Chapter 386: Chapter 73: Jump into the Pit Anyway
 

London, Prime Minister John Russell was deeply dissatisfied with the current situation in Europe.

The Paris Government had actually offered a loan to the Russians. Although the amount was not large by British standards—merely 100 million francs—the political implications were terrifying.

Originally, it had been agreed that England and France would join forces financially and materially to support a proxy war between the Kingdom of Prussia and Russia.

Now, as the Kingdom of Prussia was beginning to face a crisis on the battlefield, the French couldn’t wait to kick them while they were down.

Perhaps in the eyes of the Paris Government, this was a timely move to cut losses and gain a larger return. However, from the British perspective, Prime Minister John Russell could not tolerate this.

“The situation in Europe is deteriorating, Russia and France are growing closer, and the position of the Paris Government has changed—they intend to join forces with the Russians to partition Prussia.

Perhaps even Austria will join the fray. If Russia and France are willing to support Austria in annexing the German Federation, it would become a three-power division of the European Continent by Russia, France, and Austria.

This is the worst-case scenario. Each of those three powers has the strength to challenge us. If they were to divide Europe among themselves, it would be even harder to contain them.

For Britannia’s strategic security, we must prevent all of this from happening.”

John Russell had a strong sense of crisis, which seemed to be characteristic of the Island Country, and it was also the driving force behind their success.

Maintaining a balance on the European Continent is the national policy of the London Government. The continent still retained balance, but the ever-growing alliance of Russia, France, and Austria was seriously threatening their position as the dominant power.

Originally, the London Government had been preparing to suppress Russia first, then use the issue of Italy to stir up conflict between France and Austria, causing them to contain each other on the European Continent.

Plans always change faster than one expects. The discord between France and Austria had not been ignited, and the Russian Empire was on the verge of breaking limits to control the Baltic Sea.

Foreign Minister Reslin analyzed, “Your Excellency, the recent closeness between France and Russia was initiated by the Tsarist Government’s concessions.

Russians support the French annexation of the Rhineland region, but they do not have good intentions.

Remember, Austria, Belgium, Prussia, the German Federation, and Spain have an agreement—if one is invaded by France, they will unite in defense.

Even with Russia’s support for the French, there is still the Russian-Austrian Alliance, and the Tsarist Government certainly won’t send troops to help the French fight, would it?

Nationalism is a double-edged sword. As long as we can incite nationalism in the Germany Region, Vienna cannot ignore the French annexation of the Rhineland.

With the joint defense treaty in place, and considering the strength of Austria, Spain, Belgium, and other members of the German Federation, the French do not have much of a chance of winning.

Napoleon III isn’t a fool; he would not undertake such a risk without a chance of success.”

…

I think the possibility of Russia, France, and Austria joining forces to divide the European Continent is almost nil, primarily because of unequal spoils.

The Russians can gain too little, Austria cannot give up the Germany Region, and after the Russians take Prussian Poland, their path forward would be blocked by Austria.

Obviously, if the Tsarist Government is willing, it could expand into the Nordic region. But Sweden is no pushover, and success cannot be achieved without paying a certain price.

Besides, the Prusso-Russian war was so difficult for them, do the Russians even have the capability to attack Sweden?”

This is the reality. Although the Russian Empire is strong, signs of weariness are showing. If it had been the Russian Empire before the Near Eastern war, the Kingdom of Prussia would have already been out of the game.

The main reason the Tsarist Government did not use human wave tactics to overwhelm Prussia is that they lacked funds. Increasing the number of troops at the front line also means increasing military expenditures.

Fighting on the Po Valley, with rivers to transport strategic supplies, in theory, even if the Tsarist Government deployed a million troops, they could ensure the supply of materials.

In their current state of exhaustion, dividing the European Continent with France and Austria, they would clearly be at a great disadvantage.

Mere control of the Polish Region would be sufficient if they defeated the Kingdom of Prussia; there’s no need to snatch at flames.”

“No, Reslin. These are all theories, and you must understand that the Russian Empire is a dictatorship. If the Tsar considers it feasible, it could become a reality.

