Chapter 814: Two Heavens of Ice and Fire
Chapter 797 – Two Heavens of Fire and Ice
With the departure of Prime Minister Felix, the Austrian political scene is also facing a reshuffle, Franz appointed Finance Minister Karl as Prime Minister.
In fact, this was only a transitional appointment. Karl Ludwig von Bruck was born during the war against France, and was only that much younger than Felix by seven or eight years.
Against the backdrop of stability over everything else, Franz did not fold. It was entirely in accordance with the rules of governmental operation, with the prime minister abdicating early and the second-ranking finance minister replacing him in passing.
Reorganization of the cabinet would have to wait until the end of the term, and that would be in 1889. In terms of time, Karl’s term as interim prime minister was not short.
By the time this term was over, Karl would have reached retirement age, making room for his successor.
In Austria, there were no major changes in the political reshuffle, and the transfer of power went smoothly, much to the disappointment of many.
……
Paris, Napoleon IV, who was closely following the situation in Austria, was among the disappointed.
Like it or not, France and Austria had become each other’s biggest rivals on the continent.
Though both governments are exercising restraint on the surface, in the shadows, neither country is short of stabbing the other.
Especially after the Paris Revolution, the declining strength of France, in the international competition gradually fell into the wind.
In order to stabilize the situation, the government of Paris was forced to enter a strategic defensive phase, Napoleon IV’s resentment towards Austria became stronger.
Watching the fun is watching the fun, want to intervene in the change of power in Austria, he still can not do.
……
“Your Majesty, good news!”
The person was still dozens of meters away, and the voice had already arrived first. Looking at the foreign minister with a happy face, Napoleon IV’s depressed mood was dispelled quite a bit.
“Tell me, what’s the good news?”
Foreign Minister Terrence Burgin handed a thin document to Napoleon IV and replied joyfully, “The Annan War is over.
We got everything we wanted at the negotiating table, and this is the content of the treaty sent back by the minister to the Far East.”
Hearing this reply, Napoleon IV understood why Terence Burgin was so excited.
What you didn’t get on the battlefield, you got at the negotiating table, which was a complete miracle in the history of diplomacy.
With this feat, Terence Bourgogne was fully qualified to compete for the next Prime Minister of France.
This was a change after the Paris revolution, Napoleon IV needed a contradictory buffer figure, and after a heartfelt struggle, decided to reinstate the Prime Minister system.
After looking over the contents of the contract, Napoleon IV: “This is indeed good news, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has done a great job!”
This is true, the gains from the treaty far exceeded his expectations. You know in the beginning, he just wanted to end the war decently.
Since the Paris revolution, the family’s France has been going downhill, and the multi-line expedition has exceeded the capacity of the French government.
The importance of Annam is far less than Egypt, choose to negotiate that moment to start, the French government has decided to temporarily give up the plan to annex Annam.
The world is so marvelous, when you thirst for not get, decided to give up, he came back.
Happy times are always short-lived, just when the crowd is happy, the Minister of War Luskinia Hafiz reported with a grimace: “Sorry gentlemen, interrupting the good mood.
News has just come in from Egypt that the counter-insurgency army led by Governor Adolf, after a great deal of difficulty, finally defeated the main rebel force in the Aswan region two days ago.”
Defeated the main force of the rebel army, this is clearly good news, right? The crowd was in a daze, looking at Luskinia Hafiz in disbelief waiting for the following.
“However, just as the battle was won, the despicable enemy blew up the dam upstream, and under the onslaught of the floodwaters, the counter-insurgency army suffered heavy losses.”
Hearing the answer, the faces of the crowd were furious, angry, dumbfounded …… to name a few.
After a moment’s effort to digest this heavy news, Napoleon IV asked, “How big are the specific losses?”
Minister of War Luskinia Hafiz wept and pressed his voice to the lowest possible level and answered, “As of yesterday afternoon, nearly 40,000 people of the counter-insurgency army, less than six thousand officers and men returned to the establishment, and two thirds of them are also Egyptians.
