Chapter 684

The change in the relationship between Russia and Austria quickly caused a chain reaction in politics. The Government of London could finally sleep soundly.

An alliance without contradictions was terrible, but an alliance with many contradictions was nothing to worry about.

Now that the relationship between the two countries was cold, the Government of Vienna's support for the Russians would definitely be discounted, which was what the Government of London wanted the most.

Other problems could be dealt with later, but the threat of the Russians to India must be resolved immediately.

The British still remembered the Great Indian Uprising a few years ago. It was because of the secret support of the Russians that the Government of London spent hundreds of millions of pounds on military expenses.

If this hidden danger was not resolved, who could stand it if it happened every few days?

India did not lack people. There were also a lot of social contradictions. As long as someone fanned the flames, the outbreak of rebellion was simply common.

The best way was to separate India from other countries. It didn't matter if it was a small country. They had neither the guts nor the strength to make trouble, but it was different for the big countries.

In particular, the three countries, Russia, Fao and Russia, were the focus of the Government of London's defense. Now that the two countries, Fao and Russia, did not extend their claws to India, only the Russians expressed interest. The Government of London naturally wanted to cut off the Tsarist government's thoughts.

Letting the Central Asian region be independent was the best choice, leaving such a buffer zone to defend against the enemy outside the country's gates. Even if there was a conflict between Britain and Russia, it would be in the Central Asian region. The Government of London would not feel distressed if the Central Asian region was destroyed.

Of the four fronts, the Government of London's strongest support was in the Central Asian region. The fact that they personally sent mercenaries to fight was enough to show the problem.

Number 10 Downing Street. Foreign Minister Reslin reported, "There were no accidents. The negotiations failed. The Russians were not willing to make any concessions. Their final condition was to return to the pre-war state.

This was unacceptable to our friends. The Prussia made territorial claims on the Lithuanian region and also demanded independence from Poland.

The Osman wanted to take back Constantinople. It was said that they were still negotiating with Austria to redeem part of the The Balkans.

The Government of Vienna did not directly refuse. It was just that the price was not agreed. If the Osman Empire took back Constantinople, then it would not be a problem to redeem the Dardanelles Strait. Austria seemed to lack interest in the Black Sea.

The Eastern Empire wanted to take back the Western Frontier and the Far East. At present, they were doing well in the Western Frontier. It was said that the old general was carrying a coffin.

The Central Asia was somewhat chaotic. It was too difficult to coordinate the joint operations of several Khaganates to fight, but their hatred towards the Russia.

Our friends have a strong will to fight, and the overall situation on the battlefield is in our favor.

Not long ago, there was a change in the relationship between Russia and Austria. It seemed that Alexander II was throwing a tantrum. The Austrians had in in. of. about about, and Austria. under. The Tsarist of the Russia.

The Austrians raised the price of their export goods. It was about 50% higher than before. Some goods were even raised by 100%.

If there is no accident, Austria's support for Russia will be further reduced in the following war. The Russians will not have a chance to retreat this time. "

These conditions were obviously not acceptable to the Tsarist government. Otherwise, the Russian Empire would be smaller in an instant. Especially the Constantinople, there would be no room for negotiation.

The cold relationship between Russia and Austria was originally the work of the Government of London. Any contradiction was accumulated little by little. Some people in the Tsarist government felt that they were at a disadvantage in the alliance with Austria. The Government of Vienna also had such people.

In this context, they met the British who were trying to sow discord. The ordinary small contradictions were naturally magnified.

When Franz found out, he could do nothing but let the relationship between the two countries continue to deteriorate. The same was true for Alexander II Of Russia. Even if he found out about the situation, he could not stop it.

In addition to interests, everyone still wanted face. The benefits brought by the Russo-Austrian Alliance were no longer enough for them to suppress the contradictions.

The two powerful emperors were not willing to give in. Things gradually became serious. Only when the sequelae broke out would the two sides re-attach importance to the role of the alliance.

Obviously, the British would not leave such a chance. Continuing to sow discord between the Russo-Austrian Alliance had become the most important relationship for the British Foreign Office.

John Russell smiled and said, "It seems that the peaceful means have failed. Then the next step is to test strength.

