The Government of the United Kingdom, which had finally gathered its courage and made up its mind to fight against the Russians, was stunned by Lieutenant General Patrick's telegram for help.
Putting down the telegram in his hand, Prime Minister Gladstone asked in confusion, "Isn't there already 400,000 troops on the front line? Why do we need reinforcements? "
It was not that Prime Minister Gladstone was making a fuss, but Britannia had never played such a large-scale strategy game in its history.
The war had yet to break out, but there were already more than 400,000 soldiers gathered at the frontlines. If another 20 infantry divisions were to be reinforced, the total number of soldiers would approach the 700,000 mark.
It was completely beyond the scope of Prime Minister Gladstone's understanding to play such a big game in a local war.
Minister of War Rosario said, "Prime Minister, the Ministry of War has carefully studied Lieutenant General Patrick's telegram for help, and can basically confirm that his request is reasonable.
The Russians were aggressive. According to intelligence, they had already invested 500,000 troops in Central Asia, and the possibility of more troops was not ruled out.
Due to the distance, the enemy's reinforcements will be much faster than ours. We must ensure that the frontlines have sufficient troops.
Otherwise, in the event of an emergency, they could only count on the support of the Indian Governor General's District. With all due respect, the Governor-General of India does not have the ability to deal with emergencies.
Once there was a war with Russia, the Indian region would also become unstable. Maintaining the stability of the Indian region was the most important task of the Viceroy of India.
If they were not prepared in advance, it would be irresponsible to suddenly send too many troops from the Indian region to the frontline after the war broke out.
Secondly, the Regions of Afghanistan have never been peaceful. The local people have colluded with Russia to fight against our rule.
Because the Regions of Afghanistan are mountainous, the strongholds of the rebel organizations are deep in the mountains and forests. Our troops in the Regions of Afghanistan have carried out many encirclement and suppression operations, but they have not been able to catch all of them.
Once the war with the Russians breaks out, these people will jump out and cause trouble again. We must leave enough troops to deal with the unexpected situation and not let them work with the Russians.
… "
There were a lot of reasons, but in summary, there was only one, and that was to quickly expand the army. The frontlines could not wait any longer.
Even though he had always been raised by his stepmother, Lu Jun had his own ambitions. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand the army, and no one would give it up no matter what.
Rosario, who was a civil official, was naturally aware of the twists and turns, but as the Minister of War, he had already decided his stance.
If he destroyed the military's stage at this time, then there would be no need to do the rest of the work. His subordinates would have ways to screw him over.
Minister of Finance Xiaozhi Childes sneered, "Sir, you should know the situation in Afghanistan. We need to maintain 700,000 soldiers at the frontline. How many people does the Ministry of the Army plan to use to support the logistics?
One million, or two million, or three million, or even four million? "
This was the most realistic problem. Afghanistan was a landlocked country. Supplies such as food and cloth could be provided by the Indian Governor General's District, but weapons and ammunition had to be transported from the mainland.
If all the production and transportation personnel were added up, without a few million people serving the frontline troops, it would be impossible to support a laborious expedition of this scale.
Minister of War Rosario shook his head. "These problems do exist, but we have no choice, do we?
The Russians wouldn't care if we were in trouble or not. As long as they were ready, the Russian Army would attack.
For the sake of India's safety, we must take the initiative to fight. If we don't defend Afghanistan now, we will have to defend the Ganges River in the future.
As for the difficulties we are facing now, it's not impossible to overcome them. We don't lack labor.
We can just recruit labor from the Indian region. The highest cost of labor is nothing more than the domestic production and transportation process. We can just grit our teeth and persevere for a while.
Given the financial situation of the Russian Empire, they can't fight with us for a long time over the Regions of Afghanistan.
As long as we defeat the Russians once or twice and make them realize the difference in strength between the two sides, the rest will be easier to deal with. "
They had no choice but to throw money at them.
The Russian Empire was not weak, but its biggest problem was its finances. There was no reason for the wealthy Britannia to let go of this obvious loophole and not compete with them financially. Instead, they were going to play a decisive battle.
Playing a decisive battle at once might seem awe-inspiring, but in fact, it was dancing with one's head on one's waist. Once they failed, the fate of the country would be at stake.
Without India, would it still be considered an empire where the sun never sets? In less than three to five years, they would have to abdicate.
This was also what everyone was most conflicted about. It was too expensive to send troops for reinforcements, and Britannia would also feel the pinch. If they didn't send troops for reinforcements, they were worried that the frontline would get out of control and the Russians would threaten India's security.
After hesitating for a moment, Prime Minister Gladstone slowly said, "Let's vote collectively and report the final resolution to parliament."
