European countries easing their material restrictions on France should have been good news, yet Napoleon IV could not feel the slightest bit happy.
There was no helping it. The shift in the political stance of various countries also meant that Europe no longer believed France could win this war.
These days, the center of the world was Europe, and the views of the European world would directly shape the judgments of countries across the globe.
Recently, the French Foreign Ministry had been working hard overseas to win over allies and had achieved preliminary results. Especially after the British joined in, it was like a tiger that had grown wings.
Without this bad news, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, and Japan might all have become members of the Anti-Austrian Alliance.
Now, none of that was possible. Politicians were not fools. They might be willing to go with the current and take a speculative gamble, but asking them to swim against the tide and fight shoulder to shoulder with France was out of the question.
One only had to open a map to see that Egypt was of vital importance to this war. Once it fell into Austrian hands, the Anti-French Alliance would stand undefeated.
With France visibly falling into a strategic disadvantage, no matter how many benefits the Paris Government promised now, those fence-sitters would not pull chestnuts from the fire for them.
Suppressing his fury, Napoleon IV demanded, "How did Egypt fall so quickly?
"Not long ago, we had just reinforced the area. Twenty-three infantry divisions, plus the troops already stationed in Egypt, brought the total force to more than eight hundred thousand. Are our soldiers all good-for-nothings?"
Rumors were not spread at random. If the Vienna Government dared use the occupation of Egypt to hoodwink people, it naturally had the