Holy Roman Empire

He said it lightly, but it could be seen from the tense expression that Nicholas II was not at peace.

The fact that it was found on the head of the United Kingdom means that the next eastward expansion plan must be carefully considered.

Nicholas II didn't think that the purpose of the British was so simple, and they spent such a high price just to lure the Russian Empire eastward.

Although the Siberian Railway is a single-track railway, the capacity of the railway is very limited, but there is no regulation that the single-track cannot be changed to a double-track.

There is already a railway, and if we continue to add a railway line next to it, the difficulty of construction can be much lower than before, at least transportation is no longer a problem.

Once the railway renovation is completed, the transportation problems that restrict the expansion of the Russian Empire to the east will be easily solved.

The two independent countries in the Far East cannot stop a bear that can invest with all its strength, unless they can join forces.

Obviously, this is impossible.From the sound of a cannon in the Sino-Japanese War, it was doomed that the relationship between the two countries could not be too good.

As long as the tsarist government exerts a little foreign policy and expands rhythmically, there will be no problems.

In the Indian region, which has been in business for hundreds of years, the fact that Britain can block the Russian army does not mean that they are also capable of sniping the Russian army in the Far East.

After thinking about it for a while, Nicholas II felt that there was something wrong with it. It was absolutely impossible for the British to really help them complete the "Yellow Russia Project".

You must know that the conflict between Britain and Russia has been around for a long time. Stabbing each other is a routine operation, and helping each other to strengthen their strength is to support the enemy.

Where exactly the problem lies, Nicholas II is not clear.In short, when facing the Far East issue, the tsarist government suddenly became cautious.

……

The Japanese government naturally knew nothing about the changes that happened in St. Petersburg.It's not that the intelligence organization doesn't work hard, it's that the innate appearance gap is too big, and it can't penetrate at all.

For the intelligence collection of the Russian Empire, the Japanese government is currently only at the stage of newspapers, radio, and gossip in taverns.

Just think about buying intelligence personnel and go deep into the tsarist government to investigate intelligence, but in fact it is not feasible at all.

It's not that the secrecy of the tsarist government is high, on the contrary, the secrecy of the tsarist government is the lowest in the world, and it can be said to be a big sieve.

The root cause of the Japanese intelligence organization's failure to make contributions is one word - poor.There is no money in the pocket, so naturally there is no way to operate.

Since the outbreak of the Japan-Russia conflict and the tense situation in the Far East, the Japanese government has panicked.

That is the Russian Empire known as the "European Steamroller", and it is the world's top power.Although it has not kept up with the times in recent decades, it is not comparable to fledgling Japan.

The Philippine War is the best reference. Spain, which is at the bottom of the great powers, can work hard to fight them thousands of miles away.

Not to mention a more powerful Russian Empire.In short, the senior Japanese government has no confidence in facing the Russians.

This is not cowardice, everyone is just following their hearts.

Don't look at the publicity that "the Japanese-Western War broke the myth of white people's invincibility", in fact, if the family knows their own affairs, it is a bloody business.

The only thing that can be called a harvest is that the Japanese navy has gained a chance for rapid development.

It's a pity that this opportunity is not very good. Due to the large number of warships, the Japanese government has been worrying about how to support this navy after the Sino-Japanese War.

With the lessons learned from losses, the senior Japanese government has always had lingering fears about wars with European countries.

If you win the war, you have to worry about the intervention of the Continental Union, and you won't get the spoils you want;

Regardless of the outcome of the war, as long as Japan is attacked, it is doomed to be a loser.Since the ending is so tragic, why do you need to fight?

It is not yet the turn of militarism to be the master. The civilian political group headed by Ito Hirobumi is still firmly in control of the regime.

In addition to the fact that the Japanese government is a little more martial, it is still a normal country on the whole.

Apart from the high morale of the young middle- and lower-level officers, who lashed out at Fang Qiu and swallowed thousands of miles like a tiger, the high-level government has no interest in war at all, at least not in a short period of time.

Chapter 87 The Embassy Crisis

"According to news from the embassy in St. Petersburg, since the outbreak of the conflict in the Far East, anti-Japanese sentiment among the people of the Russian Empire has continued to rise.

Many people in the tsarist government advocated taking tough measures against us, and the arrogance of the main fighters was high, and the possibility of launching a war was not ruled out.

The international community is very indifferent to the conflict between us and the Russians. Except for the verbal support of the British, most countries have a mentality of watching the fun. "

Inoue Kaoru said helplessly.

Since the rise of fanatical nationalism, it has been difficult to be an official in the Japanese government, and the foreign minister in charge of international affairs is even more of a hot potato.

Folk radicals don't use their brains at all when they look at problems. They always do things with a hot brain, and their ambitions and strengths are seriously out of balance.

