Chapter 827: Counterproductivity
Chapter 810 Counterproductive
London, the Egyptian region is full of good news, but Prime Minister Gladstone is not happy.
The insurgent army did not fight all the way to the Suez Canal area and threaten the security of the canal, as they expected, and did not even touch the edge of the canal.
There was no way around it, and the insurgent high command were not all fools. At least the leader, Mahdi, was sober enough to know that running toward the canal would kill him before he could drive the French away.
Coupled with the French tight defense, even they would rather watch one city fall in the Egyptian region than prioritize the security of the Suez Canal.
This hurt the British government who wanted to intervene in the Suez Canal.
The canal was not threatened, so the British naturally had no excuse to intervene in canal affairs. Britain was even more powerful, and France and Austria did not buy their argument.
Now the reinforcements from the French arrived in Egypt, and at this time the insurgents had no chance to fight towards the canal even if they wanted to.
The ultimate goal is not realized, even if it is how to weaken the French, but also useless, after all, at this time France is no longer the primary target of the British government to suppress.
Gladstone: “The Egyptian plan has failed, we have lost the opportunity to intervene in the Suez Canal, and to continue will be a direct confrontation with France and Austria.
Given the current situation, we must now consider the aftermath. Continuing to weaken France is only doing Austria a favor and is not conducive to the balance of Europe.”
As much as one didn’t want to admit it, facts were facts. Lieutenant General Jerez’s reputation blew a lot of smoke, but in reality he was able to command the troops, mainly based on Mahdi’s trust.
But this trust was not unconditional; at least letting the insurgents block the Suez Canal was rejected by the Mahdi.
No one is a fool, the Mahdi is very clear about the consequences of blocking the Suez Canal, that offended not one or two countries, but all the beneficiaries of the canal.
The British did not dare to personally go down to mess things up, and the Mahdi would not dare even more. Even if it is to be a pawn, that is also a thinking pawn, not any situation to be manipulated by the flag bearer.
Foreign Secretary George: “The Prime Minister is right, the French reinforcements have arrived and our plan has failed.
Continuing, we can hardly gain more than increased losses.
But letting go now is not an option, missing this opportunity will make it harder for us to meddle in canal affairs in the future.
Judging from the current situation, with our and Austria’s support, the insurrectionists may not be unable to cut their way through.
Burying a nail in the Egyptian region is still necessary for our future Suez Canal land.
Besides, even if we let go now, the Austrians will not stop.
With their strength in the African continent, there is not much difference in essence with or without our participation.
As for the French, they’ve already been offended anyway, and they don’t care if they’re offended a little deeper.”
This was very much attached to Britannia’s diplomatic code, where everything was geared towards profit. As for offending potential quasi-allies, that’s not even a matter, even allies are pitched John Bull, simply do not care about these.
Hearing this answer made Prime Minister Gladstone very uncomfortable.
The intention of recalling Lieutenant General Jerez was already very obvious, but it was ruthlessly rejected by the Foreign Minister, anyone would be uncomfortable.
However, the Cabinet was not Gladstone’s sole discretion, and he had to carefully consider the Foreign Minister’s opinion.
In case of giving up the rebels, let the Austrians take advantage of the situation, and finally keep a part of the rebels to cut the side, Britain will be the wrongdoer.
At that time the opposition party, will certainly take advantage of the opportunity to make trouble. The people’s spittle will be able to make them step down.
To put it bluntly, Britain and France never existed the so-called friendship, there is only hatred.
This has been the consensus of the people of the two countries, whether the London government is willing to admit it or not, the concept has been deeply rooted in people’s hearts.
Gladstone frowned, very dissatisfied, said: “Sir, do not forget that France and Austria’s strength has been imbalanced.
Continuing to weaken the French will only make Austria’s advantage more pronounced under the circumstances, and the fragile continental balance will easily be broken in the long run.”
Foreign Minister George shook his head, “Your Excellency the Prime Minister, all of this is only a possibility, it is not bound to happen.
In essence, Austria’s advantage is also limited to economics. Militarily, they do not have much of an advantage over the French.
This is evident from the Vienna government’s plan for German unification.
If they had enough strength, they would have done it a long time ago, they would not have had to wait until now.
Don’t look at Russia and Austria are allies, in fact, they have the same strategic conflict, Austria really if there is the strength to overwhelm the French to dominate the European continent, the Russian-Austrian alliance can also become the Franco-Russian alliance.
Before the unification of the German region, Austria does not have the strength to fight against two. It is impossible for the Vienna government to be unaware of this, so the continental balance is still essentially stable.”
