Chapter 488

In the evening, four or five officers gathered around a bonfire. No one spoke for a long time, and the atmosphere was very depressing.

It was Hutier and the others. Judging from the scene, it was obvious that they had lost the battle. They were busy running for their lives. Otherwise, they would have a temporary command center.

Potiorek, who was the most active, was the first to break the silence. "Say something. All of you look so sad. It's as if someone died in your family.

Didn't we just lose the battle? From the beginning, we planned to fight and run at the same time. It's just that we ended up in a sorry state this time. "

In the Revolutionary Army, the only ones who truly belonged to them were the few seated here. The others were all cannon fodder. Their lives and deaths were of no concern to them.

They were sad, but it was definitely not because the cannon fodder had suffered heavy casualties. To put it bluntly, the 8th Division was a motley crew. As long as everyone was willing, they could continue to replenish their numbers.

What made everyone depressed was that they had lost the battle, and it was not an ordinary defeat.

In order to achieve greater results, the rebel army had made full use of the advantage of being the first to ambush the French vanguard.

Everything went smoothly in the beginning. The French were caught off guard and fell into the encirclement head-on.

However, Hutier and the others had expected the beginning, but not the end.

Even though the ambush was successful and the French were caught off guard, and the rebel army had the absolute advantage in numbers, they still could not avoid the fate of defeat in the end.

A defeat was a defeat. It was normal to win and lose on the battlefield. Unfortunately, the French chased the routed soldiers all the way to the rebel camp. The well-prepared 8th Division was still defeated.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Hutier and the others decisively chose to run. Fortunately, there were many routed soldiers. The French did not notice them, and they managed to escape.

By the time they got out of danger, the rebel army, which had more than 200,000 soldiers at its peak, was now less than ten percent.

The rest were either killed on the battlefield or captured by the French. Of course, most of them fled to the countryside after being routed.

Hutier lit a cigarette and took a deep breath. Then he said slowly, "This is my responsibility. I knew that the French were not to be trifled with, but I still ran over to take advantage of them.

As a result, the rebel army suffered heavy losses and lost their morale. They lost the ability to continue fighting the French. "

Hutier was not the only one who was greedy. The smooth early progress made everyone overestimate their commanding ability.

Ambushing the French vanguard was a unanimous decision, but in the face of absolute strength, any strategy or tactics were not worth mentioning.

Fajinhan said, "Lieutenant Colonel, there is no need to blame yourself. The ambush plan was devised by all of us together. If anyone is to be held accountable, all of us here should be held accountable.

Before we were sent here, Governor Friedrich Friedrich told us to learn how to survive before causing trouble for the French.

The country has never had confidence in the Rebel Army and has never asked us to save them.

In fact, the situation has developed to this point, and we have already completed our mission, so there is no so-called responsibility.

As for this loss, it was already within our expectations, but we didn't think that we would lose so miserably. We didn't even have time to prepare a backup plan.

Two months ago, when the main force of the Revolutionary Army ambushed the French vanguard, their outcome was only slightly better than ours.

Considering that this is the main force of the French army, their combat power is stronger than the colonial troops. In fact, we … "

Although this was a good idea, everyone, including Fajinhan, was not at ease.

He was about to sell his stock when it hit its upper limit three times in a row. However, he was too greedy and kept it for a while, only to see it plummet again. He reluctantly sold it.

No matter how much he comforted himself that he had made a profit, he would still feel uncomfortable when the profits in his hands shrank.

It didn't take long for the older Hutier to recover. "Well, now that things have come to this, there is no point in saying more.

We only encountered the French vanguard this time. Their forces are limited. They seem to have won, but they have no way to stop the rebel soldiers from fleeing.

I'm sure everyone knows how destructive the defeated soldiers are. Some of the hundreds of thousands of defeated soldiers have a blood feud with the French. If they can't beat the French, can't they do damage in the back?

Originally, we were considering leaving some soldiers here to fight as guerrillas, but we didn't have enough fighting spirit. Now, the French have completed the plan for us.

Next … "

This was not purely self-consolation. Since failure was inevitable, they could only look for something beneficial from the failure.

…

In the temporary palace in Paris, the gloom on Napoleon Iv's face had been swept away since he received the news of Egypt's victory.

