In 1877, Britain, France and Austria launched wars of expansion on the African continent, and Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Somali Peninsula were simultaneously plunged into war.

Compared to the sweep of France and Austria, the British were in trouble. The famous "Warrior Emperor" became a nightmare for the British army.

Because of the light enemy's rash advance, soon after the outbreak of the war, the British army was ambushed and the troops suffered heavy losses.

Looking at the battle report in his hand, the British commander Ismail trembled angrily. In less than a month after the start of the war, there were more than 5,000 troops. Forget about the cannon fodder of the colonial army, the point is that there is also a British infantry regiment that has been disabled.

"Rice buckets, all rice buckets!"

"You can't even beat a bunch of natives, and the face of Britain has been lost by you, what's the use of the country raising you?"

……

One young officer took the plunge and explained: "General, the indigenous people of Ethiopia are extraordinary, they also have modern weapons and have received regular military training. ”

"Smack!"

Ismail Meng slapped the table and scolded angrily: "It must have been the Austrian turtles and the French, no one is so shameless except them!" ”

Everyone did not take up this topic, knowing that it was the British who first helped Ethiopia train its army, and it was only after the last Ethiopian war that France and Austria infiltrated their forces.

Ethiopia has a well-trained army, and the British themselves have a part to play, and if this layer of window paper is pierced, the government will face great public pressure.

It is the best choice to directly shift the blame to France and Austria, not that they do not work hard, it is completely that the enemy is too "strong".

After venting, Ismael calmed down.

This war, they were prepared exactly according to the experience of the previous war. Obviously, this is out of place.

Today, unlike in the past, Menelik II was able to unify most of Ethiopia, and he fought all the way. How can an army that has been in a hundred battles be easy to mess with?

The Paris Conference did not come to an end, and in the absence of treaty constraints, it was normal for France and Austria to secretly stab each other.

Ismail was very suspicious that it was the Franco-Austrian commander who was now in command of the Ethiopian army, otherwise how could the British army have lost to the natives?

After taking stock of the troops in his hands, Ismail reluctantly concluded that it would be difficult to achieve victory with the current forces, and even if he could win, it would be a miserable victory.

If a war breaks out with the European powers, a "crushing victory" is also acceptable, and the current enemy is the indigenous Africans, and if such a result is achieved, it will have to be court-martialed.

Needless to say, in order to achieve victory, Ismail decisively chose to ask for help from home.

……

In Paris, after several years of political struggle, Napoleon IV gradually took control of state power by playing balancing.

In this respect, Napoleon III's original plan was a success. Take advantage of the opportunity of the power struggle of all parties to make the transfer of imperial power smoothly.

There are naturally advantages and disadvantages, and after several years of political struggle, all that remains are old foxes who are accustomed to political struggles.

After taking power, Napoleon IV could not replace all of them, and serious infighting became the biggest problem for the French government.

As a last resort, Napoleon IV could only continue to play balance. He was powerless against the infighting of the bureaucracy.

Perhaps bureaucratic infighting is a good thing for the imperial power, but this has a premise, that is, it must be limited to a scope.

Once the bottom line is broken, it turns into a disaster in the end. Everyone stabs each other, how can the country develop normally?

This can be seen from the economic development of France in recent years. Since the death of Napoleon III, the pace of French economic development has slowed dramatically, and the Paris government has done little.

It is better to do nothing than to do nothing. On the whole, France is stable, but the pace of economic development is slow.

This was difficult for the arrogant Napoleon IV to accept, and after taking power, he began to focus on economic construction.

The slowdown in France's economic growth is due to many reasons, and it is not that the government can go up if it wants to.

The biggest problem is the energy crisis, with domestic coal production severely under-producing to meet the growing economic demand.

There was a shortage of coal not only in the country, but also in the French African colonies. Without that, it would have to be imported, which undoubtedly raises the cost of industrial production.

When the cost goes up, the market competitiveness will naturally come down. In international trade, France's market share is falling sharply.

At its peak, France once accounted for one-fifth of the world's total import and export trade, but now it has fallen to 15.7 percent.

This is not the end of the story, the French continue to lose market share, and it may not be long before they lose their position as the third largest trading nation.

Napoleon IV asked: "Are you sure that the opening of the Panama Canal will be able to stimulate the export of domestic industrial and commercial products?" ”

I have to say that the French capitalists are very powerful, and they do their work in front of the emperor.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Allen: "Your Majesty, the situation of the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal is very close, and the opening of the Suez Canal has led to the last round of economic prosperity.