This reasoning left Chancellor Gladstone speechless. On the face of it, Austria did have an advantage on the European continent, though the poor strategic location counteracted some of that advantage.
If there was a dominant power, then Austria would be faced with not only a Franco-Austrian alliance, but also the possibility of becoming a triple alliance between Britain, France, and Russia, and even the possibility of adding North Germany to the mix.
Seeing the awkwardness of the situation, the Minister of Finance, Xiaozhi Childers, reminded: “Gentlemen, this issue can be put aside for the time being, and the discussion can be postponed.
Right now we must seriously consider the food self-sufficiency program. In recent times, there has been a growing clamor in the country in favor of food self-sufficiency.
If it continues, the chances of the parliament passing the proposal are as high as ninety-five percent. At that time, it will be difficult for us to oppose it.”
Undoubtedly, the London government is most opposed to the “food self-sufficiency program” is the Ministry of Finance. Britain is indeed a big country, but with high revenues comes high expenses.
The Royal Navy is the biggest money-grabbing beast, and the annual consumption of funds is no less than the combined military expenditure of the Austrian army and navy.
Now engage in food self-sufficiency program, another huge loss project. And also not a year or two years of loss, but years and years of loss.
For a destined to lose money, can not see the return of the sale, the finance minister is naturally not willing to take the money down the drain.
Colonial Minister Primrose retorted, “Sir, you are too pessimistic. There are two sides to everything, and although the food self-sufficiency program will not pay back in the short term, its spin-off value is not low.
This plan is not just about agriculture, it also involves a lot of infrastructure development, including water conservancy projects and road transportation.
Once the construction of supporting facilities is completed, the colony’s attractiveness to immigrants will increase greatly.
The influx of a large number of laborers will further promote the development of the colony’s economy, and the colony government’s finances will be greatly improved.
Many of the colonies that were originally in the red will also turn their losses into profits as a result. All things considered, our investment is not a loss.”
It sounded great, but in reality it was limited to theory. The economic prosperity of the colonies, while increasing the government’s financial revenue, would also attract messy ideas.
There was no need to doubt that national independenceism would definitely proliferate in the shortest possible time.
Although it was agreed not to spread revolutionary ideas, it would be good to hear it. Perhaps in order to avoid drawing fire, everyone would restrain themselves in continental Europe, but the colonies would definitely not be in the scope of consideration or something like that.
Once nationalism spread, the rule of the colonial government was bound to increase greatly.
Higher revenues come with higher expenditures, and it’s hard to tell if you’re losing money or making money.
But it took time for the idea of national independence to spread, and it was favorable in the short term. This meant that the trouble was all for those who came later, but the achievements were immediate.
Finance Minister Xiaoji Childers reminded, “The Russians have already made their position clear that they will withdraw from the free trade system as soon as we implement our food self-sufficiency program.
We have to consider the chain reaction that could result from the Russians pulling out. If all the food exporting countries, pull out of the free trade system, the consequences would be severe.”
You don’t need all the food exporting countries to pull out, as long as Russia and Austria pull out of the free trade system together, the system won’t work.
In this age of the weak and the strong, the free trade system relies more on force to support it, in addition to political diplomacy.
Many small countries joined the system so as not to be ostracized by everyone and to avoid being suppressed by the great powers.
This is also the reason why everyone was powerless to do anything about the French withdrawal. France is a big country, its own strength is strong, want to suppress is bound to pay a big price.
Gain and pay is not proportional, naturally no one to be the head of the head.
If Russia and Austria withdraw again, the free trade system of land force to bear, directness of the whole waste. The Royal Navy is no longer powerful, but also can not go ashore, the deterrent effect is simply not enough.
Foreign Secretary George: “The world has never been perfect, there is a gain, there will be a loss.
If we compromise because the Russians threaten to withdraw from the free trade system, where will we put Britain’s face?
What if something like this happens again in the future? Should we continue to compromise, or reject it out of hand?”
Britain also wants to save face, and compromises and concessions should not hurt their face, and it is a pity that the Russians do not realize this.
Should be secretly negotiation communication, but was brought to the table to talk, make the British government to compromise, have to think twice.
In case the stimulation of the domestic people’s fragile nerves, and then by the opposition party to hold on to, then things can be a big deal.
In a sense, the czarist government’s strong position, to a certain extent, the British government’s decision-making.
Prime Minister Gladstone secretly sighed, helplessly said: “Our trade with the Russians is limited, and it is best to be able to keep this market.
If we can’t, then there is no need to be polite with the Russians. Austria is also a vested interest in the free trade system anyway, and it is impossible for the Vienna government to withdraw.”
……
A little dizzy, but hopefully not off topic
(End of chapter)