Wild North America 1846

Chapter 213 Fully Supporting the Frontline War
From a national perspective, if Tsarist Russia has not declared war on the Western world headed by Britain for a day, then the four-nation alliance between Tsarist Russia and Britain, Austria-Hungary and Prussia has not broken down, and they are still allies.

Especially Tsarist Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire have been close brothers and friends since 1815. When the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Prussia competed for the position of the leader of the southern German princes, Tsarist Russia firmly stood on the side of the Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. extremely valuable support.

It is precisely because of this that this gave Tsar Nicholas I an illusion. He was full of expectations for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, hoping to get the help of his good brother Franz Joseph I in this upcoming war with Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire .

Actually

What Tsar Nicholas I got was a shameful betrayal. Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I was preparing for his wedding with Princess Sissi of Bavaria. How could he help Tsarist Russia deal with Britain?
The poor friendship between Russia and Austria was not enough to make Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I determined to fight the British hard. This was determined by the current real world strength comparison, not that the Austrian Emperor was not enough.

The French, known as the strongest army in Europe, could only give in obediently after the British invaded and occupied Egypt on a large scale. It is completely unrealistic for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to compete with the British.

In the turmoil of the continent

The Kingdom of Tang took a good opportunity to take advantage of the Russian Empire's fear of the British Empire, and easily acquired the vast Alaska region at a price of 460 million Tang yuan.

This is just a territorial transaction between the two countries, which was very common in the 19th century, the most famous being the "French Louisiana Land Sale", as well as several land sales in Mexico, including New Mexico, California, and Oddity. The 8 northern states headed by Wawa, Texas, Diwana and Monterey, etc., are not uncommon.

Therefore, although Datang Kingdom's behavior of playing a side ball will be criticized, there is no real fault to be found.

more than a month later
The Maple Leaf Palace welcomed a British special envoy, Lord George Suriname. This special envoy was the last big man who arrived in North America from India via Australia, and he was the Assistant Minister of the British Colonial Department.

According to news from London;
Lord George Suriname's trip around the world lasted more than three months, mainly to raise funds, supplies and troops for the upcoming war in Europe.

This visit is obviously because of the unusually strong combat effectiveness of the Tang Kingdom's army.

This is the consistent nature of British wars. Large-scale wars will definitely require the colonial army to contribute. Those who have money will contribute money, and those who have supplies will contribute supplies. Regardless of whether they have money or not, the army must pay cannon fodder.

Logically

The Kingdom of Tang was not a British colony, but at most belonged to the connotation of a protectorate, that is, the sphere of influence of the English-speaking circle.

But this is not a big problem, as long as the Tang Kingdom is willing to send troops, the British have plenty of money to afford food and equipment. There has always been a tradition of mercenaries in European wars. The British have hired tens of thousands of Prussian troops, [-] Swiss and an unknown number. The Balkan mercenaries probably had the same idea when they found the Tang Kingdom.

Hiding is impossible, so Richard could only bite the bullet and meet the British envoy, and the two sides held a secret meeting in private.

"Honorable Lord, I have already understood the purpose of your visit. It is difficult to mobilize anyone to go thousands of miles away to participate in a European war with only the mercenary's salary. After all, the environment there is too strange."

Li Cha's words implied evasion. The Tang Kingdom's reserve military service system has been implemented for several years. Every year, retired soldiers enter the reserve one by one. The total number is close to 16. They are a powerful military force that cannot be ignored.

With the outstanding record of the Tang Kingdom army in North America, in the professional judgment of Europeans, it is not inferior to the combat effectiveness of the second-rate European army, and has a high value of attracting.

"Your Majesty, as a traditional friendly ally of the British Empire, London is eager to see your country's substantial friendly actions, including but not limited to providing assistance for the upcoming possible war, which will make some people who have misunderstood the relationship between the two countries Shut up, are you right?" Lord George Suriname's words meant something.

The wily British have always been like this, revealing half of what they say, and like to play tricks, implying coercion.

Richard smiled indifferently, and replied; "The kingdom will not impose restrictions on this, the UK is free to recruit mercenaries, and the kingdom government will provide necessary convenience.

