Chapter 703 The Battle of Warsaw Without a Winner

The changes in the Prussian-Russian battlefield directly affected the European financial market. For a while, the war bonds issued by the Prussian Federation plummeted in market value.

Anyone with a bit of common sense knows that if Mao Qi is unable to turn the tide in the following war, after the defeat of the Pubo Federation, there will inevitably be a debt default.

Financial winter is coming.

Prime Minister Benjamin, who was far away in London, felt a chill.

Too much debt, and sometimes it really doesn't weigh you down. By now, the people who are most afraid of the end of the Pope Federation are the British, except themselves.

The more information at hand, the better Prime Minister Benjamin understands the seriousness of the problem.

The defeat of the Pope Federation was not just because the loans it gave out turned into bad debts and the bonds issued for them turned into waste paper, but more importantly, the payments owed by the Berlin government.

The previous losses are nothing more than financial institutions and speculators. These people are rich and have strong ability to resist risks.

The payment for goods in the back will be different. Large enterprises may be able to resist the past, while small and medium-sized enterprises have weak capital chains and cannot stand the toss at all.

If coupled with the bank's robbery, the day when the Commonwealth of Populism ends, is the beginning of the British industrial crisis.

The actual situation may be even worse, after all, the capitalist world is already overcapacity. After the war, the market competition will become more and more intense, and the tide of corporate bankruptcy is inevitable.

For Great Britain, the proportion of these small and medium-sized enterprises in the economic structure is not too high, but it is these enterprises that provide the most jobs.

Bankruptcy and unemployment are a pair of good brothers, and they have always been "focus on Meng, Meng does not leave the focus". An economic crisis of unprecedented scale is already brewing in Britain.

Sometimes knowing too much is a burden.

Benjamin asked, "Sir Edward, what do the French say?"

To reverse this war, it is no longer something that the British family can do. The French position is crucial.

Foreign Minister Edward shook his head: "The Paris government rejected our proposal. They believe that the contradiction between Prussia and Russia cannot be resolved. Even if this war is forcibly stopped, there will be another war.

The French are betting on both sides in this war. The loss of the Pope Federation in defeating them is not great, and they may even reach an agreement with the Russians in secret. "

Prime Minister Benjamin nodded helplessly, he knew the grievances between Britain and France, that is, they are constantly being rationalized and chaotic. How could the French want the British to be unlucky, so how could they pull them?

Take the Russian-Prussian War as an example. At first, Britain and France supported the Berlin government together, but the British got the gold reserves of the Commonwealth of Prussia and almost monopolized the financial interests.

It turns out that eating alone is not that tasty. The more you eat, the more you pay. The British undertook most of the loans and bonds of the Berlin government.

The French chose to let go for a variety of reasons. In addition to too few benefits, there is also the development of French Africa, which requires a lot of investment, and the Paris government artificially restricts capital outflow.

Although the greed of the capitalists has not been stopped, the total outflow of capital has shrunk significantly.

Without government guidance, these capitals not only flowed into the Commonwealth, but also a considerable part into the Russian Empire.

It is equivalent to betting on both sides, no matter which side wins, the French will have to share. With fewer interests involved, the Paris government is naturally not active.

Unlike his father, Napoleon IV happened to be born in the revival stage of France.

It can be seen from France's foreign policy that the Paris government's foreign policy has become increasingly tough. In the last two or three years, the relations between Britain and France and the relations between France and Austria have been deteriorating.

The strength of the British Army is limited, and if it wants to intervene in this war, it is also more than enough.

Now that the French refuse to be thugs, the London government has essentially lost the ability to directly intervene in the war.

After pondering for a while, Prime Minister Benjamin said fiercely: "Then take the next step. No matter what method is used, we must find a way to keep the Kingdom of Prussia. We need the existence of creditors and give the country an explanation."

After the defeat, the Kingdom of Prussia naturally did not have the ability to repay its debts. But as long as the creditor is there, there is the possibility of repayment.

The post-war Berlin government had limited financial resources, and perhaps for many years, their annual repayments would not be enough to pay interest.

But hope is better than no hope. The London government needs a hope that the people will have confidence in the market.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Garfield: "Prime Minister, you are too pessimistic. Maybe things are not as bad as you think, and the Commonwealth of Pope is still fighting.

If Moltke performs a miracle and wins the Battle of Warsaw ahead of the Russians, they have a decent chance of ending the war. "

Foreign Secretary Edward denied: "Sir Garfield, this is impossible. There are every indication that the Austrians want the Commonwealth to lose the war and lay the groundwork for the unification of the German region.

Even if Mao Qi created a miracle, it still could not change the fate of the failure of the Popo Federation. With Vienna's support, the troops of the tsarist government would continue to flow up, killing them in the end. "

"Quantitative advantage", perhaps this is the most touching place for European countries. The Russians have proved with facts: "As long as our army is large enough, the enemy can do nothing".

