Chapter 676 East, West, North and South

Chapter 676 East, West, North and South

Palmerston's so-called goodwill was to prepare to divide the Kingdom of Madagascar with Austria, and the conditions were still to divide the east and west.

However, the change from joint troop dispatch to British dispatch of ships and Austrian troop dispatch was changed. The only difference between this and the empty-handed white wolf is "free shipping". Franz was filled with emotion.

"As expected of the British Empire, this shit-stirring stick is indeed beyond the reach of ordinary people."

Fortunately, Metternich was not as stubborn as Franz imagined. In fact, Metternich at that time was a master who would not let go of the eagle when he saw the rabbit.

He could not only persuade Francis II to recruit a son-in-law when France was strong but Austria was weak, but he could also add insult to injury when Napoleon failed and strike back.

Together with Talleyrand, the most shameless diplomat in the world is a politician who has absolutely nothing to do with morality.

Metternich did not agree to Palmerston's proposal because Madagascar was not attractive to the Austrian Empire.

Not to mention the more than two million mobs on the island, the cost of developing the colony alone is prohibitive.

In fact, the initial investment in the colony was huge, and the Austrian Empire had limited shipping capabilities. Metternich did not see much value in the colonies on the other side of Africa, including the Viceroyalty of Tanzania.

At this time, there were not many countries developing colonies on a large scale. Most colonists relied on plunder or supporting puppets to obtain profits.

Therefore, the most valuable colonies in Metternich's eyes were Namibia and California, because these two places had gold and looked very good on the books.

As for the colonies in West Africa, they are completely dispensable. It is better to operate some trading posts.

East Africa is simply a bottomless pit. The trade with the Oman Empire made so much profit, but Franz used it all to subsidize Tanzania.

But the output of the Tanzania colony was really far from the input. Even so, Franz was happy to do it, which worried Metternich.

Because this colony is too far away from Austria and its area is too large, it will be difficult for Austria to save it in the event of a war.

In fact, it is not that the Austrian Empire had no colonies in history, but the consequences were not very good, so Metternich was not optimistic about the overseas prospects.

What's more important is that the Austrian Empire was clearly the dominant power in Central Europe at this time. The German Customs Union and the Apennine Customs Union, as well as trade with Russia and the Ottomans, almost quadrupled the Austrian Empire's fiscal revenue.

At this rate, the fiscal revenue of the Austrian Empire in 1846 will catch up with France (1.4 billion francs). France’s economy will be better than that of the same period in history because it has acquired large colonies in the world, especially in North America.

But France is also facing a huge problem at this time, that is, spending is much higher than in history, and the financial pressure is exaggerated.

The military expenditure alone makes people feel desperate. The number of standing troops alone has reached an astonishing 700,000. This number has surpassed Russia (620,000) and even Prussia and Austria combined (640,000).

The number of warships launched in the same year was four times that of Austria and twelve times that of Russia. However, most of these are still old-fashioned sailing battleships, and there are only a handful of new paddle-wheel battleships.

In fact, in Franz's eyes, these so-called new paddle-wheel battleships are not as threatening as those old-fashioned sail battleships.

Because these paddle wheels are extremely unstable and fragile, they will almost certainly be destroyed if they are hit by a gun. At that time, the paddle wheel that is supposed to provide power will directly become a burden, and even if the paddle wheel is not hit, the huge wheel axle will affect the display of firepower.

Generally speaking, naval battles during this period were about who had more guns and who had thicker armor, and paddle-wheel battleships had no advantage in either of these two points.

As for the so-called speed advantage, it is more reflected in inland sea and short-distance naval battles. Because most of the early paddle wheels were exposed to the water, the boat pitched violently.

Once encountering strong winds and waves, the ability of the paddle wheel to stir water may be reduced, thereby reducing the power, and may even cause idling or mechanical failure to directly cause the paddle wheel to malfunction.

In addition, paddle wheels consumed more fuel than the propellers used by the Austrian navy at this time, but were much slower, so Franz did not care much about the French navy.

Closer to home, Prince Metternich, whose IQ is online, is still very scary. Although he is excited about the "goodwill" released by the British for the first time in so many years.

