Enemy Nations Poised to Strike

Grand Duke Mikhail led his troops toward Moscow, and the Tsarist Russian Empire's civil war erupted, causing a tremendous uproar throughout the empire.

Ordinary people were the ones who least wanted war to break out.

Once war broke out, not only would their lives be disrupted, but their very lives would be threatened.

In war, human lives were worth less than anything, no more than blades of grass.

A moment's carelessness could leave a family ruined and its members dead.

The Tsarist Russian Army's discipline was particularly poor to begin with, and its soldiers were not above burning, killing, and looting.

Many people of insight called on Grand Duke Mikhail and the Tsarist Russian Empire's government to stop the war and settle their dispute through peace talks.

But these people also knew very well that unless Grand Duke Mikhail inherited the throne, peace talks would accomplish nothing.

So everyone could only call for the war to end as soon as possible and for innocent civilians to be spared as much as possible.

The Tsarist Russian Empire's officials and military men also had their own choices to make regarding the war.

Most officials did not openly declare their support for either side.

These officials were clever people too. To avoid backing the wrong side and ending up among the losers, they simply remained neutral.

Whichever side won in the end, they would support it and pledge their loyalty to it.

That way, they could always remain on the winning side.

Ordinary soldiers did not even have the standing to choose a side.

Only the generals became targets for both sides to court.

Grand Duke Nicholas had considerable seniority and influence in the Russian army, and his personal connections were beyond Grand Duke Mikhail's reach.

On top of that, he had the support of Lieutenant General Kuropatkin, the acting minister of war, and General Nikolai Obruchev, the chief of the general staff.

Naturally, more of the military's senior officers supported Grand Duke Nicholas.

Most military district commanders stood on Grand Duke Nicholas's side.

Hardly any supported Grand Duke Mikhail.

It was not that Grand Duke Mikhail's personal connections were so poor. Some senior military officers also believed that, according to the Law of Succession to the Throne, the throne should rightfully pass to Grand Duke Mikhail.

The empire's senior leadership was attempting to strip Grand Duke Mikhail of his right to inherit the throne, and that was profoundly unfair.

But Grand Duke Nicholas was powerful now, and none of them believed Grand Duke Mikhail could win the war.

So none dared openly support Grand Duke Mikhail.

Declaring their neutrality was the strongest stand they were willing to take.

Even so, they still had to bear some risk.

If Grand Duke Nicholas won, he might settle accounts with them.

Under these circumstances, Grand Duke Mikhail's military operations proceeded very smoothly.

Whether it was the advance north along the Volga River or the troops led by General Brusilov, they encountered almost no resistance.

Wherever they went, their opponents surrendered almost at the mere rumor of their approach.

Even the troops who supported Grand Duke Nicholas fled in advance.

Of course, he could not count on the officials who surrendered, or rather, offered no resistance, to be utterly loyal to Grand Duke Mikhail.

Once the troops supporting Grand Duke Nicholas attacked, they would surely turn around and join him without hesitation.

Grand Duke Mikhail could understand that.

Wasn't trimming one's sails to the wind better than being stubbornly obtuse?

As long as he could win the coming war, these officials would surely line up one by one to pledge their loyalty.

Even the generals who had declared their support for Grand Duke Nicholas would probably kneel before him one by one, weeping bitterly and begging his forgiveness.

That was simply the reality of the world.

The victor would have everything!

The civil war in the Tsarist Russian Empire greatly excited its neighboring countries.

The ambitious emperor of the German Empire had already ordered close attention to be paid to developments within the Tsarist Russian Empire.

The German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Tsarist Russian Empire had once signed the Three Emperors' Alliance Treaty. But after Wilhelm II ascended the throne, and especially after Chancellor Bismarck left office, the treaty was no longer renewed.

Wilhelm II had clearly set his sights on hegemony over the entire European continent and wanted to secure the position of hegemon there.

With the Austro-Hungarian Empire already a loyal ally of the German Empire and the Kingdom of Italy also having joined the German-led Central Powers Bloc, the German Empire's main rival on the European continent, aside from its old enemy Gaul, was undoubtedly the Tsarist Russian Empire, with its vast army.

If the Tsarist Russian Empire suffered a devastating blow in the internal conflict, it would undoubtedly be an opportunity for the German Empire.

Perhaps the German Empire could crush the Tsarist Russian Empire in a war.

Even if it could not destroy the Tsarist Russian Empire, it could at least eliminate the threat it posed to the German Empire.

That would prevent the Tsarist Russian Empire from competing with the German Empire for hegemony over the European continent any longer.

Wilhelm II gave the order, and the German Empire's army began mobilizing in secret, preparing to strike when the opportunity arose.

The German Empire's loyal ally, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, did the same.

As one of the major powers of the European continent, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had ambitions of its own.

For a long time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had stood on the front line of Europe's resistance to Ottoman invasion, constantly fighting the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire had visibly weakened, step by step, until it had become the "sick man of West Asia."

This was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to continue expanding toward the Balkans and place the entire Balkan Peninsula under its rule.

But the Tsarist Russian Empire had at one point become the greatest enemy of Austro-Hungarian expansion on the Balkan Peninsula.

The Tsarist Russian Empire had long sought a good ice-free port, and since the Balkan Peninsula lay along the Mediterranean Sea, it was naturally also a direction for Russian expansion.

In particular, many of the peoples on the Balkan Peninsula were actually Slavs.

Or rather, they were known as forest Slavs.

In a sense, the principal peoples of the present-day Tsarist Russian Empire, whether Big Mao, Second Mao, or Third Mao, were East Slavs.

The Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Bosnians, and Bulgarians of the Balkan Peninsula, on the other hand, were South Slavs.

For all these reasons, the Tsarist Russian Empire had long supported the South Slavs on the Balkan Peninsula in their resistance to Ottoman rule.

It had also attempted to bring the entire Balkan Peninsula under its own rule.

This gave the Tsarist Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire an almost irreconcilable conflict over the issue.

Thus, the outbreak of civil war in the Tsarist Russian Empire this time had undoubtedly left the Austro-Hungarian Empire eager to act.

If the time was ripe, the Austro-Hungarian Empire could seize the opportunity to drive the Tsarist Russian Empire out of the Balkan Peninsula and achieve its goal of dominating the entire peninsula.

In addition, in the distant east, the Japanese backed by the British were likewise eyeing the Tsarist Russian Empire like a tiger watching its prey.