Chapter 1101: Mature

  Chapter 1080 Mature
After the Russian Embassy case spread, European public opinion immediately exploded. This thing can be more serious than the previous case of the teachings, since modern times there is no embassy staff “massacre” case.

A time shouting and shouting to kill, that is endless. “Barbaric”, “brutal”, “uncivilized” and a series of hats, and so on, once again was deducted on the head of the Japanese.

How many people behind the scenes, it is not known, anyway, want to provoke the Russo-Japanese war is quite a lot of people.

The support of public opinion is important, but excessive support that is going to be bad. For the Tsarist government, the current public opinion support is not what they want.

Sending troops to punish the Japanese was easy to say, but if it was to be carried out, it was a very different story.

The Siberian Railway had not yet been opened to traffic, and it would be a death sentence to rush into war at this time.

Unlike the original time and space, in recent decades, the tsarist government has not suffered a lot of logistical losses. No matter how stubborn people, loss ate more, will also learn a lesson, the tsarist government is no exception.

……

“The public opinion is making such a big fuss, what is everyone’s response?”

Nicholas II asked, holding back his anger.

Having suffered such a big loss, not only could he not retaliate, but instead he had to suppress the anti-Japanese and war-maintaining public opinion in the country, which was simply letting the world reacquaint itself with the Tsar.

There is no way, at the moment really do not have the conditions to take military means to retaliate against Japan. For the sake of the strategic situation, Nicholas II could only endure the anger for a while.

Prime Minister Sergei Witte: “Your Majesty, there are two main reasons why public opinion is now in such an uproar: one is that the people are enraged by the tragedy that happened in Tokyo and now need to vent their anger; and the other is the instigation of the main warring factions and international forces.

It is simple to calm the people’s anger, as long as we can get an explanation that satisfies everyone through diplomatic means.

Now that the international community is in favor of us, the Japanese simply do not have the strength to refuse, and it should not be difficult to get such conditions.

What is really troublesome is the provocation of the main warring factions and international forces. Right now there is a wave of civil anti-Japanese sentiment.

We can still do some work with the domestic warring factions, and although it’s a bit of a hassle, we can still find a way to shut them up.

But it’s hard to stop the international forces from stirring up trouble.

The British have gone to great lengths to lure us to the Far East, even going so far as to put their foot down and ally with the Japanese. After preparing for so long, now that the opportunity has come, they have no reason to stop.

In addition to the British, there are also the Far Eastern Empire, Spain, and the Nordic Confederation to be wary of. Although their respective motives were different, they all wanted the Empire to go to war with the Japanese.

What we need to do now is to stay calm, use diplomacy to maneuver with the Japanese government first, and use the power of the international community to suppress the Japanese.”

Frankly speaking, Nicholas II was not the master who could hold his breath. The reason for being able to hold back until now was one: the top echelons of the government were all anti-war.

Even the military hierarchy, which supported war against Japan, did not want to start the war immediately. We all want to first live with, soft ears Nicholas II, naturally, from the good.

After a few moments of contemplation, Nicholas II slowly said: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take action, public opinion has been created, it can not be wasted.

Now is the time when the European countries are most antipathetic to the Japanese, first take advantage of the opportunity to stink the Japanese reputation.

Britain, in particular, should focus on public relations. It is best to be able to dismantle the British-Japanese alliance, and at the very least, to make the London government throw in the towel and not dare to explicitly support the Japanese government.

Next was the Holy Roman Empire. Whether it is to use the power of the international community to put pressure on Japan, or to send troops to the Far East in the future, it is indispensable to use their power.”

It was obvious that making this decision Nicholas II was very reluctant. You should know that one of the most important characteristics of the fighting nation is that it does not allow the government to be “weak”.

Ordinary people do not know how difficult it is to send troops to the Far East, in the eyes of the general public, the difficulty of attacking Japan is almost the same as crushing a bedbug.

Now that the government has been provoked by a bug, instead of immediately sending troops to retaliate, it is playing the so-called “diplomatic tactics”, which is simply a disgrace.

In fact, the situation will be even more serious, civilian military enthusiasts, even help the tsarist government to make a good battle plan.

Naval strength does not matter, you can pull allies to form a coalition, replicated a few years ago to deal with the Far East Empire on the plan.

As for the willingness of other countries to follow the troops, that is the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, failing to do so is the incompetence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Especially after the media published the news of the Shen Luo Nanyang Fleet and Britain’s Far East Fleet heading to the Sea of Japan, everyone was even more determined in their judgment.

In the background of the civil group calling for war, choose to hold back for the time being, to Nicholas II’s own monarchical reputation, is also a major blow.

For Nicholas II himself, it was a case of “holding back for a while” and then “getting angrier and angrier as he thought about it”.

……

Vienna Palace, looking at the sky flying snowflakes, Franz helplessly sighed, another cold winter.

Perhaps because of age, the last few years Franz on the Vienna winter, that is more and more dissatisfied.

There are quite a few cities with four seasons of spring in Shenluo, but unfortunately none of them are close to Vienna. Wanting to go out for the winter was a trouble.

