Chapter 437: A strong nation is built through fighting (first update, please subscribe)

How do you make a doomed loser win a war?

It is very simple to solve this problem.

What is the simplest way?

It means giving the losers a large amount of assistance, such as sending troops, directly sending hundreds of thousands of troops, or even millions of troops, to give them the most direct military support.

But the problem is that Nanhua can't send so many troops to France. Not only because Nanhua doesn't have so many troops, but more importantly, the transportation capacity!

Transporting hundreds of thousands of troops across the Atlantic Ocean was something that South China could not do in the short term, not to mention that it was difficult for Britain, which had millions of tons of merchant ships, to do so in a short period of time.

How quickly did the French lose in history?

It seemed that less than two months passed from the declaration of war to the emperor's surrender. There was even a meme about this: the brand new French rifle had never been fired and was only thrown to the ground once.

It was naturally impossible to have thrown it only once when surrendering, but the defeat was so quick that it simply blinded the eyes of all countries. From then on, the daily humiliation of France... was just the beginning.

In this case, aid France?

It is estimated that by the time the Nanhua army arrived, the French emperor had already surrendered, and the Second Empire would have perished.

Completing this task under such circumstances is absolutely epic in difficulty. This difficulty is even more difficult than letting the Chinese national football team win the World Cup.

But no matter how difficult it is, we have to do it. After all, this matter concerns the future of Nanhua.

"Will they really fail?"

As the chief of staff, Sun Hu looked at the report with some confusion.

He was not unfamiliar with the report, but he didn't believe it at all. After all, in 1859, France easily defeated the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was the second most powerful country in the world!

And what about Prussia?

Today's Prussia and the North German Confederation are nothing more than agricultural countries! Well, this is only compared to France. In fact, unlike the impression of Germany as an industrial power in later generations, Germany's industrial capacity in 1870 was indeed not very good. It was far from comparable to France.

This is also the reason why France was assisted. After France was defeated, at least until the 1890s, no country could really contain Britain.

Even in the 1890s, if it were not for the aggressive attitude shown by William II, Britain would still regard France as its main opponent, and Germany would not pose any threat to them in the eyes of the British.

Historically, it was not until 1904 that Britain reached a reconciliation with France and established an alliance in the face of the full rise of Germany, especially the threat posed by their ambitions.

What did the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 destroy? It was the basis for the confrontation between France and Britain. For 30 years after that, no country could contain the British.

In this situation, aiding France became the only option, unless Nanhua wanted the British to intervene in South America without scruples.

However, for the people of today, no one will doubt the strength of France. After all, since Napoleon, France has established its status as a powerful country.

In the world, France is definitely the second most powerful country now, and it can compete with Britain in many aspects.

Because of this, after reading the report, Sun Hu did not take it seriously at all, and even told it to Zuo Zongtang as a joke. He never thought that the speaker was unintentional, but the listener took it seriously. Not only did Zuo Zongtang believe it, but even His Majesty believed it.

"The French may lose or win, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that we must prepare for the worst. The war between France and Prussia is bound to break out. If my estimate is correct, it should break out within the next two months. We must be prepared."

Sun Hu had no doubt that a war would break out between France and Prussia. Even in America, he knew that France and Prussia were in conflict over the issue of succession to the Spanish throne.

"Prepare?"

"right,"

Nodding, Zhu Xianhai said.

"Once France declares war on Prussia, as a friendly country of France, we will also declare war on Prussia. After all, Charlotte is from the Bonaparte family. Of course, this is only the superficial reason why we stand on the side of the French. Another reason is that this war is of great benefit to us!"

Zhu Xianhai smiled as he took a cigar out of the cigar box, lit it with the cut end of a cigar pliers, took a deep puff, and savored the aroma of the Cuban cigar.

"Ji Gao, you should say it!"

Zuo Zongtang nodded and said to Sun Hu.

"General Sun, on the surface, it seems that we should not intervene in the Franco-Prussian War! After all, this European war is too far away from us. However, through various signs and analysis, France is likely to lose this war. If we can turn the tide, not only can France continue to contain the British and prevent them from interfering in South American affairs, but more importantly - the status of the country!"

“Statehood?”

Sun Hu was slightly stunned, then frowned and said.

"If we can win, then we will be able to stand on equal footing with the established European powers!"

"right,"

After exhaling a puff of smoke, Zhu Xianhai nodded heavily.

"In this world, the standard for evaluating strong and great countries is very simple. It's not about how big your land is, but whether you can defeat a strong country on the battlefield. Perhaps Prussia is not one of the great powers in Europe, but until now, we - Nanhua, even after the founding of Nanhua, if we want to win the true respect of European countries, we must go through war, war... Only through war, only by defeating the European powers on the battlefield, can they respect us!"

War is the only criterion for evaluating a powerful country!

It's not that Europeans are mean and will only give in if you hit them on the head. It's that in this world where the strong prey on the weak, only predators can be strong. No matter if they want to eat meat or not, they must prove that they are predators. How do they prove it? That is to defeat the former predators.

Then what?

After becoming a predator, you can naturally hunt prey in the hunting ground of the earth!

Before this, no one would be his prey.

"Only after we win their respect will we be qualified to sit on an equal footing with them and share the world at the table..."

Looking out the window, Zhu Xianhai said in a deep voice.

"If we only stay in South America, no European power will respect us, and we will not have any qualifications to fight for our prey in this world!"

Nodding, Sun Hu also took two puffs of his cigar and asked again.

“Will France really lose?”

“They can’t win!”

Zuo Zongtang said directly.

"Their military disadvantage is very obvious. From a diplomatic perspective, the French emperor's policy of making friends with nearby countries and attacking distant countries over the years has offended all the allies around him that could be used. First, the Crimean War made them enemies with the Russians; helping Italy fight against Austria-Hungary offended Austria-Hungary; and what about the British? The British policy has always been a continental balance of power policy, opposing whoever is stronger. Now that France is stronger than Prussia, the British will naturally support Prussia, no matter how good your relationship with the British is, the British are like this. Moreover, Britain and France are not friendly to each other, so their failure is inevitable."

Once upon a time, when Zuo Zongtang first arrived in Europe, he had marveled at the development of European science and technology industry countless times. However, as he got to know Europe better, he discovered the hidden dangers behind Europe's strength. These countries were too strong! Conflicts in interests meant that war would inevitably break out between them.

It was also from that time that Zuo Zongtang paid great attention to Europe. Only when Europe was plunged into war, Nanhua, far away in South America, would have the opportunity to gain greater returns in their war.

Only when they were caught in a war could Nanhua take advantage of their lack of time to look east and take the opportunity to expand outward.

"France's defeat is already inevitable, but our intervention may change this outcome, however!"

Picking up the cigar, Zhu Xianhai took a puff and then blew out a smoke ring.

"How should we get the most generous rewards possible in this war! Of course, when considering this issue, we also need to consider another issue, how to help France win this war!"

Helping the French will definitely not be in vain. The French will definitely have to pay some price. After all, there is no free lunch in this world.

Then he picked up the phone again and asked.

"Hey, is Li Du here?"

(End of this chapter)