People sit at home, and pots come from heaven. ”

Something similar often happens in international politics and diplomacy, and many times it is politics that needs to decide the "truth".

Now, for example, due to economic influence, the London government has to support the Berlin government, but their strength alone is not enough, they must pull in the French.

Against this background, the black hand can only be "Austria". From the point of view of interests, it happens that the Vienna government also has motives, which is even more ambiguous.

It doesn't matter if you can't clear it, on the issue of the Russo-Prussian War, Britain and Austria were already on opposite sides, and they didn't press down if they had too much debt.

Franz didn't care, Alexander II had a headache. As soon as the British made a move, most of their diplomatic efforts were wasted.

No way, diplomacy is really not their strong point, just look at the international reputation of the tsarist government to know how amateurish their diplomacy is.

can achieve the current results, that is, the opponent is also a diplomatic novice, and the two sides are pecking each other in rookies, which is barely equal.

This is not to say that there are no outstanding diplomats in Prussia and Russia, but when it comes to the personal ability of grassroots diplomats, even if there is a gap, it will not be too big on the whole, and the root of the problem lies in decision-making.

In international diplomacy, excellent diplomats are important, but more importantly, it depends on the decision-makers above, who are the masters who really have the power to decide a country's diplomacy.

It is a pity that none of the decision-makers in Prussia and Russia are good at diplomacy, and no matter how hard the officials below try, it is useless.

The Second Empire of Time and Space is a prime example of this, where diplomacy was at its peak during Bismarck's reign, and it was a mess after the replacement.

After the Battle of Smolinsk, the Russians were generally favored by the outside world, and the tsarist government also took the opportunity to intensify its diplomatic offensive against the Nordic Confederation.

It is difficult to send charcoal in the snow, and it is easy to add icing on the cake. Many people in the Nordic Confederation are tempted, especially the Danes, who are gearing up to avenge the Prussian-Danish War.

Strategically speaking, as long as the Nordic Federation stabs the Popo Federation now, this war will be over, and no matter what Moltke has to do with his earth-shattering plans, it will be useless.

It is a pity that the tsarist government acted too slowly, and it is not known whether it was because of interests or for some other reason that the negotiations did not come to fruition.

With the intervention of the British, the Nordic federal government, which had been preparing to be the icing on the cake, was shaken again, and the alliance became a dream, and the Russians missed the best chance to win the war.

This was not the biggest headache for Alexander II, what was even more troublesome was that after the victory in the "Battle of Smolinsk", optimism began to rise in the country.

Many of them have become military masters who have turned into military masters and pointed fingers at the front line.

"What drove straight into Warsaw", "Surprise attack on Berlin"...... All sorts of weird tactics come up one after another, and they all sound good, and you can win the war casually.

The mouth cannon party is nothing, just listen to stories and do things, just say that they have to be eliminated first. The situation is very different if the Mouth Cannon Party has social influence.

The Russian gang of mouthpieces happens to have social influence, and some of them still hold great power in the government. The guys "beeped", Alexander II had a headache, not to mention the pressure from the commanders at the front.

……

In St. Petersburg in July, there is no bitter cold in winter, no scorching heat in summer. The temperature of more than ten degrees Celsius is the most pleasant season.

At this best time, the exciting "Smolinsk Victory" was ushered in, and the whole of St. Petersburg was filled with the joy of victory.

As the greatest contributor to the command of this campaign, Marshal Ivanov quietly returned from the front and rushed to attend a military meeting.

Faced with compliments from his colleagues, Ivanov simply laughed it off. His own family knows his own affairs, and no one knows better than him how much water the battle of Smolinsk is.

The main forces of the Prussian army are especially strong, and it is too early to talk about "victory". Marshal Ivanov did not mind publishing the truth and exposing the sinister intentions of the enemy if it were not for political necessity.

Politically, there are no ifs, the tsarist government needs a victory, the "Smolinsk victory" has come at the right time, and the fake must become true.

Relatively speaking, this is not a fraud, at most it can be regarded as artistic processing. That pair of captives is a reflection of the war record.

Of course, as a real military man, Ivanov does not see anything to show off. He even suspected that the enemy could not afford to raise so much cannon fodder, so he deliberately stuffed them to increase logistical pressure.

……

Hermitage

Alexander II smiled and said: "Marshal, tell me about the situation at the front!" ”

There was more than one marshal of the Russian Empire, but it was only Ivanov who could be present here and treated with caution by Alexander II.

The greatest confidence of a soldier is always his exploits, no matter how big the water is, if he wins, he wins, and as a victor, Ivanov has the capital to be respected.

