"The French promised that once the war officially started, they would complete the mobilization within 15 days, and then launch a rapid and violent raid on Germany with decades of accumulation in the French Republic! And their targets until the former territory of the Alsace-Lorraine region, where 75% of the iron ore produced in Germany are produced in this area. If it can be captured here, it will directly lead to the collapse of the German industrial system!" said Nikolaevich, chief of staff of the Russian Army.

"The French promised that once the war began, they could concentrate the forces of five armies and one cavalry army to launch an attack, with a total force of 78 divisions. They would carry more than 4,000 rapid-fire guns to launch a storm-like attack on the Germans, and this force could be at least equal to the main force of the German Army. With the technical advantages of the m1897 rapid-fire gun, they believed that it would not be difficult to block or even defeat the German Army." Infantry General Alexander Drovic added.

"The Russian Empire may not be able to concentrate such a huge force in the same time, but it is still possible to concentrate 50 infantry divisions and more than 10 cavalry divisions. The total force can reach 1.15 million people and the number of artillery can reach more than 3,000. In addition to the British expeditionary force, Britain and France can involve the main force of the Germans on the Western Front, so on the Eastern Front, the Germans can only leave at most one army and the Austro-Hungarian Legion." Nikolaevich said.

"And our little Serbian brothers can also concentrate a certain amount of troops, with at least 100,000 people, and they can also involve an army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In this way, what we need to face on the eastern front is only one German legion and three to four Austro-Hungarian legiones. The total strength of the opponent will not exceed 800,000. Our troops have a great advantage, and the Austro-Hungarian army has no combat power at all. Since the Napoleon era, they have not been the opponent of the Russian army." Another Russian infantry general, Alexey Andreevich, was also very optimistic about the situation.

"I think we have underestimated the strength of our opponents. First of all, the French army may not be as powerful as they imagined. The French's main attack direction is the Alsace-Lorraine region. This area is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The German army can easily delay the French offensive by a group of troops. In addition, the French's 75mm rapid-fire cannon has limited power, and the ballistic peace artillery has no advantage in facing the German artillery. When the Boers fought with the British, their curved heavy artillery performance was better than the direct-fire rapid-fire cannons. In the French-Prussian War, the French were defeated by the German artillery and railways. This time, I think they will still suffer in artillery." Cavalry General Brussinov first put forward a different view, and his speech also attracted everyone present.

"On the technical level, I agree with General Brussinov's words. In the Russo-Japanese War, although the heavy artillery of the navy's 6-inch gun should be very heavy, it has amazing long-range lethality. A 4-made heavy artillery company can destroy a 4-made rapid-fire gun company in just about 15 minutes. The latter cannot counterattack at all. Each German division can be equipped with at least 8 150mm howitzers, which is very threatening to the French army." Kulopatkin said.

"We can remind the French, but no matter what, it is a problem on the Western Front and it has little to do with us, right? Maybe both sides of the Western Front will be trapped in positional war, but on the Eastern Front, I think all we need to do is attack! Continuous attack! We have sufficient troops to launch attacks at the same time on both the East Prussia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire." Nikolaevich made an indifferent gesture. He even hoped that the Western Front could be fought longer so that the main force of Germany could be trapped in it.

"Is it really okay to launch an attack in both directions at the same time?" asked Nicholas II.

"We can use two armies to deal with the Germans, and then use three to four armies to deal with the Austrians. On the Northwest Front, we have a numerical advantage of 2 to 1, while on the Southwest Front, we at least do not suffer any loss in our troops. If we attack, we will definitely lose the Austro-Hungarian Empire." Andreevich said.

"It seems that our battle plan is too simple." Nicholas II said with a lip silence.

"It's not simple. The first thing we need to do is to deploy so many troops on the front line and support them in combat. Our army is actually not small in size, and it is also an advantage over the Austro-Hungarian Empire in terms of weapons and equipment. However, we are far less prepared than our opponents in terms of logistics. Our food must be transported from Ukraine, and our soldiers must be transported from the Baltic coast, Moscow, and Ukrainian areas. There are also a large amount of ammunition and artillery. These are impossible to be completed quickly by relying on wartime transportation, so we need to build warehouses, railways, and positions." Kulopatkin said.

"Can't the army's food be raised locally?" asked Nicholas II.

"Although the Pod Plain is very fertile, the local population of Poland is large, and the grain produced is not enough to be consumed locally. If we deploy millions of troops on the front line, almost all military rations may need to rely on warehouses and railway lines to transport. In fact, compared with military reform, I think we need to invest more energy in logistics supply and transportation," said Kulopatkin.

"General Kulopatkin's statement makes sense. Now there is a problem. If the war can end in the short term, we can certainly rely on warehouses to make up for the lack of transportation capacity, then what if the war cannot end in the short term and tends to be long-term? More and more troops and equipment are sent to the front line, and how can we support it?" asked Brusinov.

"The possibility is very small. What we are fighting in the Far East is only a local war, and the size of the troops we are fighting is only about 500,000. The daily consumption is as high as 3.2 million rubles. This time, it will be the largest war in Europe in history, and the two sides may participate in the war as high as more than 7 million! Such consumption is beyond the reach of no country. The result of continuing is that all participating countries have collapsed, and the other is that they choose to reconcile after suffering unbearable costs." said infantry general Alexander Drovic.

"At least I think it is impossible to defeat Germany in a short time. Germany's industrial strength is too strong and the internal transportation is very convenient. They can use the inside advantage of the railway to mobilize troops in the east and west lines. If they are in a defensive state, it will be difficult for us to defeat our opponents in a short time. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is a good goal." Brusinov said.
Chapter completed!