Holy Roman Empire

For example: stocks can only be circulated in France and Austria; major changes in the company's operating philosophy must be approved by the people of France and Austria...

These terms directly blocked the possibility of the British wanting to intervene in the canal, even if they had money, they could not get a share.

The "principle of absolute neutrality" is the core operating philosophy of the canal company. If the canal company is to be released, the people of France and Austria must first agree.

This is simply impossible task.

Anglo-Austrian people-to-people relations are passable, but government relations are bad; Britain and France are politically allied, but people-to-people relations are a mess.

It can be said that the Suez Canal is an eternal pain for Britain, because it was not taken seriously at the beginning of the canal's opening, and then it has been in a passive state.

After a pause, Prime Minister Gladstone asked: "Can the French government be persuaded to help, even if it means paying a certain price."

The rules are also made by people, and it is not impossible to circumvent them.The fact that troop carriers are unnavigable does not mean that ordinary merchant ships are also unnavigable.

At worst, all the weapons and equipment went to the Cape of Good Hope. Soldiers took off their military uniforms and boarded merchant ships, pretending to be guards and sneaking in.

However, this is only aimed at a small group of troops, and tens of thousands of reinforcements will be mobilized. Unless someone from the Canal Company cooperates, it will not work at all.

Foreign Minister George frowned and replied: "I'm afraid it will be very difficult, even if the French government is willing to help, it is difficult to guarantee that it will not be discovered.

Russia and Austria are allies. Once a problem is discovered, they will most likely detain our soldiers.

The French are unreliable, and the Parisian government will not support us if things come to light. "

There is no way, Britain and France have pitted each other for hundreds of years.Even if an alliance is formed now, no one can guarantee that the French will not deliberately deceive them.

What if the front foot reaches an agreement with them and the back foot sells them?

It is a characteristic of the times to eat at home and eat at home.If British soldiers are detained at the Suez Canal, the Afghan battlefield will be over.

The British-French alliance not only requires the French to contain Austria, but more importantly, prevents Russia, France and Austria from coming together.

Although the chance of such a thing happening is very small, the British government dare not take risks. After all, apart from interests, there is also hatred that affects national policy.

Britain and France are feuds. If the French government gets too hot-headed and joins the Russian-Austrian alliance, Britain will be doomed.

Just think about how the French financial sector issued war bonds for the Russians before, and you will know how unreliable the relationship between Britain and France is.

After weighing the pros and cons, without waiting for the Prime Minister to make a statement, the Minister of War, Rosario, decisively chose to give up.

"No accidents are allowed on the battlefield in Afghanistan, and the reinforcements should go to the Cape of Good Hope. It is really hard to rest our hopes on the French."

……

In the new Palace of Versailles in Paris, Napoleon IV was in a very good mood watching the two annoying ghosts of Britain and Russia pinch each other.

In order to provoke the Anglo-Russian war, the French government also made a lot of efforts.It's just that it's done in a more subtle way, and many people ignore the role played by the French government in it.

Including the alliance between Britain and France and issuing war bonds for the Russians are only part of it.

Without the efforts of the French government, the British government would not have made up its mind to send troops to Afghanistan so quickly, and the Russians would not have sent troops to Central Asia tit for tat. Naturally, there would not be the current Anglo-Russian war.

Foreign Secretary Karel Kadlec: "Your Majesty, Britain and Russia are urging us to fulfill our obligations as allies."

The French government actually played with the British and secretly made a secret agreement with the Russians. If the news spread, the whole world would probably be shocked.

It is not completely without clues. The French financial circle issued war bonds for the Russians earlier, which proves that there is a connection between France and Russia.

It's just that the French government didn't participate, and the French consortium took over the business. It's not big news that capitalists do some weird things for profit.

Napoleon IV sneered: "Tell the British that as long as Austria does not object, we agree to their free navigation in the Suez Canal.

We can also send troops to Afghanistan if necessary.

Considering that the logistics system is different, we have to be responsible for the logistics by ourselves.In order to facilitate replenishment, let them provide us with an outlet in the Indian Ocean.

Tell the Russians we will block the Suez Canal to British warships.

As for sending troops, let them convince the Vienna government first.As soon as Austria declares war on the British, we immediately follow suit. "

The French army sent troops to Afghanistan, and the British government welcomed it.But it is absolutely impossible to provide the French with an outlet to the sea in the Indian area.

It is easy to ask the gods to send the gods away, but once the French power is put into India, it is difficult to expel them.