Perhaps Ivanov's military command ability is not the best, but he has an advantage that others do not have, that is, he has never lost the battles he commands.

If you look at his resume, you will see that this is a consistent output player. The favorite is to be steady, and not to engage in any military adventures.

Other than that, his luck has always been good, and the enemies he encounters have always been weak.

In the First Russo-Prussian War, he first commanded troops against the Poles, and then was sent to defend Constantinople against the Ottomans.

The enemy is a soft persimmon, and with him being such a conservative commander, it will be difficult for the Russian army to lose even if it wants to.

In the case of a great defeat of the Russian army, Ivanov, who can win the battle, naturally stands out.

Immediately after that, the Second Near Eastern War, the tsarist government and Austria joined forces to beat the Ottomans, and it is not necessary to say that this was the war merit.

When the Second Russo-Prussian War broke out, Alexander II, in order to seek stability, immediately activated this "good luck" marshal with "great military achievements".

The appointment turned out to be very sensible, and in the last ten months of the war, although the Russian army did not take much advantage and did not suffer anything.

The pure war of attrition has been fought so far, and everyone suddenly discovered that the Russian army has gradually gained the strategic initiative in the war of attrition.

The only downside is that the casualties are a little bigger, but in the face of victory, these are all minor problems. Compared with the first Prussian-Russian War, the exchange ratio of the current Russian army on the battlefield is much better.

Ivanov picked up a baton and pointed on the map as he spoke: "After the Battle of Smolinsk, the main forces of the Prussian army retreated all the way, as if to abandon the Polish region.

However, this is only the surface situation, the battle of Smolinsk did not hit the main forces of the Prussian army hard, they still have the strength to fight, there is no need to run so fast, let alone abandon Warsaw, the eastern gate.

I have studied the direction of movement of the enemy's troops, which are distributed on both flanks, and as soon as we enter the Warsaw area, they can immediately pounce.

Of course, this is not to say that we are afraid of a decisive battle with the enemy, the main thing is that there is no need to fight the enemy in the Warsaw area. Even if it's going to be a decisive battle, it should be us who chooses the place. ”

Obviously, Ivanov is politically minded and resolutely does not say what cannot be said.

There were all smart people present, even if Ivanov didn't say it, everyone knew that the Poles did not welcome the little Tsar's father, and the Warsaw region was the most active anti-Russian region, and there was no popular base for the decisive battle here.

But smart people can do stupid things, because it's not their brains that determine their thinking, it's what lies under their butts.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Cristanval questioned: "Your Excellency Marshal, a decisive battle with the enemy in the Warsaw area may not be the best option, but it is the best for us."

Since the outbreak of the war, we have spent almost 1.87 billion rubles, and every month we spend nearly 200 million rubles.

This means that our financial income for one year is not enough for three months of war expenses.

Every day the war lasts, we have to pay a huge amount of military spending, and ending this war as soon as possible is the best option. ”

As soon as the cannon sounded, the tsarist government mobilized millions of troops, and the daily military expenditure was an astronomical amount.

Self-financing is impossible, and Russia's finances have never been rich. In order to conduct this war, the tsarist government already owed huge foreign debts.

If the war continues, it won't be long before government finances are exhausted again. When the time comes, the Ministry of Finance will have to figure out a way, Cristanval is a smart man, and he knows very well that it is too difficult for the tsarist government to raise money now.

If there is no defeat on the battlefield, but the war is lost because of finance, the Ministry of Finance will be determined. As the Chancellor of the Exchequer, he is the first to bear the brunt, and if he doesn't do well, he will be guillotined to calm the people's anger.

Besides, the borrowed money has to be repaid. This loan is a mortgage on the land, and if the pocket is too clean to fulfill the debt, the land will have to be ceded to pay off the debt.

Once this happens, it will be the Ministry of Finance who will take the blame in the end, and Cristanval, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, cannot help but be in a hurry.

For him, this war is a "sword of doom" hanging in the air, which may be cut down at any time and kill him.

Not only was the Ministry of Finance anxious to end the war, but many interest groups within the tsarist government also wanted an early end to the war.

The war has done too much damage to the economy, and many industries have not been able to operate normally, which has undoubtedly cut off everyone's financial resources.

Ivanov shook his head: "Your Excellency is thinking too simply, the difficulty of the decisive battle in the Warsaw area is not a little bit more difficult.

If you choose to take strategic risks in pursuit of a quick victory, you will fall for the enemy's tricks.

