I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 858 Pain
The area of ​​Barakzai is about 65 square kilometers. The entire territory is surrounded by Russia, Persia and India, and the border with India is 2640 kilometers long.

When the British invaded Barakzai, they also tried to blockade the Russian border and cut off Russia's aid to Barakzai, but were eventually forced to give up due to insufficient troops.

If Britain had mobilized troops from all over the world to Barakzai as it did in the Second Boer War, it might have been able to conquer Barakzai.

Britain fought the Boer War because of the Rand gold mines.

Barakzai did not have any resources worthy of Britain's increased investment. The three invasions of Barakzai lasted only three years at the longest.

Now it’s Russia’s turn. If it becomes like Britain, George doesn’t know how long he can hold out.

Following international tradition, Russia declared the war over after capturing the capital of Barakzai.

Vasily wanted to directly annex Balakzai. This is also the Russian tradition that once the meat is in your mouth, you will never spit it out.

George is not in a hurry. People cannot teach others, but things can be taught once people are taught.

As George expected, the occupation of the Barakzai capital did not mean the end of the war, and the Barakzai people were still resisting.

Andrei finally exposed the tyrannical side of his character. Whenever the Russian army was attacked, he would destroy all the surrounding Barakzai tribes with the attacked area as the center and completely eliminate the Barakzai people's will to resist.

This was not Russia's first initiative either; the British army also did the same during the Second Boer War.

This tactic doesn't always work.

On May 5, a Russian officer was sniped at a long distance while on duty. The Russian army dispatched 29 people and searched for three days before finding the murderer's hiding place.

The commander wanted to capture them alive, and after six people were killed, the commander ordered the artillery to open fire. In the end, only some human tissue and a destroyed Yuriev rifle were found in the ruins.

Needless to say, this rifle was definitely donated by Russia.

What made the Russian army uncomfortable was that all the Barakzai tribes within ten kilometers around the attack site had been completely destroyed.

Andrei had to admit that in order to completely conquer Barakzai, he had to kill all the Barakzai people.

"Impossible. We just need to kill all the bravest Barakzai people, and the rest of the Barakzai people will naturally surrender completely."

Vasily also knew that conquest was a long process.

From 1772 to 1795, Russia, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire divided Poland three times, and Poland was completely destroyed.

The Poles did not surrender and continued to fight until a hundred years later. The rebellion in Warsaw came to an end only after George won over and divided the remaining Poles and moved them to inland areas of Russia.

Barakzai might be the next Warsaw.

Andre looked at George, hoping that George could come up with a practical plan.

"Let's negotiate with Barakzai and establish a government that is in our favor. Then we will withdraw our troops and return power to the Barakzai people."

George does not seek to achieve anything, but only to avoid making any mistakes.

"So what do we get?"

Vasily was unwilling.

"We gained nothing except the reputation of bullying the weak, but at least we stopped the loss in time and will not pay a higher price."

George has a tight grip on Najd because there is oil underground in Najd.

Russia has everything that Barakzai has, and since Barakzai is a landlocked country, Russia will not even have access to the sea.

Vasily was unwilling to give up, so the Russian army stayed in Barakzaido for a month.

On June 6, a Russian patrol was attacked on the Pakistan-India border, killing more than 27 people. When reinforcements arrived, the enemy had disappeared without a trace.

This is definitely not a lone wolf attack; the other side must be an organized army.

The Russian army sent troops to conduct a carpet search, but also found nothing.

In this case, there is only one possibility: the enemy comes from within India.

These may not necessarily be Indians, but could be Barakzai’s army that fled into India.

It was only then that Vasily finally remembered that when the British army invaded Barakzai, Russia also allowed the Barakzai rebels to enter Russia for rest and supplies.

"Bastards! Damn British, I'm going to kill all these bastards!"

Vasily roared madly, wishing he could go to war with Britain immediately.

"Reduce the frequency of patrols and fight Barakzai with Barakzai."

George could only try to minimize Russian casualties.

The Russian army's retreat can indeed reduce the frequency of attacks.

However, using the Barakzai people to fight against the Barakzai people is equivalent to handing over the vast areas outside the city to the rebels. The city will become an isolated island, which will be more conducive to the rebels' actions.

"Add more troops. We must conquer Barakzai completely."

Vasily is now in a difficult situation and is full of regrets.

If we had known that the Barakzai people were so difficult to deal with, we should not have invaded Barakzai in the first place.

But who can be blamed for this? George has reminded them many times, but Vasily and Andrei are just like possessed by evil spirits and are stubborn and don't listen to George at all. Vasily can only go down this path to prove that he is right.

If George did not get entangled with the British in Barakzai, the British could tear down the Russian army's corners, and George could dig up the British load-bearing walls in Africa.