We can’t take rational deductions as the basis for the Tsar’s decisions. In fact, most Russian tsars are irrational.

Russia, France, and Austria are all dictatorships; as long as the emperors make a decision, an alliance can be formed immediately. We cannot give them any chance to come together.”

This was not pessimism on the part of Prime Minister Russell, but something that a national leader must consider. For Great Britain, there is no need for any risk-taking now—”stability” is what’s most important.

No matter how far relations between France and Russia have progressed, stirring up their relationship is always the right move.

Acting as Europe’s troublemaker, half of the discord in Europe over the past hundred years has been instigated by them, and now it’s time to perform again.

…

The Berlin Government intervened, and the British were causing havoc too—Franz naturally could not sit quietly by.

Having been schemed against, he certainly had to counterattack. However, since the loan contract had already been signed, it obviously could not be torn up. Where to strike back became a real issue.

Even Alexander II knew to use civilized means and calculate within the rules—Franz naturally couldn’t break the protocols either.

Support the Russian Conservative Party?

That won’t do!

It would be meddling too deeply in Russia’s internal affairs, and apart from worsening the relationship between the two countries, it would be of no use at all. Franz did not think this group could outmaneuver Alexander II.

Covertly supporting the Revolutionary Party?

That’s even less likely. As an emperor, Franz was inherently at odds with the Revolutionary Party; he couldn’t do something that would aid the enemy.

Besides, the state of the Russian Empire was very bad—what if it was overthrown?

A decaying Tsarist regime was Austria’s best ally, and a newly born Russia would be Austria’s greatest threat. Franz dared not take this risk.

“Stir up trouble between Russia and other European countries?”

It seemed to be of no use, as Franz didn’t even need to lift a finger. The Tsarist Government was already gloriously isolated.

…

After much contemplation, Franz reluctantly concluded that under the context of the Russian-Austrian Alliance, it was impossible to trouble the Russians in the short term.

Foreign Minister Weisenberg suggested, “Your Majesty, the Tsarist Government has made a request, hoping we can help retrofit a batch of breech-loading rifles.”

In times of war, even the Tsarist Government paid great attention to military equipment. After experiencing the power of breech-loading rifles firsthand, they had to abandon the muzzle-loaders.

Retrofitting muzzle-loaders to breech-loaders was naturally a way to save costs. In this respect, the Prusso-Russian War hadn’t been entirely without merit; it at least taught the Tsarist Government to budget meticulously.

Retrofitting several hundred thousand rifles was but a small business deal. If it weren’t for the political implications of the arms trade, there would be no need for the diplomacy departments of the two countries to negotiate.

Franz thought for a moment and said, “Hmm, let them talk to the capitalists. We won’t interfere with free trade.

Send someone to promote breech-loading rifle production lines to the Russians and, by the way, sell them the retrofitted old stock from our warehouses.

Remember to tell the Russians that breech-loading artillery also has superior firepower, and suggest they purchase a batch for trial.”

Retrofitting muzzle-loaders would take time, and the officers at the front certainly couldn’t wait. In such cases, they of course had only Austria to turn to.

It was the time of the Near East War, and this was a chance to market Austrian military equipment to the Tsarist Government. Besides earning service fees, when buying foreign equipment, the Russians had no choice but to select Austrian gear.

Following the outbreak of the Prusso-Russian War, the Tsarist Government immediately placed orders with Austria for strategic materials, mainly because everyone shared the same standard system.

With the path already paved, Franz naturally couldn’t let the Russians shake off the influence of Austrian military equipment during this weapons revolution, as it pertained to future strategic planning.

In times of peace, the Russians could naturally take their time upgrading military equipment; and for breech-loading weapons, with their high technical content, it was merely a matter of spending a few more years.

No major power would be willing to be dependent on others for military equipment in the long run. Alexander II was not a man of inaction, and had it not been for a lack of funds, he likely would have already made moves on the military-industrial complex.

Unfortunately for the Russians, they had bad luck. The last time they underwent a weapons modernization coincided with the Near East War. To save time, Austrian equipment became the mainstream in their army.