Recently, he had been under too much pressure. A group of international food-exporting countries gave him trouble every day. The people at home were also worried and came to demonstrate every now and then.

Although the news of Egypt's victory on the battlefield couldn't solve international problems, it was enough to appease the people at home.

Foreign Minister Terence Burkin: "Your Majesty, relations between the United Kingdom and Russia have deteriorated sharply due to the impact of the British food self-sufficiency plan.

Not long ago, the Tsarist government threatened to withdraw from the free trade system in an attempt to force the Government of the United Kingdom to make concessions. The opportunity we have been waiting for has come. "

As the only country on the European continent outside the free trade system, France bore too many strange gazes.

Although on the surface, the Government of Paris pretended to be dismissive, only they knew the bitterness and bitterness behind it.

Tariff barriers also came with a price. While restricting other people's goods from entering the market, it was inevitable that they would be restricted by others.

Affected by this, France's total import and export trade dropped by almost three-quarters.

It was impossible to return to the free trade system, at least before France gained an advantage in the industry, the Government of Paris wouldn't consider this issue.

So the only way was to destroy this system and bring everyone back to the era of tariff barriers, then obtain a relatively fair opportunity for competition.

Napoleon Iv wondered, "The British are still in the discussion in parliament and haven't made a decision. Why are the Russians so anxious?"

Foreign Minister Terence Burkin explained, "Your Majesty, the Russian Empire is the world's number one food exporter.

Our farm plan has already caused them to suffer heavy losses. If they lose the British market, Russia's agriculture will be hit hard.

Also, after losing the source of income from food exports, Russia's finance will soon fall into a predicament of being unable to make ends meet. It is normal for the Tsarist government to be unable to sit still. "

After pondering for a moment, Napoleon Iv slowly said, "You mean to take the opportunity to rope in the Russians and dismantle the free trade system?"

Terence Burkin shook his head, "Not only the free trade system, but also the Russo-Austrian Alliance.

As long as the British plan becomes a reality, the Austrian-led food export alliance will immediately collapse, and the major food exporting countries will fall into a cruel competition.

No matter how good the relationship between Russia and Austria is, Austria itself is a food exporting country. In the context of the shrinking international market, they have no way to consume the huge production capacity of the Russians.

At this time, we extend an olive branch, and the Tsarist government has no way to refuse.

Anyway, our large farm plan can't be completed in a day. At worst, we can reduce some of the later projects.

We can reach an agreement with the Russians to import a portion of food from the Russian Empire every year in exchange for domestic industrial and commercial products to enter the Russian market.

If there is a problem in the chain of common interests, there will be problems in the long term no matter how good the relationship between the Russo-Austrian Alliance is.

As long as we alienate the relationship between Russia and Austria, the strategic crisis we are facing will no longer exist. "

In fact, the Government of Paris's large farm plan sounded good. If they wanted to implement it, they would need to invest a lot of manpower and financial resources.

With the financial resources of the Government of Paris, it was impossible to start this big plan in the short term, which meant that the large farm plan would shrink.

Using a plan that would shrink, alienate the relationship between Russia and Austria, or even break up the alliance, to get rid of the strategic crisis of France being isolated in Europe, it was undoubtedly a big profit.

Napoleon IV nodded his head, for he could not find any reason to refuse such an offer, which would kill many birds with one stone.

"But how do we convince the British? The prerequisite for all of this is that the Government of the United Kingdom is willing to cooperate and create enough pressure on the Russians. "

The crux of the problem was that betraying the Russo-Austrian Alliance would also have to pay a heavy price. If it wasn't a last resort, the Russians would definitely not do this.

Foreign Minister Terence Burkin replied unhurriedly, "Your Majesty, the Russo-Austrian Alliance is not only a threat to us, but also to the British.

Don't you think that Russia and Austria are a bit too close to India?

In the eyes of the British, India is the best colony, and any country will be tempted.

In order to break up the Russo-Austrian Alliance, the Government of the United Kingdom has done a lot of things. Now that the opportunity is presented to us, I don't believe that the Government of the United Kingdom will refuse. "

Even if the Russo-Austrian Alliance was not the common enemy of Britain and France, it was still a threat to both countries. On this issue, everyone's interests were the same.