While the government was taking action, the people were not idle either. The fastest to react was the capital market. The prices of strategic materials continued to rise in the futures market, and the stock market was also experiencing a double whammy.
Companies engaged in overseas trade all fell to the point where they doubted their own lives. Instead, the military sector rose rapidly.
For the sake of their own interests, the capitalists engaged in overseas trade quickly took action and launched a powerful anti-war movement throughout Europe.
Especially in the small European countries, almost all of their citizens participated and submitted petitions to the embassies of Britain and Austria, calling for the two countries to calm down and solve the problem through negotiations.
Unfortunately, it was of no use. The chariots of Britannia and Shinra had already started. They could not stop even if they wanted to.
It was not that Franz did not respect the will of the people. On the contrary, it was because of the will of the people that started the war. Although the voice of anti-war among the people was high, the voice of pro-war was even louder!
Other than those who had their interests at stake, there were only idealists left in the country who opposed the war. There was no doubt that compared to the entire society, the voices of these people were insignificant.
There was no other way, the deer of the British was too fat. If the British Empire was still at its peak, even if they had ambitions, they could only hold it in.
The reality was very cruel. The British missed the second industrial revolution, which directly led to them being at a disadvantage in international competition.
Although people originally doubted the strength of the British, they were intimidated by the reputation of the Royal Navy and did not dare to act rashly for a while.
However, with the announcement of the British withdrawal from the free trade system, they suddenly revealed their bottom line. Everyone suddenly realized that the former world factory was now in decline.
Once his weakness was exposed, it was obviously impossible for him to have the same deterrence as before.
There were still many smart people in this world. If Franz could think of using numbers to crush the British, naturally, the people could also think of it.
With the advantage of industrial size, Shinra could completely achieve: For every warship that the British built, they would build two to compete.
The navy was a technical arm, but it was also a technological arm. No matter how elite the Royal Navy was, it was impossible to fight against two enemies at sea.
At least when the performance of the two warships was similar, it was impossible to fight against two enemies at the same time.
Then the problem was, the overall strength of the country was obviously stronger, why did the British become the leader?
This was not a battle for fame. There were also a lot of benefits behind it. The biggest bonus would naturally be currency hegemony, which was almost tied to world hegemony.
In the past ten or twenty years, the hegemony of the British Kingdom was not stable enough. Even the monetary hegemony of the British Pound Sterling was taken away by the Shield.
But no matter how much they shared, it was still not as good as eating it all alone. No one could refuse to get rid of the British and monopolize the currency hegemony.
Not only that, the British had the most fertile colony in their hands. It was a great temptation to both the nobles and the commoners.
It was no joke to turn things around. According to Emperor Franz's usual style, the most fertile land was to be given out, and everyone was tempted by it.
Everyone was looking forward to the moon. It was not easy for them to wait for the British Empire to decline. If they did not act quickly, what would happen if the British Empire were to rise again?
There were precedents. The Holy Roman Empire was a classic example of a rebirth from the ashes. No one could guarantee that the British would not be able to do it.
No matter how one looked at it, the current Britannia was much stronger than the fragmented Shinra. The difficulty of reviving was also much lower.
As long as they made some internal adjustments and made up for the lessons they missed during the second industrial revolution, they would still be a powerful empire.
There was no need to crush the strength of Shinra. As long as the strength of the two sides was close, the Government of Vienna would not be able to launch a challenge that was bound to be a lose-lose situation.
Perhaps the future of Britannia would be even worse, but everyone's patience had almost worn out, and they were not willing to wait any longer.
Moreover, the British would not sit still and wait. If the reform was that simple, Campbell would not have stopped.
It was precisely because they had changed everything that could be changed. When it was time to "reform", they suddenly got stuck. They had no choice but to suppress their competitors to consolidate their hegemony.
As a result, when they looked back, their competitors had become giants. Not to mention suppressing their competitors, it was already good enough that they were not suppressed by their competitors.
They were not willing to give up their hegemony, and the British were naturally no exception. Driven by interests, the British Empire could not help but start the war chariot.
St. Peter Castle. Ever since the conflict between Shinra and Britannia intensified, Nicholas II had a bad feeling.
Although he dreamed of provoking a war between Britain and Austria so that he could be the fisherman and reap the most benefits.
