The Russian navy annihilated the Ottoman fleet in the Black Sea, then blockaded the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, and cruised along the Turkish coast of the Black Sea, while the main army continued to advance towards Istanbul.

The Ottoman Empire was also a kind, and the war was even started by them first, after the Russian army entered the territory of the Ottoman Danube, they took the lead in declaring war on Russia, and behind them they received the support of Britain and France.

Russia, on the other hand, received support in China, and they received a promise from the Chinese financial forces to help issue 300 million rubles, to be repaid in ten years, at an annual interest rate of 7 percent, and with Russia's credit level, it is good to be able to borrow a loan at this rate.

The Tsar had stabilized the chaotic value of the Russian currency, and the gold content of 1 ruble was determined to be 0.774234 grams of gold, and 10 rubles was about 1 pound sterling, which was only one-fortieth of the Chinese 1 tael of gold banknotes, but due to the strength of Chinese banknotes, the exchange rate had actually been at a high level of 50 rupees to 1 Chinese tael.

The Tsar had a loan of 30 million pounds, the war was relatively well funded, and Russia had an agreement with Austria in advance, Austria would not send troops to help Britain and France, and it was also attacking the Ottoman Empire jointly with Russia, and the Russians believed that they could occupy Bulgaria, so that they could break through the blockade of the Turkish Straits and break into the Mediterranean, greatly improving Russia's unfavorable geographical position and getting closer to the center of the world's shipping lanes.

The French Bourbon royal family has always distrusted the French army, there has been no military action in recent years, and the size of the army has been very compressed, not even less than 200,000, driving out the garrison troops that defend the homeland, and the army that can be used for foreign conquests will never exceed 100,000, Britain has always relied on continental European countries for land wars, the main thugs are Prussia, Prussia is in northern Europe, it is impossible to send troops to southern Europe, so Britain can't find thugs this time, and Russia has also received a piece of good news, There was an uprising in British-occupied Portugal.

After Napoleon's defeat, the British stayed in Portugal, not only maintaining an occupation army of 100,000 people, but also intervening in Portuguese internal affairs everywhere, establishing a Portuguese puppet government and the Directory.

The Portuguese economy was in dire straits as a result of the influx of British goods into Portugal and the cutting off of colonial revenues from Brazil. Faced with a political and economic crisis, the Portuguese people launched the Porto Revolt on 24 August 1820, overthrowing the puppet Portuguese Directory of the British, and subsequently holding elections in Lisbon and convening the Constituent Assembly. Immediately after the Constituent Assembly was formed, it petitioned Rio de Janeiro for the immediate return of King João VI. Restoration of the rule of the Portuguese royal family.

Russia judged that Britain would never be able to draw land forces in order to deal with the Portuguese. And it was impossible for the British Navy to cross the Turkish straits, which were blocked by Russia. In this way, Russia only needs to defeat the Ottoman Empire to achieve the strategic goal of breaking out of the Black Sea, which is a strategic goal that has been longed for since the time of Peter the Great.

But the Russians ignored one opponent, Austria!

The Russians did see the plight of Britain and France, but the British knew their own weaknesses better, they were unable to compete with Russia in southern Europe, but the control of the Mediterranean Sea seized in the Napoleonic Wars could not be abandoned, and it was difficult for France to send troops, and only Austria had the strength to balance Russia in the region.

For a time, Austria became the object of competition between Britain and France, and from the previous situation of being isolated and helpless in the face of the Russian threat, it instantly became a position on which all countries depended.

I have to say that Metternich's diplomatic level is worthy of the title of the first person before Bismarck. He only made a small use of Russia's ambitions in the Mediterranean, so that Britain and France, especially Britain, had to win over Austria, instead of Austria having to rely on Britain and France to resist Russia.

For a time the court of Vienna became a meeting place more lively than the battlefield, and envoys from all over the world came and went, and the Russians, the British, the Prussians, the French, and the Poles, all sought their interests here, and Metternich was once again in a position to join forces. It is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and now that he has rice to cook, of course a good pot of rice will be made.

This good pot of rice made the Russians very hot and angry. Previously, when Austria had promised to return Bessarabia, they had a private agreement with Russia, with Austria supporting Russia's seizure of the Danube Valley and Bulgaria, and Russia supporting Austria's annexation of Bosnia, with Serbia maintaining the high degree of autonomy it had gained since the Revolution of 1815.

But now the Austrians have repented, they think that for the sake of peace in Europe, everyone should make concessions to each other, but where is this mutual concession, it is clearly to let Russia make unilateral concessions. Austria hoped that Russia would retreat to at least the east of the Balkan Mountains, and agreed to Russia's seizure of the two lower Danube principalities of Wallachia and Moldova.

The Russians refused, Austria wanted the Russian refusal, they were more ambitious in the Danube. This is almost the most convenient access to the sea in Austria, in the era when there were no trains, the entrance to the sea had to rely on large rivers, otherwise the cost was too high, and there were high mountains near the Dalmatian coast, and there were no good river outlets.

