Chapter 21: Persia Campagin (2)
Chapter 21:
On June 20th, the Romanian troops successfully fortified Esfahan and waited for the Persian troops to reach there, the Romanian general staff purposefully didn't take Qom as it was next to Tehran and it would pressure the Qajar government too much.
The rebel army sent 10,000 experienced soldiers and the rest of the rebel forces are stationed in Yazd, Kerman, and Bandar-Abbas.
The Romanian government isn't afraid of a full attack from Persia but the British or Russian tricks. They don't want chaos to unfold in any occupied city as Persia must be preserved so its people can accept the rule from Romania.
If these countries stir a crazy resistance against the "Romanian invasion" the Persian landscape isn't good for foreign troops like Romanian troops but heaven for guerillas so Persian guerillas aren't a joking matter as it could cause heavy losses.
In a luxury mansion that once a Persian prince owned, a loud discussion can be heard.
The Romanian general staff was discussing while dining, in the last three days several supply convoys had been assaulted by Persian cavalry, they seemed to be coming from the Kavir desert.
"Increase the troops patrolling our supply routes and don't engage in pursuit with them." Commander Radun ordered.
'It's already difficult to fight in this kind of landscape and weather. It'd be best to finish their main army off when they attack the city since we are outnumbered and fighting in their lands, we should be extra careful. This war is to our advantage anyway, we had confirmed their lack of preparation and unity, and after losing a few battles we can send our diplomats to negotiate in secret with the Shad.' Commander Radun thought after recalling the orders from home.
Frederick never wanted to bring democracy or elect a puppet government, just killing off some big landowners and corrupt officials the Persian people will remember this day as the day Romania came to free them from oppression!
On June 15th, Persian troops started shelling the city but that lasted for a few hours until several units of their artillery exploded due to a lack of maintenance. After realizing that it was inefficient to continue shelling the city, a Persian prince ordered a full head-on attack against the Persian high military command advice.
120,000 Persian troops launched an offensive, a huge wave of troops that eclipsed the setting sun. If it were 50 years ago, this sight would have horrified any defending general as Persian troops outnumbered by almost 4 times the defending Romanian and Persian rebel troops.
Waiting for them were hundreds of heavy machine guns, artillery, and fortified positions.
A mixture of the deafening roar from artillery shells and the machine guns' incessant firing silenced the heroic shouts from the Persian soldiers' charge.
As the Persian army advanced, the rapid accumulation of corpses allowed a few lucky soldiers to cover from the incessant killing. The majority of Persian "soldiers" were made up of forcefully recruited civilians.
Watching the ongoing massacre of their fellow villagers, neighbors, family... Few courageous soldiers kept going forward to avenge them but reality shot them in the form of bullets or shells. Several cases of desertion, mutiny, and murder of officials that kept ordering forward charges were reported to the high Persian military command.
"We must retreat now! Reorganize our troops and keep attacking their supply lines if this keeps going, another rebel group will form in our ranks!" sepahbod(lieutenant general) to the arteshbod(general).
"I know, I didn't agree to this rash offensive but the prince sent by the shad ordered us to do so. Now he escaped and left us this mess! Damn, Damn all... " The Persian general cursed while throwing the prince things he left behind
The horrified Persian Prince fled in a hurry and left behind several high-priced objects, furniture even his women.
"Should we negotiate with the Westerners? I heard they are letting the rebels govern the cities they captured... Don't look at me like that! everyone knows that this war was lost after they successfully disembarked and captured Bandar-Abbas." a Persian officer hesitantly said
"But t-they will accept our surrender? Now it's clear that we can't take back Esfahan! and our government can't wage a war of attrition since we could barely arm and launch this offensive." another officer responded nervously.
"How about asking for British or Russian help? We... "
"Are you stupid? If we let the Russians or the British the result would be the same, our country is doomed! Since it has already happened it would be best to surrender now so we can negotiate good terms"
"You're right, if we let the government negotiate with the British or Russians, we might lose all of our property and wealth! we are the defeated soldiers that failed to accomplish the shad's orders" the lieutenant general lamented.
"Tsk, damn shad with his pussy poetry(bullshit) and his dog father, that Honorless Prince that left us this mess! And that Tork donkey who gave us the wrong intelligence about the enemy armament." cursed the general in charge, it's a huge disgrace to his family name surrendering against foreign enemies.
After the discussion of the Persian high command, they sent a messenger to negotiate with Romania. The meeting was kept secret from viziers and other political/religious dignitaries, the generals were afraid that they wouldn't allow them to surrender.
The next day, an emergency meeting was taking place in Tehran.
"What about now? My cousin reported the existence of espies in our ranks and our offensive plan was leaked in advance! Should we contact Ottomans or Britain for help?" the shad said with a solemn expression but inside he was scared.
If he let the rebels succeed not only his position as a monarch but even his life will be in danger!
"I already contacted the British emissary, Your Majesty. We should get a response in the next few days" The grand Vizier calmly said.
