Chapter 955: Chaos in the Southern Ocean
Chapter 936: Chaos in the Southern Ocean
Once Pandora’s Box was opened, it could never be closed again. The controversy that took place at the French command in Aswan was just one of the vignettes, and similar things continued to play out in the Egyptian region.
How to surrender sensibly and reasonably became the center of controversy. It was not that the French generals were wimpy, much less that they were unpatriotic.
High-level officers know the importance of the Egyptian region, does not mean that the bottom officers and soldiers can also understand the importance of Egypt to France. In the view of most soldiers, the Egyptian region is nothing more than a colony, lost, no big deal.
Since it is destined to fail, then simply give up, anyway, France lost the colony is not a half a star, than the Egyptian region are a lot of affluent, the day is not the same.
Military morale is all gone, strategic supplies and insufficient, this kind of war will not be able to fight.
In this context, shrewd senior officers naturally want to consider the way back, as far as possible to fight for a decent end.
Since June, the Austrian army has slowed down its offensive and changed to a long-term siege, and the situation in the Egyptian region has gradually eased.
The original military struggle gradually turned to politics. At the negotiating table, the delegates engaged in a war of words that was no less intense than on the battlefield.
Launching a political offensive, this is Franz personally authorized. As a good peace-loving emperor, he of course wanted to minimize casualties as much as possible.
The war has gone on so far, the Austrian army has likewise paid hundreds of thousands of casualties, and when the war is over, this number will go even further.
The French army in the Egyptian region is already in a jar, time is on the side of the Austrian army, insufficient food, and destroyed water sources, the besieged French army simply can not afford to delay.
Instead of forcing the French to fight in a trap, it was better to use political maneuvers to get them to surrender and cut their losses.
As for depleting the French’s living forces, this could be done just as well in the POW camps, and even much easier than on the battlefield.
The effect of the political offensive was, naturally, remarkable. As time passed, after realizing the futility of struggling, more and more French troops laid down their arms and entered the POW camps.
The dust was about to settle in the Egyptian region and the European continent was looking up. The French expulsions, while adding to Austria’s burdens, likewise brought the populace of the German region together.
Stimulated by the power of hatred, the original fighting strength of the Bundeswehr army was only second-rate also underwent an amazing metamorphosis. When combat power was not enough, morale was used to make up for it, and now a few shadows of an elite force had appeared.
This change was directly reflected in the battlefield of Central Europe. The anti-French alliance, which had originally fallen into a disadvantage because of the ineffectiveness of its allies, now gradually began to turn the tide.
To know that Austria’s hidden armored forces have not yet been put into use, the total number of troops put into the battlefield of Central Europe is only a million or so, and can not even talk about the best efforts.
The gains on the battlefield were nothing; it was the political gains that really pleased Franz.
As a result of the war, the idea of a Greater Germany had been thoroughly penetrated into the hearts of the people. Even in Hanover and Prussia, it became the mainstream of society.
Under the threat of the French, the interest groups that originally resisted Austria now changed their position and sent representatives to contact the Vienna government.
If not for the fact that the two sides were not on the right side of the fence, Franz really wanted to give Napoleon IV a German Unity Medal for his contribution to the unification of the German region.
The great cause of unification, which the Habsburgs had tried for centuries but failed to accomplish, finally saw the light of day with the selfless help of the French government.
Up to now, the government of Vienna had signed secret treaties with twenty-three states, agreeing on the re-establishment of the Holy Roman Empire.
Yes, the Holy Roman Empire is to be re-established, with the word “new” dropped to indicate the complete succession to the Law of God.
As for the present North Germany, it will become history and disappear from the world when the war is over.
……
Just when everything was going in the right direction, suddenly came an incredible news to Franz.
“Are you sure you are not mistaken, the Japanese are going to invade the South Seas?”
It wasn’t that Franz was fussing, it was just that the news was so out of the ordinary. If the Japanese and the French had allied to invade the Austrian South Seas before the news of the fall of French Egypt spread, he could understand it.
Not anymore, since the Vienna government had put out rumors of a complete occupation of Egypt, the American countries that had been encouraged by Britain and France had shrunk back.
Even Colombia, which is in deep conflict with Austria, has now stopped all anti-Austrian propaganda and has never mentioned anything about revenge.
