Chapter 162, The Pyrrhic Russo-Japanese War

"Hmph!"

"The Austrians are sure that we wouldn't dare..."

As the words reached his lips, Nicholas II swallowed them back. There was no way around it; the Tsarist Government truly did not dare to break the alliance treaty.

With the treaty in place, there were constraints. The Vienna Government could only engage in covert actions at most and would not overtly target the Russian Empire.

Without the treaty, it would be about more than just restricting supplies of strategic materials—it would be open support for independence movements.

"Dismantling the Russian Empire" was a shared dream among European politicians, and Vienna was no exception.

The rebel army already posed enough trouble domestically, and with the backing of a world hegemon, the situation would only become more difficult to manage.

Although Nicholas II was not particularly strategic-minded, he was well-versed in the rules of the political game and knew how to use them to Russia's greatest advantage.