Chapter 1121: Unworthy Returns

  Chapter 1100: Unworthy Return
Vienna Palace, Franz was still interested in the smuggling offer of the Tsarist government.

The money sent to the door, not to make money. Even though most of this money was borrowed out of his own hands, every extra guilder earned back now meant one less guilder lost in the future.

If you want the Russians to “honor their debts,” you have to have money in the Tsar’s government. The Russo-Japanese War was a gold-digging beast, not to mention the revolutionary wave brewing at home.

Because of population reduction, the Russian Empire’s social conflicts are now slightly less severe than in the original time and space.

However, this easing is limited to the traditional ruling regions. For example, in the newly occupied regions of Poland, Bulgaria, Afghanistan, and several Central Asian khanates, there has never been a single day of peace.

Originally, Nicholas II took over a super mess, for a long time the Russians on the above areas of rule, are the use of the traditional feudal model, purely by force to suppress the resistance of the local people.

If it was a hundred years ago, there would have been no problem with this kind of rule, but after a long time, everyone would have gotten used to it.

The Tsarist government also had a lot of experience in this area, and this is how the vast territory of the Russian Empire came to be.

Unfortunately, we are now in the 20th century, nationalism is sweeping the world, the traditional feudal model of rule, more and more unable to keep pace with the times.

If the Russians had won the Russo-Japanese War, so be it. Victory could suppress social conflicts at home. If they suffered a defeat, it would not be so easy to say.

Especially behind this there is a black hand behind the remote control, constantly bringing the Russian Empire to the pit, afraid that they will not fall down as.

Well, his own hands dug the pit, just how deep, Franz is the most clear.

Even if the Tsarist government could escape, it would have to shed its skin. Other after-effects are uncertain for the time being, but the government’s financial bankruptcy will certainly be there.

Doomed to lose money, then we must find ways to lose a little less. As for the “smuggling trade” will offend the Japanese, that is not a matter at all.

It’s not like we haven’t been offended before, as early as during the Philippine War, Shinra had already been offended when he was pulling the strings for Spain, but now it’s just a deeper offense.

In this regard, Franz had to admire the Meiji government. In this regard, Franz had to admire the Meiji government, which had truly utilized the words “capable of flexing and extending” to the extreme.

Obviously hate in the heart to gnash teeth, but hard to hold back. Not on the bright side of the ambush, even secretly did not engage in small actions to retaliate.

Have to pay have harvest, the Japanese government performance is too disciplined, so that want to find them bad luck Franz the Great, are a little embarrassed to start.

As a matter of fact, the Shinra Navy also had an actual battle practice program. The main thing is to go to war with Britain directly, everyone has no idea in their hearts, and they want to find a weaker enemy to practice first and enhance their self-confidence.

Unfortunately, the Holy Roman Empire happened to lack such an enemy.

In addition to beating the Sardinian Kingdom and attacking the Ottoman Empire later, the navy had appeared in the battle, but other times they were all playing soy sauce.

Originally, the continental war was also a good opportunity. Unfortunately, the French navy is really too strong a little bit, after some tentative exchanges, both sides tacitly choose the land battle.

This decision proved to be completely correct. Practice and not equal to death, when the strength of the French and Austrian naval forces are very close, the duel will only cheapen the British.

And then, there was no more. In recent years, the Holy Roman Empire has fully honored Franz’s declaration of “peace-loving” diplomacy.

Not only did it not start any foreign wars, but it also mediated many international conflicts, making an important contribution to the maintenance of world peace.

The Navy wants to find a chance to prove itself, Franz is also supportive. The problem is that, in addition to the British Empire, there is no country willing to take it?

For example: Japan.

The Continental War had just ended, and at Franz’s behest, the Vienna government immediately intervened strongly in the Philippine campaign, and also flagrantly pulled the plug.

It even clearly told the Japanese government that we had just finished the European War and were now at our weakest, and that it was impossible for us to labor for the sake of Spain.

Unfortunately, the Japanese government did not fall for it, and read and understood the “black words of the jungle” early on. It was true that we could not go on an expedition, but that did not mean that Shinra did not have the ability to intervene.

If you do not give face, in the Austrian Southern Ocean’s doorstep to beat them, or can have.

Smart Meiji government, not only bite the bullet and accept the conditions of the European Union, even after the retaliation action is directed at Spain, there is absolutely no Shinto anything.

The Vienna Peace Conference has just ended, Franz personally led the development of international rules, said nothing can not hit their own face ah!

Immediately after the Anglo-Japanese alliance was established, and then want to seek the bad luck of the Japanese, then even less chance.

Not only Japan, but other countries as well. One by one, they were all slippery and did not let the Vienna government ever catch enough to start a war.

Franz had always believed that face was given to each other, and since other countries gave face to Shinra, the Vienna government had to give face to others as well.

The only refused to give face to Britain, partial Shen Luo Navy and can not win others, the actual combat practice program is very natural to die.

In the end, the Shinra Navy can only choose to quiet down and practice hard, has been held back until the outbreak of the naval technological revolution, restarted the reshuffle, before reaching out to the British maritime hegemony.

