Chapter 787

The British army was still fighting hard in Afghanistan, and the outcome of the battle in Central Asia had already been decided. The Russians proved that they were still the mighty European steamroller with their strength.

Of course, this victory was announced by the Tsarist government. The outside world still didn't know the specifics.

The only thing that was certain was that the Russian Army did defeat the main forces of the three Central Asian countries and took the initiative on the battlefield. As for whether or not they would fall into the sea of people's war, only the Russians knew.

Although Franz paid attention to the Central Asian War, he didn't send people to collect information on the ground. Most of the information in the hands of the Government of Vienna was released by the British and Russians.

This time was too sensitive. If Austria got involved too much, it would be easy for the British and Russians to mistakenly think that they had ambitions in Central Asia.

"How far have the Russians prepared for war? When can they attack the Regions of Afghanistan?"

In fact, the Tsarist government had started preparing for war as early as a year ago. However, the goal at that time was to seize part of Central Asia.

Afghanistan wasn't within the scope of the Tsarist government's plan. The highest goal was to support a puppet regime and act as a buffer between the British and Russians.

With the smooth progress on the battlefield and the poor performance of the British Army, the expectations of the Russians continued to increase. Now they wanted to swallow the Regions of Afghanistan.

Under this background, the original war preparations were naturally insufficient. About three months ago, Alexander III ordered the entire country to prepare for war.

It was just a "national war preparation" and not a "national mobilization." The terrain of the Regions of Afghanistan limited the input of troops from both sides. As long as there were sufficient supplies, it would be enough. A mere few hundred thousand troops didn't require the mobilization of the Russians.

Foreign Minister Wesenberg: "This is just a local war. In theory, after such a long time, the Russians should be ready for war.

However, based on our analysis of the Russian Empire's military mobilization, material flow, and railway transportation, I'm afraid it will take some time to coordinate. "

The war tested the government's ability to organize. Franz didn't have any confidence in the Russian bureaucrats. Chaos was inevitable.

Preparing for war wasn't just about producing resources. More importantly, the resources had to be delivered to the frontline soldiers. Only then could they be truly effective.

The First World War was the peak of Russia's bureaucracy. The frontline soldiers were starving while the food in the rear was piled up in the warehouse.

Similar things had happened in the two Prussian wars. In fact, in the first Prussian war, the Russian army was defeated by the Russian bureaucrats.

"By the way, yesterday the British media also published the news of the Russian army massacring cities in Central Asia.

If the news is true, then the situation in Central Asia isn't as peaceful as the Tsarist government claimed. "

Franz's eyebrows froze when he heard the news of the city being slaughtered. In the late 19th century, there were very few news about massacres.

However, with the style of the Russian army, it was not strange for a few massacres to occur. After all, the Three Khaganates of Central Asia were still known as traitors. The Russians would definitely retaliate against traitors.

If the news wasn't released by the British, then it would be more credible.

It couldn't be helped. The British didn't have high moral integrity. Even if there were pictures, it could still be faked.

It was just a matter of changing military uniforms. As long as it was a political necessity, Franz believed that John Bull would do it.

Although massacring the indigenous people wasn't a big deal these days, the damage to the country's image was still great.

At the critical moment when the war between Britain and Russia was imminent, whoever had a better international image would be able to get the support of international public opinion in the war.

After pondering for a moment, Franz said seriously, "Send someone to verify the authenticity of the news as soon as possible. The Propaganda Department will prepare to guide public opinion. Don't let the massacres affect us."

Russia and Austria were allies. If the massacres were confirmed, Austria would also be criticized by the public.

Even if Franz wanted to take care of it, he couldn't reach that far.

But the public opinion in the country must be controlled. They couldn't allow public opinion to kidnap the government's decision-making.

From the beginning to the end, Franz's focus was on Austria. As for the trouble caused by the Russians, could it be considered a problem?

If it wasn't for the fact that he couldn't reach it, he would have acted as an enthusiastic person and supported the people of Central Asia in the war against aggression.

…

St. Peter Castle

"The British are smearing our international image. How do you think we should deal with it?"

From his tone, it could be seen that Alexander III didn't take it seriously.

Anyway, the Russian Empire also had a tradition of being criticized internationally. The European world had criticized them for hundreds of years, but they still went on.

In Alexander III's view, it didn't matter whether the Russian Army massacred cities in Central Asia.

Even if the Russian Empire's image in Europe was barbarian, it couldn't be changed with a few words.

It was completely normal for barbarians to massacre cities. If the Russian Army didn't do anything in Central Asia, it would be a problem.

The Foreign Affairs Minister, Oscar Jimenez, replied, "Your Majesty, the massacres that the British are talking about happened in Central Asia, and those who died were indigenous pagans. The European world won't pay too much attention to it.

If we explain directly, we will fall into the British's trap. No matter how much evidence we bring out, there will be people who will believe that the massacres are true.

It's better to do the opposite. The British accuse us of massacring cities in Central Asia, and we can also expose their atrocities in the Regions of Afghanistan and India …

If we still can't stand it, then we can bring up the past and drag all the colonial empires down to disperse the pressure of international public opinion. "

Perhaps other countries could accuse the Russians of massacring cities, but the British didn't have the right to. What they did in the Regions of Afghanistan wasn't much better than massacring cities.

In fact, in this era, no one was cleaner than anyone else. Every colonial empire was built on a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. There were no exceptions.

In recent years, there had been little news of massacres, but it didn't mean that they didn't happen.

It was just that everyone had learned to keep a low profile. The impact of massacres was too bad. Perhaps the number of times it happened had decreased, but massacres in colonies still happened frequently.

Alexander III nodded his head. There was no way for him to explain himself. Everyone knew the Russian army's discipline very well.

Perhaps it wasn't as exaggerated as massacres, but it was normal for massacres to happen. This was also tacitly approved by the Tsarist government.

From the moment the Three Khaganate of Central Asia stabbed Russia, the Tsarist government had decided to retaliate. The Russian Army at the frontline was nothing more than implementing this will.

"The problem of public opinion is a small matter. It won't affect the next war. The key is the situation in Central Asia.

General Ivanov, how long will it take for the military to clean up the area and start the next step of the battle plan? "

Although he didn't pay much attention to the details, Alexander III was still aware of the instability of the situation in Central Asia.

The Russian Army at the frontline wasn't crazy. They would only take extreme measures when the social order was out of control.

Under normal circumstances, they would at most rob money and rape women. Without enough benefits, they would only engage in massacres if they had nothing better to do.

Marshal Ivanov, who had been bowing his head and trying to reduce his presence, realized that he couldn't avoid it anymore. He braced himself and replied, "Your Majesty, I can't give an accurate time for the current situation.

The main reason is that Central Asia is too big. After defeating the enemy's main force, a large number of stragglers and stragglers have begun to cause trouble everywhere. It's difficult for us to find their hiding place for a while.

The Ministry of the Army plans to clean up some areas first and open up a safe passage to the Regions of Afghanistan. After capturing the Regions of Afghanistan, we'll come back to deal with them. "

This was the truth. Central Asia was indeed too big. It was millions of square kilometers. It wasn't a place that hundreds of thousands of Russian Army could deal with.

It would take at least a few years to clean up the place, and what the Russian Empire lacked the most right now was time.

The British had already taken control of the Regions of Afghanistan. Although there were still resistance groups, no one could guarantee how long these people could hold out.

Once the British wiped out the guerrillas and gained a foothold in the area, it would be difficult to take Afghanistan from them again.

After thinking for a while, Alexander III slowly said, "Let's do it this way! But the military must speed up and not delay the opportunity. "

…