On June 12, 1852, the British Parliament passed the Army Enlargement Act.

Maximi's proposal for a 120,000-strong expansion was still discounted, and shrewd congressmen limited the final expansion to 80,000. The reason, of course, is that armaments are carried out in accordance with real needs and taxpayers' money cannot be wasted.

This frugal sense of ownership led directly to the British Army's dragging its allies back in the war in the Near East.

The French were much more efficient than the slow-moving British. After the increase was confirmed, Napoleon III began to explode troops, and the total strength of the French army jumped to 620,000.

It seems that the invincible France that roamed Europe back then. Europe has the largest standing army except for the woolly bear.

In order to expand France's international influence, Napoleon III was very active this time, and at the same time as the large expansion of the army, French reinforcements had already set off from the country.

At this time, the military strength of mainland France had fallen to its lowest point, and although the number of troops had increased, veterans and recruits were completely different concepts.

After the end of the war against France, the Orleans dynasty slowed down the development of the French army in order to relieve international pressure, and only retained a small number of elite troops, which only recovered after the Revolution.

Napoleon III's talent was not in the military, and in the expansion of the army, he neglected the construction of reserve forces and the rationalization of the mobilization mechanism.

Historically, in the Franco-Prussian War, the French confessed their defeat in the first battle. It was because the mobilization mechanism of France at that time was not perfect, and it was not able to mobilize enough troops in time to hold Paris.

This is the weakness of the French development model, which places most of the country's core industries around Paris, and it is difficult to make a comeback once Paris falls.

After the Battle of Bulgaria, the Russian army advanced the front to the Balkan Mountains, and the time came to test the Russians.

At this time, there was a disagreement within the Russian Balkan expeditionary force, and the generals, led by General Bach-Ivanov, advocated the capture of Sofia first; The generals, led by Gorchakov, advocated crossing the Balkan Mountains and taking the Edirne region directly.

The ultimate strategic goal was the same - to capture Constantinople and blockade the Bosphorus.

The reason for the first attack on Sofia was that the Ottoman Empire had just experienced a major defeat, and the military difficulty in this area was weak.

Sofia was the most influential city in Bulgaria, and once conquered, its political influence was very important, as it could rally more Bulgarians to rise up against Ottoman rule.

There is another reason that cannot be said, that is, after the capture of Sofia, the Russian army occupied most of Bulgaria even if it was not able to capture Constantinople, laying the foundation for the next war.

This is the traditional power, this is the ninth Russo-Turkish war, many people think that if the Ottoman Empire cannot be destroyed, there will definitely be a tenth Russo-Turkish war in the future, and it is important to plan for a rainy day now.

Swallowing the Ottoman Empire in one gulp, this is just idealism, there are not many people who really think that Russia will be able to swallow the Ottoman Empire in one gulp.

It is enough to shout political slogans, and the Russians have been shouting slogans for the destruction of the Ottoman Empire for almost a hundred years, and now the Ottoman Empire is still standing there.

The argument for attacking Edirne directly was that in order to hurry, this was the closest route to conquer Constantinople, and it was better to attack Constantinople in advance while the main reinforcements of Britain and France had not arrived.

Of course, the odds of victory are also high, and if you don't occupy the surrounding areas, the Ottoman army is very likely to outflank the back of the Russian army, and if you fail to capture Constantinople, there is a risk of annihilation.

The troubles of the Russians, Franz did not care about. Whether the Russian army will be wiped out or not, he is not worried at all.

In the case of the Ottoman Empire, unless it is opened, no matter how good the tactics are, they will be discounted when they implement them.

Theoretically, cut off the Russian army's logistical supply lines at any key point in the middle, and they would win the war.

But the unit responsible for carrying out the task must also have strong enough combat effectiveness, otherwise it will be overturned by the Russian army in three or five clicks, so what's the use?

Not only that, but also the surrounding Ottoman army and local government must cooperate closely. As long as there is a problem in one link, you can't close the door and beat the dog.

This kind of difficult work, or don't expect the Ottoman Empire to be able to complete it, at most, it is to cut off the logistics line to scare the Russians into retreating, and then the two sides honestly start to fight for attrition.

……

Prince Wendy Schretz smiled and said, "Your Majesty, the Ottomans have withdrawn their troops from the Serbian region. It seems that the Russians have put too much pressure on them, and now they are preparing to concentrate their forces against the Russians, and they can't care about these areas. ”

It can be seen that he is in a very good mood. The Habsburgs and the Ottoman Empire have been feuding for hundreds of years, and it is naturally refreshing to see the enemy unlucky.