The Russians fighting alone are not so terrible. As long as the war is delayed until next year, then the Tsarist government's wallet will be in danger again. "

John Russell was in a very good mood. If possible, he did not mind giving a medal to Russia's capitalists and bureaucrats, and it would be the highest grade.

According to the plan, they originally thought that the Austrians should be the cause of the deterioration of the relationship between Russia and Austria. After all, the Russians were still fighting on all sides. How could they ignore the relationship between the two countries?

It did not matter who caused the trouble first. The final result was the same anyway. The current change directly increased the cost of the war for the Russians.

War was a gold-swallowing monster. Money really could not last long. Don't think that the Tsarist government's profits were very rich. However, the bureaucrats were too greedy. No matter how much money they had, they would quickly squander it.

This was the common characteristic of the old empires. England, France, Russia, Austria, Spain, the Netherlands, and Portugal, which one of them was not a corrupt empire?

It was just that the Tsarist government was more powerful. The chaotic system provided a breeding ground for corruption. The British Fao had a set of systems that could curb corruption to a certain extent.

Even Franz had no way to completely solve the corruption problem. He could only adopt the policy of killing pigs at irregular times. He would carry out a major anti-corruption campaign every three to five years to deter the bureaucrats.

The advantage of doing this was that the bureaucrats learned to be smarter. They knew what money they could not touch, so they behaved themselves.

At this point, it was already the limit of what could be done in this era. It was impossible to eliminate corruption.

The final result was, of course, that out of the ten dollars that were restricted, there would always be seven or eight dollars spent. Out of the ten dollars that were not restricted, it was not easy to have four or five dollars spent.

After thinking for a while, the Finance Minister Agarwal replied, "It's not that fast. The Tsarist government is still thinking of ways to raise funds. They are not completely sitting on their money.

Of course, if the fire in their country is ignited, then the Tsarist government's wallet will really be exhausted.

At that time, the Tsarist government should declare bankruptcy and repudiate all their debts. The Russo-Austrian Alliance will also almost collapse. "

The actual situation was even more serious. Because of the war, every year, the Russian Empire had a large amount of gold and silver flowing out of the country. This outflow rate had far exceeded the replenishment rate of mining.

The Tsarist government reduced imports from Austria because of the "money shortage" factor. After all, this was a cash transaction. They had to take out hard currency.

If a transaction was converted into silver, it would be at least a few million taels. At most, it would be more than ten million taels. No matter how big the family business was, it could not afford such a squandering.

This was also the reason for the rapid increase in loans between Russia and Austria. The Tsarist government could not take out enough cash in the short term. They could only use real assets as collateral to pay for the goods.

This kind of collateral must be established when the Russian Empire was stable. If there was a civil war, a lot of collateral would instantly become worthless.

Currently, the Tsarist government had a large amount of real estate in their hands. For example: ports, mines, farms, forestry, shops in the city, residences …

These were all good collateral and could generate a part of the income every year. Once the civil war broke out, these things would not be valuable.

…

Moscow. Matetolsky was not in a hurry to start the uprising. There were so many international friends behind the uprising. Naturally, there would be many rebel experts exchanging their experiences.

After going through specialized training, Matetolsky had evolved. In order to mobilize more people to support the revolution, he was organizing the workers to go on strike and organizing the peasants to resist taxes.

After the outbreak of the war, prices skyrocketed, but wages did not increase. Overtime hours were extended. Everyone worked hard for a day, but the pay they received was not even enough to fill the stomachs of their families.

In the whole of 1866, there were 76 strikes in the Russian Empire. Without a doubt, these unorganized rebellions were futile and were all suppressed.

The peasants were also having a hard time. The high war tax was hard for them to accept.

Although the Tsarist government didn't actually impose a high war tax, it wasn't something that Alexander II could stop from collecting more than three to five dou.

A young man said in a low voice, "Sir, the people of Prussia are urging us again. They want us to find a way to cut off the railway to Moscow and cut off the supply of supplies to the Tsar army. "

Russia did not have many railways, but Moscow happened to have one. As long as the railway was cut off, it would be even more difficult to transport food from the Volga River Valley and industrial products produced in Moscow to the front.

