Master Yuan, start!

France only contributed less than one-tenth of its soldiers to participate in the war.

In their view, as long as they could send another army to the Far East, a fully-organized French military-level force, they could win the war.

If France had not taken into account the possibility that the British would make moves in its African colonies, it would not have been timid and would have only sent a reinforcement force to the Far East to support Indochina, while keeping most of the troops in the mainland or in North Africa and West Africa.

Now that Britain has no time to look east, it must take this opportunity to quickly send another troop to Indochina.

The victory of this war can wash away the shame that the French Army has suffered over the years.

Of course, more importantly, it can also alleviate the hatred of the people towards the government that has been instigated by left-wing elements in recent years because of the Dreyfus Affair.

Although it is now 1898, not 1902 in the original time and space, the influence of the incident has already spread.

What's more fatal is that the current President François Faure is the one who firmly opposed the retrial of the Dreyfus case. Under his order, the retrial of the Dreyfus case was postponed indefinitely.

Because of this decision, he was criticized and abused by many left-wing people.

Therefore, after seeing the news that Britain had declared war in South Africa, President François Faure decided to step up his efforts and send another legion to Indochina in order to win the war and divert the attention of the French people!

"Let them focus on the South African War, on the lives and deaths of the Boers, on the gains and losses in Indochina!

That way they won’t be focused on the Dreyfus case.”

Chapter 452: Russia Wants to Kill Three Birds with One Stone

It was already three days before the news of the outbreak of the Boer War reached St. Petersburg.

Even though he had known about the news for a long time due to the heated public opinion in Europe, Tsar Nicholas II was still a little surprised when he heard the news.

Holding a telegram from the French President and Prime Minister, Nicholas II asked:

"The British are fighting in South Africa, the French are still tangling with the Chinese in the Far East, and those Boers are in big trouble this time.

Russia has no interests in Africa, and we cannot directly intervene in the war between the British and the colonies.

However, Mr. Prime Minister, I am wondering whether Russia could use this opportunity to take revenge on the British in other parts of Europe or Asia?

After all, our allies are urging us to do so."

Nicholas II stared straight at Prime Minister Sergei Witte.

The British Empire has long accumulated power around the world and is now at its peak, but the Russians have never given up.

The shadow of the failed Far Eastern War a few years ago has gradually faded. After Nicholas II took the throne of Tsar, he also relaxed a certain degree of control over the people in exchange for domestic stability and economic development.

On the surface, Russia seems to be back on the road to greatness.

However, in the eyes of Nicholas II, the British were always an insurmountable obstacle standing in the way of Russia's dominance in Eurasia.

It doesn’t matter that we lost the Crimean War, it doesn’t matter that we lost Bulgaria, and even it doesn’t matter that we lost the Far East War against China.

As long as the Slavic base of the Russian Empire remains, it will be recovered one day.

Of course, the prerequisite is that the British must stand idly by.

The French request for help was exactly what he wanted.

Thinking of this, Nicholas II, who had been prepared for this, said directly:

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, we have signed a secret agreement with France and can fully participate in their war."

"Your Majesty, do you mean to send troops to South Africa to support those Boer republics?" asked Prime Minister Sergei Witte.

"Support the Boers? No, no, no..." Nicholas II quickly shook his head: "We Russians just need to shout slogans, there is no need to really get involved.

After all, those Boers are descendants of Dutch and Germans, not Slavs.

I mean, can we attack China at the expense of British interests?"

It was obvious that Nicholas II could no longer hold back and wanted to avenge the humiliation of a few years ago.

He wanted to take this opportunity to join forces with the French to attack China from the north and south, regain the lost land, and, by the way, defeat the British.

I have to say, this is a very normal idea.

Russia and France, one in the north and the other in the south, attacked China from both sides, which was a fatal blow to a country that was still in a backward agricultural society.

However, Prime Minister Sergei Witte was not as optimistic as Nicholas II.

Hearing this, he hesitated for a moment before slowly answering, "Your Majesty, although the Russo-French secret treaty stipulates that the terms related to participation in the war only apply to the Asian region, not Europe.

However, if we send troops on another expedition to the Far East, the cost will inevitably be too great. After all, the railway problem has not been completely solved."

Sergei Witte still has some psychological trauma from the Far East War against China, which led to the abdication of the former Tsar Alexander III.

The long journey almost overwhelmed the logistical capabilities of the entire Siberian region.

As prime minister, Sergei Witte understood that he had to look at the whole of Russia and consider the overall situation, and not be like the young tsar in front of him, who thought that he only needed to move his fingers and the soldiers could walk from the Ural Mountains to the banks of the Amur River.

Therefore, he opposed sending troops to the Far East again from the bottom of his heart.

In fact, his worries are not unfounded.

After all, the situation in the Far East today is different from what it was a few years ago.

Even though the Trans-Siberian Railway has now overcome the difficulties of Lake Baikal and reached the east side of the lake, it will soon face more difficult problems.

After crossing the lake, the railway was built just a little further to a place called Verkhno-Udinsk (now Ulan-Ude) on the east side of Lake Baikal.

Because of the two mountain ranges of "Yablonov" and "Bolshov" blocking the east of Verkhny Udinsk, the construction of the railway was forced to stop.

Russian railway engineers are studying how to cross these two mountain ranges smoothly.

