Chapter 356: The Bear's Advice

Franz wanted to see a big fireworks display, and he even bribed the Swiss artillery hired by the rebels to fire at the area where the British expeditionary force was stationed.

But things did not go as smoothly as Franz thought. Even with the French, the rebels could not reach a consensus on their interests.

So the war turned into a sit-in. After a few months of watching the city, the rebels began to loosen their positions because everyone had to go back to shear wool and produce.

The city was also in a mess because of Rosas. Due to the siege of the rebels, he could only get supplies from the sea, but these all cost money.

Buenos Aires did not have so much money for him to waste, so Rosas could only continue to borrow money from the British, and at the same time he wanted to use the British mediation to drive the French back to Europe. After all, it was the British who stopped the French siege of Buenos Aires in the crisis of 1838.

Rosas wanted to repeat the old trick, but the British ambassador seemed worried at this time, because he received news from home that the French came with ill intentions this time, and that the relationship with France must be handled carefully. If necessary, they could fight against the French army, but the parties involved must bear all the responsibilities.

This ambiguous instruction made John Stevenson, the British ambassador stationed in Buenos Aires, and Brigadier General Buck Mond not want to take this responsibility.

After all, the officials in Whitehall (a nickname for the London government) did not have to charge into battle or take the responsibility for the defeat. In contrast, Vice Admiral Helmut in the previous Turkish-Egyptian War, George Eden in the Afghan War, and Colonel Zhuo Li in the Battle of Pangong Lake, all of them became scapegoats in the end.

It was really not worth the loss to gamble with the French with their future and life. No matter how exaggerated the people sent by Palmerston said, the British expeditionary force was unmoved.

Vienna, Austria.

The cotton planted by the Russians has matured. Tsar Nicholas I is very confident in his cotton. He thinks it will definitely bring good benefits to Russia, because at this time, Russia has too few profitable exports.

However, Russian officials are worried. After all, the quality of Russian cotton is not very good, and Austria has already imported a large amount of cotton from the United States at this time, and the African colonies are also contributing cotton to its motherland.

This makes Russian officials feel that their cotton is not competitive at all. If the Austrians reject Russian cotton, then the Russians need to develop their own textile industry to consume this cotton, and their textile industry is still in the 18th century.

In fact, what Russian officials are worried about did not happen. The Austrians did not take the opportunity to lower the price or pick and choose. They just graded, weighed, and calculated the cotton in a very ordinary way.

Half of the payment was in cash and half was paid in finished cloth. The Russians thought this was fair. Because Russia needs to import a large amount of finished cloth from Europe almost every year, and the price of cloth used by the Austrian Empire as collateral for the loan is obviously lower than the price they import, which saves them a lot of money.

In fact, Austria also proposed that the finished fabrics could be exchanged for the equivalent Austrian prospective banknotes. Of course, the Austrian prospective banknotes can only be used to purchase goods in Austria.

Tsar Nicholas I was also very satisfied with this approach. Although he preferred to exchange all of it for money, he still felt that he had taken a big bargain when he heard the Minister of Finance say that the price of fabric paid by the Austrian Empire was lower than the market price.

And with the money earned from Austria, Russia can develop its own industry and navy, but in fact, this money is still a drop in the bucket.

But the Tsar can't care so much, because Russia is too poor, and industrialization and military development cannot be separated from the support of money.

"How much land do we have left to grow cotton?" the Tsar asked.

"We have planted 300,000 acres, and there are probably 6 million acres of land available for development."

The newly appointed Minister of Agriculture Sergei Sharibin said tremblingly. After all, his predecessor was planted by the Tsar on the top of the highest peak of the Ural Mountains. He didn't want that sentence to accidentally anger His Majesty the Tsar and become a potted plant.

"Change them all into cotton, my army needs money! We can use this cotton to exchange what we need with the Austrians. The future of the Third Rome lies in these white flowers. Can you do it? Sergei Sharibin"

Sergei Sharibin was frightened and knelt down as soon as he raised his head, because he didn't know when Nicholas I, who was 206cm tall, was standing in front of him.

This burly and fierce-looking Tsar personally ordered the execution of countless self-righteous overlords and pretentious revolutionaries. Sergei Sharibin seemed to see a scarlet army of dead souls surrounding him.

Sergei Sharibin rubbed his eyes and slammed his head on the ground. "Yes! Your Majesty, Hurrah!"

"Your Majesty, Hurrah!" The courtiers around him also echoed.

Tsar Nicholas I was very satisfied with this result. He felt that he was one step closer to Constantinople.

Vienna.

In fact, the amount of cotton sent by the Russians was far less than Franz expected. Austrian factories might not be able to last even a week if they were fully operational.

But in order to keep Russia, its ally, firmly under its control, Austria had to import Russian cotton. After all, no treaty can explain the problem better than naked interests.

What Franz didn't know was that due to the cotton problem, Russia was more eager for the land in the Ottoman and Central Asian regions than in history.

The Russians actually had their own shipbuilding plan, but due to funding constraints, they were only maintaining and adjusting the existing Black Sea Fleet, such as retiring outdated warships and building sailing battleships to replace them.

Although the Russians had already recognized the superior performance of steam ships at this time, they had no plan to build them. Historically, Russian steam battleships were not built until after the 1860s, and the first steam battleship was launched in 1864.

Although Russia has lived in the depths of the continent for a long time, it is very interested in what is happening in the world, such as the friction between Britain and France in Argentina.

As the leader of the pro-British faction, how could Nesherlov miss this opportunity to show his British soul to the British?

So, Russia sent a note to the powers, hoping that all countries could discuss the issue of the La Plata colony together.

In fact, everyone knew that this matter had nothing to do with Russia, but at this time, neither Britain nor France dared to ignore the opinion of the European gendarme. After all, most of the top leaders of the two countries still hoped to resolve the crisis peacefully, and Russia's strength was enough to shake the balance of victory and defeat.

As for Austria and Prussia, two spectators, they had no reason to refuse Russia's invitation in the spirit of participation. Because Russia was too close to Germany and Austria, both sides needed to win over this behemoth, whether for the unification of Germany or to maintain the status quo of the German Confederation.

The Russians' approach was still so simple, efficient, popular and easy to understand.

"International co-management!" Nesherlov slammed the table and roared.