Chapter 793 The British Counterattack

The next day, Franz received mixed news. Prime Minister Felix woke up last night, but the cause of his coma has not yet been found.

No way, the level of medical care in the 19th century was only so high. In the absence of instrumental testing, doctors can only make judgments based on past experience.

If it is an ordinary person, there is only one doctor to receive, so naturally there is not so much trouble, and it is enough to rely on God's blessing.

If you are right, you will prescribe the right medicine; if you are wrong, you will seek more blessings.

Prime Minister Felix is ​​different. After his old man fell ill, all the top doctors in Austria came.

Then, a different conclusion was reached. Professionals are unable to unify their opinions, and others are even more confused.

In this situation, Franz was powerless. As a medical novice, he can only choose to wait.

Before the diagnosis of Prime Minister Felix's condition was confirmed, there was another international accident.

Affected by the demise of the Ottoman Empire, the British government began to speed up its invasion of Persia.

On February 16, 1885, under the threat of force from the British, they obtained the right to telegraph from British India via Boskerman, Tehran to Bushehr.

It is enough to force the laying of telegraph lines in Persia. The key is the cost of these erections, and the Persian government has to pay the bill.

The Persian Empire, which had become a semi-colonial, was naturally a poor man. In order to pay for the expensive telegraph construction, it was only natural that it had to borrow money from the British.

Foreign Secretary Wesenberg handed Franz a document, saying: "Your Majesty, the British look too ugly.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has just received news that three days ago the British secretly signed a loan deduction lease agreement with the Persian government.

This agreement can be described as all-encompassing, involving tariffs, minerals, railways, factories, water conservancy projects and other fields.

Once the above content becomes a reality, Persia will become the private land of the British, and we will basically lose the commercial market in the Persian region. "

After taking the document, Franz flipped through it directly, frowning more and more the more he looked at him.

The butterfly effect still did not change the history of Persia becoming a British colony.

Agreements on minerals, resources, factories, etc., have little impact on Austria, let alone. According to the treaty, the British got 25 years of tariff rights in Persia for only £20,000.

No wonder Weisenberg said that the British were excessive, and it was not only excessive, it was clear that they wanted to eat alone.

In the last Anglo-Polish war, the British failed to meet strategic expectations because of Russian intervention.

Persia also has a looser international environment than in the same period in history. After the war, the forces of Britain, Russia and Austria have penetrated into the Persian region, forming a new balance.

The Vienna government did not plan to expand into the Persian region, and the investment in the local area was not large, only a part of commercial interests. The main battles were between Britain and Russia.

Because of the Prussian-Prussian War, the Russians were busy licking their wounds and reduced their investment in resources in the Persian region, while the British took advantage of the weakness to increase their investment.

The emergence of this all-encompassing lease agreement is the product of a disrupted balance.

After reading it, Franz took a deep breath: "The British want to build the railway to the Caspian Sea, presumably the Russians won't watch it?"

The British took control of the Persian railway, and the railway extended to the Caspian Sea. At the same time, it also meant that the British power penetrated into the Caspian Sea, which seriously affected the interests of the Russians.

Wesenberg replied: "Of course! But the tsarist government is most angry at the moment, not the railway.

The Russians controlled nearly 30% of Persia's tobacco trade, and the British also won the Persian tobacco franchise at a price of 15,000 pounds, which would directly reduce the fiscal revenue of the tsarist government.

In addition to that, there are tariffs. Persia is also one of the few countries that imported Russian industrial and commercial products. The British got the right to tariffs and could basically announce that Russian industrial and commercial products were withdrawn from the Persian market. "

Not to mention tobacco, Franz almost forgot. The huge profits of the tobacco industry this year have been revealed.

Persia is rich in tobacco leaves, which were the largest export commodity until the discovery of oil.

During the reform, Alexander II followed the example of Austria and implemented the monopoly of tobacco and alcohol. The tsarist government imported a large amount of tobacco leaves from Persia every year.

