Chapter 947: The Tangled Japanese Government
Chapter 928: The Tangled Japanese Government
There was no way around it, the strategic position of the Egyptian region was just too important. As long as France still wanted to win the war, it had to stop the emergence of a giant that spanned Asia, Africa and Europe.
After contemplating his efforts for a while, Napoleon IV sighed and said, “The Ministry of War come up with a program to send troops to reinforce the Egyptian theater as soon as possible. Do not seek to defeat the enemy, just stabilize the battle line.”
Reinforcing Egypt was easy to say, but not so simple to do. Not only do they have to squeeze out troops to come, the more critical thing is that the scale of the Egyptian battlefield has expanded, and the strategic materials that need to be consumed will also increase.
There is no doubt that it is impossible for French Egypt alone to bear such a large consumption.
Originally, the Paris government was planning to have the Algerian colonial government share a portion of it, which was no longer possible.
While withholding reinforcements, the Algerian region’s need for strategic supplies likewise increased. Not to mention supporting the Egyptian region, it is expected that they themselves will have to reach out to the country.
Today’s times are different, the war is going on now, France is no longer so rich and powerful. Suddenly a large amount of extra material consumption, the French government is also a test.
After a little reckoning, Prime Minister Terence Burgin’s forehead began to sweat.
“Your Majesty, sending reinforcements is easy. The newly mobilized troops in the country are about to complete their initial training, drawing out 20 or 30 divisions is not a big problem, the trouble is the logistical supply.
Up until now, we have not only taken on the logistics of nearly five million troops in Europe, but we also have to support the colonial battlefields with a large amount of supplies, and our domestic industrial production has long been unable to keep up.
Now the reinforcement of the Egyptian battlefield, and to consume a large amount of strategic materials. In a short time, it is difficult for us to raise so many supplies.
Unless we can get the full support of the British, we won’t be able to complete our support for the Egyptian battlefield within half a year.”
War is all about the speed of the troops, if you wait for half a year, you won’t be able to collect the corpses in the past. But the problem is that hundreds of thousands of troops toiling far away, involving tens of thousands of tons of logistical supplies, simply not a day or two can be prepared out.
Don’t look at France’s strategic supplies piled up, but that are all there to go. Whether it is the battlefield of central Europe, or the battlefield of southern Europe are very important, there is no possibility of diversion.
Of course, their own production is insufficient can also buy, but the purchase of strategic materials is also need time.
Production time is also just, France has long placed a bunch of orders, most of the countries in Europe are the enterprises of France’s arsenal.
The real trouble still stems from politics, countries are making money at the same time, but also not forget to give them a pull back.
The vast majority of the time, French imports of strategic goods were delayed. The endless barrier checks and messy formalities and procedures are all means of restricting France.
In order to break these restrictions, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not try hard. Only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, no matter how hard it tried, could not catch up with the speed of France’s hate.
“It’s not hard to convince the British to support it, no one wants to see a giant emerge across Asia, Africa and Europe. Really, if Austria were to connect the mainland to Africa, the blow to Britain would be equally fatal.
It’s just that if we ask the British for help at this time, they’re sure to lionize us, and we’re bound to pay a heavy price.”
Foreign Minister Karel Kadlec said with difficulty.
As a hundred-year old enemy, the British style of the French naturally knew all about it. This kind of opportunity delivered to the door, if you do not take advantage of the fire, then it is not John Bull.
France initiated this continental war, essentially for the sake of profit, if the British stopped and robbed a wave, the final gain and how much, is an unknown.
Open the history books to know, and the British cooperation was pitched to the blood of the number of teammates, which also includes France.
Now to the British for help, the operation of a good just; if once the operation error, or perhaps this continental war in France will have to work for nothing.
At the critical moment, the young Napoleon IV still took out a monarch should be decisive: “Immediately and the British talk, no matter how much it costs, we must win this war.”
Have to admit, Napoleon IV this time is very rational. The interests of the gods are built on the basis of winning this war, if you lose the war, then there is nothing.
The essence of international politics lies in the strength, as long as the strength of France is strong enough, now promise to go out of interest, through can not be counted, anyway, they are not not a breach of contract.
……
In the British and French intensive negotiations, the Far East is not calm. Look at the four great powers of Europe are all caught in the flames of war, just completed the Meiji Restoration of the Japanese government gradually can not hold back their own ambitions.
After more than twenty years of reform and development, Japan has become a regional power in the Far East, the second in East Asia in terms of comprehensive national strength.
Of course, this ranking has no meaning. Asia is almost divided up, and there are only a few independent countries in East Asia.
