Holy Roman Empire

The London Government shirked its responsibilities, leaving the Chilean Government with a headache. Without British support, they wouldn’t dare to detain the vessels of over twenty nations, even if they had the gall to try.

At La Moneda Palace, the Chilean Foreign Minister Domingo said, "Your Excellency, President, these are the diplomatic protests from various nations. Under France and Austria’s instigation, an envoy delegation has already been assembled. What do you think?"

There was no avoiding it. President Aníbal waved his hand dismissively, "You deal with it first. Test their bottom line, then decide what to do."

In this age of survival of the fittest, international diplomacy is guided by the principle of bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

It was the British Navy that detained the ships and confiscated the cargo; everyone else merely protested to the London Government. Under both internal and external pressure, the British shifted the blame onto the Chilean Government, triggering an immediate change in the situation.

Protest?

No, that was too civilized. It seemed the imposing envoy delegation knew that if the Chilean Government did not bleed for this, the issue would not be settled.

Offending the British was out of the question, but offending the Chilean wasn’t, and now countries didn’t need France and Austria to lead; they were taking initiative on their own.

President Aníbal was already flustered. The British stance was clear. If the Chilean Government couldn’t withstand the pressure, they would lift the blockade and let these ships pass.

This was something the Chilean Government could not accept. If Bolivia and Peru received external aid, Chile’s hopes of winning the war would become increasingly distant.

Seeing that President Aníbal was out of options, Foreign Minister Domingo suggested, "Your Excellency, we cannot react passively. We must also present a plan to show our sincerity to other nations.

While it appears many countries are now protesting, in reality, it’s mainly France and Austria. The other nations aren’t significantly involved and are primarily just trying to make their presence felt. Apologizing should suffice to handle them.

We must take the initiative and divide the envoy delegation. To achieve this, our power alone is not enough; we also need British cooperation."

President Aníbal shook his head, "Dividing and dissolving seems good in theory, but it’s actually useless.

France and Austria support Bolivia and Peru; we can’t offer enough benefits to buy them over. The stance of the other countries is of little importance; it doesn’t matter if we offend them.

The problem is that due to internal and external pressure, the London Government’s stance has already wavered. You should be aware that among the detained ships are those belonging to British shipping companies.

These people are all losers in the struggle for profits, looking to trade with Peru and Bolivia to recoup their losses."

Chile had given purchase orders and shipping contracts to British shipping companies, seemingly compensating for their lost markets in Peru and Bolivia. In actuality, only a few benefited from this arrangement.

Many capitalists, due to not being well-connected, gained no advantages and some even saw their interests harmed; naturally, they were not content.

This didn’t deter the capitalists. If they couldn’t benefit from Chile, they would continue doing business with Peru and Bolivia. Free trade, after all, must be free.

It brings to mind the Near East wars, where British merchants still smuggled goods to Russia; during the Ethiopian war, British merchants smuggled arms to the resistance. What’s happening now is nothing by comparison.

A thorough investigation would reveal that some parties were benefiting from Chile while also trading with Peru and Bolivia.

With ships detained and goods confiscated, their revenue streams were cut off. For capitalists, it’s obvious that playing both sides maximizes profits.

The unrest within Britain essentially stems from capitalists seeking greater profits, stirring up the public to cause trouble.

Compared to their own interests, what is government strategy? It’s best if the South American war continues indefinitely, so everyone can continue profiting from it.

President Aníbal, who also comes from a legal background, was very aware of the appetites of capitalists. If the London Government couldn’t suppress domestic capital, the so-called blockade would soon be nothing more than a facade.

Foreign Minister Domingo argued, "Your Excellency, we must trust in the London Government. Currently, with the comprehensive blockade, no one can navigate this route, and the nations are still tolerating it.

If the Royal Navy makes concessions and allows only their own ships to navigate, do you think the nations will remain tolerant?

I fear at that point, they will perceive it as a British plot to monopolize South American trade.

If it truly comes to that, with their interests severely compromised, who knows if France and Austria might lead the formation of an Anti-British Alliance?"

It’s not a matter of "if" but "will." Where interests lie, anything can happen as long as the stakes are high enough.

After a moment of hesitation, President Aníbal asked, "What do you plan to do? We don’t have many chips in our hands; it’s very difficult to buy off so many countries."

