Chapter 583: Lifting the Table

  Chapter 570 reviving the table

The British in action, other countries have not been idle, especially in the center of the vortex of the Prussian, Russian, Polish, Ottoman four countries, but also efforts to public relations.

In order to obtain the diplomatic support of the European countries, the four countries diplomats are like hard-working bees, constantly shuttling in the embassies of the countries.

Also in the center of the vortex of France, Austria, Germany, as if in a sleep, not the slightest movement.

Hummel is clear that things are not so simple on the surface, not do not want to move but can not be moved to change is the best choice for Austria.

The French did not move he also understands, thanks to Napoleon left behind the prestige, to this day, European countries have not relaxed on the vigilance of France.

In this case, no matter how the Paris government’s diplomacy, European countries will not give up on their scruples.

Wanting to annex the Rhineland region, any country on the European continent would stand against them, except for Monaco, which the French themselves controlled.

Smaller countries could still be coerced into remaining neutral, what about a few larger countries? Even if they wanted to make an exchange of benefits, France could not afford to pay that price. Since it was destined to be useless, why waste energy?

The German Federal Empire did not move, which makes Hummel wonder, want to take the tiger’s mouth to get the Rhineland region, without the support of the European countries is not possible.

Leave everything to the British and they just wait to sit back and enjoy the benefits? When John Bull is doing charity, without enough benefits how can they let them do it for nothing?

There is no way that the German Federal Empire is not interested in the Rhineland region, taking it would be a great boost to their domestic heavy industry.

No action at all, just so assured and bold to let the British to deal with, is not afraid of being sold by John Bull.

It is important to know that there are many countries interested in the Rhineland region. In addition to the French, Belgium is also a competitor.

Under normal circumstances Belgium’s strength is too weak, at most, it will secretly think about it. But once there was support from the Great Powers, that was not necessarily the case.

The German Federal Empire can pay enough money to buy the Rhineland region, Belgium can also pay money to buy.

For the Kingdom of Prussia, rather than letting the Rhineland fall into the hands of the German Federal Empire, it would be more in its own interest to hand it over to Belgium.

Belgium was also the younger brother of the British. Giving the Rhineland to Belgium was not the best choice, but as long as it did not fall into the hands of the French, the government in London could also accept it.

Knowing that there were rivals, the German Federal Empire still trusted the British so much, and there must be an unknown secret here.

Hummel ordered, “Holes, immediately send a telegram to Vienna and tell their intelligence organization to find out as soon as possible about the insider dealings between Britain and Germany.”

“Yes, Your Excellency the Minister!” Secretary officer Hols replied

……

The London Conference officially convened on July 20, 1874, at which Polish Foreign Minister W. V. Vulubrevskii righteously indicted the Russians for invading Poland and made three recommendations to the International Conference:

I. Condemnation and sanction of the Russian crime of invading Poland;

Two, the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from Poland;

Three, that the Czarist government compensate the Kingdom of Poland for its war losses.

Undoubtedly, the Polish proposal received diplomatic support from European countries, which condemned the Russian atrocities.

Perhaps to give the Russians a hard time, or perhaps there was some other calculation, British Foreign Secretary Maclean, who presided over the meeting, proposed a vote.

The result was naturally lopsided, with thirteen votes in favor of the Poles among the representatives of the sixteen nations attending the conference: Britain, France, Austria, Russia, Prussia, Poland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Greece, the Moors, the Blacks, the Nordics, and the Ottomans.

Austria and Montenegro chose to abstain, and the only negative vote was cast by the Russians themselves. Rather like a veto, the resolution was nullified because the Russians were against it.

Hummel was puzzled; he had no idea what the British were up to. The international conference was not binding, and no treaty had been signed.

It did practically nothing except make the Russian delegates look bad. There is no problem with verbal support for Poland, but if you want countries to send troops to intervene in the Russo-Polish war, you should just go to sleep!

Hummel did not doubt the ability of the British to fool, if the government in London is willing to spend a large sum of money to convince the Kingdom of Prussia is probably no problem, other countries do not think about it.

Obviously, the British did not support the Prussians to fight a war, this input and output is not proportional.

If they really beat the Russians, the Berlin government should renege on the debt, and all the British investment would go down the drain.

It’s not that the Berlin government wanted to renege on the debt, but when it came to that, they really couldn’t pay it back.

War is a beast that swallows gold. The Berlin government repaid less than one-third of the debt they owed in the last Russo-Prussian War, so what will they pay back again?

