Without hesitation, William I agreed to this plan. Prussia has limited financial resources and cannot use chips to trade. Now all the people who write short checks, can you not fill in the number a little larger?

The international situation is changing rapidly. A few years ago, Britain and France were still fully supporting Prussia's resistance to Russia. In a blink of an eye, Britain and France were about to ease relations with the Russians.

It’s not that William I didn’t want to stop all this, but that was in the face of interests, and that was not something he could stop.

The declining Russian Empire is no longer a competitor to Britain and France, so it can naturally play happily together.

In the next Plain-Russian War, even if Britain and France will still stand on their side, the support will not be as strong as the last time. If you want to win the war, you can only rely on their own efforts.

The Russians are the lessons of the past. Austria no longer supported them unconditionally during the Prat-Russian War. The Tsarist government, whose mentality has not been adjusted, paid a heavy price for this.

The increasingly cold relationship between Russia and Austria is actually dissatisfied with the Vienna government's reserving support in the Prat-Russia War.

The Tsarist government was angry, and the Vienna government was uncomfortable. In the eyes of the Vienna government, it had done enough, fully fulfilled its ally obligations, and even paid more than the scope of the covenant. It was also criticized by the Russians.

Both sides think about the problem from their own standpoint, and the unresolved knot became a hurdle between the Russian-Austrian alliance. The relationship between the two countries has not recovered since the war, which is proof that it has not been restored as before.

As a bystander, William I could calmly think about problems. But it was different when it was his turn. Britain and France clearly just used them as pawns.

After the crackdown on the Russians, all support and help came to an abrupt end. The London government once wanted to support Prussia to check and balance the two countries of the France and the Olympics, but after weighing the pros and cons, it still failed to implement it.

Ultimately, it is because of interests that the British have to pay too much, they can get too few benefits, and they have to face fierce backlash from France and Austria.

Compared with the British, the French were even more hateful and were still plotting against the Rhineland region. If the French had not suddenly annexed the Italian region, causing panic among European countries and making the Paris government dare not act rashly, and the Rhineland region might have changed hands.

In the absence of annexation of the German Federal Empire, the Rhineland region became a heart-wrenching problem for the Prussian Kingdom. William I was always worried that the French would swallow it without hesitation.

In order to get out of the predicament, William I repeatedly proposed to join the German Federal Empire. There was no doubt that it was strongly resisted by Hannover.

How can you not be alert to the fact that you occupy the magpie's nest?

The Prussian Kingdom was much larger than the German Federation Empire. To put it bluntly, it was to join in. In other words, it was to annex the German Federation Empire.

If the Berlin government wants to take action against the German Federal Empire, Austria will definitely not agree. Once it takes action, the Prussian-Austrian war will break out.

That was definitely the worst situation. When it really came to that point, the Kingdom of Prussia was really enemies of the whole world.

While fighting with Austria and the German Federation, there were also Russians who were dealing with the fallout. Perhaps the Nordic Federation had a quarrel, and the French might join in the fun.

There is nothing to say in the face of interests, and no one can resist temptation. The geographical location of the Kingdom of Prussia can be said to be one of the worst among the European powers, which determines that they must be cautious when expanding.

The Prussian-Russian War is a challenge and an opportunity for Prussia. If Prussia wants to grow and grow, the best choice is to step on the Russians to take power. This was decided by the first Prussian-Russian War.

In recent years, the Berlin government has not been idle. Even if the government has no money in its pocket, they are still trying to develop their economy. For example, using British and French capital to build railways on newly occupied land, and even helping the Poles build railways.

In order to raise funds for development, the Berlin government also increased its resource exports. The mineral resources in the Rhineland region were exported to France and the Federal Empire.

By relying on the export of industrial and commercial products and mineral resources, the Kingdom of Prussia achieved a trade surplus. Of course, the bigger reason was that the Kingdom of Poland provided a dumping market for Prussia's industrial and commercial products.

Under normal circumstances, a country has a trade surplus and a large amount of funds flowing in from the outside world should be short of money.

Unfortunately, Prussia is an exception. These wealth are used to repay debts and have to be economically controlled by Britain and France.

In order to repay debts, the Berlin government compressed its expenses as much as possible. However, this did not include military spending. No matter how poor it was, the army could not be poor. Even Prussia's military spending has never been less than 45% of its fiscal revenue.

Against this background, it is not surprising that the Berlin government wants to cut off the Russian-Austrian alliance.

Only by completely defeating the Russian Empire can the Prussian Kingdom have an international environment for stable development, suppress military expenditures, develop the economy with peace of mind, and get rid of the debt crisis.

Splitting the Russian-Austrian alliance is the first step to winning the war. William I was ready to start the war in advance. If the Tsarist government completed internal reforms, the balance of war would completely turn to the Russians.

In the First Russian-Prussian War, Prussia won the war with its advantage in transportation, so this advantage naturally had to be preserved.

Even after expansion, the territory of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Kingdom of Poland was far from comparable to that of the Russians, which meant that they could complete the railway first.

