The second more

The crushing defeat of the British army in Egypt set off a series of knock-on effects.

First of all, Alexander III, the successor of the Tsarist Empire, sneered at the defeat of Britain, an army known as the world's first empire was actually hung and beaten by the French army in his colony, and it was also the end of the commander being captured, he felt ashamed to say it.

Tsarist Russia at this time also gradually saw the true face of Britain, although on the surface they were a huge and invincible empire! However, the fighting power of this invincible empire has been a great disappointment. They lost face in the South African campaign and were repeatedly defeated in the following Egyptian campaign. Alexander III even began to wonder if the Crimean War was caused by Nicholas I's release.

After the end of the Egyptian War, Great Britain was faced with a situation where the wall was falling and everyone was pushing it, and the Romanov dynasty, which had a feud with them, naturally could not let go of this opportunity, and they even wanted to join the Trilateral Conference to further expand their power to the Mediterranean.

Alexander III's wishful thinking was also very good, and he even consulted his political adviser Konstantin. What is Russia's chance of winning in this conference?

"What if we were on the side of Britain and put pressure on France? The Russian Empire was offered to control the Turkish Straits and free access to the Mediterranean in exchange for Russian support for Britain in the Council of the Troika. ”

Constantine, a serious political adviser, vetoed Alexander III's request, pondered for a while, touched his head and said, "No, Prime Minister Gladstone won't let you do that!" Letting the Russians into the Mediterranean is tantamount to losing their positions in Egypt. Great Britain is not foolish, and I think they will, ostensibly acceding to Russia's demands for free access to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and promising to cede the Turkish Straits to the Straits. Then, at the end of the meeting, it was reversed, and all the treaties that had been made in private before were invalidated. They have not used such despicable means before, Your Majesty the Tsar, rashly siding with Britain will cost us two potential allies. Russia has been isolated for too long, and we cannot go back to the old days of isolation from Europe. ”

However, when Alexander III saw that everyone else had a large share of the benefits from England, he could not help but blush, and he gritted his teeth and asked, "Is there nothing we can do to change the situation now?" ”

Of course, Germany can indeed join the conference. But not now. ”

Konstantin Bedonostsev was not only a political adviser to Alexander III, but also a teacher of the Tsar. He pointed to his head and asked rhetorically, "Why should London negotiate with Britain when they have not yet broken their bones and have preserved a great deal of strength?" Shouldn't war be waged directly? Or is Prime Minister Gladstone an idiot? ”

Alexander III was overwhelmed by this question, and he was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to answer.

"Maybe they're running out of options?"

"The British have nothing to do? The whole of Europe has nothing to do, and I would not believe that the British will be at a loss. The British Army, which had the potential to fight a war against France at any time, chose to negotiate because they wanted to find out the bottom line of the other man. The political game is different from the military offensive, they must find out the details of the forces of several parties, otherwise, in the end, only the British themselves will suffer. ”

Konstantin's expression became serious, and the political deduction of Europe will determine the fate of Russia, whether it will be a hunter at the top of the food chain or a poor lamb.

"Who?"

"Isn't it Napoleon who is afraid of Prime Minister Oglaston?"

Alexander III had a headache, he did not expect that there were intricate political interests behind this meeting. In fact, the deeper you think about it, the more you think about it, this battle could change the world pattern for decades to come.

A gloomy smile appeared on the face of the scheming Konstantin Bedostsev, who said the name to the tsar.

"Of course not, it's the Kaiser, Frederick III."

"Kaiser?"

Alexander III was about to be overwhelmed by his teacher's words, and he had always thought that the meeting was just a political contest between France and England.

"Your Majesty, there are many things that you can't see on their own! Why was France able to provoke Britain without fear? It was because former enemies became allies that the situation on the European continent was no longer evenly balanced, so the legitimacy of the British was challenged. ”

"France and Germany are now not just verbal allies, but political blocs whose real interests are tied together. If the British wanted to wage a war of aggression, they could not bypass the German layer. As long as the interests between France and Germany remained, Britain could not find a gap in the counterattack. ”

"I see."

