I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 495 Uncle Emperor
In the past, George had to argue with Nicholas about the relationship between the Russian Empire, Germany, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

As a tsar, he was so naive on this issue. No wonder he was used as a weapon.

George is gone now.

Since Nicholas believes that the relationship between the Russian Empire and Germany will not deteriorate to the level of war, then there is no need for the Russian Empire to retain too many standing armies. What is the point?

With the overall military strength reduced, the empire can focus more on improving equipment levels.

Infantry is easy to handle. Once general mobilization begins, the empire can recruit up to millions of Cossacks at any time. It is always easier to train them than German farmers.

The difficult part is the artillery. They need long and rigorous training to have sufficient combat effectiveness.

The Guards now totaled four cavalry divisions, three infantry divisions, three artillery brigades, and one sniper brigade.

In George's plan, the size of the cavalry divisions remained unchanged, the infantry divisions were increased to six, and the artillery brigades were upgraded to artillery divisions, also increased in number to six.

"Where's the navy?"

Alexei felt very sad, and George only had 4.6 men left in the navy.

Among these 4.6 people, there are also 2.7 from the Siberian Fleet.

"This is absolutely not possible. Even excluding the Siberian Fleet, the total strength of the navy is at least 10 to protect the empire's coastline."

Alexey's face was livid, and George finally couldn't help but attack the navy.

After the Russo-Japanese War, the empire only had two battleships left, one "Glorious" and one "Crown Prince". Both battleships were in the Black Sea Fleet, and the "Crown Prince" is still under repair.

The two battleships that George sold to the Admiralty are currently being refitted at the Baltic Shipyard. Alexey hopes to convert these two battleships into fully heavy artillery battleships.

When the British handed over these two battleships to the Siberian Fleet, they dismantled the battleships' armament systems and only gave them two empty shells.

Nikolai was so disappointed with the Navy that he did not give the Navy any budget and did not prepare to build new all-heavy artillery battleships.

Alexey had no choice but to target the two battleships.

Compared with the former Dreadnought, the all-heavy artillery battleship has more than just the number of artillery guns. It is impossible to convert it into a all-heavy artillery battleship.

So Alexey settled for the next best thing and replaced the main gun with a twin-mounted 305 produced by the Russian Empire itself.

After the new naval reconstruction plan is passed, the Baltic Fleet will build four new all-heavy artillery battleships. With the addition of these two ships, at least St. Petersburg's security will be guaranteed to a certain extent.

St. Petersburg is located on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Even if the strength of the Baltic Fleet is restored to its peak, if a world war breaks out, Nicholas will still move the capital to Moscow, which is safer, and will not give the Germans a chance to raid.

In this way, the navy really does not need to retain too many troops.

"Come on, who can you protect-"

Without George saying a word, little Nicholas started talking directly.

The total cost of 4 all-heavy artillery battleships is more than million rubles.

This is just a budget. According to the usual style of the Navy Department, the cost will definitely be increased, and it will definitely be more than 100 million in the end.

Give this money to the Army and you can build at least 1000 artillery pieces.

Nikolai also looked at Alexei in a bad way.

During the Russo-Japanese War, the navy had many uprisings, especially the Black Sea Fleet. Even the fleet commander was killed at home, which was extremely disappointing.

It now appears that the Army is still loyal to the Tsar.

Not necessarily the Navy, which has been penetrated too seriously.

In other words, Alexei was Nikolai's only biological uncle. If it had been anyone else, he would have been tried by a military court.

In November last year, the St. Petersburg military court tried the commander of the Second Fleet. The commander of the fleet, Lieutenant General Rozhdestvensky, was exempted from responsibility because he was injured, comatose and lost the ability to command, and was ordered to retire.

Major General Nebogatov, who succeeded Rozhdestvinsky as fleet commander and signed the surrender document, was sentenced to death in the first instance, and was later commuted to 10 years in prison. After Nikolai's review, the sentence was changed from 10 years to 3 years in prison. reduced to years.

Rozhdestvinsky died of illness in October this year.

The fortress commander Stessel, who caused the fall of Arthur's Fortress due to his poor command, had been sentenced to death before.

"If your army can repel the Japanese attack, the Baltic Fleet and Black Sea Fleet will not have to go around half the world to the Far East. This is entirely your army's responsibility!"

Alexey took action and blamed the entire navy for the annihilation of the navy on the army.

"Before the Second Fleet set off, you vowed that you would be able to completely annihilate the Combined Fleet. What was the result?"

Little Nicholas doesn’t take the blame.

The two had a heated argument, and Nicholas looked helpless and smiled bitterly at George.

It is estimated that this is not the first time that such mutual blame has occurred.

"Gentlemen--"

George tried to persuade.

Little Nikolai and Alexey were on top and ignored George at all.

