Chapter 1076 Embassy Crisis

"According to news from the embassy in St. Petersburg, since the outbreak of the conflict in the Far East, anti-Japanese sentiment among the people of the Russian Empire has continued to rise.

Many people in the tsarist government advocated taking tough measures against us, and the arrogance of the main fighters was high, and the possibility of launching a war was not ruled out.

The international community is very indifferent to the conflict between us and the Russians. Except for the verbal support of the British, most countries have a mentality of watching the fun. "

Inoue Kaoru said helplessly.

Since the rise of fanatical nationalism, it has been difficult to be an official in the Japanese government, and the foreign minister in charge of international affairs is even more of a hot potato.

Folk radicals don't use their brains at all when they look at problems.

In this context, foreign ministers are often the ones who take the blame, and among the people, they are almost equivalent to the existence of "traitors".

It's the same no matter who goes up. You must know that after the Shimonoseki Treaty was signed, Ito Hirobumi, who was a great hero, was almost punished by heaven and earth as a traitor.

Such a challenging job cannot be done without a strong heart.

No matter how strong her heart is, facing the current international situation, Inoue Kaoru also feels scalp numb.

Under the international background of the confrontation between the two powers, even though he has too many dragon-slaying skills, there is no room for him to display them.

Since you are hanging out with the British, don't expect to be able to please Shinra. It is human instinct to rely on the strong. As a sea power country, there is nothing wrong with mixing with Britain, the most powerful navy.

The crux of the problem lies with the boss. For some reason in recent years, the British boss has suddenly become weak, and has gradually been at a disadvantage in international competition.

First, it lost the opportunity in the second industrial revolution, and then lost control of the European continent. Now even the hegemony of the Royal Navy is shaky.

The supremacy of the sea was impacted, all thanks to the world tour of the Shinra Navy. All countries that have conducted joint exercises together know the gap between super battleships and traditional battleships.

But the British were a step behind in this. Although their dreadnoughts were also launched, they suffered from bad problems because of the rush of time.

Just like Shinra's earliest "Roma", it's okay to put it at home to support the facade, but once it is opened, it will be bad.

In this context, even though the British also have super battleships, they can only watch the Shinra Navy stir up the situation and stand up.

In the eyes of those who are interested, this is the performance of the Navy's backwardness, at least the British are one step slower in warship construction technology.

The saying of "boom and decline" is not popular in the European world, but it is well known in East Asia. Including the previous seizure of the Philippines, it was all based on this judgment.

What makes Inoue even more worrying is that the British boss is not only lagging behind in technology, economy, and military, but even the best diplomacy is now in a bottleneck.

The boss's diplomacy can't be played well, and the younger brother's diplomacy is even more difficult to carry out. In this era when Europe is the center, who knew that Japan was the green onion?

In order to change this passive diplomatic situation, a comprehensive Westernization movement broke out in Japan, that is, the "Leaving Asia and entering Europe" movement. As the foreign minister, Kaoru Inoue is the leader of this strategy.

Ito Hirobumi: "It's not that serious, it's just a diplomatic conflict, and the Russians are not going to start a war for it.

The current international situation is very divided. Britain and Shinra are facing each other. The Russian Empire, which is in the second strongest position, seems to be majestic, but in fact they are also very embarrassing.

Logically speaking, the Russia-Austria alliance has lasted for decades, and the Russians should support Shinra, but they are both in the European continent and happen to be neighbors.

Just as one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, the European continent also cannot accommodate two big countries. Once the Shinra defeated Britain, the Russian Empire could not go any further.

From the strategic point of view of long distance and close attack, the best choice is to form an alliance between Britain and Russia to jointly deal with Shinra. After all, Russia and Austria are countries with land power, and the British are countries with sea power.

Even if Britain won hegemony, it would not threaten the survival of the Russian Empire, and vice versa.

However, Britain and Russia have deep grievances, and they cannot be resolved if they want to. The two parties lack the most basic trust and there is no basis for an alliance at all.

At this point, it is not in the interests of the Russian Empire to support anyone, but they have to stand in line, otherwise London and Vienna will not be at ease.

