Chapter 871： slow

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On September 21, 1889, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs submitted the war letter to the British Minister in St. Petersburg. Following the end of the first Near East War, Britain and Russia entered the battlefield again.

This time there was plenty of time. The Russian army launched the attack on the third day after the declaration of war, which was in full compliance with international law.

Of course, this is not the rule of the Tsarist government. It is mainly inland in the Afghan region. The British have no time to lay cable telegrams, and the fastest time to deliver the news is more than a week.

London

In the British government building, Prime Minister Gladstone frowned and asked, "Isn't it said that the Russians are not prepared for war? Why did the war break out in advance?"

Britain is not a fool, and while preparing for war, it has not forgotten to gather Russian intelligence for war preparation.

Just yesterday, some people believed in Gladstone ’s promise that the Russians would have at least three months to prepare for war.

It is now in late September, and in three months the Russian Empire will be covered by ice and snow. Generally speaking, the tsarist government will not start a war at this time.

In the end, the British government reached the conclusion that war would break out in March and April next year, and preparations for war were also carried out according to this progress.

Foreign Secretary George replied very depressedly: "The Russians are indeed not ready for war, and our intelligence personnel lurking in the Russian Empire have made multiple confirmations.

The war broke out ahead of time. Perhaps the tsarist government was aware of our plan before it started. "

There is no problem with intelligence, and the judgment of the British government is also logical, but the Russians do not follow the rules to play cards.

When this kind of thing happens, everyone who is to be held accountable will not be able to run away. Naturally, the Gladstone Prime Minister will not delve deeper.

After contemplating for a while, Prime Minister Gladstone asked uncertainly: "The Russians waged the war ahead of time. Can our troops in the Afghan region hold it?"

In recent decades, the war between the British and European powers has all ended in failure, and even the Afghan natives have suffered heavy losses.

Now it is time to go to war with the Russians. It is really difficult for Prime Minister Gladstone to have confidence in the army with this series of brilliant records.

Defeating the Russians is of course the best choice, but Prime Minister Gladstone does not think that the frontline troops are so powerful, otherwise he will not ask the country to continue to increase troops.

At this time, the Gladstone Prime Minister had to rejoice that he had tossed the question of whether the reinforcements were to Parliament.

If the reinforcements were not timely, resulting in heavy losses on the front, the parliament also shared most of the responsibilities.

Rosario, the Minister of the Army, shook his head: "The Russians will come in fiercely, and they will not give up without taking the Afghan region.

The Russian-Russian war was a lesson to be learned. At the peak, the Russians mobilized 4-5 million troops, and the front-line combat troops were maintained at 2 million.

Although Central Asia is no less than Eastern Europe, the Russians cannot invest millions of troops, but they can still do so if they invest 3.5 million troops.

If the troops in the Afghan region are elite, I can guarantee that they can hold the Afghan region and even have the power to launch counterattacks.

But the problem is that most of our troops in the Afghan region are Indian colonial divisions, and the combat effectiveness is still less than one-tenth of the main force.

Unless the Russians invest no more than 200,000 troops, it will be difficult for us to take advantage of it. "

Could the Russians invest less than 200,000 troops?

This is obviously impossible. Attacking the Three Khanates of Central Asia, the Tsarist Government successively invested more than 600,000 troops.

The next step is to compete with Britain for the Afghan region, and only invest tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of troops, unless the tsarist government floods the brain.

After a pause, Rosario continued to add: "The war has broken out. In view of the complex situation in the Afghan region, the Army Department recommends the expansion of 60 infantry divisions, 20 artillery regiments, and 2 cavalry divisions ..."

Not waiting for Rosario to finish his speech, the Secretary of the Navy Sir Astley Cooper Kee interrupted strongly: "Isn't you kidding? Not long ago, the Army just expanded three infantry divisions, and the Army's total strength has reached An amazing 300,000.

According to your current army expansion plan, the total strength will exceed the one million mark.