We are all human, since the outbreak of the continental war, the French seem to soar, in fact, only achieved a series of tactical victories, the strategy is a total loss.
Central Europe on the battlefield could not break through the Rhine River defense line, the battlefield in southern Europe was Austria pressed, the African battlefield lost even more mess, and now lost the vital Egypt, how to look at how to give people the feeling of thinning out.
At this time, do not say that the British secretly support, even if it is personally down, are not necessarily able to reverse the situation.
In this context, who still dare to iron head to run to jump the huge pit of France?
The Japanese are not stupid, even if the French promised more benefits, there is no reason to participate in looking for abuse.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg: “Yesterday morning, the Japanese government announced that it had sent troops into the South Seas on the grounds that the ongoing strife in the region had jeopardized its own interests.
Immediately afterward, Britain and France issued a proclamation inviting the Japanese navy to enter the South Seas in order to help restore order there.
The present chaos in the South Seas was only a minor episode in the war against France. After the outbreak of the war, we and the French also tore ourselves apart in the South Seas area.
As a result of this, the social order in the South Seas region was also broken. Pirates are popping up all over the place, and trade in the formerly prosperous Malacca Strait is now nearly cut off.”
There is no doubt that the chaos in the South Seas must have something to do with Austria. The rampant piracy is equally unrelated to Austria.
Because of the war, the route from the Austrian mainland to the Austrian South Seas was basically cut off, and even if it was possible to go, it had to take a big detour.
There is the African continent in, prepared in advance and enough, Austria’s demand for resources in the South Seas region is less than the demand for this route can be said to be minimal.
Based on the principle that I can not use it, and can not let the enemy use it, it is natural to sabotage it. At first it was just a blockade of the Malacca Straits with the Germans occupying the Malay Peninsula, prohibiting the passage of French merchant ships.
Later found that the effect is not ideal, people change a national flag is. These days there is no accurate satellite positioning, it is impossible to determine the owner of the ship, as well as the destination.
The best way to do this is to prohibit all shipments of strategic goods. Unfortunately, this involves too many countries, very easy to offend, first of all, the British will not be able to agree.
In order to minimize the impact, Austria also had to make a bad move. A time in the South China Sea area, a group of thieves gathered, specifically focusing on the transportation of strategic materials of the ship to start.
Since the outbreak of the continental war, in the South China Sea area has more than one hundred ships in the accident, the total tonnage is more than 200,000 tons.
Austria is making things happen, the French are not idle. It is too humiliating to personally go down to rob, so both sides each supported a group of white gloves, playing a pirate tactic.
Interestingly enough, the French and Austrians ship loss is not the largest, the number of sunken ships is the largest number of British.
Of course, this is only from the flag flying to judge, the ship really belongs to the country, no one knows, also do not want to know.
From the British did not jump out, it can be proved that the ships looted by pirates, really belong to Britain is not much.
Now let the Japanese Navy into the South Seas, round up the pirates is false, help the French to restore the route, fight Austria is the purpose, and may even directly invade the Austrian South Seas.
Although we do not see the Japanese that little strength, but in the South China Sea area, to the Japanese family family also has the ability to sway the French and Austrians this time the victory or defeat of the fight.
Prime Minister Karl: “The situation in the South Seas region is complicated, and we have limited naval power there, so it is very difficult to defeat the Franco-Japanese allied forces.
Once the enemy launches a full-scale attack, we can only choose to avoid the front for the time being. If we want to reverse this situation, unless we are able to bring in new allies, such as Spain, Portugal, or maybe the Dutch.
This is almost impossible, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has tried many times, and even if we offer a high price, they don’t have the guts to participate.”
Not counting the sleeping Far Eastern Empire, there were only a few countries with influence over the South Seas region. The British couldn’t pull the strings, so the Vienna government had to choose generals from among the short ones. Unfortunately these short men, too, were unwilling to get involved.
Foreign Minister Weissenberg: “Perhaps the situation is not as bad as we thought. If the Japanese want to enter the South Seas, they will first have to cross the Philippines, preferably together with the Ryukyus.
On the premise that the anti-French alliance is dominant, the Japanese government, as long as it is not stupid, will not choose to tie up with the French at this time.
Compared to making an enemy of us, those two old-school empires that are losing their power are obviously better to be bullied. As long as we release a certain amount of goodwill, the Japanese should make the right choice.”
……
(End of chapter)