empress ch43

Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Romania’s entry into the war brought significant changes to the Eastern Front, creating a new front line stretching over 400 kilometers.

Of course, the old Tsardom of Rus’ army would have welcomed this situation. With manpower that overwhelmed the enemy, the wider the front, the better.

But now, the situation was very different.

The forces the Tsardom of Rus’ could currently mobilize consisted of the 2nd Army, virtually annihilated in a series of battles across East Prussia, the 1st Army, which had suffered devastating losses, and the 0th Army, a collection of ragtag soldiers barely evolved from raw recruits, along with countless other stragglers.

For Stavka, the new 400-kilometer front was nothing short of a disaster.

However, they quickly regained their composure and began to respond calmly. Although their organization was a pre-modern, medieval feudal system, their minds were those of a modern group educated in the Western style.

They planned to use the newly mobilized troops to block the eastern part of Romania.

They calculated that the Romanian army could be easily crushed even by the newly mobilized greenhorns.

And their calculations were not wrong at all.

In fact, the Romanian army’s strength was considered to be at or below that of the French army during the French Revolution.

But the enemies they faced were the Imperial Army in Romanian uniforms.

And the Imperial Army had always made choices that defied imagination.

The commander of the 17th Army, Karl von Wenninger, reminded himself once again of the mission he had received.

‘Defend the eastern part of the Kingdom of Romania from the attacks of the Tsardom of Rus’.’

But… since our army overwhelms the enemy anyway, isn’t there no need to passively accept their attacks?

‘Yes. True defense comes from completely collapsing the enemy’s offensive capabilities.’

With that thought, he informed the War Ministry of his plan (or rather, notified them).

The War Ministry was horrified by his sudden action and protested, but the emperor found his argument appealing.

If he succeeded in seizing the entire Bessarabia region through an offensive, the empire would gain considerable benefits.

First, they could secure the trust of the Romanians. If they shed their blood to recover Romania’s lost territory, the Romanians would be indebted to them. Whether they liked it or not, they would have to stick with them until the end of the war.

And if they secured Bessarabia, their army could form a stable defensive line along the Dniester River.

As in the past, and especially now with machine guns making defense overwhelmingly superior to offense, the Italian front had already proven how threatening a defensive line along a major river could be to an attacker.

If you ask how they would solve the ‘supply problem’ that they had been talking about endlessly… there was no need to worry.

It was the greatest invention of modern humanity, a symbol of innovation, and at the same time, a symbol of white civilization that colonized the lands of the world, or, to be honest, ‘conquered’ existing civilizations: the railroad.

Some might wonder: Didn’t they say that the Tsardom of Rus’ railroads had different track gauges, making them difficult to use?

But fortunately, there was exactly one railroad connecting Romania and Bessarabia. Once supplies arrived near the Dniester River, they could simply be transported along the river.

If the 17th Army occupied Bessarabia, they would not only avoid supply problems but would also receive an unprecedented amount of supplies on the Eastern Front.

“Hmm… what do you think, General Konrad?”

I asked General Konrad.

Normally, I would have left it entirely to the War Ministry or just grasped the general direction, but given the current situation, I had summoned him, the Minister of War, to discuss this matter.

“Considering the current situation of the Tsardom of Rus’ army… I believe it is a feasible operation.”

Feasible. I smiled at his words.

“‘Feasible’ means, in other words, ‘it will succeed unless there are major variables,’ right?”

He looked genuinely curious as to why it led to that conclusion.

“Well… yes. I mean, that’s not wrong.”

“Good. However, order General Karl von Wenninger to advance only to the west bank of the Dniester River.”

Well… after advancing that far, they would run out of supplies and stop there anyway, but wasn’t it a Germanic tradition to get carried away and penetrate deep into enemy territory? There would be no harm in being cautious.

Advance only to the west bank of the Dniester River.

In other words, they were free to attack the west bank of the Dniester River at any time.

With the last leash holding back the 17th Army released, the 17th Army began to advance like a mad dog.

“All troops! Charge!”

The Imperial Army in Romanian uniforms charged into the poorly constructed defenses of the Tsardom of Rus’ army.

The Tsardom of Rus’ army could act like bullies against the Romanian army, but against the army of the Holy Roman Empire, which dared to claim to be the best among the great powers, they were no more than African natives.

The Tsardom of Rus’ army’s defenses collapsed completely in an instant.

“Good. Let’s go straight to the Dniester River!”

The Tsardom of Rus’ brought precious machine guns from the Eastern Front to stop the Imperial Army’s offensive, but the Imperial Army also had a trump card to break through them.

It was the Guards. Usually, they were tasked with guarding the palace and parliament in colorful pants and full plate armor, but their combat power and elite status were among the best in the world.

Every Guardsman was given a knighthood… you could tell the Guards’ skill and pride in it without having to say it.

Of course, the knighthood was only symbolic.

“Charge! Forward!”

They silently advanced, blowing away the Tsardom of Rus’ machine gun positions with only their bare bodies and grenades.

Completely fed up with these enemies, the Tsardom of Rus’ army hastily retreated to the east side of the Dniester River.

Soon, the flag of the Holy Roman Emperor and the flag of the Kingdom of Romania fluttered in the Bessarabia region.

Immediately after occupying Bessarabia, the Holy Roman Empire immediately handed over the administrative rights and railway operating rights of Bessarabia to the Kingdom of Romania.

It was a reward for joining the war on the Empire’s side.

“Hahaha! I express my gratitude for the Empire’s grace!”

With this, the Empire proved to neutral countries around the world that they had the will and ability to keep their promises.

In contrast to these friendly allies, the atmosphere on the Allied side was like a funeral home.

“Is it possible to save the Yugoslavian front?”

“Impossible…”

The Kingdom of Yugoslavia’s army could barely hold out even fighting the Imperial Army’s 9th Army one-on-one. But now, with the addition of Hungary, Croatia, and 500,000 troops from the Kingdom of Romania…

It was not surprising that the collapse of the United Kingdom of Yugoslavia was becoming certain.

“What about supporting the United Kingdom of Yugoslavia through Greece? They promised to give us military transit rights if a war broke out in the Balkans, didn’t they?”

“That’s…”

Unfortunately, that was impossible.

“The Kingdom of Greece has refused…”

“Why…”

From the Kingdom of Greece’s point of view, there was no reason to keep the secret agreement with the Allies.

Currently, the Allies were being consistently overwhelmed by the Allied forces.

Rather than a sense of obligation to keep the secret agreement with the Allies, they were more concerned about being targeted by the Allied forces and suffering the same fate as ‘Poland’.

“Then, what about the Ottoman Empire…”

The Ottoman Empire was not at all favorable to the Allies.

From the beginning, the Tsardom of Rus’, the main player in the war, was a long-time enemy of the Ottoman Empire, and more importantly… just recently, the Ottoman Empire had been scammed by England.

England had stolen the Ottoman Empire’s battleship, not a destroyer or a cruiser, but a battleship, a strategic asset and a source of pride for the country.

For the absurd reason that there was a ‘possibility’ that the Ottoman Empire would form an alliance with the Holy Roman Empire.

“Why would we do something that those tin can scammers who stole our battleship would like?”

It was impossible for the Ottoman Empire, with such memories, to show a favorable attitude towards the Allies.

It was fortunate that they were not blocking the straits to prevent supplies from reaching the Tsardom of Rus’.

“Ha…”

In the end, the Allies could only watch as the United Kingdom of Yugoslavia slowly perished.