As far as I know, the mountainous area of ​​Afghanistan is basically not conducive to the operation of the army. The Russians invested a maximum of 3.5 million troops, and no matter how much logistics they could drag them to death.

We have already taken advantage of the first movers. Frontline troops can build fortifications on the ground by relying on the terrain, so there is not much force at all.

One million Army, are you preparing to fight all the way from Central Asia to Moscow? "

No objection, no. British military spending is not unlimited. If the army gets more, the navy will get less.

Because of the war in Afghanistan, the British government stopped the arms race, and the navy has long been dissatisfied.

Now the Army jumped out under the banner of war to grab resources. Sir Astley Cooper Kee could not bear it!

As for the need for war, this is a fallacy in itself. Different play styles require completely different troops.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Xiaozhi Childers: "Sir is right. The Afghan battlefield does not need so many troops at all, nor can we support millions of troops in Afghanistan.

The Army was not our strength, and it was simply unrealistic to fight against the Russians in Afghanistan.

All we need is to guard the Afghan region and cut off the Russians' idea of ​​going south, instead of fighting the Russians in a decisive battle in Central Asia.

The pure defense can also be used by the Indian Colonial Army. We have as many troops as we want. Even if there are heavy casualties, there will be no trouble, and the cost will be much lower. "

It was really a big opening, and Rosario did not expect the government to agree, and it was also a matter of anticipation.

"The two are afraid that they have not figured out the seriousness of the problem. War is not a game. The enemy will not go according to our plan. The Russians provoked war in advance to prove that.

The frontline troops cannot fight forever. The troops need to be rotated and supplemented. We must have enough reserves.

The Ministry of Army calculates according to 3: 3: 4. Not only are there 300,000 combat troops on the front line, but another 300,000 in the Indian region can be reinforced and rotated at any time, and the domestic 400,000 troops are prepared to respond to emergencies.

Judging from the casualties of the Russo-Prussian War, such troops are actually very few, and the Indian Colonial Army needs to be added.

It is not possible to expand the army one day or two days. The situation on the battlefield is constantly changing. We must consider the worst.

... "

Lord Astley Cooper Kee, Secretary of the Navy: "Imagination, the army is about to fail at the beginning, is it ..."

Seeing the escalation of the quarrel, Prime Minister Gladstone stopped: "Enough! The Russians have called, and everyone will be ready to collect the corpses for the frontline troops!"

Ordered the Governor of India to form an additional half a million troops, and authorized Governor Lidun to send troops to reinforce the Afghan battlefield at any time according to the changes in the frontline battle situation.

In addition, seven infantry divisions were drawn from the mainland, and one infantry division was selected from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to immediately reinforce the Afghan region.

The Army immediately began to expand, first expanding 400,000 troops. If necessary, it will be discussed later based on actual conditions. "

Originally, Gladstone wanted to reinforce the 20 infantry divisions on the front line, but he didn't have so many troops in the country.

If you want to continue to increase troops in the local area, then wait for the expansion of the army to be completed, and now you can only let the Indian colonial army stand first.

The army expansion plan was slashed with a lazy waist, and Rosario was originally planning to continue to gain more, but glanced at the expression of everyone, he decided to give up decisively.

It is already very difficult to allow everyone to expand the army as well. If the game is over, these guys may think that the army is too expensive and will use the cheap colonial army to fight the Russians.

Don't look at Rosario's vigorous derogation of the fighting power of the colonial army. In fact, there are still several troops that can fight in the British colonial system.

The fighting power is not as good as the main force of the British army. That is because the weapons and equipment of the colonial army are too poor. If they are replaced with the same equipment, it is still unknown whether they are stronger or weaker.

The British government did not use these cheap troops with great fighting power. It was not because everyone did not want it, but mainly because of loyalty.

The brave soldiers are not a joke. These strong combatants are not as good-tempered as the Indian Colonial Army.

Everyone knows the truth about keeping tigers afflicted. In so many colonies in Britain, there is no such thing as a big place. It is this kind of caution.

...

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