In January, Vienna is bathed in a cold wind, and snow falls lightly from the sky like rain. A gust of wind blew, like fine salt sprinkled into the sky, flying all over the sky, decorating the entire Vienna Palace into a fairytale world of ice and snow.

Franz has already broken his good habit of winter swimming, and he can't get into the water in this ice and snow world, and if he falls ill, he is not at ease with the medical skills of this era.

There is a thick layer of ice on top of the artificial lake, and several younger brothers are still playing on it.

Fell? It doesn't matter, just take an ice shower, get up and change your clothes and continue.

Pampering does not exist, their brothers have received militarized training since childhood, and their ability to talk about soldiers on paper is definitely not low, otherwise Franz would not have run to command the army with confidence in history.

The snow was fluttering, and Franz stood in the pavilion looking into the distance, and the water in the teapot next to him was already boiling.

Boiling tea, I don't know when Franz developed a habit. That's right, just boiling, he loves the aroma of tea.

For this reason, how much tea is wasted every day is not a matter of concern to Franz. Anyway, there are so many people who make sycophants, he doesn't consume a little more, where is the opportunity for people?

The main drink of the Viennese court was coffee, tea was only an occasional concoction, and it was mostly black tea, with sugar and milk, it became the so-called milk tea.

"Your Majesty, the Archbishop of Kentenia asks for a meeting." The maid's crisp voice rang in her ears

The church man came, and Franz frowned. You know, since the Austrian government attacked the Church at home, there was a rift in the relationship between the Church and the Vienna court.

Even the Archbishop of Kentney, who has always had a good relationship with the royal family, has reduced his contacts with the royal family, and it is likely that nothing good will come to the door at this time.

"Bring him here!" Franz said lightly

People have already come to the door, and for the sake of past friendships, Franz can't avoid it.

…… (The crisis of the Holy Land broke out, 10,000 words were omitted, and I did not dare to touch religion)

"Your Majesty, you see?" The Archbishop of Kentenia asked anxiously

He is a devout Catholic, and he is completely different from a pseudo-believer like Franz, and he is very angry about what happened to ****.

"I know, there are a lot of issues involved in this issue, and I want to discuss it with the cabinet before making a decision." Franz replied with a frown

The heart has already begun to retreat, if the expected is good, the historical trigger of the Crimean War is this crisis, and Franz does not want to fall into it.

Without the desired result, there was nothing the Archbishop of Kentenia could do. It is no longer the Middle Ages, and in Austria the imperial power has overwhelmed the clergy.

……

"Your Majesty, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte was ambitious and wanted to reshape France's position as a great power in Europe, so it is better to give them this opportunity to perform!" Metternich suggested

Austria doesn't want to come out, so it has to find someone to top the tank. There are many Catholic countries in Europe, and there are only three major countries: Austria, France, and Spain.

The current situation in Spain is also not optimistic, there are a lot of internal problems, and there is no energy to interfere in this issue at all.

The most suitable for them are the French, whose international status and strength are seriously incompatible.

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte's desire to fight for France's status was only one aspect, but more importantly, he had to gain popular support if he wanted to be restored.

If he does something else, the parliament will definitely oppose it and pull him back, and interfering **** is the best choice, even if he is his political enemy on this issue, he will not dare to stand up against it.

"Then give the opportunity to the French, the government must appease the mood of the people in the country, and the Press Ombudsman must pay attention to the guidance of public opinion, and not be left by people.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has coordinated relations with its allies, and the government has allocated a special fund of 2 million dong for propaganda in the South German region, and we must find a way to slowly manipulate public opinion in these regions.

It is better to secretly buy some newspapers and publishing houses in the local area, and vigorously support the pro-Austrian faction and the Greater German Unification faction.

It is inconvenient for the government to come forward in these matters, so it can let intelligence organizations or non-governmental communication organizations come forward.

The German Confederation is a whole, and we can also set up some comprehensive civil organizations, such as the German Writers' Association, the German Artistic Composers' Association, and so on. Franz thought for a moment and said

I don't want to know, but when I think about Franz, I realize that Austria still has an advantage in art and culture in this era.

Of course, this advantage cannot be compared with that of France, who are the leaders of romanticism; It cannot be compared with Italy, as the birthplace of the Renaissance, Rome is also the cultural center of Europe.

However, it is different in the German region, not to mention those small states, whose influence is too small.

Prussia, as a country dominated by the army, is it too much nonsense for you to talk to them about art? The system determines their innate cultural deficiencies.

Bavaria, everything else is good, but it is a little poor, this is an embarrassing problem, art also needs a material foundation.

In this context, Austria comes to the fore. Vienna is also a historic city, and its cultural heritage is better than that of any other German state.

In modern times, as the so-called "national misfortune poet is lucky", as a multi-ethnic country, various cultural ideas collided with each other, and naturally sparks, and Austria reached its cultural peak in this era.

