Chapter 376

In St. Peter's Castle, Alexander III had lost a lot of hair since he received the news of the secret agreement between Britain and Russia.

Alexander III threw away the telegram in his hand and complained, "Damn British, can't they be a little more obedient?

After a few days of peace, they started to stir up trouble again. Do they really think we are easy to bully … "

In all honesty, he really didn't want to cause trouble now. Wasn't it good to farm quietly? Why did they have to cause trouble?

The Minister of Finance, Alisher Gurov, advised, "Your Majesty, this is a trick of the British.

They provoked the Persian conflict at this time to interrupt the recovery of the Russian Empire. We must not let their plot succeed. "

He was really afraid that the young and hot-blooded Tsar would throw caution to the wind and start a war with the British in a fit of rage. This kind of thing had happened many times during the previous Tsars.

To be exact, this kind of thing happened many times in the world. This lasted until modern times. After learning from the lessons of countless predecessors, people became rational.

The current Russian Empire was not suitable to wage war. First, it was the Prussian War, then the economic crisis. The Russian Empire was at its weakest.

Without waiting for Alexander III to answer, the Minister of War, Paladru Walter, spoke first, "Everyone knows this is a conspiracy of the British, but so what?

The interests of the Russian Empire cannot be violated. The Persian issue is just a test by the British. If we don't cut off their delusion, there will be more trouble waiting for us.

Once the outside world thinks that the Russian Empire has declined, the enemies we have to face will not only be the British. "

There was too much hatred. When the Russian Empire was strong, these were all minor problems and nothing to worry about.

Now it was different. The Russian Empire was at its weakest. It could live a stable life because of the tiger's prestige in the past.

No matter how powerful the tiger was, it couldn't change the fact that it was a sick tiger. If the wolves and tigers in the mountains couldn't be deterred, it would be a situation of wolves eating the tiger.

In order to avoid the worst situation, the Tsarist government had made a lot of efforts, including: restoring the Russo-Austrian Alliance, actively participating in the Near East War …

On the one hand, they used the power of the Alliance to deter the heroes, and on the other hand, they showed their muscles on the battlefield to make everyone believe that the Russian Empire was still strong.

In order to speed up the recovery, the Tsarist government even sold the spoils of the Near East War in exchange for a large sum of money to improve the finance.

However, the test still came. The Persian problem was only a shadow. Once the Russian Empire showed signs of fatigue, there would never be a day of peace.

Seeing the tension, the Foreign Minister Oscar Jimenez hurriedly explained, "Your Excellency, the matter is not so serious.

Noticing the tense atmosphere, Foreign Affairs Minister Oscar Jimenez hurriedly explained, "Your Excellency, it's not that serious.

The British may be testing us, but the Persian issue also involves the interests of Austria. As long as we are on the same side as the Vienna government, the situation is controllable.

The Russo-Austrian Alliance was invincible in the World Island, especially after the fall of the Pobol Federation. As long as we have the same position as the Government of Vienna, the situation is controllable.

The Russian-Austrian Alliance was invincible on the World Island, especially after the fall of the Pubo Federation. Even if the other countries joined forces, they wouldn't be able to shake this big boss.

The Russo-Austrian Alliance was invincible in the World Island, especially after the fall of the Pobol Federation. Other countries couldn't shake this big boss. It was impossible to directly destroy Russia and Austria.

Minister of War Paladru Walter asked doubtfully, "Austria is going to attack Persia?"

Oscar Timoshenko rubbed his forehead. It couldn't be helped. He really couldn't bring his teammates along. Oscar Jimenez rubbed his forehead. He couldn't help it. He really couldn't lead his teammates.

Helplessly, he explained, "Britain and Poland signed a secret agreement. The two governments did not acknowledge it, so we can pretend that we don't know anything.

"If the Austrians want to attack the Persian region, they don't need to go through so much trouble. They can just attack."

If the Austrians wanted to attack the Persian region, they wouldn't have to go through so much trouble. They could just attack. "

The excuse for war could be found later. They had already launched a war of aggression. There was nothing to hide. This was different from the Near East War. The Osman Empire was the public enemy of Europe.

This was different from the Near East War. The Ottoman Empire was the public enemy of Europe in the past. Just by flipping through the history books, one could turn the invasion into a war of revenge.

The international public opinion itself had a strong bias, and the war of revenge launched on behalf of the European people had to be just.

Under the influence of the environment, even the shit-stirring British did not dwell on this issue.

There was no need to talk about attacking Persia. After all, the Persian Empire and the House of Habsburg had no enmity. They were still far away from the European world.

This answer made Alexander III feel both happy and worried. He was happy that the problem could be solved and he didn't need to worry about the situation worsening. However, the Russian Empire was more dependent on Austria.

In order to get rid of the dependence on Austria, the Tsarist government had deliberately alienated the Government of Vienna since Alexander II Of Russia.

However, after tossing and turning, they returned to the original point and even made the problem more serious.

They said they wanted to get rid of the dependence on Austria, but they ended up becoming more dependent. If this continued, they could only be content to be a lackey.

