Chapter 327

The flames of war raged in South Africa, causing the London government to be deeply worried. At one point, they thought that Austria and France had reached a secret deal to attack the German Federal Empire.

Fortunately, the worst didn't happen. Austria didn't take action, otherwise they would have added a new threat.

Although Austria was scary in the Mediterranean, it couldn't threaten Britannia. Once the German Region was unified and crossed the Atlantic Ocean, the situation would change and the distance between the two sides would be shortened.

Of course, this threat was relative. Franz was also worried about the threat from the British. After all, the Royal Navy was the strongest in the world.

Nothing happened. Prime Minister Benjamin was even more confused. He couldn't see what the Austrians wanted to do.

They didn't care about the threat from France? That was impossible! The House of Habsburg and the French had been entangled in Europe for hundreds of years. How could they not know the horror of their opponent?

France annexed Italy not only to expand their territory, but also to establish France's position as the hegemon of the Mediterranean and Europe.

Why didn't Austria compromise on this issue? Reason would compromise. Even if they were worried about directly going against France, after the Government of London agreed to the alliance, the Government of Vienna should have made a move.

Prime Minister Benjamin asked with concern, "Have you figured out the inside story of the Fao deal?"

The more he didn't understand, the more he felt there was a problem. In order to figure out the inside deal between the Fao and Germany, the Government of London did its best and used the highest level of spies.

Because of this, many spies lurking in the Fao and Germany were exposed. The information sent back was still fragmented and needed to be analyzed and inferred.

Foreign Minister Macklin thought for a moment and said, "We don't have enough information in our hands, so we can only make a preliminary judgment.

The general idea is: Austria acquiesces to the annexation of the Regions of Italy by France in exchange for France's recognition of their unification of the German Region.

There may be other exchanges of interests, such as: the two countries jointly divide up the Mediterranean and exclude us; and the secret division of the African continent, etc.

In recent years, the relationship between the Fao and Germany had been very close. During the overseas colonial expansion, the two countries seemed to have agreed to go their separate ways and rarely had direct conflicts.

The French's sudden action caught the Government of Vienna off guard. Austria didn't have time to prepare. They had to unify the German Region and couldn't avoid the Kingdom of Prussia.

The Vienna government had originally planned to use the Russo-Prussian War to weaken Prussia, but they did not expect the Russians to be so disappointing that they actually lost the war.

If not for this accident, the nationalists would have forced the defeated Kingdom of Prussia to join the Shenluo Empire, and now Austria would have unified the German region.

The plan of the Government of Vienna failed because of an accident. Right now, they're probably still wondering if they should unify Germany by force. "

Imagination was often the scariest. The mixed intelligence successfully led the Englishman astray, and Macklin chose the most logical inference.

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief, as if they had accepted this explanation. The unknown was always the scariest. Once they figured out the ins and outs of the matter, there would be a solution.

Minister of Finance Motory analyzed, "In recent years, the Government of Vienna invested a lot of revenue into economic development and didn't make military preparations.

The Kingdom of Prussia isn't weak. After the lesson of Russia, the Government of Vienna can't attack them without preparation.

But we still need to prepare for the worst. Austria has a great advantage over Prussia. Once the Government of Vienna makes up its mind, it won't take long to prepare for war. "

War wasn't a child's play, especially modern wars, which relied heavily on logistics. When two countries went to war, a series of material preparations were necessary. This required a lot of money and manpower, and it was impossible to keep it a secret.

It was quite reliable to judge whether a country was preparing for war from the flow of materials.

"We really need to be vigilant. A big France is enough. We can't let another unified Shinra Empire appear.

After so many years of development, the gap in strength between Prussia and Austria didn't narrow. Instead, it widened.

Although Prussia won the Prussian War, the spoils of war still needed time to be digested. They couldn't all be transformed into strength in a short time.

Austria's standing army was as high as 580,000. If war broke out, they could mobilize another two or three million troops in the shortest time possible.

As early as a decade ago, Austria created a record of more than 1.8 million troops in a month. In terms of mobilization, the Austrians were at the forefront of the world.

