Chapter 414: The Times Make the Heroes

  Chapter 404: Times Make Heroes

The British came down to pull the plug, making the war confusing once again. Whether the Tsarist government’s wallet was emptied first, or the Kingdom of Prussia couldn’t support it on the battlefield first, no one knew this question.

With the loss of the sea transportation channel, the Russians’ plan to concentrate their forces and quickly defeat the Prussians went bankrupt.

Ever since the Russians lost the Polish region, the price of food in St. Petersburg had continued to increase, and had risen by thirty percent from the pre-war period.

This was the result of Alexander II’s timely measures to control, otherwise it is not impossible that the price of food multiplied.

The Russians had many granaries, the only problem was transportation. Transportation of grain from the Ukraine and the Moscow region to St. Petersburg was bound to increase in price.

At the military conference in the Winter Palace, the Minister of War, Hramed, analyzed, “Based on the current transportation capacity, we will not be able to commit more than 400,000 troops to the front line of battle.

With such a small force, it is almost impossible to win this war. The original battle plan is outdated, and the War Ministry has decided to change the battle plan.

We will conduct a strategic defense in the Baltic and Belorussian regions, put our main forces into the Ukrainian region, and attack the Polish region along the Russian-Austrian border.

In this way, our troops can be supplied directly from Austria, reducing the distance of logistical transportation.

Recapturing the Polish region first, we will then be able to rely on the rivers in Poland to transport supplies from Austria and secure the logistical supply of our troops.”

The battle plan looked good and solved the problem of logistical supply. However Alexander II was very uncomfortable in his heart, which meant asking Austria for help.

There was no free lunch in the world, and relying on Austria’s support for this war was bound to come at a price.

Alexander II is not willing to see, the Russian army in the front line to fight for their lives, the biggest benefits but fell into the hands of others, even if it is an ally can not.

Finance Minister Kristan Val objected, “This plan looks good, but it won’t be easy to get the Austrians to go along with it. It’s not just a matter of money, there are politics to consider.

The Vienna government has been in a state of conflict during this war. On the one hand, they want to use us to cripple the Kingdom of Prussia and create favorable conditions for unification; on the other hand, they want to preserve the territorial integrity of the German region.

Unless we are able to spend a great deal of money, they will not cooperate fully. Without their support, it will be difficult to obtain sufficient supplies even with Austria at our back.”

It is no secret that the position of the Vienna government is that it wants to see Prussia and Russia lose both. This was in the best interest of Austria, creating the conditions for national unification and guaranteeing the territorial integrity of the German region.

Only if it suffered a socially toxic defeat would Prussian separatism be extinguished and turn to merge with Austria.

Currently advocating the establishment of Greater Prussia is the Junker aristocracy, once the merger with Austria’s domestic agricultural products will inevitably be impacted, the interests of this group of landowners is difficult to protect.

Now the more Prussia is beaten, the more people will support the unification of Germany, the prerequisite is that the Kingdom of Prussia can not be annexed by Russia.

Against this background, expecting Austria to fully support them in winning the war was not an easy task.

Foreign Minister Clarence Ivanov continued, “We have already communicated with the Austrians over this issue.

The attitude of the Vienna government is clear: they will abide by the Russo-Austrian alliance, and only to the extent stipulated in the pact.

The price to be paid for trying to change their decision would be too great, and it would be altogether too costly.”

In the face of interest, alliances have to be backed up. The people in the room were not white, and would not be naive enough to think that an ally had to cooperate with you unconditionally.

Speaking directly with benefits was actually the best way to get along with an ally relationship to sustain it. An alliance that only talks about friendship without talking about benefits never lasts long.

Alexander II commanded, “Send people to rent some warehouses on the Austrian border and store some of the supplies in them as a transit point for trade between the two countries.

The military will first recover a portion of the territory bordering Austria, and then start trade nearby to save on transportation costs.”

This was playing ball, stockpiling goods on the Austrian border in advance, so that when the Russian army arrived it could be resupplied nearby.

Although there were still a lot of formalities to go through, this saved time. Time is life on the battlefield, and with sufficient supplies, the Russian army can fight the Kingdom of Prussia for their lives.

They had an absolute advantage in this regard, as long as they fought off a few hundred thousand more people, the Kingdom of Prussia would not be able to hold out. Unless Britain and France personally enter the war, they are the winners of this war.

Unfortunately, Poland’s winters weren’t cold enough to take advantage of the Russian army’s ability to fight in winter.

……

Vienna, Franz put down the intelligence in his hands, and did a melon eating crowd, quietly watching the Prussian and Russian countries show their skills.

