18th century total war

Chapter 362 Surrender of Sweden
The brainwashed officer from the Roman Guard looked at Nicholas' frenzied expression with satisfaction. Although the other party had not been brainwashed, he had already been included in the list of the next batch of promoted officers.

Li Wei doesn't have so many glory points to brainwash the army, but the growing territory and endless war consumption make the hundreds of thousands of troops under Li Wei's command look like a lot, but they are stretched, and the servant army naturally becomes unstoppable. The missing supplementary force.

Due to the voluntary surrender of the Kingdom of Prussia and the fanaticism of Poland's restoration of the country, the Li Wei government found another group of cheap cannon fodder with certain combat effectiveness.

At least, in the assessment report of the cabinet government in Vienna, the role of these servant army cannon fodder on the Russian battlefield is very large!

The Russian Empire is so big!
It is impossible for Li Wei to use the more and more precious administrative enlightenment quotas on a large number of middle and senior officers of the servant army, at most to ensure the loyalty of the top generals.

After all, with the expansion of the territory, although the city of Berlin has increased some administrative positions, it is completely a drop in the bucket compared to the number of administrative officials that need to be increased in the entire Kingdom of Prussia that has just been annexed!
Even Li Wei had to rely on a large number of surrendered Junker nobles to help manage it, without administrative enlightenment!

This made Li Wei have to prepare to use the glory points obtained after the war to upgrade the system building.

After all, internal stability and absolute power can allow Li Wei to use all his strength for external expansion.

Li Wei's Roman Empire was invincible on the front line. On the surface, it seemed that the fighting style of the Roman Guards was not afraid of death, but in fact it was inseparable from the internal stability.

Otherwise, it would only take a few major cities for revolutionary uprisings to force Livy's Roman Guards to disperse their forces.

At that time, no matter how thoroughly the suppression of the uprising is won, the national power of the Roman Empire will be lost!
Most of the insurgents killed during the suppression must be young and strong men, and young and strong men are almost the standard for measuring the national strength of a country in this era!

Not to mention, the economic losses caused by the ruins created during the crackdown.

Therefore, for the current Li Wei, killing the rebels is completely worth the candle.

First, the internal hidden dangers and losses brought about by the rebellion are too great, and second, the glory value income brought by the counter-rebellion is very little.

Now there is only one goal for Li Wei's expansion, to complete the main mission given by the total war system, and to win all the marked capital cities.

The Russian Empire can be immortal, but Moscow must be fully occupied and a dictatorship loyal to Li Wei must be established!
Why did Li Wei build an armored ship even though he was selling iron?
On the surface, it is aimed at the sea power of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland. In fact, it is to fully occupy London and complete the main task of the total war system.

Li Wei has a hunch that as long as he occupies all the calibration capitals, it will be like he has left the novice period, and the total war system will have an all-round upgrade!
This is why Li Wei has kept his empire in a state of expansion.

Coming to this parallel world, Li Wei enjoys a life that he never dared to imagine. Naturally, he is unwilling to grow old. As he gets older, Li Wei's sense of crisis is also increasing.

In fact, at the moment when the Roman Empire was established, Li Wei had no external threats. In Li Wei's eyes, the result of the fifth anti-French war was doomed. Loyalty to the army is Li Wei's confidence to remain invincible, not to mention the national power bonus brought by the vast territory and population of the Roman Empire.

However, Levi has an enemy he has to face—aging.

Just like the ancient emperors, after possessing the same power as the emperor, Li Wei naturally began to pursue longevity.

Compared with the ancient superstitious emperors, Li Wei has the same advantage as the total war system. Unfortunately, the total war system has no hints for prolonging life except for its excellent brainwashing effect.

Therefore, Li Wei can only pin his hopes on the upgrade of the Total War system.

If one upgrade fails, Li Wei will continue to upgrade, even if it ruins the whole world, he will not hesitate to pay!

The outside world calls Li Wei a selfish tyrant, which is worthy of the name. The edification of power has long made Li Wei give up all human limits. The most terrifying drug in the world is not opium, but power!