Perhaps the Austrian Alkebulan Empire could mobilize a million soldiers. Furthermore, these troops weren't weak at all. Currently, a group of nobles' private armies could fight evenly with us in South Africa.

Although Prussia had a standing army of 360,000, it was limited by money and manpower, as well as the impact of the Prussian War. It was estimated that their maximum mobilization was about 700,000.

The Government of Berlin is now increasing the training of reserve troops. According to the plan of the General Staff of Prussia, they will train one million reserve troops in ten years. In the future, their mobilization capacity is expected to exceed 1.5 million.

Since the Near East War, the pattern of war on the European continent has changed. The future war will definitely be fought by large armies. The size of our army can't keep up with the times. "

The one who spoke was the Minister of War, Brandt. Seeing the great development of the armies of the European countries, while the lobster soldiers were stagnant, he was anxious.

The era of large armies had arrived. Many people had expected this problem. In the Prussian War that had just ended, the Russian Empire had fought alone. The total number of troops had exceeded two million.

This number was something they didn't even dare to think about in the past. If it wasn't for the limitations of transportation and the corruption of the Tsarist government, the Russians would have won the war with their advantage in numbers.

After experiencing it for themselves, everyone had to admit that the number of troops that could be used in modern warfare was far greater than in the past. In a situation where the advantage in quality wasn't obvious, the tactic of using numbers was the simplest and most effective tactic.

Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli rubbed his forehead and said, "We'll discuss the problem of the army later. Let's first discuss how to deal with this challenge."

The army wanted to expand. How could that work? The landlord didn't have any surplus food. In order to maintain the Royal Navy, the Government of London's financial resources were almost depleted. No one could stand another gold-swallowing beast.

The daily military expenditure of the two countries wasn't less than theirs. In some years, it was even more than theirs. The Royal Navy was still able to maintain an absolute advantage. Naturally, they took the majority of the military expenditure.

Under normal circumstances, it was normal for the Royal Navy to take 70-80% of the military budget. Occasionally, they would take 90% of the military budget.

If it was the Royal Navy or the two countries, it would be considered considerate if the navy could take half of the military budget. Most of the time, the army took the majority.

Taking Austria as an example, the army would usually take 55% to 60% of the annual military budget. The rest was the navy's military budget.

France was almost the same. Unless it was a naval arms race, it was difficult for the Royal Navy or the two countries' naval expenditure to surpass the army's.

Under such circumstances, the Royal Navy's position as the dominant force on the sea was consolidated. If the army wanted to expand, they would either increase military expenditure or squeeze out the navy's share.

Both of these were impossible to achieve. The London government's finances would not be able to withstand a large increase in military spending, and cutting the navy's military spending would be a slow suicide.

Once the Royal Navy's advantage was gone, Britannia's good days would be over. As soon as they showed any signs of decadence, the European countries would rush up and divide their colonial empires.

Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli knew that the army's problems couldn't be solved. He didn't wait for Brandt to continue and directly covered the problem.

Knowing the seriousness of the matter, Foreign Minister Macklin took over the topic. "Austria is already very strong. We absolutely can't let them unify the German Region.

The Kingdom of Prussia's military pressure is too great. They need to face the military pressure from Russia and Austria. I suggest continuing to strengthen the Kingdom of Prussia. If necessary, let them annex the Kingdom of Poland.

But it shouldn't be too early. The Russian Empire hasn't recovered yet. If they annex Poland earlier, they might join forces with Austria to destroy the Russian Empire first.

We need a balanced European continent. It's not a good phenomenon that there are so many big countries. If we don't change this situation, the European continent will be unified again sooner or later.

Therefore, the Greater France must also be broken up. Otherwise, when the strong countries annex the weak countries, it will be a big problem. "

The result of "European continent unification" was too terrifying. A unified European continent would really kill Britannia.

John Bull's sense of crisis had always been very strong. Once the big European countries showed signs of unifying the continent, they would immediately be suppressed by them.

Later on, it developed to the point where whoever was stronger would be suppressed. More than ten years ago, the Russian Empire dominated the European continent. Then John Bull worked hard to suppress the Russians.

