Chapter 36
The meeting fell into silence at the beginning, and no one was willing to speak first.
When the tea was served, Enver, who had the most power, took the lead in breaking the weird atmosphere:
"Welcome, General Kuster, I am excited about your arrival. The meal is ready, let's talk while eating."
There were various olive-related dishes on the table, most of which were only enjoyed by the Ottoman royal family.
However, the four people did not care and ate naturally.
Suddenly, Kuster raised his head and said:
"Why is there pig liver? The *** doesn't eat these, and I don't like them very much. Only Germans like to eat them."
Enver paused, then pointed to one side:
"Look, there is fish to the right of the pig liver. I hate it, but the Russians make a living from it."
"I don't like it even more." Kuster shrugged as if he understood something.
Enver was very satisfied with his actions, and used his knife and fork to fiddle with the olives on his plate, and said with some emotion:
"This is my favorite. I have a habit of eating it, which is to gather them together, so that it will be more enjoyable.
It's a pity that I am not skilled enough to do it. Every time I cluster them together, there will always be some of them falling off."
He shook his head, as if he was regretting something.
"That may be because your technique is a bit too radical and you don't have much patience."
Kust said indifferently, but Enver's eyes lit up, and he also revealed the rest of the dishes, and then said to him:
"My olives are connected to the liver, and there is fish on it. Under it is some very light potato stew, which I don't like very much."
"Although the olives and liver are connected, they are not dense. This makes it difficult for me to discern your intentions." Kust seemed to have discovered something.
"Then I won't hide it." Enver stood up with a big laugh, and then pulled out a map with the administrative regions of the Caucasus Mountains drawn on it. He clapped his hands and said to Kust:
"You have fought the Russians in Poland for a long time, and you must know them very well, so I want you to be a military adviser in the Caucasus, what do you think?"
When he heard the business, Kust put down the cutlery calmly and stood up with a bright look in his eyes:
"That's exactly what I want. I am worried that after I am withdrawn, there will be no one in Austria-Hungary who is capable of commanding the three armies against Russia.
But before I go, I want to know your deployment in the Caucasus and what my job is."
"We have two armies in the Caucasus. The Turkish Third Army is stationed in the west and the Turkish Second Army is stationed in the east.
Before, our situation there was very bad. The Russians have been attacking and defeated us step by step, and even retreated to the Aras River area.
But fortunately, you have severely damaged them, which has greatly reduced the number of Russian troops here. I don't think Turkish soldiers are much worse than Austrian soldiers, so you can definitely lead them to defeat the Russians again. "
Listening to some flattering words, Kuster did not become arrogant, but asked more cautiously:
"So, where is the main area of the war? How many troops do the Russians have?"
"The main area of the war is in Lake Van, the Black Sea coast. We deployed 280,000 people before, including 200,000 regular troops; and 120,000 livestock are used to transport supplies. But after a long battle, I don't know how many troops are still there. "
Kust carefully looked at every corner of the map, and then a few words popped out from his teeth:
"Who uses administrative maps to fight wars?"
"This is to tell you good news, we have recovered all the territory." The speaker was Talat, who had been watching him and Jemal discuss while eating.
Unexpectedly, this originally celebratory statement was not recognized by Kuster, but made him even more angry:
"What? We have only reached this point! My offensive in Ukraine forced so many Russian troops to move, and you can't even use this opportunity to push the front line to the Georgia region!"
The other three were shocked by his words. After all, pushing the Russians back within a few days was the greatest achievement.
But this did not satisfy Kuster. Before he came, he thought that the Turkish army had conquered Georgia and continued to erode the remaining Caucasus region through numerical superiority.
As a result, they only pushed the front line to before the war, which made him full of disappointment in Turkey, and at the same time he felt deeply helpless to clean up the mess:
Now Russia's war machine has been fully launched, and they quickly assembled one division after another in the Caucasus through mobilization.
Although not as elite as the previous standing army, and there are not enough people; but in such a complex terrain in the Caucasus, and Turkey's extremely poor combat effectiveness, as long as they don't play any tricks, they can completely hold on.
After a long time, Kuster finally extinguished his anger and tried to speak in a gentle tone:
"Okay, then I want to know what you think about the prospects of the war?"
The three looked at each other, but no one dared to agree.
This is not surprising. Kuster is the Minister of Armaments of Austria-Hungary, representing the face of the Austrian Emperor; at the same time, he is also a general valued by German Emperor Wilhelm, representing the vision of the German Emperor.
Going against him will not be good for both sides, which is undoubtedly a way to seek death, and it will be useless to beg for help.
Seeing that they have been silent, Kuster lost his patience.
He asked them to change the map, and then asked Enver to draw the areas responsible for the Second and Third Armies.
He looked carefully for a while, pointed his finger here and there, and said nothing for a long time.
Enver and the other two did not dare to act rashly. They sat down quietly to eat and looked at Kuster, trying to understand what he was going to do.
After thinking for a long time, Kuster finally decided:
Try to attack Armenia. If Russia reacts strongly, increase the number of soldiers and send cavalry to the west to attack Georgia when the Russian army is attracted to Armenia.
If the Russian army does not react too much, the results of the battle should be expanded quickly. On the basis of controlling Armenia, order the cavalry to continue to advance eastward and control the Azerbaijan region to prepare for the next attack.
In theory, Azerbaijan should not be occupied, after all, this will extend the front line.
When fighting with a country like Russia with huge population resources, it is absolutely impossible to expand the front line in vain.
But Kuster thought of another result:
Once the offensive against Russia is intensified, those peasant soldiers will not be able to hold on. So Russia must transfer troops back to defend in order to preserve the Caucasus.
And the standing army that Russia can transfer in other regions has been transferred to Ukraine. If they take the opportunity to attack and succeed, they will inevitably fall into a dilemma, thus increasing the possibility of withdrawing from the war.
Although Russia's withdrawal from the war in history was due to resource shortages caused by its trade blockade, which led to soaring prices and intensified class contradictions, causing a political crisis.
But Kuster still has hope of forcing Russia to withdraw from the war through military means. Even though some people have been obstructing him, they cannot suppress his ambition.
Looking at Russia on the map is like looking at extremely rotten firewood, which can be ignited by any fire.
But in the end, everyone knows that it can only be ignited by the Russians themselves.
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