But now was not the right time! The Russian Empire was deep in the Far East quagmire. Before dealing with the Japanese, they had no time to be distracted.
Not to mention the fisherman, even the Far East battlefield needed the help of the Government of Vienna to be able to survive.
In this context, not to mention the fisherman reaping the benefits, it was already lucky that the fish in the moat was not affected.
The war between Britannia and Shinra would affect the foreign trade of the entire Europe, and the Russian Empire was no exception.
If it was simply a loss of trade, Nicholas II naturally would not mind in order to make Shinra and Britannia fight.
The problem was that the logistics of the Russian Army in the Far East battlefield were all transported from the European continent.
Except for a small number of supplies that were transported through Siberia to the Far East, most of them were transported by sea and land through the Empire of the Far East, and then delivered to the frontline troops through smuggling.
The outbreak of war between Shinra and Britannia would inevitably affect the sea lines of communication. Especially the ships that transported strategic supplies, they would be the focus of the attacks from both sides.
Accidental injuries were inevitable. It would be fine if they encountered the Shinra Navy on the way, they would not seize their ships, but it would be a tragedy if they encountered the Royal Navy.
Nicholas II did not think that the British would be lenient because of his own reputation. After all, Britain and Japan were allies, and there had always been hatred between Britain and Russia.
If the supplies were seized on the way, the Russian Army at the frontline would be in tragedy. Without enough logistical supplies, they would not be able to fight.
Thinking of this, without any hesitation, Nicholas II immediately ordered: "Send someone from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to urge us on our previous orders, and at the same time increase the orders with the Shinra army factories.
At all costs, we must send at least one year's worth of strategic supplies to the Far East before the outbreak of war between the two countries. "
They had to be in a hurry, now time waits for no one. If they were one step slower, it could lead to the failure of the war.
Fortunately, the smuggling network had been opened. As long as the supplies were sent to the Empire of the Far East, someone would take over and be responsible for transporting them to the frontline. The Tsarist government only needed to pay.
Foreign Minister Mikhailovich: "Your Majesty, isn't this too hasty? Piling up a large number of strategic supplies in the Empire of the Far East, and also guarding against the Japanese, it is easy to cause accidents. "
This worry was not unnecessary. Who told them to offend so many people! In recent decades, they had been fleecing the Empire of the Far East, and the seeds of hatred had long been planted.
The smuggling trade could be carried out unimpeded, in addition to the fact that the higher-ups of the Empire of the Far East hoped that both Japan and Russia would suffer losses, more importantly, it was the Jin merchants who were responsible for the transportation.
If it fell into the hands of nationalists, even if they didn't light up the fire, they wouldn't be able to safely deliver it to the destination.
It must be known that the Japanese were not idle. They carried out anti-Russian propaganda day and night, at least a hundred times better than the Russian propaganda department.
Nicholas II shook his head and said: "We can't care so much now. If we delay any longer, it will be too late. First send the supplies to the Empire of the Far East and entrust them to the Austrians.
They have a good relationship with the Empire of the Far East. In order to avoid affecting the relationship between the two countries, the Far East government will not do anything to their goods.
As long as the Holy Roman Empire is not defeated in the war for hegemony, no one will dare to act rashly. "
It could be seen that Nicholas II's mood was very conflicted.
On the one hand, he needed the support of Shinra to win the ongoing war between Japan and Russia; on the other hand, he hoped that Shinra would be defeated. Only when Shinra was defeated, the Russian Empire could return to the center of the world.
No matter how conflicted he was, he still had to stand with the Government of Vienna politically. The name of the Russo-Austrian Alliance couldn't be lost just like that.
As for the British trying to rope him in, Nicholas II had never taken it seriously. The hatred between Britain and Russia was too deep. Even Tsar didn't dare to give up easily.
Forming an alliance with the enemy and then turning around to attack the ally, that was even more impossible. If he really wanted to do that, he would have to change to Tsar.
There was only one Peter III, and there could only be one. The Russians would not suffer the same loss twice.
Yevgeny, the Minister of War, said: "Your Majesty, the enemy has increased the frequency of air patrols. In order to ensure the safety of the airships, we must increase the strength of the escort.
The Ministry of War hopes to increase the purchase of aircraft to seize air supremacy in the Far East battlefield. "
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