In addition, the important cities of the Austrian Empire were established in the Danube Valley, and the capitals of Austria and Hungary, Vienna and Budapest, were directly on the banks of the Danube. The plain of the middle and lower reaches of the Danube River is also a region rich in natural resources, and there were Romans who opened up their homes here during the ancient Roman period, and Romania is called Romania for this reason.

However, let Austria compete with Russia alone, and the national strength was not enough, and now the Russians, under various diplomatic means, forced Britain and France and other powerful countries into the Austrian side, and an organization similar to the anti-French alliance loomed.

After Russia rejected the offer of Austria, Great Britain, and France, the three countries immediately entered into negotiations and formed an alliance against Russia.

Before forming an alliance, they first made a clear distinction of interests, and the three parties unanimously agreed to support Greek independence, but until they defeated Russia, they did not put pressure on the Ottoman Empire, so as to use the power of the Ottoman Empire against Russia; In terms of territorial division, Austria made claims to the lower Danube, they did not have the appetite of the Russians, and did not need to control the Turkish straits, because Austria already had ports connected to the Mediterranean. So they don't want Bulgaria and fight only for an outlet to the Black Sea.

Will Britain and France agree?

Of course, they were reluctant to agree, but between handing over the lower Danube to Russia and to Austria, they were more comfortable with Austria. First, Russia has never been recognized by the northwestern Europeans, and second, Russia's territorial strategy has become more arrogant, and the Russians will never be satisfied with controlling the lower reaches of the Danube, and they will continue to use this as a springboard to attack the Mediterranean.

Another purpose is that they found that the Russians really have no decent opponents in the Black Sea, and the regional balance in this area is too biased towards Russia, if Austria joins the competition for the Black Sea, then it can balance the Russian power, and in the future, if there is a situation where Russia penetrates into the Mediterranean, Austria will be in the first line.

Britain and France, on the basis of recognizing Austria's domination of Bosnia, could obtain the protectorate of the Duchy of Wallachia, so that Austria could access the Black Sea all the way through the Danube, and Moldova would act as a buffer with Russian Bessarabia, maintaining independence between Wallachia and Transnistria. In this way, the Russians could hold on to Bessarabia, and finally seize the Ottoman Empire's territory on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, making it easier to reach an agreement.

After the alliance with Britain and France, Austria did not have to fight alone, France promised to send 100,000 troops, Britain allowed to provide 30,000 land forces, and provided 5 million pounds of military aid, all in vain. Because Austria has always had ambitions for the lower Danube, and if it wants to seize it, sooner or later it will have to go to war with Russia, and it is better to go to war now with allies than to fight alone.

As for Prussia, Poland, and other countries, they remained neutral for fear of Russian retaliation, and because there was no possibility of fighting for their interests, and they did not respond to the call of Austria and England.

So Britain, France and Austria formed an alliance and declared war on Russia after Russia refused to withdraw its troops. Austria was the main force, and 150,000 troops entered the principality of Wallachia along the Danube, and the Russian army gradually resisted, and at the same time had to begin to draw troops from Bulgaria on the west bank of the Danube.

The Ottomans took advantage of the situation to launch a counteroffensive, driving the Russian army out of Bulgaria and defusing the threat of Istanbul. The combined Anglo-French fleet entered the Black Sea and began to ravage the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

The situation turned against Russia on one side, and the Crimean War in history began ahead of schedule.

In this situation, Russia is definitely pitted by Metternich.

In the Crimean War in history, the Russians were really alone, beaten by Britain and France, and threatened by Austria, with a poor serfdom empire, it was a miracle that they could fight with Britain and France for two years, especially the Sevastopol fortress, which held out alone for 11 months.

The difference is that Russia unexpectedly received the support of China, which, after the issuance of 300 million rubles in bonds, was backed by a Chinese financial group that promised to continue to provide them with 200 million rubles. The collateral is the mining rights of Siberia, including valuable deposits such as coal, iron ore and gold.

In the pre-industrial era, these deposits were far less important to Russia than a Mediterranean export.

Moreover, the gap between Russia and advanced countries such as Britain and France is not as big as during the Crimean War, when Britain and France had begun to popularize rifled rifles, the Russians used smoothbore rifles, the British and French fleets used steam warships, Russia was a wind-blown warship, Britain and France used railways to transport troops and materials, Russia used horse-drawn carriages, Britain and France began to establish a hospital system, and Russia's own operations had little impact.

Now the Russian army and the British and French armies are all smoothbore guns, all sail warships, no railways, no telegraphs, the British, French and Austrian armies have Britain to provide military aid, there is the London financial market to finance the war, Russia also has China to help finance, the Russians are unlikely to win, but it is natural to hold out longer than the Crimea, as long as the Russians are willing to insist.

So compared with the outcome of this war and the Crimean War, even Zhou Lang could not have predicted.