Chapter 444

Without exception, the representatives of the UK, Fao, and Spain appeared at the negotiating table. If they could not get what they wanted in the secret negotiations, the southern government did not hesitate to invite the intervention of the great powers.

It was the common wish of the four countries to balance the strength of the North and South. The overall national strength of the northern government was stronger than that of the south, so it was naturally the target of everyone's suppression.

Even the Native Americans appeared at the negotiating table. Don't talk about racial conflicts or white supremacy. In the face of interests, these things had to be pushed back.

Of course, the Native Americans, who were the weakest, just listened and waited for the results. They still had no right to speak at the negotiating table.

As a tribal alliance, the Native Americans were too weak. They were only equivalent to a federal state and could not be compared with the north and south.

From the beginning of the meeting, the North and South had been arguing about legal issues. Everything that happened in private was hidden by both sides.

Private contact with the enemy without the approval of the parliament could not be seen. Once it was exposed, it would be a political crisis.

At the same time, the results of the Russian-American joint fleet's annihilation of the pirates in the Channel Islands were also spread. It was not known how many pirates were killed, but the Russian-American joint fleet was almost completely annihilated.

"The navy can't beat the pirates" was not news. Occasionally, when the navy was alone, it was understandable that the navy could not beat the pirates. In the era of sailing warships, the gap between the strength of pirates and the navy was not insurmountable.

However, this time, the Russian fleet and the US West Coast fleet had a total of 23 warships. They ran to encircle the pirates, and in the end, only two small ships escaped. It could be said that the entire fleet was annihilated. This was big news.

If it was the Ryukyu Kingdom or the Hawaiian Kingdom, such a small country's navy was destroyed by pirates, everyone could understand.

Even if the US West Coast fleet was suppressed by pirates, everyone could accept it. After all, they were nouveau riche, and it was normal for their navy to be weak.

However, the main character was the Russian navy, and it happened to be at the moment of the Prussian war, so the problem was magnified.

Of course, the federal government could not sit back and do nothing about it.

In any case, the Russians also died while helping them destroy the pirates. President Lincoln immediately ordered a fleet from the East Coast to destroy the pirates in the Channel Islands.

Anyway, it was now at the negotiating table, and the great powers had intervened. Whoever wanted to continue the war would be the enemy of the Fao. Since the war could not be fought, it was not a problem to divide the forces on the West Coast.

While the military deployment was going on, the federal government immediately notified the Tsar's government by telegraph. Of course, they also informed the European countries. The telegraph line had to be transferred from various European countries, so the news was naturally leaked.

Currently, there was only one telegraph line between Europe and the United States. There was no direct telegraph line from the United States to Russia. They had to transit in Europe, and it was impossible to avoid it.

During the outbreak of the American Civil War, the federal government blocked information, and countries could only rely on ships to transmit information.

During the Civil War, the United, and Lincoln, the United countries could not, and could.

Moreover, the situation was different now. The importance of the Russians to the federal government had declined. President Lincoln naturally wouldn't care about the trouble that the information would bring to the Russians.

Turning hostile was a common tactic used by American politicians. If he wanted to gain the friendship of the Americans, he would have to use benefits. Anything else was nonsense.

In history, the Tsarist government supported the federal government to unify the country. After the Americans recovered from the civil war, they immediately became the vanguard of the anti-Russian war.

Historically, the Tsarist government supported the federal government to unify the country. After the Americans recovered from the Civil War, they immediately became the anti-Russian vanguard.

The president's term of office was only four years, and he could not serve more than two terms. No matter how good the relationship was, the next government would be in power, and all the investment would be wasted.

Almost all of the republics had very poor policy continuity. Most of the time, it was to deny for the sake of denying.

As the opposition, if they defeated their political opponents in the election, they had to overturn the previous government's policy. This was political correctness.

Even if they knew the previous government was right, they had to do it. Otherwise, how could they explain to the voters? Or to the supporters behind the scenes.

…

In the Vienna Palace, after receiving the news that the Russian Navy was almost wiped out, Franz just laughed it off.

Knowing that the relationship with the British was so bad, they still went to the Americas to cause trouble. Wasn't this looking for death?

"Pirate" ambush?

Who didn't know that the ancestors of the British Navy were pirates? It was just that they were legal pirates. In the past decade, the British Navy had changed their name, but they were still doing the same thing.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, there were rumors that the British Navy was a pirate, although the British never admitted it.

After a second of silence for the Russians, Franz began to gloat.

He had heard a lot of jokes about the Russian Navy, but it was different to experience it in person.

This was a small problem. Anyway, the Tsarist government had always relied on the army to survive. When was the navy ever strong?

The size of the Russian Navy was not small, and its total tonnage was only behind the Fao and the United States. It started in the 17th century, and it had been two hundred years since then.

However, this didn't mean that the Russian Navy was strong. On the contrary, the current Russian Navy was far behind the European countries.

All the major naval powers were building ironclad warships, and only the Russian Navy was supporting sail warships. There was no other reason, just because they had no money.

First it was the Near East War, then it was Alexander II Of Russia's reform, and now it was the Prussian War. How could the Tsarist government have the financial resources to develop the navy?

In this regard, Nicholas I Of Russia's appointment of Menshikov as the head of the navy was very foresight.

He didn't have the ability to fight on the sea, but his ability to fight on land was improved? At least he had a skill, and the military's investment was not in vain.

Franz was considering whether or not to give Alexander II Of Russia the idea to send the navy to attack the coastal areas of Prussia.

What they couldn't do in the sea battle, they could make up for it in the land battle. The elite Russian Navy could fight the temporarily recruited people of the Kingdom of Prussia without any pressure.

