Chapter 715: The Peace Talks between Pu and Austria
In the command cabin of the "Shahe", a tea table was placed.
Bao Youzhi is a person who likes to enjoy himself.
This was still on the frigate he was temporarily on board. If it were on his flagship "Zhenhai", those guys dedicated to his use would have more things to do.
Bao Youzhi is now in his thirties and is more mature and steady. Guo Yan, who is sitting opposite him, looks much more immature.
Facing this senior in the navy, the commander-in-chief of the combined fleet, Guo Yan was still a little uneasy.
He had only heard some rumors about this man. Although Commander Bao had a gentle appearance, his character could be described as wild and unruly.
At that time, he left many popular stories in the North Sea Fleet.
Among them, the story of leading the people from various villages in Jiangdong to fight against Tsarist Russia is the most exciting.
At this moment, he was actually face to face with this senior, on an equal footing?
Although Guo Yan even visited the president's home and had dinner at the same table with the president.
But at this time, facing this senior in the same industry, I was still a little nervous.
"Guo Yan, that's right. He's really a talented person and he leads the troops very well. He actually lurked around us like this without even my men noticing. He is indeed the Thirteenth Taibo under the President." Bao Youzhi picked up the teapot and gave it to Guo Yan.
Yan poured a cup of tea.
The title of the Thirteen Taibao has been coined in Xinjing in the past two years. It refers to the thirteen young men who have come out of the Youth Military Academy to work and have made some achievements in their fields.
Guo Yan is one of them.
Guo Yan modestly refused to take it seriously.
"Commander Bao, my subordinate has no other intention. I just want to test the submarine's stealth performance."
"Actually, the main reason is that the lookouts on the warships lack understanding of submarines. Otherwise, when the submarine dived just now, the lookouts would have discovered us." Guo Yan was worried that Bao Youzhi would think too much, so he explained first.
.
"No, no, the enemy's ignorance of our own side is itself an advantage for us in combat. And you don't have to be nervous when talking to me. Just say whatever you want. You should have heard about my character." Bao Youzhi looked a little delicate.
With a smile on his face, he tried to relax the atmosphere of the chat.
"Yes, Commander Bao, by the way, Commander, are you going to Jaffna?" Guo Yan asked.
"Yeah, I'm just here to find you!"
Next, Bao Youzhi told Guo Yan the information about the Dayu fleet.
Although Guo Yan lacks actual combat experience, he can also see the gap between the two sides.
This battle will be difficult to win with the combined fleet alone.
The gap in tonnage and firepower is too big.
"Commander Bao, our submarine detachment requests to join the war." Guo Yan knew that this was an opportunity for the submarine detachment.
"Join the war? How do you join the war?"
"I know you can lurk underwater, but on the battlefield of the fleet battle, the firepower is too dense. How can you get close to the enemy?"
"Not to mention the possibility of accidental damage from cannonballs. It's just that your speed cannot catch up with the advancing enemy ships."
After learning about the parameters of the submarine from Guo Yan just now, Bao Youzhi's heart dropped.
This submarine's survivability on the battlefield is too weak.
Just being accidentally injured by a cannonball falling in the sea may end the game.
This rudimentary submarine cannot even reach a speed of ten knots underwater.
The speed of sailing on the water is not slow.
Mainly because the current battery and motor technology are not yet in place.
This speed simply cannot catch up with the Daying fleet in battle.
"Commander, although we can't sneak into the battlefield directly, we can set up a preset battlefield."
"Of course this requires the cooperation of the fleet!"
Bao Youzhi returned to Jaffna with the submarine.
The submarine base is located in a hidden bay. There are some islands and peninsulas separated from the Palk Strait.
Bao Youzhi stayed at the base for a day, and when he left, he had a satisfied smile on his face.
It seems that a way to break the situation has been found.
On the other side, the Great Army was located in the naval base in Mumbai, and a huge fleet quietly entered the port one night.
Because there are too many battleships, some battleships are too large.
Many warships were unable to dock and had to anchor in the harbor.
Everything within five kilometers of the port is under martial law.
Even the Indian workers, who were originally the most trusted members of the Yin Army, were not allowed to go near the port.
Even the work of replenishing supplies on the warship was done by Ying Jun himself.
The Yin Army's frigates were dispatched to conduct round-the-clock patrols outside the port.
Suddenly, the sound of cannons was heard outside the port.
The naval expeditionary fleet headquarters stationed in the port immediately sent additional ships to check.