Foreign Minister Domingo: "It all depends on the commitment of the British. If the London Government’s support is strong enough, and France and Austria are tied up by the situation in Europe, then the diplomatic pressure from other countries is trivial.

All we need to do is bribe France and Austria with some interests, like selling them saltpeter at a low price every year, or opening our domestic market to them.

We don’t need their support, just to stabilize France and Austria. Once the war is over, it will be much easier to discuss these matters.

For other countries, it depends on the actual situation. For example, in South American countries like Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, those who can provide assistance to the enemy should be won over first.

We don’t need to give out much in actual benefits, just issue blank checks. Use their ambitions and stabilize them with the interests of Bolivia and Peru, and whether to cash in after the war will depend on the actual situation.

The importance of other countries that have no ability to influence this war is inherently low, so we can put them off for now."

Continue your adventure with NovelBin.Côm

The law of the jungle is vividly demonstrated here. Reality once again proves that justice and principles need to be protected by artillery.

President Aníbal nodded, "Hmm, follow your plan then! I will go see the British Ambassador now. Leave the diplomatic corps to you and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to handle."

...

While the Chileans were taking action, the situation on the Prussian-Russian battlefield changed again. After the Prussian Army split their forces, the Russians in Camian couldn’t resist the temptation and counterattacked.

An unexpected scene unfolded: the probing counterattack actually routed the Prussian Army, achieving their first major victory since the outbreak of the war.

After seeing the battle report, Franz even doubted if he was reading it wrong. When had the Russians become so fierce? It was as if they were playing with a cheat code!

Not only was Franz stunned, even the Russians themselves were dumbfounded. They completely did not anticipate why the Prussian Army suddenly became so vulnerable.

You should know that even after splitting their forces, the Prussian Army in the Camian area still had twenty thousand troops. Normally, with so many troops holding their ground, it would be practically impossible for the Russian Army to win in such a short period of time.

The war had been over for two days now, and General Olivier Sonnfeld was still dazed, not knowing how this pie had fallen onto his head.

General Olivier Sonnfeld did not let victory go to his head and chose to quit while he was ahead, deciding against expanding his gains further.

A knock sounded on the office door. Olivier Sonnfeld: "Come in!"

A young officer reported nervously: "General, something’s not right. Interrogating the Prussian prisoners, we found that these soldiers were transferred here a week ago, and most of them have been in service for less than a month.

Colonel Daniel, who was in charge of guarding the prisoners, discovered during his inspection of the POW camp that the uniforms we captured were mostly too old or too small, with less than one fifth being able-bodied men and many of them Polish.

All signs indicate that the enemy force we routed is not the same one that we fought before. They were probably just cannon fodder intended to draw our attention, and the enemy’s main force has already moved."

General Olivier Sonnfeld’s face turned pale, and he hurriedly opened the map to study the movements of the Prussian Army.

"This is bad, the enemy’s target is Brest. The Prussian forces that left three days ago were not one infantry division, but two. Their target is not Pinsk, and the detour was only to distract our attention.

Immediately send a telegram to the headquarters explaining our situation. Also, notify the garrison in Brest to be on high alert."

The young officer reminded him: "General, if we report this directly, our military achievements will be greatly diminished. How about we embellish it a bit, or wait until the news is announced to the whole army before reporting?"

Having finally won a battle, everyone could have been promoted and honored. If that were messed up all of a sudden, everyone would likely harbor grievances.

After hesitating for a moment, Olivier Sonnfeld shook his head, "This message is too important, it must be reported immediately. You can polish it up a bit.

Say that we interrogated the prisoners and discovered the enemy was hiding strength, and that the Prussian forces that left three days ago consisted of two divisions with Brest possibly as their target.

Secretly execute part of the prisoners and add them to the data for eliminated remaining enemies. Gather the able-bodied prisoners, have war correspondents take some photos to send back, and who would dare to challenge our military achievements?

Defeating a second-rate Prussian force is an achievement enough; any more than that and the folks back home wouldn’t believe it.

You deal with the pertinent details. The victory has been announced, and as long as it looks acceptable, the government is not going to scrutinize.

The overall situation must be prioritized, but military honors cannot be sacrificed. That means, unfortunately, the prisoners must be sacrificed, especially since there’s a higher-than-normal ratio of old and weak among the captives this time, and it would be easy for others to notice something’s amiss if we don’t dispose of some."