At that time, Britain's competitors in India will not only be the Russian Empire, but France and Russia, and maybe an Austria will be added.

In the face of interests, nothing is impossible.As long as the British government's brain is not flooded, it will not do this.

The answer to the Russians was also perfunctory. The main purpose of preventing the British from using the Suez Canal to transport troops was to allow the Russians to gain greater advantages on the battlefield.

The Anglo-Russian war will continue only if the Russian army occupies the Afghan region and threatens the security of India.

Foreign Minister Karel Kadlec bit the bullet and said, "Your Majesty, wouldn't that be a good answer?"

Chapter 136 The French Plan

After a pause, Napoleon IV nodded: "It's really not good, the reply is too direct, and our allies will feel uncomfortable.

How about you reorganize the language, talk more about the difficulties we face, and soothe their wounded hearts? "

Karel Kadlec hesitated to speak.No matter how you reply, it will not change the fact that the French government is a fisherman.

Perhaps before the outbreak of the Anglo-Russian War, the French government still had to worry about their feelings, but now it is no longer needed.

Even if there are grievances between Britain and Russia, it will be after the war.

The current international situation is very obvious. Austria supports the Russians, and France's position will directly affect the outcome of this war.

If France remained neutral or supported Britain, the war could continue; if France supported the Russians, Britain would not be able to contend against the three major powers at the same time.

How could he give up this kind of rip-off opportunity?

Stimulating Britain and Russia is actually to make the two countries give more sincere prices. After all, people cannot recognize themselves at any time.

Prime Minister Terence Bulkin suggested: "Your Majesty, the Anglo-Russian war has broken out, and it seems that it will not end in a short time. We are considering implementing the next strategy."

For the French Empire, knocking off Britain and Russia can only be regarded as a small profit.

The biggest benefit brought to France by the outbreak of the Anglo-Russian War was that the shackles imposed on them were gone.

Now only Austria is left to restrict France, but this is only a restriction, not enough to scare the French government.

Foreign Secretary Karel Kadlec: "At the end of the day, wait, the Anglo-Russian war has only just begun, and the two sides have not yet fought.

Our movements were too large and stimulated their sensitive nerves. Britain and Russia are likely to stop first.

Just like the Near East War that year, Austria wanted to unify the German region, so the countries at war would stop first.

If the Austrians restrained their emotions and waited until the end of the Near East War to send troops, no one would be able to stop them. "

The Vienna government used the first Near East War to attempt to unify the German region and failed, which triggered the intervention of European countries, and finally only annexed South Germany.

In Karel Kadlec's view, it is a ready-made negative example.If it had been a few more days and waited for the Russian army to reach the city of Constantinople before doing it, it would have been a completely different result.

Economic Minister Elsa objected: "Austria's failure to unify the German region was not only due to the interference of European countries, but also the fierce opposition of the Kingdom of Prussia.

The Vienna government does not have the confidence to fight a civil war, so it can only sit back and watch the division of the German region, even if it waits until the end.

Our current situation is different. We just want to sell a few coal mines to Germany and not directly annex the two countries. No matter how dissatisfied Britain and Russia are, they will endure it first.

The only one capable of interfering is Austria. Neither the Belgians nor the Germans have the courage to fight us. I don’t think the Vienna government will fight us for the sake of the Belgians. This is not in their interest.

As long as the established facts are established, the Austrians will probably yell a few times, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will come forward to appease them.

In recent years, our economy has recovered rapidly, but it is still difficult to surpass the peak period.

The most important factors restricting our economic growth are insufficient domestic coal supply and high prices, which increase the cost of industrial production.

It may not be intuitive to say so, but here is a simple example:

After the outbreak of the Anglo-Russian War, the export trade of European countries increased. Just last month, our total export trade increased by 0.7 percentage points year-on-year, setting the highest growth rate in eight years.

However, the total export trade volume of European countries mostly exceeded 1 percentage point, and Austria's total export trade trade volume increased by at least 2 percentage points.

We are behind again.It's not that the domestic industry doesn't work hard. In fact, no one works harder than capitalists when it comes to making money.

However, there is a shortage of coal in the country, and Germany and Germany obviously have excess production capacity, but they just want to hoard it and force us to spend more money to buy it.

They are a bunch of vampires, lying on the head of the French business community, devouring our wealth.

One day now, and France will be lost..."

It is too difficult to annex the two countries of Belgium and Germany. Even if only one family is annexed, it will cause big trouble.

