Prime Minister John Russell in London is very unhappy with the current situation in Europe.

The government in Paris actually gave a loan to the Russians. Although for the British, this amount was not too large, only a mere 100 million francs. But the political factors behind this are very scary.

Originally, everyone agreed, Britain and France together contributed money and efforts to support the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russians in a proxy war.

Now on the battlefield, the Kingdom of Prussia has just had a crisis, and the French can't wait to fall into the ground.

Perhaps, in the eyes of the Paris government, this is a timely stop loss in order to obtain a greater return. On the side of the British, Prime Minister John Russell could not tolerate it.

"The situation in Europe is deteriorating, France and Russia are drawing closer, the position of the government in Paris has changed, and they have the intention of joining forces with the Russians to carve up Prussia.

Perhaps there is also an Austria, as long as France and Russia support Austria's annexation of the German Confederation, it will become a three-way division of the European continent between Russia, France and Austria.

This is the worst-case scenario, and each of the three countries has the strength to challenge us. If they carve up Europe, it will be even more difficult to restrict.

For the sake of Britain's strategic security, we must prevent this from happening. ”

John Russell had a strong sense of crisis, which seems to be a common denominator of the island nations and the source of their success.

Continental balance is a national policy of the London government. Now the European continent is still in balance, but the growing Russian, French and Austrian countries have seriously threatened their hegemony.

Originally, the London government was prepared to suppress the Russians first, and then use the Italian issue to provoke Franco-Austrian contradictions, so that they could contain each other on the European continent.

The plan never changed quickly, the contradictions between France and Austria were not ignited, and the Russian Empire was about to break through the restrictions and take control of the Baltic Sea.

Foreign Minister Reslin analyzed: "Your Excellency, this time France and Russia are getting closer to each other because the tsarist government has made concessions first.

The Russians, who supported the French in annexing the Rhineland, were not actually at ease.

Austria, Belgium, Prussia, the German Confederation, Spain and other countries had agreements that they would defend themselves in the event of a French invasion.

Even if the Russians support the French, but Russia and Austria are still allies, it is impossible for the tsarist government to send troops to help the French fight, right?

Nationalism is a double-edged sword, and as long as we stir up nationalism in Germany, Vienna cannot sit idly by and watch the French annex the Rhineland.

There is also a joint defense treaty, although the French are strong, but Austria's strength is also not weak, plus Spain, Belgium, the German Confederation and other countries, the French do not have much chance of winning.

Napoleon III was not stupid and could not have taken risks without the odds of winning.

……

I think the possibility of Russia, France and Austria joining forces to carve up the European continent is almost zero, first of all, the unequal distribution of spoils.

The Russians had too little to gain, Austria could not give up the German territories, and after the Russians gained Prussian Poland, the way of advance was blocked by Austria.

Of course, the tsarist government could expand into northern Europe if it wanted to. But Sweden is not a soft persimmon, and it is impossible to succeed without paying a certain price.

Besides, the Russo-Prussian War alone was fought so hard, are the Russians still capable of attacking Sweden? ”

This is a real problem, and although the Russian Empire is strong, its exhaustion has already been revealed. If it had been the Russian Empire before the war in the Near East, the Kingdom of Prussia would have received a boxed lunch long ago.

The tsarist government did not rely on crowd tactics to kill Prussia, the main reason was that the government had no money. Increasing the number of troops on the front line also means increasing military spending.

Fighting on the plains of Bode, there were rivers to transport strategic supplies, and theoretically the tsarist government would be able to guarantee the supply of supplies even if it sent millions of troops.

In the case of their own exhaustion, they are obviously going to suffer a big loss by carving up the European continent with Fao.

It was enough to defeat the Kingdom of Prussia just in Prussian Poland, and there was no need to take it into fire.

"No, Reslin. These are all theoretically, you have to understand that the Russian Empire was a dictatorship. As long as the tsar thinks it is feasible, it is possible to become a reality.