Since there are advantages, it is natural to take advantage of them. There is no harm without contrast, the idea of great unification has begun to spread in the German region, and it is easy to do a multiple-choice question of who the cultural community will support compared to the rigid Kingdom of Prussia.

Don't look at these pens, they don't seem to be of much use. Once Austria annexed the states of South Germany, Austria would be able to digest it in the shortest possible time.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Prime Minister Felix replied

As a staunch German, he supported any decision that would favor German unity, and if he hadn't died too early in history, it would not have been so easy for the Kingdom of Prussia to unify Germany.

Metternich said: "Your Majesty, the conflict between the Russians is coming to an end, and at this time the crisis of the Holy Land has broken out, the Russians will definitely intervene, and maybe they will use this as an excuse to move against the Ottoman Empire."

Judging by the intelligence we have received, the Russian Empire is preparing for war, and it is clear that they are not ready to start a war in advance when we are ready.

If the war were to be brought forward, we would have to face a choice, and it would be too dangerous for Austria to support a two-front war, either to unify the South German region or to fight for the Balkans. ”

Franz frowned, it was too dangerous to fight on two fronts, this was a statement that put gold on his face.

If there was no intervention by the Great Powers, Franz would not have been intimidated in fighting on two fronts. But in fact, apart from the Russians, who had already been deceived, none of the remaining powers supported Austria.

If nothing else, as long as the British are willing to throw money at it, the Kingdom of Prussia will stab Austria in the back, and the possibility of the French intervening is as high as 9.9 percent.

If it is only fighting in one direction, then Austria, which is concentrated in strength, will still have some deterrent power, and it will not be able to scare people if it is divided into two routes.

Prince Wendy Schretz, Minister of War, proposed: "Your Majesty, I propose to give priority to expansion into the Balkans, and on this matter we can also win the support of the German States, and have agreed with the Russians, and the resistance is only that of England and France."

The Russians wanted to annex the Ottoman Empire, and the first target of the British and French strikes must be the Russians. As long as we see a good thing, they will most likely acquiesce to our expansion.

If, at this time, we send troops to unify the southern German region, all the states of the entire German region will be on our opposite side.

Because of the geographical location, it is much easier for the French to intervene with troops, and we may face a joint attack by France, Prussia, Bavaria and other countries.

In the event of a strategic failure, Austria would have no choice but to leave the German Confederation. The Holy Roman League, which has now been established, will also fall apart. ”

Franz, who knew history, knew that if he expanded into the Balkans at this time, as long as he held his position, he would almost win by lying down.

Even Austria was on the wrong side in history and had the opportunity to annex the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, but the Vienna government was reluctant to give up Italy as a price.

(Note: The Principality of Wallachia in the southern part of present-day Romania; Principality of Moldavia, part of present-day northeastern Romania, Moldova, Ukraine)

Prime Minister Felix hurriedly objected: "No, what Austria lacks is not territory, but the number of thematic nationalities. Even if we have started to implement universal integration, it will not be possible to accomplish it in the short term.

At such times, it is indeed easy to succeed in expanding into the Balkans. But the more we eat, the more difficult it is for us to achieve integration.

We can calculate that the smaller half of Serbia has a population of 5.6 million, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a population of 4.5 million, Wallachia has a population of nearly 1 million, and Moldavia has a population of more than 14.5 million.

This means that Austria has a population of 10 percent all at once, and all of them are ethnic minorities who are different from the rest of the country and have no sense of identity with the country.

How much effort do we have to assimilate these people? Is it twenty years, or thirty years?

We will not be able to do anything until national integration is complete.

It would be different if we annexed the South German states, where there was a strong sense of popular identity, and in three or five years at most we could establish effective rule and turn our potential into national power.

When the time comes, it will be completely too late to turn around and expand into the Balkans.

As for the risks, they are actually all manageable.

The Kingdom of Prussia has an opinion, and we can support their annexation of the North German States, and we will divide Germany together. If they do not agree, they threaten their reunification with the Russian-Austrian alliance.

The French had an opinion that we could cede to them all the territory west of the Rhine, and that we could make even greater concessions in Italy, and even support their annexation of Belgium.

The so-called contradictions in this world are nothing more than a matter of interests, as long as everyone takes what they need, there is nothing that cannot be solved! ”

I have to say, Felix is ruthless enough. If this is done, it will become a collective expansion of territory by the European powers.

Prussia, France, and Russia began to expand at the same time, is there a solution to this problem? Even if the rest of the countries united to boycott, it would be useless, and the attitude of the British could naturally be ignored.

But how could European politicians not think about this question? Why hasn't it been implemented?

Obviously, things are not so simple, and an uneven distribution of spoils is an unsolvable problem. The Russians took too much, and everyone was dissatisfied.

In addition, the size of the woolly bear is too large, which has caused everyone's fear, worried that if they continue to expand, no one will be able to bear it.

The British are again making trouble on the sidelines, and the practical operation of such a joint foreign expansion plan is greatly reduced.