Holy Roman Empire

The bigger problem is that religious fanatics are in essence.These talents are the main force of the attack, relying on the local religion, and they like to attack the British soldiers who are alone.

The British who have just arrived have not figured it out for the time being. There are twists and turns in this, and most of the accounts are charged to the guerrillas.

Of course, this is not wrong, they are originally a family - the Afghan resistance organization.

The nominal leader of everyone is King Amir, even though this unlucky king hides in the deep mountains and old forests and dare not come out.

Another officer suggested: "I think it is still necessary to capture the Afghan king first. Without the leader of the emir, these resistance organizations will be in a state of disunity."

Colonel Makau didn't buy it and said: "Come on, Hudes. The Afghans hate us extremely, and we don't have any roots there.

Who knows where the mouse's cave, Emir, is. It can't be over the mountains, fighting one by one, right?

Moreover, the Afghan resistance organization is in a state of disunity in the first place, with or without the leader of the emir, it has little influence.

This can be seen from the situation where they attacked us. There are many attacks, but the number of people they dispatch each time is limited.

Since the defeat of the Afghan government forces, who of you has encountered resistance forces with more than [-] people?

They are all a group of stragglers, vulnerable on the frontal battlefield, and can only hide behind their backs and shoot black guns. "

This is the difficulty of the problem. Although the resistance organization is a mob, the gang is not slippery!

Hudes sneered and said, "So what, these rats also need to eat, at worst, we will block them with nets and trap them to death in the mountains.

If we are in a hurry, we can still set fire to the mountain and burn it all the way.

If it doesn't work, heavy taxes will be imposed on the local people so that they will have no food to support the guerrillas.

It is also possible to implement the law of consecutive sittings, but if anyone colludes with the guerrillas, all residents within a five-mile radius will be executed.

I don't believe that Afghanistan has been wiped out by us, and there are guerrillas that can't be wiped out. "

It sounds good, but it is not so simple to implement it.

Pull-net-style blockade, one knows that it requires a lot of troops.

The area of ​​Afghanistan is not small, and it is densely covered with mountains and forests. It is simply not possible for these infantry divisions to block it.

Setting fire to a mountain seems to be very simple. In fact, not all mountains can be burned at once, and a large amount of fuel needs to be put in to start the fire.

Not to mention heavy taxes, then a local government must be established first, and British soldiers are expected to collect taxes. It is estimated that the local people will have to defect to the guerrillas.

The real deterrent is probably the sitting method, but it is not easy to operate, and it may make more people join the guerrillas.

Seeing that no one objected, after weighing the pros and cons, Lieutenant General Patrick said slowly: "If you don't have a better way, then just give it a try!

I will seek reinforcements from China, but this requires everyone to speak with one voice.It's just the Afghan guerrillas, but they can't attract the attention of those gentlemen in London. "

Shirking responsibility is a traditional skill that bureaucrats have learned without a teacher.The weight of the Afghan guerrillas is not enough, so they can only be attracted to the Russians.

After some artistic processing, it was originally the result of the Afghan guerrillas attacking the British army, but it fell on the Russian army.

……

I don't know how the Russians feel about the black pot that fell from the sky. Anyway, the London government was blown up.

It would be fine for the Russians to do things secretly. This kind of attack on the British army in an open and honest manner violated the rules of the game.

After receiving the news, Prime Minister Gladstone immediately roared: "The Russians are provoking Britain, and we must retaliate."

There is no doubt about the authenticity of the frontline battle report. Is Prime Minister Gladstone a fool?

the answer is negative!

Pretending to be confused is a basic skill of politicians.Knowing that it was impossible for the Russians to fly to Afghanistan, Prime Minister Gladstone could only pinch his nose and recognize it.

Otherwise, there would be no way to explain the losses of the British troops on the front line to the country.Although the main responsibility lies with the military, but as the cabinet they also cannot escape.

The proud British people can tolerate hundreds of thousands of losses in the event of a war with foreign powers, but they cannot tolerate thousands of people being killed by indigenous guerrillas.

This pot can only be carried by the Russians, so as to minimize the political influence, and by the way, Congress can quickly allocate funds and send reinforcements to the Afghan region.

As for wronging the Russians, that's not a problem at all.Anyway, Britain and Russia are destined to be enemies in Central Asia. If the relationship gets worse, how bad can it be?

