Winter Palace, Petersburg, 1829.
It was already very dark, but the palace of the Rakshasa Empire was still brightly lit. Tsar Nicholas I was a workaholic and worked for this huge and backward empire from morning to night... Although his Most of the work was actually ineffective, but he at least tried hard enough.
At this time, the tsar was convening a meeting with his ministers in a conference room in the Winter Palace - the tsar rarely employed civilian officials, and all his officials were in military uniforms. Therefore, his state affairs conference and military affairs conference were almost the same thing. Those who attended the meeting were all generals in military uniforms. But even though he promoted jism to this extent, his Rakshasa army completely lost its edge after the Battle of Adrianople.
Even though the Ming Empire blocked the Persian Gulf and the Kingdom of Jin entered the Persian state, Ali Pasha sent troops to the Arabian Peninsula in the name of the War of Gods and invited an old man from the Hashemite family to be established as the caliph. Nicholas I's Rakshasa army was unable to take a step further to capture Constantinople... Of course, it was not entirely Mahmud I's fighting that caused this situation, but the British Empire's betray!
"Betrayal! Betrayal! This is a despicable betrayal... How can they openly betray their allies? It's really hateful." The tsar's roar echoed in the entire conference room, but his generals Everyone looked sad, and the situation was obviously very unfavorable to the Rakshasa Empire.
"Your Majesty the Tsar," Archduke Constantine, the Governor-General of Poland, also participated in today's meeting. He also frowned, "We cannot ignore the British threat... Once the Napoleonic Empire is restored and allies with the British, we will would be dragged into a very brutal European war that would be completely unnecessary."
"But what about the Bourbons? What about the Habsburgs? What about Metternich? Won't they get rid of Napoleon II and suppress the Bonapartists? If they can't do it, I can do it for them!" The Tsar's The anger has not gone away yet. He was angry not only with Britain, but also with the French Bourbons and the Austrian Habsburgs.
These two guys relied entirely on Rakshasa's bayonet to secure their position, but at the critical moment they were frightened by Napoleon II - that was not Napoleon I, but just Napoleon II, a man less than twenty years old. youth.
And he is still under the control of the Habsburg Dynasty!
"Nikolai Pavlovich," Grand Duke Constantine shook his head, "Things are not as simple as you think... Western Europe, Central Europe, and even our Kingdom of Poland are very unstable now. Bona The Palestinian elements and all kinds of rebels are ready to stir up a big turmoil. At this time, if Napoleon II dies for no apparent reason, the situation will not only not ease, but will become even more agitated."
The great turmoil in Europe is actually a by-product of the economic crisis caused by the rapid development of productivity and the relative lack of demand after the second industrial revolution. Of course, there are also conflicts between the bourgeoisie and feudal monarchs of various countries, as well as national conflicts within countries ruled by foreign nations such as Poland, Hungary, and Bohemia. Problems in which long-standing conflicts have accumulated to a critical point.
In fact, this upcoming war between the East and the West is largely due to the fact that the second industrial revolution brought powerful productivity to the two pioneer countries, Ming and Great Britain, with nowhere to vent... With the world still generally implementing gold and silver standard currencies, this lack of demand seems inevitable.
And the two advanced capitalist countries, Ming Dynasty and Great Britain, were just in the stage of imperialism. Of course, when they had insufficient demand and insufficient resources (the gold and silver of minted coins were also resources), they thought of "grabbing"!
For second-class powers such as France, Prussia, and Austria, which are weaker and do not have many colonies, the crisis of excess is even more difficult to endure. If the Bonapartists want to make trouble on the pretext of the murder of Napoleon II, the probability of success is not small.
After all, many Bonapartists were originally members of the regular armies of various countries!
Even within the Rakshasa Kingdom, wasn't there a December D-human uprising a few years ago?
"Are we going to accept a humiliating victory like this?" the tsar asked through gritted teeth, "We were clearly on the verge of conquering Constantinople... but in the end we were about to destroy the lands of Rumelia and Wallachia. Spit it out. This is simply more shameful than defeat. It is a loss of power and humiliation to the country!"
"Nikolai Pavlovich," said Grand Duke Mikhail, the tsar's younger brother, "we still have something to gain... We can keep Moldavia and Crete, and we can also keep Transcaucasia.
In addition, we were granted free access to the Danube River and free passage through the Turkic Straits. "
The British finally did not let the blood of the wooly bears be completely in vain, and allowed them to keep some of the spoils.
"That's too little!" Nicholas gritted his teeth, "Wallachia should be included anyway!"
Archduke Michael, who was in charge of the Vienna negotiations, shook his head, "This is very difficult... The British and Austrians are opposed. France and Prussia also do not support us."
"A bunch of ungrateful villains!" Nicholas clenched his fists, his face clouded, looking extremely unwilling.
"Your Majesty," a general reminded in a low voice, "without the support of France, we have no way to monetize Baku's oil... In this way, we will not be able to pay for the purchase of arms from the Ming Dynasty. And our own arms production, It’s simply not enough to sustain the consumption of a major war.”
Before the Battle of Adrianople, the Rakshasa Army had never imagined that there would be such a long and costly positional battle. If the Ming Dynasty had not provided a large amount of artillery and ammunition, they would have never been able to win the Battle of Adrianople.
However, the artillery and ammunition provided by Ming Dynasty were not free and needed to be paid with Baku oil. Baku’s oil has to be liquidated in France again…
"Wartime transportation is also a big problem." Archduke Constantine reminded, "Once a war breaks out between the Ming Dynasty and Great Britain, the maritime shipping between the east and the west will be interrupted. And the railway between us and the Ming Dynasty..."
"Maybe the Ming Dynasty will end the war soon!" The Tsar still refused to give up.
"Then let's seek Zhuge Weidao's opinion." Grand Duke Mihayiner said, "Because Daoguang controls Persia. So we can now contact Zhuge Weidao in Muscat through wired telegraphy... and it is very safe."
"Okay." The Tsar nodded, "Would you like to draft a telegram to Grand Duchess Natalie?"
…
Muscat, the Black Palace.
When Nicholas I's telegram was sent to Zhuge Weidao, he and Natalie had already packed their bags and were preparing to return to the Ming Dynasty via Persia and the Kingdom of Jin.
His mission in the Persian Gulf has been successfully completed, and Rear Admiral Li Chenghui took over as admiral. Zhuge Weidao will serve as the acting admiral of the Naval Aviation with the rank of rear admiral.
In addition, on his way back to Beijing, Zhuge Weidao will also meet Emperor Daoguang in Tehran and agree with him on a secret agreement to implement the policy of "neutrality, friendship, and enlightenment" during wartime.
And just before Zhuge Weidao and Natalie left Muscat, a telegram from Nicholas I arrived.
"Do you still need to ask for my opinion?" Zhuge Weidao was almost dumbfounded after reading the telegram that Natalie had translated using a codebook.
"But the Rakshasa Kingdom paid a high price for this war against the Ottoman Empire, but it failed to achieve its goal." Natalie frowned, looking very worried.
"But they have established a neutral position in the world war." Zhuge Weidao handed the telegram back to Natalie and said thoughtfully, "This is something I didn't expect, and it is also very beneficial to Nikolai. ...He can at least use this neutral time to prepare better.
At the same time, he can also wait for a more favorable opportunity to deal a fatal blow to the British Empire! "
"A fatal blow to the British Empire?" Natalie's eyes lit up.
Zhuge Weidao nodded and said calmly: "Perhaps, the French also have the same opportunity... Can they join forces?"
82 Chinese website