The plan is progressing very smoothly at present, and the progress of railway construction in Prussia is not comparable to that of the Russians.

Although Alexander II has worked very hard, Russia is too big, and a few thousand kilometers of railways are really not worth mentioning for this empire.

Strategically speaking, the Russians need at least 300,000 kilometers of railways to get rid of traffic difficulties. Even if they ignore the territory of Asia and only consider part of the European territory, it will take 150,000 kilometers to barely meet the needs.

In contrast, the Kingdom of Prussia is much better. Even if the Kingdom of Poland is added, they will build another 10,000 or 20,000 kilometers to meet the needs of war.

Of course, there is still a long way to go to reach the level of the original German Empire in time and space. Only the Germans did it.

More than 60,000 kilometers of railways were built on a land area of ​​only 540,000 square kilometers, which can be said to be a must-see railway within five kilometers. The railway coverage rate set by the Germans was an unbreakable world record until the second century.

Of course, this special situation was created by the times. After the automobile industry developed, many railways lost their economic value and withdrew from the stage of history.

Alexander II also knew the problems facing transportation. The tragedy was that he wanted to attract foreign investment to invest in railways, but no one cared about it.

No matter how many preferential conditions are given, it is useless. Austrian bundled railways have killed many capitalists. Many railway companies have lost more than ten years. Who dares to jump into the Russians' huge pit?

Now, British and French capital invested in railways between Pubo and Po, and they only invested in main roads with economic value, and they would not touch any branch railways.

Not to mention the Russian Railways, even if they take out the railway from St. Petersburg to Moscow to bid, no railway company dares to take risks.

This is not just an economic risk, but the most important thing is that everyone has doubts about the credibility of the Tsarist government. If the railway is completed and the Tsarist government announces that the railway is state-owned, will everyone not lose their lives?

It is worth mentioning that the current Russian railway is still state-owned, and the high operating costs make private capital afraid.

An Austrian railway company once visited Russia and finally concluded that the overall operating cost of Russian railways is three times that of Austrian railways.

All of them are caused by winter. In addition to a small number of areas, the Russian Empire is an ice and snow country. In this era, technology was limited, and railways were not only at risk for winter operation, but also greatly increased the maintenance costs required.

It would be fine if the cost is high, but the key is that the land is large and the population is sparse and the economy is backward. Whether it is insufficient cargo flow or passenger flow, this little income cannot meet the operation of the railway company.

Without additional conditions, who would risk building a railway that cannot be profitable?

If there is no profit and private capital is unwilling to invest, the responsibility for Russian railway construction falls on the shoulders of the government, so the construction progress will naturally be slow.

Even in the 2nd century, Russia's transportation was not related to convenience. The European part was still acceptable, and some passenger transport in Asia was barely enough, and large-scale freight transport was still a problem.

Not to mention this era, the total railway mileage operated by the huge Russian Empire was less than 10,000 kilometers, specifically 776 kilometers, less than half of the Prussian Kingdom.

It is even less than the same period in history, and this is all a sequelae of the war. The progress of railway construction in the Tsarist government, which lacks financial resources, was also delayed.

...

While William I was about to poach, Alessandrovic also arrived in London. The strange smell and the gray sky made Alessandrovic frown.

It is really disappointing that London, known as the world's largest city, is actually like this.

The only pleasing beauty is probably the towering chimneys and the thick smoke rising from the sky, dancing in the wind, like a fairyland on earth.

Oh, these beautiful scenery can only be viewed from afar, but not played with. If you are choked to death, no one will be responsible.

London in this era is the best portrayal of the beauty of industry. It is one of the most polluted cities in the world and the domineering smog world.

Alessandrovic was lucky and did not come in winter, otherwise he could feel the most lethal biological and chemical weapons of this era.

It is autumn now, and the weather in London is still good, with a few hundred meters of visibility, so there will be no large-scale poisoning death.

The British Crown Prince Edward was greeted by Alessandrovich. This is not the first time they have met. The two are also relatives. The European royal family is a family, and this statement is not wrong at all.

They had a common father-in-law, and the Denmark King Christian IX, who was honored as "Father-in-law of Europe".

The facts once again prove that the European royal family is not easy to mess with. Even the royal family in the small king cannot withstand the group of relatives and friends is strong enough.

There is one very good rule for the European royal family, that is, relatives belong to relatives, wars belong to wars, even if they fight to the death on the battlefield, everyone can still be friends in private... Friends, it is not right, they should be "relatives".

The relationship between the two did not affect the diplomacy of Britain and Russia. Alessandrovic was a little better, and he had already begun to participate in government affairs and had some say in politics.

Edward was in trouble because he lived a life of irregularity and sometimes failed to be careful, so Queen Victoria had never allowed him to take charge of any affairs related to actual government affairs.

In other words, a short crown prince, except for having a noble identity, there is no room for him to intervene in politics.

After a polite greeting, the two left the noisy port in a carriage. History seemed to have opened a new page at this moment.

...
Chapter completed!