Chapter 430: Clearing the King’s Side

  Chapter 420: Clearing the Side of the King

The Russian-Australian relationship took a turn for the worse and soon set off a chain reaction in politics, and the London government could finally sleep soundly.

An alliance without contradictions is scary, an alliance with a lot of contradictions is not enough to worry about.

Now that the relationship between the two countries was cold, the Vienna government’s support for the Russians would definitely be discounted, which was what the London government wanted most.

All other problems could be postponed, except the Russian threat to India, which had to be solved at once.

The Great Indian Uprising of a few years ago was still fresh in the minds of the British. It was the covert support of the Russians that cost the London government hundreds of millions of pounds in military expenditure.

If this hidden danger is not solved, and it comes every now and then, who can stand it?

India is the least of the people, social conflicts are also a heap, as long as someone incites the fire, the outbreak of rebellion is simply a common occurrence.

The best way is to let India and the countries separated, small countries do not matter, they neither have no guts, more strength to do things, the big countries are not the same.

Russia, France and Austria, in particular, were the focus of the London government’s strict defense. Now France and Austria have not extended their claws to India, only the Russians have expressed interest, the London government naturally want to cut off the czarist government’s thoughts.

Let the Central Asian region independent is the best choice, leaving a so buffer zone, realize the enemy outside the country. Even if the British and Russian conflict is also in Central Asia, smashed Central Asia London government are not heartache.

Now on the four fronts, the London government’s support for the largest is the Central Asian region, personally sent mercenaries on the battlefield is enough to explain the problem.

No. 10 Downing Street, Foreign Secretary Raistlin reported: “There were no accidents, this negotiation failed, the Russians are not willing to make any concessions, they finally gave the condition is to restore the pre-war state.

This was unacceptable to our friends, and the Prussians made territorial claims to the Lithuanian region, as well as demanding Polish independence.

The Ottomans want Constantinople back, and it is rumored that they are also negotiating with Austria to ransom some of the Balkan territories.

The Vienna government did not reject it outright, now it was just a matter of not negotiating on the price, and if the Ottomans recovered Constantinople, then there would be little problem in redeeming the Dardanelles, and Austria seemed to lack interest in the Black Sea.

The representatives of the Eastern Empire want to recover the Western Frontier and the Far East, they are currently fighting pretty well in the Western Frontier region, and it is said that the old general still carries his coffin on the battlefield.

Central Asia is a bit of a mess, and it’s too hard to coordinate a joint war between several khanates, but their hatred of the Russians is still commendable.

Our friends’ will to fight is still quite strong, and the situation on the battlefield, on the whole the situation is still favorable to us.

Not long ago there was a change in Russian-Austrian relations, and it seems that Alexander II had a childish tantrum. At the instigation of the capitalists, the Tsarist government raised the tariffs with Austria, and a cold war broke out between the two sides.

The Austrians raised the prices of their exports tit-for-tat, about fifty percent more than before, and in some cases by one hundred percent.

If nothing else, Austria’s support for the Russians will be further reduced in the latter part of the war, and the Russians have no chance of getting out of this one in one piece.”

These conditions, obviously, were not acceptable to the Tsarist government. Otherwise the Russian Empire would have to be instantly smaller, especially since Constantinople had no room for negotiation.

The coldness of Russian-Austrian relations was originally the work of the London government. Any conflict is built up little by little, there are people in the Tsarist government who feel that they have lost out by allying with Austria, and there are also such people in the Vienna government.

Against this background, and encountering the British who sowed discord, the usual small contradictions were naturally magnified indefinitely.

By the time Franz knew about it, there was nothing he could do but let the relationship between the two countries continue to deteriorate. The same was true of Alexander II, who, even after discovering the situation, could do nothing to stop it.

In addition to benefits, everyone had to save face. The benefits from the Russo-Austrian alliance were no longer enough to make them step in to suppress the conflict.

Neither of the two powerful emperors was willing to give in, and things gradually became serious. Only when the aftermath broke out would both sides re-emphasize the role of the alliance.

Obviously, the British would not give leave to such an opportunity. Continuing to alienate the Russo-Austrian alliance has become the single most important relationship for the British Foreign Office.