In this context, foreign ministers are often the ones who take the blame, and among the people, they are almost equivalent to the existence of "traitors".

It's the same no matter who goes up. You must know that after the Shimonoseki Treaty was signed, Ito Hirobumi, who was a great hero, was almost punished by heaven and earth as a traitor.

Such a challenging job cannot be done without a strong heart.

No matter how strong her heart is, facing the current international situation, Inoue Kaoru also feels scalp numb.

Under the international background of the confrontation between the two powers, even though he has too many dragon-slaying skills, there is no room for him to display them.

Since you are hanging out with the British, don't expect to be able to please Shinra.It is human instinct to rely on the strong. As a sea power country, there is nothing wrong with mixing with Britain, the most powerful navy.

The crux of the problem lies with the boss.For some reason in recent years, the British boss has suddenly become weak, and has gradually been at a disadvantage in international competition.

First, it lost the opportunity in the second industrial revolution, and then lost control of the European continent. Now even the hegemony of the Royal Navy is shaky.

The supremacy of the sea was impacted, all thanks to the world tour of the Shinra Navy.All countries that have conducted joint exercises together know the gap between super battleships and traditional battleships.

But the British were a step behind in this. Although their dreadnoughts were also launched, they suffered from bad problems because of the rush of time.

Just like Shinra's earliest "Roma", it's okay to put it at home to support the facade, but once it is opened, it will be bad.

In this context, even though the British also have super battleships, they can only watch the Shinra Navy stir up the situation and stand up.

In the eyes of those who are interested, this is the performance of the Navy's backwardness, at least the British are one step slower in warship construction technology.

The saying of "boom and decline" is not popular in the European world, but it is well known in East Asia.Including the previous seizure of the Philippines, it was all based on this judgment.

What makes Inoue even more worrying is that the British boss is not only lagging behind in technology, economy, and military, but even the best diplomacy is now in a bottleneck.

The boss's diplomacy can't be played well, and the younger brother's diplomacy is even more difficult to carry out.In this era when Europe is the center, who knew that Japan was the green onion?

In order to change this passive diplomatic situation, a comprehensive Westernization movement broke out in Japan, that is, the "Leaving Asia and entering Europe" movement. As the foreign minister, Kaoru Inoue is the leader of this strategy.

Ito Hirobumi: "It's not that serious, it's just a diplomatic conflict, and the Russians are not going to start a war for it.

The current international situation is very divided. Britain and Shinra are facing each other. The Russian Empire, which is in the second strongest position, seems to be majestic, but in fact they are also very embarrassing.

Logically speaking, the Russia-Austria alliance has lasted for decades, and the Russians should support Shinra, but they are both in the European continent and happen to be neighbors.

Just as one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, the European continent also cannot accommodate two big countries.Once the Shinra defeated Britain, the Russian Empire could not go any further.

From the strategic point of view of long distance and close attack, the best choice is to form an alliance between Britain and Russia to jointly deal with Shinra.After all, Russia and Austria are countries with land power, and the British are countries with sea power.

Even if Britain won hegemony, it would not threaten the survival of the Russian Empire, and vice versa.

However, Britain and Russia have deep grievances, and they cannot be resolved if they want to. The two parties lack the most basic trust and there is no basis for an alliance at all.

At this point, it is not in the interests of the Russian Empire to support anyone, but they have to stand in line, otherwise London and Vienna will not be at ease.

This is a big trouble, and until this problem is solved, the tsarist government will not make extra troubles.

What's more, the strength of the Russians in the Far East is not enough to start a war.Once a war breaks out, logistics alone can drag them to death. "

After listening to Ito Hirobumi's explanation, Emperor Meiji's face was obviously relieved a lot.Because of the butterfly effect, Japan is not as lucky as the original time and space.

Although it gained a lot in the war against the Far Eastern Empire, there was an extra Philippine war that lost money, and the size of the navy was much larger than that of the same period in history.

All these cost money, and the looted war indemnity was used to fill these two huge pits. Naturally, the funds for domestic development were less, and the national strength was much weaker than that of the same period in history.

The most immediate response is financially.It is impossible to even think about the balance of financial revenue and expenditure. It is the blessing of 800 million gods to be able to keep the financial system from going bankrupt.

Against the Russians, not only the military pressure is great, but the financial pressure is even greater.

From this point of view, Japan and Russia are similar. They are both poor countries with cleaner pockets than faces.

Prime Minister Shigenobu Okuma: "Ito-kun, this is just an inference under normal circumstances, but don't forget that the Russian Empire is often abnormal.

I have studied Russian history, and the tsarist government often made decisions without going through the brain.

The most famous one is Peter III, who directly cut off the westward advance of the Russian Empire because of his personal preference to turn his back on the alliance and aid Russia.

