On October 7, 1866, the Sudanese government submitted an ultimatum to the Russian minister, demanding that the Russians hand over Constantinople within 48 hours, otherwise it would be war.

This war ultimatum did not wait 48 hours before the Tsarist Russian minister who received the ultimatum replied directly: Then let’s fight!

How could the Ottoman Empire be so disturbed by the Russians? As a archenemy, the Tsarist government never relaxed its surveillance of the Ottoman Empire.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also trying to win over the Ottomans, but they cannot afford to make any profits, so the result is naturally futile.

Seeing the Sudanese government mobilization, Alexander II knew that war was inevitable.

Open the map and check it out. There are not many choices in the Ottoman Empire, with a total of three neighbors around it.

The geographical location determines that Persia is difficult to fight. Even if it wins, there is not much fuel and the Sudanese government in the useless area does not need to fight.

Austria dared not fight, or could not touch it, and the border was the Sinai Peninsula, which was separated by the vast desert. It was a sea-by-sea attack on the Balkans, and there was no chance to land.

Russia is the only one left. The Black Sea Fleet was wiped out in the Near East War. Due to financial constraints, it has not recovered for so many years.

With the support of Britain and France, it is OK to attack the Caucasus region or Constantinople. It is too easy to seal the Bosphorus, which is hundreds of meters wide. You can do it by just getting ashore.

The war excuses that the Sudanese government has painstakingly prepared have turned into farce.

Constantinople has gathered 80,000 Russian troops, and the total Russian troops on the Russian Balkans have reached 150,000. Relatively speaking, the Caucasus region is the weak point.

Both sides declared war, and the war still had to be fought. This time, the Ottomans finally had an absolute advantage in military strength, so they naturally had to do a big deal.

When St. Petersburg, Alexander II frowned even more when he received the news of the Ottomans declaring war. It was not a good thing that the enemy had increased.

The Russian Empire's war potential has actually been almost launched. Due to transportation and productivity, this is the largest force they can use.

Five hundred and six hundred thousand troops in Eastern Europe are going to fight to the death with the Pubo coalition forces, but there is no opportunity to win the war. In order to prevent Sweden from taking advantage of the situation, the Nordic region has also deployed 50,000 troops.

The Far East also deployed 70,000 to 80,000 troops, but because the rule is too wide, there are not many troops that can be invested in the top.

More than 300,000 Russian troops in Central Asia are fighting hard with the enemy, or being suppressed by others. These troops are basically recruited temporarily, and it would be good to be able to stabilize the front line.

The Balkans seemed to have sufficient troops, but in fact, the 150,000 Russian troops were at most defending Constantinople. Fortunately, the French sold the Balkan colonies to Austria, otherwise they would have another potential enemy.

The Caucasus region now also needs to increase troops, and no one can guarantee that the Sudanese government will not make a name for itself. If the Caucasus region is lost, the enemy can fight all the way to the Volga River Basin.

There is not enough army, which is Alexander II's true feelings. Millions of Russian troops are fighting hard on the battlefield. In order to support this war, the domestic economy has been seriously affected.

The most painful thing is to fight a war of attrition. It is impossible to invest more troops and cannot exert the tactics of the sea of ​​people, which is really a serious challenge for the Russian army.

What's worse is that European countries have already seen the reality of the Russian Empire clearly. The so-called million Russian troops are a joke. On any battlefield, the Tsarist government cannot invest in a million troops.

These changes have also affected Russia-Austrian relations. The Austrians think that alliances are optional, while the Russians think that Austrian allies are not doing their best.

The Chancellor of the Finance Minister Christaval whispered: "Your Majesty, after the war with the Ottomans broke out, the only thing we traded was Austria.

This year's fiscal revenue will probably hit the lowest record in 30 years and may continue to decline next year."

Such a change made the Chancellor of the Finance Department really have no confidence to speak. Although the responsibility is not on them, the problem will fall on them when they have no money.

Fortunately, he made a mistake from the Jews before, otherwise the Tsarist government would have gone bankrupt. Even so, Christaval would not dare to relax his vigilance.

This kind of windfall cannot be found every day. According to the current situation, it will not take long before they will face a financial crisis again.

Alexander II asked indifferently: "How low will it be?"

"The fiscal revenue this year will drop to about 150 million rubles, and if the war continues, it may drop to 120 million rubles next year."

The answer from the Chancellor of the Finance Minister Christaval is getting smaller and smaller. You should know that before the outbreak of the war, the fiscal revenue of the Tsarist government had exceeded 300 million rubles, and now it is cut in half.

