Chapter 1089 The European Union Is Established

The reporter is a person who loves Russia, just like he loves Austria, although he has many dissatisfactions and criticisms about Russia's backward policies. But this does not affect his love for Russia.

And as a war correspondent, he has rich "battlefield experience". He has not really served in the military, but as a war correspondent he has witnessed the fall of Vienna, the fall of Berlin, and the fall of Moscow. He has not personally participated in the battle, but he knows very well what kind of virtues soldiers have in the war.

Fighting bravery is only one aspect, and the corruption of military discipline is also a defect that many powerful armies cannot overcome.

As a full-time war correspondent, he is very clear about the importance of discipline to an army.

Therefore, comparing the virtues of Napoleon's French army after entering Moscow and the performance of the current Chinese National Defense Army and the Persian army after entering Rostov, there is really a world of difference.

In Moscow, De Bellen saw with his own eyes the appearance of the French army after taking Moscow. Once the troops of each team were disbanded and moved into the empty aristocratic mansions, the troops were destroyed forever. From a mighty elite army, they quickly degenerated into bandits who were neither civilians nor soldiers, but somewhere in between.

Although the Russians burned half of Russia with a fire, the French and their allies had already obtained a huge amount of property from the city of Moscow.

The nobles and rich people fled Moscow, they could take away all the gold and silver, but they could not take away all the objects, such as the furnishings and ornaments in the family rooms, such as some exquisite paintings, carpets, and carvings of various materials.

When Napoleon evacuated Moscow, they were still those soldiers, but they could no longer be called an army. They were groups of bandits, each of whom carried a large bundle of useful things they thought were valuable or carried with him. When evacuating Moscow, everyone's purpose was no longer to conquer Russia as before, but to keep the looted things. Just like a monkey, reaching into a narrow-mouthed jar to grab a handful of nuts, not loosening his fist, so as not to lose the nuts he grabbed and destroy himself. The French would obviously suffer a heavy blow when they walked out of Moscow.

In the last section of the journey, weren't the things they robbed thrown away like old shoes? Carriages full of wealth were casually abandoned on the roadside, like discarded hexagonal cannons. After all, people are not monkeys.

Each French team stationed on a street in Moscow, as long as it lasted more than an hour, there would no longer be a person who looked like a soldier or officer.

In the residential areas of Moscow, people in military coats and short boots flashed in the windows of houses. They laughed and went in and out of each room, looking for everything they needed. They entertained themselves warmly in the cellars and basements, devouring everything that was left in Moscow.

Napoleon naturally did not want to see his army completely fall away. He issued orders to the ministers that day, prohibiting the army from wandering around the city, strictly prohibiting harassment of the remaining residents of Moscow and robbery, and announcing that a general roll call would be held that night, etc.; but no matter what measures were taken, the French soldiers who once formed a mighty army were still scattered all over Moscow, which had a lot of wealth but was deserted.

Just as hungry livestock will disperse uncontrollably after stepping on a fertile pasture, the French army at that time dispersed uncontrollably to various parts of Moscow. It was not something that could be contained by an order.

But what about the Chinese National Defense Army now? Without the need for orders from above, the soldiers of the National Defense Army consciously and strictly abided by the combat regulations. No one deserted to rob civilians or search for ruins or intact houses.

The wealth and the joy after the hard-fought victory could not relax their spirits. This was an army far more powerful than the French.

In sharp contrast to these Chinese soldiers was the Persian army that entered Rostov together. These people were completely a replica of the French army at the time, and they even dared to kill people and insult women.

...

Moscow, Russia in March has not yet completely ushered in mixed warm weather. Below zero is the daily warmth here. At night, the lowest temperature can even break through minus ten degrees.

When the news of the fall of Rostov reached Moscow, a heavy snow had just stopped.

The white sky and earth made everyone in Moscow extremely clear that the cold winter had not completely disappeared from Russia.

The weather was freezing cold, and the melted snow made the wet ground even more mottled.

As the clock struck, at 10 o'clock in the morning, there were more and more pedestrians and carriages on the street!

It has been three years since the Sino-Russian War began. The importance of Moscow has risen by more than one level in these three years. Many voices have been heard in the ears of Alexander I: move back to Moscow.

At present, with the war in Europe calming down, Russia has great benefits in moving its capital back to Moscow, both militarily and politically.