Learning from his father's lesson, Alexander III didn't blindly alienate the diplomatic relationship between the two countries to get rid of the dependence on Austria.

Alexander III didn't know what to do at all. It wasn't impossible to get rid of the dependence on Austria, but the price was too high.

It was best to solve the political dependence. The problem was the economic impact. Facts once again proved that it wasn't easy to get an international loan.

Affected by the additional condition of only being able to buy Austrian products, the Russian industry lost its own style and completely copied Austria.

No, they still had their own style. They bought machinery and equipment, and the products they produced were all improved in terms of shape, size, and function.

Unfortunately, this improvement wasn't benign, but it was developing in the opposite direction. They couldn't even copy homework, so it was impossible to independently develop and upgrade their products.

After buying the first generation, they had to buy the second generation, and everyone got used to it. The consequence was that the Russian industry was forced to adopt Austrian standards.

Today, other than Austria, machinery and equipment produced by other countries couldn't be sold in the Russian Empire.

It wasn't a problem of price or quality. The key was that the standard system didn't match.

Industrial development was based on the industrial chain. To change the standard, the upstream and downstream had to be changed together. If only one of the links was changed, the industrial chain would immediately have problems.

Even if the industry wasn't highly dependent on the industrial chain, the capitalists still had to consider the maintenance of the equipment.

Without a supporting standard system, a screw had to be imported from the country where the equipment was purchased.

If these small parts weren't valuable, the manufacturer could give a batch of them, but if the machinery broke down, the maintenance workers had to be hired from overseas.

Everyone had to consider the cost, and no one would ask for trouble. There weren't many large factories in the Russian Empire that could allow equipment suppliers to directly send skilled workers.

Alexander III still knew a bit about economics and didn't mess around just to get rid of the restrictions.

Since he couldn't do it himself, he had to import it anyway. Rather than buying from England and France, he might as well buy from Austria. At least they were allies.

Under the free trade system, they relied on the promotion of standards to achieve a monopoly on industrial equipment. This taught many European economists a lesson.

Even in some universities, the Russian Empire was used as a classic business case and appeared in the students' textbooks.

From the beginning to the end, the Tsarist government didn't expect the British to do this. It was only a response to the conflict in Central Asia.

From this point of view, the Government of the United Kingdom's "warning" was wasted. The Russians didn't even think of this step.

It wasn't that the Tsarist government was stupid. It was mainly a difference in perception. Perhaps in the eyes of the outside world, the Russian Army's actions in Central Asia was a big deal. But in the eyes of the Tsarist government, it was a trivial matter.

It was just robbing a few sheep, a few cows, a few horses, and occupying a pasture. The Russians had been doing similar things for hundreds of years.

They were used to it. The Tsarist government didn't think there was a problem. Who would have thought that the British would make a mountain out of a molehill?

The Government of the United Kingdom probably compiled the cause and effect into a document and sent it to the Tsarist government. The Russians might not necessarily believe it.

…

On April 13, 1885, Mahdi's rebel army ambushed the vanguard of the French counter-insurgency army in the Idfu area. The battle scene was touching.

With the advantage in military strength and the ambush in advance, the French army was caught off guard. Both sides ended in a draw.

After receiving the news, Hutier and the others' first reaction was that it was impossible. Even if the French were made of paper, they couldn't be so fragile.

At the military conference, Mahdi reprimanded with a livid face, "You guys are really amazing. Aren't you usually very capable?

More than 30,000 people ambushed less than 5,000 enemies. They had all the advantages, but in the end, they actually ended in a draw.

If they didn't have the geographical advantage and encountered the enemy in the wild, would they have been wiped out by the French?

Useless … "

After listening to Mahdi's reprimand, Hutier roughly understood what the "draw" was about.

With the advantage in military strength and the ambush in advance, not only did they not wipe out the enemy, but they also allowed the enemy to break through the encirclement and escape.

Such a battle record would have been a joke, but it had really happened.

"Draw" was just self-consolation. Looking at the battle loss ratio of both sides, it was obvious that it was 3.4: 1. They almost wiped out a French army, but the price they paid was a division.

Based on everyone's expression, Hutier felt that the annihilation of the "French army" was probably an exaggeration. If they really wiped out a regular French army regiment, they could probably hold a celebration party here.

An ominous premonition arose in Hutier's heart. He secretly guessed, Could it be that the independent French colonial army was independent?

Fortunately, there were pure French soldiers in captivity, proving that the main force participated in this battle.

If the colonial army had such a battle result, then there was no need to say anything. They could just pack up and go home. Don't even think about the mission.

The main force of the rebel army suffered heavy losses. Mahdi had no choice but to look at the British and Austrian representatives again, hoping to get more assistance.

After all, Lieutenant General Jarrett was used to big storms. He didn't express any dissatisfaction with the result of this ambush. "Everyone, it has already happened. Let it go!

According to the usual practice, the vanguard of the French army is usually elites. It's normal for them to be stronger. The troops at the back aren't as strong.

The most important thing now is to seize the time to train the rebel army and increase their combat power as much as possible.

I hope that the problems exposed in this ambush will not appear again in the future battles … "