This is not to say to shut up those who have misunderstood the relationship between the two countries. With Mr. Lord's ability, I am afraid that this cannot be done.

What we value more is the practical cooperation with the UK and the maintenance of all-round friendly relations, including the private and intimate communication channel between myself and Prince Albert.

What needs to be pointed out is

Datang Kingdom is not the pound sterling that everyone loves, and it cannot be liked by everyone. For some upper-class British people who suffer from serious prejudice, they just need to be safe.

By the way, the war should not have broken out yet, right?Has the situation in Europe reached a point of no return? "

"Your Majesty, to tell you the truth, the joint fleet of the British and French navies has set sail for the Black Sea in April, and is about to carry out the mission of attacking the Tsarist Russian Black Sea Fleet. The war has actually begun."

"Oh, well, this is really bad news." Li Cha said with a regretful expression.

On July 1853, 7, the Tsarist Russian army invaded Moldavia and Wallachia, the two Danube principalities, and actually sent troops into the territory of the Ottoman Empire.

At present, the Ottoman Empire, with the support of Britain and France, is negotiating with the Tsarist Russian Empire with a tough attitude, and the result naturally cannot get a satisfactory answer.

Both sides are mobilizing for war on a large scale, often counting tens of millions of people. Once the war starts, the Near East, which stretches nearly 2000 kilometers from the Balkans to the Black Sea coast, will start from Sevastopol.

The Ottoman army and the Tsarist Russian army frequently mobilized in the Danube area in order to gain a strategic advantage.

Although the two sides have not declared war publicly, they have already started wrestling secretly.

According to this trend, it will take three to two months to officially declare war, and there will not be a long delay.

Come on, let's fight.

It’s good to beat the head into a dog’s brain. Richard doesn’t care who wins or loses in this war. Anyway, France and the Tang Kingdom are both big winners. The Tang Kingdom has already eaten the benefits of Alaska, which is definitely impossible. Spit it out.

British Foreign Secretary Henry John Temple also sent a letter two weeks ago to inquire about the "Transfer of Alaska Treaty" signed by the Tang Kingdom and Tsarist Russia, especially the sale of 820 advanced artillery pieces. Is there any evil in the question?

These remarks were blocked by Count Juan Carlos, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Tang, with righteous words.

Are you kidding me?
Britain and Russia are still allies of the Holy Alliance and are not hostile. Moreover, the "Transfer of Alaska Treaty" between Russia and Tang Dynasty was signed in April, and it has now been implemented.
The French are still the enemies of the United Kingdom, and they are not ganging up now?
have to say
Count Juan Carlos, Minister of Foreign Affairs, is a good player in the war of words. After so many years of experience, his iron mouth is really tight and upright.

Richard did not object to the British recruiting mercenaries from the Tang Kingdom, but he did not agree with those retired soldiers who had already married and established businesses to take risks. These people were the pillars of a family, and the family would be broken up if they died in Europe.

As for the new Chinese immigrants who have just arrived in North America, those who are willing to take risks in Europe are at their disposal, and the kingdom will not obstruct them.

This is not because Li Cha is partial, but from the overall perspective of social stability, some retired officers and soldiers who have families and businesses are not suitable for taking risks in such a tragic war.

The Crimean War is known as a rehearsal of the World War. The number of casualties on both sides of the war exceeded one million, and the wounded were countless. The commander-in-chief of the British and French allied forces and the prince of Tsarist Russia were all involved in this war. Hundreds of generals died in battle. , The war was unprecedentedly bloody and tragic.

This is really not a joke. It would be nice to return 1000 of 300 mercenaries, thank God.

And what are we doing with the Europeans?
In the final analysis, is it worth these two pennies?
It is precisely because of the negative attitude of the Datang Kingdom officials that the progress of the British recruiting mercenaries in the Datang Kingdom has not been smooth, and many people regretted it after signing up.

In the two months before and after, only more than 4000 people were recruited, of which there were only more than 560 experienced retired officers and soldiers. Many of them were militants who were enthusiastic about war, the kind of war addicts.

I would rather abandon a comfortable and superior life and a warm family, but also pursue the bloody wind of war, and I can't persuade it.

Most of the others were new Chinese immigrants who had just arrived in North America and a small number of whites. After a period of military training, they arrived at the port on the Atlantic side via the Panama Railway, and from here they took a boat to Europe.

