Chapter 256: Cooking Oil on Fire

  Chapter 248: Cooking Oil on Fire

After the news of the outbreak of the plague in Constantinople was confirmed, Pellissier did not dare to be lax and immediately reported to the government in Paris.

Versailles Palace

Napoleon III was in a very bad mood, the news of the outbreak of plague in the Crimean Peninsula had just come back, and Constantinople followed suit.

Where the virus came from, Napoleon III is not interested in knowing, now his headache is what to do next.

The Crimean Peninsula is not so bad, there is such a large territory, decentralized isolation of the epidemic area, you can control the spread of the epidemic.

Constantinople is now left in the palm of the hand, the population density is so high, but also to fight with the Russians in street battles, how to control this epidemic?

Minister of War Arnaud spoke up, ”Your Majesty, the plague has broken out in Constantinople, I’m afraid the situation on the front line is going to be bad.

To increase troops at this time is to push the lads into the fire. The valiant French soldiers can defeat the Russians, but the plague, only God can solve.”

Since the outbreak of the Battle of Constantinople, the French army has been increasing its troops almost every month, and it can’t be considered as an increase in troops, it is mainly to replenish the depletion of the front line, and by the way, to replace some of the troops that have been battered and crippled by the establishment.

This aspect of Napoleon III is still doing very well, did not use a unit to death. Even if it is to remove the dissidents, but mostly find an excuse to transfer out of the post, did not make a killing.

The war has been fought to the present, the Paris government has long wanted to stop, only because of political factors, Napoleon III can not compromise.

Now Arnaud is implicitly reminding Napoleon III, either find an excuse to give up Constantinople, or organize more troops to fight the Russians, in short, can not continue to use add oil tactics to drag on.

Political sensitivity of Napoleon III, immediately woke up, even he thought of more, eagerly said:

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately negotiated with the Ottoman Empire to get them to give up Constantinople, and we will safeguard their interests in other areas in return.

You can join forces with the British to apply pressure, and at this time, I believe the London government will make a wise choice.

Put the news of the negotiations out, say that we are going to take back this holy city for Christendom, and contact the Catholic Church to help build momentum.

Order Pelissier at the front, I don’t care what methods he uses, he must also infect the Russians with the plague!”

In this day and age science had not yet taken hold of the people, and if no action was taken, and the Russians seized the opportunity to launch a political offensive, the consequences would be difficult to control.

If the plague only broke out in the allied forces and the Russians were left unharmed, the war behind would not need to be fought, the British and French governments could be finished by political means alone.

With the phrase “God will punish the traitors who help the infidels”, the morale of the front line would have collapsed in an instant. Whether Protestants or Catholics, they all believe in God.

The very fact that Constantinople was the Holy Land of Christendom gave the city a strong religious flavor. In terms of religious feelings, no one could like to help the Ottoman Empire.

If the people of the country knew that the government was being punished by God for helping the infidels, would the consequences even need to be considered?

Napoleon III would not dare to test the faith of the French people, and the importance of the Ottoman Empire as an ally was not worth mentioning compared to the terrible consequences.

In order to survive the political storm that might erupt, the interests of the Ottoman Empire could only be sacrificed.

……

Napoleon III proved to be completely overly concerned, the plague really wasn’t put there by God as it was an indiscriminate attack and the Russians weren’t spared.

Probably because of the strong physique of the woolly bears, the plague didn’t bring them as serious casualties as the allied forces, and the water and soil were also a major reason.

Along with the plague came, in fact, dysentery, except that the symptoms looked similar and the Allied forces had not yet realized the difference between the two diseases.

At the Russian command headquarters in the Balkans, the top brass of the Expeditionary Force were gathered, all of them pale.

Mareshkov asked with great concern, “Is it certain that it is the plague?”

A middle-aged medic replied gravely, “Your Excellency the Commander, the news has been confirmed. As of now, we have over five thousand soldiers with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea, which exceeds the range of a normal influenza.”

