Chapter 812: A Time of More Rotten Than Rotten

  Chapter 795 – The Era of Sucking More Than Sucking

After exiting the conference room, the faces of Hutil and the others were somber. Obviously, everyone was not a fan of Lieutenant General Jarrett’s boastful words.

It didn’t show in the meeting, that was because they were small in number. Others were lieutenant generals, and the highest rank in the Austrian delegation was only lieutenant colonel.

Coupled with the fact that the insurgent high command clearly trusted the British more, directly questioning the other side in public would serve no purpose other than to offend.

Back in the camp, the most active Major Potiorek couldn’t help himself, “You guys say, is it possible that that guy is receiving money from the French and deliberately ……”

Lieutenant Colonel Hutier interrupted, “No way! He is at least a Lieutenant General of the Sunset Empire, no matter what, he wouldn’t commit treason just for a little bit of money.

In fact, Lieutenant General Jarrett is not completely without redeeming qualities, at least he is a bit more reliable than those guys at the top of the Uprising.”

Merits?

Unfortunately, Huttil really couldn’t find any. Lieutenant General Jarrett’s military deployment, theoretically speaking, that was not a problem at all.

Everything was accounted for, it was the ability of the insurgents to execute that was overlooked.

Including the last ambush, theoretically there was no problem, it was only because the insurgent army’s fighting ability was too garbage that the battle was lost.

If you can’t compare the good ones, then you have to compare the bad ones. Although Lieutenant General Jarrett is a little bit rigid and bureaucratic style is a little bit thick, it is also more reliable than the mixed insurgent army senior.

Major Potiorek shook his head, ”I’m afraid the strong ones are limited. Jarrett’s combat experience is limited to suppressing colonial rebellions, not staging them.”

There was no way around it, Britain hadn’t fought a war in many years either. The most recent major battle was with Austria over South Africa, and it ended in defeat.

Having lost the war, naturally there was no future to speak of, and the group of officers who had taken part in the battle back then were retired and transferred to other professions.

Now send representatives are also short people elected tall people, Lieutenant General Jarrett in Australia to suppress the miners’ rebellion, it stands out.

Faginhan laughed, ”Actually there is nothing wrong with this, having Jarrett in charge of commanding the insurgent army will at least ensure that the rebels will not surrender easily.

According to the battle plan that was just announced, isn’t our mission to feint at Ughsul? It’s just the right time to penetrate through and enter the Egyptian hinterland.”

“Won’t surrender easily” has become the reason, and this expectation leaves nothing to be desired.

Hutil nodded, “It’s settled. First contact our people and airdrop a batch of compressed cookies over, there is no guarantee that we will be able to get supplies once we leave the camp.”

The first major concern of a lone army was logistics, with nearly ten thousand troops resupplying in situ behind enemy lines, it was an unknown whether the levied food could fill their stomachs.

……

The command headquarters of the insurgent army, Lieutenant General Jarrett is staring at the map and fretting. Don’t look at his mouth to say easy, but in fact, there is no bottom in his heart at all.

Not to mention bringing this group of rabble, even if he is allowed to command the British Army and the French to start, Jarrett is not sure.

The French “world’s first army” is the title of the battlefield out of the European armies are the stepping stone to the top of the French army, against such an enemy, who will have heart pressure.

Mahdi asked in a deep voice: “General Jarrett, is it possible to send the 8th Division to attack Ughsul, or should we send the 6th Division as well?”

After a moment’s effort of silence, Jarrett cautiously reminded, “Your Excellency, it’s a feint not an attack.

The French have two regiments at Ughsul, and if they want to take it, they can’t do it even with the Sixth Division, not to mention an Eighth Division.

We only need to make a gesture to attract the attention of the French and buy time for the main force to recuperate.”

Inwardly, Jarrett had a strong sense of distrust in the command abilities of the insurgent’s top brass.

If it wasn’t for political factors, he wouldn’t mind joining forces with the Austrians.

