Schonbrunn Palace

Prince Wendyschgretz marked the retreat route of the Ottoman army on the map, and then a large group of people from the Austrian government looked at the map and stared blankly.

That's right, he's just staring in a daze, and he's shocked. Anyone who knows the details will be surprised by what the Ottoman Empire is doing now.

It is very normal to shrink the defense line, but the Ottomans' approach this time was obviously too much.

It is understandable that the northern plains of Serbia cannot stop an attack by the Austrian army, but why did these areas give up in the mountains in the southern region, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina?

Even if you only leave a small number of troops, organize a group of militia, and take advantage of the terrain, you can also delay Austria's advancement.

If the momentum is not right, you can go up the mountain to attack Austria's logistics line. It can be said that this is the most basic military common sense.

I dare not say other regions, at least in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ottoman Empire in Serbia still had a large number of supporters, and just gave up in vain, it was simply a magical operation.

Give up, give up, why leave Belgrade in the middle? No matter how important this city is, it is to give up everything from all directions, can an isolated city be protected?

Anyway, Franz couldn't understand what medicine he bought in the Ottoman gourd. He should not do this in both military and political terms.

This is almost the same as that, giving up...

Thinking that his IQ was not enough, Franz asked, "Can anyone tell me what the Ottomans want to do?"

Metternik guessed: "Your Majesty, it may be that the Ottoman government panicked after the defeat of the Battle of Bulgaria and wanted to concentrate its forces against the Russians, and made a decision in a hurry.

The unlucky guy who stayed in Belgrade was mostly the loser in the Ottoman power struggle and was cheated by his political opponents.

Even now, Belgrade may not have 20,000 troops. Maybe it’s just a group of crooked people who deliberately put them there to die.”

It is not surprising that these things happened in the magical country of Ottoman. The Sudanese government performed quite well. At least they did not leave the capital and ran away. They were still organizing the army to fight against the Russians. All they gave up was the "wild land of the outer world".

Everyone nodded, and the normal logic did not make sense, so it was only the Sudanese government that had a problem. It seemed that in everyone's impression, they were only at this level.

It can only be said that the Sudanese government has done too much stupid things, and adding one more thing is not so unacceptable. As one of the two strange empires in the world, if you don’t do anything ridiculous, then there will be problems.

Franz waved his hand and said, "Let's just say that the Ottoman government has gotten into the brain. What should we do now? Should we send troops to follow the Ottoman army to regain our hometown, or should we find an excuse to hold on to the army?"

Don't ask why it turned into a recovery of homeland. Just look at Franz's long list of titles. If you look carefully, you will always find the basis for the legal principles.

It doesn't matter if it's far-fetched. This thing was originally used as a fig leaf, proving that Austria did not launch an aggressive war, but was regaining its homeland.

The Habsburg family is too old, and the talent for marriage is a little stronger, and then a bunch of titles are left behind.

Even if these places have not been ruled by the Habsburg dynasty, they have been ruled by the once married families, and they can always be verified as long as they need them.

Franz did not expect European countries to admit that it would be enough to fool some local people, or to provide an excuse for seeking refuge in Austrians.

There are many pretentious people in this world, and everyone wants to save face. It is a good reason to calm down the rules and restore orthodoxy.

Currently, it has been very good in the two principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. Those who are willing to defect to Austria have recognized Franz's orthodox status.

Those who are unwilling to defect to Austria are naturally remnants of the Ottoman Empire and are the targets of the attack. With the help of the Leader Party, they have almost been suppressed.

Successful ruling experience can be replicated. Since the Authorized Romanians can be used to rule Romania, the Authorized Serbs can also be used to rule Serbia.

As if something had come to mind, Franz added: "Accounting in advance that the Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are not within our target range this time.

Austria does not have such a good appetite, and no matter what the final result is, we will not annex these areas this time!"

Prime Minister Felix said, "Your Majesty, you have reached this point, and you have to do the full set of shows.

Armed a group of reserve forces, take over the territory that the Ottomans gave up. Even if they want to give up in the future, they can still fight for us at the negotiating table."

In order not to disperse the main force, the reserves can be used at this time. Austria has a huge number of reserves, so it is still easy to draw tens of thousands of people out.

These troops have limited combat effectiveness and may suffer losses against the British and French coalition forces, but they are still not afraid of encountering the Ottoman army.

Franz can proudly say that the training of Austrian reserve troops is better than the regular Ottoman army.

Chancellor Carl shook his head and said, "It's not that simple, the Ottomans are prepared.

According to the information we received, the roads and bridges in these areas were destroyed by the Ottomans. They also destroyed farmland, burned down and could not take away food and supplies. In the end, a large number of young and strong people were forced to leave.

We occupied these areas and could not get any supplements locally, and it was difficult for even the workers who repaired the roads to be fully found.

We even had to take out a lot of food to help war refugees, and the Ottomans were preparing to use this to hold us back.

