Chapter 929 The Difference in Concept

Looking around, Ito Hirobumi replied with a bit of a scalp: "Your Majesty, this continental war is extraordinary. On the surface, the French expanded in Europe, causing Austria's dissatisfaction to break out into a war. In essence, it was a battle for continental hegemony.

Britain and Russia were unable to intervene in the European continent in the short term because of the energy involved in the war in Afghanistan, which gave France and Austria an opportunity to defeat their rivals.

Up to now, seven European countries including France, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Black and Asia have been involved in the war. Although the remaining European countries are still watching, they cannot rule out the possibility of being involved.

Although France is strong, they are fighting alone. If the war continues and more European countries are involved, I am afraid that they will also be invincible.

According to information from Europe, the French have mobilized more than 5 million troops, and the Anti-French Alliance has mobilized more than 7 million troops. If the confrontation between the French and Austrian colonies is added, this number will be greatly increased.

A war with tens of millions of people is simply not something we have the strength to mix. In my opinion, any strategy of going south is unwise until the continental war is decided. "

There is nothing wrong with it, from a political point of view, as long as war is declared, even countries that make up the number will be counted. Greece, Montenegro, and Amelia, the three cheerleaders, are also members of the Anti-French Alliance.

They also made important contributions to the anti-French cause. Although they did nothing militarily, their political contributions were not small at all.

Ordinary people can't see it, but politicians know it very well. To be able to define this European War as a war of aggression against the French, Austria relied on these little brothers to follow the flag and shout.

It is well known that France is not welcome in Europe. After all, Napoleon the Great slapped everyone with his arrogance, and it was only a problem that the Bonaparte Dynasty was not excluded.

However, it was directly boycotted by half of the countries in Europe, and the remaining neutral countries were also holding them back. In the eyes of Ito Bowen, this was an absolute failure of French diplomacy.

According to past experience, the French will definitely be beaten so badly, and no one knows if a new country will be involved in the war tomorrow. Judging from the political and diplomatic point of view, Ito Hirobumi is not optimistic at all that the French can win the war.

Not optimistic about the French, does not mean that the Japanese government can bet. A big melee of tens of millions of troops, let alone Japan, is the first time in human history.

Although the Meiji Restoration has been initially completed, Japan is still only a weak agricultural country, and its increased military strength is still far behind the top powers.

With the hundreds of thousands of new troops in the country alone, the combat power is not even comparable to Belgium.

The disparity in the strength of the army is huge, and the same is true of the navy. For a naval power such as Britain, France, and Austria, two former dreadnoughts can hoist the Japanese navy again, and such capital ships are in double digits.

"The Continental War involved a lot, and we really don't have the qualifications to participate. However, it is not difficult to attack the Philippines. Spain has already fallen, and it has no qualifications to continue to occupy the fertile colonies.

The four major powers of Britain, Russia, Austria and France are all at war, and they have no time to worry about the practice of the Far East. This is the best time for us to do it.

Don't look at the fact that the Spaniards are still in the name of foreign powers. In fact, they have fallen behind in the new round of military revolution.

According to the intelligence collected by the navy, most of the Spanish fleet deployed in the Philippines are sail warships, and the only two ironclad ships are products of more than ten years ago. The navy has the confidence to easily deal with them.

The Suez Canal is now blocked. As long as the Philippine fleet of the Spaniards is killed, they will send reinforcements when they receive the news. It will be six months later at the earliest.

As long as the army can occupy the Philippine Islands within half a year, the Spaniards without a foothold are toothless tigers. "

Saigo Congdao, Minister of the Navy, said lightly, as if being unable to join the European War was a matter of course, and he did not feel wronged at all.

The grievances and grievances involved in the land and sea disputes between Japan can be traced back hundreds of years.

In the face of the navy's contempt, the Minister of the Army, Yamagata Youtou, said not to be outdone: "As long as your navy can solve the enemy's fleet, our army will be able to occupy the Philippine Islands within half a year.

I'm afraid that you won't be able to fight quickly, and you will waste your precious time with the Spanish navy. "

The navy and the army are not on the same page. This is definitely bad news for the Bunshi faction headed by Ito Hirobumi.

No matter how fierce the battle between the Japanese military in the future, the strategic differences between the two sides are not that big in essence.

Before getting the springboard of North Korea, whether the Japanese army is going south or north, the main force must be the navy. This is the consensus of all.