Frankly speaking, the Holy Roman Empire has developed to the present day, Vienna can no longer be considered the center of the empire.

If you ignored the proportions and looked at it purely from a map, Vienna could be considered a border city.

Despite all these flaws, it still doesn’t change the fact that Vienna is the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. Moving the capital was impossible.

In fact, it wasn’t as if no one had ever mentioned moving the capital after the unification of Shinra, and there was even a big discussion that broke out.

Unfortunately, all things are afraid of comparison, Vienna has defects, the other cities of God Luo defects are even greater, in all aspects of the optimal city only exists in the dream.

After synthesizing the history, politics, culture, economy, strategy and other all-round factors, Vienna is still the most suitable capital for Shenluo.

Since there was no better choice, Franz naturally wouldn’t fool around. In fact, even if there was a better choice, Franz would not move away from his lair.

The Habsburg dynasty had operated here for hundreds of years, and had a very deep mass base, which was incomparable to other cities.

As for the winter, let it be cold. Happiness is a matter of comparison, and compared to the Russian Empire and the Nordic countries next door, every winter in Vienna is a warm winter.

Next winter, I’ll just spend it outside. Anyway, his son was old enough, and as a semi-retired emperor, he had the capital to go around.

……

Frederick: “Father, a delegation from the Tsar’s government has departed from St. Petersburg, and it looks like the Russians are giving up on sending out troops to retaliate.”

One has to admit that these days the hairy bears are just straight, and anyone who knows them a little can judge their decisions by their behavior. There was no guarantee of 100% preparedness, but it was still no problem to guess a good eight or nine.

If it were the British, it would be impossible to judge. They could be laughing and joking with you while sending troops to fight over.

Looking at his son with snowflakes on his head, Franz nodded: “Probably waiting for the opening of the Siberian Railway! Without the railroad wanting to send troops to the Far East is almost impossible.

But the Russians’ plan this time, I’m afraid it’s going to fall through. Just because they want to wait it out, doesn’t mean the Japanese are willing to wait it out.

The embassy case has pushed both Japan and Russia to the edge of the cliff. War is inevitable on a narrow road.

Judging from the current situation, neither Japan nor Russia is ready for war, and the two countries should not be able to fight in the short term.

The next step is to see which of them is faster. The party that is the first to complete its war preparations will have a very big advantage in the next war.”

Frankly speaking, Franz was also very surprised at the restraint shown by the Tsarist government.

When had Nicholas II been so capable of composure?

According to the past practice of the tsarist government, when something like this happened, no matter what, the first thing to do was to fight.

Not only the tsarist government, it is estimated that when most of the powers encountered this kind of situation, the first thing they considered was – to go to war, or how to fight.

Including Shinra was no exception, if the victims of the tragedy had been replaced with their own diplomats, Franz would not have been able to resist waging war in retaliation.

Of course, the prerequisite was being able to win the fight. If they really encountered an opponent they couldn’t handle, they should still concede when it was time to concede.

Frederick asked incredulously: ”The Japanese dare to take the initiative to start a war, this is impossible, right?
This incident was originally their fault. If they take the initiative to start a war, once they lose the war, the Russians can logically colonize Japan.

The gap between the strength of Japan and Russia is huge, even if the Japanese government gains an advantage in the short term, with the opening of the Siberian Railroad, they still only have one way out of the war, defeat, after the arrival of Russian reinforcements.”

Not only his idea, but few people in all of Europe thought that Japan had the courage to start a war.

“Why don’t you dare?”

Franz asked rhetorically.

“It’s come to this, and everyone knows that the Russo-Japanese war will break out sooner or later, so what does the Japanese government have to fear?

By striking before the opening of the Siberian Railroad, they still have a few hopes of winning, and the further back they go the lower their chances of winning.

Not to mention the fact that there were still the British cheering behind them. Didn’t the British government prepare for so long because they wanted to deplete the Russians in the Far East and reduce the military pressure on India?

As long as the Japanese government reacted quickly enough, it was perfectly possible to seize the Far East before the opening of the Siberian Railway.

Then, it is the British government to pay money, the Japanese government to pay people, use time, space and the Russians slowly wear on the line.

Anyway, Japan’s population is quite large, and the army’s fighting strength is also reasonable, as long as the British support keeps up, it will be no problem to hold out for eight or ten years.

Regardless of the final victory or defeat, the Russians would be greatly wounded. Along with the Russo-Austrian alliance, there will also be problems as a result.”

It was not that Franz was pessimistic, but the Russian-Austrian alliance had long been fractured. It was only through the efforts of the government in Vienna to heal it that it persisted until now.

The outside world can not see what, as a party Franz is very clear, the contradiction between Russia and Austria is rapidly accumulating.

Not only is the political imbalance of power between the two countries, the tsarist government’s sense of crisis increased; the same also has economic and trade friction aggravated.

As a vested interest in the Russian-Austrian alliance, the old-school aristocrats of the Russian Empire rely on farming and mining to make money, may not have too many ideas; but Russia’s emerging national bourgeoisie, intellectuals, but the current pattern is very dissatisfied.

