shadow of britain

Chapter 687 Napoleon's Tactics

"Sir, if there is nothing else, I will go and take care of other work first. Don't forget that there is a cultural exchange event tonight that you need to attend."

Blackwell closed the office door with a heavy heart, leaving only Arthur in the huge office, who was repeatedly reviewing the letter from the Duke of Wellington.

The Red Devil rode on the chandelier, his long tail sweeping across the floor. His boring life made him yawn uncontrollably: "I say, Arthur..."

Arthur took out the pen from his jacket pocket without even looking up, spread out the letter paper and wrote the report in a serious manner: "What's the matter? Haven't you been complaining that life in Russia is not suitable for the devil? Now I rack my brains to bring you back to London, but you are not happy about it?"

"Take me back to London?" Agares grinned, revealing rows of tiny teeth. "My dear Arthur, it's fine that you deceived Whitehall, but now you want to deceive the devil?"

Arthur pouted and shook his head. "It's easier to deceive the devil than to deceive Whitehall. After all, the former only requires me to talk, while the latter requires me to provide them with a whole set of plausible logic. Besides... Agares, don't say such harsh words. Every diplomatic report I submitted to the cabinet has sufficient evidence and theoretical support. Can you guarantee that Russia will not invade Central Asia and threaten Britain's military presence in India?"

If it were someone else, they might have been fooled by Arthur's question, but there was no trust between the Red Devil and Arthur.

Agares sneered, "At least the Tsar once promised your boss himself."

"Russian promises cannot be trusted, especially when they come from the Tsar."

Arthur addressed the Tsar by name without any concern: "If this promise was made by his brother Alexander I, perhaps I would still believe it, but Nikolai Pavlovich Romanov. Excuse me, even if he says this sincerely now, I cannot guarantee that he will personally overturn his decision yesterday tomorrow. You know, the Russians once conspired with Napoleon to march into India. If Nelson had not destroyed the French naval power in the Battle of Trafalgar, and Paul I had not died of a stroke at the right time, India would probably be filled with fourteenth-rank civil servants and small clerks now."

Agares laughed. He didn't believe Arthur's words at all. "Now I understand why you trust Alexander I but not Nicholas I. From the British point of view, after all, Alexander I personally overturned his father's decision to ally with Napoleon. He is indeed more credible than Nicholas in terms of Anglo-Russian friendship. However, isn't the forged Russian plan to march into India too careless and too old?"

Arthur knew that the Red Devil was accusing him of copying almost entirely Napoleon's plan for the Indian expedition.

Napoleon had two plans when he joined forces with Russia to invade India.

The northern route plan is a land-based invasion plan. Ideally, the French army will sweep across the Ottoman Empire and start from the Ottoman capital Constantinople, crossing Anatolia to the east, while the Russian army will move south from the Caucasus. The 50,000-strong Franco-Russian coalition will meet in Armenia, then march through Shiraz and Kandahar in Persia and enter the Punjab Kingdom in northern India. The Franco-Russian coalition will then be supported by nearly 50,000 mercenaries from the local anti-British Maratha Alliance, turning India upside down.

The southern route adopted a combined sea and land transport approach. The French army boarded ships from Marseille and landed in Suez, Egypt under the protection of the French Mediterranean Fleet. The Russian Black Sea Fleet needed to break through the Ottoman Empire's blockade of the Dardanelles and join forces with the Mamluk cavalry of Egypt, a French vassal state, to continue advancing eastward and completely defeat the Ottomans from both the north and south ends. Afterwards, the two armies replicated the marching route of the northern route and headed to northern India through Persia.

However, due to Nelson's brilliant victory in the Battle of Trafalgar, France completely lost its control of the sea. Therefore, let alone controlling the Mediterranean, French warships even found it difficult to leave the port.

The southern route plan was not feasible, so the only option was to take the northern route. However, according to estimates by Napoleon's military science advisory group, in order to cross the Arabian desert, each soldier would need at least 3 liters of drinking water per day, so the army would need to carry at least 100 million liters of water, but the Persians were unable to provide on-site supplies to the French army.

The French were in trouble, and the Russian side wasn't much better.

The map drawn by Russian spies in 1806 seriously mismarked the thickness of snow in the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan in winter. They predicted that the local winter snow depth would be only 0.3 meters, but the actual snow depth was 1.5 meters. This caused the Russian military staff to seriously underestimate the actual difficulty of marching into India.

To make matters worse, the Franco-Russian coalition had originally planned to set out in the spring, but floods caused by melting snow in the Caucasus Mountains delayed the Russian army's departure by 46 days.

French envoy Gaddan's plan to bribe Persian Shah Fateh Ali with money also failed.