This is a big trouble, and until this problem is solved, the tsarist government will not make extra troubles.

What's more, the strength of the Russians in the Far East is not enough to start a war. Once a war breaks out, logistics alone can drag them to death. "

After listening to Ito Hirobumi's explanation, Emperor Meiji's face was obviously relieved a lot. Because of the butterfly effect, Japan is not as lucky as the original time and space.

Although it gained a lot in the war against the Far Eastern Empire, there was an extra Philippine war that lost money, and the size of the navy was much larger than that of the same period in history.

All these cost money, and the looted war indemnity was used to fill these two huge pits. Naturally, the funds for domestic development were less, and the national strength was much weaker than that of the same period in history.

The most immediate response is financially. It is impossible to think about the balance of financial revenue and expenditure. It is the blessing of the eight million gods to be able to keep the financial system from going bankrupt.

Against the Russians, not only the military pressure is great, but the financial pressure is even greater.

From this point of view, Japan and Russia are similar. They are both poor countries with cleaner pockets than faces.

Prime Minister Shigenobu Okuma: "Ito-kun, this is just an inference under normal circumstances, but don't forget that the Russian Empire is often abnormal.

I have studied Russian history, and the tsarist government often made decisions without going through the brain.

The most famous one is Peter III, who directly cut off the westward advance of the Russian Empire because of his personal preference to turn his back on the alliance and aid Russia.

There are even more unknown ones, including several wars in the modern Russian Empire, which are hard to call rational.

Including Emperor Nicholas, who was highly respected by the Russians, blindly launched the Near East War, although he finally captured the Constantinople area and seemed to have won the war.

But from the price paid by the Russian Empire, we know that this is a war that hurts both sides, and the Russians won it just to save face.

The next Alexander II was similar. Without carefully weighing the pros and cons, he blindly went to war with Prussia.

In the end, the war was indeed won, but the price paid was that the Russian Empire fell from the top power to the second echelon.

...

In short, when the tsarist government made decisions, we should not use common sense to judge them, otherwise we would suffer big losses. "

If you don't analyze it, you don't know. Once you analyze it, you will be shocked. When you meet a competitor who is not used to playing cards according to common sense, anyone will feel scalp numb.

In fact, the law of inference of interest itself does not hold. It is true that interests come first among countries, but the rulers are still human. Since we are human beings, we cannot be absolutely rational.

In many cases, the personal preferences and perceptions of politicians can also affect government decision-making, especially in feudal monarchy countries.

There is no doubt that the Russian Empire is a typical feudal monarchy. Even with the reforms of Alexander II, it also failed to change this essence.

It cannot be said that the monarch's personal will controls the country's decision-making, but the influence of the monarch's personal perception on the country's decision-making is unquestionable.

The most typical example is the anti-Japanese faction at the top of the Russian Empire, and there are very few pro-Japanese factions in the tsarist government.

For no other reason than the two scars on Nicholas II. This alone is enough to make everyone hate the Japanese Empire.

This is also politically correct. If someone assassinates the monarch you are loyal to, if you are still indifferent, do you still want to mess around?

What kind of cause, what kind of fruit. Whether it is willing or not, the Japanese government has to pay for its previous mistakes.

Of course, everyone thought of more. It seems that the tsarist government's decision-making mistakes in recent decades have finally allowed Austria to take advantage of it.

They couldn't help but think about it, one time could be a coincidence, but two or three times of coincidence, it would be too much of a coincidence.

Thinking about it, there is actually not much we can do now. They can all see the problem, and so can others.

Including the high level of the tsarist government, they also discovered these problems. Otherwise, it would not appear that the first thing every tsar did after succeeding to the throne was to get rid of his dependence on Vienna.

No one wants to be led by the nose, let alone a rebellious bear.

It's just that the gap between reality and ideal is a bit far. If they really cut themselves off and cut off the connection between Russia and Austria, they won't be able to make up their minds.

Since they are inseparable, we can only be cautious when making decisions to avoid being led off the rhythm.

