Chapter 503

Without much hesitation, William I agreed to the plan. Prussia's assets were limited and they had no bargaining chips to make a deal. What they were offering now was a blank check. Couldn't they write a bigger number?

The international situation was ever-changing. A few years ago, Britain and France were still fully supporting Prussia against Russia. In the blink of an eye, Britain and France were about to ease relations with Russia.

It wasn't that William I didn't want to stop all this from happening. In the face of interests, he couldn't stop it at all.

The fallen Russian Empire was no longer a competitor of Britain and France. Naturally, they could play together happily.

In the next Prussian war, even if Britain and France would still be on their side, the support wouldn't be as strong as the last time. They could only rely on their own efforts to win the war.

Russia was a lesson learned. In the Prussian war, Austria no longer supported them unconditionally. The Tsarist government didn't adjust their mentality and paid a heavy price for this.

The Russian-Austrian relationship was getting colder. In fact, the Tsarist government was dissatisfied with the Government of Vienna's reserved support in the Prussian war.

The Tsarist government was angry, and the Government of Vienna was also uncomfortable. In the Government of Vienna's view, they had done enough. They had fully fulfilled their obligations as an ally and even exceeded the scope of the covenant. They still had to suffer complaints from Russia.

Both sides stood in their own positions to think about the problem. The knot that couldn't be untied became a barrier between the Russo-Austrian Alliance. The fact that the relationship between the two countries hadn't recovered after the war was proof of this.

As a bystander, William I could think about the problem calmly. But it was different when it was his turn. Britain and France were clearly just using them as chess pieces.

After defeating the Russians, all the support and help came to an abrupt end. The Government of London wanted to support Prussia to balance the Fao and Russia. After weighing the pros and cons, they didn't implement it in the end.

In the end, it was because of interests. If they continued to support the Kingdom of Prussia, the price the British would pay was too high and the benefits they could get were too little. They also had to face the fierce backlash from the Fao and Russia.

Compared to the British, the French were more hateful. They were still plotting the Rhineland. If it wasn't for the fact that the French had suddenly annexed the Italian region, causing panic in the European countries and preventing the Paris government from acting rashly, perhaps the Rhineland region would have changed hands.

Unable to annex the German Federal Empire, the Rhineland had become a sore point for the Kingdom of Prussia. William I was always on tenterhooks, fearing that the French would swallow it in one gulp.

In order to get out of his predicament, William I repeatedly proposed to join the Federal Empire of Germany. Without a doubt, he was strongly resisted by Hanover.

How could he not be wary of the dove occupying the magpie's nest?

The Kingdom of Prussia was much larger than the Federal Empire of Germany. To put it nicely, it was joining. In other words, it was going to annex the Federal Empire of Germany.

If the Berlin government wanted to attack the Federal Empire of Germany, Austria would definitely not agree. If they forced a move, the Austrian War would break out.

While fighting with Austria and the German Confederation, they would also have to deal with the Russians, who would kick them when they were down. Maybe the Nordic Federation would also get involved, and maybe the French would join in.

While fighting against Austria and the German Federation, they also had to deal with the Russians, who would kick them when they were down. Perhaps the Nordic Federation would also get involved, and the French might even join in the fun.

In the face of benefits, there was nothing to say. No one could resist the temptation. The geographical location of the Kingdom of Prussia could be said to be the worst among the European powers, which meant that they had to be careful when expanding.

The Kingdom of Prussia's geographical position was the worst among the European powers. This meant that they had to be careful when expanding. If Prussia wanted to grow stronger, the best choice was to step on the Russians. This was decided in the first Prussian war.

In recent years, the Government of Berlin hadn't been idle. Even if the government had no money, they were still thinking of ways to develop the economy. For example, they used British and French capital to build railways in the newly occupied land. They were even helping the Poles build railways.

In order to raise funds for development, the Government of Berlin also increased the export of resources. The mineral resources of the Rhineland were exported to France and the German Federal Empire in large quantities.

Relying on the export of industrial and commercial products and mineral resources, the Kingdom of Prussia achieved a trade surplus. Of course, the bigger reason was that the Polish Kingdom provided a dumping market for Prussia's industrial and commercial products.

Under normal circumstances, when a country had a trade surplus, a large amount of money flowed in from the outside world, and there should be no shortage of money.

Unfortunately, Prussia was an exception. The wealth was used to pay off debts, and the economy had to be controlled by Britain and France.

In order to pay off debts, the Government of Berlin tried to reduce expenses as much as possible. However, this didn't include military expenses. No matter how poor they were, they couldn't be poor in the military. Even now, Prussia's military expenses had never been less than 45% of its revenue.

In this context, it was not surprising that the Government of Berlin wanted to take drastic measures and break up the Russo-Austrian Alliance.

Only by completely destroying the Russian Empire could the Kingdom of Prussia have a stable international environment for development. Only then could they suppress military expenses, develop the economy with peace of mind, and get rid of the debt crisis.

Breaking up the Russo-Austrian Alliance was the first step to winning the war. William I was ready to start the war in advance. If the Tsarist government completed the internal reform, the balance of the war would completely tilt to the Russians.

In the first Russo-Prussian War, Prussia won the war with the advantage of transportation, and this advantage naturally had to be preserved.