Now helping the Russians with their smuggling was naturally not simply for the sake of making money, much less because it was helping an ally.

If it was purely to help an ally, then the Vienna government would not be supporting the Russians while peddling arms to the Japanese government.

Despite the fact that the Vienna government has imposed an arms embargo on Japan, more than ninety percent of the international trade in army weapons, equipment and ammunition these days comes from the Holy Roman Empire.

With the exception of a few countries that had localized their weapons and equipment, the rest of the countries had been overrun by “Austrian equipment”.

Even if they have not been occupied yet, they are still in the process of being occupied, and the proportion of Ordnance equipment in the Japanese army is getting higher and higher.

There was no other way, because the only competitor, France, was finished. The countries that had originally procured French equipment were all being screwed over one by one.

A decree of the Anti-French Alliance directly destroyed all the military industry in France, and the related machinery and equipment were dismantled and smashed by the Allied Forces.

Not to mention the replacement of spare parts, maintenance of the after-sales service, even ammunition is used one less than one, there is no way to replenish.

On hand things, in the true sense of the word have become a burning stick, want not to change for large-scale installation are difficult.

Along with the equipment renewal of the army of various countries, this is the mainstream of the market “Ordnance” weaponry, soon beat many rivals to stand out and become the only mainstream equipment in the world.

To this day, any country in the world’s army, can be seen in the shadow of the “Ordnance” equipment. Even the British Lobster Soldier is not an exception.

The reason why “mainstream equipment” is called mainstream, not only is the cost-effective weaponry, wide range of applications, but also more importantly, the later maintenance is convenient, easy to purchase ammunition.

In any industry, once the scale integration effect has been formed, it is very difficult for the latecomers to emerge.

Even if a certain country has the bright idea to come up with a more advanced weapon, it will not change the overall situation.

Weapons and equipment is also about supporting, only the most suitable is the best, rather than the most advanced best.

The two sides together to sell arms to make money, obviously want to make Japan and Russia both lose, in order to profiteer from it.

In the international arena, this is almost an open secret, the top of each country should know basically know, including the tsarist government is no exception.

Knowing that, when you need to seek support, the Russians are still the first to think of their own “good ally”.

Playing politics, there is no simple creature, everyone is not interested in the Lord, to say that the Vienna government did not calculate, killed the Russians will not believe.

Compared to those invisible tricks, the Russians still prefer this in the open “profiteering”.

After all, the tsarist government’s money is mostly borrowed from the god Luo, the Vienna government wants to recover the debt, can not watch them lose the war.

For the most part, this judgment was fine. But when the debt reached a certain level, it became “the one who owes the debt is the master”.

As long as the Vienna government does not want the Russians to default on their debts, which could lead to turmoil in the domestic financial markets or even a financial crisis, it must give them a hand.

Unfortunately, this time is an exception, who let the Russians meet Franz this from the “credit money era” of the strange, simply do not take the money lent seriously.

Compared to the later days when central banks flooded the country with fiscal policy, the Russians’ debt was not a big deal.

As long as the British are defeated and the international currency dominance of the Guilder is established, even if the Russians default on their debts, it will not be a big deal. Even if the Russians defaulted on their debts and triggered a financial crisis, they could learn from the United States and drag people down to share the losses.

……

Looking at the price marked on the document, Franz said with satisfaction: ”Tell the Russians that as a country that reveres free trade, the Holy Roman Empire opposes all behavior that undermines free trade.

No individual, organization or national government has the right to interfere with the trade between the Empire and the Far Eastern Empire, and the Japanese are naturally no exception.

By the way, has the transportation corridor been opened? Don’t let the agreement be reached and then end up unable to conduct the trade on time, that would be a sign-breaker.”

“Smuggling” didn’t exist, as the world’s hegemon, the Vienna government was always the most disciplined.

Therefore, the “arms trade” did not exist either, and it was just an ordinary commercial trade between the Holy Roman Empire and the Far Eastern Empire, which had nothing to do with the ongoing Russo-Japanese War.

As for the ordinary commodities, why finally become weapons and equipment, or all kinds of strategic materials, that is to ask God.

Anyone who is curious about this issue can go to God to ask for an understanding, and the Vienna government can even help to reimburse the travel expenses.

Compared to the outside world may produce “curiosity”, Franz on the contrary is more concerned about transportation. The consumption of strategic materials for hundreds of thousands of troops was not a small amount.

If it was within the Holy Roman Empire, the transportation of these materials, whether it is by ship or train can be easily handled.

If you are really in a hurry, you can also solve the urgent problem by concentrating the domestic cargo airships.

But when it came to the Far East Empire, it was a completely different story. It was obviously unrealistic to send the goods directly to the warring zones.

The coastal areas are in the hands of the Japanese, and even if the Russians still control a few fortresses and forts, they don’t have the ability to break through the Japanese blockade and transport the supplies back.

In order to secure the supplies, a detour was a must. The Far Eastern Empire had only a small number of highways and railroads, and more of them were still primitive human and animal power.

