After the news of the plague broke out in Constantinople was confirmed, Pelicier did not dare to neglect and immediately reported to the Paris government.

Palace of Versailles

Napoleon III was in a very bad mood. The news of the plague broke out in the Crimean Peninsula just came back, and Constantinople also broke out in the plague.

Napoleon III was not interested in knowing where the virus came from. Now his headache is what to do next.

It’s okay to say that the Crimean Peninsula has such a large territory that can be scattered and isolated from the epidemic area and can control the spread of the epidemic.

Constantinople is now only a palm-sized place, with such a high population density, and they still have to engage in street fighting with the Russians. How to control the epidemic?

Arnault, the Secretary of the Army, said: "Your Majesty, there is a plague in Constantinople, and the situation on the front line is probably going to be bad.

At this time, the increase of troops is to push the young men into the fire pit. The brave French soldiers can defeat the Russians, but only God can deal with the plague."

Since the outbreak of the Battle of Constantinople, the French army has been increasing its troops almost every month, and it cannot be regarded as increasing its troops. It mainly replenishes the power consumption of the front line and replaces some troops that were defeated and destroyed.

Napoleon III did a good job in this regard, and did not use a unit to death. Even if he eliminated dissidents, he would mostly find excuses to transfer from his post and did not start a massacre.

The war has come to an end, and the Paris government has long wanted to stop, but because of political factors, Napoleon III could not compromise.

Now Arnold is vaguely reminding Napoleon III that he would either find an excuse to give up Constantinople or organize more troops to fight the Russians in a decisive battle. In short, he could not continue to use the tactic of adding fuel to the ground.

Napoleon III, who had a very high political sensitivity, immediately woke up, and even thought of more and said anxiously:

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately negotiated with the Ottoman Empire to give up Constantinople, and we will repay our interests in other regions.

We can join forces with the British to put pressure on it. At this time, I believe that the London government will make an informed choice.

If we release the news of the negotiations, we will take back this holy city for the world of Christ and contact the Catholic Church to help build momentum.

Order the front line Pelicier, no matter what method he uses, I must also get the Russians infected with the plague!"

In this era, science has not yet been deeply rooted in people's hearts. If the Russians seize the opportunity and launch a political offensive, the consequences will be difficult to control.

If the plague just broke out in the coalition and the Russians were safe, the wars would not need to be fought later, and political means alone would be the end of the British and French governments.

With the saying "God wants to punish the traitors who help the pagans", the morale of the military on the front line collapsed instantly. Whether it is Protestants or Catholics, they all believe in God.

Constantinople is a holy land in the world of Christ, which gives the city a strong religious color. From a religious perspective, no one likes to help the Ottoman Empire.

If the people in the country know that the government has been punished by God for helping pagans, will the consequences still need to be considered?

Napoleon III dared not test the faith and piety of the French people. Compared with this terrible consequence, the importance of the Ottoman Empire, an ally, is not worth mentioning.

If you die, I will not die. In order to survive the possible political storm, the interests of the Ottoman Empire can only be sacrificed.

...

As it turns out, Napoleon III was completely over-thinking. The plague was really not released by God, because it was indiscriminate killing and the Russians were not spared.

Maybe it was because the hairy bears were strong and the casualties caused by the plague were not as serious as the coalition forces, and the inability to adapt to the local environment was also an important reason.

As the plague came, there were actually dysentery, but the symptoms looked similar, and the coalition forces had not yet discovered the difference between the two diseases.

At the Russian Army Command of the Balkans, senior executives of the Expeditionary Force gathered together, and everyone looked pale.

Myshkov asked very much: "Are you sure it's a plague?"

A middle-aged military doctor replied seriously: "The news has been confirmed by your Excellency Commander. So far, more than 5,000 soldiers have developed vomiting and diarrhea symptoms, which is beyond the scope of a normal influenza."

"Commander, according to the prisoners we have captured, a large number of soldiers in the French army fell ill." Before Myshkov could speak, a middle-aged officer added

Without hesitation, Myshkov made a decision: "I ordered the troops to do a good job in epidemic prevention, but the attack could not be stopped. Our situation was bad, and the French army in the city would only be more serious.

I will ask St. Petersburg for help and send a lot of medical staff in China. This plague is also an opportunity. I don’t believe that the French can still hold on!”

Minshkov, who was nervous on his face, breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. Since the plague broke out, the good days for the French were over.

This principle is very simple. The greater the population density, the more conducive it is to spread the plague. In this case, the losses inside the city will definitely be greater than those outside the city.

Since the war has come to the present, how many people have died in Constantinople, 100,000 or 200,000? Or 300,000, 400,000, or more?

Have these corpses been dealt with in time? Perhaps most of the French dealt with, but even one percent of the remaining ones were missing, they were all corpses of thousands. Didn’t they see that all the mice in Constantinople have become fat?

Corpses rot and insects and ants are the best assistants for virus transmission. No foreign viruses are needed, Constantinople itself has the possibility of a plague outbreak.

...

Vienna

After receiving the news of the plague in Constantinople, Franz immediately held a meeting and asked the Ministry of Health to preside over the epidemic prevention work.

Although the plague in history has not affected a wide range, it mainly broke out in the Crimean Peninsula, and Austria has only had a slight impact.

The situation is obviously different now. Since the plague broke out in Constantinople, can the Balkans survive? The Balkans are affected, will Austria not be affected?

Only after the epidemic prevention work was deployed, Franz continued to consider the impact of the plague.

"The plague broke out and the French could not defend Constantinople anymore. How will the next international situation develop? What do you think?"

