Vienna

Affected by the defeat in the Battle of Sofia, the negotiations between the Austrian government and the Ottomans have achieved phased results, and only some details are still being discussed.

Franz didn't care much about the outcome of the negotiations, and even if the two countries signed an agreement, there was less than a third chance that it would be fulfilled in the future.

The international situation is ever-changing, and the outcome of the war in the Near East will directly affect Austria's gains, and in terms of interests, a crushing victory for the Russians is certainly the best option.

It can not only let them rush to the front to pull hatred, but also share the pressure of Austria; And it will not let the Russians really soar into the sky and lose their restrictions.

Prince Wendy Schgretz, Minister of War, said with a strange expression: "Your Majesty, there is a battle report from the Serbian front, and a group of British soldiers has strayed in and been disarmed by us. ”

Franz asked suspiciously: "The war in the Near East can't spread that far, isn't it still separated by the Kosovo region?" ”

Even if the Battle of Sofia was lost, the Kosovo region was still controlled by the Ottomans, and they could have asked the local government to send guides.

Prince Wendy Schretz handed over the battle report, and Franz glanced at it, finally understanding why he looked so strange.

Franz thought for a moment and said, "This is also a good thing, we have a small extra bargaining chip in our hands, and the Foreign Office informed the British that they should send someone to discuss the return of these people." ”

There was no doubt that these men would have been detained until after the war, and to inform the British now was nothing more than to tell them that Austria had a group of British officers and soldiers in its hands.

Now these people are useless, and when the war in the Near East escalates and the news of the heavy casualties of the British troops on the front line reaches home, causing a sensation, the London government will have to pay attention to these soldiers.

Franz admired the people who came up with this solution.

This is a genius, they are all deserters, others are fortunate to run away, hide in Tibet, and after the war, they are worried that they will be liquidated and will not be able to return home.

They also became deserters, and they stayed in Austria until the end of the war, and the salary, welfare, and the London government could not miss them, and they had to be brought back after the war.

Fortunately, there are not many such talents, otherwise tens of thousands of British soldiers would have gone to Austria to eat and drink, and the London government would have vomited blood.

As for the Sardinian army that came over to mess around, Franz directly ignored it, this was a normal operation, and no brains ran over, indicating that now they are still the Kingdom of Sardinia, not Italy.

……

With a smile on his face, Metternich said: "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Felix's trip to Berlin failed, and the Kingdom of Prussia rejected the proposal to re-establish the Holy Roman League.

In order to avoid public condemnation, Frederick Wilhelm IV very cunningly chose to stall for time, and loudly declared that he respected the choice of the German people.

Prime Minister Felix proposed a referendum, which he flatly refused, and it seemed that the Prussians were going to do something. ”

I am not afraid that the Prussians will do things, but the most feared thing is that the Prussians will not do things. If the Holy Roman Empire had been rebuilt in the name of a referendum, Franz would have cried.

The democratically elected emperor looks good, but in fact it has dropped several notches in nature, and it is not supreme, since it can be elected, it can naturally be abolished, which is even worse than the emperor election system back then.

Whether it is good or bad for the country is absolutely disastrous for the royal family, unless there is really no way, no emperor is willing to accept this kind of elected throne.

At least Franz will not accept that there are many families in Germany who are qualified to elect emperors, and even if they win once, they can also change hands next time, so the difference between the emperor and the president for life is only in name.

Not only could Franz not accept it, but also the Austrian government, if Austria could not control the Holy Roman Empire, then what was the use of rebuilding it?

The Prussians feared that Austria had restrained them with this empire, but Austria was also worried about not being able to control it.

Out of interest, as soon as the empire was unified, Prussia's awkward position in the German region would soon change, and the small states would support them against Austria.

Of course, this kind of support can only be done in secret, and it is impossible for everyone to stand up against the central government on the surface, and most of these states will play a balancing role, that is, to maintain a delicate balance between the central government with Austria as the core and the local powerful faction represented by the Kingdom of Prussia.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Karl said uncertainly: "It is somewhat surprising that the Prussians did not stand up and take up the banner of opposition, because they expected the small states to stand up and speak out against us." ”

Under the influence of nationalists, reunification has now been accepted by many people, and if you oppose national reunification, you will undoubtedly want to pull hatred.

Of course, the nationalist bloc is not strong enough to influence the government's position, but it cannot influence the government's decision-making.