The 19th century was the last glory of the monarchy, and the time was simply a spurt of majors.

William I of Prussia, Alexander II of Russia, Napoleon III of France, Emperor Meiji of Japan, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and the protagonist himself, there was not a single oil lamp.

These are the more famous ones, and the ones with a lower presence, such as Rama IV and Rama V of Thailand, who were able to preserve themselves in the midst of the chaos are not simple goods.

Another example is Abdulmejid I of the Ottoman Empire, who pushed for modernization and reforms and renewed the life of the Ottoman Empire.

Including Karl XV of Sweden, Leopold II of Belgium, Nicholas I of Montenegro, Luxembourg ……

All of these people would have been able to set off an era if they were at another point in time, and it’s unfortunate that they all collided.

The king of a small country naturally did not have much room to play, and to be able to survive in the narrow gap between the great powers was a kind of ability.

This requires a high level of political art, and is definitely not something that can be done by a salty fish. Every time you take sides, it is a test for the small countries.

Now it is the turn of Alexander II and William I PK, the winner continues the road of the male master, the loser can only be eliminated from the game, obliterated.

The King of Sardinia had already become the sacrifice of the age, and was the first to be eliminated from the game, living in exile in London.

The days of leisure were short-lived and soon broken.

Foreign Minister Weissenberg reported, “Your Majesty, Francesco II has sent a telegram asking for help, the rebels led by Gabori have crossed the Straits of Messina to continue their march northward, and the Great Army of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to quell the rebels has once again been defeated.

The situation in the country has gone out of control, with rebellions coming out all the time, and thirteen rebel armies of various sizes have already appeared in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Just three days ago, Gabori called the rebels from all over the world to go to Naples to make an alliance, and the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies is likely to be lost.

The most troublesome thing is that this fool, Francesco II, actually sent a telegram for help to Napoleon III at the same time, complicating the problem even further.”

Rubbing his forehead, Franz also found the problem tricky. If it was just a request for help from Austria, then there was nothing to say, he immediately sent reinforcements to help suppress the rebellion.

No matter how much the later generations bragged about the Red Shirts, Franz didn’t give a damn. The fighting power of the army needs to be supported by the strength of the country, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies is an agricultural country.

With the navy blockading the harbor and no ammunition to replenish, the rebels would become guerrillas in three to five months at most.

Not any country can play guerrilla warfare, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies is limited in area, also divided in two by the strait, and the population is only 8.7 million, it does not have the ability to fight for a long time.

In fact, these tactics are redundant, just send troops to roll over directly. If even an Italian rebel army, can not handle the Austrian army can be disbanded.

Franz said with dissatisfaction: “Francesco II did not turn to the Spaniards for help, but actually looked for Napoleon III, it looks like the French over the years, under our noses to engage in a lot of small actions.

Staff as soon as possible to come up with a battle plan, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies can not fall into the hands of the French again, or else the Mediterranean Sea will become France’s own land.”

The French engaged in small actions Franz is aware of, only he never would have thought that Francesco II will actually be affected.

To ask the French for help now would be to lead the wolves into the house.

It is easy to invite the gods, but hard to send them away. It would be strange for the French not to take root in such a good opportunity.

Even if you want to check and balance, you can’t choose the ambitious French! Even if we let the British intervene, it’s better than letting the French do it.

Without Francesco II’s telegram for help, the French would never dare to reach out to the Italian region, but now the situation is different, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies has sent itself to the door.

The conflict between France and Austria over Italy was about to break out, and what might have been a minor inconvenience for Franz meant life and death for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Franz could sell the Kingdom of Sardinia, wouldn’t he be able to sell the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies? As for whether or not the French would get bigger, that’s all that matters anyway.

As long as the benefits are right, many issues are negotiable. In turn the French could have sacrificed the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in exchange for concessions in the rest of Austria.

It’s not fun to fight barbarians with barbarians. Even if the two countries can’t talk about exchanging benefits, can’t they divide up the Kingdom of Two Sicilies?

The Great Powers’ modesty is so high, as long as the interest is enough to go on. The two Sicilian kingdoms for Austria is not the core interests, can only be regarded as a fringe area, for the French is also similar.

Of course, if Napoleon III really wanted to unify the Italian region, then there’s no doubt that this is an essential part.

The big deal is that with Sicily as the border, France and Austria split the Mediterranean interests and jointly sidelined the British.

At present, the two countries are still working together very happily, the British in the Mediterranean Sea was deadlocked, reaching out to Egypt’s tentacles are blocked back by the two countries.

(End of chapter)