“Your Excellency the Commander, according to the accounts of the prisoners we’ve captured, a large number of French soldiers in the city have also fallen ill.” Without waiting for Maeshkov to utter a word, a middle-aged officer added

Without hesitating for long, Maeshkov made a decision, “Order the troops to do a good job of preventing epidemics, the attack still can’t be stopped, our situation is bad, and the French troops inside the city will only get worse.

I’ll ask St. Petersburg for help with the plague, and have the country send a lot of medics over. This plague is also an opportunity, I don’t believe the French can still hold out!”

Maeshkov, who was tense on the face, was relieved deep inside. Since the plague had broken out, the good days of the French were over.

This reasoning is very simple, the greater the population density, the more favorable it is for the plague to spread. In this case, those inside the city will definitely suffer more than those outside.

How many people have died inside the city of Constantinople since the war was fought, 100,000 or 200,000? Or perhaps three hundred thousand, four hundred thousand, or even more?

Were the bodies disposed of in time? Maybe the French handled the majority of them, but the rest, even if one percent of them missed the net, that’s thousands of corpses, have not seen the rats in the city of Constantinople are fat?

The corpses are rotting, insects and ants breed, is simply the best assistant of the spread of the virus. Even do not need foreign virus, Constantinople itself has the possibility of outbreak of plague.

……

Vienna.

Upon receiving the news of the plague outbreak in Constantinople, Franz called a meeting at the first opportunity to have the Ministry of Health preside over the prevention of the epidemic.

Despite the history of this plague, the spread was not widespread, mainly in the Crimean Peninsula outbreak, Austria was only slightly affected.

Now the situation is obviously different, since the plague broke out in Constantinople, so the Balkans can not be spared? If the Balkans were affected, wouldn’t Austria be affected?

After the deployment of the epidemic prevention work, Franz continued to consider the impact of the plague.

“Plague outbreak, the French are unable to defend Constantinople, the next international situation will be how to develop, what is everyone’s opinion?”

Metternich reminded, “Your Majesty, from the current situation, the death rate of this plague is not too high, if the epidemic is controlled, the French are still capable of holding Constantinople.”

Franz laughed, then asked, “Marshal, how long has it been since the Russians cut off Constantinople’s water supply?”

Marshal Radetsky replied, “Almost sixteen months, Your Majesty. However, Constantinople is connected by a harbor, and they still have enough fresh water to replenish it, and there is no shortage of water in the city right now.”

Constantinople had no underground water due to its geology, and even though there were water storage facilities within the city, this could not supply so many people to consume.

Franz shook his head and said, “With so many people in the city of Constantinople, the water used for daily life is not a small number.

Having been cut off by the Russians for such a long time, we can boldly judge that the reserve water sources within the city have already been depleted.

Now they are relying on ships to transport fresh water to meet the water needs of hundreds of thousands of people in the city.

With so many people, the daily consumption of fresh water is not a small number, which requires a lot of ship transportation.

How many ships were active in Constantinople? How much fresh water could be supplied after all the transportation of supplies?

The British and French bureaucrats, at best, will ensure the basic survival of these people, I am afraid that the supply of water for living is limited.

If the supply of fresh water is insufficient in normal times, we can still hold out for a while, the big deal is that we will not bathe, wash our faces or hands for a period of time.

Now the situation is different, without sufficient fresh water supply, how can the French army carry out epidemic prevention? Basic sanitary conditions cannot be improved, how can the spread of the virus be contained?”

Because of the epidemic prevention conference, everyone had a bad dose of knowledge about epidemic prevention. Some of it was suggested by officials from the Austrian Ministry of Health, and some of it was added by Franz from memory.

Now that everyone knew the importance of hygiene, at this critical time of a plague outbreak, the city’s French army was in trouble because they didn’t have enough fresh water, so who would the virus go after if not them?