All the way around to the destination, I am afraid that the distance of the journey is not in any way closer than from Moscow to the Far East. The only advantage is that the climate environment is relatively good, unlike Siberia light to catch up with the road are a year and a half.

Frederick smiled slightly and said, “Don’t worry, father. The arms merchants can be much more active than us, the Russo-Japanese War has just broken out and they have started to mobilize strategic materials to the Far East Empire.

The government is just mediating and helping to get through the official links, this is not difficult to do.

Both Japan and Russia were the main force in the invasion of the Far Eastern Empire, and there were many people who hated both countries, including many high-ranking government officials.

On the surface they do not dare to do anything, but secretly to Japan and Russia to cause trouble, they are still very happy to do.

At present, we have already hooked up with the local powerhouses, plus we give high shipping costs, the locals are still very cooperative.

The earliest supplies have now entered the steppe, and it is estimated that in a month or so, they will be able to be handed over to the Russians.

These supplies are not much, but they can also solve the urgent needs of the Russian army. For the shortfall in orders, we will draw from the Southern Ocean region nearby, and will be able to deliver them in half a year at the most.”

Interests move people, where there is war, there are arms dealers. There is no need for the government to specifically organize, just the windfall profits of the arms trade, there is a steady stream of people joining.

It was the arms dealers who were the most sensitive group of people when it came to judging and anticipating wars. Franz even suspected that the Russian Embassy case had just happened, and there were arms dealers who had started to prepare for it.

Of course, early preparation can certainly seize the first opportunity to seize the biggest cake; but the risk and benefit coexist, in case the error of judgment did not break out in the war, it will be a tragedy.

In every era, there are arms dealers who have made a lot of money, and there are also arms dealers who have lost their money to the bottom of the sky. If you want to select the top ten high-risk industries, arms dealers are definitely on the list.

Although the agreement was reached between the government of Vienna and the Russians, the government is to face, it is impossible to personally play smuggling.

The specific transaction operation, naturally, by the “back” arms dealers to complete. In any case, the reputation of the arms dealers is notorious, and do not care to add to it.

After nodding with satisfaction, Franz suddenly added: “I heard that the military discipline of the Russian army is very bad, and the relationship with the local residents is very bad, which is very dangerous.

Have the Ministry of Foreign Affairs step in and warn the Tsarist government that if they want to win the war and need the cooperation of people’s locals, then discipline the military properly.

If they can’t do that, this agreement can be canceled right now. There’s no way we can get supplies to the locals with them resisting.

This is what I’m saying, there’s no need to avoid it, just relay it directly and originally.”

Exactly how well that worked, Franz wasn’t sure. Anyway, having constraints was certainly better than having no constraints at all.

Besides, he, the Emperor, had personally stepped in to warn, and even if the Tsarist government was no longer big-hearted, it could not possibly ignore it.

Not understanding why Franz was so cautious, Frederick nonetheless chose to listen. After a long period of regency, now he was not the former teenager who asked why in everything.

Countless experiences had taught him that if you don’t understand the why, there is a high probability that the “why” is literal.

Frederick had also personally experienced, many times an ordinary decree, by the following a group of people interpreted a series of meanings.

If you want to accuse them, they are leading to good things. Not only is there no harm, but there is also a positive social significance.

At first Frederick was still a little uncomfortable, slowly over time, also got used to it.

In his opinion, Franz now issued a warning to the tsarist government, either the Russian army is doing really excessive, has affected the war; or simply look at the situation, want to change the situation.

Both outcomes were possible, and neither was very plausible. If one really wanted to help the Russians win the war, the easiest and most effective way would be to pull in the Continental Union and together embargo supplies to Japan.

As in the case of the Philippine War, in order to force the Japanese government to withdraw from the South Seas region, the Vienna government led the European countries to impose a material embargo on Japan.

The latter is even more needless to say, but anyone who is rich in sympathy will not become a great emperor.

Specifically, you can refer to your own uncle, who was driven back from Mexico because of too much sympathy and too much idealism.

This is still the family power, interference in the army have sprung up, deterred the local power faction. Otherwise it is an unknown whether one can get out of Mexico alive.

For this unlucky uncle who lost the throne, the whole Habsburg dynasty has not much good feelings, including Frederick is no exception.

Not because of the “high and low”, itself at the top of the food chain, there is no need to do these meaningless things.

Mainly because of “hurt money”, in order to raise funds for the Mexican restoration of the great cause, Massimiliano I in these years not less to them “to make money”.

You know that in his youth, after listening to the tragedy of the uncle, Frederick was also generous.

Not only did he donate all the pocket money he had saved over the years, but he also helped raise funds on his own initiative.

The money is just, for the honor of the family, Frederick will not be stingy a little pocket money.

I don’t want to ask for anything in return, the key is to see the actual effect of the money spent!
If you have invested for many years and have not seen any results, there will be grievances in anyone’s body. Over time, the good impression of Massimiliano I naturally disappeared.

(End of chapter)