Alexander III finally understood what Constantine was saying, and became increasingly wary of the dwarfs in the Tuileries.

If one day France becomes strong again, will there still be a war to invade Russia?

The Tsar's heart has been imprinted.

However, all unbreakable alliances have flaws, and Britain must win over the Germans if they want to break this alliance, but now that Frederick III has obtained the colony of Egypt, the cost of winning him over will naturally rise. If you don't cut off a large piece of meat and plug the other party's mouth, I'm afraid the Germans won't be so easy to handle. ”

Constantine had the same idea as Napoleon, but he knew very well that the short-sighted guys in the British parliament would not agree to the demand for the cession of a large colony. It has always been the only British Empire that has rightly plundered other people's colonies, and no other empire has ever plundered their colonies.

This is simply the title of the empire on which the sun never sets.

So what to do in the end? Unable to compromise with Germany, and absolutely unable to tolerate the plundering of the colonization by France, the only way to go to war was to go to war.

But this time the British had to face two strong enemies.

France, which has advanced weapons, and Germany, which is crushed by a million-strong army that does not agree with each other.

For the British, this is a hellish situation!

There were also twists and turns in choosing the place where the meeting would begin, although on the face of it, Prime Minister Gladstone did not care about the meeting, and there was always only one concern that the British War Office had not yet come up with a detailed battle plan for his reference.

The plan was made against France and Britain at the same time, which meant that Prime Minister Gladstone was ready to go to war with both countries. Originally, he wanted to use a large colony in Africa to dissolve the two alliances of France and Britain. However, the opposition in Congress was surprisingly unanimous, and they refused to accede to such a risky action by Prime Minister Gladstone.

In case the Germans accepted the benefits and then repented, they would have lost their wives and soldiers.

For all reasons, Prime Minister Gladstone, who had no choice, had no choice but to bite the bullet, and a large group of people in London were in favor of waging the war, they wanted to regain the territory lost in the Hundred Years' War and declare their strength to Europe.

Only a small number of Gladstone's people saw the shadow of destruction after the war, and if they had not fought, they would at least have been able to maintain the pasted British Empire, and once the war began, the British would have to face the combined forces of France and Germany and lose. They lost even the last shred of face.

Will it end up like France after its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War in 1970? Gladstone didn't know, he only knew that he was on pins and needles for the first time, and even wanted to run away from the post of prime minister. Said to the intriguing idiots in Congress, "Let you go and spoil this country, I won't play with you!" ”

Eventually, at the insistence of the British, the Troika Conference was held in Berlin. Kaiser Frederick III convened today the most solemn meeting since the second half of the 19th century, as it would decide the fate of the three empires.

At this time, different voices erupted in Berlin, some people thought that they should actively assume the role of the host of this conference, and others thought that this meeting was too dangerous and could not involve the future situation. Even Moltke's chief of the General Staff advised Frederick III that they should be bystanders, not major participants.

At this time, only one of the founding fathers of the Second German Empire remained, Ron had died of illness, and Bismarck had resigned as chancellor. The only thing Frederick III could do was Moltke.

However, Frederick III was very resolute on this issue, and he would never allow anyone to sabotage the imminent benefits that Germany was about to get.

After a brief period of absence, he came back to his senses. At this time, I was already sitting in the negotiation meeting.

Prime Minister Gladstone's face was very pale and had slight dark circles under his eyes, presumably because of the severe lack of sleep quality during this period.

However, Napoleon, who was sitting directly across from him, still had a smug look on his face, although he had come from afar.

After all, they just took the whole of Egypt, and the world is impressed with them.

Frederick III was also impressed by Napoleon, after all, he had acquired most of the territory of Egypt and Sudan without a single soldier, and I am afraid that this credit could not be compared with that of Bismarck, the founder of the country.

The Second German Reich had pioneers and successors. If the latecomer wants to come to the top, he must be more courageous than the previous emperor.

After his father was accidentally assassinated, Frederick III, who succeeded him, decided to become a qualified male lord.

"So, two of you."

He coughed lightly and said slowly, "The meeting can begin." ”.