Power corrupts people's hearts is not just a metaphor.

The ugly faces of politicians did not appear at the very beginning. How many politicians kept great ideals in their hearts before they took power. They really wanted to bring their country and nation to prosperity and prosperity, and selflessly gave their all!
However, when power really comes, how many people can still keep their original intentions?

Not to mention power, even money, which is a level lower than power, can make a person completely different!

Li Wei, who is used to enjoying the sole power and worshiped by the people below, has naturally been corrupted by the desire for power. In order to keep his power and continue it indefinitely, he is willing to give everything!
When Nicholas went back, he got a task and a chance to be promoted.

As long as he completes the task, he can be promoted to lieutenant colonel immediately, and he is a lieutenant colonel with real power, not an empty rank similar to the logistics department.

In the Roman Empire, military ranks and positions have been clearly distinguished.

Military rank is no longer a symbol that determines all power. The corresponding military rank and the corresponding position represent how much power this person has.

There is no doubt that among the same military ranks or even asymmetrical military ranks, the positions of the front-line troops have the highest gold content.

The exception of the Roman Guards, as Li Wei's personal direct unit, even if there is a small soldier in the Roman Guards, the generals in other troops have no power to punish.

Nicholas's promotion to lieutenant colonel was not only a promotion to the military rank, but also a promotion to the regimental rank!

The reason is naturally his performance and passing the political review.

The officers of the Roman Guards would not look at the loss of a battalion led by Nicholas, they would only see whether Nicholas had completed the task. It can even be said that the loss of a large number of troops can ensure the "stability" of the entire battalion , can also become part of the assessment.

Obviously, Nicholas' earnest teaching made the soldiers under his command not have any interest in rebellion and defection, or dare not raise the courage to disagree!
It's not how strong Nicholas' sense of belonging to the Roman Empire is, but that he doesn't want his soldiers to lead him into the abyss of death.

Fear is the guarantee of Nicholas' loyalty to Li Wei.

Originally, it was great news for Nicholas to be promoted to a regiment-level lieutenant colonel by getting a mission that was not too difficult, but Nicholas was not happy at all with the mission briefing in his hand...

The task Nicholas received was very simple.

Search for at least [-] young and strong laborers, as well as food and supplies for the army.

To put it bluntly, it is to catch strong men and grab food, in the Smolensk area!
In the eyes of the officers of the Roman Guards, this task couldn't be easier, but Nicholas knows how "poor" the civilians in the Smolensk area are now.

The Russian Empire's policy of fortifying the walls and clearing the countryside has long since left the villages with few people and food. If you want to search for food and catch the strong men, you must go to those towns and even cities.

Not only is the Roman Empire searching for food and grass in the Russian Empire, but the troops of the Russian Empire are also doing this kind of thing. In other words, the towns of Smolensk, which is a war zone, actually don't have much surplus food.

Those Russian civilians will inevitably do some bad things for their own rations.

As an old man who had experienced many battles, Nicholas knew that in order to complete this task, he had to slaughter at least several times as many 'enemies' as the number of strong men.

And those enemies are nothing but unarmed civilians.

"Turning around, I will return to the butcher profession, which is ironic."

Nicholas laughed to himself.

Then, walking towards the recruit camp, he needed to replenish his troops in order to better complete the mission.

In the wars of the Russian Empire, all the tasks of massacre and robbery were entrusted to the servants by the Roman Guards.

The purpose of doing this is naturally to increase the national hatred among Prussians, Poles and Russians.

Obviously, the effect is quite good.

At the same time, it also solved a lot of logistical pressure for the army. As for how many Russian civilians will be killed or injured for this, no one will care.

At the beginning of 1812, the cold winter gave the declining Russian Empire a respite.

Li Wei learned the lessons of Napoleon in the history of his previous life, and did not continue to attack when winter was approaching.

With the Smolensk region as the frontier, it began to consolidate the territory that had been taken, and expanded towards the rural areas to remove traces of the Russian Empire.

This gave the Russian Empire a few months to recover.

However, this doesn't seem to be of much use.

