Chapter 900 Western Front Crisis
The bright sun, reflecting the blue sea, has a unique flavor.
On a sunny day, there was still an extra bonus that was about to come, and Colonel Richard was in a particularly comfortable mood.
With years of experience, he found out that there was a problem with the ship in front of him early on, and tried to chase after it, and it turned out to be the truth.
Ordinary merchant ships will also stay away from the Royal Navy on the high seas, but no matter how far away they are, they will not sell their goods in the sea just to run away.
Although the Royal Navy has a history of guest pirates, it is in the past tense, and it has been restrained a lot in recent years.
Even if it is to rob, it will be disguised. When the navy flag is hung, at most a protection fee is extorted.
If you have a relationship background, Panpan Relationship can also offer discounts. As long as the money is in place, even smuggling is fine.
The Fulda's performance is undoubtedly telling them that there is no silver tael here, such a foolishness is rare, and Colonel Richard will naturally not let it go.
The officer in charge of the semaphore said excitedly: "Colonel, we met Vittorio Emanuele III, on the warship in front, and he has already indicated his identity."
In order to arrest Vittorio Emanuele III who ran away, the London government made a ruthless effort, and the Royal Navy almost came out.
It can't be said to be arrested. After all, a king, John Bull also has to pay attention to international influence, so the task of the Royal Navy is to invite people back.
Hearing the good news, Colonel Richard was overjoyed. You must know that in order to stimulate everyone's enthusiasm, domestic rewards are offered.
As long as you can invite Vittorio Emanuele III back, not only will there be huge bonuses, but you can also go up one level.
Richard is already a colonel, and he will cross the threshold of the general. It seems that there is only a line of separation, but in fact this is the difference between the heavens and the abyss.
There are a lot of colonel officers in the Royal Navy, and there are not one out of ten who can truly cross the threshold of a general. There is no way, now is the era of peace, it is naturally difficult to be promoted without the bonus of military achievements.
"Then what are you waiting for, let them stop the ship immediately and ask Vittorio Emanuele III to come over."
The word "please" was bitten very hard by Colonel Richard. No matter how downhearted the king is, he is also the king and must be given enough respect.
There is no way. The relationship between the European royal families is very chaotic. There are relatives everywhere when they go out. The personal connections of any royal family should not be underestimated.
The young officer's face suddenly turned ugly, and he replied with a headache: "We have already sent an invitation, but Vittorio Emanuele III did not agree.
And warned us not to keep up, otherwise we will be responsible for any accident in the middle. "
In the end, he still reacted, and the young officer decisively chose to avoid the important and did not directly say what Vittorio Emanuele III threatened.
Colonel Richard was dumbfounded. He never imagined that Vittorio Emanuele III would be so uncooperative.
It is impossible to threaten to open fire. In case of bad luck, Vittorio Emanuele III will meet God, and no one will carry this crime.
Glancing at the young officer, Colonel Richard reprimanded: "He refused, you won't persuade him!"
That's right, persuasion, no matter how downhearted, to most ordinary people, Vittorio Emanuele III is a big man.
Seeing the confused look on the young officer's face, Richard continued to add: "Idiot, Vittorio Emanuele III, we can't move, can't you find a way to coerce and lure the others on the boat?
Order down to speed up, put pressure on them..."
...
Facts have proved that the semaphore is still not perfect, at least when it expresses the meaning of threat, the deterrent effect is not strong enough.
After confirming that the British did not dare to fire, everyone on the Fulda quickly recovered, and of course they were still a little excited.
Vittorio Emanuele III opened his mouth, and everyone was a noble, provided that the king of Sardinia could successfully restore the country.
Anyone who seeks a life at sea knows that wealth must be sought in danger. Captain Petra also appropriately exaggerated the success rate, telling everyone that the French army was at a disadvantage on the battlefield.
In order to save the French from defeat, the despicable British government detained Vittorio Emanuele III.
There's nothing wrong with it, just the shameless British government. Although everyone is British, there are differences between British and British.
