Chapter 849 The Russians' Strategic Choice

St. Petersburg, Alexander III has been unable to sit still since he received the news that Britain and France were preparing to form an alliance.

Originally, he hoped to win over the French and gather the strength of France, Russia and Austria to attack the British, but he did not expect that the situation would be reversed so quickly.

Alexander III asked expectantly, "Is the news confirmed?"

Deep down, he very much hopes this is just a rumor.

Once Britain and France are allied, the Austrian navy is powerless to contend against the alliance between Britain and France, and the Vienna government cannot hold back against the two countries in the navy.

The ongoing arms race between Britain, France and Austria is coming to an end.

The plan of the Vienna government, which had promised to use an arms race to contain the British, would naturally come to nothing.

Although at the outset, Austria was not prepared to perform and had an excuse, the Russians did not know.

After all, the reputation of the Vienna government is good enough, and it has not violated the contract for so many years, and Alexander III has no doubts at all.

The arms race is over, and the Russian Empire faces a wealthy and powerful Britain.

Because of the Anglo-French alliance, Austria would also be held back by France, and the Russian Empire could only confront the British alone.

Foreign Secretary Oscar Jimenez replied: "The news has been verified, British Foreign Secretary George arrived in Paris as early as half a month ago, and the two countries are negotiating an alliance.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has ordered the embassy in Paris to closely monitor the negotiation process and will report back as soon as there is any news. "

Stop, interfere, disrupt?

None of these exist. Britain and France are among the most powerful countries in the world, and they don't care about the attitude of the Russians at all.

Knowing that it is impossible, the Russians will not humiliate themselves. There's not much the tsarist government can do right now other than pay close attention.

"Ugh!"

After sighing, Alexander III slowly asked: "It is impossible to stop the alliance between Britain and France. We have lost the best fighter plane. Do you think the Central Asia strategy should continue?"

In essence, in provoking the Central Asian War at this time, in addition to rescuing ally Afghanistan, it is more about taking advantage of it.

According to the plan, the tsarist government is preparing to take back Central Asia during the arms race between Britain, France and Austria, and push the border into Afghanistan.

The plan did not go south to India. This is not because the tsarist government has no ambitions for India. The key point is that the current Russian Empire does not have the strength to capture India.

Minister of War Paradrou Ward: "Of course we must continue! Even if Britain and France were to form an alliance, the French would not be able to send troops to fight the British.

As long as we are fast enough to capture the Braha Khanate before the British annihilate Afghanistan, the initiative of the war is in our hands.

If we miss this opportunity and let the British wipe out Afghanistan, the price we need to pay for capturing Central Asia in the future will be even greater.

Moreover, we also have to consider the international impact. Just signed an alliance with Afghanistan and sold them immediately. What do our allies think? "

Against the British Army, the Russian military still has confidence.

Today is different from the past. Although the Russian Empire suffered heavy losses in the two Russian-Prussian wars, the Russians also played an elite force.

The most important thing is that the British government is very difficult to make up its mind - to invest one million main troops and the Russian Empire to compete for Central Asia.

It's just the Indian colonial army, and that's completely to let the Russian army hang and beat. This kind of no-pressure tailwind has always been the favorite of the Russian military.

Alexander III nodded. The international reputation of the Russian Empire was already very bad. Unless it was a last resort, he did not want to bear the infamy of betraying his allies.

Don't look at the fact that later generations of Russians often betray their allies, but the tsarist government rarely betrays allies these days, at least not in recent decades.

Of course, the main factor is that the benefits of selling allies are too small, and the price to be paid is too high, which is generally uneconomical.

This time was no exception. It was easy to sell Afghanistan, but they had to be wary of Austria's idea.

In the past, Alexander II went to war with the Prussians for the sake of Danish allies.

Although the losses were heavy, it also gained a reputation for the tsarist government. It laid a solid foundation for the continuation of the Russian-Austrian alliance, at least according to the tsarist government.

After all, in the early 1990s, the Russian-Austrian alliance could no longer bring much benefits to Austria, but the tsarist government benefited a lot from it.

Seeing the tsar's move, Alisher Gulov, the anti-war chancellor of finance, hurriedly objected: "Marquis, you look at the problem too one-sidedly.

Central Asia is vast, and the three Central Asian khanates all have enemies with us, and it is impossible for them to surrender.

No matter how well our armies progress on the battlefield, it is impossible to pacify Central Asia in just a few months.