If we wait twenty or thirty years later, Austria will sacrifice the banner of "rebuilding the HRE - peaceful reunification", it is estimated that it will really have a chance of success.

"It is not clear that someone must be the leader anyway, otherwise the plan will succeed, and then the Prussian government will have to pay a great price if it wants to oppose it.

Now it's up to them to see which unlucky guy has been fooled, anyway, whoever stands up against it will be hostile to the nationalists in the future. Metternich analyzed

Franz thought for a moment and said: "It would be better to be Bavaria, we need the Bavarian government to stand up against it, this is the right option for us." ”

Metternich analyzed: "Your Majesty, if you want Bavaria to be recruited, we must also personally push it, and it is estimated that the Prussians also want to push the Kingdom of Bavaria as the first bird."

As the third power of the Federation, only their influence is great enough to make everyone respond collectively.

If the Bavarian government wants to gain the support of the small states, then this is an opportunity, and if they succeed, they will become the leaders of the small German states. ”

……

The Austrian government was discussing how to lure the Kingdom of Bavaria into the pit, and in St. Petersburg, thousands of miles away, the tsarist government was also discussing the strategy behind it.

The Battle of Sofia was over, and the Second Battle of Bulgaria entered a new phase, at which point they had two more options:

Either concentrate forces to fight in the Sliven area, or first occupy Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Greece.

Arry Stanley Rhodes, Chancellor of the Exchequer, proposed: "Your Majesty, attack the area of Kslevin first, clear the way to the area of Constantinople, and take Constantinople in one fell swoop, and then the British and French will have to withdraw their troops." ”

This is a quick way to play, and financially it is a way to win the war with minimal effort.

The prerequisite is to be able to win, if you lose, it will naturally be all about not mentioning, and high returns are also accompanied by high risks.

Foreign Secretary Karl Vorsale objected: "No, now that the Battle of Sofia has just ended, the troops on the front line are in urgent need of repair, and the pressure on the front line is too great for another Armageddon at this time."

It is better to first attack the enemy's weak points, first occupy Kosovo, Macedonia, and Thrace, unite Montenegro and Greece, and attack from the enemy's flank.

Although the speed of these is a little slower, it is a tailwind battle, which is just the right time to train the eggs of the recruits and restore the combat effectiveness of the troops as soon as possible. ”

Seeing that the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Foreign Secretary had finished speaking, the Secretary of War was embarrassed to find that he had nothing to say.

Who is it supporting? This is not a difficult problem to deal with, and before it is implemented, who knows which strategy is more reliable, Ivanovich judged from a professional point of view that it is theoretically feasible.

In fact, it looks wonderful to outflank the war, and the logistics are estimated to be able to drag people to death, so you can't count on Montenegro and Greece to provide logistics, right?

Otherwise, while occupying these places, the Russian army must also divide its troops and garrison them to ensure that the logistics and transportation lines are unblocked.

Immediately send troops to Armageddon, Ivanovich also knew that it was too difficult for a strong man. The army on the front line is already tired, and if it does not repair its combat effectiveness, it will not be able to guarantee it.

After a moment's hesitation, War Minister Ivanovich analyzed from a professional point of view: "Your Majesty, the War Department proposes to transfer new troops to replace some of the troops with heavy casualties, and withdraw them to the Danube Valley for repair, as a reserve for the whole army.

Immediately after the change of defense, a decisive battle will be fought with the enemy, and now the British Expeditionary Force is also seriously damaged, and we only need two main divisions to kill them.

Now we have to fight the enemy for time, and whoever can reinforce the front line faster will win this battle. ”

There is no doubt that he has no one to support it. Ivanovic is very dissatisfied with the practice of two amateur players acting as professionals, but he can't afford to mess with the two bigwigs.

Nicholas I was a soldier, regardless of his military literacy, he still knew the basic common sense, and naturally understood that Ivanovic's advice was much more reliable than the previous two.

"Drop five divisions in the Lviv region for the units that participated in the battle of Sofia, and transfer eight divisions in the Moscow region to replace the troops with heavy losses on the Sliven front.

The troops in the Ukrainian regions were ordered to strictly prevent the enemy from landing, especially on the Crimean peninsula, and not to let the enemy take advantage of the loopholes. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Ivanovich replied

The advantage of having more troops was manifested at this time, and the Russians could mobilize reinforcements in the shortest possible time.

It's a pity that this benefit is a little pale in the embodiment on the battlefield. Poor transportation constrained the speed of the Russians' troop movements.