Now that the Russians had gone down, the Fao and Austria appeared again. It wasn't their style to fight one against two. After some initial attempts, they decisively chose the strategy of fighting whoever appeared first.

Originally, the Government of London had chosen Austria as their target. When they were preparing to implement the plan, the French appeared.

Not only did they appear, but after annexing the Regions of Italy, they also forced their power out of the Mediterranean Sea.

This couldn't be tolerated. The Government of London had to change their target. However, the plan couldn't keep up with the changes. Austria didn't cooperate. John Bull looked at the French and didn't know where to start.

Prime Minister Benjamin said seriously, "The Italian revolutionary leaders Garibaldi and Mazzini have arrived in London, hoping to get our support to restore their country.

They have already met with the former Sardinian royal, Vittorio Emanuele II. Both sides have reached an agreement and decided to unite against the French rule.

In addition, some of the nobles in the Regions of Italy have contacted us, hoping that we can convene an international conference to stop the French invasion.

However, these forces are too scattered. Even with our support, it will be difficult to shake the French rule in the Regions of Italy in the short term. We need more support from our allies. "

After saying that, he looked at the Foreign Minister, Macklin, hoping that he could give a satisfactory answer.

He didn't disappoint. The Foreign Minister, Macklin, gave the answer. "This time, all the European countries are standing against the French. However, they are intimidated by the French's strength and don't want to offend them too much.

Even the Austrians don't want to see the French eat Italy so easily. They may not interfere on the surface, but the Government of Vienna definitely doesn't mind creating trouble for them in secret.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has contacted other countries. Everyone is willing to support the Italian independence movement and break the French's ambition to dominate the European continent.

Austria is an exception. They are worried that the Italian independence movement will spread to Lombardy and Venetia, so they refused to support the Italian revolutionary party.

That old fox, Felix, suggested that we contact the French revolutionary party and encourage the French people to rise up against the colonial invasion.

Yes, he also proposed to support an anti-French Spanish king to cause trouble for the French.

In theory, this is feasible. The only problem is to grasp this degree. Otherwise, when the French fall, Austria will be the dominant party. "

Everyone was playing an overt scheme to make trouble for the French. However, Austria refused to take the lead this time and pushed everything to the British.

Knowing was one thing, but it still had to be done. If Austria was a potential threat, then the Great France Empire was a real threat.

If they didn't act soon, there would be no place for the British in the Mediterranean. In the future, Britannia's overseas trade to the Indian Ocean would be controlled by the French.

Prime Minister Benjamin sneered and said, "Let the Austrians be happy for a few days. They will cry in the future. Don't care what they are planning. Follow the original plan and suppress the French first.

After we break up the Great France, we will slowly settle the accounts with them. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will use the anti-French alliance as a cover to secretly contact other countries and prepare for the establishment of the anti-Austrian alliance. "

The anti-Russian alliance, anti-French alliance, and anti-Austrian alliance were carefully prepared by the British for the three competitors of the Russian Fao.

At present, the anti-Russian alliance had succeeded. In the recent war, the anti-Russian alliance defeated the Russians in one fell swoop and buried the Russian Empire's European hegemony.

It wasn't the first time that the anti-French alliance was formed. It was just that Napoleon Iii changed the foreign policy of the Napoleonic era and chose to make peace with the European countries, which caused the anti-French alliance to be unable to be established.

Now that the situation had changed, the establishment of the Great France Empire laid the foundation for the re-establishment of the anti-French alliance.

If it wasn't for the lack of the crucial link in Austria, the anti-French alliance would have probably raised its flag publicly. In the face of this alliance, it was hard for Napoleon Iii not to compromise.

The anti-Austrian alliance had been lurking, but in fact, the British had been preparing for it for a long time. Looking at the map, one would find that Poland, Prussia, and Switzerland around Austria all had anti-Austrian tendencies.

If the situation changed, it wasn't impossible for the Russian Empire to stand on the opposite side of Austria. If Italy succeeded in becoming independent, this new country would naturally be a member of the anti-Austrian camp.

It could be said that if the Government of Vienna was not careful, it would step into the trap set by the British and fall into a state of isolation and helplessness.