...

The Russian-Prussian War entered a new phase as the British tried to make up for their losses. The Fourth Russian Army has been cleaned up by the Prussian Army

He has completely lost his temper, and can only rely on simple fortifications to survive.

Surprisingly, the Prussian Army did not completely encircle and wipe out the Fourth Russian Army in one go. Instead, after defeating the crippled Fourth Army, it left two infantry divisions and a group of militiamen pretending to be the main force to besiege the Russians, but the main force moved north quickly.

In order to avoid the Russian airship reconnaissance, the Prussian army chose to sleep during the day and march at night, and quickly reinforced the Warsaw battlefield.

On November 10, 1880, the main force of the Prussian army arrived in Warsaw, and together with the Warsaw defenders launched a counterattack against the Russian army. Unprepared, the Russian Fifth Army suffered heavy losses.

This is just the beginning. After the heavy losses, the Russian Fifth Army was forced to retreat with its remnants. The Russian Seventh Army, which was horned at each other, was also exposed to the front of the Prussian Army.

Facts have proved that after losing the military advantage, the Russian army is really not the opponent of the Prussian army.

The Russian Seventh Army failed to create a miracle. The comrades reminded them that it was too late, and they failed to evacuate in time. They lost a third of their troops under the attack of the Prussian Army.

The Battle of Warsaw ended with the victory of the Prussian army, but Mao Qi's face did not have the slightest joy, because the time that belonged to them had been lost.

There is no way, the Russian army is not a piece of paper. It took them only two days to defeat the Russian Fifth Army, and it took them five days to defeat the Russian Seventh Army.

Time is life on the battlefield. At this time, the Russians' Third Army and Sixth Army are only more than 200 kilometers away from them.

Theoretically speaking, it is still possible to intercept the enemy halfway and delay the enemy's marching speed for ten days and a half months.

For such a long time, they can still rush to help the southern front, for example: first kill the Eighth Army besieging Poznan, and stay in the middle of the Russian Ninth Army.

In fact, this is simply not possible. The soldiers of the Prussian army are also human. If they want to maintain the combat effectiveness of the troops, they also need time to repair after the battle.

Even if it is only two days off, Mao Qi's time is not enough.

Even though the distance from Warsaw to Poznan is only 278 kilometers, the train can arrive in the morning, but it cannot be done in one or two days to transport hundreds of thousands of troops there.

After the army has passed, it does not mean that the war can be fought immediately. It also depends on whether the enemy is willing to fight them decisively, the Russians can completely delay the time.

For example: looking for favorable terrain to stick to. Anyway, if they don't annihilate them, the rear of the Prussian army will not be stable, and the longer it drags on, the better it will be for the Russians.

Before they could kill the Russian Eighth Army, the Russian reinforcements arrived in Warsaw again. If the main force is not there, Warsaw will definitely not be able to hold it.

The fall of Warsaw also means the fall of Poland. At that point, even if the Russian Eighth Army was killed, Mao Qi could only retreat back in despair to defend the Kingdom of Prussia.

Abandoning the Polish region, the Commonwealth of the Commonwealth has already lost this war. Having lost most of its territory and population, the only remaining kingdom of Prussia has less potential for war, and has no capital to fight against the Russians at all.

If there is no time to solve the threat on the southern front, then we can only hope that the domestic defenders can be a little stronger, and persist until they kill the Russian reinforcements and then return to the country.

The premise is that this is the last batch of Russian reinforcements, otherwise the Warsaw offensive and defensive battle will continue. From the current situation, the war is more likely to continue.

Looking at the map, Mao Qi was at a loss for the first time.

"Marshal, this is the battle report we counted, please take a look." A young officer whispered

Mao Qi raised his head and waved his hand to signal the young officer to put down the battle report and go out. After a moment of silence, Mao Qi, who had calmed down, slowly opened the battle report.

The cold numbers on the paper seemed to instantly drop the temperature in the room by a few points.

The war is going to kill people. The Prussian army has achieved brilliant results in the past month. It has successively disabled the Russian Fourth Army and the Fifth Army, and also severely damaged the Russian Seventh Army.

A total of more than 430,000 enemy troops were annihilated and captured, which collapsed the Russians' Warsaw Offensive in one fell swoop and created the "Warsaw Victory" that shocked the world.

However, behind this brilliance, there were also 110,000 soldiers of the Prussian Army permanently fell on the battlefield, and an additional 150,000 wounded.

This is just casualties. In fact, they paid far more than this price. Civilian casualties are not to be mentioned, and Moltke didn't take the Poles seriously.

Economic losses are not the concern of his marshal, the consumption of weapons, equipment and strategic materials, he can't help but ignore it.

In just one month, the Prussian army destroyed half of the ammunition in the warehouse and consumed nearly one-third of the strategic materials.