Since ancient times, interests had always been the best bridge to friendship. Once the interests were in place, friendship naturally followed. It was not that Governor Chandler enjoyed playing tricks; reality had forced his hand.
As the greatest victor of the Continental War, the seemingly invincible Holy Roman Empire was in fact at its weakest point.
The Vienna Government's established national policy was to preserve what it already possessed. Expansion was simply not under consideration. The Philippine Islands might be fertile, but that alone was not enough to make the Vienna Government alter its national policy.
As a colonial governor, Chandler had to take national strategy into account while also being unable to ignore the interests of the colonial groups. Under such circumstances, it came down to skillful maneuvering.
The original plan to pluck the peaches had been based on Spain's defeat and Japan's lack of strength. Now, the situation was obvious: Spain indeed found it difficult to win the war, but the Japanese had also proven far stronger than expected.
Perhaps their combat effectiveness was nothing special, but they were willing to risk their lives! Even if the Empire's forces in the South Seas could defeat the Japanese, they themselves would suffer grievous losses.
To the Holy Roman Empire, Japan had never been worth mentioning. The British, lurking behind the scenes with covetous eyes, were the true threat.
One wrong move, and it would turn into a proxy war where the British supplied weapons and the Japanese supplied troops.
To see just how treacherous proxy wars could be, one only had to think of the First Near East War, the two Prusso-Russian Wars, and the recent Anglo-Russian Afghan War.
One rival after another had been trapped by them—some dead, some crippled, and even those who survived were left with