After hesitating, Franz decisively gave up this tempting idea. Now was not the time. If he brought it up at this time, it would be very embarrassing for Alexander II Of Russia.

There was no hurry. A little later was fine. Although the Tsar Navy was weak in combat, it was no problem for them to bully the Prussia Navy in a sea battle.

Even if the Kingdom of Prussia built ironclad warships, their technical ability was limited. They built pseudo-ironclad warships, and they didn't have to worry about the power of the cannons not being enough to sink them.

This was not necessarily the case in a land battle. They were the pinnacle of the marine combat ability of this era. Before they fought, no one would know who was stronger between the two of them.

In St. Peter Castle, Alexander II Of Russia was furious when he received the news that the main force of the Far East Fleet was almost annihilated during a visit to the United States.

Even though he suspected that the British were behind it, there was no evidence.

The British Navy was professional in this regard. They took off their military uniforms and modified their warships to be pirates. Even the Americans, as the local tyrant, didn't find any problems.

It was now the era of ironclad warships, and it was inevitable that sail warships would be eliminated. The pirate ships that robbed the Russian Navy were still entrenched in the Channel Islands of the United States.

The people were gone, but the ships were still there.

Obviously, the British sold these warships that were about to be eliminated to the pirates, completely cutting off the sneak attack on the Russian fleet.

"My Minister of the Navy, can you tell me what's going on? Since when can the Russian Empire's Navy not even win against pirates? "

The current Minister of the Navy, Laurenslovsky, replied nervously, "Your Majesty, these pirates have many warships in their hands. We can't treat them as ordinary pirates.

According to the information provided by the Americans, we can preliminarily determine that this is the work of the British. The cannons on the ship are all British. It's even possible that the British Navy pretended to be pirates and ambushed us.

But don't worry, the Navy is ready to send a fleet to the Pacific Ocean to wipe out these pirates and wash away the shame on us. "

Alexander II Of Russia scolded angrily, "Idiot, you know it's the British, and you still want to send warships? Don't you think the losses are big enough?"

Of course, Alexander II Of Russia wanted revenge, but his strength didn't allow it. If the enemy was the British, no matter how many warships they sent, the result would be the same.

He didn't dare to overestimate the moral integrity of the British. When the Royal Navy pretended to be pirates, not many countries could stand against it.

Clarence, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, suggested, "The dignity of the Empire cannot be blasphemed. These pirates must be eliminated.

However, it's fine to send a fleet from the mainland. Now the war with Russia is more important. Eliminating the pirates can be solved by diplomatic means.

Whether it's letting the Americans send troops to eliminate them or asking for help from the Austrians, it's fine. The British will not stand up for these pirates for the sake of their own reputation. "

This was inevitable. No matter how shameless John Bull was, he wouldn't openly collude with pirates. From the very beginning, these pirates had been abandoned.

The British just wanted to hit the Russians, but they didn't really want to fall out with the Russians. The current Russian Empire wasn't easy to deal with. If they were pushed too far, they would have to fight a war to defend India.

Now, a group of pirates was left behind to help the Russians vent their anger. Otherwise, the Tsarist government would have no way out and would go looking for trouble with them.

The Tsarist government didn't have money? This was true, but it didn't mean that the nobles of Russia didn't have money. If they forced Alexander II Of Russia to use India as a promise to raise money from the nobles in the country, it wouldn't be a problem to raise the funds for a war.

Now, the Russians were full of arrogance. They thought that their army was the best in the world, and it wouldn't be a problem for them to sweep through everything.

Or they could raise money from overseas. As long as the benefits were enough, they didn't have to worry about not being able to borrow money.

The Austrian financial community didn't dare to lend money to the Tsarist government, mainly because they were worried about their ability to repay. If Alexander II Of Russia was willing to take out collateral that tempted Franz, these problems wouldn't exist.

The Russian Empire had a lot of capital in its hands. As long as Alexander II Of Russia was willing to sell his country, it wouldn't be difficult to get a loan from the French, let alone Austria.

This wouldn't happen under normal circumstances, but it wasn't necessarily the case in the Russian Empire.

The godly operation of Peter III back then was still clearly recorded in the history books. Who could guarantee that Alexander II Of Russia wouldn't dare to take a gamble?

Just like Nicholas I Of Russia back then, if he won the gamble, he would be the greatest Tsar of Russia. If he lost the gamble, he would just have to meet God early.

After hesitating for a moment, Alexander II Of Russia made a decision, "Let the Americans do it. This incident was caused by them, so they naturally have to deal with the aftermath."

This was the wisest choice. The strategic value of the Russian-US relationship wasn't high to begin with, so there was no need to invest too much capital.

Using this incident as an excuse to put an end to the relationship between the two countries would be beneficial to everyone.

The federal government wasn't the American Empire of the future. There was no way to help them with the European issue, not even a loan.

Similarly, they couldn't give the Americans the help they wanted. The tragic experience of the navy was a warning from the British not to get involved in the American affairs.

Alexander II Of Russia, who was originally planning to fight for a seat in the North-South negotiations, was completely woken up.

The Russian Empire was indeed powerful, and this was only on land. They had a lot of power in Europe, Central Asia, and the Far East, but in the Americas, which was separated by the ocean, no one would listen to them.

Which of the four countries that participated in the mediation this time, Britain, France, Austria, and the United States did not have powerful naval forces? Which one of them didn't have a fleet in the Americas? Couldn't they mobilize tens of thousands of troops?

Power was the right to speak. Didn't the federal government, which was on good terms with them, not invite them to participate?