I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 604 Sooner or Later, It Will Be Mine
There were about 6 Serbian troops retreating into Bulgaria, and their commander was Stefan Stenović, the former Minister of War of the Kingdom of Serbia, who was nearly years old.

Stenović was born in 1856. Starting from the Tenth Russo-Turkish War, Stenović participated in all wars of the Kingdom of Serbia and served as Serbia's Minister of War since 1908.

Stenovich was cooperative with the Russian Empire and did not object to handing over the command of the Serbian army to George.

When the Serbian army was defeated, Stenovich had the opportunity to go into exile with Alexander, but he chose to lead his troops to retreat into Bulgaria and continue fighting the Austrian army.

When retreating into Bulgaria, many Serbian soldiers were still wearing thin clothes. Their ammunition was almost exhausted, and their supplies were completely cut off. The sick and injured officers and soldiers could not receive timely medical treatment, and their morale was extremely low.

Brusinov placed the Serbian soldiers in a military camp on the outskirts of Sofia. Stenovich did not go to the official residence in Sofia prepared for him by Brusinov, but chose to stay with his soldiers.

The military camp in the suburbs of Sofia has relatively complete facilities. After the soldiers arrived, they immediately moved into the warm barracks. The quartermaster distributed cotton coats and boots to them. Their first meal was beef stew with potatoes. Some people were admitted to the hospital because they ate too much.

"If we had this level of logistics, we could certainly drive the Austrians out."

The commander of the First Army, Givoin Mišić, lamented that they were almost victorious, but unfortunately failed at the last moment.

Just after the Serbian army withdrew into Bulgaria, heavy snow fell in Belgrade and the Austrian army's logistical supply lines were interrupted.

This was the opportunity Putnik had been waiting for.

Unfortunately, Putnik didn't live to see this moment.

"The biggest mistake we made was overestimating our own strength and underestimating our opponents."

Stenovich now fully realizes the gap between Serbia and the military powers.

Not to mention the distant future, the 11th Army led by Brusinov is not only equipped with armored units and heavy artillery, but also has access to air force support, which is what Stenovich has always dreamed of.

Serbia seems to be ambitious, but in fact it is weak. Before the outbreak of the Balkan War, this country only had Belgrade. Although it gained North Macedonia after the war, it had not had time to digest it before the world war followed.

Stenović now only hopes to retake Belgrade, as Bosnia and Herzegovina is getting further and further away from Serbia.

"Gentlemen, did you have a good rest?"

The Bulgarian Chief of the General Staff, Konstantin Zosdov, came to visit Stenovich and Mišić.

Zosdorf was one of the few officers in the Bulgarian army who remained from the Ferdinand era.

During Ferdinand's time, Zosdorf was ostracized for opposing cooperation between Bulgaria and Germany. He also participated in the Rivne exercises as a military observer.

After the reconstruction of the Bulgarian army, Zosdov was appointed Chief of the Bulgarian General Staff by Polis, a position in which he worked diligently and made great contributions to Bulgaria's mobilization.

"It couldn't be better. It has everything: a warm fire, delicious coffee, and most importantly, no Austrians."

Stenovich wanted to get back to the battlefield as quickly as possible.

However, this is unrealistic. Most of the 6 Serbian soldiers are either sick or injured, and they need a long period of rest before they can return to the battlefield.

Stenovich was recruiting new soldiers from the Serbs who had retreated into Bulgaria, but this work was not going well.

Serbs willing to serve their country have already enlisted in Serbia's previous mobilizations.

These Serbs in Bulgaria now did not choose to live and die with their country when Serbia faced enemy invasion, but chose to flee their homeland. This in itself shows their attitude.

"General Brusinov is discussing a new battle plan with Grand Duke Yuriev in Constantinople. If the plan is approved, you can return to the battlefield as quickly as possible."

Zosdorf comforted Stenovich, saying that the war had just begun and there would be more fighting to come.

"God bless, I hope they can hurry up."

Stenovich prayed sincerely.

Mishichi said nothing. He was very unhappy with George.

From the perspective of the Russian Empire, there was nothing wrong with George's approach.

But George's inaction caused great harm to the Kingdom of Serbia. As a Serb, Mišić has shown great self-control by not escalating his dissatisfaction into resentment.

Zosdorf did not stay long, he had other work to do.

After Zosdorf left, Misic began to complain.

"Don't complain, this is God's test for us."

After going through so much, Stenovich was a little delirious.