First of all, this shows the entire European world that Russia no longer has the desire to expand westward.

Russia's future war center will be the Eastern Front. As the capital, Moscow is closer than St. Petersburg, so it is naturally easier to deal with future changes in sentence structure.

Secondly, such a statement can greatly ease Russia's conflicts with France, Sweden, Denmark and other countries. Although Napoleon was dying, France's sphere of influence still enveloped half of Europe, especially the legacy of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and Russia also needed to make concessions. There are a large number of Russian-haters in Sweden. Even if the Crown Prince of Sweden is bent on making good friends with Russia and is still colluding with the United Kingdom from time to time, Russia's concessions on the Western Front can still greatly ease its conflict with Sweden. The same is true in Denmark!

From a large perspective, if Russia chooses to return to Moscow, it will be of great benefit to the integration of the entire European power. The British are already preparing to convene a conference involving all European forces in The Hague, Netherlands. The main intention of this conference is to establish a grand alliance involving all European countries, just like the Chinese alliance.

Many politicians in Russia believe that when Russia shows goodwill, the entire Europe will also show its own 'goodwill' towards Russia.

There has always been a certain gap between Russia and mainstream European society. This is a great opportunity for Slavs to reintegrate into mainstream European society.

On the snow-covered street, a black four-wheeled carriage rumbled over, turned across the street, and drove onto the main road of Moscow. Following the carriage were several cavalry escorts. This is a big shot, definitely a big shot.

Sergey Burkatovsky leaned on the soft seat in the carriage and rested with his eyes closed. He is now going to the Kremlin to meet Alexander I and report to the emperor on the current financial work.

In 1812, when Napoleon evacuated the Kremlin, he ordered the use of gunpowder to blow up the Kremlin. Fortunately, rains extinguished the flames in time, and most of the buildings were preserved. It's just that Russia's own fire caused heavy damage to the entire Moscow. The fire almost reduced the ancient buildings, antiquities, and gardens in Moscow to ashes. Before 1812, there were 30,000 houses in Moscow, but after the fire, less than 5,000 remained, and three-quarters of the city was on fire. And that catastrophe has occurred less than three years ago. Russia has always been in a state of war during these three years, and the army needs to borrow money from abroad. Where will there be large-scale repairs in Moscow?

But to be honest, Sergey Burkatovsky really doesn’t want to enter the palace now.

The Ministry of Finance's basket is getting bigger and bigger. Sergey Burkatovsky is very "eating the emperor's salary and being loyal to the emperor". Now all he has on his mind is the huge fiscal deficit. Although European countries The support for Russia is increasing and growing. However, the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of troops has also made Russia's financial deficit become higher and higher.

Sergei Burkatovsky does not think that Russia’s fiscal revenue will be able to fill this deficit within three to five years. Coupled with the national debt that Russia owes to foreign countries, Russia has not been clean for thirty years.

The size of the Russian army is constantly expanding, and Alexander I's goal is to ensure that the country has one million troops, which will drain the last penny of the Russian treasury.

The war is expanding, and the fiscal deficit this year and next will only get bigger and bigger, but will not decrease with the restoration of order in the western region of Russia and the recovery of tax revenue. Compared with the huge expenditure, how much tax revenue is there? For the future, a high deficit will not solve the problem at all.

Sergey Burkatovsky was just thinking about financial issues for a while and didn't care about other things. The specific affairs of the Ministry of Finance are taken care of by his officials, mainly the resurgent Speransky. Everyone knows Speransky's future, and only the final results are presented to Sergey.

There is no talk of reducing spending in central finances. The only things that can support Russia's finances are foreign loans and national debts. Sergey Burkatovsky feels that the current Russian government is just sitting on its hands and eating nothing, and the mountains are not Russian yet. Russia, which has a poor financial situation, is now really at the end of its rope, and he is really 'a wise woman cannot make a meal without rice'.

But as a big boss in Russian politics, Sergey knew the real purpose of the upcoming conference in The Hague.

If Russia's financial crisis breaks out during the conference, it will be equivalent to showing its lifeline to everyone. How can Russia make its words more weighty during the conference? A country whose finances have collapsed cannot shoulder the responsibility of leading European affairs, and a government whose credibility has been bankrupt is even less likely to win the trust of foreigners.