……

Chapter 121 The Pirate Teammates Are Online

At the same time, he became the blame man, and the Russia-Austria alliance can also be called the blame alliance.However, there is also a difference between the blame man and the blame man.

Austria is willing to jump out and take the blame.

French Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Austria spread rumors, discredited France's national image, and claimed economic losses.

Austrian Foreign Ministry: Nothing, we just stated the facts to let the European people know the truth.

……

The tsarist government was different. It was all about people sitting at home and the pot coming from the sky.

The Vienna government is responsible for the blame. It is your preference and I would like to get what I want. The quarrel between France and Austria is more like a political game.

The pot thrown by the British is different. Sending troops to attack the British troops in Afghanistan is no different from declaring war.

Although they are not afraid of going to war with the British, the Russians are naturally unwilling to take the blame for the enemy without any benefits.

St petersburg

Foreign Minister Oscar Jimenez: "Your Majesty, the matter has been clarified. After the British army occupied the Afghan area, they encountered fierce resistance from the locals and suffered heavy losses.

The British government slandered us for sending troops to attack the British army in Afghanistan in order not to bear the responsibility for the heavy losses on the front line and to give an explanation to the domestic people. "

What does war between Britain and Russia mean?

When you open the map, you will know that this is actually not a big deal at all. Except for the possible outbreak of war in Central Asia, neither side can reach other regions.

In theory, the Royal Navy could indeed block the coastline of the Russian Empire, but in practice it simply couldn't.

Russia's shipbuilding industry is underdeveloped, and domestic ocean shipping companies are also rare. Most of the shipping business for overseas trade is undertaken by international shipping companies.

Including the British shipping company, they all took a big piece of the cake.The Royal Navy has an embargo, so they can't even detain their own ships, can they?

To put it bluntly, the main outlets of the Russians are concentrated in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. Even if the Royal Navy blocks the door, everyone can still pretend to be doing trade with the Nordic Federation and Austria.

There is no satellite monitoring these days, who knows the real starting point and destination of these ships.Arbitrarily arresting ships will cause international disputes.

Hearing this answer, the Minister of War Ivanov said angrily: "Your Majesty, the British are constantly challenging the bottom line of the empire, and now we can't bear it any longer.

We must use the strongest means to give them a strong counterattack.Let the whole world know that the great Russian Empire is not to be trifled with! "

"Toughness" is not without reason. In fact, after Marshal Ivanov became Minister of War, the Russian military has become relatively conservative.

If it weren't for the British government's behavior of dumping the pot, which exposed the weakness of the British army's low combat effectiveness, Marshal Ivanov would never jump out of the main battle now.

Alexander III hesitated. A tsar who dared not fight was not a qualified tsar.

Peace-loving, that is only the needs of interests.Now that the British have exposed their weaknesses, it would be completely unreasonable if they didn't take the opportunity to add insult to injury!

But are the British really that weak?

Alexander III was deeply skeptical. He knew very well that the Indian colonial army did not represent the real combat effectiveness of the British army.

Most of the troops who attacked Afghanistan this time were Indian colonial troops, and the main force transferred from the mainland accounted for less than one-fifth of the total number of troops.

Seeing that Alexander III was vacillating, Ivanov continued to lobby and said: "Your Majesty, the British have long been strong outsiders.

After so many years, there has been no progress at all.The combat effectiveness of the British army may not be as good as it was during the first Near East War.

The war in Afghanistan is a proof, and the earlier war in South Africa is also a proof.

At that time, the British came out with the main force, but they failed to win even a group of militias temporarily assembled in Austria. The combat effectiveness of the British army can be imagined.

Now is the best opportunity. The three Khanates in Central Asia have been defeated. It won't be long before we will be in Afghanistan.

Although the British took the lead in occupying the Afghan region, their foundation in the area was unstable, and there were guerrillas making trouble.

We can take advantage of the opportunity to seize the Afghan region and lay the foundation for going south to India. "

Predating the weak and the strong is the essence of this era. The original goal of the Tsarist government was to seize Central Asia.

As for the Afghan region, since it fell into the hands of the British, the military no longer has expectations and is ready to wait for the next opportunity.

However, the plan did not change quickly. After discovering that the British army occupying the Afghan area was weak and could not even deal with the Afghan guerrillas, Marshal Ivanov immediately changed his mind.