An hour later, the news reached Sir Michael Seymour.
Admiral Sir Michael Seymour is the commander of the Great White Fleet.
This general has served in the East for decades and knows the place very well.
"Reporting to your Excellency, General, we have discovered two frigates of the Renaissance Army, but they ran too fast and we did not catch up." A colonel officer in charge of intelligence reported.
"The noses of these Renaissance troops are very sensitive. It seems that our whereabouts have been leaked. Send an order to the fleet to seize the time to repair it. Let's go south to settle the score with them."
Sir Seymour was tall and thin, with a handsome face. He was a challenging Puritan. His high nose gave his whole face a full aristocratic air, and his hair and beard made him look like a hunter.
A pair of eagle eyes seems to be able to penetrate people's hearts when speaking.
"Yes, General. The actions just now showed us that the speed of our frigate is almost the same as that of the revival ship."
"This is good news. In the future, the speed of battleships will be an important indicator of combat effectiveness. Our steam engines should be able to catch up with the power output of the Renaissance Army's naval steam engines. We will not suffer from speed during naval battles."
This Great White Fleet is almost completely copied from the appearance of the Renaissance Army Navy.
But they are larger and more numerous than the warships of the Renaissance Army Navy.
This is also the source of General Seymour's confidence.
As the Great Navy emerges from the surface, the great sea battle in the Indian Ocean that will determine the national destiny of the two great powers is about to begin.
However, at this time in Europa, everyone's attention was attracted by the brotherly showdown between Pu and Austria.
The number of troops gathered between North and South Germany has reached one million.
In order to show his neutral attitude, Wang Tao recently lived in Paris.
Although he was in Paris, Wang Tao was paying attention to the situation on the battlefield all the time.
At this time, it had been nearly two months since the Prussian-Austrian war began. On January 25, the sixth year of the Restoration, the Prussian army moved forward as ordered.
Both armies were groping forward because they did not know the specific location of the Austrian army, and their command could not be coordinated. Therefore, they moved very slowly when climbing over mountains and passes through mountain passes.
At this time, if the Austrian army, which was advancing in the northwest direction, could take advantage of the difficulty of the Prussian army's march and guard the passes in the south of the mountain, it would have been possible to defeat the Prussian army one by one.
Unfortunately, General Benedek was not a clever strategist, and he missed the opportunity in vain, allowing the Prussian army to successfully pass through the mountains and enter the Shannan area.
On January 26, the Elbe Army and the 1st Army of the Prussian Army that entered Shannan met the two armies of the Austrian Army led by General Albert on the west side of the Iser River. Albert did not dare to hold on to Iser.
Erhe, withdrew from the area without serious fighting and actively retreated toward the southeast.
The Elbe Army seized the opportunity and pursued the victory. At this time, the Prussian 2nd Army was still advancing hard over the mountains.
On the same day, the main force of the Austrian army led by Benedek, consisting of six corps and more than 280,000 men, had arrived in the area west of Jaromöshi on the upper reaches of the Elbe River.
He watched and waited there, trying to choose one between the two Prussian armies and preparing to concentrate his forces to attack them.
The next day, the main part of the Austrian army met the Prussian 2nd Army, but was defeated by the Prussian army, which was tired from the march.
Benedek learned of the attack on the security forces and ordered the troops to retreat westward, intending to concentrate all their forces in Bohemia and then choose one of the two to attack.
However, the consequences of retreat can only be a weakening of military morale and a loss of physical strength. The west side was also in trouble at this time.
After Albert's defeat at the Iser River, the pursuing Prussian army advanced step by step; after defeating the Austrian security forces on the eastern front, the Prussian 2nd Army also followed up step by step, aggressively.
In this way, the Austrian army suddenly lost the initiative and was caught between the two Prussian forces.
On January 30, Benedek led the main force of the Austrian army to retreat to the southeast to escape the Prussian pincer offensive.
On the night of February 1, the Austrian army reached the upper reaches of the Elbe River, located on the high ground between Kenigretz and Sadova.
Seeing the critical situation, Benedek decided to cross the Elbe River south on February 3, retreat south via Pardubice, and then plan a defensive strategy.
However, before he had time to retreat south, the decisive Battle of Sadowa began.
In the development of the war situation at that time, the Prussian army also appeared to be quite chaotic. Each legion attacked separately and lacked coordination. Some had lost unified command, and for a while they could not figure out the direction of the Austrian army's retreat.