It is reported that the British, or the "EU" that the British and the French want to establish, only has four permanent seats on the Security Council. There are at least five important countries in Europe, including Britain, France, Russia, Austria and Prussia. Plus there’s an America!

The importance of the United States to Europe is self-evident. It is an important link for Europeans to contain China. Therefore, the qualifications of the lighthouse country are second only to the British and the French. It is heavier than Russia’s ‘qualifications’.

The Russian army is fighting for more chips for the Russian Empire on the battlefield. The government's financial problems are serious. They cannot increase Russia's chips, but at least they cannot let Russia lose its chips.

Russia's financial problems are so difficult to solve that Sergey Burkatovsky has no choice but to worry. Sometimes, he even wanted to resign and give up the position of finance minister to Speransky?

Sergei Burkatovsky was helpless in the face of the current situation. The only two ways he could think of were to borrow money from foreign consortiums and banks. Direct borrowing; the other was to issue government bonds. But the situation of Russian government bonds in the European financial market was not very good.

To be honest, the credibility of the Russian Empire had long been bankrupt. Anyone who knew something about Russia knew that even if Russia beat back the Chinese, they would not be able to raise enough funds to repay. Throwing silver into the water would make a sound, but using it to buy Russian government bonds was like throwing meat buns at a dog - it would never come back! Not even a sound could be heard.

Therefore, this time when going to the palace, the Ministry of Finance reported on the work of this year. The fiscal growth, budget, deficit, etc. were all secondary issues. The main issue was "money".

So theoretically speaking, it would be the wisest choice to go to London for borrowing money. This would not only strengthen the close relationship between the central governments of the two countries, but also allow London to suppress this news, which could be called "negative news" for Russia.

Yes, if Russia wants to become a permanent member of the European Council, it must cling to Britain. Otherwise, Prussia will become Russia's biggest competitor. To be honest, in terms of real national strength, Russia is only half as strong as Prussia.

Austria was the first European power to be excluded, just because the Habsburg family was too famous, and neither London nor Paris wanted to see the "revival" of the Habsburgs. Napoleon threw the dead but not stiff Holy Roman Empire into the trash can, which was absolutely in the interests of London. Moreover, Austria and Napoleon had a "very close" relationship, and London would not allow Austria to make too loud a voice.

And America is almost destined to have a place. The latter's existence is of great significance to Europe. From a strategic point of view, America's status is no worse than Russia. And America has a good friendship with France, and this friendship will become even deeper after this war. But above their own interests, Americans have relatively independent views, so Americans are considered to be allies of France, but the beacon country is not Napoleon's younger brother. So Britain must also have an ally.

Neither Britain nor France wants to steal the supreme power of the European Union. Under the mutual restraint of these two countries, they can only seek an overall balance, which also gives other countries an opportunity to take advantage of it.

Russia cannot "expose its ugliness" now, but Russia's financial problems are no big secret in Europe. They have borrowed several sums of money from London and still need to continue to borrow. It can only be said that Russia's potential in money has been fully tapped.

And as long as it holds on to London's thighs, Russia can get the greatest benefit. At this time, Alexander I and his ministers were not sober-minded. No one thought that relying on the importance of Russia's population and war potential to Europe as a threat, Russia could ask London and Paris for money in a big way, and Russia could establish another mountain outside of London and Paris.

There are a total of four permanent members of the European Union, but the dead know that one of these four seats will be London and the other will be Paris. The remaining countries can actually only compete for two seats. There is no way, who let Napoleon withstand the counterattack of the Sixth Anti-French Alliance? Today's France is not Germany after Hitler, it is still a powerful country with great influence in Europe.

Moreover, the merger of Britain and France is the core of the establishment of the European Union this time and the cornerstone of the establishment of Europe. London would exclude France unless it is brain-dead.

In fact, the EU has a rotating presidency above the permanent members, and stipulates that the permanent members cannot serve as the rotating presidency. The rights of the rotating presidency are equivalent to those of the four permanent members, and it also forms an odd number.

Although the EU is still in its infancy this year, it will inevitably be the most important international cooperation organization in Europe in the future. This consensus has been reached by many European countries. At least it is about the face of the country, isn't it? Although the actual benefits of the EU are far from being reflected...