Even if the Russians outside were equally careless about hygiene, they were not short of water, and they always took a bath once in a while, right?

The French soldiers inside the city, I do not know how long to have such an opportunity, or simply do not have the opportunity.

This problem, whether the French noticed it or not, they could do nothing about it.

Because this gap is not a star, just to meet the survival needs, a small pot of water per day is enough, if you improve sanitation, this consumption to increase many times.

Where were they going to find so many water carriers in a short time?

Every day to consume tens of thousands of tons of fresh water, it is estimated that the British and French ships in the Mediterranean Sea all over, in order to meet their logistical supply.

Felix thought for a moment and said, “Your Majesty, if the French can’t solve the plague problem, we can prepare to mediate this war.

Once the Russians take Constantinople, this war will be impossible to fight.

The Russians already have a financial crisis, and if it wasn’t for the fact that Constantinople’s political status is too special, I’m afraid they would have compromised long ago.

Now that the Russians have occupied the Bulgarian region, if they are allowed to occupy Constantinople again, the future will be even more difficult to control, and it’s best to contain them.”

Metternich objected, “Prime Minister, it’s too late to try to contain the Russians at this time, unless we can tear up the Russian-Austrian secret pact, we must support them in future negotiations.

With our support in diplomacy, as long as Constantinople is occupied by the Russians, I don’t think Britain and France are capable of forcing the Tsar’s government to spit it out.

Don’t forget that it is much more important for us to maintain the Russo-Austrian alliance at this time than to contain the Russians, and we cannot possibly oppose the annexation of Constantinople by the Russians.

If containment was not possible, then why bother to be the villain?

Why not simply push on a little more, and let the Russians continue to draw British and French fire in front of them, deepening the conflict between them?”

“A push”, this proposal Franz was very interested in. To control the Black Sea Straits, not just one Constantinople is enough, it requires control of both the Balkans and Asia Minor.

Do the Russians still have the ability to fight on? Obviously does not exist, that is, even if the tsarist government against all odds burst liver, but also to stop Constantinople.

In case the British and French are pushed, there is no chance that they will be pushed back, and the transportation of the Russian Empire constrains their power projection.

In the Balkans, even with the support of Austria, the Russians can only exert at most seven or eight percent of the national strength, and what to fight with Britain and France to go on?

Now the Russians have the upper hand, it’s just that Britain and France haven’t reacted and are punking each other’s teammates on the battlefield.

Once the Russians give them too much pressure, so that the two countries put down the contradiction sincere cooperation, the battlefield is another situation.

It didn’t matter if the Russians couldn’t get it down, Franz didn’t want the Tsarist government to be able to really take control of the Black Sea Straits either.

The Mediterranean Sea was simply too small to be divided between Britain, France, Austria and France, and there was absolutely no spare interest for the Russians.

But that didn’t stop it from making the Russians ambitious. After all, Constantinople was taken down, and the Mediterranean was one step closer.

As long as the Russians still had ambition, then they and Britain and France could not compromise. With Britain, France and Russia against each other, Austria was safe.

History Bismarck is so designed, the result of William II diplomacy play collapsed, actually let France and Russia alliance, as the sandwich cake natural tragedy.

“The Russian-Austrian alliance cannot be destroyed, the containment of the Russians can be left to Britain and France, as an ally, we can never break faith!”

Franz made his attitude clear directly. He didn’t want to put out the wrong political signals and make the top government officials mistakenly think that Austria could abandon the Russians since they had gotten the benefits they wanted.

From the point of view of national interests, this kind of betrayal was very normal, and it seemed to be more in line with the national interests to get closer to Britain and France now in favor of Austria’s overseas colonization.

But considering strategic security, the situation was different. Compared to the unstable French government, and the ambitious Prussian kingdom that wanted to reverse the trend, Franz felt that it was more reliable to ally with the Russians.

(End of chapter)