When the situation was unclear and they were not willing to bear the responsibility alone, a collective resolution was undoubtedly the best choice.
Even if there were certain problems with the resolution, it was a democratic result that could reduce everyone's responsibility to a minimum.
As for the price, it was naturally a little less efficient. The cabinet could make a decision immediately, but no one knew how much time it would take to discuss it in parliament.
However, one thing was certain. As long as the Anglo-Russian war broke out, the efficiency of the British parliament would passively improve.
…
St. Peter's Castle. Recently, the news of victory from the frontline had been coming in, and Alexander III's mood had improved.
It was not easy to be Tsar of the fighting nation. He had to pay attention to the changes in the war situation at the frontline at all times.
In case the frontline suffered a defeat, Tsar had to deal with the aftermath as soon as possible, lest things get out of hand and affect his reputation.
Alexander III asked, "The passage south to Afghanistan has been opened. Now it's up to the logistics department. How long will it take for you to transport the supplies to the frontline?"
Agente, the Minister of Logistics, hurriedly replied, "In two months at most, we will be able to send all the strategic supplies in the plan to the frontline combat troops."
It was unknown when it started, but going south to India had become the most important national policy of the Tsarist government. All strategic plans were carried out around this core.
At such a critical time, Agente did not dare to discount. No matter how dissatisfied he was with the Russian Army at the frontline, he did not dare to cause trouble here.
Otherwise, if there was a mistake on the battlefield, Tsar would also kill. Tsar did not even need to do anything. The domestic interest groups would first shut him up forever.
Alexander III frowned, then shook his head. "No, it's still too slow.
We are making preparations, and the British are not idle either. The British Parliament is discussing whether to increase the number of troops in the Regions of Afghanistan. Once the enemy's main force arrives, it will be difficult to end this war in a short period of time. "
The British Parliament had no secrets. Any valuable news that entered here would appear in the London newspapers in the shortest time possible.
Since it was already published in the newspapers, no matter how weak the Tsarist government's intelligence network was, they would still receive the news.
In order to end the war quickly and not fall into a stalemate like the Prussian war, Alexander III was naturally anxious.
After thinking about it for a while, Agente gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, the attack can actually be brought forward.
The troops at the frontline can't use up all the supplies in a day. According to the current material reserves of the troops in Central Asia, they can completely support more than 40 days of continuous fighting.
During this period, we will have more supplies arriving. The actual time that the troops at the frontline can support will be longer.
As long as the troops at the frontline don't advance rashly, our logistics will be able to keep up, and there won't be any problems. "
Theoretically speaking, there was nothing wrong with what Agente said.
There was a portion of the material reserves at the frontline, and the logistics department would deliver the supplies in batches. As long as they were connected well, there wouldn't be any problems. There was no need to wait for all the supplies to arrive.
However, this was all in theory. If it were to be carried out in practice, it would be a test of the Tsarist government's organizational ability.
The military had requested to store combat supplies for half a year in advance before launching an all-out attack. Apart from the need to rest and reorganize the troops after the war in Central Asia, the main reason was that they didn't trust the domestic bureaucrats.
If there was a problem during the transportation process, such as the supplies being a step too late, or the wrong delivery location, it would be enough to take the lives of an entire army.
At that time, even if all the responsible people were found and executed, it wouldn't be of any value to the overall situation.
After pondering for a while, Alexander III, who was somewhat tempted, confirmed again, "Can the logistics department really guarantee that the supplies will arrive on time?"
There was no guarantee. Everyone in the logistics department knew that there were too many unexpected situations, especially the unstoppable forces of nature.
Agente bit the bullet and replied, "The logistics department will try their best to ensure that most of the supplies arrive on time, but there's no way to guarantee the specific delivery of each troop.
Apart from the military informing us of the battle plan in advance, the logistics department can only keep up with the rhythm of the frontline troops if they make preparations in advance. "
After hearing this explanation, Alexander III wasn't worried. Instead, he was happy. As long as the total supply was sufficient, the delay in the supplies of individual troops would be a small problem.
The battlefield was ever-changing. Today, the troops were stationed in the east, tomorrow, they could be in the west, and the day after that, they could be in another place.
Before there was a radio station, once the logistics transport convoy set off, they could only rely on horses to contact each other. It was normal that they couldn't coordinate.
After a pause, Alexander III cautiously said, "I'll give you another half a month. Try to send as many supplies as possible to the frontline. We can't miss this opportunity."
Seeing that Tsar was determined, Marshal Ivanov wanted to say something but stopped. He felt that there was a problem, but he couldn't pinpoint what the problem was.
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