War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

The sudden entry of the Austrian Empire into the war was beyond the expectations of both sides. Could it be that the Austrians were beginning to learn from the French and fight without declaration?

But no matter what, the trapped Russians were still very excited. After all, they were friendly troops coming, and no one wanted to die in battle if they could survive.

Commander Alexander Plinsky did not forget his mission. He wanted to take this opportunity to destroy the Ottoman army in front of him in one fell swoop.

It's just that the reinforcements from the Austrian Empire had no intention of pursuing, and it was simply unrealistic for the Russian army to launch a pursuit alone with its current strength.

On the other hand, what Orma Pasha least wanted to see happened. The retreat of the Ottoman army quickly turned into a major rout.

Everyone was running for their lives, the command system was completely paralyzed, the so-called military organization had completely disappeared, and all that was left was the "flock of sheep" screaming for their lives.

In fact, before the general offensive began, Orma Pasha had already received news that the enemy had appeared on the flank, but he still held on to a glimmer of hope that the battle could be ended before the enemy reinforcements arrived.

Since the enemy's reinforcements were mainly cavalry, Olma Pasha sent out the cavalry that he had been reluctant to use. In theory, using cavalry to contain cavalry was the right choice.

However, the Ottoman Empire was lagging behind in all aspects. The once invincible West Asian cavalry no longer had the courage to fight the Austrian cavalry head-on.

The vast majority of Ottoman cavalry chose to turn around before they even got close, which made things difficult for those truly brave Ottomans.

The latter were quickly overwhelmed by the Austrian cavalry, and those Ottomans who chose to flee met an equally miserable end.

The Ottoman cavalry suffered heavy losses in the unilateral pursuit by the Austrian cavalry. What was even more fatal was that the fleeing cavalry would ram into their own formation.

Seeing the smoke and dust rushing towards him, Orma Pasha made a decisive decision to abandon the siege and retreat. Of course, he could choose to retreat alone and let the soldiers continue to attack the city.

But what would happen if the soldiers who were attacking the city suddenly found that their commander was missing? What would happen if they found that there were enemy cavalry behind them?

Once the battlefield is divided, the consequences will be disastrous.

So Orma Pasha chose what he thought was the most sensible retreat. Although the process was a bit chaotic, fortunately the enemy did not choose to pursue.

This defeat made Orma Pasha very upset, but he soon had no time to be upset because the enemy was the Austrian Empire Army, and he had just attacked the Austrians on Russian soil.

Orma Pasha's actions would be seen as an invasion of Russia and a provocation to the Austrian Empire.

In fact, before confirming the safety of Maximilian and Ludwig, Franz had already ordered Albrecht to lead his troops into Moldavia secretly, on the grounds of clearing out the remnants of bandits in Transylvania and helping to escort supplies.

While Maximilian and Ludwig were on board, the news reached Moldavia at the fastest speed.

However, due to insufficient price and strategic needs, Franz only intended to rescue the Russian troops in Dobruja and had no intention of helping the Russians defeat the Ottomans.

So Franz did not let the mad dog Heinau complete this rather dangerous task, but chose Archduke Albrecht.

Although Albrecht was also very warlike, his pattern and vision were much higher than those of Hainau. He would not fight the Ottomans to the death on impulse, nor would he risk his life to save the Russians.

To put it bluntly, the deal between Franz and Nicholas I had not yet been concluded, and the mere protectorate of Moldavia, which had not yet been paid, was not enough for the Austrian Empire to fight the Ottomans to the death.

In a sense, a protectorate is a colony, or even worse than a colony. The sovereign has limited control over it, so the protectorate often has a high voice, and it is very common for the protectorate to have multiple interests at the same time.

Although the term "protectorate" was respectable, it was not what Franz wanted. He wanted to curb the Greater Romania trend and the Romanian nationalist movement, otherwise the Austrian Empire would have to face the problem of instability.

Wallachia, Moldavia and Serbia are the essence of the Balkans, and the rest of the land is poison to Austria.

As long as the two duchies could be incorporated into Austria and Russia and Austria could always maintain peace, Franz could fully accept the situation where Russia unified the Balkans.

However, the so-called eternal alliance can only exist in people's imagination. Franz is naturally not so naive, so he must be prepared.

Even if there really is an eternal alliance in this world, someone must always maintain it carefully to make it possible.

In addition, Franz felt that there was no need for so-called decency in dealing with the Ottomans. As long as the land could be taken back from the Ottomans, there would naturally be a lot of people singing praises for the Austrian Empire.

The Austrian Empire, with Rome in its hands, had a natural sense of justice in attacking the Ottoman Empire, but the so-called world public opinion of Britain and France was shit, and their so-called rules were not even as good as toilet paper to Franz.

Franz had no intention of making decisions according to the rules of the game set by the British, so he prepared to establish his own rules.

Franz's demands were simple: he wanted to recover Wallachia and Moldavia and incorporate them into the Austrian Empire, while completely expelling the Ottomans from his country.

In return, the Austrian Empire will support Russia in seizing Dobruja and Bulgaria. Why not Greater Bulgaria or Constantinople?

This is an equal exchange, not a wish. Naturally, it is impossible for one party to ask for unlimited gains without paying any price.

Commander Alexander Plinsky still hoped to inflict heavy damage on the Ottoman army, so that he could clear the obstacles for the follow-up troops and complete his mission.

So he walked to the camp of the Austrian Empire, which surprised Archduke Albrecht.

"Where is your horse, sir?"

Albrecht was very surprised, and he didn't know what to say for a moment. After all, in Albrecht's eyes, horses have always been an important strategic material. Even a poor horse can pull goods, so eating them is not an option.

After a long while, Albrecht finally managed to utter a word.

"Bon appetit."

Hearing Albrecht say this, Prinsky became even more embarrassed and quickly changed the subject.

"Why didn't your army pursue and expand the victory? Don't you want to add a glorious chapter to your resume?"

"I think it's not a good habit to underestimate the enemy and rush in. Why don't we consolidate our defense first?"