After all, this kind of influence was carried out secretly, and the Vienna government did nothing on the surface.

Even if it stepped on a pit, the tsarist government could only knock down its teeth and swallow it in its stomach. It is absolutely unacceptable to the outside world. If the cover is lifted, it will only prove that they are incompetent.

...

Both governments were trying to avoid war, and the Japanese government did only slightly more, stepping up defenses against the Russians.

But the folks are different. Anti-Japanese sentiment in the Russian Empire is high, and anti-Russian sentiment in Japan is equally strong.

Looking at the dark crowd of protesters outside, the staff of the Russian embassy in Japan were afraid to go out even to buy groceries.

The endless cursing sound seemed to never stop from morning to night, which made Minister Fortoriac furious.

"Dial the number of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

The staff suggested in a low voice: "Your Excellency, the phone line has been cut off, why don't we send a telegram?"

It can be seen that Minister Fortoriak is still very prestigious in the embassy, ​​and the staff did not dare to prick him at all.

Minister Futoriak roared: "Then why are you still standing here, don't hurry up and send it!"

Just after yelling, Futoriak realized that he had made a slip of the tongue. Since he wanted to send a telegram, he naturally had to have content, and he didn't say anything, so the people who did things below naturally had to wait.

"Sorry, Frank. I didn't mean to, I was just confused by the Japanese.

There is so much commotion outside, I don't believe the Japanese government doesn't know about it. Knowing that someone is making trouble and not stopping it, this is provoking the great Russian Empire.

Let the guards get ready, as long as anyone dares to cross the line, don't be polite to me. "

There is no doubt that the last sentence is just angry words. If he dared to shoot, the people below would have already fired.

After a pause, Fortoriak continued: "Inform the country about the situation we are facing, and invite embassies of various countries in Japan to put pressure on the Japanese government.

Inform the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and order them to expel the troublemakers within two hours, or else..."

Otherwise, Futoriak himself didn't know.

Diplomatic falsehood

Fraud also has to be divided into objects, but it does not mean that Japan cannot be blackmailed. The crux of the problem is that the power of the Russian Empire in the Far East cannot scare the Japanese at all.

If this kind of stern warning diplomatic note is issued by Shinra or Britain, it is estimated that there is still some deterrence. As for the Russian Empire, it is still a little bit worse.

However, Minister Fotolyak is not worried. This is the embassy area, and there is not only one Russian embassy, ​​there are also British and Shinra embassies a few hundred meters away.

There was such a commotion outside, not only their family was affected, but also the neighbors around them were also having a hard time.

If it's just to watch the fun, it's enough to go on for so long. Even if it is to get a good night's sleep, everyone will put pressure on the Japanese government.

You must know that in Japan, the most indispensable thing is extremists. Ordinary Japanese people can't tell the difference in appearance between Europeans. Anyway, it's right for white people to oppose together.

If things get serious, everyone's life will not be easy. It is too common to accidentally injure a horse.

There was a sound of "touch".

"what sound?"

Futoriak could be sure that this was not the sound of a gunshot, and that the sound of bullets was not like this. He still had some experience with this.

What's more, those who can serve as embassy guards are not fools. No matter how much they look down on the Japanese, they know where they are.

If there are hundreds or thousands of Russian troops stationed here, then of course there is nothing to say, just do it directly.

It's a pity that there are only a dozen guards at the embassy. Compared with the black crowd of protesters outside, it is really insignificant, even with a gun in hand.

People under the eaves had to bow their heads. In the case of a huge disparity in strength, no matter how angry you are in your heart, you must first hold it back.

"The glass was broken, and someone threw stones into the embassy."

This is just the beginning. People follow blindly, as long as someone takes the lead in anything, there will be no shortage of followers.

The crackling sound continued for a while, and the flying stones could not only break the glass, but also hurt people.

The situation is heading for chaos, fanaticism is ignited, and everyone's courage is getting bigger and bigger.

No one noticed that just a few hundred meters away, a black gun barrel was aimed at the protesters.

"Aim at the shot that raises the flag, and the resolution should be higher."

...