War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

This proposal sounded a bit ridiculous, but Viscount Stratford was full of confidence. His intuition told him that the Austrians did not want to fight another battle, otherwise there would be plenty of opportunities for them to make some small moves.

And from a bigger picture perspective, no one in the entire British political arena believed that Austria and Russia could coexist peacefully in the Balkans.

For Britain, the best way to deal with the Austrian Empire was not to launch a spectacular naval battle.

The Austrian Empire was a traditional land power. Even if the Austrian Empire's navy was completely destroyed, it would be difficult to destroy its fighting will.

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Britain should use its advantages to attack the overseas colonies of the Austrian Empire. This would maximize the British Navy's numerical and scale advantages. After all, there are British ports all over the world.

This would both undermine the morale of the Austrian Empire and gain economic compensation through plunder.

The highly militarized colonies of the Austrian Empire were indeed difficult to conquer, and it would be very difficult for the British Navy to actually go to land and fight the Austrian Empire's army.

But the colonies’ production system was imperfect after all. As long as the blockade was maintained for a long time, it was only a matter of time before those colonies surrendered.

However, according to Viscount Stratford's estimation, the British government at that time did not want to fight another naval battle with the Austrian Empire.

The main reason is that the risks and benefits are not proportional. Austria is not a traditional naval power, so they often try to break the deadlock in unconventional ways.

In previous wars, the Royal Navy has proved that they are not good at dealing with such opponents. In order to prevent the Royal Navy from continuing to waste taxpayers' money, the British government will certainly try its best to avoid another Mediterranean naval battle.

The British government is now facing enormous internal and external pressures, so the anti-war voices in the UK are growing louder and louder.

In addition, Britain's primary enemy was Russia, which might encroach on the interests of the British Empire, rather than Austria, which lacked competition.

Russia could annex the Ottoman Empire and threaten Suez, annex Persia and Afghanistan and threaten India, and even threaten the Far East and Canada.

As for Austria, there are reports that they occupied a desert and were digging holes everywhere, probably looking for water.

A large area of ​​land was built in the interior of South Africa to exile German opponents.

He wears his crown askew all day, leans on his throne, and drools. He is less than 1.5 meters tall, but weighs over 400 pounds.

He appointed clowns and prostitutes as ministers of state, and even breastfed them. He liked to persecute women in the name of witch hunting, and often hanged and burned them at the stake.

Princess Olga, who had just married into Austria, was also given some arrangements. For example, according to the tradition of the Vienna court, the queen's shoes could not be worn twice, so the queen's shoes would be given to the poor after being worn.

But when it came to England, the curse turned out to be a vicious queen who suffered from athlete's foot. She was jealous of the girls with smooth and beautiful feet, so she forced the girls to wear the cursed shoes.

In history, Princess Sissi was also subjected to similar arrangements, so she directly broke the royal rules and the queen's shoes were never given to anyone else again.

Fortunately, the popularity of Playboy magazine in the UK at this time broke this stereotype to a certain extent.

Finally, even if the Austrian Empire had no navy, the Austrian and Russian armies alone were no match for Britain and the Ottoman Empire.

Peace talks were the inevitable choice for the British government, so Viscount Stratford dared to make this decision.

As for Colin Campbell's suggestion, Viscount Stratford regarded it as nonsense. He didn't know whether making every effort to destroy the vanguards of Russia and Austria would make the other side retreat, but the Russo-Austrian alliance would definitely be detrimental to Britain's strategic layout, and other Holy Alliance countries might even interfere.

Viscount Stratford's actions seemed whimsical, but in fact Franz had similar ideas, so the two sides hit it off and really planned to establish a maritime non-aggression treaty.

Although on the surface both sides were extremely speculative, in fact they all had their own ulterior motives. Viscount Stratford wanted to use the negotiation time to delay the actions of the Austrian Empire and buy time for the dispatch of the Royal Navy, or at least leave enough reaction time for the British fleet in the Mediterranean.

On the other hand, it would be strange if Franz really believed the British. The Austrian Imperial Navy was also using this time to deploy troops to gain advantages for itself, and could even choose to take the initiative when necessary.

There will be a war between Austria and Britain sooner or later, although according to Franz's estimation it should be decades later, but if the British are really determined to kill Austria, then he will have no choice but to accept it.

According to official estimates of the Austrian Empire, if the entire Mediterranean fleet was wiped out once more, the British would not be able to recover their strength in the short term.

At this time, the new Mediterranean Fleet almost emptied the British inventory, and it would take at least 3-6 months for the British to put together such a powerful fleet.

During this period, the Austrian Empire could do many things, such as reverse sweeping British colonies, attacking the British mainland, and forcing the Ottoman Empire to surrender.

As for the Austrian Empire's maritime security, in fact, most of the Austrian Empire's ships have prepared flags of multiple countries.

However, they usually use the banner of the Papal States, after all, this signboard is larger and safer. Under Franz's operation, the Papal States has become a permanent neutral country, just like Switzerland in the past.

This time it was the British's turn to be in trouble. If they attacked these merchant ships flying the flag of the Papal States, they would never be able to remove the label of pirates.

If there is no attack, the British Navy's advantage will not be brought into play, the blockade will be ineffective and the damage to the Austrian Empire will be close to zero.

Not to mention the battle of wits and courage between the two sides.

London, UK.

In Whitehall, John Russell had never felt so uncomfortable as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, one of the most powerful people in the world.

He had no idea how many times he had stood here and been questioned by Congress in just a few months.

John Russell really wanted to slam the table and leave. Britain's current situation has nothing to do with him. Isn't it all a historical legacy?

However, the reality is that John Russell must patiently respond to questions from members of Congress and be cautious about the political "legacy" left to him by his predecessors.