Governor Adolf estimated that the final troops that could return to formation should be around 10,000 men, and the regular army would be around 4,000 men.
The army had no supply wagons left, and more than 80% of the weapons and equipment had been lost, especially the artillery.
In order to minimize unnecessary losses, Governor Adolphus is leading his troops back to Cairo.
Egypt is now in the most dangerous moment, and the colonial government wishes to send reinforcements from home.”
There was no way around it, and no one knew that the rebels would shaft their own people along with them. The main force was dueling with the French, only to have the dam blown upstream.
There was no wireless telegraphy in these days, and the rebels could not afford to lay wire telegraphy or telephones, and the duel had just ended in a flood.
The rebels blew up the dam while the duel was in progress. This means that from the beginning, the main rebel forces that appeared on the battlefield were abandoned.
What is even more worrying is that the “Aswan Dam” was built at the expense of the French government.
Egypt is an important part of the development of French Africa, in order to protect the downstream areas from flooding and to preserve the essence of the delta.
In 1875, after the French government decided to restart the African development program, one of the first projects was the Aswan Dam, which was built by the British 23 years earlier than the original Aswan Dam.
Angry Napoleon IV directly tore up the documents and roared, “Why was the plan hit, is Adolf’s brain full of shit inside?”
As a general experienced in battle, he should not have ignored the dam upstream, and under normal circumstances he should have been alert even if he was marching.
Minister of War Luskinia Hafiz explained stiffly, “In advance the colonial government did receive news of the water attack the rebels were preparing to use.
But instead of blowing up the Aswan Dam, in the downstream Isna region, the plan was to blow up one of the upper peaks along the coast to cut off the river and divert the Nile to hit the downstream delta.
In fact, the Aswan Dam is still some distance away from the delta, and it is not yet flood season, and blowing it up would have a limited effect downstream.
If not for the fact that the rebels had chosen a duel site that happened to be in a low-lying area to lure the counter-insurgency army over to the duel. Even if the dam had been blown up, it could not have caused us so much damage.
According to the information sent back from the front line, the rebel army’s losses are at least three times as high as ours, and no one knows that the rebels will use their main force as bait, so ……”
Luskinia Hafiz was understanding of Governor Adolf, this was no longer a bitter trick, the enemy was clearly a madman.
Taking the main force as bait in the age of poor communication. In case the French didn’t take the bait, and the dam was blown upstream, the same tactic became a one-way suicide.
There are no ifs in reality, and although the rebels’ numerical losses could have been greater, the strategy prevailed.
The counter-insurgency army suffered heavy losses, and for a short time the Egyptian region was unable to organize a second counter-insurgency army and had to wait for reinforcements from the mainland.
At least for half a month, the rebels could expand their territory with impunity and mobilize more people to join the uprising.
With this result, the rebels have been enough to impress the two gold masters behind them and invest more power to support them.
Napoleon IV interrupted, ”Say no more, no matter how many reasons there are, failure is failure.
When was the French Army reduced to making excuses for failure?”
Confronted by the outbursting Emperor, Luskinia Hafiz decisively chose to follow his heart. Deep down, he had already mourned Governor Adolf in silence.
Putting this kind of thing on hold, being able to retreat in one piece would be God’s blessing. If it wasn’t for the fact that changing generals on the battlefield was a major military taboo, Adolf would be on his way back to his home country right now to be reasoned with in a military court.
Calm down for a while, Napoleon IV slowly said: “The Ministry of War to re-establish the counter-insurgency program, I do not want to hear the news of failure.
Remember to draw competent generals from the country, to Egypt to preside over the counter-insurgency situation, Adolf like a fool do not have to go.”
A defeated general is a defeated general, no matter how many reasons there are, they cannot hide the fact of defeat.
Holding back from immediately pursuing Governor Adolf’s responsibility, this is already Napoleon IV to consider the big picture.
Minister of War Luskinia Hafiz hastily assured, “Your Majesty, please rest assured. The Ministry of War will choose people carefully this time, and there will definitely be no more problems.”
……
(End of chapter)