Although it is a temporary arrangement of the ship, it is impossible for the Austrian embassy not to investigate. The Fulda was selected, naturally, because the crew were all Irish.
If the crew were all Englishmen with the strongest ties to Britain, it would be a different situation now.
The distance between the two sides kept getting closer, and the atmosphere on the Fulda became tense, and Vittorio Emanuele III had to personally go out to appease people.
Suddenly, a few small black spots appeared on the horizon, and the crew of the observation station reported back: "A fleet was found ahead, heading in our direction."
Vittorio Emanuele III breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately said: "That is the ship that came to meet us, come over immediately."
After finishing speaking, he also pretended to be calm and entered the cabin.
The middle-aged man accompanying him couldn't help but reminded: "Your Majesty, we chose the departure route this time. Even the Austrians don't know the specific route, and there is no arrangement for a ship!"
Exiled for so many years, the Italian Independent Organization has also been severely beaten by the society.
No one trusts anyone.
Even though he is now an ally with Austria, Vittorio Emanuele III did not accept the escape route arranged by the Austrian embassy, but temporarily changed his route and boarded the Fulda.
Vittorio Emanuele III said slowly: "It doesn't matter if anyone responds, as long as someone knows that I am on the Fulda.
Now it is less than 100 nautical miles from the Netherlands, and there are only two British warships chasing after them. They are unable to kill everyone on a fleet.
Once near, tell them that there is a noble king on the Fulda. As long as the British officers who were chasing them were not stupid, they would let us go. "
In theory, the Royal Navy would not dare to kill a monarch. But everything has an accident. In this vast sea, missing a ship is not a big deal.
The fact that Vittorio Emanuele III boarded the Fulda was a completely temporary decision, known only to a limited number of people.
And these insiders are all in London. Once the British are ruthless and kill their mouths, who can prove that the British did it?
There may be clues left, but the problem is that someone has to check it down, and it can't be ordinary people.
The people on the Fulda are all temporarily recruited younger brothers, and their loyalty cannot stand the test at all. It was said earlier that the British did not dare to do anything, and that was to boost morale.
...
On October 9, 1890, Vittorio Emanuele III arrived in the Netherlands under the escort of the Royal Navy.
The chasing Colonel Richard was still very smart in politics, and made a decisive change at a critical moment, defining this trip as escorting Vittorio Emanuele III.
As for the unpleasantness that happened in the middle, it was a small problem. Not to mention that Vittorio Emanuele III has not been successfully restored, even if he really became the king of Sardinia, he could not offend the British.
The strength is not as good as that of others. He has to eat even if he doesn't eat at a loss. He even has to show the appearance of eating happily to prove to the outside world that Yingsa is friendly.
On the Western Front, after half a month of fighting, the Anti-French Alliance was at an absolute disadvantage.
Even if it is a local battle, in the face of the absolute strength gap, Belgium still has not been able to counterattack.
Austrian reinforcements are still on the way, the German Confederation is slow to move, the Belgian-Luxembourg front line is already crumbling, and even the Rhineland defense line has problems.
The situation on the battlefield was becoming more and more severe, and Leopold II was not as high-spirited as he used to be.
"The situation is becoming more and more unfavorable for us. When will the German and Austrian reinforcements arrive?"
Frankly speaking, the Belgian army's performance this time is passable. Being able to resist the French army's attack on the battlefield for half a month with inferior troops has already taken a shot.
Foreign Minister Juul replied: "The main force of the Austrian army arrived in Baden yesterday afternoon, the vanguard of which has arrived in the Rhineland and is expected to enter our country in five days.
The mobilization of the German Federation is slower. At present, only the western states have completed military mobilization, and the eastern states are still in progress.
However, the troops mobilized by the western states did not arrive at the front line immediately. We communicated with the German federal government, and they had no way to deal with these states. "
The lack of unity of command is the stubborn problem of the German Federation. If there were no such internal problems, they would have joined the club of great powers long ago.
