Chapter 894: France’s Plan
Chapter 876 – France’s Plan
After a moment’s pause, Napoleon IV nodded: ”Indeed it’s not too good, the reply is too direct, our allies will feel uncomfortable in their hearts.
Why don’t you reorganize the language and talk more about the difficulties we are facing to appease their wounded hearts?”
Karel Kadlec wanted to say something. No matter how he replied, it wouldn’t change the fact that the French government was being a fisherman.
Perhaps before the Anglo-Russian war broke out, the French government had to be concerned about their feelings, but now there was no need.
Even if the British and Russian countries have a grudge, it will be after the war is over.
Now the international situation is very obvious, Austria is in favor of the Russians, France’s position will directly affect the war.
If France remained neutral or supported Britain, the war could continue; if France supported the Russians, Britain would not be able to resist the three great powers at the same time.
How can we give up this opportunity to knock on the door?
Stimulate Britain and Russia, in fact, is also to let the two countries to give a more sincere price, after all, people are not always able to recognize the self.
Prime Minister Terence Burgin proposed, “Your Majesty, the Anglo-Russian war has broken out, and it looks like it won’t end in a short period of time, so let’s consider implementing our next strategy.”
For the French Empire, knocking on the British and Russians could only be considered a small fraction of the profit.
The biggest benefit that the outbreak of the Anglo-Russian War brought to France was still that the shackles imposed on their heads were gone.
The only thing left to restrain France was Austria, but this was only a restraint, not enough to make the French government afraid.
Foreign Minister Karel Kadlec: “In the end it’s better to wait, the Anglo-Russian War has only just begun, and the two sides have not yet fought for real.
The magnitude of our movements is too great, stimulating their sensitive nerves, Britain and Russia will probably stop first.
As in the Near East War of that year, Austria wanted to unify the German region, and the warring countries did not stop fighting first.
If the Austrians restrain their emotions and wait until the end of the Near East War to send out their troops, I’m afraid that no one will be able to stop them.”
The Vienna government used the First Near Eastern War that year in a failed attempt to unify the German region, which triggered the intervention of European countries, and in the end merely annexed South Germany.
In Karel Kadlec’s opinion, it was a ready-made negative example. Had there been more days, waiting for the Russian army to strike under Constantinople before doing so, it would have been a very different outcome.
Economics Minister Elsa objected: “The failure of Austria to unify the German regions was not only due to the interference of European countries, but above all to the fierce opposition of the Kingdom of Prussia.
The Vienna government did not have the backbone to fight a civil war and could only sit back and watch the German region split, even if it waited until the end.
We are now in a different situation, just to than the German two countries to cede a few coal mines, but not directly annexed the two countries, Britain and Russia, even if they are no longer dissatisfied, but also will first endure.
The only one who has the ability to interfere is Austria, than Germany and the two countries do not have the courage to fight with us, I do not think that the government of Vienna will fight a war with us for the sake of the two countries of Belgium and Germany, which is not in line with their interests.
As long as the established facts are created, the Austrians will most likely just yell a few times, and the Foreign Ministry will step in to appease them.
Our economy has recovered quickly in the last few years, but it is still difficult to surpass our peak.
The main constraint on our economic growth is the insufficient supply and high price of domestic coal, which increases the cost of industrial production.
This may not be intuitive, but let’s take a simple example:
After the outbreak of the Anglo-Russian War, all European countries have seen an increase in their export trade, and just last month our total export trade increased by 0.7 percentage points year-on-year, the highest growth rate in eight years.
But the total export trade of most European countries exceeded 1 percentage point, and Austria’s total export trade increased by at least 2 percentage points.
We are lagging behind again. It’s not that domestic industry isn’t working hard; the fact is that when it comes to making money, no one works harder than the capitalists.
But there is a shortage of coal in the country, and it is clear that there is excess capacity in Belgium and Germany, but they are hoarding it, forcing us to put up more money to buy it.
They are a bunch of vampires, lying on the heads of the French industrial and commercial community, devouring our wealth.
A day’s delay now and France is lost ……”
It was too difficult to annex the two countries of Belgium and Germany, and even if only one of them was annexed, it would cause big trouble.
Although it had not endured a social beating, there were still lingering traces of the war against France in the shadows.
