"Your Majesty, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has begun to take action. They have begun to enrich the troops in the border areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia. In up to fifteen days, the Austro-Hungarian Army can launch an attack on Serbia!" Nikolaevich said to the Russian Emperor.

"We have no choice now, right?" Nicholas II said numbly. "Serbia is our most important ally in the Balkans. We are a nation. If we retreat today, then tomorrow, anyone dares to provoke the Russian Empire. The empire has lost to Britain and France, and the Japanese. The empire's majesty has been overdrawn, and we can no longer tolerate such provocations."

Nicholas II seemed to be convincing himself to make excuses for the actions he was about to take. But at the same time he was still very afraid of war. "What is the attitude of the French? Should they always express their opinions?"

"The French have stated that all the treaties signed with our country will proceed as planned," the Foreign Minister said.

"This is not enough," said Nicholas II.

"French President Raymond Poon Gale will visit St. Petersburg in a week to discuss cooperation between the two countries." The Foreign Minister thought about it and continued.

"So, the French think it's time to solve the problem? Well, we need to prepare a grand welcome ceremony for this Excellency to witness the friendship between our two countries. We can not announce mobilization for the time being, but some preparations need to be carried out, and we need longer than Germany and Austria to concentrate our strength." Nicholas II finally breathed a sigh of relief.

According to the Russian Emperor's intention, although the Russians did not issue a general mobilization order, troops had begun to march from Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic region, and St. Petersburg along the Russian railway line that was not smooth toward the Russians. A torrent of soldiers, horses and various vehicles was moving on the vast eastern European land. Russia, a behemoth that once made the whole of Europe tremble, woke up again. Whether to go to the other side of victory or fall into the abyss of decline, can only wait for time to test.

On the issue of war, the French were more determined than the Russians. Since the French-Prussian War, the ties between France and Germany have been completely formed. In the next half century, the French have always wanted to take back the occupied territory. This can be seen from the actions taken by France after the war. They concentrated their efforts to attack the Alsace-Lorraine region without saying a word.

Moreover, the current situation cannot tolerate the French retreat. The Russian political environment determines that they cannot ignore Serbia. If Russia and Austria intervene, Germany will definitely help Austro-Hungary, because the Germans have issued a statement that if a third party joins in the war, then Germany will definitely take action, and this third party refers to Russia!

If Germany and Austria both hit Russia, then Russia will definitely kneel. If Russia kneels, then France will never have a chance. So when the bayonet is getting popular, the French will never retreat! There is no place to retreat! Therefore, even the French president is put on the battlefield and is ready to have a good exchange with the Russians.

"We can concentrate 1.5 million troops in fifteen days, and leave another 300,000 troops for the Army Department as the general reserve. The number of Germans cannot exceed ours. Relying solely on our troops can maintain a balance with the Germans. If the British are willing to fulfill their promises, we can completely defeat Germany. At the very least, we can also restrain the main force of Germany on the Eastern Front and then let the Russians stab them in the back." General Xiafei promised this way when meeting the French president.

"So now the problem is here, will the British declare war on Germany as agreed?" The French Prime Minister looked at the Foreign Minister.

"They can do it, as long as the British don't want to lose their current status, they will definitely do it!" The French president said firmly without waiting for the Foreign Minister to answer.

The French were much faster than the Russians. While the French-Prussian War allowed the French to taste the consequences of failure, they also allowed the French army to fly qualitatively! In terms of mobilization speed, the French were not much inferior to the Germans. According to the French schedule, they could complete the deployment and assembly of 24 armies in 12 days. More than 1 million people and 400,000 military horses would be transported by railway. At some busy stations, an average of less than 4 minutes would pass through a train carrying 50 cars!

At the same time, as the French hoped, the British were also actively preparing for war, although the British Foreign Minister Gray also claimed when summoning the German ambassador to Berlin: "Britain will do its best to ensure peace among European powers." King George V of Britain also told Prince Heinrich that he hoped Britain would remain as neutral as possible.

But under the cover of this ambiguous diplomatic vocabulary, the British had begun to mobilize in full, the Royal Navy had begun to assemble, and Prince Louis was about to be replaced because of his German descent. Even the military forces in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand were beginning to be mobilized. The British were preparing enough ships so that they could send large amounts of troops to the other shore at the beginning.

Churchill, who has become the Minister of Navy, even made a request to the Navy: "From now on, we must monitor the warships and merchant ships of each Allied Power, so that when war begins, we can sink or block it as soon as possible."

Churchill naturally knew the two extremely fearless situations built by Germany for Argentina, and he was also very concerned about the ownership of these two warships. "Tell the Argentines immediately that they could take away the two battleships immediately or resell them to us. It would be unimaginable to keep such powerful warships on the German land."

The British Empire Navy once again concentrated his huge fleet. If we had to say that there was a similar action last time, it would probably go back to the Napoleon period. A huge fleet gathered at the exit of the North Sea. More than 20 dreadnoughts and super dreadnoughts, more than a dozen quasi-dreadnoughts, and dozens of armored cruisers and light cruisers locked the exit of the North Sea like a long chain. The steel mast like a dense forest symbolized the most powerful existence of the Industrial Revolution. Jericho took office, and he was in charge of the world's most powerful maritime power.

"The glory of the Royal Navy will surely be further improved in my hands. We look forward to knocking this new challenger to the ground! Hopefully, there will be a naval battle in Cape Trafalgar that takes place in the North Sea as the mark and glory of our generation of naval soldiers!" Jericho wrote in the diary.
Chapter completed!