Even if they win the war and get the rich spoils, but these spoils can’t be cash, mostly real estate and land, which can’t be converted into wealth in a short time.

Even because of the war, more money needed to be invested in developing the newly occupied territories. For a long time, the contribution of these new territories to the treasury was negative.

Unless the British continued to increase their loans, allowing the Berlin government to borrow new debts to repay old ones, the penniless Kingdom of Prussia was doomed to renege on its debts.

……

At the Vienna Palace, Franz’s face changed drastically upon receiving what happened at the London conference. The seemingly uneventful vote was actually a hidden murder.

The Russians couldn’t feel it, that is, they were isolated themselves, and even if they went against the European countries, the situation wouldn’t be worse.

If a different country is different, ignore the attitude of the European countries, that also needs to be able to ignore the capital of the European countries.

The European continent is not afraid of being hostile to only two countries, one is the Russian Empire, they have a lot of debt, and occupy a geographical advantage. Vast territory + cold winters made the Russian Empire invincible.

Other than that, that leaves Britannia, which is alone overseas. Even if people are upset with them, with the strait separating them and the strength of the Royal Navy, they can’t be helped at all.

Other European countries are different, in order to mix on the continent, you can not make yourself the world’s enemies. Every time you stand on the opposite side of the European countries, it means that the crisis is one point closer.

Napoleon’s previous experience, has told everyone: no superior strategic position, no single European continent strength, it is best not to wave good.

Franz can be sure that the British this time is not targeting the Russians, the fallen Russian Empire is no longer worth their waste so much thought.

It is worthwhile for the British to go through all the trouble of calculating, in addition to France and Austria, can no longer find a third party. Now that the Paris government is still fighting, it is unlikely that it will do anything in the short term, so most likely it will be against Austria.

“The British have already made their move, how do you think we can cope well?”

Prime Minister Felix: “Your Majesty, it depends on what the British want to do. There are few places we can be targeted at the moment, and even fewer that are worthy of British reckoning.

The British are making small moves at this time, either to mess up our German unification strategy or to sabotage our eastward expansion plans.

If it’s the former, they’ll most likely start with the German Federal Reich. Nominally our strategy of German unification is down to this last link.

However, the German Federal Reich is so internally divided that it looks like it has a lot of strength, but the power it can bring to bear is very limited.

Even if they are able to integrate the German Federal Empire, there is no way to gather the hearts and minds of the people in the short term. Wanting to learn from the Kingdom of Prussia to get rid of the influence of German nationalism was not something that could be accomplished overnight.

If the latter is targeted, then the British are trying to preserve the Ottoman Empire. This is not contradictory to our strategic goals, and anyway, the plan has been accomplished, and the Near East war has been just what it needed to be an excuse to stop.

The main goal of the British now is still to keep the French from gaining the Rhineland, targeting us should be incidental. With the Anglo-French-Austrian Triple Alliance still in place, the British shouldn’t go too far.”

Was it that simple? Franz was very skeptical, he did not think that the British had laid out so much in the early stages, but in the end, their appetite was so small.

Foreign Minister Weissenberg: “I remember that two days ago, our embassy in London sent a telegram explaining that the German Federal Reich was behaving abnormally, and that the intelligence organizations should find out about the British-German insider dealings.

Combined with the current situation, it can be deduced that there are likely to be transactions between Britain and Germany that are unfavorable to us, and in order to avoid being detected by us as abnormal, the German Federal Reich has chosen to act in a quiet manner.

Of course, also to a very small possibility is the British put out a smoke bomb, the German Federal Government just accompanied them to play a play to confuse us.

It is very simple to break the game. The German Federal Reich thinks that the annexation of the Rhineland is a sure thing, so we will stir up the water.

Didn’t the Belgians show their intention to buy the Rhineland? Then we’ll make them move, and with one more purchasing competitor, I’m sure the Prussians will be happy.”

It didn’t matter if you weren’t sure of the British’s plans, disrupting their deployment first and muddying the waters would be correct.

This time to let Belgium jump out, the London government will have to make a choice, only one of the two little brother can support one, then the British relationship with the abandoned one will inevitably be affected.

After a little thought, Franz made a decision: “then encourage Belgium on it, but this little pressure is not enough.

At this point, secrecy has no meaning, I think the two countries probably guessed the British plan.

Then simply make things clear, let them know that we and the British have joined forces to support the German Confederation to obtain the Rhineland.

Let Prussia and France jump out as well and just flip the table.”

(End of chapter)