 million pounds is not a loss for the Russian government at all, and it is even more profitable for the Australasia government.

You know, at present, the number of immigrants from other European countries has decreased significantly, and the only reliable source of immigrants is Russia.

The 2 million population of Russia can accelerate the population of Australasia to 20 million.

It is possible that before the end of World War I, the population of Australasia will exceed the 20 million mark, which can make up for the disadvantage in terms of population.

Of course, a population of 20 million can only be regarded as the foundation of a strong country. To truly become a world power, or even a top power and world hegemon, the population must be at least hundreds of millions.

In the case of the urgent war on the Russian front, in order to transport these materials to the Russian front faster, Arthur and the Russian side agreed to transport materials to Russia in three ways.

The first way is to use airships directly. Although an airship can only transport up to 40 tons of materials, there are currently dozens of transport airships in Australasia, which can transport up to 2,000 tons of goods at a time.

Moreover, airship transportation is almost the fastest way. If you go directly from Sydney to the Russian front, it only takes more than half a month at the fastest.

In addition to using airships for transportation, the other two ways are to transport by sea to Vladivostok via the Siberian Railway, or directly by sea to the Russian Black Sea coast, and then go directly to the Russian front by land.

Ideally, all these materials can be delivered to Russia within one and a half to two months.

Even the Russian army only needs to hold out for about half a month before the first batch of supplies will arrive.

Referring to the current situation where the Russian army is most short of weapons and ammunition, the first batch of supplies that will arrive the fastest using airships will be some rifles, a large number of bullets and shells.

With the support of these weapons and ammunition, the Russian army can also hold out for more time and wait for more supplies to arrive.

After Nicholas II received Arthur's call back, his frown finally relaxed a little.

Britain and France also promised to support some supplies, and with the material support promised by Australasia, the material crisis currently facing Russia has finally been resolved.

However, Nicholas II was very dissatisfied with the attitude of the European allies, especially Italy, who directly rejected Russia's request for help. He even complained directly in a telegram to Britain and France, saying that Italy was a weak and incompetent fence-sitter who only cared about its own interests.

In order to take care of Italy's face, Britain and France did not respond, but according to Italy's performance in the war, Italy would not enter the core circle of the Allies after the war.

Although Britain and France provided timely support for supplies, Nicholas II also understood that the statement made by Foreign Minister Alexei before that Britain and France would provide all the expenses of the campaign was fictitious.

Although this campaign was a huge success, it shared a huge pressure on the Western Front and even directly led to the eastward shift of Germany's strategy.

But the problem is that this is good news for the Western Front countries represented by Britain, France, Australia and Italy, but it is not good news for Russia, which is struggling to support the Eastern Front.

This campaign consumed most of Russia's ammunition reserves, which directly led to the current lack of weapons and ammunition for the Russian front-line troops.

At this time, Germany launched a large-scale offensive, which directly led to heavy casualties in the Russian Tenth Army.

With such a huge responsibility, the Tsarist government needs someone to take the blame. Regardless of whether Minister Alexei did anything wrong before, in short, the anger of the people needs someone to bear it, and the fault of the government needs someone to take the blame.

At the new imperial meeting, in front of all cabinet ministers and senior military officials, Nicholas II officially announced that Alexei would be relieved of his post as Minister of Foreign Affairs and investigated.

Minister Alexei's forehead was full of cold sweat, but no one dared to stop Nicholas II's order at this time.

After ordering the Prime Minister to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs for a short period of time, Nicholas II looked at Grand Duke Nicholas and asked: "Can the army delay the German attack before the arrival of the allies' assistance?"

"No problem, Your Majesty." Grand Duke Nicholas answered decisively: "The new army group has arrived at the front line. As long as there is any soldier on the front line, the Germans will not be able to cross the front line and enter our territory."

Well, this sentence is indeed quite normal. Before the Germans set foot on the country, the army will retreat to ensure that there is no living person on the front line.

While the Russians were waiting for material support from their allies, the Germans and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were already planning their next attack.

Of course, it was the Germans who made the plan. For the Austro-Hungarian Empire, if it was not very necessary, they would not have planned to attack.

The current casualties of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were very serious, and their casualties were even close to those of the Russians, and their losses had even exceeded those of the Russians.

Among all the great powers, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was the only country that not only lost a large number of its main forces, but also lost a large area of ​​territory.

If it were not for Germany's timely strategic transfer, and now it had crippled a Russian army group and attracted part of the Russian troops for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, I am afraid that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would have been discussing how to surrender.

