Chapter 679: Discovery
Chapter 664 Discovery
The London government shirked its responsibility, and the Chilean government had a headache. Without the backing of the British, lending them a few guts, they wouldn’t dare to seize ships from more than twenty countries.
La Moneda Palace, Chilean Foreign Minister Domingo: “Your Excellency the President, this is a diplomatic protest from various countries, which have already formed a legation at the instigation of Fao, you see?”
Unable to avoid it, President Anibal waved his hand, “You deal with it, probe them, then decide what to do.”
In this age of the weak and the strong, everyone adhered to the principle of bullying the soft and fearing the hard in international diplomacy.
It was the British Navy that seized the ships and confiscated the goods, and everyone just protested to the London government. Forced by internal and external pressure, the British pushed the pot on the head of the Chilean government, and the situation immediately changed.
Protest?
No, that’s too civilized. One look at the raging legions of ministers told me that if the Chilean government didn’t bleed, this time it wasn’t over.
We can’t afford to offend the British, but we still don’t wimp out when it comes to Chile, and now we don’t even need Fao to take the lead, we’re all taking the initiative.
President Anibal has panicked, the British position is clear, if the Chilean government can not withstand the pressure, they will lift the blockade, let these ships through.
This was something the Chilean government could never accept. Once Bolivia and Peru received outside aid, it would be a long shot for Chile to win the war.
Seeing that President Anibal was out of statutes, Foreign Minister Domingo proposed, “Your Excellency the President, we cannot be passive. We must also come up with a program to make the countries feel our sincerity.
The countries protesting now seem to be many, but in reality it is mainly France and Austria. The other countries have little interest involved, most of them are just trying to brush up their presence, and apologizing should be able to handle it.
We must take the initiative and divide the legions. To do that, our power alone is not enough, we also need the British to cooperate.”
President Anibal shook his head, “Divide and conquer looks good, but in reality it won’t work at all.
France and Austria are in favor of Bolivia and Peru, and we can’t get enough to buy them off. The positions of the other countries are irrelevant, and so is being offended.
The trouble is that under internal and external pressure, the London government’s position has wavered. You should be aware that the ships seized also include British shipping companies.
These are losers in the battle of interests, and they want to make up for their losses by trading with Peru and Bolivia.”
Chile has given purchase orders and shipping business to British shipping companies, and it seems that they have made up for their loss of the Peruvian and Bolivian markets in this way, but in reality it is only a few who have gotten the benefit of the doubt.
More capitalists, because of poor relations, did not benefit from it, and even some of them suffered damage to their interests, and these people were naturally resentful.
This is not difficult to beat the capitalists, can not get benefits from Chile, then continue to do business with Peru and Bolivia. Free trade, of course, should be free.
Reminiscent of the Near East War, British businessmen also smuggled to Russia; Ethiopian war, British businessmen also smuggled arms to the resistance, now this is really nothing.
If you look into it, you will see that some people are taking favors from Chile and doing business with Peru and Bolivia at the same time.
When ships are seized and goods confiscated, this is cutting off everyone’s money. For the capitalists, it is obvious that both sides are taking advantage in order to maximize their profits.
The domestic unrest in the UK is essentially the capitalists trying to get a bigger profit and that’s why they’re encouraging the people to get into trouble.
What is the government’s strategy compared to its own interests? It’s best to keep the war in South America going so that everyone can keep making war money.
President Anibal, a lawyer by training, knows the appetite of the capitalists very well. If the London government can’t suppress domestic capital, the so-called blockade will soon exist in name only.
Foreign Minister Domingo objected, “Mr. President, we have to trust the London government. Now that there is a total blockade and no one is able to travel the route, the countries are still able to tolerate it.
If the Royal Navy releases the water and only allows their own ships to navigate, do you think the countries will still be able to tolerate it?
I’m afraid that by then, they will think that this is a plot by the British to monopolize the South American trade.
When it really comes to that, everyone’s interests will be seriously jeopardized, and who knows if France and Austria will take the lead in establishing an anti-British alliance?”
It’s not “will or won’t”, but definitely will. Interests move people, as long as the interests are in place, nothing is impossible.
After a few moments of hesitation, President Aniwar said, “What are you going to do? We don’t have a lot of chips in our hands, it’s hard to buy off so many countries.”