The Battle of Sofia ended for more than half a month, and by this time the tsarist government had made a decision, and a lot of time had been wasted, and by the time these troops arrived at the front, it was already more than a month later.

In any case, the Russians still passed the battle of Sofia. Ottoman rule in the Balkans was shaky, and the Sultan government had no more strength to reinforce the front.

This meant that the good days of the French were over, and the Ottoman Empire had lost more than 300,000 in half a year, and now the Sultan government was in a hurry to deal with the Greeks who had invaded Thrace, and there was no reinforcement.

For the first time, Aimable-Jean-Jacques Pellisier discovered that the Ottoman Empire was still so important. The number of cannon fodder was insufficient, and the French expeditionary force had to go up on its own.

A war of attrition is not fun, a regiment is crippled almost every day, and this kind of loss is not so easy to bear. The front is all Ottoman cannon fodder, they don't think there's anything, now they know it's powerful.

Menshkov was completely desperate to play, launching a big attack every three or five times, and both sides wailed after a battle.

The 170,000 French Expeditionary Force is now less than 100,000 left with combat effectiveness. The rest were not all dead or wounded, but because the troops were crippled and had to be withdrawn for repairs.

In fact, the losses of the French army were similar to those of the British, with more than 40,000 casualties, but they were more numerous than they could afford to lose of this magnitude.

France has already provided them with two reinforcements, totalling 48,000 troops, and the total number of French troops is not declining. Aimable-Jean-Jacques Pellissier was still experienced and knew that taking turns of troops into battle did not put one unit to death.

Even so, the battalion and company-level units at the grassroots level are often deprived of their formations. There is no way to do this, and after a round of enemy attacks, the first few companies in front are often reimbursed.

In this respect, the British are far worse. Of course, this is the difference between a land power country and a sea power country. Even Napoleon III, in his efforts to purge dissidents, did not make any small moves on these issues.

So the fighting has been going on to this day, and the French are still strong, and if they can repair it for a month or two, they can rebuild the lost establishment, and they can return to the peak.

Time is a hard wound, and the Russians obviously won't give them this chance, although the Russians' casualties are not small, but the gray cattle are easy to fool.

In the face of the bright future promised by Menshkov, the Russian soldiers again summoned up the courage to go to the battlefield, which the British and French troops could not match in any way.

The serf soldiers of the woolly bear are basically illiterate with simple minds, and they only need to be promised freedom and land, and these people can sacrifice their lives and die on the battlefield.

If the British and French soldiers were replaced, it is estimated that no one would pay attention to reason. Everyone has learned well, this little trick can't tempt them, and the most important thing is that everyone knows that there is no land to make in the country.

Fooling people with the land of the colony, are you not afraid of being shot at someone? Those hellish places where you can buy a farm for a pound and want everyone to work for it?

If you don't want to fool, you must find a way to fool, and Aimable-Jean-Jacques Pellisier decisively sacrificed the Russian-French feud to boost everyone's morale. It was okay at first, but now the effect is not obvious.

If anyone had noticed, they would have noticed that the French army was retreating, and seemed to be preparing to run away.

Aimable-Jean-Jacques Pellissier was bitter in his heart, because the stakes were so high that he could not lose the prestige of the boss, Napoleon III.

Even if it is a heavy price, a nominal victory can be made. Since he can't afford to lose, he naturally has to think about the way back, and if it's really undesirable, he must dump the pot!

Of course, it is better to win the war, and how much you lose still has some effect. By this time, Aimable-Jean-Jacques Pellisier had already regretted it, knowing that the British were such a waste, and he had been reckless in the first place to fight the Russians.

A defeat for both sides, that's also a victory.

Moreover, the boss originally wanted to eliminate the dissidents and eliminate the forces loyal to the Orleans dynasty in the army, even if he returned with a crushing victory, it would be a great achievement.

It's just that Emmable Jean-Jacques Pellissier had a clear conscience and was reluctant to let so many French lads be buried with him, so he chose the safest way to play, and it turned out to be a war of attrition.

However, the resilience of the Russians on the battlefield was higher than that of the coalition forces, and then the French suffered.

missed the opportunity for the decisive battle, and now even if you want to be reckless, with the state of the French army, most of them will not be able to do the woolly bear. Aimable-Jean-Jacques Pellisier didn't want to give the Russians a stepping stone to make their reputation as the world's number one army power even greater.

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