The olive branch handed out by the French still affects this newborn country, whether to go south to seize the South Seas, or north to raid Korea, has become a hot topic in Japan.
As the leader of this military ~ ~ ~ist country, Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi had a hard time recently. The civil clamor for war is getting louder and louder, and the situation is on the verge of getting out of hand.
It happened to be at this time that the opinions of the top echelons of the Japanese government also diverged. Some people advocated going north to seize Korea, while others advocated taking the opportunity to go south to raid the South Seas.
Even those who advocated the South Pacific Raiders also put forward three options, the combat objectives are: French Central and South Peninsula, Western Philippines, and Austrian South Pacific and German Malay Peninsula.
There is nothing surprising, although only the French issued an invitation to Japan to attack the Austrian South Seas, but there is also a large wave of Austrian blowback in the Japanese government, do not think that France can win the war.
No matter how high the civil war sentiment, Japan’s top management has not drifted, very clear that the family’s little family can only go along with the trend, there is no ability to change the outcome of the war on the continent.
At such a time, the war party is very critical. In case you stand with the losers, then there is no doubt that you will be liquidated after the war, and the sea will not be able to block the front of the Great Powers.
Specifically, you can refer to the naval strength of the countries in the Asian region. The British Far East fleet is naturally the boss, the French and Austrian fleet deployed in Asia is equal in strength, together with the German Confederation of a few ships, the anti-French alliance is still a slight advantage.
After the three great powers, it is the Far Eastern Empire and Japan, then Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal is responsible for the bottom.
A sub-fleet is more than the entire home base of the Japanese Navy, and calculating the combined naval strength, the difference between all of them is even more by a factor of ten.
This is the comprehensive national strength decided, not Japan can catch up in a short time. Only with their purchase of the few ironclad, in front of the former dreadnought can only send head.
In this context, politicians who want to speculate, it is not unusual for opinions to diverge. Even Ito Hirobumi himself wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to fight, but in the end, reason prevailed.
On the surface, now at this time, the Japanese government whether to the French, or to the anti-French alliance, can determine the power of the two sides in the Asian region, France and Austria should be the first to pull Japan closer to the right.
Theoretically, as long as the Japanese government grasped the balance, it could reap benefits from both the French and Austrians, and then place a last-minute bet on the winner.
Unfortunately the French extended the olive branch, but Austria ignored them, and even a Japanese official who took the initiative to come to the door to tease out the problem did not receive the desired answer.
This kind of disregard certainly made the Japanese government look bad, and likewise made them realize how strong Austria was.
The human psyche is complex, and sometimes the more it is ignored, the easier it is to make people think more.
In many people’s opinion, the conditions offered by the French are tempting, but France is alone in Europe, while Austria has a group of allies in Europe.
The ants bite the elephant, Napoleon era have not completed the great cause of sweeping the continent, now the French Empire can be completed? Everyone’s heart is not bottom.
Unable to determine who would be the ultimate winner, the southward faction threw out the strategic plan of capturing the Philippines.
If you look at the map of Asia, you will know that if Japan wanted to go south, it would not be able to spare the Philippines, or it might be cut off at any time. It can be said that as long as the strategy of going south is activated, there will be a battle between Japan and the West.
The most crucial thing is compared to the two giants of France and Austria, the fallen Spain is undoubtedly a soft persimmon.
Of course, this soft persimmon is still a little too powerful for the current Japanese Empire. Trying to take the Philippines from the Spaniards would also require a great deal of risk.
However, compared to the risk of participating in the Franco-Austrian War, the safety factor of bullying the Spaniards was still much higher, and even if the plan failed, Spain did not have the strength to liquidate them.
Before the outbreak of the Continental War, the conflicts between the Great Powers had not intensified, and the Japanese government would never have dared to entertain such a thought.
After all, these days, “whitophobia” is prevalent, against the European countries, we have no confidence, to see the surface of the ministers often act together, and even many people think that the European countries are a group.
In the palace, Emperor Meiji asked, slightly tired: “Ito-kun, these are the following report up strategic plan, what do you think?”
It can be seen that Emperor Meiji has also been affected by the outside world, in the strategic choice into the confusion. This step out is the difference between heaven and hell, no wonder Emperor Meiji is not cautious.
Emperor Meiji is relying on the military support to the throne, in the Meiji government military influence is very large, in order to limit the strength of the military, in power after Emperor Meiji instinctively chose to rely on Ito Hirobumi as the head of the Wen Shi faction.
Especially when it came to the fate of the country, the Emperor did not dare to let the military to decide.
(End of chapter)