Even if they expanded, the territory of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Kingdom of Poland was far less than that of Russia, which meant that they could finish building the railway first.

At present, the plan was progressing very smoothly. The progress of Prussia's railway construction was not comparable to that of Russia.

Although Alexander II Of Russia had worked very hard, Russia was too big. A mere few thousand kilometers of railway was not worth mentioning for this empire.

From a strategic point of view, Russia needed at least 300,000 kilometers of railway to get rid of the transportation difficulties. Even if they ignored the territory in Asia and only considered the territory in Europe, it would still need 150,000 kilometers to barely meet the needs.

In contrast, the Kingdom of Prussia was much better. Even with the Kingdom of Poland, they only needed to build another 10,000 to 20,000 kilometers to meet the needs of the war.

Of course, there was still a long way to go to reach the level of the original German and Space-Time Empires. Only the Germans were able to connect the railway to every town.

On a land area of only 540,000 square kilometers, more than 60,000 kilometers of railway were built, which could be said to be the only railway within five kilometers. The railway coverage set by the Germans was a world record that could not be broken until the 21st century.

Of course, this special situation was created by the times. After the automobile industry developed, many railways lost their economic value and withdrew from the stage of history.

Alexander II was well aware of the problems they faced in terms of transportation. The tragedy was that he wanted to attract foreign investment in the railway, but no one was interested.

It was useless to give more preferential conditions. Austria's bundled railway had killed many capitalists. Many railway companies lost money for more than ten years. Who would dare to jump into the pit of Russia?

Now, British and French capital invested in the railways of Prussia and Poland, but they only invested in the main road with economic value. They didn't touch the branch railway.

Not to mention the Russia railway. Even if the railway from St. Peter to Moscow was put up for bidding, no railway company dared to take the risk.

This was not only an economic risk, but the most important thing was that people had doubts about the credibility of the Tsarist government. If the railway was completed and the Tsarist government announced that the railway was state-owned, wouldn't everyone lose money?

It was worth mentioning that Russia's railway was still state-owned. The high operating costs made private capital afraid.

An Austrian railway company once went to Russia to investigate and finally came to the conclusion that the overall operating cost of Russia's railway was three times that of the Austrian railway.

It was all the fault of winter. Except for a small part of the area, the Russian Empire was a winter country. In this era, technology was limited. Not only was it risky to operate the railway in winter, but the maintenance costs would also increase.

The high cost was fine. The key was that the land was sparsely populated and the economy was backward. Whether it was the volume of goods or passengers, it was insufficient. This little income couldn't satisfy the railway company's operation.

Without additional conditions, who would want to take the risk of building a railway that couldn't make a profit?

Unable to make a profit, private capital was unwilling to invest. The responsibility of building the railway in Russia fell on the shoulders of the government, so the construction progress was naturally slow.

Even in the 21st century, Russia's transportation had nothing to do with convenience. The European part was passable, the Asian part was barely passable, and large-scale freight was still a problem.

Needless to say, in this era, the total mileage of the Russian Empire's railway was less than 10,000 kilometers. To be specific, it was 7876 kilometers, less than half of the Kingdom of Prussia.

It was even less than the same period in history. This was the sequelae of the war. The Tsarist government lacked financial resources, so the railway construction progress was also delayed.

…

When William I was preparing to poach the Russian Empire, Alexandrovich also arrived in London. The strange smell and the gray sky made Alexandrovich furrow his eyebrows.

London, known as the world's largest city, was actually such a scene. It was really disappointing.

The only beautiful scenery was probably the tall chimneys. The thick smoke that rose into the sky danced in the wind. It was like a paradise on earth.

Oh, these beautiful sceneries could only be viewed from afar, and could not be defiled. If someone choked to death, no one would be responsible.

London in this era was the best portrayal of industrial beauty. It was one of the most polluted cities in the world, and the leader of the haze.

Alexandrovich was lucky that he didn't come in winter. Otherwise, he could have experienced the most lethal biological weapons of this era.

It was autumn, and the weather in London was not bad. The visibility was still a few hundred meters, so there wouldn't be a mass poisoning incident.

Edward, the British Crown Prince, welcomed Alexandrovich. This was not the first time they met. The two of them were relatives. The European royal families were one family. This was not wrong at all.

They had the same father-in-law, King Christian IX of Denmark, who was known as the "father-in-law of Europe."

Once again, it was proven that the European royal families were not to be trifled with. Even the royal families of small countries couldn't handle the powerful group of relatives.

The European royal families had a very good rule. Relatives were relatives, and war was war. Even if they fought to the death on the battlefield, they could still be friends … friends, no, "relatives" in private.

The relationship between the two of them didn't affect the diplomatic relations between Britain and Russia. Alexandrovich was a little better. He had already begun to participate in government affairs and had some say in politics.

Edward, on the other hand, was miserable. Because of his informal life and sometimes indiscreet behavior, Queen Victoria didn't allow him to be in charge of anything related to the actual government.

In other words, he was an empty crown prince. Except for his noble status, there was no room for him to intervene in politics.

After some polite greetings, the two of them left the noisy port in a carriage. At this moment, history seemed to have turned over a new page.

…