This dualistic country is destined to be unable to unite when danger comes.

In fact, after Galicia was occupied by Russia, the Hungarian government repeatedly asked the Vienna government for help, asking the Vienna government to deploy more troops on the Hungarian border, and even directly drive the Russians out of Galicia to protect Hungary's stability.

But the Vienna government was powerless at this time. The failure of the Galicia Campaign caused the Austro-Hungarian Empire to lose hundreds of thousands of troops. At this time, there were only a few main forces left, and it had to face the joint attack of Italy, the Balkan countries and Russia.

If the Italian army was not so weak, I am afraid that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would have been discussing how to pay war reparations.

May 21, 1915, Vienna, Austro-Hungarian Conference.

"Your Majesty, this is a counterattack plan planned by the Germans. The Germans have transferred their main forces to the Eastern Front. They plan to quickly defeat the Russians and let Russia withdraw from the war to relieve the pressure on our Eastern Front. However, this counterattack plan requires our cooperation. Conservatively estimated, we need to dispatch 500,000 troops." Conrad, the Chief of Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, handed an action plan to the old Emperor Franz and whispered.

If it was at the beginning of the war, 500,000 troops would not be a big deal for the powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire.

But now it is the middle of the war, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire has suffered a lot of casualties, and the current total number of troops is only a little over one million.

In addition to the 100,000 garrisons on the Austrian-Italian border and the 300,000 troops on the Bosnian and Serbian borders, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia currently have only more than 600,000 combat troops left. Germany's action plan requires the deployment of 500,000 troops, which is the vast majority of troops that the Austro-Hungarian Empire can currently mobilize.

The old Emperor Franz took the document, but did not rush to check it. Instead, he rubbed his brows and asked: "How many troops has the German side prepared? What is their combat plan? How do we need to cooperate?"

For the Austro-Hungarian Empire, deploying 500,000 troops is equivalent to a desperate gamble. If the battle planned by Germany fails this time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will suffer a large number of casualties again, which is likely to lead the country directly to destruction.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire can continue to recruit troops, it is impossible for those recruits to form a certain combat effectiveness without half a year of training.

What's more, with the Austro-Hungarian Empire's retreat in wars everywhere, the Austrians are fine, but the Hungarians are no longer very supportive of the war.

The Hungarians are already quite dissatisfied with the large amount of war funds they have paid. If the Hungarians are asked to pay and work, I am afraid that the Austro-Hungarian Empire will disintegrate directly.

"Your Majesty, Germany has currently gathered more than 1 million troops on the eastern border. In the next two months, at least 200,000 troops will arrive at the front. If we can dispatch 500,000 troops, the total number of our coalition forces will exceed 2 million, suppressing the number of Russian troops. Germany will break through from East Prussia and Silesia. They hope that we will go north along the Carpathian Mountains, directly encircle the Russian troops in Poland and Galicia, and annihilate them all. The Russian troops in some areas are the absolute main force of Russia. If they are eliminated, the war on the Eastern Front will be won." Chief of Staff Conrad said confidently.

Judging from the data alone, this battle plan is feasible. The Germans claimed that they had received news that Russia was short of supplies. If this is true, there is hope to break through and encircle the Russian troops in Poland and Galicia.

The 2 million German-Austrian coalition forces fought against the Russian army of less than 2 million, and the Russian army lacked logistical supplies. Even if they used their toes to plan, they could win.

Franz I did not rush to agree. He frowned and looked at the military's front-line army distribution map, and fell into a long period of contemplation.

But this does look like a good opportunity to defeat the Russians, but the problem is that if the Russians are not defeated and the main Russian army escapes, it will be a completely unbearable blow for the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This is like a gamble. If you win, everyone is happy. If you lose, the country may be destroyed.

After a while, Franz I nodded with a wry smile, and finally agreed to the German plan.

This is the last means for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to turn the tables, and it is also the most promising chance to win the war so far.

In fact, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has no choice. If it does not work with the Germans to severely damage or even defeat Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will not be able to hold on for long under the joint attack of Italy, Russia and the Balkan countries, and failure is only a matter of time.

Unless the Austro-Hungarian Empire can organize at least another 1 million troops, the current battlefield situation can be stabilized.

But the problem is that it takes at least half a year to train and organize a 1 million army. Judging from the current situation, the Balkan countries and Russia cannot give the Austro-Hungarian Empire half a year of development time.

The first update of 4,000 words, please vote for me and support me!

There will be another update later, around 1 o'clock.