After roughly flipping through the information, Dumbledore directly put down the document and sneered: "Your Excellency, such an obvious means of sowing discord is inevitably too low-end.

Everyone knows that we and Austria are allies, so why worry about the Austrian threat? Is that all there is to it? ”

The French government naturally could not be ignorant of the Austrian threat, and it was not the first time that Dumbledore had seen the information provided by Geoffrey Friedman.

It's just that there is a discrepancy in the data. In this regard, it is the same in all countries, because of the relationship between politics and personal will, collecting information about competitors is often carried out artistic processing.

In Dumbledore's view, it was nothing more than the Pop Federation wanting to emphasize the "Austrian threat theory" and deliberately exaggerating Austria's strength.

These data compare the data of France and Austria, and Austria has an overall advantage. After first looking at a few sets of data, Dumbledore was not interested.

As a Frenchman's arrogance, he also did not believe that it was true. The Paris government has also collected intelligence from Austria and has come to the conclusion that France and Austria are on par in terms of overall strength, and that France even has a slight advantage.

Jeffrey Friedman's heart sank, and he secretly wondered if the data was too exaggerated for Dumbledore to find a problem.

After all, there is no satellite and no Internet, and even collecting information about your own country is very difficult, and it requires a lot of manpower and material resources.

Not to mention collecting information from other countries, if you really want to send someone to count it, it is estimated that you will be treated as a spy just after you start the operation.

Information is usually collected through public sources such as estimating the number of import and export ships, or economic newspapers in various places, and annual reports published by large companies.

And then economists based on this data, "probably + probably" equals the answer. Errors are inevitable, and different economists come to different conclusions.

Whether out of national pride or political necessity, the French were not allowed to draw a single conclusion that they were inferior to Austria.

Dumbledore was the Foreign Secretary, not the Minister of Economics, and it was enough to look at the high-sounding report on the surface, and he didn't need to care about the details.

After a pause, Jeffrey Friedman reluctantly said, "Okay, put this information aside. There can only be one hegemon on the European continent, and Austria is your country's biggest competitor in continental hegemony. ”

Dumbledore nodded in agreement.

Jeffrey Friedman: "In recent years, the Austrians have developed the Balkan Peninsula, and their power has grown rapidly, with a population of nearly 80 million in Europe alone, and the total economic volume has surpassed that of the British to become the largest in the world.

This information is well known and will not be meaningful.

From 1870 to the present, the Vienna government has expanded its army three times, with a total of 714,000 army and navy troops, including 608,000 in the army.

With the exception of the Russian Empire, no other country in Europe could compare with this number of standing armies. As far as I know, your country has only 476,000 standing armies.

In addition to the standing army, Austria had a large reserve force. The exact number is unknown, but in any case, more than a million people receive reserve training every year.

Who is such a huge military force aimed at?

I can't think of a country other than yours that requires Austria to treat so carefully.

If you don't prepare, once the Austrians are ready, I'm afraid your country will face an attack by millions of enemy troops. ”

Dumbledore shook his head, "Your Excellency, don't change concepts. A group of civilians can also be considered an army? If war broke out, France would have enough strength to defeat all enemies.

Modern warfare can no longer be won by relying on a large number of people. If the Russians have the largest army in terms of numbers, is your country going to bow down and admit defeat?

As for the Austrian threat, it was France's own domestic business, and it was not your Excellency's concern. With this energy, you should think about how to deal with the Russians! ”

After a pause, Dumbledore added, "As a word of caution, if you want to talk about threats, your country is also a potential adversary of France, even before Austria.

The world has been divided, and Britain, France, and Austria can form an alliance because we are all vested interests, and it is enough to safeguard the existing interests. ”

There was no doubt that Dumbledore was very unhappy that Geoffrey Friedman's hand was stretched too long, so he directly warned him.

No matter how great the Austrian threat is, it can only be discovered by the French government itself. Jeffrey Friedman's reminder is clearly aimed at provoking Franco-Austrian conflict.