But the Afghan kingdom is different. The British only need two regiments of troops to make the Afghan government compromise.

Everyone knows the terrain of Afghanistan. If the British take control of Afghanistan one step ahead of us, it will be difficult to fight the next war.

As long as the war cannot be ended in a short period of time, it will eventually turn into a war of attrition. The British are backed by India, and they have to spend their human and financial resources on us.

The Empire's finances have improved in recent years, but this is only temporary.

The agricultural crisis is looming, and the Treasury Department estimates that food export earnings will fall by 11 percent this year and more next year, based on an analysis of intelligence gathered.

The British are not dragged down by the arms race, and the empire cannot compete with them financially. Insist on fighting this endless war, and the final result can only be high debt.

In view of the current complex international situation, the Ministry of Finance suggested to use diplomatic means to resolve the conflict in Central Asia and try to maintain the status quo. "

There is no way, the Three Khanates of Central Asia used to be attached to the tsarist government. It's just that the Russians have too much appetite and want to eat them. In the first Russian-Prussian War, they were instigated by the British.

Some things are irreversible. Since you are a traitor, you can only fight to the end with the Russians.

This means that it is impossible for Central Asia to go down in one battle, and with the support of the British, the possibility of the war continuing is very high.

In contrast, the Afghan government is not unpopular. A half-slavery, half-feudal agricultural country, what to fight with the British?

With John Bull's usual method, which is a combination of diplomacy and military, it is very likely that the Afghan government will be forced to compromise.

There are too many similar success stories.

In fact, the original Afghan government also chose to compromise, but the British had too much appetite and were ready to swallow them in one bite.

Without any accident, the British army defeated the Afghan government very easily. Then it was unexpectedly discovered that Afghanistan without a government is even more terrifying.

This point, later generations Meisu also personally verified. It is easy to defeat Afghanistan, the trouble is to rule Afghanistan.

It has not been verified yet. What everyone sees is the strength of the Afghan government, and the two regular British regiments are more than enough.

The military issue is still a small one. As long as there is money, the tsarist government has nothing to fear.

If you open the history book, you will find that financial resources are the biggest shortcoming of the Russian Empire. Except for a certain special period, the Russian government is not short of money.

Because the agricultural tax allowed the payment of physical objects, grain exports became the most important income of the tsarist government, accounting for more than half of the total export trade.

This agricultural crisis is a game between the eldest, the second and the third. As the fourth and fourth largest exporter of raw grains in Europe, the Russians have suffered a complete disaster.

The decrease in grain export earnings does not mean that the total amount of grain exported has decreased, but that international grain prices have fallen.

In any case, the British's food self-sufficiency plan and the French's large-scale farm plan still have some results.

Although the total amount of grain imported by the two countries has only dropped by a negligible one or two percentage points each year, it is still terrifying to reflect on the international grain sales market.

The market as a whole is in oversupply, and the transaction price of raw grains naturally plummets. The price of food fell, and the purse of the tsarist government, naturally, could only be injured.

It is impossible to fight without money. Against this background, the finance minister, who is in charge of the government's money bag, has passively become the leader of the anti-war faction in the Russian government.

War Minister Paradru Ward was unmoved: "The government's finances have deteriorated, and this war will be even more necessary.

As long as our plan goes well, we will capture Central Asia first, and then capture India in the future, and all problems will be solved.

To start this war, the government's lack of financial resources is only temporary, and the Ministry of Finance can find a way to raise it.

Without this war, we will never be able to escape our financial woes. "

There is nothing wrong with the wealth that the British plunder from India every year, more than the revenue of the tsarist government.

If it really captured India, the financial difficulties faced by the tsarist government could indeed be solved.

Perhaps it was because they suffered in the westward advance, and no one wanted to do it again. The Russian military basically went south to India's supporters.

This view also had its supporters in the tsarist government.

After all, in the strategy of going south to seize India, the only enemy to face is the British; while the strategy of westward to Europe, the enemy to face is all European countries.

Against the British, even if they fail, the price they need to pay is very limited.

No matter how hard the British are, they can't go all the way to Siberia along Central Asia. They have a chance to make a comeback.

Going west to Europe is different. If you make a mistake and get beaten up by various European countries, the consequences will be much more serious.

In the light of the heavy losses, a serious injury to the vitality, hemiplegia, and in the heavy, the country may be directly destroyed.

In this respect, the Russian-Prussian war made sense for the European world. Woke up the greedy polar bears and made outstanding contributions to the peace and stability of the European world.

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