AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Perhaps you'd be kind enough not to mention it to anyone. "
Fitz was being given an order, albeit politely phrased. "Of course," he said. He was pleased to feel a member of an inner circle. Did this mean that C might ask him to work for the War Office?
"Congratulations on the success of your royal house party. I believe you put together an impressive group of well-connected young men for His Majesty to meet. "
"Thank you. It was a quiet social occasion, strictly speaking, but I'm afraid word gets around. "
"And now you're taking your wife to Russia. "
"The princess is Russian. She wants to visit her brother. It's a long-postponed trip. "
"And Gus Dewar is going with you. "
C seemed to know everything. "He's on a world tour," Fitz said. "Our plans coincided. "
C sat back in his chair and said conversationally: "Do you know why Admiral Alexeev was put in charge of the Russian army in the war against Japan, even though he knew nothing about fighting on land?"
Having spent time in Russia as a boy, Fitz had followed the progress of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, but he did not know this story. "Tell me. "
"Well, it seems the grand duke Alexis was involved in a punch-up in a brothel in Marseilles and got arrested by the French police. Alexeev came to the rescue and told the gendarmes that it was he, not the grand duke, who had misbehaved. The similarity of their names made the story plausible and the grand duke was let out of jail. Alexeev's reward was command of the army. "
"No wonder they lost. "
"All the same, the Russians deploy the largest army the world has ever known-six million men, by some calculations, assuming they call up all their reserves. No matter how incompetent their leadership, it's a formidable force. But how effective would they be in, say, a European war?"
"I haven't been back since my marriage," Fitz said. "I'm not sure. "
"Nor are we. That's where you come in. I would like you to make some inquiries while you're there. "
Fitz was surprised. "But surely, our embassy should do that. "
"Of course. " C shrugged. "But diplomats are always more interested in politics than military matters. "
"Still, there must be a military attache. "
"An outsider such as yourself can offer a fresh perspective-in much the same way as your group at Ty Gwyn gave the king something he could not have got from the Foreign Office. But if you feel you can't. . . "
"I'm not refusing," Fitz said hastily. On the contrary, he was pleased to be asked to do a job for his country. "I'm just surprised that things should be done this way. "
"We are a newish department with few resources. My best informants are intelligent travelers with enough military background to understand what they're looking at. "
"Very well. "
"I'd be interested to know whether you felt the Russian officer class has moved on since 1905. Have they modernized, or are they still attached to old ideas? You'll meet all the top men in St. Petersburg-your wife is related to half of them. "
Fitz was thinking about the last time Russia went to war. "The main reason they lost against Japan was that the Russian railways were inadequate to supply their army. "
"But since then they have been trying to improve their rail network-using money borrowed from France, their ally. "
"Have they made much progress, I wonder?"
"That's the key question. You'll be traveling by rail. Do the trains run on time? Keep your eyes open. Are the lines still mostly single-track, or double? The German generals have a contingency plan for war that is based on a calculation of how long it will take to mobilize the Russian army. If there is a war, much will hang on the accuracy of that timetable. "
Fitz was as excited as a schoolboy, but he forced himself to speak with gravity. "I'll find out all I can. "
"Thank you. " C looked at his watch.
Fitz stood up and they shook hands.