As France's Foreign Secretary, how could Dumbledore accept being used?

……

On the way back to the embassy, seeing that Jeffrey Friedman had been worried, the deputy envoy, Lieutenant General McAfee, comforted: "Jeffrey, don't be sad. You have done a good job, this mission failed, mainly because we misestimated the French. ”

Jeffrey Friedman shook his head, "The mission has not failed, Dumbledore has accepted our point of view. ”

Seeing that Lieutenant General McAfee was confused, Jeffrey Friedman explained: "Don't be surprised, if it weren't for poking the French in the sore spot, Dumbledore wouldn't have lost his temper.

His final warning, while true, was never lifted. Since we have said it directly, it seems that the relationship between Britain, France and Austria is even worse than we expected. ”

McAfee was even more puzzled, and asked directly: "Jeffrey, why do you want to ...... when our plan is successful?"

Jeffrey Friedman replied with a wry smile: "Because what Dumbledore said is true, Britain, France and Austria do not want to see the rise of new powers and share the cake with them." It's the same both for the Russians and for us.

Now we are almost at the peak of our development, and even if we defeat the Russians, it will be difficult for us to gain much.

If we want to go further, we will face the joint suppression of Britain, France and Austria, and our future is worrying! ”

Jeffrey Friedman has come to his senses, and it is true that Britain, France and Austria are full of contradictions, but on the issue of suppressing latecomers, the interests of the three countries are the same.

The current Pop-Po Confederation is no longer a small country, and if the Russians are defeated again, they will take the place of the Russians in Europe.

Britain, France and Austria did not want to see the rise of a new Russia, so the good days of the Pubo Federation would end after the war.

If the international situation does not change and the Triple Alliance of Britain, France and Austria does not collapse, the Pop-Polish Federation will always be able to survive in the shadow of the three major powers.

If it weren't for the authorities, the Berlin government would have understood these problems a long time ago. However, everyone was always thinking about how to defeat the Russians, and did not think at all about what would happen after the war.

Deep down, a voice has been telling Jeffrey Friedman that ending the dispute between Russia and China is the best option, and that a war will only be cheaper.

It's impossible to say it. Most of the more than 800,000 square kilometers of territory of the Pop-Polish Federation were acquired from the Russians, so how could it be stopped?

Even if the Berlin government was willing to reconcile, the tsarist government would not agree! If the Pop-Polish Federation is not suppressed, how can the Russians be embarrassed to call themselves great powers?

Even if they know that continuing the war will be detrimental to both countries, both sides will not stop.

The Junker aristocracy wanted more benefits, the Russians wanted shame, and the conflict of interests simply could not be reconciled.

Lieutenant General McAfee smiled slightly: "Jeffrey, you're thinking too much. Even if there is going to be repression, it will be after we defeat the Russians, who knows what will happen in the future?

I don't believe that the British, French and Austrian Triple Alliance can be maintained. As long as there is a conflict between the three countries, we have a chance.

The world is divided, and the colonies don't have our share, so let's just give up. Britain, France, and Austria are worried that we will replace Russia, so they will show them. ”

In this era, overseas colonies were a symbol of wealth, and naturally everyone wanted them, but unfortunately the Berlin government's attempt ended in failure.

It turns out that the navy cannot be developed overnight, and the Junker aristocracy is a landlubber, and it really can't be done when it goes into the water.

Ever since the Navy was beaten by the Danes in the Baltic Sea, the Berlin government extinguished the unrealistic dream of the sea.

A staunch land authority like Lieutenant General McAfee no longer fantasizes about how many colonies to open up, and it is the best choice to catch the Russians and beat them up.

Territorial expansion on the European continent has never been smooth sailing. The strategy formulated by the Junker aristocracy is to gradually encroach on the land of the Russians, but there is no domineering encroachment on the European continent like the original time and space.