Metternik reminded: "Your Majesty, judging from the current situation, the mortality rate of this plague is not too high. If the epidemic is controlled, the French will still be able to defend Constantinople."

Franz laughed and asked, "Marson, how long has the Russians cut off the water from Constantinople?"

Marshal Radsky replied: "Your Majesty, it's almost sixteen months. However, there is a port connected to Constantinople, and they still have enough fresh water to replenish. Now the city is not short of fresh water supplies."

Constantinople does not have groundwater due to geological reasons. Although there are water storage facilities in the city, this cannot supply so many people to consume.

Franz shook his head and said, "There are so many people in Constantinople, and the daily water consumption of daily life is not a small number.

After being cut off by the Russians for so long, we can boldly judge that the reserve water sources in the city have been exhausted.

Now they rely entirely on shipping fresh water to meet the water needs of hundreds of thousands of people in the city.

With so many people, the fresh water consumed every day is not a small number, which requires a lot of ship transportation.

How many transport ships are active in Constantinople? How much fresh water can be supplied after completing the transportation of various materials?

British and French bureaucrats will at most ensure that these people have basic living water, and domestic water is probably supplied in limited quantities.

If the supply of fresh water is insufficient during normal times, you can also stick to it. At worst, you will not take a bath, wash your face, or wash your hands for a period of time.

The situation is different now. Without enough freshwater supply, how can the French army prevent the epidemic? Basic sanitary conditions cannot be improved. How can the spread of the virus be curbed?"

Because of the epidemic prevention meeting, everyone has made up for a lot of epidemic prevention knowledge. Some were proposed by officials from the Austrian Ministry of Health, and some were supplemented by Franz based on memory.

Now everyone knows the importance of hygiene. At the critical moment of this plague outbreak, the French army in the city did not have enough fresh water, so who did the virus look for?

Even if the Russians outside are not hygienic, they do not lack water, so there is always a bath once a while, right?

The French soldiers in the city don’t know how long it will take to have such an opportunity, or there is no chance at all.

No matter whether the French noticed this problem or not, they could do nothing.

Because this gap is not a small part, it only meets the needs of survival. A small basin of water per day is enough. If sanitary conditions are improved, the consumption will increase many times.

Where did they go to find so many water transport boats in a short time?

Tens of thousands of tons of fresh water are consumed every day. It is estimated that all British and French ships in the Mediterranean can be transferred to meet their logistics supply.

Felix thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, if the French cannot solve the plague problem, we can prepare to mediate this war.

Once the Russians took Constantinople, the war would not be able to continue.

The Russians' finances have already had a crisis. If it weren't for Constantinople's political status, they would have compromised long ago.

Now that the Russians have occupied the Bulgaria region, they have allowed them to occupy Constantinople, it will be even more difficult to control in the future. It is best to curb it."

Metternik opposed: "Prime Minister, it is too late to curb the Russians at this time. Unless we can tear up the secret agreement between Russia and Austria, we must support them in future negotiations.

We have our support in diplomacy. As long as Constantinople is occupied by the Russians, I don’t think Britain and France have the ability to force the Tsarist government to spit it out.

Don’t forget that for us, maintaining the Russian-Austrian alliance at this time is much more important than curbing the Russians. We cannot oppose the Russian annexation of Constantinople.

Since you can't stop it, why bother to be this evil person?

It would be better to just push it up and let the Russians continue to attract British and French firepower in front and deepen the conflict between them."

"Push a hand", Franz is very interested in this proposal. To control the Black Sea Fleet, it is not enough to just Constantinople, which requires controlling the Balkans and Asia Minor at the same time.

Do the Russians still have the ability to fight? Obviously, it does not exist. Even if the Tsarist government is desperately experiencing his liver, it will stop at Constantinople.

If Britain and France are forced to force each other in a hurry, they may be pushed back. The transportation of the Russian Empire restricted their strength.

On the Balkans, even with Austrian support, the Russians can only exert 70 to 80% of their national strength at most. What can they do to fight against Britain and France?

The Russians now have the upper hand, but Britain and France did not react and cheated on each other's teammates on the battlefield.

Once the Russians put too much pressure on them, the two countries will let go of conflicts and cooperate sincerely, and there will be another situation on the battlefield.

It doesn't matter if the Russians can't fight, and Franz doesn't want the Tsarist government to really control the Black Sea Fleet.

The Mediterranean is too small, and there is no enough division between Britain, France and the Russians.

But it does not prevent the Russians from ambition. After all, Constantinople has been taken down and the Mediterranean has become one step closer.

As long as the Russians still have ambitions, they will not be able to compromise with Britain and France. Britain, France and Russia are in opposition to each other, and Austria will be safe.

This is how Bismarck designed it in history. As a result, William II's diplomacy collapsed, and France and Russia formed an alliance. As a sandwich biscuit, it was a natural tragedy.

"The Russian-Austrian alliance cannot be destroyed. The things that curb the Russians can be done by Britain and France. As allies, we must not betray our faith!"

Franz directly expressed his attitude. He did not want to send out wrong political signals, so that the top government officials could mistakenly believe that Austria had obtained the benefits he wanted and could abandon the Russians.

From the perspective of national interests, this kind of betrayal is very normal. Now moving closer to Britain and France is conducive to Austria's overseas colonization, and it seems to be more in line with the interests of the country.

But considering strategic security, the situation is different. Compared with the unstable French government and the ambitious Kingdom of Prussia, Franz felt that it was more reliable to form an alliance with the Russians.
Chapter completed!