I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 579 Heading South

Referring to France's behavior in the Russo-Japanese War, the term "rubbing the country" has an additional meaning of spurring the people. It would be great if the French could feel ashamed and mend their ways.

The French do not see this as an insult, on the contrary they are keen to increase cooperation with the Russian Navy.

Although France does not need to worry about the German High Seas Fleet, it still has to face strong challenges from the Italian Navy and the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the Mediterranean.

After building the battleship "Dante Allegri", the Italian Navy started construction of two classes of battleships in succession, namely the "Count of Cavour" class and the "Cao Durio" class, with a total of five ships to be built.

At present, except for the second ship of "Count Cavour" "Giulio Cesare" which has been in service, the rest of the warships are under construction.

Three of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's four "United Force" class battleships have been built. The "Prince Eugen" will be launched at the end of the year and will be put into service next year.

It was precisely because of the pressure from the Italian Navy and the Austro-Hungarian Navy that France adopted a supportive attitude towards the Russian Empire on the issue of access to the Black Sea.

Since the water in the Mediterranean is already so muddy, letting the Russian Navy in might help achieve another balance.

Like the British, the French were curious about the Russian Empire's vassal armies.

On the issue of colonial vassal armies, the French started earlier than the Russians. As early as 1831, France formed a Foreign Legion in North Africa. In 1850, the French Foreign Legion landed in Crimea as an intervention force to participate in the Ninth Russo-Turkish War.

George did not participate in the subsequent reception because he had to return to the Balkans to be responsible for the military coordination of the Balkan Alliance.

Nicholas did not want George to go to the Balkans.

But only George could convince all the Balkan countries.

Just as George was returning to the Balkans, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, was planning to travel to the Balkans with his wife Sophie.

This year marks the 14th anniversary of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife's marriage.

Sophie was born into a declining Czech aristocratic family. Due to poor economic conditions, Sophie had to work as a maid in the home of an Austrian Archduchess when she was young. The Archduchess wanted to marry her daughter to Archduke Ferdinand, so she invited Archduke Ferdinand to her home.

Unexpectedly, Archduke Ferdinand did not like the Archduke's daughter, but fell in love with Sophie at first sight.

Sophie was already in her 30s at the time, and she was not a lady-in-waiting in the Grand Duke's house, but a maid.

This incident caused an uproar in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Almost everyone opposed Archduke Ferdinand's marriage to Sophie. According to the Royal Marriage Law, if Archduke Ferdinand and Sophie got married, their children would not be able to become heirs to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Archduke Ferdinand's persistence in love is commendable. He dated Sophie despite tremendous pressure and solemnly announced at a cabinet meeting that he and Sophie's daughter voluntarily gave up their rights to the throne.

After two years of stalemate, Emperor Joseph I of Austria-Hungary had to agree to let Ferdinand marry Sophie.

From the huge Habsburg family, only Ferdinand's mother and sister attended the wedding of Ferdinand and Sophie. Neither the emperor nor Ferdinand's brothers showed up.

After the wedding, although Ferdinand and Sophie lived happily and soon had children, Sophie was not accepted by the Austro-Hungarian royal family. When traveling, Sophie could not ride in the same carriage with Ferdinand, and in the theater, Sophie could not sit in the same box with Ferdinand.

As the crown princess, Sophie sat last among all the royal women at court balls.

July 7st is the wedding anniversary of Ferdinand and Sophie.

For 14 years, Ferdinand and Sophie never arranged any celebrations on their wedding anniversary, because even if they did, no royal family members would attend.

As the environment in the Balkans became increasingly severe this year, the Austro-Hungarian Empire decided to hold its annual military exercise in Bosnia.

As the Attorney General of the Austro-Hungarian Army, Archduke Ferdinand decided to take Sophie to Bosnia to inspect the military exercises and spend a pleasant weekend.

Coincidentally, Nicholas had previously decided to hold the Russian Empire's annual military exercises in Constantinople. After more than a year of construction, Constantinople has grown to a considerable size, with the port being the first to resume operations. Since all materials from the Russian Empire had to be concentrated in Constantinople, Constantinople had become the largest material distribution center in the Russian Empire.

George attached great importance to the defense of Constantinople. The troops stationed in Constantinople were the Vladivostok Armored Division from the Amur Military District.

The Vladivostok Armored Division was equipped with 160 new armored vehicles alone, in addition to more than 600 vehicles of various types. It was the empire's first truly armored division.

In the name of participating in exercises, George also transferred the Yuriev Armored Division to strengthen Sofia's defense.

The equipment level of the You Division is similar to that of the Fu Division, and both are ace troops of the Amur Military Region.

George was not optimistic about the Kingdom of Serbia. Once the war broke out, if the Kingdom of Serbia could not withstand the attack of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the war would spread to the Kingdom of Bulgaria.

Sofia is only 40 kilometers from the border.

By sending Division You to Sofia and assisting with the Gao Ri Legion, George was confident that he could keep the enemy out of the country.

Forget about counterattack.

Unless France shows signs of defeat, the Russian army will attack to relieve the pressure on France.

Otherwise the Russian army will only take a defensive stance.

Vasily frowned. This was seriously inconsistent with his expectations.

Vasily did not participate in the Balkan Wars. He thought he could show his prowess in the war against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but he did not expect George to take a defensive stance, which made Vasily sigh.

"Our goal is to win the final victory at the lowest cost. The process is not important."

George reminded Vasily not to let his own selfish interests affect George's overall arrangements.

It doesn’t matter how the local battles are fought. The best thing is to make the Austro-Hungarian Empire suffer, retreat in the face of difficulties, and transfer its main forces to France.

"It doesn't matter. We will fight back eventually. We will have plenty of opportunities when the time comes."

Brusinov had had enough of the Balkan Wars and didn't need much now.

"How about I lead an expeditionary force to North Africa?"

Vasily's eyes rolled and a plan came to his mind.

Italy obtained Tripoli and Cyrenaica from the Ottoman Empire through the Italo-Turkish War. Once the war broke out, these two places would definitely become battlefields.

George's mind moved slightly.

After the Russian Empire broke through the Black Sea outlet, the next step was definitely Africa.

When European countries were dividing Africa, the Russian Empire was still under British blockade and gained nothing.

Now that the Russian Empire has finally broken the British blockade, it is time to change the political map of Africa.

Not only did Italy have colonies in Africa, but Germany also had many colonies.

(End of this chapter)