In the opinion of these “learned men”, if the current position of raw material production and commodity sales market is not broken, sooner or later the Russian Empire will be reduced to an economic colony.

In order to change all this, the first step is to break the economic dependence on Shinra. This includes withdrawal from the free trade system, the implementation of tariff barriers, and so on.

If possible, it would be best to erase even the debt. Lest the heavy burden of repayment hinder the modernization of the Russian Empire.

Despite the fact that this part of the population had little say in the Tsarist government, it was always easier to want bad things than good things.

As for the consequences of doing so, Franz didn’t think a bunch of middle-aged idealists would be afraid, much less a bunch of profit-minded capitalists would care.

In fact, it was much worse than that. The opposition to the Russian-Austrian alliance within Shinra was likewise growing by the day.

The military nobles and farms that were dependent on the agricultural chain were likewise very dissatisfied with the massive importation of Russian agricultural products.

In the past, the Russian Empire was strong enough, and the Empire still had to deal with France in the west and needed this ally. For the sake of the greater good, everyone could still reluctantly accept it.

With the end of the Continental War, the Holy Roman Empire took a direct flight, and the strategic need for the Russian Empire has been infinitely reduced.

Against this backdrop, everyone was naturally uncomfortable with the economic policy of taking care of the Russian Empire economically.

The fact that the Russo-Austrian alliance was able to continue until now is also inseparable from the economic care policy of the Vienna government.

The foreign exchange earnings brought in by grain and ore exports each year accounted for 94.6% of all foreign exchange earnings in the Russian Empire, and most of these raw materials were exported to Shenla.

Without this income, it was only a matter of time before the Tsarist government went bankrupt, and there was no room for struggle. The alliance naturally could not be maintained.

This group of people is not without the right to speak Lord, if not Franz to fight for world hegemony need to hang on, probably the following has long been in an uproar.

According to the current situation, once Britain falls, the Russian-Austrian alliance will almost come to an end.

In the final analysis, it is still the interests of the trouble. The existence of the Russian-Australian alliance, damage to their interests, naturally want to find a way to kick off.

To be able to hold back for a few years for the sake of imperial interests is already a very big picture. Further on, even God can’t stop it.

Of course, when it comes to that point, the mission of the Russian-Australian alliance has been accomplished, and it is indeed time to kick it out.

Obviously, this is only the most ideal state. The Russians were not fools, and the Tsarist government had long realized the danger, or else Nicholas II would not have wanted to get rid of his dependence on Shinra.

Since it was destined to be abandoned in the future, the Tsarist government was naturally making preparations. For example: the southward strategy and the eastward strategy were the Russians’ response programs.

To summarize, in one sentence that is: to get money in the pocket.

The Russian Empire with money in its pockets is fearless, and even if it can’t do anything about Shinra, it can still protect itself.

The British are now calculating to increase the tsarist government’s sense of crisis, forcing the Russians to jump ship and embrace them.

This is not impossible, Britain’s market can not be compared to the god Luo, but eat half of the Russian grain, ore export share, there is still hope to do.

With a loan to the Tsar’s government, they would be able to survive the short-term shock. As for the aftermath, I don’t think the British government will think about the Russians that much.

As if in deep thought, after a long time Frederick indifferently said: “Once the British fell, the Russians are our biggest competitor.

After all, the Russian-Australian alliance has lasted for so many years, without sufficient reason, we are not good to them.

If the Czarist government insists on maintaining the alliance, there is no way for us to carry out even the explicit suppression.

For the sake of the Empire’s reputation, then we’ll just have to let the Russians decline early. They won’t be needed for the next struggle for hegemony anyway.”

“Ruthless”, not just “mature”.

In Franz’s view, Frederick’s ability to make such a decision was a sign of coming to maturity. As a king, if you are not ruthless, you will not be able to stand firm.

The Russian-Austrian alliance has lasted for so many years, although there is no lack of opponents in both countries, but the civil friendship is really deep.

Other not to mention, just marriage is countless. In the past cultural exchanges, commercial trade, Russia and Austria from the upper class aristocrats, to the ordinary people have no shortage of marriage.

If you really want to take action against your ally for no reason, it will not be easy for the domestic public to get through, not to mention the damage to the international reputation.

If you can’t do it yourself, then you can only borrow a knife to kill people.

The British want to pull the Russians over, provided that the Russian Empire still has a certain strength. If the Russians are ruined, even if they are pulled over, it is useless.

“The Siberian Railway has not yet been opened to traffic, and the Russians’ are limited in the forces they can put into the Far East, even if they lose in defeat.

When the railroad is open, the Russians can go all out, and the Japanese are severely underpowered. Even with British support, they could not make up for the gap in strength between the two countries.

After all, we are still allies with the Russians, and the support that should be given is still not enough. At the very least, loans should be granted, weapons and equipment and strategic materials should be sold.”

The prerequisite for killing with a borrowed knife is that the knife is sharp enough, and it is clear that the Japanese are still short of fire with this knife. Reinforcing the Russians might be possible, trying to cripple the Russian Empire would be dreaming.

(End of chapter)