Sixty thousand soldiers were stationed in four camps in Sofia.

This is also thanks to the fact that the Bulgarian government built a large number of military camps in Sofia to welcome the 11th Army some time ago. Otherwise, it would be impossible to accommodate so many people in a short period of time. There are also some Serbs serving in the 11th Army, including Lieutenant Colonel Stefan Pavlovic, who was born in Belgrade.

Shortly after Pavlovich was born, he went to St. Petersburg with his father and received education in St. Petersburg.

In 1887, Pavlovich graduated from the Nikolay Cavalry School and joined the Russian Army in the same year, serving in the Caucasus Military District.

Pavlovich's current position is the artillery staff officer of the 89th Division. After the Serbian army retreated into Bulgaria, Pavlovich was ordered to assist the Chief of Staff of the 11th Army, Alexander Kitkov, in reorganizing the Serbian army.

Having been away from Serbia for so long, Pavlovic doesn't even speak Serbian.

However, in the Serbian army, most officers can speak Russian, so this does not affect the communication between Pavlovic and Serbian officers.

The situation of the Serbian army is so bad that by Amur standards at least half of the soldiers must be retired and unable to continue fighting.

Stenovich disagreed. He hoped that the 11th Army would provide the Serbian army with enough rifles and supplies and replace a full set of weapons and equipment.

It would be best if Brusinov could provide the Serbian army with some armored vehicles and artillery.

Pavlovich organized the healthy soldiers to continue training with their previous weapons.

The new rifles will not arrive in Sofia until at least after the new year.

For most Serbian soldiers, they were not concerned about the interest struggles among the top leaders, but were instead very interested in the living conditions of the Bulgarians.

Many Serbian soldiers came from North Macedonia and they did not have much affection for the Kingdom of Serbia.

This is not surprising. For most people nowadays, the concepts of country and nation are relatively weak. They don’t care who rules them, they only care about whether they can live a good life.

"In Bulgaria, everyone can get land at a low price, get a loan from the bank and start a family farm or plantation. This is possible only because we have a generous and benevolent king who deserves the loyalty of all of us."

Pavlovich comforted the soldiers who were disabled due to injuries and unable to return to the front line, hoping that they would not lose hope in life.

In order not to burden their families, many wounded soldiers choose to exile themselves after retirement, no longer contacting their families, and die silently.

If these wounded soldiers are not properly cared for, most of them will die in various tragic ways within five years.

"That's awesome!"

"I dream of owning my own farm. I will raise a horse and five hunting dogs. Every weekend, I will take my children and the dogs to hunt—"

"Our king is a deserter, he betrayed us."

The Serbian wounded soldiers were talking about it.

"Even if you can't go back to the battlefield, you can still make a contribution to the country. In Bulgaria, soldiers who are disabled due to injuries while fighting for the country are exempt from taxation for life and have a lifetime pension. As long as they are not greedy, they can live a happy life."

Pavlovich's words are full of temptation. Who doesn't want to live in a strong and prosperous country?

As Pavlovich described, many soldiers whose eyes had lost their luster gradually regained their vitality.

These subtle influences will eventually form an unstoppable force in the Serbian army.

George ignored the Serbian soldiers. As the end of the year approached, the wedding date of Boris and Elizabeth was getting closer.

Polis wanted to hold his coronation ceremony and wedding together.

Considering that all countries were in a state of war, the coronation ceremony and wedding were kept simple to avoid extravagance and waste.

Polis was George's eldest son. George had been in Constantinople. Catherine and Anne came to Adrianople early to plan the wedding for Polis.

Although Bolis wants everything to be simple, he is the King of Bulgaria after all. Nicholas and the kings of the Balkan League will definitely come to attend Bolis's coronation ceremony and wedding, and the Bulgarian people will also send their blessings to Bolis in various ways.

Catherine spent a lot of money again and personally invested 5 million rubles to sponsor Boris' wedding.

Anna was curious because Catherine had given Boris a large sum of money when he was invited to be the King of Bulgaria.

Not long after that, Ekaterina was able to come up with another 500 million. Her wealth is simply unfathomable.

Ekaterina said it was all drizzle.

Although Catherine failed to become the Empress of the Russian Empire, she was favored by Alexander II for twenty years. After Alexander II's death, she invested in business in France and became a well-known French entrepreneur. Her net worth was almost as much as Anne's.

Anne was not jealous, because it would be hers sooner or later anyway.

(End of this chapter)