Leopold II asked suspiciously, "Didn't King George I say he would come to the front to supervise the battle a few days ago, why is there no movement?"
War is a risk as well as an opportunity. George I, who has finally ascended to the throne of the emperor, will naturally not give up easily.
In fact, the throne of George I was unstable. In addition to the covetousness of Austria, the more important thing was that his personal prestige as a monarch was too low.
This is a problem left over from history. The German Confederation is a product of a special period, an empire imposed on the German people by European countries such as Britain, France and Russia.
Forcibly created an empire, of course, cannot satisfy everyone, especially for nationalists, this empire is a disgrace.
In this context, the following small states will naturally not buy the central government's account.
In order to weaken the authority of the central government and protect its own power, some people even deliberately promote Hanoverian treason.
The Gotha crown was publicly proclaimed in the newspapers as a reward from the great powers for hindering the unification of the German region.
There is no way, Hannover has limited strength, and has no ability to subdue these small states. In addition, the people do not support the central government, and the German Confederation has been in a weak position since its establishment.
In order to change this passive situation, two generations of German federal emperors have made a lot of efforts, such as: efforts to develop the economy, open up colonies, merge the Kingdom of Prussia and a series of measures.
The results are remarkable, and the effect can be said to be average. After all, these things cannot satisfy the appetite of nationalists.
In a sense, this anti-French war was George I's last chance. As long as you have established enough prestige in the war, you will be able to fight after the war.
"Your Majesty, the internal problems of the German Confederation are too troublesome. If George I wanted to gain prestige in the war, the support of the Kingdom of Prussia was indispensable.
The problem is that the Prussian government has gradually tended to be conservative and unwilling to continue taking risks, after the lessons of the two Prussian wars.
Because of the political changes, the Prussian government is no longer ready to fulfill the conditions they had reached.
George I was trying to persuade the Prussian government
Efforts, judging from the current situation, have a high chance of failure.
Mainly because the Austrians would not give him this opportunity. Once the Vienna government intervened, all the efforts made by George I would be in vain. "
Foreign Secretary Jules explained, leaving Leopold II in tears. Whether the German region is unified or not has nothing to do with Belgium.
Whether it is the integrated German Confederation or the unified Shinra Empire, for Belgium it is the difference between an elephant and a baby elephant.
Elephants can't afford to offend, and baby elephants can't afford to offend either. Anyway, they are human beings with their tails tucked in, and the end result is the same.
After pondering for a while, Leopold II said fiercely: "Let's urge the Vienna government again and tell them that if there is no more reinforcements, we will cast... it's over."
Fortunately, Leopold II reacted in time, otherwise he would make a joke of threatening his allies with "surrender".
...
Although the reinforcements did not arrive, the officer corps had already arrived at the front line one step ahead.
In order to win the final victory, Franz sent Archduke Albrecht directly to the Western Front.
This is also a helpless move. It is not that Austria has no generals. The key is that the battlefield on the western front needs joint command.
Undoubtedly, the command of the Allied forces fell into the hands of Austria. Even if the two countries want to fight, they have no confidence.
It is easy to get command, but it is not easy to command a multinational coalition. Without a person of sufficient weight as the coach, it is impossible to hold back.
Archduke Albrecht, the loudest statement in the Austrian army, became the best candidate.
The coalition has not been formed, but the command of the coalition has been born ahead of schedule, and Archduke Albrecht has also begun to perform his duties ahead of schedule.
The situation became more and more unfavorable for the coalition forces, and the Ardennes forest was about to fail. After putting down the information in his hand, Archduke Albrecht couldn't sit still.
It seems that the current war has little to do with Austria. Anyway, it is not the Austrians who died. No matter how heavy the losses are, it is also a matter of allies.
But in fact, that's not the case. Both Belgium and the German Confederation are important forces against France. Now they have suffered heavy losses, and the heavy task of fighting back against France in the future can only be resisted by Austria itself.
In particular, they also control a strategically important place. Once they fall into the hands of the French army, if they want to take it back, they will have to pay a greater price later.