Chapter 368

Not only was the London government trying to raise money for the Prussians, but the French were not idle either. But they are not raising money, they are busy wrangling.

In terms of economic development, Napoleon III can be said to be excellent. In the past ten years, the French economy has maintained rapid growth.

This is particularly evident financially. In 1851, France's fiscal revenue was 1.273 billion francs. By 1864, France's fiscal revenue was close to 2 billion francs.

This is still without calculating the results of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Otherwise, it can increase by several hundred million. The most prosperous area in Italy is not blown out.

After joining the French family, the market problems that plagued the capitalists of the Sardinian Kingdom were finally resolved, and the local economy began to develop rapidly.

There are advantages and disadvantages, and the French capitalists also killed them. The weak local capital of Sardinia is obviously unable to compete with French capital, and can only use the advantages of local snakes to compete with it.

These struggles have been concealed under the circumstances of great economic development. After all, if you make more money, even if the competition is more cruel, your pockets cannot deceive people.

The fiscal revenue of nearly 2 billion francs is equivalent to nearly 80 million pounds. At this time, the fiscal revenue of the United Kingdom is less than 70 million pounds, and the income gap between the two sides is as high as 10 million pounds.

Of course, this is not to say that the French economy has surpassed the British. In this era, the fiscal revenue of various countries was only local fiscal revenue, and colonial revenue was not counted.

In addition, we must also consider the financial distribution of the central government and local governments. Different taxation methods also affect the level of financial revenue.

However, these data can still prove from the side that the French economy is developing rapidly. Before Napoleon III succeeded to the throne, France's fiscal revenue was even lower than that of the United Kingdom, and now it has surpassed it.

With the substantial increase in fiscal revenue, the Paris government not only got rid of the financial crisis, but also has the ability to play franc diplomacy.

Economically capable of supporting Prussia, and Napoleon III's desire to replace the Russian hegemony on the European continent, does not mean that the French really want to support Prussia.

There have always been two voices within the French government on whether to support Prussia in fighting this war:

Some people advocated assisting the Kingdom of Prussia, taking over their hands to smash the Russians and laying the foundation for France to seize the hegemony of the European continent.

Others advocated sitting and watching the defeat of the Prussians, so as to seize the opportunity to seize the Rhineland region, increase the industrial strength of France, and make up for the lack of resources.

Of course, both of these propositions must be fought by Prussia, so the French government supported Prussia before the outbreak of the war, and even provided an interest-free loan of 50 million francs in advance.

Now that the war has broken out, whether to continue supporting has become the focus of contention between the two sides.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Allen proposed: "The strength gap between Prussia and Russia is too great. Even with our support, it cannot change the outcome of the war. Continuing to invest precious funds in the Prussian government is a waste.

Now that our strategic goal has been achieved, the Prussian-Russian war has broken out. No need to do anything, just wait to take over the Rhineland after the war. "

Foreign Minister Abraham objected: "No, now is the weakest period for the Russians. Even if the strength of the Kingdom of Prussia is a little weaker, they still muster more than 700,000 troops.

Coupled with the outbreak of the Polish independence movement, which contained a large number of Russian troops, the tsarist government may not have the ability to defeat the Kingdom of Prussia in one fell swoop.

As long as the war lasted, the Russians would put an end to domestic reforms because of the war.

This is what all European countries want to see, and the Vienna government will not provide much support to the Russians at this time. If the war can drag on for a year or two, the tsarist government will be defeated in the end because of finances. "

Finance is the shortcoming of the Russians. The reform of Alexander II is in progress, and the social dividend brought by the reform has not yet been fed back to the fiscal revenue.

Because the war in the Near East consumed a lot of financial resources, at the end of the reign of Nicholas I, he was working hard to smooth the losses of the war, and did not leave enough foundation for Alexander II to support a war.

It was because of the shortcomings of the Russians that the Junkers nobles dared to plan this war. Also because of this, the British would support Prussia.

The chancellor of the Exchequer, Allen, shook his head and said, "What happened to the 700,000 troops of the Kingdom of Prussia? Needless to say? The ones with combat power are at most 400,000, and the rest are made up with guns.

Now the countries in Europe that have the ability to provide 700,000 troops are only us, Russia and Austria. No matter how much the Kingdom of Prussia might use military force, their national strength also restricts their military strength limit.

And the Russians have more than one million active-duty troops. To defeat the Kingdom of Prussia, they don't even have to mobilize.

Leaving aside the relationship of the Russian-Austrian alliance, as long as the tsarist government promised Austria a lot of benefits, the Vienna government would provide them with loans. Anyway, these benefits were cut from the Prussians.

Austria's financial resources, if not comparable to ours, are not far behind, and it is enough to support the Russians in defeating Prussia.

Besides, is the foundation of the Russian Empire really gone? As an old-fashioned empire, the tsarist government can still spend more than one billion francs in war expenses as long as it wants to.

Pinning my hopes on the Russians' financial collapse is more practical than praying to God that the Prussians will survive. "

The prerequisite for supporting the Kingdom of Prussia is that they can win, or at least be able to hit the Russians hard, which

An investment is not in vain.

If the Kingdom of Prussia is taken care of by the Russians in three to five times, all these investments will be wasted. Don't expect the defeated Prussia to be able to repay its debts. Whether it can keep the country depends on whether the countries will continue to support them.

...

The father said that the public was reasonable, and the mother said that the mother was reasonable. The indecisive Napoleon III has a headache. Both views are very reasonable, and it is really difficult to decide.