Historically, after crossing Lake Baikal, the Trans-Siberian Railway had two route options: the northern line and the southern line.

The northern line was built along the Sino-Russian border, turning down along the Heilongjiang River and finally reaching Vladivostok.

The southern line passes through China and goes straight to Vladivostok.

In the original time and space, the Russians chose the southern line.

They forced the Qing Dynasty to agree to build the Chinese Eastern Railway, allowing this line to temporarily pass through the southern part of the two mountain ranges, through the eastern side of the Mongolian Plateau, and directly into the Northeast Plain, finally reaching its end in Vladivostok.

As for the difficulty of the north line, it is much more difficult than the south line.

Later, in the 29-30s, during the Soviet era, under the leadership of the Bolsheviks, the Russians slowly completed this "Northern Line".

However, neither north nor south route passes through those two mountain ranges.

Therefore, considering Russia's current national strength, the Trans-Siberian Railway can only go so far and cannot be built further eastward.

Even if they forced the construction to cross the two mountain ranges at the cost of lives, they would then face even greater difficulties.

The Far East is now an internationally administered autonomous region. In addition to the Chinese, the forces of the British, Americans, Germans, and Japanese are all entangled together.

If the Russians invade after building the railway, they will offend these countries. If they do not invade, they will be making things difficult for them.

So, after much deliberation, two months ago, Prime Minister Sergei Witte finally decided to suspend the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

After hearing Sergei Witt express his concerns, Nikolay frowned and asked unwillingly:

"First of all, Your Excellency, are we powerless in the face of changes in the international situation?

We cannot always let the British take all the advantages while the Russians can only watch from the sidelines.

This is not the Russian style, I believe you should understand what I mean!"

Sergei Witte certainly understood that after the new tsar came to power, he simply needed to win a foreign war to demonstrate his "Romanov" bloodline.

After a moment’s thought, Prime Minister Sergei Witte said: “Your Majesty, we do not necessarily need to punish the Chinese through a new war in the Far East.

After all, our main purpose is revenge against Britain, and teaching the Chinese a lesson is just a side effect."

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, what you mean is..." Nicholas II's eyes lit up.

"Central Asia!"

"Your Majesty, Central Asia is related to India and is adjacent to China's Xinjiang." Sherlock E4san Wu ZhongqU: Gavitt's eyes flashed with a gleam:

"As long as we exert our strength in Central Asia, both Britain and China will be contained.

We have fulfilled our covenant with our allies, countered the British, and can also take revenge on China.

Find Books 6959738

Fighting in Central Asia is much easier; after all, it is only one-third the distance from the European part of Russia to the Far East.

And, most importantly, as far as I know, the main Chinese military force is not in Xinjiang."

Chapter 453: Chinese Model Koreans

Guangzhou

The ship slowly docked at Huangpu Wharf. This civilian wharf has now been requisitioned by the military, and the private ship owners who used to speak with northern and southern accents are no longer seen.

However, the busyness here has not decreased.

The shipowners from different regions disappeared, and instead, what arrived in Guangzhou were ships under the Sihai Shipping Company and men speaking northern Mandarin.

The headquarters of the Sihai Shipping Company is in Incheon, so most of its crew members are from the north.

Since the French relied on warships to blockade normal trade on the southeast coast, in order to conduct trade smoothly, cargo ships traveling from south to north all flew the flags of Britain and the United States.

However, few private ship owners dare to come to the "Guangzhou" area, which is of particular interest to the French.

Therefore, Yuan Shikai urgently dispatched the steamers of Incheon Sihai Shipping Company. Under the control of northern crew members, they hoisted the British or American flags and continuously transported military supplies from the north to this southern coastal city.

If we were to ask who supported the new government and the National Revolutionary Army the most, it would undoubtedly be the people outside the Great Wall, Korea, and the Northeast Zhili and Shandong areas.

The area outside the Great Wall is vast and sparsely populated, and due to the blockade by the Qing Dynasty for hundreds of years, a complex gentry system has not yet been formed. After the National Revolutionary Army entered the local area, it quickly relied on the reclamation corps to establish farmers' associations and fully controlled local agricultural production.

Through such a path, the former Red Confucian Society and the National Defense Army gradually won the hearts of the local people.

As for the Zhili Shandong region within the Great Wall, since the grassroots structure of the people had almost collapsed, the people's belonging was achieved through another method.

A normal rural society should consist of officials, yamen runners, the petty bourgeoisie relying on the above-mentioned groups, rural landlords, wealthy rural households, self-cultivating farmers, tenant farmers, and poor farmers.

However, natural disasters such as the Dingxu famine can be said to have reduced all existences below the officials to a lower level.

Famine reduced the number of upper classes, destroyed the middle classes, and drove out the lower classes.

The landlord class could not withstand the impact of the famine, so they sold their property and became self-cultivating farmers or tenant farmers. The rich also slipped down the social ladder and became tenant farmers or poor farmers.

As for the poor peasants and tenant farmers who lost their land cultivation rights, they packed their bags, left their homes, and were forced to "cross the Guandong"

Apart from the top-level government agencies and the people who depended on them for survival, the rest of the people, due to the successive floods and droughts in the late Qing Dynasty, could be said to have all become extremely poor.

In order to complete the tax collection task, the class represented by yamen runners will increase their exploitation of the remaining lower-class people, causing more serious social conflicts.