Chapter 188： Affected Romania

Edel is with his wife who is about to give birth, and the situation in Europe is also unfolding in an irreversible situation.

After the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia on July 28, Russia’s military mobilization has also turned from a secret state to a bright face that is conducive to operations. 1.1 million reserve soldiers were mobilized by Russia into the army.

Facing Russia's aggressive attitude, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which has messed up things, turned to its most reliable ally, Germany, for help. In the face of the huge army that Russia began to gather, Kaiser Wilhelm II summoned important ministers to discuss. After learning that Russia had secretly mobilized for a few days, Germany demanded that Russia cancel the military mobilization the next day, on the grounds that the Russian military mobilization threatened Germany’s security and it was limited to reply within 12 hours.

Faced with Germany's request, the Russian government ignored it. So Germany also began military mobilization on July 31 under the signature of Wilhelm II. Military martial law began in Germany, the military stopped taking vacations, soldiers began to return to the barracks, and news was controlled. At the same time, Germany's most important railway system is also placed under the jurisdiction of the military.

Faced with the German reaction, the French government, which has always regarded it as the greatest threat, also began military mobilization on August 1, and at the same time sent additional troops to guard the border with Germany. In fact, the French government had already begun preparations. When Russia began to mobilize secretly, France quietly assembled its troops in North Africa to major ports, and the German military mobilization allowed France to speed up its actions.

Next is the familiar moment of declaration of war. Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary, Austria-Hungary and Germany declared war on Russia, and France declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. Germany invaded Belgium and Britain declared war on it. What is worth mentioning here is Italy. The Italian government stipulated in the Treaty of the Alliance of Three Emperors that only when attacked can only be attacked by allies can declare war, so Italy remains neutral at the moment when countries declare war on each other. Even if Italy is neutral, Europe has now begun a war that has been fought, and Romania has also been wooed by the two warring parties at this time.

In the palace, Edel has completely ignored his wife who is about to give birth these days. Now after the start of the European War, he is checking the latest news of various countries almost every day to see which one of them can be useful to Romania. Now he is summoning the chief of the general staff, General Prieshan, and the secretary of the army, General Courtois, and other high-level military officials in the office to jointly check the latest battle reports.

This is a telegram that the Germans attacked the Liege Fortress in Belgium.

The Liege Fortress is also famous in Europe. As a key point for a small Belgian country to defend against Germany, in the last 10 years of the 19th century, huge manpower and material resources were spent on the construction of the Liege Fortress. 12 permanent fortifications were arranged in a circle around the city. These fortresses are equipped with 252 artillery pieces of various calibers, and are densely packed with machine gun firepower points and infantry shooting holes. Sticking to the fortress is the Belgian 3rd Infantry Division, which consists of 4 brigades and several other combat regiments, with a total strength of about 36,000.

This fortress was destroyed by heavy artillery after blocking the Germans for 10 days. Now this telegram is placed in front of Edel and the Romanian military high-level.

"Unexpectedly, the current military fortress was destroyed in a few days. This was unthinkable 20 or 30 years ago."

Army Secretary General Courtois said with emotion after reading the telegram. We must know that in the Russo-Japanese War ten years ago, the Lushun Fortress also took 5 months to conquer with 61,000 casualties. It took only ten days for the Germans to conquer the Liege Fortress, and 10,000 casualties took down this strong fortress. This made Admiral Courtois lament that the world has changed so fast that he is a little bit unable to keep up with the times.

"In fact, this fortress still works."

Hearing Admiral Courtois’s sigh, Admiral Prieshan stood up and spoke. "Without this fortress, the Belgian army would not be able to stop it for ten days, let alone whether he could complete the task of recruiting the army."

Facing Preeshan, the senior army officers here all nodded secretly. Facing the attack of Germany, the strongest army in Europe, it was the Belgian King Albert who sent all the troops in his hand. It is estimated that it is impossible to resist Germany's "left uppercut."

"It just took a huge amount of manpower and material resources to withstand 10 days, isn't it too much of a gain than a loss?"

Lieutenant General Fereit, who has only been in the post of military education director for a few months, expressed his considerations in terms of cost performance.

In the past few months, Lieutenant General Feleit has been cautious and cautious in his role as director of education. Firstly, he has no experience. Secondly, it also stems from his wholehearted desire to give a beautiful result and let himself get other colleagues. Recognition. Because he knew that if he wanted to continue his promotion, he had to not only have a good impression in the Crown Prince's mind, but also a good impression in the hearts of his colleagues, so he was deeply afraid that he had made mistakes that shouldn't have been made.

The high-ranking military officers present also thought about what Lieutenant General Feleit said. This can also be used for reference. There are also many strategic points in Romania. In the past, due to the low military expenditure and external pressure, the army did not invest too much money on these points. Among them, General Courtois, Secretary of the Army, and General Prieshan, Chief of the General Staff, have the deepest feelings about this issue. In their drawers, there is already a full drawer of applications for building fortresses on strategic points.

Edel also said after thinking about what Lieutenant-General Fereit said. "On the issue of whether we still need to build fortresses, I think we can reduce the amount of construction. After all, the German ** team has demonstrated this issue to us. But as for the extent to which it is reduced, General Preysan and Ku After General Artois returned and asked the staff to do a deduction, we are not rich either, and we need to use the least amount of money to make the most reasonable plan."

Edel paused and continued. "However, the coastal defense fortress still needs to continue to be built. After all, our navy is still too weak and our port city is also an elite zone that cannot be missed."

Plieshan and Courtois, who were named by Edel, nodded in agreement with the crown prince, and Plieshan also told the crown prince. "His Royal Highness, we will ask the staff to do this after the meeting, and we will definitely come up with a reasonable plan."

After Admiral Preeshan finished speaking, a group of high-ranking army officers looked at the Secretary of the Navy, Major General Lomodan. The two generals with the lowest ranks who participated most in this meeting, even if he was a minister, were Alexander.

Facing the crown prince’s inquiry, Major General Romodan could only talk about it after Preshan’s speech. "His Royal Highness, our Admiralty, is mainly doing Varna's coastal defense plan for the current coastal defense fortress . We plan to purchase 10 specially customized ultra-long tube 240 cannons from the arsenal to serve as Varna's coastal defense. Cannons. As for other small ports, we will also prepare five 210 cannons as mobile forts to provide defense."

After hearing the words of Major General Lomodan, Edel asked concerned. "So do you have enough funds?"

Edel knew that the navy’s funding had always been small, and that the pressure on shore defense was now greater, so he asked to avoid unexpected situations.

Facing the crown prince’s inquiry, Major General Romodan still said boldly. "The navy is still able to afford the funding issue."

After hearing the words of Major General Lomodan, Edel was still satisfied, at least the Navy is still enough. Just then a guard came in and he quietly walked to the crown prince and whispered. "His Royal Highness, the King is back. I heard that Ambassador Baslobb of Germany went to the station to meet the King and talked with His Majesty alone for a few minutes."

After hearing this, Edel spoke to the guards calmly. "I see, go down."

Then Edel continued to discuss the impact of the war on the Romanian army with the top military leaders. As if indifferent to the news he heard, only those who were familiar with him could see that the crown prince said a lot less in the subsequent discussions.

Ps; Regarding the chapter that broke out in the previous station, Mantou wants to explain here, this is not pasting and copying. This is a condensed version of the information about the book search before and after the outbreak of the First World War, which was specially bought by Bun. After reading the steamed bun, he sorted it out by himself. Seeing that everyone’s reaction was a bit intense, I didn’t continue to describe the mantou in detail. If you don’t like it, just skip it. Mantou intends to write Romania.