Prime Minister John Russell smiled slightly and said, ”It seems that the peaceful means have failed, then the next test of strength will be.

The Russians, alone, are not that formidable. As long as the war is dragged on into next year, then I’m afraid the Tsarist government’s purse strings will be running out of money again, won’t they?”

John Russell was in a very good mood, and if possible, he wouldn’t mind giving the Russian capitalists and bureaucrats a medal, or the highest grade.

According to the plan, they had thought that it should be the Austrians who caused the deterioration of Russian-Austrian relations. After all, how could the Russians neglect the relations between the two countries now that they were still at war on all sides?

It didn’t matter who messed up first, the end result was the same anyway. The changes now directly raised the cost of war for the Russians.

War is a gold devouring beast, and money really doesn’t stand a chance. Don’t look at the tsarist government’s earnings are very rich, but it can’t help that the bureaucratic group is too greedy, even more money they will be squandered very quickly.

This is the commonality of the old empires, Britain, France, Russia, Austria, Spain, Holland, Portugal which is not a corrupt empire?

Only the Tsarist government was a bit more powerful, the chaotic system provided a breeding ground for corruption, while Britain, France and Austria had a system that could curb corruption to a certain extent.

Even Franz also has no way to completely solve the problem of corruption, can only use the policy of untimely killing pigs, every three to five years to a big anti-corruption, kill the chicken as an example to deter bureaucratic groups.

The advantage of doing so is that the bureaucrats have learned to be smarter, know what money can not be touched, convergence of the eating.

Up to this point, it was already the utmost that could be done in this era. Trying to stamp out corruption is simply not possible.

The end result is naturally that there are constraints on the 10 dollars, there are always seven or eight spent on the real; without constraints on the 10 dollars, in the end there can be four or five pieces of the real, are very difficult.

Taking stock of the situation, Finance Minister Agarwal replied, “Not so fast, the tsarist government is still trying to find ways to raise funds, and is not exactly sitting on its hands.

Of course, if that fire in their country ignites, then the Tsarist government’s wallet will, indeed, run out.

At that point, the Tsarist government would have declared bankruptcy, reneged on all its debts, and the Russo-Austrian alliance would have pretty much broken down.”

The reality is even worse, because of the war, every year there is a huge outflow of gold and silver from the Russian Empire, an outflow that has far outpaced the replenishment of mining.

The Tsarist government reduced imports from Austria, but also the “money shortage” factor, after all, this is a cash transaction, they took out all the hard currency.

A transaction, converted to silver, then less than a few million taels, more than tens of millions of taels, and then the big family business can not afford to spend so.

This is also the reason for the sharp increase in loans between Russia and Austria, the tsarist government can not get enough cash money in the short term, can only take the physical collateral loans to pay for goods.

This collateral had to be based on the stability of the Russian Empire, and if there was a civil war, much of the collateral would instantly fall to nothing.

At present, the tsarist government holds a large amount of real estate in its hands, for example: port terminals, mines, farms, forests, stores in the city, homes ……

These are all still good collateral, and are able to produce a portion of the income every year. Once the civil war broke out, these things were worthless.

……

Moscow, Matei Torsky did not rush to start an uprising. This uprising, with so many international friends behind it, naturally involves an exchange of experience among revolt experts.

After specialized training, Matei Tolsky evolved. In order to mobilize more people for the revolution, he is launching workers’ strikes and organizing peasants to resist taxes.

Prices skyrocketed after the war, yet wages did not increase, overtime hours were extended, and it became delusional for everyone to toil for a day and be paid even enough to fill a family’s stomach.

Throughout 1866, 76 strikes of all sizes broke out in the Russian Empire, and there is no doubt that these unorganized revolts were futile and were all suppressed.

The peasants, too, had a hard time with the high war taxes.

Though the war tax of the Tsarist government was not actually high, it was not something that Alexander II could stop by overcharging by three or five buckets.

A young man whispered, “Sir, the Prussians are pressing again. They want us to find a way to cut off this railroad in Moscow and cut off supplies to the Tsar’s army.”