"Shut up, everyone!"

George was furious, losers have no right to speak.

Nicholas looked at George with surprised eyes.

Little Nicholas and Alexey glared at George, probably because they didn't expect that George, their younger brother, would dare to yell at them.

"Amusa, can six battleships defend St. Petersburg?"

George got to the heart of the matter.

"not enough!"

Alexey was not angry, and six more ships were not enough.

“Could Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire get their battleships to the Baltic Sea?”

George told the truth.

Alexei hesitated to speak. The battleships of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire could not even leave the Mediterranean Sea, let alone the Baltic Sea.

In this case, the only thing that can pose a threat to the Baltic Sea is the German High Seas Fleet.

Nicholas just said that there will be no war between the Russian Empire and Germany——

So what can the Baltic Fleet do?

In another time and space, the German High Seas Fleet only launched two small-scale attacks on the Baltic Sea in the early days of the World War. They were then blocked by the Royal Navy in the military port and did nothing again.

The all-heavy artillery battleships of the Baltic Fleet were also idle during the remainder of the world war, either escorting or laying mines.

The light cruiser can do these jobs and do them better.

"The main naval forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire are in the Black Sea. If they want to come to the Baltic Sea, they need to break through the blockade of the French Navy and the British Navy. I don't think they have this ability."

If George could help it, he wouldn't even want to give him this little establishment.

Even without the Baltic Fleet, the German High Seas Fleet could do nothing without the cooperation of the army.

The results of the Battle of Vladivostok and the offensive and defensive battle of Arthur's Fortress have proven that it is foolish to use naval guns and coastal defense guns in a one-on-one battle.

That is to say, Nicholas approved the navy's reconstruction plan before the establishment of the Military Reform Commission.

Let George plan it. The Baltic Fleet is equipped with only destroyers and submarines.

Light cruisers are a waste.

"You just said that we have to wait until the Germans defeat the French before attacking."

Alexei thought he had found George's loophole.

"Oh, this is our army's business, so your navy should not get involved."

George didn't want to answer such a weak question.

"You better hope we can defeat the German army, otherwise your navy will still be wiped out!"

Little Nikolai added insult to injury, and it felt great to fight two against one.

"You're talking nonsense!"

Alexey was furious, and the two started talking to each other again.

Nicholas began to smile bitterly again.

"They always do this?"

George really didn't expect that the daily communication between the Imperial Army Minister and the Navy Minister would be like this.

"Sometimes it's more egregious than this—"

Nicholas sighed, one was an imperial uncle, and the other was also an imperial uncle, he was also in a dilemma.

George was curious, the two Grand Dukes would not take action.

"At the beginning of the year, the Duma hopes that the military will submit an application to the Duma before recruiting troops——"

After Nicholas explained halfway, little Nicholas and Alexei finally stopped arguing. Both of them looked at Nicholas angrily, dissatisfied with Nicholas for exposing their old background.

Right.

The only one who can quarrel with the emperor's uncle is the emperor's uncle.

Naturally, the only one who can break up the fight is the emperor's uncle.

If anyone dares to say anything at this time, the two Grand Dukes will definitely speak out unanimously.

"Would you like something to eat before continuing?"

The way Nicholas broke up the fight opened George's eyes.

You two are really talented people to be able to force the Tsar to this point.

"No matter what, the total strength of the navy cannot be less than 10!"

Alexey huffed and returned to the original question.

"Ah--"

Little Nicholas wanted to continue output, but George took the lead.

"You are right, we should strengthen the strength of the Siberian fleet——"

George is right. Compared with the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, the empire's maritime interests are in the Far East, and the strength of the Siberian Fleet is indeed a bit weak.

Including the "Russia", the Siberian Fleet has only 5 battleships in total. The sea area that needs to be guarded exceeds 10000 kilometers from south to north (from East India to the Bering Strait). Such a small number of troops is indeed not enough.

Alexei frowned, feeling as uncomfortable as eating a fly.

Alexei fought hard and did not want to end up taking advantage of the Siberian Fleet.

"Ahahahaha, George is right, we should strengthen the Siberian fleet."

Little Nicholas laughed wildly, and would rather give George an advantage than make Alexei uncomfortable.

"George, make a more detailed plan as soon as possible and we can continue the discussion."

Nikolai has full confidence in George, and Stolypin has already reported to Nikolai George's idea of ​​​​replacement of veterans.

As long as the problem of veterans is solved, the empire's military reform will be half successful.

As for whether it is necessary to further disarmament on the existing basis, this requires more scientific demonstration.

After all, Nikolai valued the safety of St. Petersburg more than saving money. From this perspective, Alexei was right.

The purpose of George's disarmament was not to save money.

Not only does it not save money, but it also costs more to train more professional officers, who are the core of the military.

(End of this chapter)