Chapter 862

France and Russia have secret contacts, and Yingao has also not broken contact. It's just that everyone is tacit, pretending not to see it.

If it is true, there will be no friends.

International relations in the late 19th century have become a mess. France and Austria are antagonistic on the issue of China and Europe, but they are in agreement on the issue of Central Asia.

Although their motives were different, both aimed to provoke an Anglo-Russian war and weaken their rivals.

On the other hand, Britain and Russia are similar. Central Asia is about to fight, and the two sides have almost the same position on the China-Europe issue: let France and Austria fight each other, and there can be no one dominant situation.

...

London

Although it was known that France and Russia had long been secretly flirting with each other, the news that the French issued bonds for the Russians aroused strong dissatisfaction with the British government.

Prime Minister Gladstone frowned and asked: "What do the French want to do by issuing bonds for the Russians at this time?"

The timing is too sensitive. It’s okay to issue bonds for the Russians earlier or later, but it is too obvious to target them when Britain and Russia turn their backs on them.

Foreign Secretary George explained: "The French are retaliating. We promised to support them in expanding their sphere of influence to Central Europe, but when the French sought the coal interests of the two countries, the government chose neutrality."

Is it really just "neutral"?

the answer is negative!

If the British government hadn't added fuel to the flames and had not secretly dragged the French back, the European anti-French wave would not have been so easy to break out.

Perhaps in the eyes of the British government, there is no direct opposition, even if it is the biggest support for France.

Secretly cheering up the two countries and sending vague warnings to the French government, these hindrances are professional habits and nothing at all.

In the face of such an ally, the French government does not react violently, and that is the problem.

Originally, they used each other, and no one really regarded the other as an ally, so it was not surprising that they were secretly pitted.

In fact, the British dug the hole right from the start. Supporting the French to "expand their sphere of influence" does not mean supporting the French to expand their territory. These are two completely different concepts.

Perhaps when negotiating, in order to fool people, diplomats will be vague or verbally promise. But on paper, there was absolutely no support for the French to expand their territory into Central Europe.

The current French Empire is already very strong, and if they continue to expand, they will make up for the last shortcoming, and there will be a new round of skyrocketing strength.

Britain and France are only separated by a strait, and if France continues to grow, Britain will really not be able to sleep.

Prime Minister Gladstone rubbed his forehead. This explanation left him speechless. From the standpoint of Britain, there was nothing wrong with holding back the French.

The feud between Britain and France for hundreds of years cannot be resolved with a single covenant. Containing the growth of France has always been the top priority of the British government.

Although Russia and Austria are also enemies, because of the distance, the British government does not feel deeply.

If the Tsarist government hadn't targeted Central Asia and threatened India's security, the two countries would not have faced each other directly.

After hesitating for a while, Prime Minister Gladstone asked: "Find a way to find something for the French to do.

They must not be left idle, lest they hold us back, and at the same time they must hold Austria. "

To meet these two requirements, then France and Austria can only pinch each other. Sowing discord has always been the British's forte.

With the current relationship between France and Austria, it seems that there is no need to continue provoking, as long as it is enough to intensify the contradiction.

After thinking it over, the foreign secretary, George, nodded: "No problem, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will find something to do for them as soon as possible.

Only in this way, the two countries were completely pushed to the Austrian side. With the ability of the Habsburg dynasty to draw allies, the French will probably suffer. "

Faao only fought for the sake of the two countries. Once the conflict escalated, the two countries, the two countries at the center of the storm, would not be able to escape at all.

Even because the French government did not pay attention to eating, their international reputation has fallen again, as their neighbors, it is impossible not to worry.

In this context, once the situation in Europe is tense, even if Austria does not move, European countries will push Austria to counterbalance the French.

In the absence of war, France and Austria fought, and the weak French government would definitely suffer.

As for the real fight, George couldn't judge the outcome. After all, the French are very famous, and Austria has strong strength and many potential allies.

Prime Minister Gladstone sneered: "How do you know how important we are without letting them suffer.

As soon as the treaty was concluded, he hurriedly reached out to the Central European region, without even knowing a good time to choose.

The French have been so smooth over the years that they have become ecstatic and arrogant. "

...

Compared with the British government, in fact, Franz is more nervous that France and Russia are getting closer.

This is determined by geographical location. Austria is sandwiched between France and Russia. Once France and Russia move closer, Austria will face too much strategic danger.

It's just that with some more historical lessons, Franz chose to hold back for the time being, pretending he didn't know anything.

Not only did it not interrupt the loan to Russia, it took revenge on the tsarist government

The two ends of the snake and rat also suppressed the voice of the government from China to Russia.

"The Russian thing, come to an end for the time being. Whatever the tsarist government has done, for now we will pretend nothing happened.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can appropriately express dissatisfaction, and all other issues will be discussed after the outbreak of the Anglo-Russian War. "

There must be accounts after the autumn, but the prerequisite must be the autumn.