After the end of World War II, Germany's colonies in Africa were divided up by Britain and France, with Britain getting Tanganyika and Southwest Africa.

Southwest Africa was poor in resources and was entrusted to South Africa by Britain. Tanganyika has an area of ​​93.7 square kilometers and is extremely rich in resources. It was directly governed by Britain and invested heavily in its development.

The East African protectorate between Tanganyika and Sudan was also a British colony.

In mid-May, an uprising broke out in the East African Protectorate. The local governor sent troops to suppress it, but not only did the rebellion fail to be quelled, but the government troops were completely wiped out by the rebels.

When the news reached London, the coalition government fell apart.

In order to prevent Britain from being drawn into an arms race, MacDonald promised at the Geneva Disarmament Conference in 1932 that Britain would take the lead in disarmament.

In the case of Britain, the decision to disarm was certainly the right one.

But this also resulted in London having no troops to send to East Africa when it wanted to.

Conservative ministers in the coalition government put the blame on Prime Minister McDonald.

MacDonald was innocent. Although he was prime minister, the real power was held by former prime minister Stanley Baldwin and chancellor of the exchequer Neville Chamberlain, who was regarded as Baldwin's successor.

Although the decision to disarm was initiated by MacDonald, it was planned by Baldwin and Chamberlain, and MacDonald was blamed.

While being stabbed in the back by the Conservatives within the coalition government, the Labour Party also attacked MacDonald as the biggest traitor in the party's history. Churchill accused MacDonald of being too soft on Russia, and MacDonald's own health was not as good as before.

Since the beginning of this year, McDonald has started to be unclear in his speeches, and the venomous media described it as: no one knows what the prime minister is going to say in the House of Commons, and when he speaks, no one understands him.

Amid internal and external troubles, McDonald was forced to resign on health grounds.

As usual, the King of England tried to retain MacDonald.

MacDonald was disheartened and not only resigned from his post as British Prime Minister, he also announced his intention to withdraw from politics completely.

George V did not try to persuade him to stay and instructed Stanley Baldwin to continue forming a cabinet.

The first thing Stanley Baldwin did after taking office was to visit Russia.

This is very unusual. Previous British prime ministers usually visited France as their first country and would not place Russia in such an important position.

This was Baldwin's third time as British Prime Minister. The first two times, the first country Baldwin visited was France.

Since the outbreak of the economic crisis, Russia's role in the European situation has become increasingly obvious. If Russia and Germany join forces, they will influence the situation on the European continent.

If Russia returns to the Anglo-French alliance, it could also determine the fate of Europe.

Although Vasily scolded Baldwin, he still attached great importance to him and held a grand welcoming ceremony for him in Constantinople.

George did not go to Constantinople, citing poor health.

Baldwin directly proposed that he wanted to visit the "sick" George in Alexandria.

"Tell him I have a cold and can't see visitors."

George didn't want to see Baldwin, and you could guess what Baldwin wanted to say.

It's nothing more than the German threat theory.

When Russia was strong, the British advocated the Russian threat theory.

When Napoleon was at the height of his power, it was also Britain that formed an anti-French alliance.

Now it's Germany's turn. The British are determined to create an enemy in Europe no matter what.

"Baldwin is still very sincere and hopes to rebuild European security with us."

Peter attended Baldwin's welcome ceremony, had an in-depth and friendly exchange with Baldwin, and accepted Baldwin's invitation to visit.

Baldwin put forward a series of conditions, including joint exercises between British and Russian troops.

Kolchak accepted Baldwin's invitation. The Royal Navy was still quite powerful.

Peter declined.

The British Air Force had nothing to offer the Russian Air Force, and Peter was worried that the Russian army would pick up British habits.

Some of the British Army's traditions would be 404 even if they were written into novels.
"Britain itself is the biggest destabilizing factor in Europe's security. What is there to talk about—"

George was too lazy to play along with Baldwin.

"We can try to make some exchanges of interests."

Peter was concerned about the Russian troops trapped in Barakzai.

Barakzai’s guerrilla tactics are indeed disgusting. As long as the Russian army leaves the city, they may be attacked at any time.

The city is no longer safe. Just now, the Russian military camp in the capital of Barakzai was attacked by a bomb by the Barakzai rebels, and two sentries were killed.

The ground passage between the Russian army and the capital of Barakzai has been completely cut off, and the only way for them to deliver supplies to the garrison in the capital of Barakzai is by the air force.

A week ago, the airport was bombarded by rebels, but fortunately the shells landed on open ground and caused no damage.

This is definitely not a good sign.

This time it was an open space, but what if the shell falls on the runway next time?
Transport aircraft are not fighter jets, and the requirements for runways are very strict.

"Ah--"

George did not intend to exchange them. He wanted to use this opportunity to make these overconfident Russian generals suffer a little.

(End of this chapter)