Guan Zhuofan's "foresight" did not disappoint the royal sister.

Prussia and Austria competed, and in the German Confederation, the two bigwigs each pulled a bunch of younger brothers. However, there were far more states supporting Austria than Prussia, especially the southern states, which overwhelmingly supported Austria. Prussia's ambition to merge with all of Germany was already in the minds of most of the states, and everyone thought it would be more pleasant for us to set ourselves up as kings.

On the northern front, Prussia attacked on the east and west, the east to attack Austria proper, and the west to attack Austria's main allies in the Confederacy, Saxony and Hanover. The Saxon army could not support it, and it was defeated one after another, until it retreated into Austria and merged into the Austrian Army on the Northern Front; After the defeat of the Hanoverian army, King Ogle of Hanover announced his surrender.

It should be noted that this Kingdom of Hanover has an extremely close relationship with the British royal family at that time.

At that time, Britain was ruled by the Hanoverian dynasty, and the two "Hanovers" were one and the same. George I, the ancestor of Queen Victoria and the first monarch of the Hanoverian dynasty, was the son of the Elector of Hanover, Germany, because Queen Anna of England at that time, the cousin of George I, died without an heir, in order to prevent the throne of the British king from falling into the hands of the Catholics, she crossed the sea to England to take his cousin's class.

In 1814, the Congress of Vienna decided that in order to give the British king more say in German affairs, it was decided to elevate the Elector of Hanover to the Kingdom of Hanover, and to form a "confederation" with the United Kingdom, with the British king as the head of the confederation.

However, after Queen Victoria ascended the throne, the "Sali Law" was implemented in Germany. Women are forbidden to inherit the throne. The King of England automatically loses the title of head of the "Confederation". This "confederation" has in fact collapsed.

However, in any case, Prussia's destruction of Hanover was tantamount to digging up the roots of the British royal family on the European continent, and in the future, it would be more difficult for Britain to intervene in German affairs and even in continental European affairs. The British will probably not be much happier.

The Hannover incident will have a considerable impact on the changes and development of the world pattern in the future because of Guan Zhuofan's intervention in this time and space. Therefore, the lion is here to say a few more words.

Straight to the point.

After the overall situation of the western road was decided, the decisive battle between the main forces of the eastern and Austrian armies began.

It is very interesting, the dispute between Prussia and Austria, the international community is mostly optimistic about Austria - Guan Zhuofan's view was very different at the time. Austria, however, knows its own business. In fact, the confidence in fighting against the general population is insufficient. From the beginning to the end, it was a passive defensive posture. Austria's calculation was to avoid the enemy's edge, delay the course of the war as much as possible, and wear down the Prussian spirit, and then unite with the Allies to launch a large-scale counteroffensive.

When Saxony, Hanover and other small partners were cut off by Prussia one by one, Austria had lost its wings, and he knew that this abacus might not be able to be played, but he still had a fluke idea of "defending and counterattacking", and he fought and retreated, not wanting to have a decisive battle with Prussia too soon. Prussia, on the other hand, was overwhelmed, and several large armies were divided into combined forces in an effort to capture the main Austrian army led by General Benedek.

Finally, on the Sadowa Heights on the north bank of the upper Elbe River, the Prussian army caught up with the main Austrian army, and the Battle of Sadowa began.

It was a large-scale melee, and the result was a great defeat for the Austrians, with a total of 45,000 casualties and prisoners, and the Prussian army losing only 10,000. However, although General Benedek lost the Battle of Sadowa, he succeeded in retreating the remaining 150,000 soldiers safely, and the Prussian army failed to completely annihilate the main Austrian army.

The Austrians avoided the fate of total annihilation for two reasons.

First, the Prussian army adopted the strategy and tactics of "attacking separately and together"; under the conditions of communications at that time, it was difficult to communicate with each other, it was not easy to unify command, and each army fought its own battle, and it was difficult to make dumplings for the Austrian army.

Second, the Prussian army judged that the Austrian army should retreat to the south, but it did not expect that the actual direction of the Austrian army's retreat was to the east. This was not Benedek's "striking south to the east", but the retreat to the south had been blocked by the Prussian army, so he had to retreat eastward. By mistake, he hit the right one, but it highlighted the encirclement for him.

Although the Prussian army failed to completely annihilate the main force of the Austrian army, the situation of the whole war was already very obvious, Prussia was like a rainbow, and Austria was defeated.

In this favorable situation, there was an extremely fierce debate between the Prussian monarchs and ministers, and Chancellor Bismarck was so angry that he even claimed that he wanted to hang up the crown and beg to go.

*

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After receiving the news of the discord between the Prussian monarch and the minister, Guan Zhuofan made an appointment to meet with the Prussian minister to China, Li Fusi.

Li Fusi is burly, with knotted muscles and bones, hair and beard like a halberd, and a hideous face. When we first met, I didn't know the details, but no one thought that this pirate-like guy was actually a diplomat. In fact, this old man does not have a fierce appearance in vain, he does things for others, and is known for his explosiveness and toughness, which can be regarded as "the same on the outside and on the inside".

In the third year of Tongzhi, that is, the year before last, Li Fusi took up his post in China, and the ship sailed to the mouth of Dagu, where he found three Danish merchant ships. As mentioned above, at that time, Prussia pulled Austria in order to belong to Schleswig-Holstein, and was fighting Denmark. When Li Fusi saw the three merchant ships flying the Danish flag, he immediately rushed over and arrested all three merchant ships without saying a word.

The Danish businessman sued the Prime Minister's Ministry of National Affairs. King Gong was greatly annoyed, and sent a message to Li Fusi, pointing out that the Danish merchant ships had entered China's "inner oceans" at that time, not in the "public seas", and that your envoy's move violated the public law of all countries and "showed the right to seize China." If it is not properly resolved, please go home, and China will not accept it.

Knowing that he was at a loss, Li Fusi not only released three Danish merchant ships, but also took the initiative to compensate the Danish merchants with 1,500 silver dollars.

It can be seen from this incident that although Li Fusi acted impulsively, he was not an irrational person, and it was not unreasonable for Bismarck to choose him as minister to China since he judged the situation and even made compromises.

At this time, Li Fusi, who had a hideous face, looked worried.

"Moltke's Chief of General Staff strongly advocated taking advantage of the victory to pursue and march into Vienna to completely defeat Austria."

After a pause, Li Fusi continued: "His Majesty was moved by his words, and he supported his proposition. Not only that, but there are also people in China who advocate that we should take advantage of this God-given opportunity to unify Germany and include all the German states, including Austria. ”

Guan Zhuofan smiled slightly: "Even Austria wants to eat it?" What a big appetite. ”

"Isn't it?" Li Fusi said, "The Prime Minister said that this is unrealistic, the unification of Germany, the annexation of Austria, and now Prussia, do not have this ability, greedy and chewy, but support themselves!" He insisted that the war had been fought to this extent, and the heat was just right, and it should be stopped in moderation—but His Majesty and below were carried away by victory, and no one would listen to him! ”

*(To be continued......)