Nov. 1853, 10

Russia officially declares war on the Ottoman Empire, and the Crimean War begins.

Shortly thereafter, in order to maintain and expand their influence in the Ottoman Empire and curb the expansion of Tsarist Russia in the Black Sea region, Britain and France successively declared war on the Tsarist Russian Empire and joined the Ottoman Empire's united front against Russia.

Nov. 1853, 10

Omar Lutfi Pasha, the battlefield commander of the Ottoman army, deceived the commander of the Tsarist Russian army through feints, and very successfully led the army to cross the Danube from the wide front on the south bank of the Danube, and launched a flank attack on the Russian army.

On November 1853, 11, the Ottoman army defeated the rushing Russian army in Ortrica, giving the Tsarist Russian army a taste of failure.

In Kansas, North America, the "Kansas Civil War" also broke out.

To put it simply, there are now two state governments in Kansas, one supported by northern liberals and the other supported by southern slaveholders. Because one state government attacked the other state government, a civil war was triggered.

Under the guidance of public opinion on both sides of the North and the South, volunteers full of hatred rushed to Kansas with guns and horses thousands of miles to participate in this increasingly fierce civil war.

In the Kingdom of Tang Dynasty, it was a peaceful scene of singing and dancing, making every effort to develop the economy.

Under the dual superposition of orders from Europe and strong domestic demand, the iron and steel industry, shipbuilding industry, petrochemical products, textile and food industries of Datang Kingdom ushered in a big explosion. Every day, dozens of new enterprises put into production and industrialized The process is further accelerated.

Just take the steel industry as an example;
Due to the strong pull of the weapons and equipment industry, the steel output of Datang Kingdom has risen from an average annual 6.5 tons to 8.9 tons, 11.7 tons, 14 tons, and last year's 19.5 tons in recent years. Rapid development momentum.

The output of pig iron increased from 20 tons to 1852 tons in 55, and has maintained an average annual growth rate of 40% in the new year, and is expected to approach 80 tons by the end of this year. Britain, France and the United States.

war in europe

It has brought an influx of orders to the Tang Kingdom, and the textile industry has taken off again on the basis of previous years, including military uniforms, tents, blankets, underwear, sheets, socks, leather armed belts, leather gun holsters, leather bullet bags, etc. The demand for leather products is as high as 10 sets, and the demand is very urgent.

The Tang Kingdom even dug out the backlog of military inventory and sent it to Europe. France ordered 3.5 war horses at one time, more than 6 pack horses, mules and other large animals, and a large amount of materials were continuously transported to Europe through the Panama Railway. , in exchange for a lot of real money and advanced steam equipment.

From Panama's port in the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, it takes 14 to 16 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean. More than a dozen powerful shipping companies in Datang Kingdom have turned to the Atlantic route and invested in large-scale ship operations.

The Kingdom of Datang is an early country in the development of steam internal combustion engine ships. Due to the demand for the golden route in the North Pacific, the large ships owned by them have a displacement of at least 3500 tons, and 5000 to 6000 tons are very common. Their transportation capacity is strong, and they are affected by marine climate changes Small, very suitable for undertaking transatlantic shipping tasks.

A cargo fleet of more than 10 ships transported [-] to [-] tons of cargo at every turn, so it was particularly favored by Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire, and was designated as an authorized shipping company.

The Chinese who are good at management not only opened up the cargo transportation of the Tang Kingdom, but also opened up the transportation routes of South American countries, such as cattle, sheep and red wine in Argentina, corn and soybeans in Brazil, sugar in Cuba, canned fish and beef in the Tang Kingdom, and military supplies. Clothes, tents, leather products, kerosene, lubricating oil and various foodstuffs were continuously shipped to Europe through the ships of shipping companies operated by Chinese.

In the field of material supply, even the most demanding British Foreign Minister, Sir Henry John Temple, could not find any fault with the full supply of the Tang Kingdom, and could only shrug his shoulders and say;

"Objectively speaking, these orientals have done a good job. At least the soldiers on the front line have enough food, warm clothes, and the strength to beat the Russians hard."

(End of this chapter)