The reality is so cruel. The Russian Empire is now surrounded by enemies. In addition to the Arctic Ocean, there are wars all the way from Eastern Europe to the Far East.

Overseas trade has shrunk sharply, and the huge profits brought by grain exports in the past are no longer there.

Compared with less export trade, import trade volume is growing sharply. Russia's foreign trade is settled with gold and silver, and this change has caused a large amount of gold and silver in China to flow out.

The consequences of wealth loss quickly reflected the economy, and deflation had become a social problem that the Tsarist government could not avoid.

"It seems that the Austrians have made a lot of money again."

Alexander II's seemingly unintentional words have already expressed the changes in the relationship between Russia and Austria. I am unlucky and you will become rich. No matter how good your friendship is, you will be alienated, and the same goes for the relationship between the state.

No one answered this sentence, Russia-Austria's friendship is still politically correct. Whether it is jealous or jealous, these cannot change the fact that the Tsar cannot live without Austria.

...

Alexander II was right. Austria has indeed made a lot of money recently. Because of the war, the Bosphorus was blocked, and Austria naturally monopolized trade with Russia.

Sweden in Nordic regions also made a small deal, but their national strength is limited and they can export not many commodities.

In addition to trade with Russia, another advantage is that Austria's share in the agricultural product market has increased. Russian grain exports can now be sold to Austria first, and then processed to the international market.

This hit another wave of competitors. Companies that originally purchased Russian grain for finishing are now forced to buy them in the international market due to lack of raw materials.

After the war between the Russians and the Ottomans, the trading prices in the international grain market rose by ten points in a short period of time. This is just the beginning. As long as the supply and demand relationship is not resolved, grain prices may continue to rise.

In the mid-19th century, half of the world's population was hungry, with hundreds of thousands and even millions of people dying of hunger every year.

In this context, European food shortages are obviously not something that can be solved in a short period of time. It is easy to increase grain output, but difficult to actually operate.

There is no shortage of land in major colonial empires. The problem is that there is a large investment in early cultivation of land and crops, and the market return rate is not high enough.

If you encounter a bumper grain harvest, it is very likely that it will rot in the fields. It is not that everyone does not need food, but that many people cannot afford food on the bigger issue.

In this era, only European countries had market purchasing power, and other regions were self-sufficient and could not be self-sufficient, so they could only go hungry.

Purchasing power limits production capacity. When encountering emergencies, food prices will naturally rise in the short term. Perhaps everyone has reserves, but if capitalists want to make money, super high grain prices are also one of the means.

These have little to do with Austria. No matter how international food prices change, as the world's largest food exporter, domestic food prices are very stable.

As one of the beneficiaries, Franz's wallet has become much more bulging. This can no longer arouse Franz's interest. At the critical moment of the industrial revolution, it is obvious that emerging industries have a better "money prospect".

Foreign Minister Wesenberg frowned and said, "Your Majesty, the Russian Minister informed us that they would raise tariffs because of the war."

Franz frowned. Raising tariffs will inevitably affect the trade volume between the two countries. But does the Russian Empire really have the capital to increase tariffs?

Franz was too lazy to pay attention to the Tsarist government's plans.

"Maybe our exported goods should also increase the price!"

The wool comes from the sheep, and rising tariffs lead to rising commodity prices. This is a normal business rule.

Perhaps the tariffs have increased, which can protect certain industries in Russia. However, it is the war era, and the largest trading goods between the two countries are strategic materials.

This is a must-have item, and the Tsarist government must also accept the price increase. Isn’t raising tariffs now providing capitalists with an excuse to raise prices?

This price increase will definitely exceed the tariff increase, and the final loss is the Tsarist government itself.

Franz was sure that this decision was definitely not made by Alexander II. It was obvious that Alexander II was not such a fool.

Either the tsarist government's financial problems and the bureaucrats made idiotic policies that were urgently involved in medical treatment; or it was promoted by domestic capitalists in an attempt to gain greater benefits.

The truth was covered up, and no one expected that Alexander II's emotion would arouse associations and make a foolish decision, thus ending the honeymoon between Russia and Austria.

If Alexander II knew, he would definitely regret it.

This decision has indeed protected many domestic industries. On the surface, it seems to be a good policy. At the beginning of industrial development, protecting national industries will be conducive to the development of domestic industries.

However, the benefits were not reflected, and the consequences had already happened first, and the Tsarist government quickly paid a heavy price for it.

Because tariffs have led to the increase in the price of imported goods from Austria, in order to save money, bureaucrats of the Tsarist government chose to purchase supplies from local enterprises and were about to be born.

……
Chapter completed!