Chapter 502 Preparations for the Aftermath

In the scorching sun, a luxurious train galloped past. On both sides of the road, the ripe grains seemed to be frightened, bent, bowed their heads, and trembled from time to time.

In the luxury carriage of the special train, a young man in gorgeous clothes was looking at the newspaper intently, frowning from time to time.

The young man was Alexandrovich (Alexander III) who was visiting abroad. He had high hopes for this trip to Paris, and he did not forget to collect information on the way.

He was too lazy to read the information provided by the tsarist government. In Aleksandrovich's view, those materials have obvious tendencies, or political correctness.

In his opinion, to get a preliminary understanding of France, it is enough to read French economic and political newspapers. Alexandrovich is not an expert scholar, these basic materials are enough.

The more I learned, the more emotion Alexandrovich felt. Through the news in the newspapers, he knew that there was a huge gap between France and Russia.

This gap is "quality", not what the St. Petersburg bureaucrats verbally said, and it can be overtaken in three to five years.

What troubled him was that the French people had a bad impression of Russia, just read the adjectives in the newspapers.

"Barbarian", "Liar", "Rogue", "Rotten"...

These adjectives pierced Aleksandrovich's heart deeply. His grievances had no effect, the French newspapers would not be under his control, how they were written or how they were written.

Although most of the content is exaggerated, it is not completely fabricated out of thin air. Russia does have a lot of dark history.

Under normal circumstances, everyone will not turn over these old accounts. Now that Alexandrovich is going to visit, the hot newspapers are active.

"France-Russia friendship" does not exist, at least these newspapers do not believe that there is a traditional friendship between the two countries, and there are quite a few hatreds.

What is even more irritating is that they are still losers. Everyone still clearly remembers that it was the Russians who buried the First French Empire.

The Near East War failed to take revenge, and the French were very dissatisfied. In the recent Russian-Prussian War, the French people contributed the most to Prussia, even more than the German Federation + Austria combined.

What is there to be proud of, Alexandrovich doesn't know. In short, he understood that many French people did not welcome his visit.

At home, Alexandrovich had no idea that Russia was so unpopular in Europe.

Originally, he was still haunted by the failure of the Russian-Prussian War, but now he understands that he is fighting against the whole of Europe at the same time, how can he not fail?

The newspapers were published, and Alexandrovich fell into deep thought. A voice deep inside kept telling him that something had to be done to change the way European countries viewed the Russian Empire.

Isolation means danger. Now the Russian Empire has many enemies and only one ally, and even the last ally is now moving away from them.

If this situation does not change, it will still be difficult for the Russian Empire to win the next war.

Although the war has not yet broken out, Alexandrovich already knew that there will be at least Poland + Prussia + Ottoman in the next war, several Khanates in Central Asia may also appear, and even the Far East may not be stable.

Modern warfare is about logistics. In the last war, the Russian Empire lost in transportation. Although some people in the country accused ally Austria of paddling, Alexandrovich knew very well that the cause of the Russian defeat was still his own.

The supplies were purchased from Austria, but they were unable to transport them to the front line in time, resulting in a shortage of troops on the front line, which gave the Prussians a chance to take advantage.

If there are no logistical constraints, and at the same time a million Russian troops are put into the front line, even if the whole of Europe provides logistics to Prussia, they will not be able to stop it.

There is no fairness in war. There are soldiers who don't have to play with less to win more. They are all fools. Usually, such fools die miserably.

In the history of war, almost always the strong won the war, and the reason why the weak wins the strong is respected because it happened rarely.

In the case of comparable forces, the Russian Empire is indeed the bottom of the European powers when it comes to the combat effectiveness of the army.

The reason is clear to Alexandrovich. It is nothing more than the gap in weaponry and training. In the final analysis, there is no money.

Most of the Tsarist soldiers were conscripts, and these troops did not need to pay salaries.

Inexpensiveness became the hallmark of the tsarist army. Economically, increasing the number of people brought about a greater increase in combat power than increasing training and replacing the most advanced weapons and equipment.

This account has been calculated for a long time. The cost of one French soldier is enough for the tsarist government to recruit two such cheap soldiers, and there is still some surplus. On the battlefield, a French army can never beat two Russian soldiers.

That's how the grey animals came, and because of the cheap economics, the Russians fell in love with crowd tactics.

The train slowed down, and Alexandrovich knew it was Paris. Looking at the buildings on both sides of the road, Alexandrovich showed a hint of fascination.

Paris is definitely one of the most desirable cities in the world in the 19th century. Of course, Alexandrovich was interested in Paris, definitely not because it was the Holy Land of the Revolution.

