Good fortune never comes in pairs; misfortune never travels alone!
Just as Ferdinand had moved to help the Dutch, trouble broke out again with the Russians next door.
Ever since selling off the Caucasus region, the Nicholas II Government had possessed ample funds and, in high spirits, launched a war of unification. The situation had looked excellent.
They had slain gods when gods blocked their path, and slaughtered Buddhas when Buddhas stood in their way!
Nicholas II's army had even captured Yekaterinburg, and Tsar Little Nicholas had already fled north in panic. All that remained was to pursue the fleeing and rout the defeated, then unify the entire country.
Yet at this critical juncture, Nicholas II's army entered the Siberian Plain—only to be drowned like the seven armies at the Ob River.
Ferdinand did not know the precise course of events. In short, Comrade Stalin ultimately came out on top: he blew up the dam upstream on the Ob River and wiped out the main force of Nicholas II's eastward army.
Of course, the price was that several million Russian civilians, along with more than a hundred thousand Eastern Russian troops, became sacrificial offerings. In a single day, ten thousand miles of land became a vast watery kingdom.
The losses had yet to be tallied, but the war of unification launched by the Nicholas II Government had now gone completely down the drain.
The blow this battle dealt the Nicholas II Government was fatal. At the very least, they would be incapable of launching another war for the next decade.
From intelligence sent out of Russia, Ferdinand knew that it would soon be the rebels' turn to counterattack. Once the floodwaters receded, offense and defense would switch places.
The troops currently in Nicholas II's hands were all second- and third-rate