Chapter 280： Preparation (1)

Although Churchill’s proposal was not passed, Britain and France have decided to satisfy Romania’s appetite and ease their pressure on the Western Front. So three days later, the British and French ambassadors informed the Romanian side of the news.

After receiving this news, Edel summoned Prime Minister Bretianu, Minister of Foreign Affairs Barnosk, Secretary of War Admiral Courtois, and Chief of Staff Admiral Prieshan into the palace.

After summoning all his important ministers, Edel set the tone as soon as he opened his mouth. "Everyone, the Allies have agreed to our Romanian terms. Now we need to pay attention to the secret mobilization of the military in the military, and also need to stabilize the Allies diplomatically and buy time for us to mobilize."

Facing the king's strong tone, the ministers present did not say anything. They were all old fritters who knew the importance of time to Romania. Moreover, the king's judgment of the situation has been very accurate in recent years, which is why they have always trusted it.

Seeing that the ministers had no objection, Edel asked by name. "Admiral Pree, does your military have any requirements for the Allied Powers."

In the face of Edel's questioning, Prieshan, as a representative of the army, had a lot of demands, but now he can only say what is important. "Your Majesty, we have a lot of demands on the Allied powers, but the most important thing is the cooperation between the Allied troops in Greece and us."

In the face of Preeshan, Edel also admitted it. "This is indeed a question of whether we can open up the situation in the region. Please rest assured that the Chief of the General Staff, I will let the Minister of Foreign Affairs Barnosk make our request."

Seeing that Pree Mountain was still a bit unfinished, Edel, who was the king, moved in his heart and took another sentence. "It's best if your army can send one person to participate in the negotiations, so that you can help when discussing military issues with the Allies."

After seeing the king say what the army wanted, Admiral Pule thanked him. "Thank you for your majesty's fancy to the military. We will definitely send professionals who understand the military to assist in the negotiation."

Faced with Puleshan’s actions, Edel knew what was going on. Because Romania declared war on the Allied Powers, the biggest pressure was on their military. In the face of more than one million war-fighting Allied forces, the talented staff of the General Staff are all about to lose their heads. Because Romania can be called an elite and confident of resisting the German army and its counterattacks, only 400,000 standing troops, while the militia plus reserve can only withstand the attacks of the Austrian-Hungarian army at most. In addition, Romania’s reserves of weapons and ammunition can be maintained for up to half a year in accordance with the state of the Western Front, which makes the military a lot of headaches. Then it is within the military's consideration to obtain from one's own allies.

In fact, this is the reason why the General Staff has the least number of people in the direction of Bulgaria, but most of them are elite troops. Romania needs too much assistance from the Allies, both in terms of strength and material.

Some people may ask, why can't we produce more? This has a lot to do with Romanian military industry. Before the outbreak of the war, Romania’s main military-industrial enterprise, the Bucharest Arsenal had an annual production capacity of 150,000 guns, four to five hundred artillery pieces, and 400,000 tons of various ammunition. However, comparing the production capacity of the two camps is totally insignificant. It is important to know that at that time, the annual output of ammunition by the major powers in various countries was over two million tons. Moreover, the training of soldiers requires ammunition. Besides, the weapons and ammunition that can be produced are all in short supply, and they are not very much purchased during the war.

After the war, Romania needs to seize the Transylvania area to reduce its defensive pressure, so it needs more ammunition. This is why Romania reserves 1.4 million tons of ammunition, but the General Staff only thinks it can fight for half a year.

Why is this result? The basis given by the General Staff is the consumption of ammunition on the Western Front by Britain and France. Britain and France have an annual output of more than two million tons of ammunition, and they can fight no more than three major battles a year. Of course, in addition to the several major battles that focused on consuming ammunition, there are usually other consumptions, but the several major battles on the Western Front accounted for most of the British and French ammunition consumption, and Germany as its opponent is no exception.

Looking at the German battles of World War I, you will find that except for the beginning of the Battle of the Marne (August 30) and the Battle of Tannenberg (August 25), the outbreak time of the battles on the east and west fronts were alternated. This is also because the material reserves of the German army can only maintain high-strength operations in one direction. This also caused the German dispute over the east-west line. The Romanian military also saw Germany’s plight, so in order to have enough military supplies, it became a top priority to defeat Bulgaria and open up ties with the Allies.

After questioning the military, Edel turned to ask the Prime Minister. "The government needs to be prepared after the declaration of war."

In the face of Edel's words, Prime Minister Bretianu, as the head of government, must make a statement, and saw him stand up and talk about it. "The government is already preparing for this, and it won't be delayed The prime minister replied lightly. It does not mean that the government has less work. In fact, this work is already running out of the prime minister’s head. The hair of Romania has a tendency to become more sparse. The main reason is that Romania’s economy is highly compatible with Germany and Austria, coupled with the numerous German and Austrian capitals in its territory, how to define these capitals after the outbreak of the war is a problem for the government to consider.

In the statistics of the Romanian government at the beginning of 1917, 27% of Romania's large-scale enterprises had German and Austrian capital, and 9% of them were wholly-owned. Among the industries involved in German and Austrian capital, grain processing, transportation, and machinery processing are the main targets of its investment.

Moreover, according to the government's investigation, the capital of Germany and Austria invested 124 million pounds in Romania, while the three countries of Britain, France, and Russia totaled less than 40 million pounds. When the report was sent to Edel, he knew that Deao had done a lot in Romania.

A quarter of the workers need to rely on German and Austrian capital for food, which makes Romania too much involved. Had it not been known that the Allied powers would win, Edel would not dare to declare war on Germany and Austria because it would cause chaos in his own country first.

Therefore, disposing of the capital of Germany and Austria in Romania has become a major difficulty for the government. In particular, Romania will continue to obtain technology, equipment and talents from Germany and Austria after the first stop, so it is still not possible to learn from the United States, Britain, France and other countries to confiscate them, which also exacerbates the speed of the prime minister's hair loss.

The difficulty of dealing with German and Austrian capital has made the Prime Minister worry about it. And after military mobilization, how quickly Romania's economy transforms to serve the military is also his headache.