Of course, it is more important to be political. Don't look at the current Marshal Radetzky as Chief of the General Staff, he, the Minister of War, has not reacted, in fact, Prince Wendy Schretz has been looking for an opportunity to break the game.

A military strongman is not the same as a political strongman, and Archduke Karl is an example of this, who went home and wrote a book in disgrace.

In fact, Marshal Radesky, who was highly respected in the Austrian army, did not mix well in Austria before, and his long-term local service was not valued, but excluded from the core of power.

However, after Franz took office, the situation changed, and in order to ensure the smooth implementation of the westward expansion strategy, Marshal Radetz was transferred back to the Central Committee as chief of the General Staff.

Against this background, Prince Wendy Schreitz was useless even if he had ten thousand reasons, and whatever the reason, Franz could not have given up his support for Marshal Radetzky at this time.

Knowing this, Prince Wendy Schretz naturally won't do anything. In fact, the deterioration of relations between him and Marshal Radesky was due to the conflict of power between the General Staff and the War Department.

The butt determines the position, the General Staff and the War Department are supposed to be mutually balanced, and if the relationship between the two sides is good, Franz will have to be replaced.

Suppressed by Marshal Radesky, Prince Wendy Schretz had no choice. But now the opportunity has come, and the Ottomans have withdrawn their troops from Serbia, which means that Austria can get a large area of land without much effort.

The main battle faction of the military is not so easy to suppress, and they do not know the real strategy of the Austrian government.

At this time, if Marshal Radesky could not suppress his subordinates and brought the matter to the emperor, it would be a great loss of points; Even if it is suppressed, it will make the military generals dissatisfied.

Franz is naturally clear about this little calculation. But he didn't mean to interfere, these struggles can only be regarded as pediatrics. Prince Wendy Schretz used a conspiracy, which was within the scope of the rules.

It is better for the ministers to fight each other than for them to collude and unite to fight the emperor. As long as he didn't delay the right thing, didn't form gangs in the open, and fought in secret, Franz pretended not to see it.

Where there are people, there are factions, and Franz would not have the luxury of expecting the bureaucracy of the Austrian government to be pure and unbeaten.

Franz asked: "What about Belgrade, did the Ottomans give up?" ”

Belgrade has always been known as the gateway to the Balkans, and as long as it is in control, no one can ignore Austria's opinion in the future affairs of the Balkans.

However, now the Austrian government's strategic focus is not on the Balkans, and the Ottoman Empire has stationed heavy troops there, so Austria has not conquered Belgrade.

If the Ottomans gave up on their own initiative, they could occupy it by sending 8,000 troops, and Franz would not have given up, and Austria still had no shortage of such troops.

The more chips in your hand, the greater the benefits you can get after the war, and everyone understands such a simple truth.

Austria did not have such a good appetite for the annexation of the Balkans in the event of a unified South German effort.

Unless the Russians are open and able to conquer Constantinople, then Britain and France will not break the Russian-Austrian alliance, and Austria will swallow these fat meats.

"No, but the Ottomans have drawn troops from Belgrade, and now the defenders there have dropped to 20,000." Prince Wendy Schretz replied

After wandering from side to side for a while, Franz shouted: "Jeanne, send someone to inform the cabinet and Marshal Radesky to come over for a meeting." ”

Plans were always slow to change, and Austria stopped after occupying the two principalities of the Danube Valley, which can also explain the fact that we sat on the mountain and watched the tiger fight.

Now that the Ottoman Empire is withdrawing from the Serbian region, and Austria does not send troops to occupy it, it would be too strange. Not to mention the Russians, even European countries will be suspicious.

But as the occupation continued, Austria occupied more and more land in the Balkans. Then the problem arises, the original southward strategy was just to cover the westward strategy, but it turned out to be a fake show.

Don't think that eating too much meat is necessarily a good thing, and it may also make people gain weight, and losing weight is the most headache.

Austria is about the same now, now take more and occupy more, can the European countries agree to it after the war?

Jealousy distorts people's hearts, and if everyone is jealous, Austria will have no friends, and Franz doesn't want to be passive.

But the problem now is that the situation is not under Franz's control at all. The Ottomans were too cowardly, and they did not have the fighting spirit of their ancestors at all.

Even if they symbolically formed a group of militias to make a strong noise, Franz could pretend to be deceived, did not discover the enemy's conspiracy in time, and delayed the warplane.

Now it's good that the Ottomans have withdrawn their troops very barely, and Franz is in a dilemma.