Rejection is inevitable. No matter how attractive the conditions offered by the Berlin government are, they are essentially making a fortune.

Moreover, the Prussian-Russian War is not as simple as it appears, and it is also full of games between Britain, France and the Austrians.

At first, Britain and France supported the Popo Federation, and Austria supported the Russian Empire. Now the positions of Britain and Austria have not changed, but the French have been passively lazy.

They are all determined by interests and can attack competitors, so why not?

The French invested not much resources in this war, and even if the Popo Federation was defeated, their losses were limited.

These economic losses can also be compensated through other aspects.

For example: British companies are affected by debt, their operations are in trouble or even bankrupt.

Not to mention the benefits brought by the damage to the competitors. Just watching the British unlucky, the French have reason to be happy.

As the French Empire became increasingly powerful, the pro-British era had ended. The increasing conflict of interest made the two countries go further and further.

From the perspective of France, in the long run, it is more in line with their interests to win the war.

The two countries have very far apart in their spheres of influence, and the possibility of conflicts of interest is almost zero. A powerful Russian empire can also restrain Austria from behind.

No matter how good the relationship between Russia and Austria is, as long as the Russian Empire becomes stronger, the two countries will part ways, and national interests cannot be reversed by personal will.

If you do nothing, you can attack two competitors at the same time. The French government naturally knows how to choose.

The British had calculations, the French had calculations, and Austria was naturally no exception.

The Russian Empire's strength is indeed a threat, but it is a potential threat in the future and does not need to be considered for at least twenty or thirty years.

In the short term, Austria's biggest competitor is Britain and France. Popo's federal defeat, debt default becomes inevitable, and the British economy will definitely be greatly affected.

The French economy is not much better. On the surface, they invested little, and the losses were within a controllable range. Unfortunately, there are problems with the French economy itself.

The market was booming during the war, and the high cost of industrial raw materials was not a problem. When the Prado-Russian War ended and these international orders were gone, this problem should break out.

This period is just the peak of industrial overcapacity in the world and when market competition is the most intense, cost will become one of the core factors of market competition.

The cost remains high, what is the French industry and business community using to compete with Britain and Austria?

Capital is profit-seeking, and interests will drive them to flow from unprofitable manufacturing to the financial industry, thereby changing France's economic structure.

This is not the first time Austria has made arrangements. After almost every economic crisis, the proportion of French manufacturing in the economy will decline.

Fortunately, no one has realized the importance of manufacturing these days, otherwise the Paris government would have been anxious.

Of course, it is almost time to get anxious. In an era when the tertiary industry has not developed, the manufacturing industry is still the one that can create jobs.

The shrinking industrial production capacity will inevitably lead to a decline in employment rates. Can't these people all go to farm, right?

The land in France has long been dominated by its land, but there are quite a few overseas colonies. The question is, are the French people willing to go?

Unfortunately, influenced by marine culture, French people prefer to stay in cities rather than go to colonies to clear land.

This has long been proven that France is not very motivated to immigrate in both time and space and now.

When the economy was not good, everyone spontaneously controlled their childbirth. Condum found that he had made significant contributions to the French family planning work.

The pressure will naturally be reduced if you give birth. Anyway, the lifespan of the lower class people is short these days, so you don’t need to consider the issue of pension. It doesn’t matter whether there is a next generation.

The decline in the birth rate of the population is a long-term problem, and the harm cannot be reflected in a short period of time. The social crisis brought by the economy cannot be avoided.

Less than ten years after the merger of France and Italy, many contradictions have been covered up during the good time of economic development. Once the economic crisis breaks out, it will erupt.

In a sense, this was also the weakest moment in France. In just a few years, the Italian people had not yet returned to their hearts, and the rule of Napoleon IV was simply unstable.

If they really had to work together for decades and find a way of rule that suited them, France would be the true "Mediterranean Empire" and the threat would be great.

...

The battlefield was at a disadvantage, diplomatically could not convince Austria, and the French refused to increase their investment, so the pressure on the Berlin government increased greatly for a while.

On October 12, 1880, the Berlin government launched an expanded mobilization plan. All men aged between the ages of sixteen and fifty must participate in militia training and be prepared to be recruited at any time.

It can be seen that the Berlin government is really anxious and does not trust Moltke so much. Although it has not conducted extreme mobilization, it has begun to make relevant preparations.

"Extreme mobilization" is a very test of a country's organizational ability. Not everyone is willing to go to the battlefield, which requires a lot of work.

Or it was in the primitive feudal era, and the area of ​​rule was limited. At the lord's order, all the serfs took up their weapons and went to the battlefield.

Either they have suffered serious humiliation and nationalism has erupted, and everyone is willing to fight for the country; or they have encountered difficulties in survival and must use the weapons in their hands to gain living space for themselves.

These Popo Federations cannot rely on, so they can only rely on the government's organizational capabilities. After all, war is not just about summoning people, but also requires military training, and at the same time, it is necessary to ensure the supply of logistics supplies.

Vienna Palace

Putting down the intelligence in his hand, Franz asked: "If the Popo Federation conducts extreme mobilization, how many troops can it mobilize at most?"

After pondering for a while, Chief of Staff Albrecht replied slowly: "Based on the analysis of the data we have collected, the Popo Federation can mobilize up to six million people."

"Six million people" is not a six million army. People and army are two concepts, and not everyone can become qualified soldiers.

This "six million" simply eliminates physical disability and disease, proving that there are six million men of appropriate age in Pubo Federation.