This debate continued for many days before Napoleon III made up his mind.

"Okay, I decided to provide a loan to the Kingdom of Prussia, but they will use the sovereignty of the Rhineland as collateral to ensure the safety of our loan."

This is a compromise solution, which not only supports the Prussian kingdom to continue the war, but also creates an excuse for seizing the Rhineland.

The Kingdom of Prussia won the war, then the strategy of hitting the Russians hard was realized, bringing France one step closer to the hegemony of the European continent. On the contrary, the defeated Kingdom of Prussia has no money to repay its debts, and they can directly take the collateral.

On the surface, this is the best choice, no matter what the outcome of the war, they will not suffer. In fact, this is just the wishful thinking of Napoleon III.

It is impossible for European countries to watch them succeed. The British do not want to see the birth of the hegemon of the European continent, the Russians fall from the position of hegemony, the three countries of France, Austria and Russia contain each other, and no one can gain an overwhelming advantage, that is what they want to see.

Geopolitical relations, even if Franz is not ready to compete on the European continent, he will not let the French become the new hegemon.

The good neighbors of the French, such as Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, the Italian states, the German Federal Empire, and the Kingdom of Prussia, are also reluctant to see France grow again.

The mutual defense pact against France is the best weapon to contain them. How can a country that is hostile to its neighbors become the hegemon of the European continent?

Is it just by strength? It seems that the French are not that good yet. The Russians can maintain their hegemony with millions of troops, but the French cannot.

A tyrant without a younger brother is a tyrant? Unless you have the strength to crush the European continent, you can only play at home behind closed doors.

...

Berlin, Wilhelm I didn't know that a quarrel had just happened in Paris that would decide their fate. The Austro-Prussian War that broke out on the European continent was completely different from the Russo-Japanese War in history.

The power that the Russians can project here will definitely not be limited to two or three layers. If only the British support, the London government will also be overwhelmed.

With good luck, supporting the Kingdom of Prussia can achieve its goal by tens of millions of pounds. If bad luck ends up paying a price of hundreds of millions of pounds, it is not surprising at all.

Even if it is a loan, it is necessary to consider whether the Kingdom of Prussia can repay it. In short, it was impossible for the London government to satisfy all the needs of the Prussians.

Recently, the Berlin government has applied for loans to almost every European country. No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. Even if some small countries can only provide a loan of tens of thousands of pounds, they will not dislike it.

Foreign Secretary Mike Kate frowned and said: "Just this morning, the Swiss government informed us that the joint defense treaty between the two countries is officially lifted, and tomorrow they will announce it to the outside world.

It happened so suddenly that the Swiss government made a surprise attack, leaving us no time to recover. It seems that they are determined to draw a line with us. "

This is obviously not good news, the Puri Joint Defense Pact is undoubtedly against Austria. Historically, it was only dissolved in 1866, when Austria lost the Austro-Prussian War and was unable to plot the Swiss region.

Switzerland is now suddenly going to dissolve the joint defense treaty, there must be an inside story. Don't even think about it, they also know that this is the work of the Vienna government.

William I sighed and said: "Forget it, we can no longer take care of these small issues. The top priority is the Russian-Prussian war, and now the front-line troops have already exchanged fire with the Russians.

The financial aid promised by Britain and France did not arrive on time. The next focus of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to coordinate with Britain and France so that they can fulfill their commitments as soon as possible. "

No way, the pit teammates seem to be the innate supernatural powers of Britain and France. The London government did not coordinate with the domestic consortium in advance, and is still trying to find a way to help them raise money; the French government delayed the progress of fundraising because of wrangling.

In the face of life and death, the Swiss dissolve the joint defense treaty against Austria, which is completely unworthy of mention.

William I understood the actions of the Swiss government very well. Now that Prussia is playing with fire, it is normal for the Swiss to worry about getting burned.

If Austria was dragged into the water because of the Russian-Austrian alliance, wouldn't they also be dragged into the war because of the Joint Defense Treaty?

The status of Eternal Neutrality was not easy to come by, and it was only with great difficulty that it was recognized by all countries. If dragged under the water, the French can annex the kingdom of Sardinia, and Austria can also annex Switzerland.

Switzerland and the Habsburgs are a real feud, but the strength gap between the two sides is too great, and the Swiss government simply cannot afford to have the courage to go to war with Austria.

The Vienna government asked them to dissolve the joint defense treaty, and the Swiss government naturally followed suit. Anyway, since the outbreak of the Russian-Prussian War, even if the joint defense treaty exists, it will not play any role.

Understanding is understanding, William I was still very angry at the Swiss government's downfall. It's just that they really don't have the energy to manage so much. All problems have to wait until the war is won, and everything is lost.

Foreign Secretary McKate replied confidently: "Don't worry, Your Majesty. Britain and France will not look at us because of lack of funds.

Those who have been defeated, and now they are delaying the time, just because they are worried that we will lose the battle and let the investment go to waste.

As long as we don't lose on the battlefield, the aid they promised will be delivered, the big deal paid to us in installments. "

As the vanguard of the anti-Russian faction, McCarty has always believed that the Russian Empire is rotten, and it only needs to be pushed and it will collapse.

The Polish uprising that broke out not long ago, the Russians spent more than two months not only did not calm down, but intensified, spreading the war to the Belarusian region, which confirmed McCarty's judgment.

These understandings are completely different from those of William I, but since we are going to fight the Russians, we must naturally replace these confident anti-Russians.

If you hire a bunch of Russophobic patients and think about making compromises with the Russians every day, how can you fight this battle?