War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

On the left bank of the Strymon River, Otto I was burying the bodies of Greek soldiers in the land he had just conquered.

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name Taiwan Novel Network → 𝘵𝘸𝘬𝘢𝘯.𝘤𝘰𝘮]

(The boundary between East and West Thrace in the Strymon River book is not the later Maritsa River-Evros River.

The Maritsa River-Evros River dividing line was historically set after World War I.)

At this time, neither the British nor the Russians wanted Otto I to go any further, and the Greek dream of Greater Greece had to stop here.

The Greeks were celebrating because they had won again. There was a carnival in Greece and the soldiers were celebrating their survival.

The great families and political alliances in Greece had begun to compete for interests in the new territories, and Otto I initially wanted to follow Franz's example and turn the new territories into royal domains.

However, the power and influence of Otto I, the Greek king, did not support him to do so.

However, compared with the villains in his country, Otto I hated the British and Russians more.

It was they who blocked their own golden road, the road to the revival of the Greater Greek Empire, but no one understood them.

The Austrian Empire's army had already left due to pressure from Britain and Russia. Otto I looked at the endless crosses along the river bank and vowed that sooner or later he would make the Russians and the British pay the price.

must.

Vienna, Hofburg Palace.

The senior officials of the Austrian Empire did not show any surprise at the sudden ceasefire, and many even complained that the ceasefire was too late.

"Are we really going to hand over southern Serbia and eastern Bosnia to the Russians?"

War Minister Count Latour looked at Prime Minister Prince Schwarzenberg, who frowned.

"Don't look at me, this is an order from His Majesty the Emperor."

“We only seized a small piece of land and a few mining areas in northern Serbia. Isn’t that a bit too much of a loss?

We were the ones putting out fires throughout the war, and without us the Holy Alliance would have been destroyed long ago."

Although Count Latour did not go to the battlefield in person, as the Minister of War, he not only participated in the planning of the war, but also had a clear understanding of the first-hand information about the war.

The Austrian Imperial Army suffered almost no losses. Although the number of enemy troops killed was not counted, it was estimated by front-line commanders to be at least no less than 80,000.

What a concept!

However, such a great victory could not be made public, and he even had to give up the land he had gained, which made Count Latour very unhappy.

"This is a deal with the Russians, and we will also support them in taking over the plains south of the Danube."

"Are you crazy? What can we gain?"

"The Danube Principalities."

"But Dobruja is still in Russian hands. What if one day the Russians attack us along the Danube?

"What is the purpose of having you as the chief minister? You should argue with reason! Wallachia and Moldavia are just such shabby places. Not only are they full of leaks, but they are also being attacked from behind by Dobruja. They are destroying the perfect layout of the empire!

I think it would be more economical to exchange Eastern Bosnia and Southern Serbia.”

"I object!"

Count Latour was in high spirits and felt annoyed when he was interrupted. He turned around and saw the Minister of Finance, Baron Brooke.

"What do you object to?"

“There are too many provinces in our country with negative returns! Western Bosnia, Albania, Dalmatia, Croatia, all need subsidies from the national treasury.

As far as I know, Eastern Bosnia and Southern Serbia are also two extremely bad pieces of land, and these bad pieces of land are not as valuable as the two Danube principalities."

"That's right! The cost of maintaining stability in the Balkans is too high. It's a complete blow to the country!"

The bald Interior Minister Count Giovanni Battista also agreed. No one in Austria knew better than him how garbage the two new territories of Western Bosnia and Albania were. A mere negative return could not express his feelings at all.

The Austrian Empire invested even more in these two regions than in the entire California, but it still has a negative return to this day. In order to prevent rebellion, it even had to station a large number of troops and hire enough gendarmes to maintain order.

"That's enough! This is an order, not a request. You have no right to agree or disagree. Your task is to carry it out."

"Long live the Empire."

In fact, except for Count Latour, no one else had any objection to this action. On the one hand, the two Danube principalities were very important to the system of the Austrian Empire, and on the other hand, it was Franz's personal prestige.

In fact, after constant publicity, beautification, and various events, especially the war and the instigation of Pope Pius IX, Franz's personal prestige has reached a new height that has never been achieved by any emperor of the Habsburg family.

Of course, a number of senior officials including Prime Minister Prince Schwarzenberg also approved of Franz's decision.

Somewhere in southern Russia, the Tsar’s camp.

The Tsar never doubted that the Austrian Empire could fulfill its promise, and he felt that Franz was relying on his own reputation.

If the Russian army had not fought bravely on the front lines, how could the Austrian Empire's army have captured so much land so easily?

Nicholas I regretted that they failed to capture Constantinople. But now he could only blame the incompetence of the Russian generals who could not even defeat the Ottoman army, and the wolfish ambitions of the Greek King Otto I.

If Greece had not directly threatened Constantinople, the Tsar would not have agreed to peace talks. Now it all depended on how much land could be gained at the negotiation table.

Count Pillersdorff, the Austrian Empire's Foreign Minister, immediately led his men to St. Petersburg. Before that, Franz had already sent a special envoy to catch up with the Tsar's team.

"Your Majesty, the Emperor of our country is willing to fully support you in acquiring the northern Bulgarian plains.

If the Ottomans and the British do not agree, we can refuse their peace."

Nicholas I was a little surprised by this. After all, the Austrian Empire already had the two Danube principalities in its hands, and there was no need to continue to wade into this muddy water.

"It seems that Franz is really a good man!"