But Prince Metternich did not step into this sinkhole regardless. On the contrary, he put forward his own conditions and kicked the ball to the opponent.

Especially in the division of spoils, Metternich advocated claiming the western part of the island, not the eastern part as the British said.

The reason for the request is also very straightforward: there is no money. The mineral resources in the east are indeed very attractive, but they are too far away from the Austrian Empire, and the funds required are too large to pay for it in the short term.

The ports in the west are closer to the Austrian colonies, are relatively easy to manage, and have ready-made ports that can charge fees directly.

This is undoubtedly a risky move, because it is definitely a shameless behavior for the British. At this time when the Suez Canal has not yet been opened, the strategic significance of Madagascar is self-evident.

East Africa, South Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the Cape of Good Hope are all within its radiation, and it is especially of extraordinary significance to the maritime hegemony of Southeast Africa and the Indian Ocean.

It was naturally impossible for the British high-level officials to accept this proposal, and Robert Peel was so angry that he threw the agreement to the ground.

It's not that the Prime Minister has a bad temper, but that the messy things are too annoying.

The famine in Ireland, the plague in London, and the drought in Scotland resulted in the Loch Ness monster, which made people panic.

(The legend of the Loch Ness Monster originated in Scotland.)

The most damning thing is that the first Maori War was supposed to end today. At this time, a sudden change occurred and a 300-man British army was ambushed and eaten alive by the local tribe.

New Zealand is now most famous for its wild Maori war dance, which is called the most shocking dance by some Western media.

But New Zealand and Maori in the 19th century are not interesting words, because the most closely related to them is the culture of cannibalism. Of course, this is also very shocking.

Including these three hundred casualties, the British had lost more than a thousand soldiers on New Zealand. But compared to the number one thousand, the way those people died is more troublesome.

Robert Peel would be criticized by his opponents whether he continued the war or withdrew his troops.

Continuing the war would definitely mean leaving young people to die, while choosing to retreat would be considered to have frightened the indigenous people and harmed the interests of the British Empire.

In contrast, the famine in Ireland and the Great Plague in London were much easier to "solve". The former can be explained from a religious point of view.

That was the Great Famine that was happening in Ireland at this time, God's punishment for the non-elect and the lazy.

That’s right! The mainstream belief at that time was that people were poor because of sinfulness and laziness, as well as low moral standards and insufficient piety.

Therefore, whenever the British capitalists see disaster victims, they only need to silently recite, "Poor people must be hateful!" They can continue to do nothing in human affairs with determination.

“The Irish are so lazy that they don’t even try to save their harvest!”

——"The Times"

"The disaster that struck Ireland is a warning against living a life of luxury and carelessness! Only hard work can appease the wrath of God!"

——"Morning News"

“If we continue the ‘national sin’ of tolerance towards Catholics and the poor, disaster will befall us all!”

——"The Sun"

As for the Great Plague, it was similar. This was mainly because London workers were unwilling to work and often engaged in Chartist movements, so they were punished.

As a result, under the guidance of this kind of thinking, the labor movement in London fell into an unprecedented low. Some people even resented striking workers because their family members were infected with the plague, and then resorted to violent means to torture and kill strikers.

Although there are many things to worry about, the relationship with Austria is an important part of Britain's reestablishment of diplomatic hegemony, so Robert Peel can only ask Palmerston to negotiate and ease relations with Austria as much as possible.

In fact, it was Palmerston's private decision to carve up the Kingdom of Madagascar with the Austrian Empire, which annoyed Robert Peel, but in view of his achievements in handling relations with France, he only gave him an ultimatum.

Palmerston finally returned to the center of power. He didn't want to go out again, so he decided to take a gamble.

Palmerston's bet was that the Austrian Empire did not have the strength to capture Madagascar, and even if it could capture it, it would not be able to hold it, nor did it have the guts to compete with Britain for maritime hegemony in the Indian Ocean.

Palmerston gambled his own future on Britain's national destiny, and this time he won. Neither Metternich nor Franz thought about letting the Austrian Empire and Britain compete for the western part of Madagascar.

