Holy Roman Empire

The situation in Europe is chaotic. How could Britain be less?The Fao contradiction was not picked up, and the London government was very disappointed.

But Prime Minister John Russell is not worried, there are two.No matter what excuses the French have, it is a fact that they reached into the Austrian back garden.

The seeds of the conflict between the two countries have been buried, and for the British, this is enough.Provoking the French-Austrian relationship and letting them oppose and contain each other is the option that best suits the interests of the United Kingdom.

If you really let them fight, it would not be a good thing.Or to say that any war that breaks the balance of Europe, the London government does not want to see it.

Especially at the time when the Russian Empire was about to decline, the war between France and Austria broke out, and any one of them won the victory, which is the new overlord of the European continent.

Any European hegemon is the biggest enemy of the British. There is no need for any reason. The national policy of the London government has always been the same.

On 10 Downing Street, Foreign Secretary Raistlin walked into the conference room with a smile, and he could see that he was in a good mood.

John Russell said blandly: "It's all here, then the meeting begins. Sir Raistlin, what good news?"

Foreign Minister Raistlin replied with a smile: "We have just received news that the tsarist government intends to let the three Nordic countries unify."

This is something the London government has been trying to do in recent years but has not done it.The unification of the three Nordic countries is definitely not a good thing for the Russian Empire.

As long as they export great power to them, the unified Northern Europe is destined to stand on the opposite side of the Russians, who gives them a glorious history?

Looking through the history book, Finland, the Baltic Sea and other large territories used to be their territories. Now they are occupied by the Russians. Are the militants still living?

Of course, the three Nordic countries have a small population, and it is still far from threatening the Russian Empire, but it is still possible to contain part of the energy of the Russians.

This is also the reason why the British are willing to support them. Anyway, no matter how Nordic develops, it will not affect the interests of Britain.

Under normal circumstances, the Russians will not allow the unification of Northern Europe.Doing this now means that the Russians will soon be unable to support them and will have to make compromises.

John Russell asked uncertainly: "Is it possible that the Russians want to draw Sweden and Norway to fight against the Prussians and reduce the pressure on their battlefield?"

Foreign Minister Raistlin replied: "This is the most ideal state. In fact, the tsarist government should be very clear that this situation is almost impossible.

The Berlin government has made concessions and promised to withdraw from the Jutland peninsula, and the territorial requirements for Denmark are limited to the two German principalities.

For Sweden, this is enough.If the two German states are also merged in, Denmark ’s right to speak is too heavy, and they will not be able to take the lead.

The Tsarist government now just wants to stabilize Sweden, or else the northern Xinjiang will rise again, and they will really not be able to sustain it.It can be judged initially that the Russians are now exhausted."

The Russians are exhausted, this is the biggest good news.After this wave, the Russians will not be able to cause trouble for them for decades to come.

If the subsequent plan goes smoothly, this threat may be resolved once and for all.

Without any hesitation, Prime Minister John Russell made the decision directly: "Take our greatest influence and give the Russians a fatal blow.

Increase aid to Prussia, let the Ottoman Empire enter the war as soon as possible, and the Far East region should also be launched.

If Sweden could be stabned by the Russians, the plan would be perfect."

Obviously, John Russell's expectations for Sweden's war are not high.If the Russians continue to oppose the merger of the three Nordic countries, the Swedes are very likely to stab the Russians.

It is almost impossible now, and the Swedish government must take into account the feelings of the Danes.Now Denmark and the Russians are allies, and their enemy is the Kingdom of Prussia, which determines that Sweden cannot join forces with the Prussians.

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"Since the implementation of the two strong standards, the Royal Navy has been severely challenged. At present, our naval military expenses are seriously insufficient and it is no longer possible to suppress both France and Austria.

Not long ago, the Paris government allocated another 120 million francs for shipbuilding. The specific shipbuilding plan is unclear. Obviously this is for our two strong standards.

The Austrians have not yet responded, but in accordance with past practice, the Vienna government will refer to the 80% or 90% of the French manship funds.

Our shipbuilding budget this year has been used up.To continue to maintain the current advantage, we must allocate another 10 million pounds."Navy Secretary Edward said

Ten million pounds in this era is not ten million pounds in later generations.There are no more than ten countries with annual fiscal revenue worldwide that can exceed ten million pounds.

Dare to require so much money for shipbuilding, in addition to the Royal Navy, there should be no second.

France and Austria do get this amount of money, but both are land-powered countries, and the development of the navy must also take into account the army.