In the event of an accident that leads to heavy losses for our army, who will be responsible? ”

Explanations are impossible, in the context of political correctness, many things cannot be spoken, and Marshal Ivanov can only choose a hard top.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Cristanval sneered: "It's not your military who is responsible for things on the battlefield, so why don't you want our Ministry of Finance to be responsible?" Or just let us command! ”

There are many people who want a quick victory, including Alexander II. Everyone did not say it, mainly because they were afraid that forcing the military to fight a decisive battle in advance would lead to the defeat of the war, and no one was willing to take this responsibility.

Cristanval couldn't help it, the tsarist government's finances were too bad, and the cost of the war was too great.

The Treasury raised funds for the war could last for another year at most, but could the war end in less than a year?

If he hadn't lived through the last Russo-Prussian war, Cristanval would probably have said yes. After experiencing it firsthand, Cristanval couldn't be more optimistic.

As a military novice, Cristanval doesn't think it's important to change the location of a decisive battle, the big deal is that the casualties are a little bigger, anyway, the gray cattle are not worth anything, they can afford to lose.

Marshal Ivanov sneered: "This is a good proposal, since the Marquis of Cristanval is so confident, then I will abdicate and give way to Xian!" ”

At this point, Ivanov knew very well that he could not give in. Taking a step back is not the sea and the sky, but the abyss.

Direct hard cap is not the best option, which will offend a lot of people. However, compared to the risk of an early decisive battle, he felt that it was safer to offend people.

Now is the war years, which belongs to the most awesome era of the military, and no one can move him, the marshal with great military achievements.

Seeing that the quarrel escalated, Alexander II waved his hand: "Okay, this problem will be stopped." Marshal, let's talk about your battle plan first! ”

There is no doubt that this short episode, triumphant with the persistence of Marshal Ivanov.

In the face of the financial crisis and the risk of losing the war, Alexander II still chose to face the financial crisis, and he could not afford the risk of losing the war.

As long as the war is won, the financial crisis can always be resolved. It's really not good, it's a big deal to rely on it again. Once raw and twice cooked, it's good to get used to it.

The only trouble is the mortgaged territory, but this is a small problem, and it is a big deal to make up for the losses from the enemy, and the Vienna government does not refuse to accept the land exchange.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Ivanov replied solemnly: "Now the enemy has deployed a trap in the Warsaw area, waiting for us to jump into it."

For the sake of safety, we decided to take the Lithuanian region first, outflank the enemy forces in the Baltic region from behind, and first remove the enemy's military threat to St. Petersburg. ”

After hearing this answer, many people nodded with satisfaction, and the Prussian army had reached Estonia, which was not far from St. Petersburg.

This made the officials and men not sleep well, for fear that one day the enemy would come to the city. If it had not been for Alexander II's insistence, the tsarist government would have moved its capital to Moscow long ago.

No one would object to prioritizing the removal of the threat from St. Petersburg, not even Alexander II, who would not be disgusted with the fact that they were too safe.

After a pause, Marshal Ivanov continued: "After the reconquest of the Lithuanian region, the situation on the battlefield will change again.

Taking into account logistical pressures, the command planned to launch a full-scale offensive on the southern front, using troops along the Austro-Prussian border to facilitate the proximity of supplies from Austria.

In the rear, we only need to move forward step by step, steadily advancing, and relying on our superiority in strength to directly crush the enemy. ”

According to Ivanov's military deployment, it may be difficult for the Russian army to achieve a big victory that shocks the world, and there will be no earth-shattering defeat.

Of course, the sequelae are also very serious, and the price to pay is somewhat tragic. While defeating the enemy, the Russian Empire also had to suffer a great loss.

Alexander II asked with concern: "Is there a way to reduce our losses?" Even if we win like this, we will lose a lot. ”

After pondering for a while, Ivanov took the command and pointed in the direction of the Nordic Federation on the map, and said: "The easiest way is to let the Nordic Federation enter the war.

We have pinned down the enemy's main forces, and if they send troops to raid Berlin, we can end the war within a month.

Of course, the same goes for bringing Austria and the German Confederation into the war. The rear of the enemy was very empty, and only 50,000 troops could take Berlin. ”

It was an awkward scheme, and the Tsarist government's plan to co-opt the Nordic Confederation failed under the sabotage of John Bull.

As for Austria and the German Confederation, it is impossible to even think about it, even if they promise great benefits, it is useless.

Not to mention international relations, the nationalists will not agree in the first place.

Austria wanted to unify the German region without the support of nationalists, and the Vienna government would not go against public opinion.

The German Confederation is even more miserable, there are a bunch of internal states, the central government dares to mess around, and people will be independent in minutes.

(End of chapter)