The next day, Franz received mixed news. Prime Minister Felix woke up last night, but the cause of his coma has not yet been found.

No way, the level of medical care in the 19th century was only so high. In the absence of instrumental testing, doctors can only make judgments based on past experience.

If it is an ordinary person and only one doctor receives it, naturally there are not so many troubles, just rely on God to bless.

If you get it right, you will prescribe the right medicine; If you are wrong, you will ask for more blessings.

Prime Minister Felix was different, after his old man fell ill, Austria's top doctors came.

Then, a different conclusion was reached. Professionals can't agree on their opinions, and others are even more confused.

In this situation, Franz could not do anything. As a novice in medicine, he can only choose to wait.

Before Prime Minister Felix's illness was confirmed, there was another accident in the world.

Affected by the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the British government began to accelerate the pace of invasion of Persia.

On February 16, 1885, under the threat of force from the British, he obtained the right to telegraph from British India to Bushehr via Bosnia, Kerman, Tehran.

It was enough to force the laying of telegraph lines in Persia, and the key was that the Persian government had to pay for these erection costs.

The Persian Empire, which had been reduced to a semi-colony, was naturally a poor man, and in order to pay for the expensive construction of the telegraph, it naturally had to borrow money from the British.

Foreign Secretary Wessenberg handed over a document to Franz and said: "Your Majesty, the British are too ugly to eat.

The Foreign Office has just received information that three days ago the British had secretly signed a loan offset lease agreement with the Persian government.

The agreement is all-encompassing, involving tariffs, minerals, railways, factories, water conservancy projects and other fields.

As soon as the above becomes a reality, Persia will become the preserve of the British, and we will basically lose the commercial market in the Persian region. ”

Taking the document, Franz flipped through it directly, and the more he looked at it, the tighter his brow became.

The butterfly effect did not change the history of Persia as a British colony.

Agreements on minerals, resources, factories, etc., have little impact on Austria, leaving it alone. According to the terms of the treaty, the British received the right to tariff Persia for 25 years for only 20,000 pounds.

No wonder Wesenberg said that the British were excessive, and this was not only excessive, but also to eat alone.

In the last Anglo-Polish war, the British were not able to meet strategic expectations because of the intervention of the Russians.

Persia also had a more relaxed international environment than in the same period in history, and after the war, the British, Russian, and Austrian forces all penetrated deep into the Persian region, forming a new balance.

The Viennese government was not prepared to expand into Persia, and did not invest much in the region, only a part of the commercial interests, and the main quarrel was between Britain and Russia.

Because of the Russo-Russian War, the Russians were busy licking their wounds and reduced their resource investment in the Persian region, and the British took advantage of the weakness to increase their power investment.

The emergence of this all-encompassing lease agreement is the product of a broken balance.

After reading it, Franz took a deep breath: "The British want to build the railway to the Caspian Sea, presumably the Russians will not look at it, right?" ”

The British took control of the Persian railway, which extended to the Caspian Sea, which also meant that the British power penetrated deep into the Caspian Sea, which seriously affected the interests of the Russians.

Wessenberg replied: "Of course! But what the tsarist government is most angry about at the moment should not be the railway.

The Russians controlled nearly three-thirds of the Persian tobacco trade, and the British also won the Persian tobacco franchise for 15,000 pounds, which would directly reduce the tsarist government's revenues.

In addition to this, there are customs duties. Persia is also one of the few countries that imports Russian industrial and commercial products, and the British have obtained the right to tariffs, which can basically declare the withdrawal of Russian industrial and commercial products from the Persian market. ”

Not to mention tobacco, Franz almost forgot. In recent years, the windfall profits of the tobacco industry have been revealed.

Persia is rich in tobacco and was the largest export commodity until the discovery of oil.

In his reforms, Alexander II followed the example of Austria in implementing a monopoly on tobacco and alcohol, and the tsarist government had to import large quantities of tobacco leaves from Persia every year.

After processing, some of them were left for sale in the country, and some were sold back to the Persian Empire.