After the processing is completed, some are kept for domestic sales, and some are returned to the Persian Empire.

The tsarist government can get a lot of income from it every year, accounting for 1-2% of the government's fiscal revenue.

In contrast, the export of industrial and commercial products is nothing. After all, Russian industrial and commercial products are like that, except that they are relatively solid, and they are useless in other aspects.

Even if such a product can be sold, the sales volume cannot be high. But something is better than nothing. No matter how little the export is, it is still an export. It means different things to the Russians.

As the so-called "cutting people's financial path is like killing one's parents". Franz could already imagine how the tsarist government would react when they found out about the British style of eating alone.

After pondering for a while, Franz asked suspiciously, "Do you know why the British did this?"

The more he thought about it, the more Franz felt that the British operation was weird. It is good to eat alone, but also consider the consequences.

Russia and Austria are not soft persimmons. If you are in a hurry, you can overturn the table. No one should think about it.

There's no way the British government didn't know this, but they did it anyway. It can't be deliberately creating contradictions to lure Russia and Austria to attack Persia.

?

Foreign Secretary Weisenberg explained: "It may have something to do with the conflict in Central Asia. The British government has repeatedly protested to the Russians to no avail, and has taken countermeasures.

As for us, most of the British government thinks that we are inciting the Russians to provoke the conflict in Central Asia, and they want to teach us a lesson. "

After hearing this answer, Franz felt speechless.

What about trust between people?

A pure and innocent disaster, even if he wanted to encourage the Russians to do things in Central Asia, he would not choose to do it now!

The Russians are warlike, but they are not stupid. Now is at a critical moment of recovery, how can it be possible to provoke a war at this time?

To explain is to cover up, and even if he knew he was wronged, Franz was powerless to defend himself.

There is no need for evidence in international politics. As long as it is believed to be, then targeted actions can be taken.

"What is the Foreign Office going to do?" Franz asked

Foreign Secretary Wesenberg: "Britain and Poland are just a secret agreement, and there is still a long way to go before it becomes a reality, and it is not worth our efforts to directly confront the British.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs planned to smash the British-Polish secret treaty first, agitate the Persian people to oppose the traitorous treaty, and then join forces with the Russians to put pressure on Persia to force them to give up the secret treaty. "

Austria can't help the British, and the Russians can't help the British, but this does not mean that the two countries can't help the Persian Empire.

Frankly speaking, Franz really doesn't understand the persian government's rude operations. Whether it is "the ignorant is fearless" or the bureaucrats of the Persian government are in the water.

The power of the three countries of Britain, Russia and Austria has penetrated deeply, and any one that wants to dominate here will be boycotted by the other two.

With such a stable structure, as long as the Persian government doesn't mess around and take advantage of the contradictions between the powers, it is not a problem at all to maintain its sovereignty.

Such a good card, actually played sloppy. Now it is stupid to sign a traitorous treaty with the British.

The mighty threat of the British?

The big deal is to fight a battle, but it's not that you haven't fought. With the support of Russia and Austria behind it, the country will never be destroyed no matter what.

If you are lucky, you will be able to use this opportunity to train an elite unit to regenerate the Persian Empire from the ashes.

There is no doubt that the opportunity for revival has been perfectly missed. From the moment the treaty was signed, the Persian government was not far from betraying its relatives.

The people could not tolerate such a traitorous government. Even if they did not rebel, the popularity of the Persian government among the people would fall to the bottom.

Affected by the follow-up of the secret treaty, the relationship between Persia and Russia and Austria will also drop to freezing point.

As for the British, just by looking at the contents of the treaty, they knew that they were going to annex Persia, and normal people knew that they were enemies.

Sure enough, the decay of an empire is not without cause. Putting aside the messy objective factors, just look at the rulers and know that there is no stupidest, only more stupid.

All kinds of ironic policies are not because of accidents, but they really only have this level.

In his heart, after despising the rotten Persian government, Franz made a decision: "Just follow the plan of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!"

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