The advantages of the political system are only one aspect, and more importantly, many nobles in Poland and Russia have seen the support of the new Ukrainian Federation.

It can be said that the establishment of the Ukrainian Federation broke the Hohenzollern family's fantasy about the situation. He believed that Prussia was the only option for the empire in Eastern and Northern Europe, and he could ask for a price from the empire. However, he did not expect that the empire immediately supported a new country, and was a country that directly bordered the empire and could be controlled.

The news of the establishment of the Ukrainian Federation once made the Prussian king extremely frustrated. He believed that this was the empire's strategy that had seen through Prussia, but what the Prussian king did not expect was that the various support from the empire followed closely.

In fact, the empire did not grasp the strategy of Prussia. As the prime minister who actually managed the overseas affairs of the empire, Li Su only complained about Prussia's delay. Originally, the empire planned that Prussia could attack Russia in the autumn last year, but it was delayed until the spring of the empire forty-two years.

However, this is understandable. Although Prussia, which had just escaped from the war of inheriting the Spanish throne, had a standing army and established a conscription system, did not need to prepare for war, the problem was that cooperation with Sweden, weather factors, etc. were all problems.

Also, because of Russia's victory in the English region and the large-scale rebellion of the nobles in Poland, Li Su and Li Junwei once lacked confidence in Prussia, believing that a Prussia might not be able to suppress Russia's Tsar Peter.

Therefore, supporting the Ukrainian Federation is imminent, and it is this winter that has become a certain fact.

When Old William was nervous, supplies from the empire arrived. The elite Prussian army completed the dressing in April. At least six infantry regiments and 12,000 people completely replaced the Minere-style front-mounted rifled guns. Only one and a half regiments of rifled guns were produced by Prussia themselves, or purchased from other channels, such as African development companies.

Rongwang Xingying also found a batch of old-fashioned field smoothbore guns from military warehouses in the far-reaching Krai and gave them to Prussia for free. There were only two requirements, and Prussia must immediately recognize the Ukrainian Federation and establish diplomatic relations with it. Secondly, military operations must be carried out in coordination with the Ukrainian Federation.

Although the Prussian king agreed, the "planned failure" plan formulated with William Little and General Walden in the early days was still the first thing Prussia needs to do. Therefore, William, the old man, immediately admitted the Ukrainian Federation, but discussed with King Karl XII of Sweden, and immediately launched an attack on Russia in April.

Even though this time is spring in Eastern Europe, the snow has just melted, the weather is very cold, and the roads will be muddy, even though at this time, the elite Prussian infantry had just taken over the new weapon and had not completed training, Carl XII still agreed immediately.

There are two reasons, mainly external factors.

One reason is the establishment of the Ukrainian Federation. Sweden was the first European power to recognize this country. At first, Karl XII just believed that this was a puppet country supported by the empire and could involve a considerable portion of Russia's military and resources in the direction of Southern Russia. In the future, just like the Cossack emirates back then, it would definitely be destroyed with a slight move of his finger.

However, Karl XII did not expect that after the establishment of the Ukrainian Federation, it triggered such a large-scale chain reaction. In Poland and Eastern Europe, there were huge responses and responding in a wide range. Whether in Poland or in Russia, many of the oppressed minority nobles announced their joining the federation with equal political status.

This phenomenon was not only caused by the aristocrats, but also by the civilians under the aristocrats. It can be said that in the past twenty years, the aristocrats in Eastern Europe, especially Poland, had a lot of contact with the culture and ideas of the empire due to trade and other factors, and nationalist thoughts had already reached a considerable scale. Especially in the operation of Zelenko over the years, a force had long been formed, and the peasants and serfs at the bottom also believed that the Ukrainian Federation was a progressive country.

At the 100,000-person rally, Zelenko and Mazepa announced an important policy, which was to give serfs the power to be protected by law and pursue their own power. Of course, this was not the declaration of liberation of serfs, nor was the serfs liberated, but gave serfs a chance to get freedom, that is, spend money to redeem their own freedom, and its policy was similar to the Russian serfdom reform in the 19th century later.

This is already a very progressive policy. It is better for serfs to have the opportunity to gain freedom than for generations of slavery, and serf owners can get ransom, which is beneficial to both sides. In fact, similar reforms are underway in other places in Europe where there are remnants of serfdom.

After the French Revolution, the liberation of serfs was directly announced, but the time was set ten years later. Similar reforms were mainly in Prussia. After William Xiao participated in state affairs, he tried to announce the liberation of serfs, but because of various factors, he chose to give up.

However, the serfdom in Prussia has been loosened. Prussia introduced the imperial education and technical rating system. According to Prussian law, when a serf obtains a certain level of education or a technical certificate as a technical worker, his or her immediate family will directly remove the identity of a serf, and the Prussian royal family will provide him with guarantees, and he will pay ransom to the serf owners with loans. In recent years, with the development of the Prussian bourgeoisie, he has become increasingly lacking in labor and is also very concerned about promoting the reform of the serfdom.

It can be said that as a new country, the Ukrainian Federation has progressiveness recognized by the Slavic ethnic group from nobles to serfs. That problem arises. You should know that a year ago, the entire territory of Poland was Sweden's sphere of influence. The arrogant Karl XII was frustrated on the way to conquer Russia. Now that the Ukrainian Federation was established, a large number of nobles from the Southern Russian region joined, the direct result was that the land that was once regarded as the sphere of influence by Sweden belonged to Ukraine.

Moreover, when this country was born, it expanded rapidly like a monster. Who can guarantee whether the Ukrainian Federation will become Ukrainian, Poland, and Lithuania, and directly swallow Poland and Lithuania.

