Rasputin of the East

36

Sir George William Buchanan was sipping brandy.

“The Count of Vostok.”

I only saw his face for a while in the banquet hall, but it wasn’t enough to figure out who he was.

“Once you are young, you have strong ties with the imperial family, you are the tsar’s grandson, a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and the commander of the intelligence service.”

It wasn’t just the information he had gathered from outside. Sir Buchanan also had a personal relationship with Tsar Nicholas II. Through him, I learned a lot of information about the opponent.

It also contained information collected by the British Empire’s intelligence department.

He has an independent armed organization that opposes the military, and is a great commander who defeated the German Imperial Army with little to no damage.

In the German Empire, Marshal Mackensen resigned with all responsibilities, but it did not end there. Many of the generals were sacked and Tannenberg’s heroes Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff assumed the positions of Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff, respectively. It was clear that Germany had not suffered minor damage.

Austria-Hungary was even worse, and was in chaos, with the Chief of Staff undressing.

Above all, the information about the new weapons used at the time that the intelligence department collected was also of interest. The new weapon that the German army had made to be swept away without a word was also developed independently by him and deployed to the Interior Army, a military organization comparable to his own warlord.

If that weapon is with the British Empire, it may be possible to break through this stalemate and take one step closer to victory.

Clearly, he was a man worth seeing.

‘Especially such a new weapon must be obtained by the British Empire.’

What if the German Empire produced such weapons and took over Paris? Considering the precedent of the German army, which lost most of its troops in a single blow and marched all the way to Krakow, the capture of Paris would not be impossible.

They had to come up with a countermeasure even if they couldn’t use it, but that was too much for those who didn’t even know the name of the new weapon due to the lack of information.

‘The export request will be difficult, and production licenses… will cost a lot of money, but the Cabinet won’t refuse to pay if it’s to win the war and send at least one more young British Empire home. .’

After beating the calculator inside, the secretary called the secretary.

“Secretary!”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let’s make an appointment with the Earl of Vostok. ASAP.”

“All right.”

***

“War Minister, that is difficult.”

“why!”

War Minister Vladimir Sukhoplinov eventually lost his temper and shouted.

“Damn it, the tsar is holding me accountable for not supplying enough weapons and ammunition to the Imperial Army! And you own 70% of the munitions factories in the empire in your name!”

“It’s not even seven.”

It is precisely the difference in productivity. Of course, there are far too many military factories out of my reach, but my factory is much more productive, so most of the weapons provided to the Russian military are printed in my factories, but if you count only the numbers, what…

“Anyway, isn’t it true that you are in possession of the weapons and ammunition currently supplied to the Empire? I’m begging you, please transfer some of the supplies from the Interior Army.”

“If I take the guns owned by the Home Affairs Army and give them to the military, will my subordinates fight with their bare hands?”

“I will ask the tsar to redeploy the internal affairs forces to the rear. Is that okay?”

“I’m sorry, but the Ministry of Home Affairs is going to move to Warsaw soon. The Germans will surely attack to make up for it.”

“That’s… that’s just because I turned another unit…”

“So can other units fight as well as my men? Against German regulars? I swear, this time it will be different. The last offensive was one of Austria-Hungary’s uproar, but now Ludendorff has taken over. The Warsaw Offensive will not be an easy battle as long as the person who insists on priority on the Eastern Front takes full power. Can you take responsibility for the fall of Warsaw?”

“So, you’re asking me to share a new weapon!”

“Isn’t it the Minister who refused the new weapon when I proposed it because it seemed useless for the budget? And even if you have a new weapon, if you don’t use it properly, you will only lose.”

A very good example of the 21st century is the Saudi military. Even though I picked up good weapons with oil money and told them, it’s amazing to see those little ones that are being smashed by the Houthis rebels.

By the time the weapons are supplied, retrained and deployed, Warsaw will be gone.

Realistically, if you want to stop the Warsaw Offensive, it is better for the Interior Ministry to go and hold on.

“Just write a new contract. There is nothing we can’t do to further expand the production line. As long as you are certain that it will sell. I also have to convince the shareholders of my company.”

“……… I don’t have a budget.”

“what did you say?”

“The budget is short. If I had a good budget, I would have bought it from abroad!”

“……Huh, why don’t the nobles even pay a national defense fund? That’s it. I can see the answer by looking at your face.”

“……”

“Anyway, I am not digging the ground to do business. I also have management rights, and not the largest shareholder, but I have to convince other shareholders, and I myself have to have something to fall for, so that I can’t overflow with motivation.”

