Chapter 808

London

The Government of the United Kingdom, which had finally mustered up the courage to fight against the Russians, was dumbfounded by Lieutenant General Patrick's telegram for help.

Putting down the telegram in his hand, Prime Minister Gladstone asked in bewilderment, "Isn't there already 400,000 troops at the frontline? 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 before.

The war had yet to break out, and there were already more than 400,000 troops gathered at the frontline. If another 20 infantry divisions were to be reinforced, the total force would approach the 700,000 mark.

It was completely beyond Prime Minister Gladstone's understanding to make such a big deal out of 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 determine that his request is reasonable.

The Russians are coming aggressively, and according to the intelligence, they have already invested 500,000 troops in Central Asia, and the possibility of more troops in the future cannot be ruled out.

Because of the distance, the enemy's reinforcement speed will be much faster than ours, and we must ensure that there are sufficient troops at the frontline.

Otherwise, we can only count on the Viceroy of India for support in the event of an emergency. With all due respect, the Viceroy of India does not have the ability to deal with emergencies.

Once there is a war with the Russians, the Indian region will also become unstable, and maintaining the stability of the Indian region is the most important job of the Viceroy of India.

If there is no preparation in advance, it will be irresponsible to suddenly send too many troops from the Indian region to the frontline after the war breaks out.

Secondly, the Regions of Afghanistan have always been unstable, and the locals have colluded with the Russians to resist our rule.

Due to the fact that the Regions of Afghanistan are mountainous, and the strongholds of the rebel organizations are all in the deep mountains and forests, our troops in the Regions of Afghanistan have carried out many encirclements, but have not been able to catch them all.

Once the war with the Russians breaks out, these people will jump out to cause trouble again. We must leave enough troops to deal with emergencies and prevent them from collaborating 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 frontline could not wait any longer.

Although the army had always been raised by a stepmother, it also had its goals. No one would give up such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand the army.

As a civil servant, Rosario was naturally aware of the twists and turns, but as the Minister of War, he had already decided his position.

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 don't have a choice, do we?

To Saint Dong, Minister Childes King Dynasty Dynasty Dynasty Kingdom Army, Russia Saint Minister Russia Minister against Russia, Minister, Minister Russia, Minister Minister Ros, Minister Rosario Minister,

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 India. The highest labor cost is nothing more than the domestic production and transportation process. We can just grit our teeth and persevere.

Given the financial situation of the Russian Empire, it's impossible for them to fight with us for a long time over the Regions of Afghanistan.

As long as we defeat the Russians once or twice and let them realize the difference in strength between the two sides, the rest will be easy. "

They had no choice but to throw money at it.

The Russian Empire was not weak, but its biggest problem was its finances. There was no reason for the rich 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 might seem awe-inspiring, but in fact, it was dancing with one's head on one's waist. Once it failed, the fate of the country would be lost.

Without India, could an empire where the sun never sets still be considered an empire where the sun never sets? In less than three to five years, they would have no choice but to abdicate.

That was also what everyone was most conflicted about. Sending reinforcements was too expensive, and Britannia would also feel the pinch. If they didn't send reinforcements, they were worried that the frontlines 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 decision to the parliament."

When the situation was unclear, and they were unwilling to bear the responsibility alone, a collective resolution was undoubtedly the best choice.

Even if there were certain problems with the resolution, it would still be a democratic result that could minimize everyone's responsibility.

As for the price, it was naturally a little less efficient. The cabinet could make a decision immediately, but no one knew how long it would take to discuss it in parliament.

However, one thing was certain. As long as the war between Britain and Russia broke out, the efficiency of the British parliament would passively increase.

…

In St. Peter's Castle, there had been a lot of good news from the frontlines recently, and Alexander III was in a good mood.

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 frontlines at all times.

In case the frontlines were defeated, 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 frontlines?"

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 frontlines."

No one knew 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 didn't dare to discount. No matter how dissatisfied he was with the Russian Army at the frontlines, he didn't dare to cause trouble here.

Otherwise, if there was a mistake on the battlefield, Tsar would also kill. Tsar didn't even need to do anything. The domestic interest groups would 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. "

There were no secrets in the British Parliament. 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 naturally had to be anxious.

After hesitating for a while, Agente gritted his teeth and said, "Your Majesty, the attack can actually be brought forward.

The frontline troops would not be able to deplete all their supplies in a single day. According to the current material reserves of the Central Asian troops, they can definitely support more than 40 days of continuous fighting.

During this period, we will have more supplies arriving. The actual time that the frontlines can support will be longer.

As long as the frontlines 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 frontlines, 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, it was also because they didn't trust the domestic bureaucrats.

If there was a problem during the transportation process, the supplies would be a step too late, or the delivery point was wrong, 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 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 is no way to guarantee the specific delivery of each unit.

Other than the military informing us of the battle plan in advance and the logistics department making preparations in advance, it's possible to keep up with the pace of the frontline troops. "

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 was a small problem.

The battlefield was ever-changing. Today, the troops were stationed in the east, tomorrow, they might be in the west, and the day after that, they might 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 Tsar's firm attitude, Marshal Ivanov wanted to say something but stopped. He felt that there was a problem, but he couldn't pinpoint what the problem was.