We cannot take rational reasoning as a tsarist decision. In fact, most of the Russian tsars were irrational.

Russia, France and Austria are all dictatorships, and as long as the emperor makes a decision, they can form an alliance immediately, and we cannot give them any chance to get closer. ”

This is not Prime Minister John Russell's pessimism, but something that a country's leaders must take into account. For Great Britain, there is no need to take any risks now, and "stability" is the most important thing.

No matter where Franco-Russian relations have been, there is always nothing wrong with disturbing them.

Playing the role of a European-stirring stick, half of the contradictions on the European continent in the past hundred years have been provoked by them, and now it's time to perform again.

……

The Berlin government intervened to obstruct it, and the British were also sabotaging, so Franz naturally could not be idle.

If you are calculated, you will definitely fight back. However, the loan contract has been signed, so naturally it cannot be torn up. Where to start the counterattack has become a real question.

Alexander II knew that with civilized means and secretly calculated within the rules, Franz naturally could not break the rules.

Conservatives who support the Russian Empire?

Inappropriate!

This is because Russia's participation in internal affairs is too deep, and it has no effect other than worsening relations between the two countries. Franz did not think that these men could fight Alexander II.

Secretly supporting the Revolutionary Party?

It's even more unlikely. As an emperor, Franz and the revolutionary party were naturally in the opposite camp, and they could not do the affairs of the enemy.

Besides, the state of the Russian Empire was very bad, what if it was overthrown?

The rotten tsarist government was Austria's best ally, and the nascent Russia was Austria's greatest threat, a risk that Franz did not dare to take.

To sow discord between the Russians and the countries of Europe?

It seems that this is of no use, and it does not need Franz to do anything, and now the tsarist government has been gloriously isolated.

……

After much deliberation, Franz finally reluctantly came to the conclusion: in the context of the Russian-Austrian alliance, the Russians could not be helpless in a short time.

Foreign Secretary Wessenberg proposed: "Your Majesty, the tsarist government has made a request for our help in refitting a batch of breech-loading rifles. ”

During the war years, even the tsarist government attached great importance to weapons and equipment. Having personally felt the power of breech-loading rifles, they also had to abandon breech-loading rifles.

Converting a breech-loading rifle to a breech-loading rifle is, naturally, to save costs. In this respect, the Russo-Prussian War was not without contribution, at least for the tsarist government to learn to be calculating.

Modifying hundreds of thousands of rifles is just a small business. If it weren't for the political significance of the arms trade, there would be no need for the foreign ministries of the two countries to intervene.

Franz thought for a moment and said, "Well, let them talk to the capitalists, we don't interfere with free trade."

Send someone to sell the Russians a line of breech rifles, and by the way, sell them the converted old goods from our warehouses.

Remember to tell the Russians that breech guns are also more powerful, and recommend that they purchase a batch for trial. ”

It takes time to modify a breech rifle, and the officers and soldiers at the front line will definitely not be able to wait, in this case, of course, they have to buy it from Austria.

This was the dividend of the sale of arcane equipment to the tsarist government during the Near Eastern War. In addition to earning supporting service fees, the Russians also had to choose Austria when it came to purchasing equipment.

After the outbreak of the Russo-Prussian War, the tsarist government immediately placed orders with Austria to purchase strategic materials, the main reason was that everyone had the same standard system.

The roads have been paved, and Franz naturally cannot let the Russians get rid of the influence of Arcannic equipment in this weapons revolution, which is related to the future strategic layout.

If it were in peacetime, the Russians would naturally be able to slowly upgrade their weapons and equipment, and the technical content of breech weapons would be too high, and it would just take a few more years.

No big country is willing to be controlled by others in terms of weapons and equipment for a long time. Alexander II was also not a man of inactivity, if it were not for the lack of money, it is estimated that he would have taken action against the military-industrial system a long time ago.

It's a pity that the Russians were unlucky, and the last time the weapons were updated met with the war in the Near East. In order to save time, the Arcanon equipment became the mainstream in the army.

