Chapter 560 Equivalent Exchange

Chapter 561 Equivalent Exchange

"If we can trade Lignitz for Gdańsk," Mencken glanced at his king, "I think it is completely acceptable to us strategically."

"Gdansk?" William II stopped and shouted, "That place was mine. The British actually asked me to exchange my own things for Lignitz!"

Although Gdansk, that is, Danze, is currently Polish territory, with Poland's national power, it is difficult to effectively rule this enclave separated by Prussia.

After Prussia and Poland signed an alliance agreement, this place was basically managed by Prussia. Of course, Poland still gets the majority of the port's profits.

With a knock on the door, Prince Heinrich stepped in - as the pillar of Prussia, he could come in and out of Sanssouci Palace almost at will.

He briefly saluted William II and immediately said: "Your Majesty, what we exchanged for Lignitz is not Gdansk, but legal legitimacy.

"Although we have the management rights of Gdansk now, that is because Poland is in chaos. If they regain their national strength, it will no longer belong to us soon.

"To really get Gdansk, I'm afraid the only way is to fight a war, as the British say."

William II immediately fell silent. His uncle had analyzed the situation in the east to him many times before, so he also knew that if he was delayed by the war in Silesia, he would never be able to launch the war he needed - a war against Poland.

"But why didn't the Austrians give in..."

As soon as he opened his mouth, he was interrupted by Prince Heinrich: "Your Majesty, I am here to report to you. Just now, the British envoy received instructions from the Parliament and decided to provide us with 500,000 pounds of assistance to help us complete the task." Make necessary preparations for war and compensate us for the concessions we have made.”

"I just want a 500,000 loan..."

William II was suddenly startled and looked at Prince Heinrich: "Did you say 'aid' instead of 'loan'?"

The latter nodded: "Yes, Your Majesty, it is aid. Half of it is military supplies and the other half is money."

William II suddenly beamed. Loans have to be repaid and even interest is attached, but aid is given for free!

With Prussia's current financial situation, this money is simply a solution to an urgent need.

He suddenly felt that the British were not much worse than Peter III.

Prince Heinrich continued: "Your Majesty, we can use this money to carry out military reforms and expand armaments. In this way, in the subsequent war, we will be able to obtain more land in addition to Gdansk.

"For example, the vast south bank of the Vistula River. This is far greater than Lignitz's benefit."

Mencken duly added: "Your Majesty, if we have enough troops, we may be able to wash away the humiliation suffered in the Southern Netherlands."

He was naturally referring to Blücher being defeated by the French army and driven all the way from Liège to Namun.

Finally, William II nodded heavily and said to Prince Heinrich: "Please tell the British envoy that I will summon him tomorrow."

…

While the King of Prussia was engaging in political intrigue with the British envoy, Paris was already smelling the stormy atmosphere of chaos and unrest.

In the office on the second floor of the Tuileries Palace, Joseph was still recalling what Fouche had just reported to him.

The British cabinet is obviously planning a strategic plan of unprecedented scale - although this is Britain's top secret, there are so many people involved in the planning that it is difficult not to detect some signs.

Based on various clues, the Intelligence Bureau analyzed and concluded that the target was probably France. It involves various aspects such as diplomacy, military, and economy.

"It seems that France has developed too fast in the past two years, which has aroused the vigilance of the troublemakers."

Joseph put away the intelligence documents in front of him and rubbed his eyebrows, "This British government is really full of talents. It noticed the anomaly so quickly and responded even more quickly."

Historically, Britain relied on the talented politicians who emerged at the end of the 18th century - Pitt the Younger, Wellesley, Grenville, Cavendish-Benyanke, George Canning, etc. - to escort the country. Britain completed the industrial revolution all the way and finally ascended to the throne of world hegemony.

The British attack came much earlier than he expected.

It is really not an easy task to compete with these talented people...

Although Joseph does not yet know the specific plan of the British, judging from history, it is likely that continental balance will still be achieved.

Fortunately, although Britain is rich, although it can influence most of Europe's trade, and although it dominates the world's oceans, their army is simply not enough to challenge France.

This determined that Britain had to find an agent on the European continent and then carry out complex strategic deployment before it could launch a siege against France.

This process certainly cannot be accomplished overnight, so I should still have one to two years to prepare.

Joseph took a deep breath. The British reacted quickly, but his cheating reaction was even faster! Let's see who wins in the end.

He immediately took out a pen and paper, began to organize his thoughts, and wrote down the countermeasures he thought of from time to time.

First, the conflict with Britain would eventually end in war. Therefore, military expansion and preparation for war are top priorities.

The current core combat strength of the Guards Corps plus the Mulan Corps barely reaches 30,000 troops.

This is basically enough when there is no national war. A smaller number of people can also save military expenses, but if a full-scale war with Britain and its allies is to be launched, at least 80,000 people are needed to be safe.

It is by no means an easy task to expand the size of the Guards Corps by 160% in one or two years.

These new troops spend much more than the old army in terms of military pay, weapons and equipment, and even daily training.

With the current size of the army, last year's military expenditure exceeded 50 million francs, and this is based on the large amount of logistics expenses paid by Austria.

If the Guards Corps is expanded to 80,000 people, it is estimated that the maintenance cost will be 90 million francs, and it will easily exceed 200 million if a war breaks out.

You know, in history, France used a large number of extremely "cheap" volunteers to support it 10 years later, and the military expenditure easily exceeded 400 million francs.

With France's current financial situation, if the war is not going well, it may face the risk of collapse.

Joseph couldn't help but sigh. In the end, the war is still about money.

In history, the British relied on their wealth and blood to suffer defeat after defeat, but in the end they still defeated the King of Napoleon.

Therefore, accelerating industrial development, accelerating agricultural reform, and expanding trade as much as possible are also the most important tasks at present.

Fortunately, the reforms in finance, taxation, market and land in China have been initially completed, which also gives them the confidence to fight.