Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Time flies, and the convoy entered St. Petersburg in a flash. This is the fourth time Ferdinand has set foot in this city.

The first few times I came to this city, it was all in winter, and it was a vast expanse of ice and snow. Ferdinand really didn’t have the heart to observe this city!

This time is a rare opportunity, maybe this is the last time I come to this city! Ferdinand thought to himself.

At the beginning of the 20th century, St. Petersburg was already a prosperous international metropolis. You can't see it in winter, but after entering summer, you can see the hustle and bustle of people from a distance when you look through the car window!

In the life of ordinary people, Ferdinand never had the chance to touch again. Since wearing this crown, it has been two worlds since then!

Just when Ferdinand was thinking about it, the convoy had already entered the palace.

...

After several days of various banquets, Ferdinand had the opportunity to have a secret conversation with Nicholas II.

As a matter of fact, at their level, many things are straight forward, and detours and circles are only things that diplomats can do!

Nicholas, you're not really going to fight the British for the Far East, are you? Ferdinand half-jokingly said.

Nicholas II asked confidently: Do you think this is possible? The British have not even settled the Boers in South Africa, and they will provoke a new war?

Besides, the Three-Power Alliance is still eyeing on the European continent, how can we fight just for the sake of the Japanese monkeys?

Ferdinand smiled slightly and thought to himself, The Japanese dwarf you look down on now will soon interrupt your ocean dream and plunge the Russian Empire into the abyss!

Of course, as long as the London government isn't stupid, they won't start another war at this point!

But I think it is necessary for you to continue to communicate, lest the people below play jump!

This is not what Ferdinand said nonsense. Now both the Russians and the British regard each other's primary enemy. If they are affected by Ferdinand's butterfly effect, Bulgaria will block the gun for the Russians!

Nicholas II smiled lightly and said: The conflict between us and the British is a strategic conflict, and it is very difficult to resolve it!

But don't you think the conflict between the British and the Germans is more troublesome? Can the capitalists in London endure their market being robbed by the Germans?

Ferdinand was slightly taken aback,

That's right, from the point of view of later generations, economic contradictions are secondary contradictions, and strategic contradictions are the core contradictions.

That is because the productive forces have developed to a certain extent, the people have awakened, everyone has realized the dangers of war, the strength of the capitalists has been limited, and countries will exercise restraint against each other!

But now? The capitalists don't care about national interests, they only know that their own interests have been lost!

Ferdinand suddenly understood why the three countries of Britain, France and Russia, which were full of contradictions in history, suddenly came together. All of this was the result of the capitalists behind the scenes!

Why can't the German-French contradiction be reconciled?

Is it hatred?

To know the hatred between Britain, France and Russia, which one is not bigger and deeper than Germany and France?

In addition to the British being a stumbling block, the core factor is that the Germans robbed the French market and harmed the interests of the capitalists!

Thinking of this, Ferdinand smoothed everything out. The core contradiction of the First World War was the market competition between capitalists. Britain and France had the most colonies and controlled the world's largest raw materials and markets. If the Germans wanted to continue to develop, they could only choose to eat from the tiger's mouth!

As for the hegemony struggle between Britain and Germany, it is undoubtedly a continuation of the struggle for interests!

It seems that I think too much! The intensification of the contradiction between Britain and Germany is not far away. When it will break out, it will depend on how long the London government can resist the pressure of the capitalists!

Nicholas II said contemptuously: The French government has now been completely controlled by the capitalists. If it does not meet their interests, the government will be resigned immediately.

How long can the British constitutional monarchy resist? After all, Edward is not Victoria's grandmother, so I'm afraid he won't be able to suppress that group of people for long!

This is the so-called freedom, one government is infiltrated by the capitalists! Regardless of whether it is right or wrong, it must be in their interests. What is the national interest?

Ferdinand wants to say, you are wrong, Edward's ability is stronger than you think, people still firmly suppress the capitalists, but his successor will not work!

Ferdinand admitted that Nicholas II's words have some truth, but history is written by the victors, the capitalists won the final victory, then their claims are the truth!

Ferdinand also found that Nicholas II was overconfident and seemed to think that everything was under control, as if he had already decided his opponent!

And he doesn't know anything about the current situation in Russia. It's right to suppress the capitalists, it's right to suppress the aristocracy, and even the tsarist government has the support of the peasant class, but he forgets that the working class is on the rise!

Once the working class, which has been suppressed by the capitalists for a long time, breaks out, it is enough to change the world! Even the tsarist government, which suppressed the capitalist class, would become the spokesperson of the bourgeoisie under the guidance of people with a heart, and be pushed out to fight for hatred!

Knowing, knowing, Ferdinand didn't mean to remind him, after all, an overly powerful Russia is not in the long-term interests of Bulgaria!