The tsarist government was able to obtain a lot of revenue from it every year, accounting for 1~2 percentage points of government revenue.

In contrast, the export of industrial and commercial goods is nothing. After all, Russian industrial and commercial products are like that, except for the fact that things are more solid, they are useless in all other respects.

Even if such a product can be sold, the sales volume will not be high. But something is better than nothing, and no matter how little it is, it is also an export, and it means a different thing to the Russians.

As the saying goes, "cutting off people's financial means is like killing parents". Franz could already imagine how the tsarist government would react when it learned about the British style of eating alone.

After pondering for a moment, Franz asked suspiciously, "Do you know why the British did this?" ”

The more he thought about it, the more Franz found the British to operate strangely. It's all well and good to eat alone, but you also have to consider the consequences.

Russia and Austria are not soft persimmons, and if they are in a hurry, they can completely overturn the table, and no one should think about it.

It is impossible for the British government not to know this, but they did it anyway. It can't be a deliberate contradiction to lure Russia and Austria to attack Persia, right?

Foreign Secretary Wesenberg explained: "It may have something to do with the conflict in Central Asia, and the British government has repeatedly protested to the Russians without results, and has taken countermeasures.

As for the harm that has affected us, it is probably because the British government thinks that we are inciting the Russians to provoke a conflict in Central Asia and wants to teach us a lesson. ”

Hearing this answer, Franz only felt speechless.

What about trust between people?

Purely unwarranted, even if he wants to encourage the Russians to do things in Central Asia, he will not choose to do it now!

It's true that the Russians are belligerent, but they are not stupid. Now that we are at a critical juncture of recovery, how is it possible to provoke a war at this time?

Explanation is a cover-up, and even if he knows that he has been wronged, Franz is powerless to defend himself.

Evidence is not needed in international politics, and as long as it is perceived, then targeted action can be taken.

"How is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs going to respond?" Franz asked

Foreign Secretary Wesenberg: "Britain and Poland are only secret agreements, and there is still a long way to go before they become reality, and it is not worth our direct attack on the British."

The Foreign Ministry planned to first break out of the Anglo-Polish Secret Treaty, encourage the Persian people to rise up against this traitorous treaty, and then unite with the Russians to put pressure on Persia to force them to abandon the secret treaty. ”

Austria can't help the British, and the Russians can't help the British, but this doesn't mean that the two countries can't help the Persian Empire.

Frankly, Franz really couldn't understand the Persian government's manipulation. Whether it is "the ignorant who are fearless", or the bureaucrats of the Persian government are in the water.

The forces of Britain, Russia and Austria have penetrated in, and any one that wants to dominate here will be boycotted by the other two.

With such a stable structure, as long as the Persian government does not toss around blindly and takes advantage of the contradictions between the great powers, it is not a problem at all to maintain sovereignty.

Such a good handful of cards was actually played poorly. Now it's stupid to sign a traitorous treaty with the British.

The threat of might from the British?

The big deal is to fight a battle, and it's not that it hasn't been fought. With the support of Russia and Austria behind it, no matter what happens, the country will not be able to die.

If you're lucky, you'll be able to use this opportunity to train an elite army and resurrect the Persian Empire.

There is no doubt that the opportunity for revival has been perfectly missed. From the moment the treaty was signed, the Persian government was not far from the rebellion.

The people could not tolerate such a traitorous government, and even if they did not rebel, the popularity of the Persian government among the people would fall to the bottom.

Affected by the follow-up of the secret treaty, the relations between Persia and Russia and Austria will also drop to the freezing point.

As for the British, just by looking at the contents of that treaty, they knew that it was an annexation of Persia, and normal people knew that they were enemies.

Sure enough, an empire is not rotten for nothing. Putting aside the objective factors of the mess, just looking at the rulers knows that there is no stupidest, only more stupid.

All kinds of ridiculous policies are not because of accidents, but because they really only have this level.

Deep down, after despising the rotten Persian government, Franz decided: "Just do what the Foreign Ministry has planned!" ”

……