In order to reduce the risk, the French government silently lowered the goal, the annexation of the two countries of Bidde was subdivided, ready to first blackmail a few mines back from the two countries.
“Hoarding” is only Elsa found out the excuse, in fact, the price of coal rose, just normal business behavior.
Capitalists want to make greater profits, naturally will not give up any opportunity. After the outbreak of the Anglo-Russian War, the price of many commodities in Europe has risen slightly.
Only the French domestic capitalists could not tolerate, was ready to send war wealth, but suddenly found that the price of energy has also risen.
What was expected to make ten million francs was now only able to make nine million francs because of the rise in energy prices, and that amounted to a loss of one million francs.
French capitalists are naturally not willing to share profits with others, in order to be able to maximize the benefits, everyone has to mobilize their own influence, encouraging the government to rob the coal mines of Bidde.
Foreign Minister Karel Kadlec shook his head: ”Don’t forget that coal mines have owners, what if the governments of the two countries of Belgium and Germany reject the deal we propose on the grounds that private property is sacrosanct?
Sending troops to fight over and rob them by force, are you sure they wouldn’t dare go to war with us?
Forget Belgium, the German Confederation is not weak. Once that bunch of small states unite, even we can’t take them down in a short time.
Once there is a stalemate in the war, the Austrians will take advantage of the fire, and the British and Russians will also contribute to it.
If Austria is the only one we can withstand, the problem is that they will encourage the European countries together against us.
The Imperial Army, even if it’s great, can’t match the European countries united. Once the war starts, we won’t be able to control it.
To be on the safe side, we’d better wait for Britain and Russia to fight for real and force the European countries to take sides.
After the European countries have split into two waves, we will then force the two countries of Belgium and Germany to make concessions, even if the situation gets out of control, with the alliance in place we won’t be on our own.”
Failure makes one grow, as the foreign minister of France, Karel Kadlec deeply recognized the root cause of France’s failure in the war against France – fewer allies and more enemies.
In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, Karel Kadlec has always advocated: provoking conflicts among European countries and dividing relations among them.
This Anglo-Russian War was not without his share of credit.
Listened to the foreign minister’s explanation, Napoleon IV that eager heart cooled down at once. Already past the age of youthful ignorance, Napoleon IV also learned to weigh the pros and cons.
“Karel is right, now is not the best time, the most important thing right now is to continue to promote the Anglo-Russian war process.
Only when they are both defeated, our eastward plan, can we proceed smoothly.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs to stimulate the Russians again, tell the Tsarist government that as long as they capture Herat, or the Wakhan Corridor, we will issue a billion francs of war bonds on their behalf.”
There was no way to encourage the Russians; the British government was too sensible and it was too difficult to fool them.
Once the British army won a victory on the battlefield and expelled the Russians from the Afghan region, the British government would take what it could get.
Not so with the Tsarist government, once the Afghan region was conquered, the Russians’ strategic center of gravity shifted to India.
No one could stop the Russians’ ambitions for India. On this issue, the British government could not compromise, and both sides could only fight to the death.
In this regard, France and Austria were unanimous in their judgment, and the Vienna government likewise contributed money and effort to support the Tsarist government in fighting all the way to India.
As to the question of whether the Russians would make a big deal out of the seizure of the Indian regions, this worry was entirely superfluous.
The British Empire of these days is not to be trifled with, and once it puts up a fight, it is enough to make any country move.
With the strength of the Russians, if they wanted to seize India from the British, it simply could not be accomplished overnight.
If there is no gold support, it will not be long, the Russians will be huge military expenses to drag down.
Prime Minister Terence Burgin reminded, “Your Majesty, the Anglo-Russian War has broken out. As an ally of the British, it is out of place for us to issue bonds for the Russians now.”
Pitting an ally should also be done in a way and method, it doesn’t matter if you dig a pit in the dark, but this kind of flag declaring sabotage and dragging your feet, that violates the rules of the game.
Outgoing France’s international reputation will be completely finished, no country dares to play with them.
Napoleon IV smiled faintly: ”There is no relationship, we just need to change the way of operation, the British will have nothing to say.
For example: we issue one billion francs of commercial bonds for Austria, and the Austrians then lend this money to the Tsarist government.”
……
(End of chapter)