But in fact, we are not prepared to continue the war. In addition to bringing us a heavy financial burden, we can only wait for the post-war negotiating table to gain benefits.

I don't think the benefits obtained at the negotiating table can make up for our current expenses. It's better to support a regime in the local area, because we are not going to annex the place anyway."

Faced with the Ottoman Empire's tactic of killing 800 enemies and losing 3,000 to himself, Franz had to say - obey.

After all this trouble, even if these areas are preserved in the future, they should not want to rule safely.

Of course, it can also be said that they had the foresight and knew that the Balkans could not be saved, so they simply gave up and concentrated their efforts to defend the core areas along the strait.

Since we have to give up, of course we can't leave the good things to the enemy. If it weren't for the city being built with stones, they would have learned from Dong Zhuo's children's shoes to burn the city in a fire.

Prince Wendyschgretz opposed: "No! Even if you keep these areas in the hands of the Ottomans, it would be better than establishing a local regime.

In the hands of the Ottomans, they were unpopular and we could take them back at any time. If they were independent, it would be easy to annex these areas in the future, but it would be difficult to rule these areas.

The territory of the European continent has basically stabilized, and the only place we can continue to expand is the Balkan Peninsula, which must not be blocked.

This is related to Austria's long-term development in the future. Once the overseas colonial strategy is hindered, we can only seek expansion in the Balkans.

In this era of great world wars, we are sailing against the current, if we don’t advance, we will retreat, and the future development space must be left."

After hearing Prince Wendyschgretz's explanation, Franz's eyes lit up. Sure enough, those who can leave a great reputation in history have their own unique features.

Prince Wendyschgretz's military capabilities may only be considered average, but they are very accurate in the strategic vision of national development.

Especially the sentence, "The future development space must be left behind", is very classic in Franz's opinion.

If the capitalist economy is blocked from the road to external expansion, it can only rely on internal development. This means that external plundering has become internal exploitation, and disaster will come.

Why did the Germans challenge the world order in history? Is it really because of their ambition?

The reality is very cruel. Germany has developed to its limit. If it does not provoke a war, there are only two fates waiting for them:

Or domestic conflicts intensify, revolution breaks out, and wealth distribution is re-distributed;

Or artificially compress the development speed, use extraordinary means to overcome the crisis, and then slowly decline.

Neither of these two destinies could be accepted by the German government. In the absence of industrial raw materials and commodity markets, they chose war in order to gain room for continued development.

"Military point of view, taking Belgrade is very important for Austria's national defense and security. If you master the Pannonia plains in this city, it will be safe." Marshal Radsky analyzed

The Pannonian plains are distributed in Hungary, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, and Ukraine. The surrounding areas include Slovenia and Bosnia.

This is the granary of Austria, and its strategic significance is very important. Occupying Belgrade not only solved the military threat from the Balkans, but also turned passive into initiative, and strategically became able to attack and retreat or defend.

Franz was relieved to put such a strategic location in the hands of the Ottomans. The declining Ottoman Empire did not have the courage to cause trouble, and it would be hard to say if it was replaced by a new Balkan country.

Historically, the Balkan countries have put forward various ways to commit suicide. If this little brother who supports him stabs Austria in the back at a critical moment, it will be a life-threatening person.

Franz dared not bet on their integrity. All graces before national interests are false, and only interests are real.

A great Serbianism will make the new regime separate from Austria and become an unsolvable mortal enemy. It is impossible for Franz to give half of Austria to his younger brother, right?

Franz said righteously: "The Serbian region must not establish an independent country. No matter how much the price it costs, we cannot allow the Balkans to rise. If so, it can only be Austria.

If I really want to choose, I would rather let the Ottomans occupy the Balkans or divide the Balkans with the Russians than see them independent.

Austria is a multi-ethnic country. At this critical moment of formal ethnic integration, the establishment of any independent country may bring uncontrollable consequences.

Nationalism in the Balkans has just begun to sprout, and we cannot give them room to grow, at least the Serbs and Romanians cannot be independent.

Otherwise, you can think about what the Serbians and Romanians in China would have if they appeared in an independent Serbia and Romanians would have.”

The butt determines the head. Perhaps Franz had sympathized with the Balkan countries in his previous life, but they no longer exist now.

In this era of forceful predation, everyone is trying hard to strengthen themselves. It has nothing to do with right or wrong, only interests.

Looking from the perspective of others, the struggles of the Balkan countries in history were very tragic, but the conflict of interests among everyone was too serious, and concessions were death, so they could only fight.

Unfortunately, because of too much emphasis on immediate interests, all the Balkan countries failed in the end, and no country achieved their goals.

It doesn’t matter if other ethnic groups in the Balkans are independent and state-building. There are not many in Austria anyway, except Serbia and Romania, which together are close to nine percent.

It was finally easy to kick off the assimilation. If two independent countries appeared and did not want something to happen, then the only thing Franz could do was to pack all these people back to both countries.
Chapter completed!