Metternich wanted the northern part of Madagascar, and the western part was just a pretense. Although the other party agreed, he obviously couldn't eat the hot potato.

As an old fox, Metternich would naturally not show timidity and would not tell his opponent his true intentions, so the proposal was temporarily shelved.

Metternich will find another good time to force the other party to accept his proposal. As for the British living alone or looking for cooperation with other countries, Metternich didn't care.

In Metternich's eyes, the conquest of Madagascar was just an opportunity to repair relations with Britain. The Kingdom of Madagascar itself was not important, not to mention that he did not want to increase the number of colonies.

Franz knew the importance of Madagascar, but he was not worried at all that the British would think of other ways.

After all, before the death of Nero, the British had no idea about the Kingdom of Madagascar.

Even if Palmerston proposed to carve up the Kingdom of Madagascar at this time, it was more of digging a hole for the Austrian Empire.

As for King Louis Philippe of France, it is very likely that he will fall into the same trap twice, but Soult will not. The old marshal just wants to retire peacefully, so he will try his best to avoid such a costly war. .

Generally speaking, after the relaxation of Anglo-Austrian relations, the benefits for Austria are not very big. On the one hand, the conflict between Britain and Austria is not big, and on the other hand, the goodwill of the British is only verbal.

However, some things can indeed be easier to handle with the support of the British, such as dealing with the pro-British faction in Austria.

Most of these people are from the same faction as Metternich, and they have high expectations for British morality.

Franz doesn't really want to attack these people, but will slowly remove them from the diplomatic system. After all, Franz really has no interest in being an ally of the British Empire.

Although the Ottomans believed that Britain would win, to be honest, no country that messed with John Bull would end well, and Franz did not want to follow in his footsteps.

After the British adopted a contractionary posture, the happiest people were the French. The latter began to devour the food, much to the horror of the former.

So the British Empire, as the main troublemaker, pointed out a "clear path" to the French. France's military power on the North American continent is naturally the best in the world, but if the United States has a vast territory, a war will be delayed for a long time and consume huge amounts of money.

Although Mexico has lost a large area of ​​territory, it is not easy to deal with hundreds of thousands of troops standing ready.

Then the California colony of the Austrian Empire naturally became the best direction for its expansion. You must know that gold in this era is both a wealth and a curse.

For the strong, they can arm themselves with gold, or use it to buy everything they want.

But for the weak, gold is poison, a curse, and a reason for the strong to destroy them.

At this time, France considered itself the strongest in North America, while California, with a population of only more than 400,000, was regarded as food in the mouths of the strong.

The French, Mexicans, and Americans had the same idea, which was to disguise their troops as caravans.

Then a French vanguard of three hundred men disappeared, and then Guizot, the governor of Saint-Philippe (the new name of France's North American colonies), sent another team of five hundred men.

As a result, there was no news about the second team, and there was only another group of French-speaking workers deep in the mines in California.

An unfortunate incident also occurred during the Christmas period. Perrine Schaffer was assassinated in her office by her own brother Henry Schaffer.

The reason was similar to the honor killings in India, to the effect that Pereny Shaffer had violated the taboo of being a noble woman.

But in fact, she only moved the interests of some big shots. Those big shots couldn't move Franz, so they murdered the man standing at the front desk.

Franz had actually warned Pereni Schaeffer a long time ago and increased the number of bodyguards for her.

However, at midnight, when people were reveling in the peaceful and peaceful atmosphere, the church bells rang, and with the sound of three gunshots, Pereny Shaffer's young life came to an end.

Since the visitor was Pereny Shaffer's biological brother, the bodyguards did not conduct a thorough search.

Henry Shaffer's marksmanship was poor, and none of his three shots hit the vital point, but the excessive blood loss was enough to kill Pereny Shaffer.

In addition to Pereny Schaffer, Masahiro Abe, who was thousands of miles away, was also killed by heaven. However, at this time, the shogunate could no longer leave the Austrian Empire, and new interest groups had been formed.

Therefore, even if Masahiro Abe dies, the New Triangle Trade will still continue, and partial isolation will still become Japan's national policy.