The war not only exhausted the financial resources of the Russian Empire, but also wiped out their proud population advantage.

The loss of a large area of ​​land and the snowballing of the Roman Empire's servants have changed the balance of forces between the enemy and us before the war. All of this is based on the desperate attack of the Roman Guards!

In a full year, the Roman Guards wiped out all the elite troops and two-thirds of the regular army of the Russian Empire at the cost of 11 deaths!

As for the loss of the servants, it was two to three times that of the Roman Guards!
Because the Roman Empire would not spend a lot of money to count the losses of the servant army, the specific number is very vague, and all the estimates are conservative.

However, the winter brought the fifth anti-French war into a lull, and the crisis of the Russian Empire was left untouched.

Just last month, the Roman Empire, through diplomatic efforts, got the hopeless Kingdom of Sweden to agree to join the Holy Alliance.

Although the Kingdom of Sweden has not handed over the crown to Li Wei, anyone with a discerning eye knows that this is just a matter of war transition. After the fifth anti-French war is over, what qualifications does the Kingdom of Sweden have to reject Li Wei's ambitions?

As for the protests of the Swedish people?
Sorry, this era is about the aristocracy!

The Swedish nobles and even the king did not want to be wiped out by the Roman Guards, so they could only choose to accept the new Lord of Europe.

Lord of Europa in every sense of the word!
The surrender of Sweden was tantamount to pouring a basin of cold water on the top of the Russian Empire. Even Tsar Alexander I no longer had even a glimmer of hope for victory in the war.

Even the very harsh truce conditions were being discussed in the hall of the Moscow Palace at this time.

"Your Majesty the Tsar, we have recruited 20 serfs into the recruit training camp. Before the beginning of spring, they can be sent to the battlefield to defend the great Moscow to the death!"

Alexander I looked at the Minister of War who spoke, shook his head and smiled bitterly: "At this time, everyone should tell me everything.

What are your chances of winning the battle to defend Moscow? "

As soon as Alexander I's words came out, the hall suddenly fell into an eerie silence, and no one spoke, including the Minister of War who had just said that he would swear to defend Moscow to the death!
Alexander I seemed to have expected this situation long ago, and sighed helplessly. His strength was on the bright side. Perhaps before the battle with the Roman Guards, everyone still had the spirit to win, but under a series of disastrous defeats, who would dare to win? Pat your chest and promise to lead a group of recruits to fight against the Roman Guards?
What's more, now the Russian Empire no longer even has the advantage in military strength!

"Your Majesty, our odds of winning in a frontal battle are too low. We can only increase our losses in vain. Maybe we can use guerrilla warfare. After all, the Russian nation is very determined to resist the tyrant Li Wei."

Thanks to the failed uprising of the Davari Mutual Aid Society, the concept of the Russian nation has spread in the Russian Empire, and under the deliberate spread of the Duma nobles of the Russian Empire, it is no longer a contradictory concept in the upper class.

The fact that nationalism can improve combat effectiveness has been proved by the French Revolution!

It's a pity that nationalism still has many shortcomings in the face of Li Wei's hypnotic ability.

"The Holy Alliance has sent millions of servants scattered throughout the country, and they have not broken in alone. Can our guerrilla warfare be effective?"

"Your Majesty the Tsar, it is impossible for the army of the Holy Alliance to go deep into the north. The sparsely populated environment is enough for us to hide the army."

"Then what if Levi's goal is only Moscow?
If Li Wei sent [-] Roman guards in Moscow, are you sure you can get them back? "

Alexander I looked at the ministers who fell into silence again, and said helplessly: "Since we can't keep Moscow, why don't we agree to Li Wei's conditions and keep the last vitality of the Russian nation?
Levy doesn't care how much the war will cause. The army he hypnotizes will help him eliminate all obstacles, but the Russian Empire cannot be consumed in guerrilla warfare forever. We can't support so many troops. "

"Your Majesty the Tsar, the absence of Moscow and the territories of Europe would be an unimaginable blow to your personal reputation."

"That's better than me dying!"

(End of this chapter)