It is impossible to train all these people into an army. The reason is very simple. There are still many positions in society that need people, and they are still indispensable.

Government agencies, hospitals, schools, military enterprises, scientific research institutions...

In addition to these positions, there are also a large number of special classes. If not nobles, European nobles will go to the battlefield, and the noble glory cannot tolerate them retreating at this time.

The main people who are unwilling to serve in the military are capitalists, middle class, small businessmen, experts and scholars... These people are rich and have social status, and are unwilling to work hard on the battlefield.

If the Berlin government includes them in service, it is estimated that the country will be in trouble.

Only after deducting all these will the Berlin government be able to mobilize them. After the mobilization, it will be screened and kicked out some of them that are not suitable for joining the army.

In the end, how many people there are depends on the screening standards of the Berlin government. Maybe three million, or four million, before the extreme mobilization, no one knows how many troops the Popo Federation can mobilize.

However, whether it is three million or four million, this number will shock the world.

The areas where Pratt and Russia fight are also limited. When the troops invested reach a certain level, they will reach the limit on the battlefield and cannot be increased infinitely.

After reaching the battlefield capacity limit, the Russian army can no longer maintain its military strength advantage on the battlefield, and Ivanov's conservative tactics will be difficult to play a role.

Theoretically, as long as the Prussian army has three million troops, not only can it invest two million on the front line, Moltke can defeat the Russians.

Franz asked in confusion: "Why, aren't you optimistic about the extreme mobilization of the Popo Federation?"

Chief of Staff Albrech nodded and explained: "The combat effectiveness of the army in the same country is also different. Once the Popo Federation conducts extreme mobilization, the combat effectiveness of the Puppet army will decline sharply.

There are not enough officers, soldiers lack training, and the quality of soldiers' sources has declined. Together with so many factors, the combat effectiveness of the Prussian army may be pulled to the same level as that of the Russian army.

What an elite army can do is simply not accomplished by ordinary troops.

The combat effectiveness of the troops has dropped significantly, and the commanders also need to get used to the time, and the most lacking thing on the battlefield is time.

The Tsarist government can now redeem the Popo Federation, and it will be the same in the future. It does not even need to win a battle. As long as it can cause major casualties to the Pu Dynasty, it can also win a war if it defeats the war.

Unless Moltke can make an amazing exchange, they will sooner or later be killed by the Russians' sea of ​​people tactics.

On this issue, Moltke and I have the same view. The advantage of Pu Jun lies in the power of the motor. Blind expansion means giving up this advantage."

This is also a warning to Austria. If you want to play the tactics of the sea of ​​people, learn that Russians focus on quantity and not quality. If you want to take care of both, just take a shower and go to bed!

Perhaps Austria can reserve in advance for officers of two or three million troops. Once this number rises to five million, six million, or even tens of millions, reserve in advance for dreams!

Cultivate all active soldiers into officers? I think beautifully, but in fact there are gaps between people. Not everyone can become a qualified officer.

An excellent soldier does not mean that he can also become an excellent officer. Many people are only suitable for being a soldier.

Even if you spend resources to cultivate, you will be at most a top-level. It takes only a few years for you to retire and return home and you will be beaten back to the prototype.

This kind of distress did not bother Franz for long, and he would be relieved to think about his competitors. The advantages and disadvantages are compared. You don’t need to do the best, just be better than your competitors.

Franz was not ready to be the second in Napoleon. Austria did not need to fight alone on the entire European continent. When encountering a separate enemy, it would not use so many troops at all.

After a little thought, Franz made a decision: "The Popo Federation has not reached its limit yet, and this war still needs to be fought, and the weapons technology originally planned to be sold is temporarily shelved."

Although the new weapons can make the war even more tragic, Franz dared not let it go rashly. What Austria wants is both Pratt and Russia to suffer losses, rather than bringing the Popo Federation back.

The same weapons and equipment can be used in different hands, and the combat power can be exerted completely different.

By looking at Ivanov's military use, you will know that he is a conservative. He has any kind of leadership and subordinates. The Russian army is definitely not as good as the General Army when using new weapons.

Whether it is a "machine gun" or a "mortar", these weapons that seem to have little force can explode are astonishingly lethal. If Moltke finds an opportunity, it might be able to reverse a major battle.

The Russians have a strong family background, and it is not scary to lose once on the front line. What is scary is that the failure of the war led to the replacement of generals by the Tsarist government.

Although Marshal Ivanov doesn’t have many highlights, he is still the most suitable commander for commanding the Russian army. If someone changes, who knows what the hell will come out?

It is not that Franz underestimated the Russians, their officer quality is generally slightly lower, which is reflected in their education level.

Senior officers are still good, and most of them have received complete education. Many middle and lower-level officers have only received family military education, and the proportion of officers trained by military academy is very low.

Otherwise, an international student in an Austrian military academy like Arden would not have risen to become a general in just a few years. (As mentioned earlier, the commander of the Koveli garrison)

It is not an alien monk who is good at chanting scriptures. The key is that compared with others, his abilities are indeed excellent, at least in theory and knowledge.

When using conservative tactics, it is just a fool's battle anyway, and the space for officers to display their personal abilities is limited, and this disadvantage is not obvious.

If a new commander is replaced and the combat mode is changed, the officers on the front line need to freely exert their personal command capabilities, and the Russians will suffer.

Perhaps a talented commander will emerge, but more of them are fools.

In a war of millions of people, individual power is insignificant. It is often not the very individual geniuses who decide the outcome of the war, but more so are countless fools.
To be continued...