The Sun Never Sets In Spain

When the British started their activities, Austria-Hungary also received a delegation from Russia.

Signing a non-aggression pact is a big deal, far more serious than a non-trivial statement of support.

Once signed, it will determine the direction of diplomacy in the next few years.

For Austria-Hungary, it is almost giving up the Balkans.

In fact, Franz did not want to give up the Balkans, but was affected by the domestic situation and could no longer expand.

Within the Austro-Hungarian political framework, Hungary has a one-vote veto, which means that they have reaped 50% of their political rights with 30% of their financial obligations.

Under this circumstance, they are opposed to almost all actions that expand the territory and may dilute the power of Hungary.

Allowing Austria to annex half of Italy was the biggest concession they could make.

The loyalty of the Hungarians will end here, and even if Austria conquers the whole of Europe, it will not expand its territory.

In this regard, Franz tried to ease the domestic situation on the one hand, and turned his attention to places outside the Balkans on the other hand.

At present, there are only two he can think of, one is to return to Germany, and the other is to colonize overseas.

The former is to build alliances, the latter to expand colonies without political power.

Although Hungary will still oppose 100%, it will not react as violently as expanding its homeland, and a solution may be found in the future.

Even if he invited Spain to build a market together, it was an attempt. He wanted to grab food from colonial powers such as Britain and France. Uniting and friendly countries was the first step, and there was no more suitable target in Europe than Spain.

It’s not that the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not want to colonize, it was just that there was only an outlet from the Adriatic Sea before, and even entering the Mediterranean Sea had to be approved by Italy, so the colonial strategy was out of the question.

Now that the shackles have been lifted, with the strength of Austria-Hungary, it is more reasonable to ask for a site under the sun.

After receiving the Russian delegation, Franz and the cabinet members talked for a long time, but could not reach a consensus.

This is the first time that the concept of mutual non-aggression has been proposed. In the past, it was a direct alliance, defensive alliance, military alliance, etc.

Although the effect of mutual non-aggression is not as great as that of the alliance, it is a formal diplomatic treaty after all, and Hungary must be notified. If the other party does not agree, the central government will not act privately.

Vienna and Budapest were of course connected by telegram, and in less than half a day, I received a reply from Andrássy, the content was very simple: "Hungary opposes."

...

"That can only refuse Russia." Boist sighed, in all fairness he still wanted to agree.

"Well" Franz nodded: "But it's not all bad. We don't sign mutual non-aggression. Maybe the situation in the Balkans can be saved, at least the Russians won't be so easy."

Neither was surprised, since Andrássy was a well-known opponent of Russia, or more or less all of Hungary.

As a country of China, Hungary basically has only three things left: developing the economy, opposing Austrian expansion, and opposing Russian expansion.

In order to protect the security of the homeland and suppress the Balkan nationalists in Hungary, Hungary is opposed to all actions that may cause instability in the Balkans, of which Russia is their number one target.

They don't care about Habsburg's German strategy or colonial strategy, and they won't make concessions to Russia for it.

Boist thought about it for a while and suggested: "If you want to refuse, refuse to the end, don't even give them support. It's best for Russia to back down. If you don't back down, our attitude can also make Britain take courage. It is convenient for us to play.”

Franz agrees.

Three days later, the Tsar received advice from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Obviously, Vienna's willingness to acquiesce only adds potential risks to Russia's actions.

Maybe the other party is trying to induce the British and Russian to open the film, and then backstab the idea.

"Is Ukraine mobilized?" Alexander groaned.

"The first phase of mobilization has been completed, and the total number of troops that can be put into the Western battlefield is 770,000." Gorchakov reported.

Russia's mobilization of troops was very slow, and it took more than half a month to complete the recruitment plan in Ukraine.

However, the number of troops is really large. In 1871, Russia had a standing army of 680,000 nationwide, of which 140,000 were in Asia and the rest in Europe.

The standing army was already so large, and with just a little effort, more than 200,000 troops were mobilized.

With an army of nearly one million, Prussia is almost dying, and it is still a little short of this number.

The reason why they were able to riot in the army was mainly because the Russian peasants had a miserable life. They could not fill their stomachs at all during the serf period. Although they basically did not get paid to serve in the army, they could have enough to eat, so everyone was willing to join the army.

Now 10 years after the serfs were freed, the farmers' lives have not improved much, because they need to pay a ransom to the landlord to buy the land whose actual value is much lower than the ransom price.

Before paying the ransom, they still had to serve the landowner.

This backward economic system brought an unimaginable source of troops to the Russians, and the number of people who died was never in the Tsar's consideration.

"Can Austria-Hungary, Ottomans, and Britain be defeated at the same time if the Crimean War is repeated?" Alexander asked with a little hope when he heard the mobilization was complete.

"Uh..." Gorchakov held back for a long time before he said, "I'm not very good at military affairs. Maybe Marshal Milyutin can answer this question for you."

Alexander was not stupid. He knew there was little hope when he heard this, but he still called his Minister of War with a fluke.

Mi Liujing is not so forward-looking. If he promises to accept it now, he will not be blamed if he loses.

He immediately said:

"If we can't win, we can't get sea control in the hands of Britain and the Ottomans, and we won't be able to keep up with supplies in the south.

Neither the Caucasus nor the Balkans, our army could deploy.

The human advantage cannot be utilized, and we will surely lose. "

Even in order to dispel the terrifying thought of the Tsar, he added: "Even if the Ottomans are neutral, we cannot win, unless the Ottomans can join our side wholeheartedly without civil unrest."

Alexander was very depressed when he heard the words, but Mi Liujing was also a veteran. He had been the Minister of the Army for ten years, and he could not punish the other party for telling the truth.

"The United Kingdom announced that it will hold a military exercise in the near future, and it must be aimed at us." Alexander closed his eyes and thought for a long time, but decided to counsel a wave and eat the meat he got.

At this stage, the Russian bourgeois reform has not been completed, and it is not a good time to start a war. Russia is reckless, but it is not brainless.

"Occupy Romania first, and the Caucasian army will not move," Alexander said to Milyutin.

"What about Sultan Aziz?" Gorchakov reminded: "It's hard to find an Ottoman sultan who has good intentions for us."

"Send an elite **** team, and then let the other party prepare the boat by himself. If you can save it, forget it."