In fact, the strategic position of the Volga River was even more important. As the mother river of Russia, it could connect Moscow and St. Peter's Castle by water. However, it was frozen during the winter, so it could not be used.

After pondering for a moment, Matetolsky frowned and replied, "Tell them not to worry, we will fulfill the agreement!"

Obviously, he did not want to cooperate with the people of Prussia. If he had a choice, Matetolsky would not be willing to sell out Russia's interests.

Moscow's geographical location was very important. Not only was it the second largest industrial base of the Russian Empire, but it was also the main road connecting the east and west. It was also one of the most important food production areas of the Russian Empire.

Currently, the three major food production areas of the Russian Empire were Poland, the area around Moscow (Volga River Valley), and Ukraine. The other areas had not been developed yet.

The Poland region could not be counted on. If the area around Moscow was in chaos, the Tsarist government would only be left with Ukraine.

Then the lack of food would become a big problem for the Tsarist government, and it was a problem that could not be solved. At that time, not only would the soldiers on the front line have to starve, but St. Peter's Castle would also not be able to hold on for long.

The reason why the people of Prussia sent them to the Moscow region was to cut off the supply of logistics to the Russians and weaken the war potential of the Tsarist government.

Without the local supply, they had to rely on imports from the outside. Not to mention whether the Tsarist government's wallet could support it, the key was that their transportation capacity could not meet the demand.

Matetolsky did not want to be a puppet. He wanted to overthrow the Tsarist government and establish a free country.

After arriving in the Moscow region, he took the initiative to alienate the people of Prussia. The reason was to keep it a secret, but in fact, he did not want to give up land.

But now he could not do without the support of the people of Prussia, and even more so, he could not do without the support of the British. Therefore, he had to pretend to be grateful.

In this era, the industry of the Russian Empire had not developed, and the number of workers was not large. If he wanted to overthrow the Tsarist government, it was far from enough.

In order to make up for the lack of power, Matetolsky targeted the large number of farmers. Alexander II Of Russia liberated the serfs and gained the support of the people. This became the biggest problem of the uprising.

"Purge the Emperor's Ministers" was the slogan of the uprising sponsored by an international friend. The purpose was naturally to attract more people to participate in the uprising. After all, Tsar's reputation among the people was still very good. The people would not agree to a direct rebellion.

This was contrary to Matetolsky's ideals. Europe's cultural tradition determined that once this banner was raised, even if the government was overthrown, Tsar would still be Tsar. At most, they would use the constitutional monarchy to restrain them.

Nicholas I Of Russia recovered Constantinople, leaving enough political legacy for Alexander II Of Russia. He also announced the abolition of serfdom, gaining the support of tens of millions of newly liberated peasants in Russia.

Matetolsky was very suspicious that even if the current government was overthrown, Alexander II Of Russia would still be in power.

"Purge the Emperor's Ministers" was good, but it also put himself under Tsar. The monarch and subject status was fixed. In politics, he was naturally at a disadvantage.

However, this slogan gained the support of many international friends. The reason was self-evident. Everyone was a monarchy, so naturally, they would support this system.

"Sigh!"

After a deep sigh, Matetolsky reluctantly chose to compromise. The Revolutionary Party was a gathering of forces from all sides. It was no longer a monolithic block. As a leader, his words could not carry weight.

The bourgeoisie that supported them only wanted to control the power through the revolution. They were not prepared to overthrow Tsar.

Most of the Revolutionary Party also supported the retention of Tsar. If there was no Tsar, how could they counterattack and become nobles?

Don't expect everyone's ideological awareness to be very high. Most of the Revolutionary Party rebelled because they were dissatisfied with the reality. They did not have the lofty ideal of liberating humanity.

Matetolsky also could not go against the wishes of the people. Otherwise, changing the leader would only be a matter of a meeting. At most, it would take another three to five days.

On December 12, 1866, under the leadership of Matetolsky, the alliance of many Revolutionary Party in Russia launched the December Uprising in Moscow.

The Revolutionary Army's political platform was "Purge the Emperor's Ministers". They called on all Russians to kill the corrupt officials and return the power to Tsar.