Although he has not been severely beaten by society, there are still traces of the shadow of the anti-French war.

In order to reduce the risk, the French government silently lowered the target, subdivided the plan to annex the two countries, and planned to blackmail several mines from the two countries.

"Hoarding" is just an excuse Elsa made up. In fact, the rise in coal prices is just a normal business practice.

Capitalists want to seek greater benefits, so naturally they will not give up any opportunities.After the outbreak of the Anglo-Russian War, the prices of many commodities in Europe rose slightly.

It's just that the capitalists in France couldn't bear it anymore. They were ready to make war fortunes, but suddenly found that energy prices had also risen.

It is expected to earn 1000 million francs, but now it can only earn 900 million francs due to rising energy prices, which is equivalent to a loss of 100 million francs.

Naturally, the capitalists in France are unwilling to share profits with others. In order to maximize their profits, they have mobilized their influence to encourage the government to rob the coal mines of Germany and Germany.

Foreign Minister Karel Kadlec shook his head: "Don't forget that all coal mines are owned, what if the governments of Bee and Germany refuse our proposed deal on the grounds that private property is sacrosanct?

Send troops to fight and rob us, are you sure they dare not start a war with us?

Forget about Belgium, the strength of the German Federation is not weak.Once those bunch of small states are united, even we cannot win it in a short time.

Once there is a stalemate in the war, the Austrians will take advantage of the fire, and Britain and Russia will also contribute to the flames.

If it's just the Austrian family, we can stand it. The problem is that they will encourage all European countries to fight against us.

No matter how powerful the Imperial Army is, it cannot compete with European countries.Once the war starts, we can't control it later.

To be on the safe side, we'd better wait for Britain and Russia to play a real fight and force European countries to stand in line.

After the European countries are divided into two waves, we will force the two countries to make concessions. Even if the situation is out of control, we will not fight alone with the alliance. "

Failure makes people grow. As the foreign minister of France, Karel Cadlecs deeply realized the root cause of France's failure in the anti-French war-few allies and many enemies.

In order to avoid repeating the same mistakes, Karel Kadlec has always advocated: provoking conflicts among European countries and dividing the relationship between countries.

In this Anglo-Russian war, his contribution was indispensable.

After listening to the foreign minister's explanation, Napoleon IV's eager heart suddenly cooled down.Having passed the age of youth and ignorance, Napoleon IV also learned to weigh the pros and cons.

"Karell is right, now is not the best time, the most important thing right now is to continue to promote the process of the Anglo-Russian War.

Only when they are both defeated can our eastward plan be able to proceed smoothly.

The Foreign Office prodded the Russians again, telling the Tsarist government that as long as they captured Herat, or the Wakhan Corridor, we would issue them a war bond of one billion francs. "

There is no way to agitate the Russians. The British government is too sensible, and it is too difficult to fool them.

Once the British army won the battle and expelled the Russians from Afghanistan, the British government would just let it go.

It was different with the Tsarist government. Once the Afghan region was conquered, the Russians' strategic focus shifted to India.

No one can stop the Russians' ambitions for India.On this issue, the British government cannot compromise, and the two sides can only die.

In this regard, the judgments of France and Austria are consistent. The Vienna government also contributed money and effort to support the tsarist government all the way to India.

As for whether the Russians will become bigger after seizing the Indian region, this kind of worry is completely unnecessary.

The British Empire is not easy to mess with these days. Once it fights for its life, it is enough to move any country.

Relying on the strength of the Russians, wanting to capture India from the British is simply not something that can be accomplished overnight.

If there is no support from the benefactor, the Russians will be dragged down by huge military expenditures in a short time.

Prime Minister Terence Bulkin reminded: "Your Majesty, the Anglo-Russian war has broken out. As an ally of the British, it is out of date for us to issue bonds for the Russians now."

You must also pay attention to the method and method of pitting your allies. It doesn't matter if you dig pits secretly. This kind of flagrant sabotage and delay is a violation of the rules of the game.

It is said that France's international reputation is completely ruined, and no country dares to play with them.

Napoleon IV smiled slightly: "It doesn't matter, as long as we change the way of operation, the British will have nothing to say.

For example: We issue a billion francs of commercial bonds for Austria, and the Austrians lend this money to the Tsarist government. "

……

Chapter 137 It's All About Me

The sun swayed to the earth, reflecting the white snow, emitting a golden light.

The snow all over the ground, the frozen Neva River, swears that winter is coming, and St. Petersburg is more suitable for snow.