If Austria is attacked now and causes trouble for the Russians, how can the Tsarist government have the confidence to compete with the British for Afghanistan?

If the Russians lose the war, they will definitely suffer heavy losses, and they may even lose the national fortune that they have gathered in recent years.

Don't look at the current Russian Empire seems to be very powerful, but don't forget the previous wars, this old empire has been hit hard.

The loss of millions of young adults cannot be made up in a day or two.

Compare the population growth rate of the Russian Empire in the last three decades to see how much damage the war has done.

Especially after the Second Russian-Prussian War, the population of the Russian Empire has experienced negative population growth for many years, and now it can only keep the population from declining.

In this context, if another 1.8 million is added in Central Asia and the war happens to be lost, the ruling foundation of the tsarist government will be shaken.

Of course, winning the war is a trivial matter. Victory can suppress all dissatisfaction, take the Afghanistan area, and the tsarist government will work together to fight for India.

The problem is that it is easy to take down Afghanistan, but it is not so easy to digest the Afghan region.

Unless you follow Austria's indigenous relocation policy, the locals are relocated away.

Otherwise, there will be guerrillas looting inside and the British eyeing outside, and the Russians will never have peace.

It is enough for Austria to push a hand when the time is right. Although it is a bit despicable to pit allies like this, but this is also the first thing the Russians hooked up with the French.

...

Minister of Agriculture Halls reminded: "Your Majesty, according to the information collected by the Ministry of Agriculture, the food self-sufficiency plans of Britain and France have achieved phased results.

Especially the French large-scale farm plan, since the French government replaced a group of colonial officials, the agriculture in French Africa began to develop rapidly.

If nothing else, France's staple food shortage this year will be reduced to less than 1.8 million tons, and they will be able to achieve food self-sufficiency soon.

However, it is said that the operating costs of the French farms in Africa are high, only a small number of farms can make ends meet, and most farms rely on financial allocations. "

This result did not surprise Franz.

The shortage of food in France is mainly due to the fact that the food in the Italian region is actually sufficient.

In order to reduce foreign exchange expenditures, in recent years, farms have been established in Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and other regions to make up for the food gap.

As for the high cost of running a farm, that's a given. There are few areas in French Africa suitable for developing agriculture.

Many places have masters, so you can't drive away all the masters, right? You must know that the owners of many local lands have long since become French colonists.

In addition to robbing some of the indigenous land, most of the farms were opened up by the French government. The natural conditions of many farms are not the best, and they can only be said to be passable.

If the water conservancy facilities are perfect, the problems behind should not be big. But this all takes time, and it cannot be done in a short time.

In the short term, these farms have to rely on the sky for food, and their food production is naturally not high. Coupled with the management of bureaucrats, a lot of extra costs have been added, and loss is the normal operation.

Franz nodded: "The time is almost up. It will take time to promote potash fertilizer. There is no need to continue to hide it."

At this time, the promotion of chemical fertilizers, the biggest loss is definitely not Austria.

Affected by the fall in international food prices, Austria has been reducing the acreage of staple crops in recent years.

In addition to satisfying domestic consumption, it has rarely been exported. Domestic grain processing enterprises also began to vigorously import Russian grain.

In a sense, in the context of falling international food prices, the Russian economy was able to recover, which was also caused by Austria's policy of reducing food production.

But this kind of good days will soon be gone forever. No matter how the production capacity is cut, Austria's agricultural volume is all placed here.

Even the current potash fertilizer is not as effective as later generations, and the grain output is only increased by five percent, which is enough food for six or seven million people.

The increased output will definitely need to be digested by the market.

In the context of the self-sufficiency of Britain and France, the international grain market has not only not grown, but has gradually shrunk.

With the increase in domestic grain production, Austria must take care of itself first, and it will be difficult for the Russians to find buyers for their grain.

The actual situation should be even worse. Potash fertilizers cannot be kept secret, and European countries will follow suit.

As countries increase their grain production capacity, the international grain market will shrink sharply and prices will continue to fall.

In a sense, this is used to smash the pot. Austria can find a way to increase food consumption and get through the agricultural crisis, the Russians will be unlucky.

Immediately after the Anglo-Russian War, an agricultural crisis broke out, which is doomed for many years to come, and the tsarist government will have to tighten its belt to live.

Franz could swear to god

, this kind of tactic of killing one thousand enemies and one hundred losses, was definitely not aimed at allies in the beginning.

It was originally planned, but when the British and French food self-sufficiency plans were completed, they began to smash the pot, dragging everyone into the era of food cost-combination.

However, the plan did not change quickly, and when it was implemented, it was suddenly discovered that it seemed that the Russian Empire was the biggest victim.

For no other reason, Britain, France and Austria are all industrial countries, supported by domestic industrial chains, and only the tsarist government is heavily dependent on agriculture.