However, this was not because the Persians were Britain's staunch allies, but because the bribe offered by Britain to the Persian Shah was higher. They paid twice as much as the French.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain had indeed never lost in demonstrating its monetary capabilities.

A variety of reasons combined ultimately led to the fact that this grand expedition plan was never realized.

But it must be said that although the idea of ​​a Franco-Russian coalition was never realized, the plan itself was enough to scare Whitehall and Westminster Palace.

During the Napoleonic Wars, in order to prevent possible invasion, Britain permanently deployed approximately 5 troops on India's Northwest Frontier.

Perhaps 50,000 people is not a particularly large number for land powers like Russia and France.

But you have to know that for a maritime power like Britain, even during the most intense period of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain's standing army did not exceed 20 people. In other words, Britain allocated a full 20% of its troops to the South Asian subcontinent.

Arthur saw this point clearly. He knew that no matter which country targeted India for what reason, it would cause great tension in Whitehall.

Although the suspicious-looking marching plan he wrote did not stand up to scrutiny, Arthur was very sure of one thing: no one would scrutinize the report.

The mere groundless speculation that the Russians coveted India was enough to cause outrage in British society.

At a time when the July Monarchy government in France was overwhelmed by domestic opposition, it was only a matter of time before Britain and Russia, the potential first land power in Europe, fell out. Not to mention that due to its geographical location, Russia's threat to India was far more direct than France's.

By that time, Sir Arthur Hastings, who had served as cultural counselor in Russia and had the foresight to point this out, would surely receive the attention of the cabinet.

In any case, at least in the political field, Britain has always made full use of its resources. How could they let go of this Russian expert?

More importantly, although far away in St. Petersburg, Arthur had keenly observed the anti-Russian sentiment brewing in British society through the London newspapers he received regularly by mail.

This was not the time when the Napoleonic Wars had just ended. There were no more praises for Holy King Alexander I in the London print media. Instead, there were various accusations that the new tsar had defied the Polish constitution and brutally suppressed Polish rebels.

At Arthur's instruction, The Economist published an editorial on this issue in its latest issue by Mr. Hastingoff, who claimed to be a Polish exiled military officer.

In his article, Hastingoff severely criticized Tsar Nicholas I. He pointed out that since the signing of the Treaty of Vienna in 1815, Poland became the semi-autonomous Russian Kingdom of Poland, and the Russian Tsar also served as the constitutional king of Poland.

In the Polish Constitution of 1815, the former Tsar Alexander I promised the Poles freedom of speech, publication, religious belief and personal inviolability.

But it wasn't long before Russia abolished press freedom in Poland, introduced preventive censorship, openly suspended freedom of assembly, interfered in government affairs, banned National Freemasonry and later the National Patriotic Association, forced reformers to resign, and humiliated and punished Polish officers. After Nicholas I ascended the throne, the new tsar even abolished the openness of the Polish parliament's procedures, and in 1826 and 1830, he repeatedly expressed the idea of ​​abolishing Poland's autonomy by taking advantage of the Decembrist incident and the Belgian Revolution.

Nicholas I's repeated declaration to the international community that the Polish rebels were traitors to the country was not only incorrect, but also a typical case of the bad guy making the first move.

Otherwise, when Warsaw fell, the first thing that Russian commander Paskevich did would not be to enter the parliament and secretly destroy the original and copy of the Polish Constitution.

The Tsar was eager to do this so that he could shamelessly announce to the international community that he had never granted the Kingdom of Poland the freedoms it should have enjoyed.

With Hastings taking the lead, The Economist's latest issue is firing on all cylinders, with the density of its coverage far exceeding that of the Liverpool hotel shooting that year.

Siberia's Civilizing Mission: The Production of Shackles in the Penal Colonies Exceeds the Production of Diplomas from Moscow University

"Russian corn feeds the workers of Birmingham, who are forging the chains that bind Russia"

The Trade Account of the Caucasus: The Cost of Conquering Chechnya's Mountains Exceeded the Gains of Colonizing India Ten Times

Poland's Blood and Vodka Economics: A Review of the Vistula Customs District Expropriated by the Tsar with Cossack Sabres

As a new magazine, the influence and circulation of The Economist may not catch up with the old-fashioned Blackwood's and Edinburgh Review and its elder The Brit, but the audience of The Economist is very interesting.

Whether it is because of its good name, or because of the presence of a series of new figures in the British economics community such as John Stuart Mill and Jacob Ricardo, or because of the contributions of writers who follow Jeremy Bentham's utilitarian economics, The Economist is rapidly becoming a part of the professional image of stockbrokers in the City of London.

Therefore, even though the magazine has a small circulation, its influence cannot be underestimated.

