Chapter 6

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Chapter 6: The Era of Change

In the final hall of Redel Catherine Manor, there is a huge war sand table measuring ten meters long and four and a half meters wide, showcasing a miniature version of most of Europe. The walls are covered with detailed maps of major regions.

Actually, this is the first time Leader One has entered the war room after it was redecorated, before he rarely went to the back of the mansion.

Summoned by the prince regent, the four trusted generals quickly arrived for an important meeting about the future strategy of Prussia.

Regarding the specific feedback on the liberal trend in Austria, Anna Schultz and the others are having a meeting in Vienna and have not returned yet.

By analyzing newspaper reports from various countries, Leader One believes that the European revolution will erupt between next autumn and the autumn after.

This revolution is like a chain reaction, starting with just a bit and spreading to almost blow up the whole of Europe. The revolution directly triggered a full-blown chaos in Europe, which is also an important event leading to the unification of Germany by Prussia.

Regarding this liberal revolution, Leader One’s attitude is to initially let it go. He plans to weaken the power of traditional nobles, Junker landlords, and local governments by riding the tidal wave of the people. Once the goal is achieved, he will use a strategy of harsh repression to calm the revolution.

This is playing with fire, Leader One must know exactly the limits he can control and ensure the combat effectiveness and loyalty of the military forces.

The Chief Secretary of the Ministry of National Defense, Ron, first gave a pessimistic feedback. Currently, the combat effectiveness of the Prussian army is very weak, with an average age of thirty-five for regular soldiers, making it an old army compared to other countries. The reserve and militia have low willingness to fight, poor tactical skills, and the loyalty to Your Highness the Regent is difficult to guarantee.

Since Ron became the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of National Defense, he has realized how serious the military issues in Prussia are. To put it this way, even if the prince regent declares total mobilization for war against Denmark, Prussia would only be evenly matched with twice the forces against Denmark.

The military strategy left by Marshal Shanenhost is very outdated, while Ron’s military reform has just begun.

Then Moltke spoke angrily, saying, "The idiotic military logistics chief actually equipped the breastplate cavalry with Mauser rifles, which are useless. And there are countless incidents of barrel explosions during training with Keluobo cannons."

"Huh?" Leader One quickly asked, "The troops are starting to equip Mauser rifles in bulk? The one with the lever-type magazine?"

Moltke first spoke excitedly for a while, then gestured, but when the prince regent still didn’t understand, he quickly had someone bring a physical rifle.

When the physical rifle appeared, Leader One found that it was a pin-fired rifle using a horizontal magazine, somewhat similar to… a revolver? Mauser developing such a strange weapon with the magazine changed to horizontal, how could the military logistics chief in charge of weapon procurement actually buy a batch for the breastplate cavalry.

Moltke said, "The explanation from the logistics department head is that Mauser has developed a good new type of bullet. In order to let Mauser make money to develop better rifles, the military must purchase some garbage rifles for Mauser to make some profit. It’s simply ridiculous."

Leader One held up three fingers, "First, Mauser is not short of money, his company is part of the Prussian military-industrial complex, and he also receives research funds from the Academy of Engineering. Second, command Mauser firmly to improve the Dreise pin-fired rifle. Third, make that logistics department head get lost."

"Your Highness, that logistics department head’s father is Hank Albert, the biggest Junker landlord in Prussia."

Leader One sneered, "I don’t care who his father is. Anyone who messes around with my army must get lost. If his family has any objections, Catherine, you go and take care of them all."

Later, Major General Hans also brought up some issues. He now leads the National First Army, which is in very poor condition and was even beaten by a cavalry regiment from the standing army during exercises.

Only Catherine brought good news to Leader One.

"The Royal Guard and the Teutonic Knights have undergone restructuring and downsizing. Including myself, there are a total of 102 Magic Energy Knights who are absolutely loyal to you and have high combat capability."

"Although the Imperial Cavalry Army has just been formed, they are all selected from the elite of the whole army and have undergone rigorous screening to ensure that each person only has you in their heart like the sun."

"As long as you give the command, we will dare to fight any enemy. If we were to engage with rebel forces in Berlin city center, we could defeat fifty thousand people armed with cold weapons. If the rebels have firearms, the number we can handle will be reduced somewhat."

Very well, Leader One now has an idea about the possibility of a major revolutionary uprising at home. Next will be the follow-up issues of the revolution.

Leader One lay by the sand table, reaching for small flags and placing them, one by one.

The revolution will directly trigger the Italian Independence War, the Swiss Independence War, internal turmoil in the Netherlands, escalate the Schleswig War, internal turmoil in Austria, riots in Bohemia, unrest in the Balkans, and the Polish Uprising. It is uncertain the situation in France due to its differing historical circumstances. As the revolution is happening early and England is currently facing economic crisis and political turmoil, this will worsen the chaos in England.

Almost the whole of Europe is in turmoil. The impact on Russia, the Ottoman Empire, the Netherlands, and Northern Europe will be relatively smaller.

Suppose during the whole big revolution period, Prussia didn’t have many inner problems and kept having a super fast growth of twenty percent economy increase every year.

Then the Far East War and Crimea War were important moments. Around the year 1845, Prussia would have the first chance to start a war with Denmark through the Blue Star, then start steps towards uniting Germany.

Leader One turned his head and looked at the four close generals for a moment.

He asked, "When will the military reform be completed?"

Moltke, Hans, and Catherine all remained silent. The backbone of the military was Ron, who said it would take about ten years for the complete military reform, involving too many things, and even with spending money, it couldn’t be rushed.

"Your Highness, do you know about the issue with Baden?" Moltke suddenly asked.

"Is it about Baden wanting to break free from our control? I authorized you last week to communicate well between the military and the foreign ministry and choose the timing to suppress the Grand Duchy of Baden on your own." Leader One said.

"The foreign ministry is dealing with France and Austria. Once that’s settled, we will wage war against the Grand Duchy of Baden. At that time, Your Highness the Regent can come to the front line to see, and the fighting strength of the Prussian army will be ruthlessly revealed in this small war." Moltke said.

Compared to Earth’s history, the changes in Blue Star were quite significant. The early revolution caused many problems. For Prussia, the continuous wars and changes in international situations ahead were both a crisis and an opportunity.

A new Prussia will stand tall in the world amidst the storm, a powerful Prussian army will emerge from the fires of war.