"Our contacts with the British were smooth and London was very supportive of our operation. Prime Minister Gladstone has told us that whatever happens, Britain is on our side. ”

In the Prime Minister's Office, Gambetta, who is the Foreign Minister, is updating Prime Minister Joufferi on the latest developments, along with the Minister of Army, General Laurent, who represents the military.

"What about the German side?"

Not satisfied with the good news, Jouferi continued to inquire about the attitude of the German side. At present, only Britain and Germany can influence the French invasion of Tunisia, and he needs to eliminate these two possible disadvantages.

In response to the Prime Minister's inquiry, Jouferi, as the foreign minister, spoke. "We have not yet made contact with the German side, and only yesterday did Envoy Rommunk send a telegram that he intends to travel to Berlin by train today. But from what we know about Prime Minister Bismarck, he should be more than happy to support us. ”

Bismarck's attitude has long been clear to France over the years, and he pays attention to a balance. Of course, German interests are also the main interests in the balance. The prime minister, who has made great contributions to Germany, has done one thing over the years, and that is to avoid Germany's diplomatic isolation. Therefore, whether it is to win over Austria-Hungary or stabilize France, Russia and Britain, it is to win time for Germany to develop.

Of course, other countries are not stupid, but this person has the means to always find terms that satisfy both sides.

Of course, his business was not perfect, and it was not his will for Wilhelm II to retire later. But after the development of German capital, his set is not popular enough. But now, under its leadership, the big German ship is also cleaving the waves and moving forward bravely.

Ru Feili is not unclear about this person, of course, there are some things that have to be recognized by the facts.

After the reunification of Germany, its population, territory, and resources were above France, and he was not a reckless man like Clemenceau, who only knew how to shout the slogan of revenge. If France's national power cannot overwhelm Germany, what will it take revenge with, just by slogans?

In his opinion, at present, France has less potential than Germany, both in terms of territory, people, and economy, so it is necessary to find another way to find a way to colonize it. Competing with Germany was completely unfavorable to France, and only by relying on the colonies could France quickly increase its strength.

Moreover, compared with Europe, which is involved in the whole body, Asia, Africa and Latin America is not only weak and conducive to colonization, but also lacks those containments, which is simply the best choice to enhance France's strength. As long as there were enough French colonies, even if only a third could be mobilized, it would be enough to deter Germany.

At that point, it will not be too late to talk about the recapture of Alsace and Lorraine. A qualified politician must have enough patience, and it is not the work of a wise man to directly trigger hostile behavior between the two countries in such a reckless manner as Clemenceau. Therefore, Ru Feili pays attention to planning and then acting, and one blow is fatal.

Either you don't start it, and if you do, you must kill the enemy. This is the lesson he learned from the Franco-Prussian War. Fortunately, the iron-blooded prime minister at that time miscalculated the strength of France and only took 5 billion francs, which did not cause fundamental damage to France, otherwise France would still feel out of breath now.

Of course, he could not forget such hatred, unless Germany came up with sufficient interests to resolve this grievance, but as far as he knew, the Germans had been immersed in the pride of defeating France, and had no such idea at all, so they could not afford to be hostile to them by France.

Since the time of Louis XIV, France has been the first army in Europe, and no one has been afraid of land wars, which is recognized by all European countries from Louis XIV to Emperor Napoleon. Therefore, a momentary defeat will not hit the French people, who will surely once again justify France's name as the number one army in Europe.

Of course, this hostility is best buried in the heart and not verbally shouted.

Having said all this, it is important to focus on the present, and Jouferi now needs to focus first and foremost on action against Tunisia.

So after Foreign Minister Gambetta finished speaking, he immediately asked the military representative on the side, General Laurent, the Minister of War. "How's your military planning going?"

"We're ready."

When asked by the Prime Minister, General Laurent, a representative of the military, immediately replied. And what he said is also true, as early as after the Berlin Conference, the French military had made plans to invade Tunisia, of course, the plans at that time were not suitable for the current situation. But it still has great reference value.

As soon as the prime minister made it clear that he was preparing to invade Tunisia, the military prepared a battle plan that matched his ideas. After the military's work of forgetting to sleep and eat, the plan has been preliminarily completed.

I saw General Laurent take out a combat map that had been marked with various military symbols, spread it out and said. "At present, our country has made a military plan, and this is the operational map of the plan."

"Prime Minister, please see, this is a 50,000-to-1 military map, and our current plan is to take advantage of the terrain of the western coastal plain of Tunisia to gather 30,000 troops and divide them into two routes, one from the city of Ambala on the Algerian border to the city of Tunisia, and the other from the central Tersa across the Titbesa mountain range, and seize the city in the middle of Sousse to cut off Tunisia. In addition, the navy expressed its willingness to provide 8,000 marines to land at Binzet to prevent the enemy from escaping. ”

Although Jouferi did not know much about military affairs, he still learned through General Laurent's explanation that the military's battle plan met his expectations. Surround the enemy on all sides and give it no chance to escape.

Such an approach would be possible to quickly resolve the Tunisian problem without giving the Italians a chance to intervene.

"It's very good that the people are implementing this plan, by the way, who is the leader this time?"

After praising the military plan, he asked who the general was leading the troops.

"It's General Policière."

"It's him."

In the face of the commander given by the military, Joufferi also knows. Of course, this general is not simple at all, he had experienced the Franco-Prussian War before, and was later transferred to North Africa, where he was also excellent in law and order operations, and has put down many Algerian indigenous uprisings and rebellions, and is a battle-hardened general. (Algeria's population fell by 50-1 million during this period, but the total population of Algeria was only 3 million)

Of course, this alone was not enough to make Jouferi remember that the general Pellissier had caused quite a stir in Paris. When he was back on leave in Paris, he was fighting a journalist who was unhappy about what he was doing in Algeria. This incident was reported in the newspapers, which made him not have a good reputation in France, but it was also appreciated by Jouferry.

In his view, the general was a general who had seized the interests of France, and could not be hurt by the heart.

Since the military gave this candidate, indicating that they hope to use his ability to solve Tunisia as soon as possible, Jouferi is quite satisfied with this candidate, and the next thing is to wait for the news of the meeting with Germany.

The news from the German side did not make them wait long, and a telegram came from Berlin a few days later. Special Envoy Lomonck, who had already met with Prime Minister Bismarck, said to Special Envoy Lomonk, who had expressed support for France's actions in Tunisia. "France should occupy Tunisia, and not think about what Italy!"

Although Bismarck expressed his support, Jouferry, as the French prime minister, knew that this was just a strategy by the German prime minister to promote the "continental policy". But it's good for France, isn't it?

And Germany, under its leadership, was not at all interested in opening up colonies, which happened to be cheap to France. As for who is on the right path in the future, let time tell.

With the support of Britain and France, Jouferi asked the French army in Alnigeria to begin secret preparations.

Of course, everything needs to be started and excused, France is a civilized person, how can it invade other countries at will. It happened that a love killing involving tribes on both sides was used by France.