After the opening of the Suez Canal, the domestic import and export trade has grown by more than 7% for five consecutive years, which has greatly promoted the domestic economic development.

Now the Panama Canal is the same, once the canal is opened, the distance from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean will be shortened by tens of thousands of nautical miles, which will greatly stimulate the growth of domestic export trade. ”

Lying without blinking, I have to say that the discipline of politicians is low. The opening of the Suez Canal has indeed greatly stimulated the economic development of France, but the Panama Canal has not had such a great effect.

If you look at the map, you can see that the biggest beneficiary of the Panama Canal is the United States of America, followed by Colombia, and other countries can only pick up some leftovers.

If the Panama Canal had been opened more than a decade ago, it is estimated that the French government would not have had to give up Mexico.

You can't turn back the clock, and the development of the Panama Canal now will shorten the distance to the west coast at most.

In this era, the economic development of the West Coast of the Americas, even if it stimulates exports, has been very limited.

Moreover, there is competition from other European countries. French industrial and commercial products are losing their international competitiveness and are not benefiting much at all.

Against this backdrop, investing heavily in the development of the Panama Canal is actually more than worth the loss for the French.

Napoleon IV shook his head: "No, my Chancellor of the Exchequer. You only see the benefits for us, but you don't see the consequences, and in fact the biggest beneficiaries are not us.

As you can see from the map, the biggest beneficiary is the United States of America. Suppressing the development of American countries is the common national policy of Britain, France and Austria, and the United States is the focus of suppression.

The Triple Pact clearly stipulates that the three countries must maintain the balance of the American continent and prohibit unilateral enhancement of the strength of a particular country.

Whether we support the United States or not, this kind of strengthening the United States is a betrayal in the eyes of Britain and Austria. We cannot afford to neglect long-term development for the sake of short-term gains. ”

Obviously, Napoleon IV was not easy to fool, and this flawed statement could not deceive him.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Allen: "Your Majesty, this is only an apparent benefit, and the potential benefit is actually greater.

The opening of the Panama Canal in the short term is in the greatest interest of the United States. But the Panama Canal was under our control, and as trade increased, the economic lifeblood of the United States fell into our hands.

The benefits behind this are our biggest gains. In the future, we can use the Panama Canal to open the doors of the countries of the Americas and grab more benefits for the empire.

The development of the Panama Canal has not directly enhanced the strength of a certain country, which can only be regarded as a side game, and Britain and Austria will not do much. ”

The potential benefits are indeed exciting, and now that the world is almost divided, the remaining independent countries are not easy to move.

Grabbing profits through economic means has become an inevitable part of the future world. Controlling the economic lifeline of the American countries will undoubtedly give France an advantageous position in the new round of competition.

Napoleon IV: "How can we guarantee the dominance of the Panama Canal?" In the Colombian region, whether it is the British, or the Austrians, we cannot win! ”

This is the crux of the matter, France is not strong enough in Colombia to guarantee control of the canal.

It is true that Britain, France and Austria are allies, but this is only a combination of interests, and when the interests are large to a certain extent, allies can also become enemies.

If Britain and Austria were allowed to join the canal project, the dominant power would change hands in an instant. This kind of thing of making a wedding dress for someone else, Napoleon IV preferred not to do.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Allen: "Your Majesty, in fact, this does not require the government to intervene, it would be better for the private capitalists to do it."

We can't take the lead in cooperating with any of the countries in Britain and Austria alone, but the more countries that participate, the situation changes.

As the initiator, we may not be able to take the lead, but it is not difficult to get the biggest right to speak.

The government just needs to ......"

……

With great difficulty, Chancellor of the Exchequer Allen managed to convince Napoleon IV. Deep down, he had already made up his mind, whoever likes to do this kind of thing will do it, anyway, he is not ready to do it again.

Although the profits promised by the capitalists are large, the risks are not small. If Alan hadn't known that Napoleon IV intended to change people and wanted to go back to retire before leaving, he would not have cooperated with the capitalists.

You must know that on the surface, he is a representative of the grassroots class. With the restoration with Napoleon III, he achieved a counterattack in life.

The character of the politician cannot collapse, as a representative of the common people in the government, he runs to cooperate with the capitalists, and once the news leaks, Allen will immediately fall into the situation of betrayal and separation.

It is precisely because of this identity that Allen was able to propose to Napoleon IV that if he was replaced with a minister who represented the interests of the capitalists, it was probably not so easy to succeed.