Where are you going to catch me? In the first place, my protocol rank is lowered now, but my actual position is higher than that of the Minister of War.

There are only Stolipin and Tsar who are superior to me in the chain of command, and if they do, I should have built a factory in advance and won the battle.

“……We’ll discuss it, but it’s not overkill, it’s not okay.”

“We will have to wait and see.”

In the original history, this yangban will be fired a few months later or something like that. Before that, you have to give me anything, whether it’s troops, money, status, or authority.

If you don’t like it, you can get fired.

After the war minister left, I had no rest to welcome the next guest.

General Mikhail Vasilyevich Alekseyev and General Nikolai Iudovich Ivanov.

Both are giants. General Ivanov is in charge of the Hungarian Offensive on the Southern Front and is being talked about as the next Minister of War.

“Nice to meet you. Generals.”

“Earl, they say they are moving the internal forces to Poland, right?”

“That’s right. The GRU is Germany’s massive offensive towards Warsaw to break the war…”

Then General Ivanov opened his eyes.

“I can stand it! That means the Northern Front won’t collapse so quickly! What we need right now is our Southern Front! Why don’t we go to Austria and fly a double-headed eagle over Schinbrunn Palace!”

“Uh-huh, General Ivanov, you shouldn’t say that, I thought it was possible without the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so wouldn’t the Count subtract the troops? The German Imperial Army is strong. It won’t be an easy fight, don’t you know that if the Northern Front collapses, the Southern Front is also dangerous.”

Why do these humans come up to me and fight without paying the night? Did you catch seaweed soup through the back hole?

No, I guess. Is this… a battle of bravery right now?

The Minister of War says he is going to be fired, so he is greedy for the next ministerial post. So, I want to borrow some of my troops and set up a major, right?

crazy really

First of all, General Ivanov… To be honest, he’s close to incompetent. Analysis shows lack of leadership, indecisiveness, and incompetence close to negligence. In the original history, he was fired at the end of this year and replaced by Brusilov.

It was his strong loyalty to the Tsar and his ability to walk a tightrope that had risen to that position.

General Alexeyev is not outstanding as a chief of staff, but he is still more flexible than his predecessors, but compared to his predecessors, he did not succeed in reforming despite knowing the chronic problems of the Russian army.

And it was this nobleman who advised the tsar to abdicate during the February Revolution.

‘Leave General Ivanov, and to end the war, even loyal, incompetent yangbans must be appropriately beaten.’

However, he doesn’t have much time to replace him with General Brusilov, so he doesn’t have much of a choice.

“I am sorry, General Ivanov. However, the German offensive targeting Warsaw is now in sight. Above all else, can’t you just wipe out the weak army of the dual empire by yourself?”

“No, though…”

“More than anything else, it is urgent to push Germany out of Russian territory. The Southern Front is not fighting well enough. If you advance too much, the linkage between the two fronts will be disrupted.”

“That’s right.”

General Alexeyev looked at General Ivanov and began to scratch his insides. No, my friends, I’m asking you to pay a little for the night. Did people with white hair eat rice cake soup and seaweed soup through their back holes? What are you two doing over 50? Well, I don’t eat rice cake soup in Russia, but anyway.

I got a headache and shook my head.

“For now, we have to protect Warsaw.”

Both generals could not refute this premise.

Warsaw has not been 10 years since a large-scale rebellion had already occurred and even the Cossacks were deployed.

If Warsaw were to pass, in all probability the Poles would actively cooperate with the Germans. Recapture is several times more difficult, and if you do not stop it, your position, let alone promotion, is at risk.

What’s more, you’ve already been warned. They had no intention of following the footsteps of Tannenberg.

If you get a warning about problems and various threats, but you don’t listen and you lose, there’s a good chance that the firing squad will be waiting for you this time.

When the two generals finally agreed to my policy and returned, I sighed.

Still, in terms of abilities, General Alexeiev is much better than General Ivanov.

And Brusilov is better than General Alexeyev.

You have to get as many things as possible, and secure as much command as possible, as much military funds as possible, and as much authority as possible.

It is only by winning this war that we can reform or not.

“Count, the British ambassador has invited you to dinner.”

I had sent three uninvited guests, but Irina’s words raised my stress, but I managed to manage my expression and asked.

“when.”

“It is said that the sooner the better.”

“Yeah, you better get it done right away, do it for dinner tonight.”

Well, it’s an opponent you’ll have to bump into at least once anyway.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to build a fence in advance.

…even though the opponent is the British Empire.