Chapter 968: The Brainstorming Tsarist Government

  Chapter 949 – The Brainy Tsarist Government

The British government has been messed up, the French government, not to mention. It has long been at a loss and is completely at a loss as to how to end the situation next.

Napoleon IV received even more bad news. On the surface of the French army after a big defeat to regroup again, but the outside world does not know the French army to pay a terrible price.

Retreating in the midst of a rout was no easy task. The enemy is not stupid, will certainly take the opportunity to expand the battle. If you want to retreat successfully, it is necessary to cut off the tail to survive.

Moreover, those who carry out the task of cutting off the rear must also be elites with high loyalty. If you leave the Italian troops behind, they will probably fall back when the Austrians arrive.

Then a million French troops were lost. Killed, wounded, routed and captured, the French army was reduced by more than one million men, including 300,000 elite soldiers.

The loss of troops was heavy, and the loss of supplies and equipment was even more countless. In order to retreat as quickly as possible, the French army even had to blow up their own artillery positions.

Materials can be bought, weapons and equipment can be rebuilt, the loss of troops can be replenished, but only time is not allowed.

The Battle of Turin and the Battle of Luxembourg followed just after the Battle of Luxembourg, and the French army could only respond passively to the battle.

Minister of War Luscinia: “Your Majesty, yesterday morning the Spanish launched an attack on the Roussillon area, and after a bloody battle by the soldiers in the front line, the enemy was finally defeated in the evening.”

A rare report of a victory, Napoleon IV was not happy. Obviously, affected by the great defeat of the French army, the Spaniards could not sit still.

No matter how strong the Spaniards were, anyway, France had added another front, and the next military pressure became even greater.

Looking at the appearance of the Minister of War who wanted to speak, Napoleon IV’s heart was cold, and smiled bitterly: ”Go on, where was the defeat again, I can afford it. It’s all come to this point now, how bad can it be?”

Despair, this is the truest portrayal of Napoleon IV’s heart right now. A series of defeats on the battlefield, a diplomatic defeat, all hit Napoleon IV’s confidence.

Watching the anti-French alliance grow stronger by the day, and the only ally wavering at this time, this kind of despair is something no one else can understand.

Luscinia said slowly, “Austria and Switzerland formed a coalition and launched an attack on us, with the eastern regions of Burgundy and Auvergne falling to the battlefield.

The enemy is raging, and the troops we have deployed in the east are severely understrength ……”

Not waiting for Luscinia to finish his sentence, Napoleon IV interrupted, “Got it, you Ministry of War look after yourselves!”

Difficulties, troubles and other words, Napoleon IV has heard too much lately, and has long been tired of it. Being able to solve it would be just fine, what he feared most was the kind of problem that could not be solved, favoring him to solve it.

Instead of listening to the headache, it would be better not to listen. Anyway, can solve the problem ministers will find their own way to deal with, reported only the solution; can not solve the problem, he also can not do anything.

In a sense, Napoleon IV is a good boss, military and diplomatic double failure, did not put his men out to take the blame.

Of course, the push out to take the blame also has no substantive meaning. Although it can relieve political pressure in the short term, it will also cause everyone to die and trigger internal turmoil in the government.

Prime Minister Terrence Burgin whispered, “Your Majesty, prepare for truce negotiations! At this point, we can no longer fight.”

“Armistice negotiations” also need to be divided into time, earlier when France had the upper hand, naturally have the money to negotiate conditions.

Now is not the same, France in the military and diplomatic disadvantage, and then put forward the “truce negotiations”, that is equivalent to “surrender”.

If possible, Terence Burgin absolutely not willing to surrender to the enemy. But there is no way, France really can not continue to fight.

The flames of war had already reached the French mainland, and every day that the war continued would bring a lot of losses to France.

If you don’t take advantage of this time in the hands of a few chips and anti-French alliance negotiations, and so on people all the way to fight over, and then talk about the conditions that will not be the current price.

After hesitating for a while, Napoleon IV sighed and slowly said, “How to talk?”

“An armistice,” he had no opinion. If possible, Napoleon IV didn’t mind an immediate truce. The problem was that it was easy to start a war, but it was difficult to end it.

Other countries might be able to deal with it by giving some benefits, but Germany, Belgium, and Austria would definitely not give up. Both sides had already spilled blood, and it was impossible to negotiate at this time without paying a big price.

Foreign Minister Karel Kadlec replied, “The British have agreed to mediate, and the London government has made a commitment to guarantee the territorial integrity of France as much as possible.

According to the current international situation, Austria is going to be completely bigger after the end of the Continental War, which is not in the interests of the European countries.

At this point, including the Russians are our potential allies. The lack of reaction from the countries is mainly due to the fact that the situation is shifting too quickly, as well as the lack of a reasonable excuse to intervene.”

Well, Karel Kadlec felt like he was about to make it up. The countries of Europe didn’t want to see Austria dominate, but that didn’t mean that everyone had to pull the plug on France; they were two different concepts.

In real life, reason tends to lose out to emotion; after all, people are not machines and are subject to feelings.

At least France’s neighbors are subject to feelings, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, and a few Italian states, do not care whether Austria will be bigger, or first to kill France is important.

The so-called long-term interests are all bullshit. History has already told us that if we don’t take the opportunity to take out this big enemy of France, we won’t have a good time in the future.

No matter how big the interests are, they are not as important as the safety of your own family. For small countries, survival comes first, and they’re all little brothers anyway.

In this context, Austria will not be isolated as long as it does not eat alone. With so many enemies around, France should not think of getting out without shedding a layer of skin.

Self-deception or not, wishful thinking or not, in short, the French government now needs hope, a hope that can get out in one piece.

