Last time, Menshikov asked the Prussian and Austrian embassies to help him find out information. Did he succeed?
Well……
Let's put it this way, you can say that he succeeded, that's right, because the Austrian and Prussian embassies agreed to help.
But you want to say that it is really useful? That’s not necessarily true.
why?
The reason is that the Holy Alliance has ceased to exist in name only. Due to the Hungarian Revolution, the relationship between Austria and Russia is actually not very good. They have long been at odds with each other. As for Prussia, it is also because of Russia's favoritism towards Austria after the European Revolution that they and Russia
Big Brother is also a bedfellow, and we are no longer of the same mind.
What's more, Austria itself has great interests in the Balkans and has always been very repulsive to Russia's expansion. Now Nicholas I is doing tricks in Bulgaria. To be honest, Austria is actually very bored.
It's just that Russia seems too strong and powerful, and Austria, which was tortured to death by the Hungarian Revolution, has not yet recovered its strength and has no courage to fall out with the polar bear.
This time, when they heard that the British had taken a strong note to Menshikov, the Austrians were actually very happy. They wished that they could take advantage of Britain and Russia. How could they sincerely help to find out the information?
To put it bluntly, they were just coping with the situation, and at most they were trying to prevaricate it with some information that everyone on the street could know.
As for Prussia, as mentioned before, they are almost like bedfellows with Russia. They may be slightly stronger than Austria and will not be particularly perfunctory, but they will not really go out of their way to find out the information.
After all, Prussia does not have many interests in the Balkans, and their focus is not in that direction. It is obviously unrealistic for them to use favors to help Russia gather intelligence.
So Menshikov paid a visit and felt that it would be safe to have this group of friends to help him find out the information. However, he did not know that this was a useless effort.
From this, it can be seen that he does not have much diplomatic ability. Anyone who is sensitive to the international situation knows that neither Austria nor Prussia can be trusted at this time. If Duke Alexander were here, he would definitely not commit such a crime.
If this is a low-level mistake, he will definitely try his best to find out the information from various channels instead of pinning all his hopes on unreliable allies.
This was the first and most serious mistake Menshikov made. From the beginning, his subjective initiative and international sensitivity were not strong, and he did not realize the seriousness of the problem at all.
Then, he didn't have much awareness to actively resolve the crisis. He just waited for the news stupidly and allowed a group of conspirators in Britain who already hated Russia to cause trouble.
For three whole days, Menshikov did nothing. However, London or the whole of Britain was inflamed by Russian hatred. The major British newspapers spared no effort to exaggerate Russia's aggressiveness and pity Turkey.
of pity.
In short, Russia is packaged as a vicious bully, while Turkey is a little pitiful bully. When the entire British public opinion circle is dominated by this argument, our Prince Menshikov is still enjoying himself
I went out hunting and playing with a few good friends from the noble family.
Of course, Menshikov himself said that he was actively expanding relations and conveying the friendship of the Romanov family to the British royal family.
When the old eunuch returned to London, he was suddenly shocked to find that a British mob had thrown rotten eggs at his luxury carriage with a double eagle emblem. This confused guy didn't even know why, and even lost his temper.
He denounced Baron Brown Brunov for not doing things well enough for allowing a bunch of pariahs to humiliate Russia.
"Your Excellency, haven't you read the newspaper?" Baron Brown Brunov asked with a grimace.
Menshikov asked displeasedly: "What newspaper? I never read nonsense!"
Baron Brunov sighed again and said: "I think you'd better take a look. The incident caused by the Black Sea Fleet made the British very angry, causing a sensation in both the government and the public. They generally demanded justice for Turkey!"
"Justice?" Menshikov frowned and snorted: "What are you talking about! How can Christians stand on the side of pagans? This is definitely a trick of some bastards. Go and report it to the British Foreign Office.
, let them punish these bastards severely!"
Baron Brunov was shocked. He looked at Menshikov like an alien. He didn't know whether the special envoy was really stupid or pretending to be stupid. It took him a long time to realize that this envoy really didn't understand the twists and turns.
Wandering around, he could only patiently explain:
"Sir, based on my observation, I think it is impossible for the British Foreign Office to agree to your request. Because the current public opinion in the UK is very unfavorable to us, and it is impossible for them to go against the mainstream public opinion! Even..."
After a pause, Baron Brunov reminded in a low voice: "It is not even ruled out that these things were directed by the British Foreign Office!"
Menshikov's cloudy eyes were full of confusion. He couldn't understand what Baron Brunov was saying at all. Because he felt that the British Foreign Office should serve the British royal family, and the royal family had always had a good attitude towards Russia towards him.
So there is no reason for the British Foreign Office to give him eye drops.
In addition, he has no idea what public opinion is, because there is no public opinion in Russia at all. Even if there is public opinion, it is not important at all. The important thing is not to make the tsar happy, right?
So he lectured him very unhappily: "What the hell are you talking about? The current situation is that some British mobs who don't know the so-called are working against us. What does it have to do with the British Foreign Office?"
Well, Baron Brunov was completely desperate. He knew that it was impossible to explain the ins and outs of the matter to this old confused man in just a few words, and he did not have the patience. He could only make himself appear as sincere as possible, and then reminded
:
"Your Majesty, I think the most important thing for you right now is to defend His Majesty the Black Sea Fleet. We can no longer allow these little bastards to taint us. You must take a tough attitude and shut up these lousy little guys, otherwise our troubles will get bigger and bigger.
!”
In Baron Brunov's view, the only way now is to put pressure on the British Foreign Office to force them to settle the matter. In his view, as long as the British are not ready to truly fall out with them, such pressure will definitely be effective.
What about Menshikov? Although the old eunuch still hasn’t figured out what role the British Foreign Office played in the incident, he also agrees with letting the British settle the matter themselves, because this seems to him to be perfectly normal...