"A response in the next few days? By that time Qajar dynasty would have fallen and a puppet government would rule our mighty empire!" the governor-general of Tabriz warned.
"That's right your majesty, we just need to contact the Russian empire and..."
"NO!, we can't invite the Russians to interfere" exclaimed the Persian Shad.
The Grand Vizier and several people from his family advised him not to invite the Russians otherwise Persia would be annexed by them instead of helping to fend off the invaders.
On the same day, bad news came from the frontlines; the Persian army was retreating to defend Tehran, the Persian general in charge said that it was a tactical retreat and they could defend against the Romanian counterattack.
On the night of June 20, a rebellion broke up in Tehran and all the Qajar government dignitaries were arrested allowing the Romanian army to successfully occupy the city.
The next day, commander Radun ordered a division(12000) of Romanian troops to keep advancing toward Tabriz and fortify the city.
After the news of the Qajar dynasty's defeat, a regiment of Indian colonial troops captured Mashhad, and the British ambassador to Bucharest "strongly" asked Romanian King Carol I to withdraw from Persia as our war against a civilized nation was disrupting the stability in the region.
On June 27, the Russian ambassador to Bucharest also strongly warned the Romanian government for affecting southwestern Asia's peace.
On June 28, Golescu Royal Palace in Bucharest:
"Russian Empire is also mobilizing troops, we need to do something now Your Majesty!" Prime Minister Nicolae agitated said.
King Carol I, sighed at the mess the kingdom is involved in now. His hands keep massaging his temples while remembering the conversation he had with his son yesterday...
...
"Why are you so stubborn? Princess Marie of the British royal family it's the best candidate for your fiance. She's around your age, her beauty is incomparable to that brat Olga! " Queen Elisabeth berated her son.
His parents strongly disagree with Frederick's decision to marry the Grand Duchess Olga. It is against the diplomatic strategy of the kingdom.
The marriage with the Romanovs would only help us to secure a piece of arid land in the Middle East, it's not worth their son's marriage.
Frederick is one of the most prominent businessmen in the world combined with his good looks, it's not difficult to propose marriage to any aristocratic family but he chose a brat from Russia! It's unacceptable for his parents and the government.
After what appeared to Frederick a long time his parents finished berating him, and he spoke:
"Dear father and mother, can you please hear what this poor son of yours has to say in his defense?"
Both of them looked at him silently, it can be seen how angry both of them are.
Frederick proceeded to give a document to his father. It was the report of abundant petroleum mineral reserves discovered in Persia.
"Even with this report, you might think it's not worthy to compromise our kingdom's diplomatic strategy for such mineral reserves but let me tell you that petroleum and its derivates would shake the world soon. Petroleum could be used in several fields just like today's coal, iron, etc... As you might know, our consortium owns several of these industries dependent on oil.
Although we had Ploiesti oil fields, its reserves are nothing compared with the ones we found in Persia! The reason why I don't agree with a marriage with the British Royal family is that they would certainly want a rich petroleum colony and even if we are related they won't hesitate to occupy Persia!" Frederick said with a serious expression.
After thinking for a while, his father responded:
"Do you mean to use Russian Empire influence to fight off the British? What makes you sure that the Russians wouldn't attack us instead?
"That's for the future as I had no plans to reveal this information so early on. We can devise a diplomatic strategy to shield us from each great power that wanted Persian oil."
"And what about Austro-Hungary? Our relations will surely deteriorate further with them and Germany."
"That's why we need a new diplomatic approach. Our top priority must be the Ottoman Empire as a commercial partner, maintaining good relationships German Empire as many of our industries depend on German technological help and the Russian Empire as relatives, we can reach greater operations with them in importing raw materials."
Today Romania is excessively dependent on Russian ores, greater cooperation is tidying the Romanian industry on the Russian Empire so Romania's foreign policy will rely heavily on neutral diplomacy, maintaining a neutral status and no involvement in wars.
It's similar to their current diplomatic strategy but this one is more complicated as now Romania must be friendly towards all its neighbors but allied with none.
They kept discussing details and making changes to Frederick's initial plan as his father disagreed with outright breaking their alliance with Austro-Hungary and Germany.
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(1)Torks are an ethnic group of Iranians (don't be offended by this my Iranian friends. I found those insults on the internet if you want to blame someone, blame the Iranian who wrote the article xD.)
(2) I didn't use the Persian military rank to avoid complications but they have a similar system of ranks.
(3) Marrying Grand Duchess Olga is the worst decision since Frederick could engage his son with the daughter of the Tsar. This decision is to make interesting the diplomatic ambiance of Romania! Our Mc thinks it's the best decision btw... I think it's a bad idea hahaha but the idea it's to make the MC more realistic.
Important note: I will take 20 days off for personal reasons, I might continue update irregularly during this period! I'm not dropping the novel since I'm very enthusiastic on finishing it!