At the end of 1863 and the beginning of 1864, the events that shocked the world happened one after another!

The first was the undeclared war of the Austrian Empire against the Turkish Empire, and more than 300,000 Austrian troops, armed to the teeth, suddenly crossed the Danube and invaded the territory of Bulgaria, which belonged to the Turkish Empire! Obviously, such a large-scale and sudden invasion must have been planned for a long time, and it involved the mobilization and assembly of large armies, the collection and transportation of logistics materials, and the determination of offensive routes. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ？ Top? Dot? Novel.. xstxt.. Contrary to the situation in the last hasty participation in the anti-Russian war, this time the Austrian Empire was quite well prepared, and also took advantage of the previous tensions between Prussia and Austria to complete the general mobilization and secret movement of troops. And the Turkish Empire was completely defenseless and was taken by surprise by the Austrians!

This was followed by the Russian Empire, of course, taking advantage of the fire, and on the same day after the Austrian army launched its attack on Turkey, the Russian Empire joined the war group and declared war on the Turkish Empire! Russia and Austria, two rivals in the last war, are now uniting at the most astonishing speed to carve up Turkey, a great empire that is about to die, to the surprise of everyone on the French, Ming, and Mexican sides. Politicians in these countries who have a little experience in international diplomacy do not know that there is a British Empire behind Russia and Austria.

It is clear that the politicians of the British Empire have already made a choice between Turkey and Russia and Austria. Since the relationship between the Ming Empire and France was difficult to shake, the British Empire had to find stronger allies to fight against the Ming-French alliance. And Austria and Russia were two of the most powerful partners that Britain could find on the Old Continent. In order to co-opt them, the Turkish Empire could only die, and not as in history. It existed as a pro-British buffer zone until the First World War.

The second piece of shocking news came from South America. Not because of the war. Rather, it was because of the unexpected evolution of the war situation. The tens of thousands of new Japanese troops that had been confronting the Argentine army in the northern part of the Patagonian plateau suddenly ignored the Argentine army, crossed the Andes Mountains and attacked the plain of Lake Lanchijua north of Puerto Montt in Chile, and then defeated the less than 10,000 Chilean army with little combat experience with lightning speed, and occupied Puerto Montt, the most important naval base and port in southern Chile. Large quantities of grain and copper ore for export were also seized in Puerto Montt, estimated at millions of silver dollars!

These two news spread to the east, and also surprised the Celestial Empire, which had already rejuvenated and energetic. When Zhu Jishi got the news for the first time, he was shocked in his heart, and thought that the First World War was going to break out in advance! Although Zhu Jishi has already begun to prepare for this war. But now is not the time for war! The railway to the Kazakh steppe has not yet been repaired, and it is simply impossible to support the army for a long time in the northwest. The Ming Navy has not begun to expand, the largest ironclad ship is only three or four thousand tons of displacement, and it will definitely be a dead end when it encounters the 10,000-ton Warrior and the Black Prince! The construction of industry was not completed, and the steel output could not exceed 2 million tons until 1864, so how could it take 6 million to 8 million tons to support a world war? More importantly, the plan to emigrate to the Kingdom of California has just begun, and this chosen country of the Chinese nation, without a population of 20 million and 20 years of development, it is impossible to hold on alone without foreign aid from the Ming Dynasty.

Empress Mathilde I of Mexico, who was in the Spa Palace, was equally shocked. Like the Ming Dynasty, her Mexican Empire was similarly unprepared for a world war. The land reform, which is said to have given the empire an impetus of growth, has not yet begun. The pan-Indian flag has just been raised. It hasn't had time to use it to build a Greater Mexican Empire with an Indian and Indo-European ethos. Even, Mathilde discovered. There is simply no way for your own empire to be fully armed! The previous victories were only won by the Ming Dynasty, France, and the Confederate States of America. The Mexican army actually engaged in the battlefield was only a few tens of thousands, and it did not perform well.

The two emperors immediately came to the same conclusion: now is not the time to fight a world war! Neither Daming nor Mexico was ready...... The same is estimated for the French and Roman Empires! The three empires have reaped too much loot in the past few years, and if it doesn't take twenty years, they can't even digest it, so how can they have the energy to fight a world war again?

Of course, it is not that the Ming, France and Mexico are really afraid of Britain, Austria and Russia. Their land forces are still stronger than the other side, and the real weakness is the navy, and the big deal is to repeat the situation of the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon III was blockaded by the British on the European continent, as long as Napoleon III co-opted Prussia and did not have anything to do to send his precious army to Russia to freeze, France would be invincible. The rest of the matter is when the Ming Empire will be able to invade India by land or sea, as long as the diamond in the crown of the British Empire can be removed, the war will be over.

Zhu Jishi hurriedly ordered the War Department, the Navy Department, the Army General Staff, and the Navy General Staff, ordering them to immediately start preparing war plans! Although he did not want to go to war immediately, he must be prepared to fight. At the same time, he instructed the Cabinet to do everything possible to use diplomatic good offices to find a peaceful solution to the current crisis. In addition, Zhu ordered the navy to send the newest and fastest steaming ironclad ship, the 4,500-ton Kazakh Khan ironclad to send back to the Mexican Empress Mathilde, who would be in charge of the country anyway if a world war broke out.

And when Emperor Zhu personally sent his empress lover to the Kazakh Khan ironclad ship, and then returned to the Tangshan Hot Spring Palace, the French and Roman Imperial ambassador Baldemi was already waiting for him in the Hot Spring Palace. The diplomat, who had no regard for the usual diplomatic etiquette, came to his door at dinner to ask for a meeting, and seemed to be well aware of the gravity of the current situation. The ambassador kept in constant telegraph contact with Paris and London, and this afternoon Napoleon III sent him two telegrams in quick succession. A telegram ordered him to immediately consult with the Ming Emperor on a plan to save the Turkish Empire.

Another telegram told him that France and the Roman Empire were not going to fight for Turkey at the present time, because the Kingdom of Prussia was busy negotiating merger with the northern German states, including Bavaria and Württemberg and Luxembourg, at a time when German nationalism was needed, and that Prussia and German nationalism would be turned against each other by fighting for Turkey and Austria. Without the help of Prussia, France could not have gone to war with Austria and Russia at the same time.

It was clear that the emperor of France and the Roman Empire did not have full control over the Prussian war machine of Central Europe. And also lacked the determination to fight for Turkey, a traditional ally, at a critical moment, and instead kicked the ball to the Ming Empire.

Zhu Jishi took off his coat, handed it to the maid beside him, and said with a smile: "Mr. Ambassador, I'm really sorry that you've been waiting for a long time!" Now is the time for dinner, so why don't we eat together? So many unexpected things have happened in the world in the past two days, the war in North America has not ended, the new war has been burning, and the Ming and France, as the most powerful empires in the world, really need to strengthen cooperation and communication. By the way, Empress Mathilde has already returned to the Americas on the warship of the Ming Dynasty...... It is estimated that it will take 20 days to return to Mexico. As he spoke, he smiled and motioned for Baldemi to sit down and speak, and sat down on the throne of the audience hall himself.

Baldmi frowned and spoke slowly: "Your Majesty the Emperor, the current situation is already very clear, it is the United Kingdom, Austria, Russia, and the United States of America to unite to attack the French-Ming-Mexico alliance system!" Although the Turkish Empire was not a formal member of the system, the geographical location of the country, as well as the position they had always held, determined that its collapse would be extremely unfavorable to our side. So the French and Roman emperors entrusted me to consult with Your Majesty on a way to save the Turkish Empire. (To be continued.) )