If it were not for the British to clamor for the two strong standards, the Paris government would not suddenly increase the cost of shipbuilding to detonate this arms race.

In this era, the Fau navy combined, the total tonnage is almost the same as that of the Royal Navy, and the number of armored ships is more.

Faced with the clamor of the British, Napoleon III felt insulted, and even Franz of Vienna could not bear this provocation.

Oh, this is not just their personal feelings, but more precisely the common feelings of the people of the two countries.

Everyone wants to save face, and civil radical groups are clamoring to overtake the Royal Navy.Then I have to say, arms race!

As it happens, Napoleon III needs to divert people's attention so that they don't keep staring at the ruins of the two Sicilian kingdoms.

Napoleon III provoked an arms race, and it was also confident.The French economy has embarked on a fast track for more than a decade. Last year ’s fiscal revenue exceeded the British by more than 18 million pounds.(Including Kingdom of Sardinia)

Of course, this is only local fiscal revenue.If a colony is added, the British are even more powerful. It is important to know that India ’s fiscal revenue alone is more than 50 million pounds, and the British pride is generally visible.

However, Napoleon III did not counsel, and he was not prepared to let the French navy exceed the Royal Navy, as long as the French and Austrian navies combined to break the two strong standards of the British clamor.

Behind the anger, it also involves international political status.Once the Royal Navy ’s two strong standards were fulfilled, the British gained absolute dominance in overseas affairs.

What France and Austria cannot tolerate here.The French navy is the second in the world, and the arrogant Parisian petitions every day that the early bird Napoleon III must be.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Agarwal, glared at Edward fiercely, and already greeted his family in his heart.

In his view, the Admiralty is a typical misbehaving family and does not know that the rice, rice, oil and salt are expensive.The "two strong standards" look very attractive, in fact, this is nothing to find excitement.

The financial strength of the British is indeed the strongest in the world, but the two countries are not weak, and the gap in strength between the two is not very different.

Just like the two strong standards clamored by the original British in space and time, they were also challenged and even more severe.

Either France or Austria has the potential to challenge the hegemony of the Royal Navy. If it is not to develop the army, the maritime hegemony status of the Royal Navy has long been unstable.

Agarwal said sullenly: "No, this year's budget has been determined for a long time, and now a sudden increase of 10 million pounds in the budget, the Ministry of Finance does not have this money. If you want funding, you can convince Congress!"

There are indeed a lot of ten million pounds, but for the London government, it is actually crowded out.Apparently, Agarwal was not prepared to save money and thrift, and raised funds for the Navy.

Navy Secretary Edward said angrily: "The Royal Navy is related to the British National Games. If we cannot guarantee an absolute advantage, once we let the two countries catch up, we will regret it!"

There are not so many reasons, the main purpose of the Navy's "two strong standards" is for funding.The threats of the French and Austrian navies are actually a thousand miles away.

Everyone is a colonial empire, the navy is mostly scattered around the world, and all regions are suppressed by the royal navy. Where can we talk about threats?

Even if the Fau Naval teamed up, in fact most of them were not rivals of the Royal Navy.The problem of mutual cooperation between the navies of the two countries on the battlefield cannot be solved.In the case of fighting each other, it is simply not an opponent of the Royal Navy.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Agarwal, did not buy it and said: "So you ask the Congress to ask for money! Now the Ministry of Finance does not have this budget. To temporarily increase the huge budget, it must be approved by Congress."

Without the support of the Cabinet, the Admiralty alone would not be so easy to persuade Congress.Even if they were justified and moved, they waited to persuade the gangs of Congress to agree that the warships built by the French had already served.

Edward had just prepared to defend himself and was stopped by Prime Minister John Russell.It is a common thing to compete for funds. Basically, the Ministry of Finance has to meet each department just once every year.

There is nothing wrong with Agarwal ’s behavior, and he is doing everything in accordance with regulations.The Admiralty ’s temporary increase in budget will definitely go to Congress.The Ministry of Finance ’s unwillingness to come forward to ask for funding from Congress is also in compliance.

"For the issue of increasing the cost of shipbuilding, the Admiralty will submit a bill to Congress, and the time will be set next Monday. We will support the proposal.

Sir Edward, the Admiralty must be fully prepared to accept the questions of members of Congress, is there a problem?"John Russell said

This is a necessary process. As long as Congress agrees to increase the budget, then the Treasury Department can always solve the funding problem by loaning, issuing bonds, or raising taxes.

The arms race has just begun, and the London government has not felt the pressure.In the later stages, they will not be so easy.

Navy Secretary Edward replied: "No!"

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