Chapter 502： Aftercare (1/2)
In the hot sun, a luxurious train is passing by. On both sides of the road, the mature grain seemed to be frightened, bending down, lowering its head, and still trembling from time to time.
In the luxury train compartment, a gorgeously dressed young man was watching the newspaper intently, and frowning from time to time.
The young man was Alexandrovich (Alexandre III), who visited abroad. He had high hopes on this trip to Paris and did not forget to collect information on the way.
He was too lazy to read the information provided by the Tsar government. In Alessandrovich's view, those materials have a clear tendency, or to be politically correct.
In his opinion, to get to know France first, look at French economic and political newspapers. Alexandrovich is not an expert and scholar, these basic materials are enough.
The more you know, the more Alexandrovich feels. From the news in the newspaper, he knew that there was a huge gap between France and Russia.
This gap is ”qualitative”. It is by no means what the St. Petersburg bureaucrats verbally said. It can be overtaken in three to five years.
What caused him a headache was that the French people didn't have a good impression of Russia. You can see it by reading adjectives in the newspaper.
”Barbarians”, ”liar”, ”rogue”, ”rotten” ...
These adjectives deeply hurt Alexandrovich's heart. His dissatisfaction had no effect. The French newspaper would not be controlled by him. What should be written or how.
Although most of the content is exaggerated, but it is not entirely fabricated, Russia has a lot of black history.
Under normal circumstances, everyone will not turn over these old accounts. It wasn't that Alexandrovich was going to visit, and the ardent newspapers became active.
”French-Russian friendship” does not exist. At least these newspapers do not think that the two countries have a traditional friendship and hate it a lot.
What's even more annoying is that they are still losers. Everyone still remembers clearly that the Russians buried the First Empire of France in one hand.
The Near East War was not able to take revenge, and the French were very dissatisfied. In the recent Russian-Prussian War, the French people donated the most to Prussia and exceeded the total of the German Federation + Austria.
What can be proud of this, Alexandrovich is unclear. In short, he understands that many French people do not welcome him to visit.
At home, Alexandrovich didn't know that Russia was so unpopular in Europe.
Originally he was still worried about the defeat of the Russian-Prussian War. Now he understands that he is fighting against the whole of Europe at the same time. How can he not fail?
Each went to the newspaper, and Alexandrovich was lost in thought. A deep voice kept telling him that something must be done to change the views of European countries on the Russian Empire.
Isolation means danger. Now that the Russian Empire has many enemies, there is only one ally, and even the last ally is now leaving them.
If this situation does not change and the next war breaks out, it will still be difficult for the Russian Empire to win.
Although the war has not yet erupted, Alexandrovich already knew that there would be at least Poland + Prussia + Ottoman in the next war, and several Khanates in Central Asia might also emerge, and even the Far East might not be stable.
Modern warfare fought logistically. The Russian empire lost in traffic in the last war. Although some people accused Austria of paddling in the country, Alexandrovich knew very well that the cause of the defeat of the Russian army was still in itself.
The purchase of supplies from Austria, but the inability to transport to the front line in time, resulted in a lack of frontline forces, which allowed the Prussians to take advantage.
If there are no logistical constraints and one million Russian troops are put into the front line, even if the whole of Europe provides logistics to Prussia, they will not be able to stop them.
There is no fairness in the war. There is no need for the army to play with less and win more. They are all fools, and usually such fools die terribly.
In the history of war, almost all of them have won the war with great strength, and the reason why weak is better than strong is respected because it happened less often.
In the case of comparable forces, the Russian empire is indeed at the bottom of the European powers when it comes to combat effectiveness.
The reason Alexandrovich is clear, it is nothing more than the gap in weaponry and training. In the final analysis, there is no money.
Most of the Tsar's soldiers are compulsory soldiers. These troops do not need to pay salaries, just give them a token amount.
Cheap has become a symbol of the Tsar's army. Compared to strengthening training and replacing the most advanced weapons and equipment, economically speaking, the increase in the number of people brings greater combat power.
This account has long been calculated. The cost of a French soldier is enough for the Tsarist government to recruit two such cheap soldiers, and there is still a surplus. On the battlefield, a French army could never win two Russian soldiers.
This is how the gray animals came. Because the economy was cheap, the Russians fell in love with the sea tactics.
The train decelerated slowly, and Alexandrovich knew it was Paris. Looking at the buildings on both sides of the road, Alexandrovich showed a fascination.
Paris was definitely the most desirable city in the world in the 19th century. Of course, Alexandrovich's interest in Paris was definitely not because it was a revolutionary shrine.
As a crown prince, especially the tsarist government's crown prince, he is a member of the reactionary group and it is impossible to play with the revolutionary party.