There are even more unknown ones, including several wars in the modern Russian Empire, which are hard to call rational.

Including Emperor Nicholas, who was highly respected by the Russians, blindly launched the Near East War, although he finally captured the Constantinople area and seemed to have won the war.

But from the price paid by the Russian Empire, we know that this is a war that hurts both sides, and the Russians won it just to save face.

The next Alexander II was similar. Without carefully weighing the pros and cons, he blindly went to war with Prussia.

In the end, the war was indeed won, but the price paid was that the Russian Empire fell from the top power to the second echelon.

……

In short, when the tsarist government made decisions, we should not use common sense to judge them, otherwise we would suffer big losses. "

If you don't analyze it, you don't know. Once you analyze it, you will be shocked.When you meet a competitor who is not used to playing cards according to common sense, anyone will feel scalp numb.

In fact, the law of inference of interest itself does not hold.It is true that interests come first among countries, but the rulers are still human.Since we are human beings, we cannot be absolutely rational.

In many cases, the personal preferences and perceptions of politicians can also affect government decision-making, especially in feudal monarchy countries.

There is no doubt that the Russian Empire is a typical feudal monarchy.Even with the reforms of Alexander II, it also failed to change this essence.

It cannot be said that the monarch's personal will controls the country's decision-making, but the influence of the monarch's personal perception on the country's decision-making is unquestionable.

The most typical example is the anti-Japanese faction at the top of the Russian Empire, and there are very few pro-Japanese factions in the tsarist government.

For no other reason than the two scars on Nicholas II.This alone is enough to make everyone hate the Japanese Empire.

This is also politically correct.If someone assassinates the monarch you are loyal to, if you are still indifferent, do you still want to mess around?

What kind of cause, what kind of fruit.Whether it is willing or not, the Japanese government has to pay for its previous mistakes.

Of course, everyone thought of more.It seems that the tsarist government's decision-making mistakes in recent decades have finally allowed Austria to take advantage of it.

They couldn't help but think about it, one time could be a coincidence, but two or three times of coincidence, it would be too much of a coincidence.

Thinking about it, there is actually not much we can do now.They can all see the problem, and so can others.

Including the high level of the tsarist government, they also discovered these problems.Otherwise, it would not appear that the first thing every tsar did after succeeding to the throne was to get rid of his dependence on Vienna.

No one wants to be led by the nose, let alone a rebellious bear.

It's just that the gap between reality and ideal is a bit far. If they really cut themselves off and cut off the connection between Russia and Austria, they won't be able to make up their minds.

Since they are inseparable, we can only be cautious when making decisions to avoid being led off the rhythm.

After all, this kind of influence was carried out secretly, and the Vienna government did nothing on the surface.

Even if it stepped on a pit, the tsarist government could only knock down its teeth and swallow it in its stomach.It is absolutely unacceptable to the outside world. If the cover is lifted, it will only prove that they are incompetent.

……

Both governments were trying to avoid war, and the Japanese government did only slightly more, stepping up defenses against the Russians.

But the folks are different. Anti-Japanese sentiment in the Russian Empire is high, and anti-Russian sentiment in Japan is equally strong.

Looking at the dark crowd of protesters outside, the staff of the Russian embassy in Japan were afraid to go out even to buy groceries.

The endless cursing sound seemed to never stop from morning to night, which made Minister Fortoriac furious.

"Dial the number of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

The staff suggested in a low voice: "Your Excellency, the phone line has been cut off, why don't we send a telegram?"

It can be seen that Minister Fortoriak is still very prestigious in the embassy, ​​and the staff did not dare to prick him at all.

Minister Futoriak roared: "Then why are you still standing here, don't hurry up and send it!"

Just after yelling, Futoriak realized that he had made a slip of the tongue.Since he wanted to send a telegram, he naturally had to have content, and he didn't say anything, so the people who did things below naturally had to wait.

"Sorry, Frank. I didn't mean to, I was just confused by the Japanese.

There is so much commotion outside, I don't believe the Japanese government doesn't know about it.Knowing that someone is making trouble and not stopping it, this is provoking the great Russian Empire.

Let the guards get ready, as long as anyone dares to cross the line, don't be polite to me. "

There is no doubt that the last sentence is just angry words.If he dared to shoot, the people below would have already fired.

After a pause, Fortoriak continued: "Inform the country about the situation we are facing, and invite embassies of various countries in Japan to put pressure on the Japanese government.

Inform the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and order them to expel the troublemakers within two hours, or else..."

Otherwise, Futoriak himself didn't know.

Diplomatic blackmail also has to be divided into targets, but it does not mean that Japan cannot be blackmailed.The crux of the problem is that the power of the Russian Empire in the Far East cannot scare the Japanese at all.