After all, the future Soviet Union is very far away. Before the rise of the Soviet Union, there is still a gap of 20 years, which is enough for Bulgaria to develop and grow. As long as it is strong enough, what can the Soviet Union do?

Ferdinand nodded and said with a smile: It seems that the future international situation will be very interesting!

Nicholas II sneered and said, It depends on William's performance. If he can't wake up and continue to be led by the nose of the British, the good days of the Second German Empire will come to an end!

Ferdinand shook his head and said, Let's observe a moment of silence for William. He underestimated the impact of capital on a country, and now he estimates that he still hopes for an alliance between Britain and Germany!

...

After in-depth exchanges with Nicholas II, Ferdinand found that the tsarist government was not as bad as the history books said, at least in the judgment of the international situation, it was better than the Germans!

If Ferdinand was Wilhelm II, he would definitely go all out to support the Russians' eastward advance, even if Russia occupied East Asia?

Will they have enough time to digest it? If it can’t be digested, then the huge territory can only bear the burden, and eventually empty every ruble of the Russian treasury!

Moreover, it is the British who suffer the most. After the Russians gain East Asia, the conflict between Britain and Russia will never be eased again!

During this period, just let Austria-Hungary collapse, and unify Germany to strengthen itself! What the final result will be, although it is difficult to predict, at least Germany and Russia pk Britain, France and the United States have a much higher chance of winning than Germany and Austria pk Britain, France, Russia and the United States!

After more than a month, Ferdinand's trip to St. Petersburg finally came to an end, and he was very satisfied with the result. The Russians still have to continue to fight in the Far East!

At the same time, more in-depth cooperation has been opened between Bulgaria and Russia. The most important thing is that the Russian government does not restrict technical exchanges and cooperation between enterprises of the two countries!

Is Ferdinand still not clear about the feces and urine of the capitalists? There is nothing that cannot be sold, if there is, it must be that your price is not high enough!

Regardless of Xenia's reluctance, Ferdinand dragged her to the next stop - Vienna. After all, this time he was visiting all of Europe, and Ferdinand didn't have much time to waste.

Ferdinand of Vienna is still very familiar, even though he has been away for more than ten years, the city has become more prosperous. There are also memories of his childhood here. Although it belongs to the former owner, he still thinks it is very beautiful!

Oh, and a bunch of friends and family. This should be said to be inherited from his ancestors. Many aristocratic families are family friends, and they are interspersed with each other by marriage. On the premise of no conflict of interest, everyone is still friends!

In order to reduce the number of going out for entertainment, Ferdinand simply invited them all over, since he still has a castle in Vienna anyway.

...

Compared with St. Petersburg, Ferdinand's gains in Vienna were very limited, and Bulgaria could not give what Austria-Hungary wanted; similarly, what Bulgaria wanted, Austria-Hungary refused to give!

Relations between the two countries have not improved significantly. On the contrary, the relationship between their relatives was much better, especially the little Ferdinand inherited their tradition and became a Catholic, which made his uncle Joseph I very satisfied!

Seeing that he could not get the results he wanted in Vienna, Ferdinand had no extravagance. There is nothing perfect in this world, and he quickly ended his trip to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Not to mention the next trip to Berlin, his relationship with the nephew of Wilhelm II is not very good, especially after Bulgaria privately divided the Balkans with Austria-Hungary!

Instead, in the three Nordic countries, Ferdinand achieved everything he wanted and signed a series of cooperation agreements.

Especially in the military cooperation with Sweden, the unscrupulous Ferdinand directly took out the results from the copycats of various countries and made deals with the Swedes.

And the two sides have also reached an agreement on the research and development of warships. Well, this time Bulgaria is paying tuition again! However, Ferdinand is still very satisfied. It would be nice if someone would take you to play.

At any rate, Ferdinand can now cooperate with others to launch battleships. At the same time, the Japanese military industry, which started at the same time, was miserable. In addition to digging the corners of the Qing Dynasty, he could only buy British technology and develop it independently!

Of course, the technology is about to be phased out, but the boatmen and technicians they dug from the Qing Dynasty have helped their shipbuilding industry even more!

Well, Ferdinand admits, actually learning warship technology is just a pretense! The real purpose is to steal learning and build the supporting technology behind the battleship!

After all, warships are the industrial crystallization of a country, which includes precision machinery, engine technology, advanced welding technology, fluid mechanics, and metallurgy.

If you go to public relations in one field and one field, then the cost will be too high, it is better to pack and learn together!

Anyway, as long as the cooperation starts, these fields must be touched, and it is always possible to find a way. Even in future generations, money can make way for it, not to mention in this era when technology is not strictly blocked, it is even simpler!

This is the real reason why Ferdinand has to be patient and run country by country.