Franz wanted to see a big fireworks, and he even paid Swiss artillery hired by the rebels to fire on the area where the British Expeditionary Force was stationed.

But things did not go as smoothly as Franz thought, and even with the French, the interests of the rebels could not be agreed.

So the war turned into a sit-in, and after months of watching inside and outside the city, the rebel front began to loosen because everyone had to go back to shearing sheep and production.

The city was also in a miasma of smoke and smoke in the city, and due to the siege of the rebels, he could only get supplies from the sea, but these were for money.

Buenos Aires didn't have that much money for him to waste, so Rosas had to continue to borrow money from the British, and at the same time wanted to use British mediation to drive the French back to Europe, after all, the British intervened in the crisis of 1838 to stop the French siege of Buenos Aires.

Rosas wanted to repeat the old trick, but the British ambassador was worried at this time, because he received news from home that this time the French had not come well, and that he had to be careful in his relations with France, and if necessary, he could go to the French army to fight, but the person concerned must take full responsibility.

This ambiguous directive made neither the British ambassador in Buenos Aires, John Stevenson, nor Brigadier General Buck Munder want to take on the responsibility.

After all, the officials of Whitehall (the name of the London government) did not have to charge into battle or bear the responsibility for defeat. On the other hand, Vice Admiral Helmut in the previous Turkish-Egyptian War, George Eden in the Afghan War, and Colonel Choli in the Battle of Pangong Lake all ended up being scapegoats.

Gambling with the French on their own future and life was too much to gain or lose, and no matter how fanciful the men sent by Palmerston were, the British expeditionary force was unmoved.

Vienna, Austria.

The cotton planted by the Russians was ripe, and Tsar Nicholas I was confident in his cotton, which he felt would bring good profits to Russia, because there were so few goods that could be profitable for Russia to export at this time.

But Russian officials were worried, given the poor quality of Russian cotton, the fact that Austria had already imported a large amount of cotton from the United States, and that the African colonies were contributing cotton to their mother country.

This made the Russian officials feel that their cotton was not competitive at all, and if the Austrians rejected Russian cotton, then the Russians would need to develop their own textile industry in order to consume it, and their textile industry was still stuck in the eighteenth century.

In fact, what the Russian officials feared did not happen, and the Austrians did not take the opportunity to lower the price and did not pick and choose. It's just that the cotton is graded, weighed, and counted as money very commonly.

Half was paid in cash and half in finished fabric, which the Russians felt was fair. For almost every year Russia had to import large quantities of finished cloth from Europe, and the price of the cloth used by the Austrian Empire as collateral was obviously lower than the price they imported, which saved them a great deal of money.

In fact, the Austrian side also proposed that the finished fabric could be exchanged for the equivalent value of Austrian banknotes, of course, Austrian banknotes can only be purchased in Austria.

Tsar Nicholas I was also pleased with this, and although he preferred to exchange it all for money, he felt that he had taken advantage of it when he heard from the Chancellor of the Exchequer that the Austrian Empire paid for cloth below the market price.

And with the money earned from Austria, Russia was able to build its own industry and navy, but in reality the money was still a drop in the bucket.

But the tsar couldn't control so much, because Russia was so poor, and industrialization and military development were inseparable from financial support.

"How much land do we have to grow cotton?" The Tsar asked.

"We have planted 300,000 acres, and there are about 6 million acres of land available for development."

The new Minister of Agriculture, Sergei Sharibin, said with trepidation, after all, his predecessor had been planted by the Tsar on the top of the highest peak of the Urals, and he didn't want to accidentally anger His Majesty the Tsar and become a potted plant or something.

"Exchange them all for cotton, my army needs money! We can exchange this cotton with the Austrians for what we need, and the future of the Third Rome lies on these little white flowers. Can you do it? Sergei Sharibin"

As soon as Sergei Sharybin raised his head, he was so frightened that he knelt down, because at some point Nicholas I, who was 206 cm tall, was already standing in front of him.

The burly and fierce-looking Tsar had personally ordered the execution of many self-righteous overlords and pretentious revolutionaries, and Sergei Shalibin seemed to see an army of scarlet revenants around him.

Sergei Shalibin rubbed his eyes, slammed his head on the ground: "Yes!" Your Majesty, Ula! ”

"Your Majesty, Ulla!" The courtiers around him chimed in.

Tsar Nicholas I was pleased with this result, and he felt that he was one step closer to Constantinople.

Vienna.

In fact, the amount of cotton sent by the Russians was far from what Franz expected, and the Austrian mills were probably not able to hold on for even a week at full capacity.

But in order to keep Russia as an ally firmly on its side, Austria had to import Russian cotton. After all, no treaty is as revealing as naked interests.

What Franz didn't know was that the cotton problem made Russia more hungry for land in Ottoman and Central Asia than it had historically been.

The Russians actually have their own shipbuilding plans, but due to financial constraints, they are only maintaining and adjusting the existing Black Sea Fleet, such as decommissioning obsolete warships and building sail battleships to replace them.

Although by this time the Russians had recognized the superior performance of the steam ship, they had no plans to build it. Historically, the construction of steam warships of the Russians began only after the sixties of the nineteenth century, and the first steam warship was launched in 1864.

Although Russia has lived in the depths of the continent for a long time, it is very interested in what is happening in the world, such as the British and French affairs in Argentina.

How could Nesherlov, as the leader of the pro-British faction, miss this opportunity to show the British his British soul?

Thus, Russia sent a note to the Great Powers, hoping that the countries could discuss the question of the colony of La Plata.

In fact, everyone knows that this matter has nothing to do with Russia, but at this time, neither Britain nor France dares to ignore the opinion of this European gendarme, after all, most of the high-level people in the two countries still hope for a peaceful solution to this crisis, and Russia's strength is enough to shake the balance of victory and defeat.

As for Austria and Prussia, the two melon-eating masses, in their spirit of participation, had no reason to refuse the invitation of Russia. Because Russia was too close to Germany and Austria, both sides needed to win over the behemoth, whether it was to unify Germany or to maintain the status quo of the German Confederation.

The Russians are still so simple, efficient, easy to understand.

"International Condominium!" Neserlov slapped the table and shouted.

(End of chapter)