In any case, Huttil and the others were also from regular military schools, and were more reliable than the “insurrectionist high command” that had been rushed into action.

Otherwise, Jarrett would not have given such an important task to the Eighth Division.

Regardless of their opposing positions, the British and Austrians had the same interest in causing trouble for France.

……

The war in Egypt began to burn, and trouble came to the government in London. The enemy was completely out of line, and instead of engaging them directly, they went after the Persian government.

It is important to realize that the Persian government’s willingness to sign a treaty of sale, in addition to military threats + diplomatic blackmail, was promised by the British government: to solve the diplomatic difficulties.

In other words the British got the diplomatic power of Persia and encompassed the foreign affairs of the Persian Empire.

Now it was time for Britain to fulfill its promise, yet the British government was unable to do anything about it. The reason a secret treaty is a secret treaty is that it cannot be seen in the light of day.

The Russians and Austrians were playing dumb, ignoring the existence of the treaty and asking Persia to sign a free trade agreement, which put the London government in a difficult position.

“Free trade” is the flag of Britain, as the biggest beneficiary of the free trade system, the British government can not jump out to hinder free trade.

It is only a small problem if you hit your own face, but it is a big loss if you bring down the free trade system.

Gladstone asked, “Have the Russians not stopped their small movements in Central Asia?”

Foreign Minister George shook his head, “It’s the same old story, the Russians have no intention of restraining themselves, and not long ago the Cossack cavalry sacked a small tribe in the Bukhara Khanate.”

Gladstone’s frown tightened, more than ineffective, it was clearly intensifying.

If the arrogance of the Russians could not be combated, the Central Asian countries would have to start reconsidering the issue of taking sides again.

The tsarist government is not considered to be a reckless person who only fights and kills, and diplomatic means are lacking, but there is also diplomacy.

No one can guarantee that the Russians will not support the pro-Russian faction in power locally and take a more moderate way to annex the Central Asian region.

Especially now, the Russian Empire is in a weak state, not suitable for provoking war, diplomatic means more important.

This can be seen in the power structure within the Tsar’s government in recent years, where the Foreign Minister’s voice in the government is growing by the day, just ahead of that of the Finance Minister.

After hesitating for a while, Gladstone made a decision: “Directly showdown with the Russians, tell the tsarist government:

Either you stop your little maneuvering in Central Asia and promise not to expand in Central Asia, or you fight a war in Central Asia!

At the same time send someone to join the Russian-Austrian-Polish tripartite negotiations and sabotage them as much as possible.”

If we don’t solve the Central Asian problem now, when the Russians regain their strength, it will be even more difficult to solve.

In comparison, Persian interests are still a minor issue. Essentially a test run, monopolizing Persian interests is still too much hate.

……

Plans never change fast enough, and without waiting for the British to intervene, the Russian-Austrian-Polish negotiations came to a close.

On April 28, 1885, due to the diplomatic pressure exerted by Russia and Austria, coupled with the negotiation table, the Persian officials in charge of the negotiations signed the “Three Countries Free Trade Agreement” in a daze.

Perhaps it was not that the Persian officials involved in the negotiations were confused on purpose, but compared to the Anglo-Persian Treaty, which was full of unequal content, the Triple Free Trade Agreement was much more harmonious.

There were not so many conditions attached to it, and on the face of it, it was a fair deal for all of us, without directly infringing on the sovereignty of the Persian Empire.

The Persian government is not all stupid, there are also many smart people, able to distinguish who is the main enemy and who is the secondary enemy.

Compared to the fool who signed the Anglo-Persian treaty, the Persian official who was deliberately “confused” was much smarter.

Not stupid by Russia and Austria led by the nose, directly copied the “free trade system” in the agreement of the countries.

For the precarious Persian Empire, to be able to get a seemingly equal treaty, that is already a great diplomatic victory.

……

(End of chapter)