Most of them thought that the Austrian army would retreat southward and return to Vienna via Pardubice.
In fact, the Austrian army had to move eastward because its southern flank was blocked. Because the Prussian army headquarters failed to grasp the situation in time, the Prussian army officers and soldiers were exhausted from continuous marching operations. In addition, the 1st and 2nd Army Corps
As some units of the Austrian army were mixed with each other, the headquarters was temporarily unable to conduct command and adjustment, and was unable to organize an effective tactical pursuit, which prevented the Austrian army from being completely destroyed.
In the Battle of Sadowa, the weapons of the Prussian army shined.
The Prussian rifles completely suppressed the Austrian rifles on the battlefield.
The weapons of the southern German states were even less effective, which is why the Prussian army was invincible on the battlefield.
The Prussian army also used preset machine gun positions to set up an ambush, instantly crippling an Austrian cavalry division.
In terms of artillery, the Krupp cannon used by the Prussian army also completely suppressed the Austrian artillery.
In the end, there was no suspense. The battle ended with a great victory for the Prussian army.
Although the casualties and captured personnel of the Austrian army amounted to more than 45,000.
However, Commander-in-Chief Benedek still led the main force of about 150,000 people to retreat safely.
The Prussian army suffered a total of about 10,000 casualties in the battle. After this battle, the fate of the war was finally decided, and Austria was unable to fight anymore.
It was not a matter of troop strength. The overwhelming superiority of the Prussian army in combat capability caused the Austrian army to completely lose the confidence to continue fighting.
On February 5, at the request of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, French Emperor Napoleon III intervened.
It was at this time that Wang Tao learned the outcome of the war.
The three parties have a total strength of one million people, which is a huge scale.
Everyone thought that this battle would last for a long time, but when everyone's interest was lifted, the war ended.
Just like when a bunch of melon-eating people are preparing to watch, the melon is ready, but the play is over.
At that time, the Prussian army was capable of continuing the offensive. The Prussian King William and his generals, dazzled by the victory, demanded to continue the march, capture Vienna, and completely defeat Austria.
However, Mr. Iron-Blooded, who is sober-minded, has great political foresight. He is worried that once the war is delayed, it will cause France to intervene, or major changes will occur in the defeated Austria, thus ruining Prussia's plan to unify Germany.
Advocate for peace talks.
He believed that if the feelings of the Austrians were excessively hurt and they were forced to make a desperate move or even take risks, Austria's neutrality would not be won in the Franco-Prussian War that was bound to come in the future, which would be very detrimental to Prussia.
Therefore, he opposed all opinions and advocated the immediate conclusion of the treaty, and even threatened the king with resignation.
After weighing the pros and cons, King William I of Prussia finally gave in. On February 22, representatives of Prussia and Austria held negotiations in Nicholsburg; on the 26th, the "Nicholsburg Preparatory Treaty" was signed.
Everything was so fast and not sloppy at all.
Even well-informed newspapers cannot keep up with this pace.
In order to prevent France or Tsarist Russia from intervening in the war, Mr. Ironblood advised William I to negotiate peace with Austria quickly and not to rush for success.
The Austrian army accepted the mediation of the French Emperor Napoleon III, and on March 23, the two sides formally signed the Treaty of Prague.
The peace treaty stipulated that the German Confederation Parliament was dissolved and Austria completely withdrew from the old German Confederation.
Prussia had the right to establish the North German Confederation headed by it; Austria ceded all its management rights to Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia and paid a large indemnity to Prussia; at the same time, Austria also
Unify and give up control of Venice.
Austria finally withdrew completely from Italian soil.
However, disagreements arose among the various Italian states regarding the final ownership of Venice.
The Venetians prepare to welcome the hero Garibaldi to serve as President of Venice.
However, some states felt that Venice should resume its kingdom rule.
Garibaldi proposed the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy with the Kingdom of Sardinia as its core.
This proposal demonstrated Garibaldi's noble character of not seeking fame and fortune.
Because in this proposal, he did not strive for any title for himself.
The Kingdom of Sardinia naturally supports it. Those who oppose it will be condemned by the people.
As a result, a merger conference was held in Turin.
By the end of March, the entire continent of Europa had basically calmed down.
Only Mr. Ironblood is still busy forming the German Federation.
This war strengthened Prussia's control over various states.
Berlin immediately began sending officials to various states.
Mr. Ironblood will also further integrate the resources of various states.
Na San, who had just reacted, started looking for Mr. Iron-Blooded to fulfill his promise.