As a crown prince, especially the crown prince of the tsarist government, you are naturally a member of the reactionaries, and it is impossible to play with the revolutionary party.

Alexandrovich is interested simply because Paris is the capital of France and has the most

developed industry.

As the three most famous cities in Europe in this era, although Paris is famous for its revolutionary holy place, it is not bad at all in other aspects.

After the renovation of Napoleon III, Paris has now gotten rid of the messy hat, and the urban environment is better than that of smelly London, not too much.

...

Franz had no interest in Alexandrovich's trip to Europe, and even the famous one in later generations couldn't move him.

History is the most deceptive, and exaggeration has always been the favorite of literati. For example, the three Italian heroes, who were highly regarded by later generations, became nothing because of changes in the international situation.

Franz admits that their ability is indeed strong, unfortunately they are not lucky this time. Just a little change has changed their lives.

Garibaldi and Mazzini failed to lead the revolution and were forced into exile. The famous Prime Minister Cavour was even worse, and the technique of combining vertical and horizontal was thrown into the street at the beginning.

Austria's position was different from history, allowing France to expand in Italy. Napoleon III felt that annexing Italy would be more beneficial than cooperating with the Kingdom of Sardinia.

A decision made by the superior made all his efforts in vain. No way, the success of the original time and space is based on luck, and now it's just a little bit of luck.

Countless real-life cases have told Franz that the ability of the losers is not necessarily poor, and they are often just a little bit of luck away from success.

Just such a small gap, the final result is often the difference between heaven and hell.

Napoleon III is also an example, the original time and space has already hit the street. As a result, because of Franz's butterfly effect, Napoleon III is now called "Napoleon the Great" by the French.

Looking at the information in his hand, Franz frowned. If nothing else, his unlucky brother would soon be unlucky.

Unable to find a buyer internationally, the Paris government decided to withdraw its troops from Mexico. Without the backing of French soldiers, Franz did not think Massimiliano would be able to stabilize the situation.

Without any hesitation, a secret order flew from the Vienna Palace to the Austrian Central American colonies. In any case, this is the brother in name, and it is impossible to really sit idly by.

Even the placement issue, Franz has considered. Forget about throwing it in a country castle. Anyway, there are not many other Habsburgs, but there are many castles.

An idealist like Massimiliano would not have the courage to come back to meet people after a failure, and it was just fine to hang out in the countryside.

The original time and space Massimiliano refused to run away, and Franz suspected that he was afraid to return to the European continent for fear of being humiliated and ridiculed.

This kind of heart is not surprising, just like a person who does not earn money by working part-time, and feels embarrassed at home for Chinese New Year all year round.

For Massimiliano's problems, Franz was not a psychiatrist. Knowing how to know how to treat it is beyond his ability.

Maybe you can leave this question to the Queen Mother Sophie, just to find something for her to do and share the nagging in Franz's ear.

Mexico City is not far away. As long as you prepare in advance, it is not too difficult to have an armed intervention. Anyway, the new government of Mexico can pay the bill in the end.

Unlike the French, the Austrian Central American colonial empire was right next door to Mexico. The farmers over there have long wanted to annex the Yucatan Peninsula. It's just that Franz was embarrassed to do something to Mexico out of face.

When Massimiliano I hit the streets, this obstacle would no longer exist. Row the grass and hit the rabbit, and the amount of meat that is bitten is counted.

For the Americans, the power of the Austrian Central American colonies may be equivalent to one or two large states. Even if the Germans can fight a little, it is equivalent to the power of two or three states, which is not worth mentioning at all.

But from the beginning of the Mexican Empire, this little power is enough to wake them up. Of course, this is based on the situation that the Mexican insurgents are fighting for themselves.

If they are smart enough to send the gift of Massimiliano I directly out of the country, there is no excuse for war, and Franz, who pays attention to his appearance, will not do anything to them.

To put it bluntly, the Americas region is not the focus of Austrian expansion. The Vienna government has limited energy, and it is impossible to take care of so many places at the same time.

Even in the strategically important Panama region, Franz can be a ninja without doing anything, let alone Mexico?

Franz is already thinking about which son to send to Central America as king.

This kind of colony thousands of miles away, with the rise of nationalism, it is still too difficult for the central government to directly control it. It is easier to establish a state.

This is also in line with the tradition of the Habsburg dynasty. The ancestors could separate Spain and Austria, and now Franz can naturally separate a colony.

Not only the Central American colonies, but also the Southeast Asia region may establish states in the future. Anyway, the meat is rotten in the pot, it is better than throwing it out.

Putting these countries under the name of the Shinra Empire, and everyone playing in an economic circle, is not considered a failure.