Foreign Minister Domingo: “It depends on the strength of the British input, if the London government’s support is strong enough, and France and Austria are held back by the situation in Europe, the diplomatic pressure from other countries is nothing at all.
We just need to take out some of the benefits to buy off France and Austria, for example: sell them a batch of saltpeter at a low price every year, or open up the domestic market to them.
Do not ask them to support us, as long as the stabilization of France and Austria, such as the end of the war, and then talk about these issues is much better.
Other countries according to the actual situation, for example: Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and other South American countries, able to give assistance to the enemy to pull together first.
There is no need to pay much actual benefit, just write a blank check directly. Take advantage of their ambitions, use the interests of Peru and Bolivia to stabilize them, and after the war, whether or not to cash according to the actual situation.
Other countries that are not capable of influencing this war, and whose importance itself is not high, can first should be dragged along.”
The law of the jungle, here, is manifested to the fullest extent. Reality once again proves that justice and righteousness all need cannons to protect them.
Aniwar nodded, “Well, do as you plan! I’ll go to the British Minister now, and I’ll leave the legation to your Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take care of.”
……
While the Chileans were taking action, another change occurred on the Prussian-Russian battlefield. After the Prussians split their forces, the Russians in Kamen cannot resist the temptation to send out a counterattack.
In an unexpected scene, the tentative counterattacks actually routed the Prussian army, achieving the first major victory since the outbreak of the war.
After seeing the battle report, Franz wondered if he had misread it. When did the Russians become so fierce, this is completely in the open ah!
Not only Franz was stunned, even the Russians themselves were stunned, completely unable to imagine why the Prussian army all of a sudden became unbeatable.
It should be realized that even after the division of troops, the Prussian army in the Kamen region was still 20,000 troops strong. Under normal circumstances, with such a large number of troops in place, the Russians would never be able to win in a short period of time.
The war has been over for two days, and Lieutenant General Olivier Thornfield is still giddy, not knowing how this pie hit his head.
Lieutenant General Olivier Thornfield did not let the victory go to his head and chose to call it a day and did not continue to expand the results of the war.
There was a knock on the office door, Olivier Thornfield, “Come in!”
A young officer reported with a nervous expression, “General, something is not right. We interrogated the Prussian prisoners and found that these soldiers were all transferred here a week ago, and most of them have less than a month of service.
Lieutenant Colonel Daniel, who was guarding the prisoners, found out during his tour of the POW camp that most of the war uniforms we captured were old and young, with less than one-fifth of them being young and strong, and most of them were also Polish.
All indications were that this enemy army we had routed was not the same one we had fought before. It should be cannon fodder used by the enemy to attract our attention, and the enemy’s main force has long since moved on.”
Lieutenant General Olivier Thornfield’s face changed drastically, and he hurriedly opened the map to study the movements of the Prussian army.
“Not good, the enemy is targeting Brest. The Prussian army that left three days ago didn’t have one infantry division, but two, their target is not Pinsk, the detour is just to confuse our attention.
Immediately send a telegram to General Headquarters explaining the situation we have encountered. Also inform the garrison at Brest to be on the alert.”
The young officer warned, “General, if we report it directly, our military credit will be greatly reduced. Why don’t we fix it first, or wait until the news is communicated to the entire army before reporting it.”
It was not easy to win a battle, everyone could have gotten a raise in rank, if it was tossed away all of a sudden, it was expected that anyone would have a grudge.
After hesitating for a few moments of effort, Olivier Thornfield shook his head, “This news is of great importance, it must be reported immediately, you guys can process it artistically.
Let’s say that we interrogated the prisoners and found that the enemy has hidden their troops, the Prussian army that left three days ago was two divisions, and the target may be Brest.
Secretly execute a portion of the prisoners and put it directly on the figures for the annihilation of the remnants of the enemy. Gather the young and strong prisoners of war, let the war correspondents take a few pictures and send them back, and who would dare to say that there is something wrong with our war effort?
The defeat of a second-tier Prussian army is enough of a war credit, and the country won’t believe it if it’s any bigger.
You guys look at the relevant information and compile it, anyway, the news of the victory has already spread, as long as it looks good, the government won’t look deeply into it.”
The big picture had to be emphasized, and the war credit could not be lost. Then the only thing to do was to sacrifice the prisoners of war, after all, the proportion of old and weak among the prisoners this time was a bit high, and if they didn’t dispose of some of them, it would be easy for people to find out the problem.
(End of chapter)