From a purely superficial point of view, the current Japanese Navy does not seem to be an opponent of the Beiyang Fleet, but only in terms of the tonnage of the warships.

The Japanese ruler, who was not dazzled by the victory, is still cowardly, not only afraid to participate in the European War, but also in awe of the neighbor next door.

In order to ensure that the war is won, under the common interests, it is also a matter of course for the two armies to join forces for a short period of time. After all, Japan's current family background is weak, and if they lose once, they are all gone.

Seeing that the military's opinions were about to be unified, Finance Minister Shigenobu Okuma hurriedly objected: "No, Spain is a European country, and if it rashly attacks a white country, who knows if it will cause a rebound from the European powers?

In case of interference from other powers, even if we occupy the Philippine Islands, we will still spit it out, and we will even be retaliated by Spain.

Don't look at the decline of the Spaniards, but their overall strength is still higher than ours. Our only advantage is that the Philippines is too far away from them.

But if there are European powers to support them, the situation is very different. They can easily build a large fleet to find our bad luck. "

This is a fact, the Japanese naval ships are all bought from Europe, and the Spaniards on the European continent want to buy warships will only be easier.

Moreover, Spain's shipbuilding ability is not weak, second only to Britain, France and Austria, and it is in the second echelon in the world. It is not comparable to Japan, which has just started.

In fact, Shigenobu Okuma still had something to say. The most popular naval theory this year is the "Hundred Years Navy" put forward by the British, and all countries are deeply influenced by it.

No matter how old the Spanish navy is, the ancestors have passed it on. The tactics and experience handed down are not comparable to the new Japanese navy.

On the bright side, the strength of the Japanese navy far exceeds that of the Spanish fleet stationed in the Philippines, but if there is a real fight, it is unknown whether they can be taken down.

If they can't go down in one battle, the Spaniards and they go around in circles to delay time, waiting for the domestic reinforcements to arrive before the decisive battle, then it will be a big trouble.

Naval Minister Saigo Congdao analyzed: "Okuma-kun, the interference of foreign powers you are worried about is not a problem at all. Spain and the British have a feud, and the British have been suppressing Spain's development over the years, and it is impossible to support them.

Originally, the Spanish government was mixed with the French, and Alfonso XII was supported by the French. However, recently, the power in Spain has changed, and the pro-Austrian faction has seized the power and parted ways with the French.

If that's the case, it's no big deal, it can't be a change of ally. It's a pity that while the Spaniards were pro-Austria, they didn't really fall in favor of Austria, but made a fool of themselves.

It stands to reason that this continental war is Spain's best chance. As long as they send troops from the rear to stab the French in the eyes, the anti-French alliance can immediately win the war.

With Britain and Russia on the side, Austria needs a strong ally if it wants to successfully dominate the European hegemony. It is impossible to leave Spain behind. They can share the fruits of victory with Austria logically.

Such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, the Spaniards gave up, and it is impossible for Austria to do their best to help them.

If we do it now, we may even gain the support of the French under the pretext of clearing the stumbling blocks on the road to the south, and then join them in attacking the Austrian South Seas.

The French government now has no choice, they are fighting alone on the Continent, and their only British ally is still fighting the Russians. If they weren't forced to be helpless, they wouldn't have come to us. "

Looking for allies is not random. This year happens to be the era when the chain of contempt is strongest. Under normal circumstances, European countries will not unite with small Asian countries, because it will be very loss of face.

The French government has been underestimated since the beginning of winning over the Japanese. He became one of the reasons why the top Japanese government was not optimistic that the French could win the war.

This is a cultural difference between the East and the West. For European countries, although face is important, it is not as important as the real interests. In the East, the situation has changed, and face often outweighs interests.

Judging by their own inherent concepts, the top Japanese government took it for granted that the French were almost unable to hold on, so they were desperately ill and went to the world to find allies.

If Austria hadn't directly ignored them and didn't even give them a chance to negotiate conditions, there might be people in the Japanese government who would advocate joining the anti-French alliance and take the opportunity to seize the French Indochina Peninsula.

Ito Hirobumi snarled: "Xixiang-kun, this is definitely a bad idea. Once we show our intention to move closer to the French, we will definitely be hostile to Austria.

Even if Austria is restrained by the French and has no ability to directly interfere in our actions, it does not mean that they can't stumble us.

Don't forget that there are still Dutch people in the Southeast Asian region. If Austria takes the lead and encourages the Netherlands to intervene, we will not be able to confront the West and the Netherlands at the same time. "