: Left-handed and right-handed

Author: Seven Years Period

: Left-handed and right-handed

May 1839.

The sudden appearance of Austrian troops in Novi Sad caused panic to the governor of Bosnia, and Serbia also sent a distress signal to the Ottoman Empire.

Because as long as the Austrians cross the Danube, they can launch an attack on them.

The Austrian side has at least 50,000 regular troops, and at this time, neither Bosnia nor Serbia has the strength to counter it.

After Serbia overthrew the rule of Miloš Obrenovic, the entire country fell into turmoil. Members of the Seventeen-member Parliament bribed the Ottoman Pasha who was stationed here. For the so-called supreme rights,

They are constantly attacking each other.

This was a good thing for the Ottoman Empire, and Essol Pasha was also happy to see this kind of scene. He wanted to take advantage of the weakness of the Serbian disunity to weaken their power, and ultimately achieve the goal of regaining control of Serbia.

However, the sudden visit of the Austrian Imperial Army suddenly made the situation tense. Vucic, who seemed to have the upper hand, lost his troops in the civil war and offended all the Serbian princes.

The Russians are behind Vucic, and the Austrians are behind Miloš Obrenovic, who was suppressed by him.

In fact, Miloš Obrenović has never been truly loyal to any party. He can follow Karajčol (the former leader of the Serbian independence faction) to fight for independence. He can also kill Karajčol and kill him for the sake of glory and wealth.

His head was given to the Sultan as a ladder for his promotion.

He could declare allegiance to Russia for independence, or he could flirt with Austria to get rid of Russian influence.

Milos always had only one purpose, to establish Greater Serbia. In his mind, Greater Serbia was a super empire that included Slovenia, Croatia, and the entire Balkan Peninsula.

Milos' duplicity had already offended Austria, Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

But Vucic and the Seventeen-member Parliament did not know this and thought it was the Austrians who wanted to send troops to help Milos suppress the rebellion.

Vucic's envoy quickly arrived in Russia, but was told that the Tsar could only guarantee that Serbia would not be annexed by Austria. The reinforcements were only a Russian military adviser, and even the ubiquitous Russian spies had disappeared without realizing it.

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At this time, Vucic and the Council of Seventeen could only temporarily abandon their personal prejudices, stop attacking each other, and jointly seek help from the Ottoman Empire.

On the other hand, Bosnian Pasha was also panicked. Serbia had an army of 15,000 people and Essol Pasha’s 5,000 Ottoman soldiers. However, there were only 5,000 soldiers in the whole of Bosnia, and they were distributed in nearly a hundred large and small areas.

In the fortress.

Bosnia was a negative-profit province of the Ottoman Empire, and the taxes collected were not enough to cover the costs of maintaining its stability. There were 150,000 Croats and nearly 300,000 Serbs living in Bosnia, and there were only 240,000 local Bosnians.

The above three ethnic groups are all regarded as disloyal ethnic groups by the orthodox Ottomans.

I'm afraid that the Austrian Empire is going to attack Bosnia, and he can only take his troops to guerrilla.

News reached Istanbul.

Mahmud II was furious.

"Damn it! The guy who doesn't believe what he says! The treacherous villain! The barbaric Russians, the despicable Austrians, the shameless British!"

Mahmud II scolded the great powers, but he could only ask the Grand Vizier Ferchak to urgently recall the troops in the Balkans, and let the troops return to Tulcea to continue the confrontation with Russia across the Danube River, and at the same time divide the troops.

Reinforce Serbia.

Bosnia was of low importance to the Ottoman Empire, its benefits were almost negligible, and the costs of maintaining stability were high.

Facing this rotten land, the Ottoman Empire also ruled in a rotten state. The Ottomans only had strongholds in towns and collected as much tax as they could. The rebels turned a blind eye as long as they did not cry for independence or attack the city.

One eye.

More than 90% of this area is rugged mountainous terrain, and crop yields are less than one-fifth of those in the neighboring province of Vojvodina.

Industrial and commercial trade almost did not exist. In the 19th century, people still relied on agriculture, animal husbandry, fishing and hunting to survive.

Moreover, the mountain people here are wild, tough, and warlike, and they often revolt and cause trouble. The Ottoman Empire sent large armies to encircle and suppress the area many times, but all failed.

Although this piece of rotten land was the "ancestral inheritance" of the Ottomans, Mahmud II did not feel sad at all if he lost it. On the contrary, Serbia, which was now basically independent, could not afford to lose it to the Ottoman Empire.

Because once Serbia falls, Austria's path to entering the Ottoman Empire will be unimpeded. There is also a century-old grudge between the two countries. Once the Austrians taste blood, Bao Buqi will become the next Russia and start a "Turkish-Austrian War" at every turn.

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Therefore, at this time, Mahmoud II had to leave 150,000 troops to confront Russia and Austria. There were only 200,000 troops on the southern front, which was weaker than Muhammad Ali's troops.

He can only hope that the civil strife in Egypt is real and that his vanguard troops can directly take over Syria.

Syrian battlefield.

The vanguard of the Ottomans, led by Hafuz Pasha, quickly entered Syria and encountered no resistance at first. He wanted to take advantage of the Egyptians' lack of troops to capture Damascus in one fell swoop.

However, what Hafuz Pasha did not know was that from the moment he entered Syria, he had fallen into Ibrahim's trap.

When the Ottoman army advanced all the way to Aleppo, Hafuz Pasha decided to repair and replenish supplies in the small town of Nizip.

As a result, they were ambushed by the Egyptian troops in Nizip and Ibrahim's main force that followed. They suffered heavy losses from front and rear attacks. Hafuz Pasha himself was also captured.

Ibrahim personally beheaded Hafuz Pasha, cut off the beards of all the prisoners of war, and gave them to Mahmud II as gifts.

In the Grand Salakirio Palace, the fifty-four-year-old Mahmoud II cursed Muhammad Ali and everything in this world. He himself worked day and night all his life to reform, but he suffered repeated setbacks.

At this time, he was almost crazy.

The news of the tragic defeat was torn to pieces by him, and Havertz Pasha's head was kicked away by him.

"I still have a new army! I still have a fleet! Send the Mahmoudiya! Tell Ahmed that if you can't win, come and see him!"

"Go and call that Palmerston over. Where is the British support? If I don't see the British fleet, I will chop off his head!"

Fer Chak wrote the order worriedly. He didn't know where the war would go, but he was more worried about the Sultan's health than the war.

Fifty-four years old is considered a long life in this era. (The average age is 30 years old)

After receiving the order, the frontline commander Ahmed immediately ordered the army to march along the coastline. The land and water armies moved hand in hand so that they could support each other when encountering the Egyptian army.

But what Ahmed Pasha didn't know was that the Ottoman Empire's navy had long been bribed by Muhammad Ali.
Chapter completed!