Chapter 325: Chapter 173: [Italy: I’m Neutral! You Fight!]
After failing to cross the Marne River, the Imperial troops retreated to the Aisne River and Verdun line and began digging trenches.
The Imperial army could not advance for a long time because the British-French Allied Army dug trenches in coordination with machine guns, barbed wire, and such things.
Each charge by the Imperial soldiers would turn into a one-sided massacre, as the Imperial soldiers were torn apart by crossfire as soon as they charged out.
The sound of the charge horn would not have faded when the bodies had already piled up like a mountain.
And this time.
The Imperial army became the defensive side.
In September 1914, the rain in France was continuous.
On the muddy ground, Imperial soldiers wielded shovels, digging trenches and using the terrain to construct defensive fortifications.
The pursuing British-French Allied Army was also not to be outdone.
The two sides tacitly maintained a distance of several hundred meters, digging trenches, but when the British-French Allied Army tried to break through the Imperial positions to drive them out of France,
they encountered the same predicament the Imperial army had faced before.
Trenches combined with machine guns, barbed wire, field artillery, and other weapons allowed the Imperial army to easily slaughter the soldiers of the British-French Allied Army from the high ground.
Initially unconcerned British-French Allied Army commanders, after constantly attacking for half a month, finally could not hold on any longer.
Too many people had died.
So many that it had become unbearable, forcing the strategy into a war of attrition.
No one dared to charge toward the opposite trenches.
But this stalemate could not continue, so this trench warfare became a battle of wits.
From the initial simple dugouts, it slowly evolved into a complex trench system.
Main trenches, secondary trenches, communication trenches, machine gun nests, sniper posts, observation posts, with large expanses of barbed wire, and the area surrounding the dense trenches was filled with mines and traps.
The originally simple trenches.
Under constant ’renovation’, slowly became soldiers’ homes, equipped with all functions necessary to strike the enemy.
But the soldiers still had to sleep in the mud, accompanied by rats.
Both sides tacitly dug trenches, occasionally launching an offensive, just to gain a few hundred meters of advance.
The Empire wanted to drain ’the blood of France,’ but little did it know it was also deeply trapped....
...
On the other side.
Russian Empire.
[Baku]
Streamer Huang Yong is enjoying a feast in his office.
As a noble of the Russian Empire and the highest regional official, Huang Yong’s privileges were exceptionally extraordinary.
In addition to being able to investigate lots of secret information, he also played the role of a noble lord in the game, occasionally commanding troops to capture some rebels, which was extremely satisfying.
In the livestream room, many people asked how Huang Yong was chosen for this role.
Why is it that choosing the exact same way as him doesn’t result in becoming an official in Baku?
Huang Yong was also unsure and could only reply:
"It should be random."
"You see, those who choose to be merchants, even if there are many with assets in the tens of millions, not everyone’s identity is the same, business, identity, and names are all individual."
The Blue Star viewers in the livestream room were also helpless.
After all, they had tried as well, but never once did they manage to get to Huang Yong’s level of officialdom.
At this time.
A barrage of questions floated by.
[Streamer, is there any secret on the Russian Empire’s side? Spill some beans!]
[Exactly, exactly, best if it’s something about the royal family!]
[Something saucy? Hmm—you upstairs are not quite right!]
[Royal family! Royal family!!!]
[By the way, is there any information about Italy? Why is Italy still not making a move? Isn’t it part of the Allies?]
[It really is, is Italy going to backstab like in World War II?]
Watching the barrage, Huang Yong appeared amused:
"Royal family? Saucy?"
"There really is."
Upon hearing this, the barrage in the livestream room was filled with question marks.
Huang Yong chuckled:
"Actually, it’s not really saucy."
"It’s just about the intermarriage relations among the countries of Europe."
"For example."
"The current Emperor of the Great British Empire, George V, and the Imperial Emperor are cousins—the mother of the Great British Empire’s Emperor is the cousin of the Imperial Emperor."
"And Russian Emperor Nicholas II, and Great British Empire’s Emperor George V are maternal cousins, their mothers are princesses of the Kingdom of Denmark."
"Moreover, the Imperial Emperor is Russian Emperor Nicholas II’s half-great-uncle because the Imperial Emperor’s grandmother is the sister of Russian Emperor Nicholas II’s great-great-grandmother."
Seeing Huang Yong’s revelations, the Blue Star viewers in the livestream room were all bewildered.
[Wait a minute, it’s a bit confusing?]
[The Imperial Emperor and Great British Empire’s Emperor George V are cousins, but also the Imperial Emperor is Russian Emperor Nicholas II’s half-great-uncle? And the Great British Empire’s Emperor George V is maternal cousins with the Russian Emperor?]
[What the heck is all this?!]
[Well, this is truly a family brawl in Europe, isn’t it?]
Seeing the bewildered barrage, Huang Yong laughed:
"That’s right, exactly."
"Actually, in World War I, every country had some family connections."
"If you trace it back a few generations."
"In the last century, Queen Victoria bound the royal families of various countries through the marriages of her nine children."
"Not only with the Empire, the Russian Empire, and the Spanish Kingdom, but also intermarried with Norway, Greece, and other countries, forming a vast network of relatives."
"So, you could say."
"World War I is essentially a brawl among relatives."
This explanation had the Blue Star viewers in the livestream room exclaiming creativity.
Then Huang Yong looked at the barrage and continued:
"Regarding Italy."
"This I do know a bit."
"The reason Italy has not moved is because Italy has refused to send troops."