The best evidence to prove this is that the group of British businessmen who were angry about Viscount Palmerston's policy toward Russia were very satisfied with the content of the new issue. They took the initiative to approach the editorial office of The Economist and paid a check in one go that was equivalent to the magazine's profits for several months, and hinted that as long as such articles continued to be produced, they were willing to continue to maintain a considerable amount of sponsorship.

The Economist naturally welcomes the opinions of this group of gentlemen.

Of course, this is not just about the pounds. Although this money did make up for the profit shortfall incurred by the shareholders due to the establishment of Nature magazine, it must be clarified that The Economist publishes these articles mainly because they are an "independent, impartial, objective, fair magazine with a liberal soul and humanitarian spirit."

What gave the magazine such noble character were its two important founders and major shareholders, the stubborn anti-Russian Mr. Benjamin Disraeli and the vicious anti-Russian Sir Arthur Hastings.

However, everyone knows that freedom comes at a price, especially at the political level.

Perhaps others do not understand the shareholding structure of The Economist, but Foreign Secretary Viscount Palmerston knows who the shareholders behind it are.

Although Arthur could still shift the blame to other shareholders as he did when he published the article by Prince Czartoryski and others, Palmerston was no fool. He would not repeat it a third time. The Economist had been challenging him like this, so it was difficult for him not to target Arthur.

The reason why he has not launched an attack until now is simply because other matters have occupied his energy. Compared with The Economist, the attacks from Blackwood and Edinburgh Review are what worry him most.

Blackwood's is Britain's most authoritative literary magazine, with an audience spread across the country.

As for the Edinburgh Review, it is obviously even worse. This newspaper can be regarded as the official newspaper of the left wing of the Whig Party. Its fierce criticism of foreign policy at this moment also shows that there are many members of the Whig Party who are dissatisfied with him.

The internal situation is not peaceful, and the external environment is not much better.

Although the Portuguese Civil War was coming to an end, Spain started fighting again for the succession to the throne, and the cause of their civil war was almost a replica of the Portuguese Civil War.

King Ferdinand VII of Spain died of illness last year. Since he had no male heirs, his three-year-old eldest daughter Isabella had to succeed to the throne.

Don Carlos, the younger brother of Ferdinand VII, claimed himself as Charles V and raised an army to fight for the throne with his niece, citing the "Saliq Law" that prohibited women from becoming kings in Spain. The Carlists advocated the restoration of the monarchy and the Inquisition and the implementation of local autonomy. Their supporters were the feudal nobility, the church, and the peasants in the backward areas of the north and northeast. On the side of the little queen were the liberal nobility, the bourgeoisie, and the urban residents.

This time, Viscount Palmerston had just escaped from the quagmire, but one foot stepped into a deep pit again.

In addition, due to the changes in the domestic political situation caused by the Irish issue, the Grey Cabinet may fall at any time, and the honorable Foreign Secretary really cannot spare the time to swat Arthur, this little fly.

Moreover, with Arthur's current mentality, even if Viscount Palmerston wanted to deal with him, he planned to fight the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the end.

For an official-obsessed man who is ready to resign, any words and orders from Viscount Palmerston have no deterrent effect, not to mention that he is now targeting his old friend, the Duke of Wellington, and his dear former boss, Sir Robert Peel, his eternal old superior.

Lord Brougham and Earl Daramore treated him well, but in Arthur's opinion, both teachers were too radical in temper and political views.

Therefore, no matter whether the Whigs or the Tories come to power in the future, it will be difficult for the two teachers to gain a seat in the core cabinet.

The two of them were able to reach their current positions entirely thanks to the parliamentary reform movement. At that time, Earl Grey and the Whig Party urgently needed grenadiers who could charge into the battle for the reform movement, so they pushed these two heroes directly to the forefront at a critical moment.

But now, the domestic political atmosphere has undergone a significant change. After the reform was completed, even the Whig Party, which advocated change, became increasingly conservative because of the riots that occurred during the parliamentary reform.

As for the Tories, although they looked forward under the call of the new leader Sir Peel, their inherent conservatism made this party always clearly leaning to the right at any time. Therefore, it was naturally difficult for them to accept people like Lord Brougham and Earl Daramore who always held high the banner of progress.

Arthur put down the letter he had just written and took a deep breath. "Palmerston had better not push me too far. If he really wants to do something..."

The Red Devil sneered, "So what if you're pushed into a corner? Are you planning to contact that Jew Disraeli and return to the country to vote for the Tories? Ha... But in my opinion, this is not a particularly bad idea. The Tories have been badly hurt by the parliamentary reforms. If you can show your sincerity, they will definitely be very happy to accept you, a favorite of the king."

"I feel a little sorry for the education I received from the University of London." Arthur closed the letter and stamped it with his special sealing wax. "But... in politics, I can only say that you should never rule out other possibilities."

(End of this chapter)