Chapter 886

Outside the palace, Prime Minister Terence Burkin's back was drenched in sweat. He understood that he had been tricked.

Coincidence?

There were no coincidences in politics. Even if it was a coincidence, the emperor had to believe it.

There was no problem in lobbying the emperor to start a war. This was also the prime minister's job, and it was not beyond his authority.

But it just so happened that the soldiers were attacked, and the emperor mistook it as an attempt to force him to abdicate, which was a big problem.

After a little thought, Terence Burkin locked the suspicion on the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, "Rafael," but he really did not understand why his cronies wanted to trick him.

He was the one who pushed Lafayette to be the manager of the farm, so Lafayette was indebted to him for his recognition.

Bureaucratic groups also cared about interpersonal relationships. Traitors would be despised wherever they went. Even if they jumped ship, it would be after Prime Minister Terence Burkin's power was gone.

At this time, stabbing him in the back was completely courting death. With the power of Prime Minister Terence Burkin, he was fully capable of defeating Rafael before he fell.

Things had already happened, and there was no need to dwell on this issue.

Perhaps Rafael, that idiot, was also used. At least, Prime Minister Terence Burkin did not think that Rafael had the courage to plan this incident.

It seemed to be calm, and the Belgians were the scapegoats, but it did not mean that things were over.

This time, it was the Government of France and the emperor who were tricked. How could they not deal with such an obvious provocation of the relationship between the monarch and his subjects?

Prime Minister Terence Burkin had decided to pursue the matter to the end. No matter who did it, he had to be prepared to welcome the revenge of the most powerful people in France, provided that the culprit could be found out.

After calming down, Prime Minister Terence Burkin quickly put aside these distracting thoughts. The war was imminent, and there were a lot of things waiting for him to deal with. At this time, there was no time to care so much.

…

On September 24, 1890, the Government of France issued a circular to Billy, ordering the Belgian government to: within 48 hours, hand over the kidnapped soldiers, as well as the murderers who attacked the French soldiers, and pay compensation of one billion francs.

Upon receiving this bad news, Leopold II, who was still celebrating the remarkable results of the joint blockade, was dumbfounded.

This was not how it should be played. According to the usual practice, after the French encountered the blockade, they should first fight with the anti-French alliance, and then negotiate. If they really could not reach an agreement, then they would go to war.

However, the French immediately created an excuse for war and issued an order for war. They did not play by the rules at all.

It was one thing for the French to create an excuse to start a war, but the problem was that instead of fighting Austria and Germany, they had to pick on Belgium. Leopold II was really bitter.

In order to avoid this war, the Belgian government had made a lot of efforts, including active diplomatic mediation.

They had originally placed their hopes on Britain and Austria to mediate, but the British boss was unreliable and sold them out. Austria also wanted to see how things would turn out. After they intervened to mediate, not only did they not find a way to alleviate the conflict, but they also pushed the French further into a corner.

Even though he was forced to join the anti-French alliance, Leopold II tried his best to reduce his presence and pushed all the limelight to Austria and Germany.

Unfortunately, what was to come would still come. Belgium's geographical location determined that they would be beaten up, and there was no way they could avoid it.

After regaining his composure, Leopold II asked, "What did the German and Austrian ministers say?"

It was impossible to give in. Leaving aside the huge amount of compensation, the Belgian government would not be able to hand over the non-existent murderer and missing soldiers.

Foreign Affairs Minister Jul replied bitterly, "The German Minister did not give a clear answer. We have to wait for the domestic decision.

The Austrian Minister said that no matter what decision we make, they will support it, including going to war with France. "

Going to war was easy to say, but if it really happened, Belgium would be the biggest victim.

Anyone with a little military knowledge knew that unless the anti-French alliance took the initiative to attack, Belgium would be the main battlefield between the alliance and the French army.

It was impossible to take the initiative. The anti-French alliance, including Belgium, was not ready for war.

The Austrian army was still in the country. Even if they came at the fastest speed, it would take half a month.

In fact, if the Austrian army could enter the battlefield within a month, it would be considered as going all out.

Perhaps it would only take two days for ordinary people to take a train from Vienna to Brussels, but it was different for the army.

It took time to assemble the troops, mobilize them, and transport equipment and logistical supplies.

The railway's capacity was not unlimited. Ordinary trains could only transport a battalion of troops at a time. Including weapons, equipment, and logistical supplies, most of the time it couldn't even transport a company of troops.

Belgium did not have the ability to solve the logistical problems of the reinforcements themselves. The Austrian army had to carry themselves.

Because the railway standard was different, there were many transfers along the way. Every transfer needed to transport supplies, which would waste a lot of time along the way.

The most optimistic estimate was that it would take four to five days from Austria to Belgium.

Including the preparation time and rest time after arriving, it would take at least ten days before they could enter the battle.

It didn't seem like much time, but the problem was that the reinforcements weren't just one or two companies, but thousands of companies.

A train transported a company, and a train was sent every half an hour. The railway could only transport 48 times a day at most, which was equivalent to transporting 48 companies, which was about two regiments of troops.

It couldn't be faster. In this day and age, it was already very difficult to achieve a train being sent every half an hour.

There were only a few railways from Austria to Belgium. If all of them were calculated, the most they could transport was two divisions a day.

In fact, it would be a miracle to ensure that a division could be transported every day.

The railway transportation couldn't be carried out according to the limit. A train was sent every half an hour. With the technology of this day and age, it was too difficult to coordinate and dispatch. If there was an accident midway, they might collide.

They couldn't guarantee that all the bureaucrats were 100% dedicated, and they couldn't guarantee that all the train drivers would drive at the same speed.

The interval between the two trains was too short. If there was an emergency, they wouldn't even be able to brake in time.

Moreover, even if one train stopped, there was no guarantee that the train behind wouldn't catch up.

This was only the infantry. If they were transporting artillery and armored troops, it was a question whether the carriages would be able to accommodate such a big guy.

In a sense, the anti-French alliance was still at a disadvantage in terms of railway transportation.

Germany and Austria were better off. Even if the tracks were not completely the same, the stations were still connected, and the distance of manual transportation wasn't too far.

Most of the railways in Belgium and Germany had their own routes, and there might be a transfer of more than ten miles between stations, which wasted a lot of time.

Before the Austrian reinforcements arrived, Belgium could only fight side by side with the German Confederation. The anti-French alliance was at an absolute disadvantage in the short term.

After thinking for a while, Leopold II solemnly said, "The French have come prepared. War is inevitable. From now on, we must prepare for war.

Send a message to the Government of Vienna and tell the Austrians that we're not going to give in. Urge them to send troops as soon as possible.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will try their best to negotiate with the French. We need time … "