This time the weapons were updated, and the Russo-Prussian War was encountered again. War will not wait, and Franz is ready to force the Russians to sell Arcanna.

Want to get rid of the restrictions, did you know that the tsarist government had a million troops? How much does it cost to redress so many armies and replace the production line of weapons?

If you don't have any money, then you can continue to use it. Anyway, in terms of cost, the direct purchase of the Olympic equipment system will not be much more expensive than independent research and development.

As for doing so, will it lose its independent research and development capabilities? This is not the concern of the Russian bureaucracy, it is better to think about how to get rich than to think about it so much.

After two or three successive generations of the use of the Argonomic military industrial system, the Russians' weapons research and development personnel were almost abolished. If we want to get out of this situation in the future, we will have to retrain talent.

Franz understood why Alexander II had always been unhappy with Austria, and no one would be happy when he encountered such a thing.

It's a pity that this is a conspiracy in the same way that he calculates Austria. Knowing that it was a pit, Franz would also throw real money into it, and the same is true of the tsarist government now.

In order to ensure the independence of the military industry, it is impossible to ignore the needs of the front-line war, let the soldiers take the backward breech equipment and give the enemy's head, right?

This is really giving people heads, breech rifles can be fought on their stomachs, while breech rifles can only play platoon tactics.

Just think about it, you know how badly you will be abused when you encounter it on the battlefield.

Foreign Secretary Wesenberg explained: "Your Majesty, we don't really need to sell it, just delay the speed of the modification.

Recently, the Prussians have behaved very well, taking advantage of their superiority in weapons and equipment, and repeatedly inflicting heavy losses on the Russian army in field battles.

Although the Russians had the advantage of sea power and were constantly attacking the coastal areas of the Kingdom of Prussia, they were not prepared enough to extend their gains. ”

This is the heart of the matter. Theoretically, as long as the Russian navy covered the landing of the army and blossomed on all sides within the Kingdom of Prussia, the Kingdom of Prussia would collapse in a few months.

However, the tsarist government was not prepared, and the navy did a good job of attacking the coast of the Kingdom of Prussia, but unfortunately the army did not keep up and expand the results.

Prussia and Russia are not far apart, and the cross-sea expedition cannot be called a cross-sea expedition, but the necessary logistical supplies are still indispensable.

There is no doubt that the tsarist government did not have so many strategic materials now, or there was no way to transport so many strategic materials there.

In order to supply the troops at the front, the tsarist government had to buy and buy. It was not just the lack of production capacity in the Russian Empire, the most important thing was that the transportation was too bad.

Russian Poland was one of their granaries, and most of the food supply in St. Petersburg came from here, and now that this land was lost, the tsarist government naturally had to transfer grain from other regions.

The railways are not smooth, and it will take at least a month to transport supplies from Ukraine and the Moscow region to the front line by horse-drawn carts and ox-carts.

This still has to be God's face, if it's winter, it's even worse, and it's possible to walk for two or three months. Such poor transportation not only increases costs, but also limits the amount of materials transported.

The army at the front fought and could also import strategic supplies from Austria next door. However, it is not possible to fight across the sea, even if the materials are imported from Austria, they must be transported in a large circle.

This is the Russians' own pot, and if the navy is sent to attack the Prussian coast at the beginning of the war, then it is also possible to use the rivers in the Polish region to transport supplies imported from Austria.

Now there is no need to think about it, most of Russian Poland fell into the hands of the enemy. At this time, the transportation of goods was carried out either by land through the Belarusian region, or by sea in a large circle along the European continent.

Either way, it restricts the amount of material transported.

Originally, the Russians could also buy strategic materials from European countries, but unfortunately they did not buy the Russians' accounts. No one will do their business unless they come up with real money.

Because of financial problems, the tsarist government could not procure supplies from various countries on a large scale, which is why Alexander II was in a hurry to borrow money.

Only by solving the financial problem will they be able to raise enough strategic supplies to bring out the superiority of the Navy.