At least in the spring of the 42nd year of the empire, the country showed similar heat. The weak Ukrainian Federation was Sweden's helper, and the powerful Ukrainian Federation was Sweden's competitor. If there was no stronger Russia, Sweden might have declared war directly on this new country.

The second factor comes from Austria, the Central European power, the Holy Roman Empire. In the 41st year of the empire, it was a failure year for Austria and a lonely year. After the allies of the Grand Alliance successively withdrew from the Spanish throne and inheritance war, Austria still insisted on its own proposition.

Austria lost allies, not only lost the Allies, but also lost financial assistance from allies, resulting in the disbanding of the army under Prince Eugen, which was good at fighting. There is no way. In Austria, which is recruiting troops, how can it gather without money?

Next, a more dramatic scene happened. The only two remaining allies, Savoy, directly married the French royal family, withdrew from the war, and occupied Sicily. Bavaria was immediately defeated by the French army and announced her withdrawal from the war. Austria not only needed independent support for the threat from France, but most importantly, the fire in the backyard and the rebellion in Hungary put the entire country in internal and external difficulties.

At the end of the 41st year of the empire, Austria contacted and negotiated with France. Because France was exhausted, it wanted to achieve peace. So it accused that Austria occupied the original Spanish territory in Italy. The two sides ended the war peacefully. The Spanish throne's war was only held between Spain and Austria. Because across the Mediterranean, the navies of both countries were very broken, and they were staring blankly and could not fight.

After entering the empire forty-two years, Austria's main energy was used to quell the rebellion in Hungary, and the war to quell the rebellion was won step by step.

After Sweden and Prussia received the news, they both believed that the war must be accelerated, otherwise once Austria withdraws, it will also intervene in the Great Northern War, and there will be another strong competitor.

Bouge River.

The huge army was crossing the river, with drums mixed in the air, people and horses neighing, which added a more tense atmosphere in this area.

But as the commander-in-chief, Karl XII liked this atmosphere, and even the smell of horse dung sandwiched in the air would make him feel energetic. After the defeat of the Battle of Poltava, King Carl had not felt this powerful army for a long time.

This coalition has 45,000 people, of which 8,000 are Prussian troops. The army's logistics base is located in East Prussia where Cornisburg is located. Carl rode an iconic white horse and stood on the mound. Looking behind him, the team could hardly see the head. Behind the hills in the distance, you could also see the shadow of the flag. In the hazy drizzle, it made people feel that the army was magnificent.

A month ago, Carl and William the old held talks in Cornisburg, and both sides reached an agreement and made concessions.

Carl's concession was to change the plan's goals. Originally, the coalition forces of the two countries wanted to advance eastward, first lift the siege of Riga, then advance towards England, and together with the Swedish troops in Finland, they regained England and destroyed St. Petersburg.

However, with the establishment of the Ukrainian Federation and the rapid advancement of the north, the goal became to go south, joining the Ukrainian Federal Army, and then formed a three-nation coalition to sweep the federation and then acted in unification, attacking Moscow according to the situation, or regaining England.

Old William also made concessions and handed over the command of the army, the coalition forces, to Carl XII, and was responsible for all the food and grass supply within half a year.

So ten days ago, it almost turned south. First, the Polish king Stanislaw I, in Brandenburg, gathered a group of troops into Poland and rushed straight to Krakow city in southern Poland.

This city is as famous as Warsaw in the Polish Federation. It was once the capital of Poland and the location where the Polish king ascended the throne. It is very symbolic. The army had nearly 10,000 people, only one-third of which were Stanislaw's loyalty, and the rest were Prussian-supported troops. Lieutenant General Walden Cavalry was the chief of staff of that army and the actual commander.

As a vanguard, this small army entered Poland with great fanfare and did not hide its goal at all. It was to force the main Russian army in Poland to go to Krakow, especially the troops stationed in Warsaw.

In this way, the Rip Alliance, which was heading south from East Prussia, could cross the Bug River and seize Warsaw first, while the other main force, led by the Prussian King William, as the third army, set out from Brandenburg, and reinforced Warsaw or Krakow depending on the situation.

After occupying these two important cities, the two countries and armies would join with the Ukrainian Federation and would choose to fight the Russian army to a decisive battle. It can be said that the early battles were political battles.

Carl XII felt that this plan was really complicated and had dispersed its troops, but he could do nothing. If he insisted on his plan, he would hand over the command to William Old, which was something Carl XII could not accept.

In the hazy rain and mist, a team of cavalry rushed from a distance, at a very fast speed, with a small black eagle flag behind him, which was the sign of the Prussian army's orders for cavalry, and the cavalry came from the south and crossed the river. Carl looked at the cavalry getting closer and closer, and they looked tired and looked bleak, and he murmured: "I hope it is good news."

But the good or bad news would not change because of his prayers, the cavalry leader reported: "His Majesty the King, His Majesty Stanislaw's army failed, they were ambushed in Krakow, and the army was dispersed. General Walden asked us to send this information."

A brief map was taken out from the cowhide file. General Walden marked some troops' numbers and guessed forces on it. It seemed that at least 60,000 people participated in the siege, of which the cavalry occupied almost half, and the signs representing Stanislaw I were all marked by the enemy. Carl asked: "What's wrong with His Majesty Stanislaw?"

"I don't know, Your Majesty, when I came, His Majesty the King was trapped on Mount Sandr, and most of the troops were besieging His Majesty the King and our Hessian Corps, and General Walden was trying to save the King," said the cavalry leader.

Carl looked at the lower right corner. The date was four days ago. Carl felt a little cold in his heart, feeling that the Polish king he had never met before should be finished.

"What else does General Walden say?"

"Nothing said, he said, everything is followed by your arrangement, and he has asked for help from Berlin."

Walden did not ask the cavalry to send a message, but on that map he wrote a string of words: For honor, be sure to capture Warsaw.
Chapter completed!