Fox of France

After Austria withdrew from the war, the entire anti-French alliance basically fell apart. After the Austrians sued for peace, the Prussians immediately followed up and said: "In fact, we have no malice against France. We fought because of a misunderstanding. So everyone had better sit down and talk. After all, everyone loves peace."

At this time, France and Prussia are not yet on the border. After Austria stopped fighting, the French and Prussians could not fight unless they crossed the neutral country. Therefore, the two countries also started peace talks. However, it is precisely because the two countries do not have much to do now, so the negotiations between the two countries have been delayed instead.

Prussia was indeed willing to withdraw from the war but he demanded assurances from the French that no action would be taken against Hanover. But in the eyes of the French, Hanover is a sharp weapon used to threaten Britain and force Britain to withdraw from the war.

Because at this time, it was the Hanoverian Dynasty that ruled Britain, and the King of England was also the Elector of Hanover. Although the United Kingdom and Hannover are two countries in law, they share a head of state.

The French navy has always been inferior to the British navy, and after the Toulon rebellion, the French navy suffered heavy losses, and naturally it was unable to challenge the British sea power. As for things like landing in the UK, that's even more... Although the English Channel is not wide, it is not possible to send an army across with a bathtub.

Therefore, the only thing the French can do is to attack the interests of the British on the European continent. After Napoleon conquered Northern Italy, he went on to blackmail throughout Italy. Not even the Pope could escape his murderous hand. Naturally, other countries were terrified and dared not have any contact with the British at all. It was a heavy blow to British interests.

After that, after occupying the Rhine, General Joubert sent to the Netherlands, forcing the entire Netherlands to join the French camp. The Netherlands is an important gateway for British goods to enter the European continent, so this is another blow to the British.

However, the British still behaved very stubbornly, and their attitude was still so stubborn that they didn't know the current affairs. The British are not opposed to peace negotiations, but their condition is that France will return to its original borders, but the French colonies that Britain seized during the war will not be returned-this is completely treating France as a defeated country!

Therefore, the French can only use Hanover to threaten Britain. But once France really occupies Hanover, it will border Prussia, which is obviously not good for Prussia. Therefore, the negotiations with Prussia have also been delayed because of this.

Of course, the opinion of Prussia was not enough to prevent the French from taking action against Hanover. Not long after Napoleon left Austria, the French attacked Hanover and quickly occupied Hanover. As for Prussia, although he protested a few times, his body was very honest and he didn't dare to move.

So although there are still many things that have not been completely resolved, the war is actually impossible to fight.

Now there is only one conflict left, and that is at sea.

In fact, after France captured Hannover, Britain's attitude relaxed slightly. The reason is actually simple. Britain can no longer find a decent ally on the mainland, and, recently, because of the market it lost on the European continent, Too much, and the economy isn't doing too well in the UK.

The British stated that they could recognize France's control of the Rhine region, but the French must withdraw from Hanover, and the independence of the Netherlands must be guaranteed, and the markets of all European countries, including France, can be reopened to the UK.

If it is only these, this condition is actually not impossible to discuss. But in France, this plan was opposed by the military system.

The obvious reason is of course: "How can we easily send out the places we have captured?" But the deeper reason is that for some people, it is more beneficial for them to continue the conflict at sea for a period of time.

Relying on its superior navy, the British tried their best to block France's foreign trade routes. Of course, in order to avoid too large a range of attacks, it was merciful to some neutral ships, but French ships were indeed attacked by the British on various routes. The merciless blow of man.

But there is one French ship that will not be hit, and that is the clipper. With a speed much higher than that of British warships, this kind of ship can easily break through the interception of British warships and go to ports in other regions. Therefore, as long as the British blockade of France continues, the sales of clipper ships will be very good, and the profit margin will be very high.