“Tell the British that we agree to negotiate and are willing to pay the price for this war. The colonies can be dispensed with, but the homeland must be kept intact.

The government is doing a good job of pacifying the population, the news of the negotiations will surely cause an uproar as soon as it gets out, France can’t afford to be tossed around.

If necessary, I will abdicate at the right time to take responsibility for this war.”

After saying this, Napoleon IV, as if he had used up all his strength, directly lay down on the seat, no longer paying attention to the crowd.

According to the rules of the political game in the European continent, losing a war and ceding land to pay for damages were all normal things. Unfortunately, nationalism has risen. Especially in France, which was the stronghold of nationalism, the population had a lower tolerance for defeat.

In the general perception of society, the colonies also belong to the property, lost also lost, but the mainland can never be ceded.

The double-edged sword of nationalism created by Napoleon finally backfired on his own family, and the Bonaparte dynasty ushered in its greatest challenge.

Only by preserving the integrity of the homeland, Napoleon IV took the initiative to abdicate and assume responsibility to alleviate the anger of the people, the Bonaparte dynasty had a chance of survival.

……

St. Petersburg, affected by the changing situation in Europe, the position of the Tsarist government was also affected.

There is no doubt that the Tsarist government would certainly not pull the French’s strings at this time. Even if someone saw the strategic significance of preserving France, they would not make a move at this time.

There is nothing else but interest. If a word of strategic need, we have to take the fire for the French, then what is the need for diplomacy?

Marshal Ivanov said excitedly, “Your Majesty, the situation of this war has become clear. The French have suffered defeats in Central and Southern Europe and are now powerless to recover.

As a result of this, the Spaniards have also launched a tentative attack on the border. Together with the Swiss battlefield, which the Allies have just opened, the French are effectively fighting on four fronts.

If there are no surprises, within the next six months, the French will be defeated, and now it’s time for us to strike.”

Plans don’t change as fast as they should, and originally the Tsarist government was prepared to declare no war and sit back and watch the French and Austrians fight it out in blood. Unfortunately, the French were not very useful and only just started to show their defeat.

Since the plan to consume Austria’s strength could not be accomplished, the Tsarist government naturally had to consider how to maximize benefits.

Picking peaches is a must, even if you can’t get the biggest one, you have to get the second biggest one.

If you don’t send troops at all, when the time comes to distribute the benefits after the war, the Russian Empire’s right to speak will be gone.

Don’t look at Austria’s promise that the Russian Empire can share twenty percent of the war reparations, but to fulfill the promise, it is not so simple.

Want the French to pay up with a mere paper treaty? Don’t dream, the Tsarist government has experience in reneging on debts, as long as the fist is big enough not to give or not to give.

Without the support of the Anti-French Alliance, the Russian Empire alone does not have the ability to collect debts from the French.

This is still the ideal state, in case Austria regardless of eating, pulling a few little brother directly to France to divide up, and finally not a penny of reparations, the tsarist government will be a tragedy.

In a sense, this time to send troops to the war, not only to combat France, the same also in the protection of France.

Strength is the right to speak, only the Russian army appeared on the mainland against France, after the war to dispose of France, the tsarist government has enough right to speak.

Whether it is because of strategic needs, or in order to get enough war reparations, the tsarist government needs to preserve the mettle of France. After all, it was the great powers that could take the money.

Alexander III hesitated, the situation changed so quickly that it was a little hard to accept. It was only last month that he decided to watch the show, but he didn’t realize that now he was going to send troops again.

Uncertainly, he asked, “Can the French really not hold out?”

“Yes, Your Majesty! The actual situation may be worse than we expected, after all, two more fronts have been added. Coupled with the fact that the Italian region is now destabilized as well, the French government no longer has enough troops to deal with the next war.”

Ivanov replied affirmatively. This was carefully studied by the Russian military, and even the most optimistic people did not think that the French would be able to turn the tide.

Foreign Minister Oscar Jimenez suggested, “Your Majesty, if we are worried about losing too much by entering the war, we can actually take a roundabout strategy.

The British also want to keep France, and our positions on this issue are the same. It is entirely possible to make direct contact with the French through their bridges and then land in France by sea.

For Austria, the next most important thing is to unify the German region, as well as digesting the newly occupied French Africa, they are not going to make any trouble at this time.

As long as we pre-empt the occupation of France, when the post-war negotiations take place, the Empire’s voice will naturally increase.”

This was a fact, the strategic plan of the Vienna government had been laid out in plain sight, as long as the German region was unified and French Africa digested, Austria would be the number one power in the world.

Compared to this, everything else was a side issue, including weakening France. After all, the heyday of France are able to dry down, a half-crippled France, let alone.

After a half a dozen moments of silence, Alexander III slowly asked: ”How do you guarantee that the French will be able to trust us?

Moreover, even if the British are able to convince the French government to agree, how can you guarantee that this is not a trap?”

Trust is hard, now France and Russia is an enemy, just with a promise, to send their own lifeblood to the hands of the enemy, normal people can not do it.

In case the Tsarist government suddenly flipped its face after the Russian army entered France, the French government would have no chance to cry even if it wanted to.

The same problem existed with the Tsarist government. It’s useless to talk well, if the British flipped out in the middle of the day and the Royal Navy sent the Russians directly into the sea to feed the fish, the Tsar’s government would become the laughing stock of the century.

Given the conflict between Britain and Russia, the government in London had every incentive to do so.

Regardless of what others thought, Alexander III couldn’t trust the British anyway. He would not dare to risk hundreds of thousands of Russian troops before he could ensure their safety.

……

(End of chapter)