Franz asked in surprise, "Did you really catch the assassin?" ”

According to his thoughts, after the failure of the assassination in Paris, these people had already gone into hiding, so how could they continue to stay where they were and wait for death?

However, he ignored the inconvenience of communication in this era, and the government received the information early, which did not mean that the Assassins also received the information.

The news of the assassination of Napoleon III, the arrest of the assassins, and the accountability of the Government of Paris to the Kingdom of Sardinia in the Viennese newspapers did not spread so quickly.

The charcoal burners were powerful in the Kingdom of Sardinia, not the same as in Austria. In fact, they belonged to a cult in Austria, and their tentacles penetrating into Lombardy and Venexia had long been cut off.

Even if the Sardinian Orders received the news, they were not in a position to inform the Assassins of their retreat. Even this assassination was decided by the people at the bottom with a pat on the head, and the top brass of the Charcoal Burning Party did not know about it at all.

The Charcoal Party is an alliance and has only nominal leadership over its members. In fact, everyone still goes their own way, and there is no mandatory binding force on the members.

Archduke Louis smiled and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty! When these Assassins were caught, they insisted that they were French, and that they had come to assassinate you on the orders of Napoleon III. ”

It's really funny, and some people will do such a clumsy planting. Do you really think that if you change your nationality, you can make people believe it?

Franz sneered and said: "Then take care of them first, don't let them die, maybe it will be of great use later." ”

Ready-made excuses were sent to the door, and the reasons for the support of the Viennese government for the French came out. Assassins who do not act are also assassins, and in the case of empathy, there is nothing wrong with France and Austria sharing the same enemy.

What's even funnier is that in this era, the Charcoal Party is an organization on the surface, and its membership is public. If you want to throw out a few scapegoats, you can't do it, and when it comes to the murder of the king, no one wants to get out.

Mazzini, Garibaldi, and Cavour, the "Three Founding Heroes of Italy", were all members of this organization, and it was even rumored that Napoleon III also joined this organization.

What can the Sardinian government do to hand over all these people? It is a pity that all the high-ranking people in the Kingdom of Sardinia except for the king are among them, and the strong man does not break his wrist like this, which is an unsolvable problem.

Archduke Louis replied, "Yes, Your Majesty! ”

In order to encourage the French to annex the Kingdom of Sardinia, Franz also broke his heart. Even the opportunity to blackmail the Kingdom of Sardinia was temporarily abandoned.

saint petersburg

No matter what the tsarist government was doing, when something happened in Europe in this era, they were always indispensable. As European hegemons, it is their responsibility and obligation to reconcile the contradictions of various countries.

Of course, this duty is what the Russians consider themselves to be, and the European countries have never recognized it. The hegemony of the tsarist government in Europe was based entirely on force.

Nicholas I was in a dilemma, on the one hand, he hated the Italian radical group that assassinated the emperor, and on the other hand, he did not want to see the French expand their power.

Not only Nicholas I, but all the monarchs of the European continent, with the exception of Franz, faced the same troubles.

Regardless of whether Napoleon III was an outburst or not, since he was recognized as the throne by everyone, he was a member of the monarchy. Ordinary political assassinations will be collectively resisted by everyone, let alone the assassination of the monarch?

Bismarck's assassination, as the backstabbing of Poland's independence, suffered heavy losses, not only by the brutal suppression of Prussia and Russia, but also by the boycott of European countries.

The Foreign Secretary, Karl Wasser, said in a righteous manner: "Your Majesty, this evil organization that wants to kill the monarch must be punished, and all the leaders must be sent to the gallows. ”

This is political correctness, even the allies of the Kingdom of Sardinia - the British made them hand over the murderers, and no monarchy can tolerate the existence of an evil organization that assassinates the monarch.

Nicholas I nodded and said, "Well, this evil organization must be eradicated, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent a note to the Kingdom of Sardinia asking them to arrest the murderer immediately."

The question now is how to prevent the French from expanding their power. The lessons of the Napoleonic era cannot be repeated, and we must limit the pace of expansion of the enemy. ”

Foreign Secretary Karl Vorsale confidently said: "Your Majesty, it is not our family's problem to contain the expansion of the French. The French expanded in Italy, with the British and Austrians bearing the brunt of the expansion.

We don't have to worry about this at all. Even if the French are strong, there are two countries in the way.

Unlike in the past, Napoleon III was not Napoleon, and he did not have the talent of his uncle. As soon as the French entered Central Europe, they were met with a boycott by everyone.

With the current strength of the French, they simply did not have the ability to sweep across the European continent. As soon as the French expanded into Central Europe, we formed an anti-French coalition to destroy this enemy once and for all. ”

Wariness of the French, purely out of instinct. At that time, Napoleon fought all the way to the heart of Russia, and if it were not for the continuation of his life in winter, the Russian Empire would have ended.

Therefore, in the struggle for hegemony in Europe, the tsarist government has always regarded the French as its first competitor, and of course the French as its first competitor.

The French Ken and John Bull joined forces to launch the war in the Near East, in addition to diverting the domestic political crisis, but also more of a continuation of the struggle for hegemony in Europe between France and Russia.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Aristanley Rhodes reminded: "Your Majesty, the Austrians have developed rapidly in recent years, and although they are allies with us, we should still be guarded against.

Now that the French have jumped out, it is better to let Austria and them contain each other! We can also learn from the British and Austrians and play with continental balancing. ”

The Russians play European balancing, which sounds like a fantasy, but this is also something that has to be done.

The three main protagonists of the Near East War, Britain and France, have recovered, and the Russian Empire, as the victor, is still recuperating.

This greatly alarmed the tsarist government, which was forced to carry out institutional reforms. Nicholas I was indeed old, without the sharpness of his youth, and in the face of strong opposition from conservatives, he took a steady approach.

Moreover, the Russian Empire was too big to rule.

The cable telegraph is about to become widespread on the European continent, but in Russia it has only covered a few large cities, and it is still far from reaching the whole country.

In this case, the central government's control over local governments is naturally insufficient. The reform measures that were finally passed were discounted when they were finally implemented.

The effect of the reforms was not obvious, it did not solve the financial dilemma, the Russian Empire no longer had the strength to coerce the countries, and it was a last resort to change the national policy.

Nicholas I sighed deeply, it was Britain and Austria who had been playing the continental balance for a long time, and he did not expect that Russia, which had always wanted to break the situation in Europe, would now become a supporter of the European continental balance policy.

"That's it, let's do it!"

With this decision, Nicholas I seemed to have aged a lot all at once.

Once the policy of continental equilibrium was initiated, this meant that the Russian Empire completely abandoned expansion on the European continent, and the future tsarist government had less strategic choice.

But in the face of reality, they can't help but refuse. Even if it did not abandon its expansion on the European continent, the tsarist government could not find a place to expand. The people who border them are all hard bones, and there is no way to eat them.

Prior to this, the tsarist government was already doing it, and the reconstruction of the Vienna system was part of the policy of balancing the European continent, but the starting point was different.

Initially, the tsarist government was only trying to consolidate its hegemony and buy time for domestic reforms. Now because of lack of money, in order to save the cost of maintaining hegemony, it is necessary to engage in a policy of balancing the European continent.