Throughout France, the original ships were unable to go to sea because of the British blockade, or they might never return after going to sea. This means that if those ship owners still want to do sea trade, they must buy clippers from someone to replace their old ships that are difficult to use under the British blockade. These ship owners can only sell the old ships in their hands to foreigners at a low price, and then order new clipper ships from some guys.

Now that the French have taken control of Italy and the Netherlands, basically the main foreign trade ports in Europe are in the hands of the French, which makes some people even have higher ambitions.

"Britain is the most dangerous enemy of France. We can compromise with other enemies, but as long as we want France to become the king of Europe, there is no possibility of compromise between us and Britain-well, of course, this is only the most superficial." The truth. My brother, do you understand?" Joseph raised his legs and said to Lucien.

At this time, Joseph had already moved part of the research institute back to Paris, which also meant that he had more time to educate his younger brother.

"Of course I know that you want to use the British, you want the British to intercept not only French ships, but also Italian and Dutch ships, so that you can sell the Clippers at a higher price. ’ replied Lucien.

"No, no, no... Lucien, you are still too young and naive. I don't want to do this, because the backlash will be too great. I just need you to make such a noise in the parliament, and I don't need you to let the parliament pass such Resolutions such as banning British goods from entering the ports of other countries." Joseph said, "Such wind itself can bring considerable pressure to people from all walks of life. Parliament failed to pass it this time, so what about next time? Will the parliament pass it next time? And once such a resolution is passed, will the British block the routes of ships from other countries in turn? With such concerns, who else would go to What about buying old ships that are hard to escape the British blockade? Now you understand?"

"In this way, traditional European shipbuilding companies will fall into crisis, and then we will buy them at a low price!" Lucien clapped his hands excitedly.

"My stupid brother!" Joseph shook his head and said, "You really don't understand! No matter how cheap those shipyards are, buying them will cost a lot of money! Where do we have the money to spend so much now? Why do we want to buy them? spend money?"

"Then what are you going to do? Is it that alliance again?" Lucien said, "I really don't know what's so good about this alliance. I really think that it's really the best that belongs to me."

"Stupid! The real deal is yours? What is the real deal is yours? Money is! If we really spend a lot of money on acquiring shipyards, these shipyards will bring us money faster than building an alliance , and then quickly use this alliance to gain the speed of income? Is this a very, very simple math problem? For you, it should not be difficult at all. Why don’t you react now?”

Joseph put down his raised legs, sat up straight, and stared at Lucien: "Lucien, you've drank too much wine recently and spent too much energy with those dubious women, causing your mind to Severely degenerated... Well, I should find a way to help you restore your intelligence level..."

"Of course I can figure it out clearly. It doesn't take me a second to figure it out." Lucien hurriedly said, "But if you do this, the money will come in faster in the early stage, but the total income is not as good as buying it yourself! I see you ..."

"This kind of situation is caused by the political situation. The political situation is changeable. If you think too long-term, the risk will be greater. I think you must have ignored this variable in your one-second calculation. Otherwise, you will definitely ignore it in one second. I don't know," Joseph said.

"That's just an exaggeration, rhetorical..." Lucien's voice became softer. Apparently he did ignore this variable.

"It's not that you ignore the most important variable." Joseph continued, "Our business is not just the same, we have multiple business lines in our hands, and the transfer of funds among them will bring different ups and downs of income. If the same money is invested in shipbuilding, you can get a certain amount of income; if you invest it in another business, you can also get a corresponding amount of income. What kind of coordination makes this limited fund more efficient? How complicated is this? I I feel that this is not as simple as proving the four-color problem, but you tell me that you can figure it out in a second!"

Speaking of this, Joseph showed a tiger-like smile: "So, Lucien, don't quibble, there is no doubt that your math ability has declined. Well... I just need some people to help me in one of my jobs Take care of the calculations..."

"Okay..." Lucien turned pale, "But, Joseph, I have other jobs..."

"Don't worry, it won't be too difficult, and it won't be too tiring for you." Joseph said, "Actually, this is just for you to have a deeper understanding of the development direction of our business."