"If God doesn't take it, you will be blamed instead."

It would be a crime to miss such an opportunity.As the leader of the military, this kind of soft persimmons delivered to the door are rejected. Do you want to find hard bones to gnaw on?

Foreign Secretary Oscar Jimenez added: "We had a secret contact with the French not long ago, and the Paris government has no objection to our entry into the Indian Ocean.

If we turn against the British at this time, the French will not send troops to interfere, and Austria will support us.

Diplomatic obstacles have all been cleared away.The remaining issues are all military. As long as the military is sure of victory, the southward strategy can be implemented. "

Hearing the news, Alexander III was shocked: "The French sold their teammates so quickly?"

Then he reacted again, it seems that the French government does not want to sell his teammates, and it can't help the British now.

For the issue of China and Europe, France and Austria are arguing.At this time, sending troops to help the British fight the war, isn't it an opportunity for Austria?

"Is there any financial problem?"

By convention, the Ministry of Finance routinely opposes almost every war before it breaks out.

This is not because the Minister of Finance has no overall view. The main reason is that the tsarist government was poor and did not vaccinate in advance. What if there is no money in the middle of the war?

No one wants to take the blame, so the Russian finance minister has always been the leader of the anti-war faction.As long as the financial difficulties are mentioned in advance, and there is no money in half of the battle, it is not the problem of the Ministry of Finance.

Every time the Ministry of Finance objected, and it was not easy to meet one who did not object, it is no wonder that Alexander III was surprised.

Minister of Finance Alisher Gurov replied with a smile: "There are indeed some financial difficulties, but with the efforts of all colleagues, we have raised a war fund.

Just a month ago, we signed a loan contract of 5000 million Aegis with the Austrian National Bank; in addition, we reached an agreement with a French consortium to issue bonds of [-] million francs with industrial raw materials as guarantee.

As long as the total force we invest is less than 50 and the war lasts no more than a year, we can sustain it financially. "

(1 pound = 2 shields = 25 francs)

In fact, it is not only the military that wants to go south to capture India, but the Ministry of Finance's desire for India is not inferior at all.

Because of the sale of spoils after the Third Near East War and the large amount of funds obtained for the resettlement of immigrants in Austria, the Tsarist government offset nearly [-]% of the debt.

Coupled with the debts that have been repaid in recent years, the total debt of the tsarist government has dropped by nearly [-]%.

In addition to reducing debt pressure, Russia's economy has also achieved certain development in recent years.Although it is still at a snail's pace, it is always moving forward.

Self-raised and borrowed, hundreds of thousands of troops a year's war funds came out.

Alexander III was surprised: "The French will issue bonds for us?"

He couldn't help but be surprised, because of the reputation, the national debt issued by the Russian government can only be sold locally, even if it goes to its ally Austria, it cannot be sold.

No matter how good the relationship is, no matter how high the interest rate is, a financial institution that has suffered losses before is unwilling to come a second time.

In contrast, France's financial controls are much looser.Bonds are risky investments, and the purchaser shall bear the responsibility for any default, and the issuer does not need to be jointly and severally liable.

As for capitalists, as long as the interest is high enough, someone will naturally do it.To Alexander III's surprise, the French government did not intervene.

You must know that Britain and France are allies. The French issue bonds for the Russians at this time, which is completely stabbing their allies.

Finance Minister Alisher Gurov nodded: "Yes, the French government did not intervene!

However, the interest and handling fees are very high, and the amount of bonds cannot be too large, and it can only be carried out in the mode of private enterprise fundraising. "

For the tsarist government, the process is not important, the most important thing is the result.As long as you can get the money, there is no real difference between corporate bonds and government bonds.

……

Chapter 122

France and Russia had secret contacts, and Britain and Austria also did not break contact.It's just that everyone tacitly pretended not to see it.

If it is more serious, it will have no friends.

International relations in the late 19th century had become a mess.France and Austria are at odds on the issue of China and Europe, but they are in agreement on the issue of Central Asia.

Although their respective motivations are different, the goal of both is to provoke the Anglo-Russian war and weaken the strength of their competitors.

Conversely, Britain and Russia are similar. Central Asia is about to fight, and the two sides have almost the same position on the China-Europe issue: let France and Austria choke each other, and there cannot be a situation of dominance.

……

London