This time around, weapon modernization coincided with the Prusso-Russian War. Wars wait for no one, and Franz was preparing to forcibly market Austrian military equipment to the Russians again.

To shake off the constraints, do you understand that the Tsarist Government had a million-strong army? How much money does it take to refit so many troops and replace the weapons production lines?

No money? Then just continue using the equipment. After all, in terms of cost, purchasing Austrian military systems directly wouldn’t be much more expensive than developing them independently.

As for whether doing so would lose the ability to research and develop independently, that wasn’t something Russian bureaucrats cared about. It was better to think about how to make money than to consider too much.

After two or three generations of adopting Austrian military systems, the weapon research personnel in Russia would be nearly defunct. In the future, to escape this situation, they would have no choice but to retrain talents.

Franz finally understood why Alexander II was always displeased with Austria. Anyone would be unhappy in such circumstances.

Unfortunately, this was an open conspiracy, just like his calculations with Austria. Even knowing it’s a trap, Franz still had to pour silver and gold into it, and now the Tsarist Government was doing the same.

It’s impossible to risk the autonomy of military production by neglecting the needs of the war front and letting the soldiers go into battle with outdated muzzle-loading equipment, effectively handing their heads to the enemy, right?

This was truly handing heads over. With breech-loading rifles, one could shoot while lying down, while with muzzle-loaders, one was forced to employ line infantry tactics.

Just thinking about it, one would know how miserable it would be to face this on the battlefield.

Foreign Minister Weisenberg explained, “Your Majesty, we don’t actually need to push for sales. Just slowing down the retrofitting pace is enough.

Recently, the Prussians have been performing well, exploiting their superiority in weapons and equipment to repeatedly inflict heavy losses on the Russian Army in field battles.

The Russians, despite their naval superiority and continual assaults on the coastal areas of the Kingdom of Prussia, hadn’t prepared well enough to expand their victories.”

This was the crux of the problem. In theory, as long as the Russian navy could cover the army’s landings, bursting into action within the Kingdom of Prussia, the Prussian kingdom would collapse in a few months.

However, the Tsarist Government had not prepared well; the navy’s attacks on the coast of the Kingdom of Prussia were indeed commendable, but unfortunately, the army wasn’t able to follow up and expand the victories.

Prussia and Russia were not far apart, not enough to call it a distant overseas expedition, but still, logistical supplies were indispensable.

Without a doubt, the Tsarist Government currently did not have that many strategic materials, or rather, it was incapable of transporting such quantities of materials there.

To supply the troops at the front, the Tsarist Government had to keep buying. This wasn’t just because of the insufficient production capacity of the Russian Empire—it was mainly because transportation was too deficient.

russian Poland, a granary for them, provided much of the food supply for the St. Petersburg area. Now that this land had been lost, the Tsarist Government naturally had to reallocate food from other areas.

With the railways not functioning smoothly and relying on horse-drawn carts and ox-carts to transport materials from the Ukraine and Moscow area to the front, it would take at least a month at minimum.

This also depended on favorable weather. If it happened to be winter, it could be even more tragic, taking two to three months. Such poor transportation not only increased costs but also limited the amount of materials that could be transported.

The troops at the front could still import strategic materials from neighboring Austria, but this was not feasible for an overseas operation. Even if importing from Austria, the supplies had to be transported in a wide detour.

This was a problem of Russia’s own making. Had the navy been sent to attack the Prussian coastal areas at the start of the war, they could have utilized the rivers in the Polish Region to transport the materials imported from Austria.

Now, there was no need to contemplate this; most of the Russian Poland had fallen into enemy hands. At this point, if they wanted to transport materials, they either had to use overland routes through the Belarusian Region or take a maritime route along the European Continent, which was a significant detour.

Either way, it limited the quantity of transportable materials.

Originally, the Russians could have purchased strategic materials from various European countries, but unfortunately, no one was buying what the Russians were selling. Unless they produced real silver and gold, no one was willing to do business with them.

Due to financial issues, the Tsarist Government was unable to purchase materials from other countries on a large scale, which was also why Alexander II was so eager to borrow money.

Only by solving the financial crisis could they gather enough strategic materials to take full advantage of their naval superiority.