Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz came to Madame Sophie's bedroom early in the morning, but the latter chose to avoid it, and the palace people speculated about what the mother and son were doing.

The reason was that Franz planned to sail with Friedrich to test the performance of the new warship. Of course, this reason was unconvincing to Mrs. Sophie. She felt that her eldest son, who had always done his own thing, must have made another risky move, otherwise he would never come to her to quit.

But by this time Franz was no longer the same child who had just left the children's room. Not only did he have his own ideas and insights, but he even cultivated and managed his own forces.

So even the fierce and domineering mother couldn't spank her as she did in the past, so the two sides were deadlocked.

After a cup of tea, Franz got up and left, after all, he had other things to do, and he didn't have much time to stay here for tea.

The voyage had already been planned, but before Franz could leave, he had to entrust his subordinates with the task of balancing the three most destabilizing factors of Britain, France, and the United States.

As for what kind of bloody storm the three parties will set off in Central and North America, it is none of Austria's business; After all, the colonies of the nineteenth century were like this, some people ate more, and some people ate less; Some countries cannot be satisfied if they do not have enough to eat for a long time, and dissatisfaction will create friction, and escalation will lead to war.

Historically, it was not the Monroe Declaration that maintained peace in the Western Hemisphere, but the British Empire's colonial policy in Latin America that created a delicate balance between the great powers.

In 1822, the Holy League convened a conference in Verona, Austrian Italy, authorizing France to send troops in the name of the Holy League to suppress Latin American independence movements.

It wasn't that piece of broken paper that stopped all this, but the guns of the Anglo-Saxons. Of course, John Bull is not a messenger of justice, and the reason why he did this is not because of the word "profit".

Looking at the beginning of Austria's industrial development, Franz was so preoccupied with various resource problems that he even planned to risk his life. Think about the United Kingdom, as the world's factory, their demand for raw materials and markets is endless.

Latin America, with its vast monopoly of resources and no industrial base, gave the British an alternative of economic colonization.

On the one hand, Britain seized a large amount of cheap American resources in the form of loans and aid, and on the other hand, dumped a large amount of cheap industrial products on them, destroying its economic base.

The most famous of these was Argentina, which owed the British money until the end of World War II.

At a time when the Holy Alliance was intending to interfere with the independence movement of the Americas, how could Britain give up its absolute superiority in establishing extensive trade ties in the Americas?

Metternich was behind the plot for the French to intervene in the American independence movement, which was the beginning of the diplomatic conflict between Austria and England.

Some people think that Metternich is just a women's clothing boss, but this is not the case; This "European Prime Minister" did carry out a lot of planning, but unfortunately, in view of the weak national strength and lack of real power, he met several strong politicians one after another, which made him a little tired; But he still brought decades of precious peace to the war-torn continent.

But now it was different, the British had too long a front around the world, too many places to start the war, and countless enemies.

The war in Afghanistan had cost Britain £15 million at this time, which was equivalent to the total cost of all British wars after the Napoleonic Wars, excluding the Turkish-Egyptian War.

The Opium War cost Britain no more than £4,215,000.

What's worse is that Russia has not signed the Straits Convention, which means that they still hold the hegemony of the Black Sea, and they can keep the British out of the country at any time, directly threatening the interests of the Near East.

According to London estimates, they would need at least 200,000 men on land against the Russians, draw a third of the Royal Navy's strength, and take five to ten years to guarantee victory in the war.

John Taylor of the United States was not an incompetent president, on the contrary, he was always looking for an opportunity to drive the British out of Oregon, and he was also resolute in responding to the provocations of the Canadian colonial government.

At the same time, he increased investment in the navy and promoted the reform of its military system, speeding up the pace of approval for the construction of a number of battleships.

(All 3,200-ton Pennsylvania grade)

The North American politician's combo punch left his northern neighbor a little overwhelmed and forced him to turn to his home country for help. Although the annoyed British wanted to intervene, they had no choice but to say that they could not help because of the opposition of the domestic capitalists to the excessive hostility with the United States.

Because at this time, the United States is the largest producer of raw materials in the United Kingdom, and Latin America, which is very inefficient, cannot replace its position.

A well-known American cotton merchant once said.

"As long as the cotton from the United States is not delivered to the UK for three months, then their factories will have to shut down, and if it is not shipped to the UK for six months, the number one position in the textile industry in the world will be replaced. If American cotton were to stop supplying Britain for a year, they would get down on their knees and beg us. ”

In fact, the British also understood this very well, so they kept opening up new cotton production areas in order to reduce their dependence on the Americans.

Therefore, London has nothing to do with Washington at this time, and can only warn it verbally, and does not dare to use the means of blockade and embargo, because it is no different from sanctioning itself.

Belgium, a newly industrialized country, has also been at odds with its neighbour France. Of course, the French were not only very happy to see this, but even allowed the Belgians to invest and develop in the French colonies.

In fact, this is not difficult to understand, because Guizot has always wanted to form a Franco-Belgian alliance and take the opportunity to control the entire lowlands.

But the lowlands of the Netherlands were a forbidden area for the British, so when the French proposed to build a friendly railway from Paris to Brussels, the British were the first to jump out against it.

Although the French gave in in the end, it also made the British uncomfortable.

Austrian expansion in Italy, as well as the recapture of Belgrade, upset the British.

But in the face of a large number of bombing global affairs, the number of British officials has always remained only about 3,000. At this time, the number of civil servants in France was as high as 100,000, and in Austria it was close to 80,000.

Many people may not be able to understand what this concept is, to take a simple example, the number of civil servants in the United States in 2021 is 19.68 million, accounting for 6.5% of the population of the United States.

At this time, the British controlled nearly 400 million people in the world, and its civil service population only accounted for about 0.00075% of the total population, so in the face of such a complex international landscape, it could only rely on a large number of temporary workers.

In this way, their administrative efficiency can be imagined. Moreover, these temporary workers with different backgrounds are more likely to be the recipients of bribes than official officials, and they are also more likely to sell their own intelligence.

It was precisely because of this that Franz was well aware of British intelligence and made corresponding strategies to counter it.

Of course, in addition to Britain's own problems, France reawakened the genes of the colonists after acquiring the Texas colony, which is also an important reason.

After all, a hungry wolf will remember the taste of flesh as long as it has tasted it.

Thank you for the book friend Immortal Killing Spirit, Tang Seng washing hair with Rejoicle 00 reward, and the support of all book friends. Thank you, thank you.

(End of chapter)