The Russians didn’t have many railroads, and Moscow happened to have one. As long as this railroad was cut off, it would be even more difficult for the grain from the Volga Valley and the industrial goods produced in Moscow to get in and be transported to the front.

In fact the Volga was even more strategically important, as the mother river of Russia, it could be connected to Moscow and St. Petersburg by water. But it froze over in winter and could not function.

After a moment of contemplation, Mateytorsky frowned and replied, “Let them rest assured that we will fulfill the agreement!”

Obviously, he didn’t want to cooperate with the Prussians, and if he didn’t have no other choice, Matei Tolsky wasn’t willing to sell out Russia’s interests.

Moscow’s geographic location was very important, not only was it the second largest industrial base in the Russian Empire, but it was also the main road connecting east and west, and it was also one of the most important food producing areas in the Russian Empire.

Now the Russian Empire’s three major food production areas, is the Polish region, the area around Moscow (the Volga River Basin), the Ukrainian region, the other areas have not been developed.

The Polish region could no longer be counted on, and with further chaos in the Moscow periphery, the Tsar’s government would be left with a Ukraine.

Then the lack of food will also become a major problem for the tsarist government, or an insoluble problem. Not only will the soldiers on the front line go hungry, but St. Petersburg won’t last long either.

By sending them to the Moscow area, the Prussians wanted to cut off the Russians’ logistical supply and weaken the Tsarist government’s war potential.

Without local replenishment, counting on imports from the outside world, not to mention whether the Tsarist government’s wallet could hold up, the key was that their transportation capacity simply could not meet the demand.

Matei Tolsky did not want to be a puppet, he wanted to overthrow the Tsarist government and establish a free country.

Once he arrived in the Moscow region, he took it upon himself to alienate the Prussians on the grounds of secrecy, but in reality, he didn’t want to cede land.

Only now he could not leave the support of the Prussians, not to mention the support of the British behind him, and had to make a show of gratitude.

In this era the industry of the Russian Empire was not developed, the number of workers was not large, and it was not enough to overthrow the Tsarist government.

To make up for the lack of power, Matetorsky targeted the peasants who were outnumbered. Alexander II freed the serfs and gained popularity, which became the biggest problem for the uprising.

The slogan of the revolt was “Clear the side of the king”, which was sponsored by a certain international friend, free of charge. Naturally, the purpose was to attract more people to participate in the uprising, after all, the tsar’s popularity in the people is still very good, direct rebellion of the people do not agree.

This was contrary to Matetorsky’s ideals. European cultural traditions dictate that once the banner is struck, even if the government is overthrown, the tsar is still the tsar, and at most, the constitutional monarchy will be utilized to constrain it.

Nicholas I recaptured Constantinople, leaving enough of a political legacy for Alexander II, who himself proclaimed the abolition of serfdom, which was embraced by tens of millions of newly liberated Russian peasants.

Matetorsky had a strong suspicion that even if the present government were overthrown, Alexander II would still be in a position of great power.

The “purge” was good, but it also put him under the Tsar, and he was at a natural political disadvantage, since the name of the ruler and the subject was fixed.

However, this slogan was supported by many international friends. Needless to say, the reason was that we were all monarchies, so we naturally had to support the system.

“Hey!”

With a deep sigh, Matetorsky helplessly chose to compromise. Revolutionary party internal forces of all parties gathered, long ago is not an iron plate, he as a leader can not do a word.

The bourgeoisie that supported them only wanted to control the power through the revolution, but were not prepared to lift the Tsar down.

The majority of the revolutionaries also supported the retention of the Tsar, without whom how could they reverse the trend and become aristocrats?

Don’t expect people to have a high level of ideological awareness, most revolutionaries rebelled because they were dissatisfied with the reality, and did not have the lofty ideals of liberating mankind.

Matei Tolsky also could not go against the wishes of the people, otherwise a change of leader would be a matter of a meeting, and at most another three or five days of quarrelling.

On December 12, 1866, under the leadership of Matytorsky, a coalition of many Russian revolutionary parties launched the Double Twelfth Uprising in Moscow.

With the political program of “Purge the Czar”, the insurgents called on the Russian people to kill the corrupt ministers and return power to the Czar.

(End of chapter)