Vienna, Austria.

Franz received the news on the seventh day of the opening of the Suez Canal, which for him was worse news after the heavy defeat suffered by his army in France.

Because it means that the Empire's warships will appear directly on his doorstep through this canal, and at the same time, in order to protect its own canal, the Empire will inevitably increase its presence in the Mediterranean.

"Your Majesty, we must stop the war against France, it is clear that we have all fallen for the Empire, taking advantage of the civil strife in Europe, they have succeeded in opening up the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, which will shorten the Empire's journey to Europe by almost half, and from then on the Empire's expedition to Europe will be possible, and if this continues, the Europeans will be slaughtered like the Indians of North America."

Dresses said worriedly to his king Franz.

At the outset of the war against France, they declared their opposition to this decision, and unlike other short-sighted nobles, the Dresses surrendered their sights to the growing power of the empire from the very beginning.

After all these years of analysis, he became more and more convinced that the empire would eventually colonize Europe in the same way that European colonized backward civilizations.

"Your Majesty, the rise of a great power must be accompanied by a thirst for resources and markets, and now that the empire controls most of the resource-rich regions, the only thing they lack now is a huge market, and Europe is now very suitable for this."

After a pause, he continued; "Under the condition of equal science and technology, civilizations will open their markets to each other, but when the technological generation gap widens indefinitely, the greatest benefits will be obtained by opening each other's markets by force."

Like all monarchs' desire for land, Franz agreed soon after Catherine's plan to partition Poland, while his desire for French land ate away at his heart.

Eventually, he decided to go to France, but the defeat on the battlefield made him sober up.

Unconsciously, Austria's weapons were already lagging behind France, Tsarist Russia, and Prussia, and when the war ended, Austria, weakened in strength, was likely to become a target for Prussia.

Because Prussia and Austria once belonged to the Holy Roman Empire, both Prussia and Austria declared themselves pure imperial successors, and both had the idea of unifying each other.

"Dress, you may be right, we should stop the war against France, and let the careerist of Ferre II continue to fight with Henry, isn't it a very interesting thing for two careerists to fight each other?" Franz said with a smile.

Dresses was stunned for a moment, and he said, "Your Majesty, what I'm saying is that Europe should unanimously resist the invasion of Europe by the Eastern Empire. “

"That's right, that's the case, so since they are working together against the Eastern Empire, do they want to share advanced weapons technology? Why don't you go and lobby Ferre and Ekarina to share their technology with us? Franz looked a little horrified.

Dresses opened his mouth, and finally he sighed, and now Europe is nothing more than a plate of scattered sand, each fighting for itself.

Each country attacks other countries for its own benefit, and the ideas he puts forward will not be responded to at all.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to convince Tsarist Russia, Britain and Prussia to share technology." Drys said.

"That's right, so it's useless to say it, but one thing is right, we're going to withdraw our troops from damn France, and I don't want my army to be killed." Franz said.

"Are we indifferent to the Suez Canal?" said Delais? ”

Franz said lazily: "Who can stop the navy of the Reich from sailing in the Mediterranean now?" So, does it make a difference? Rather, think about how you can get the benefits of this canal, such as building a port that will serve as a transit point for the Empire to Europe, and at least we can make a little profit. “

Dresse sighed deeply, it was clear that his persuasion had failed completely, and that Europe would not be united before the crisis of extinction.

……

Paris.

Henry also received the news of the opening of the Suez Canal, and there is no doubt that the opening of this canal is a good thing for him at the moment, because it means that the empire will be able to supply him in a faster time, without having to detour Africa to the southwest coast of France, and in the future the empire will supply directly on the southeast coast of France.

Only now the Austrian army in the southeast was still confronting him, but he had seen the weakness of the Austrian army during this period of fighting.

While resisting the Prussian offensive in the north, he was ready to completely crush the Austrian army.

To his surprise, however, his plan had not yet been carried out, and on the fifth day he received news that the Austrian army had withdrawn into the country, and for a time his pressure was greatly reduced.

He immediately ordered the southeastern coastal city of Lordan to establish a port, and at the same time sent troops from the southeastern front north to resist the Prussian attack.

Over the next month, news of the Suez Canal reached Spain, Portugal, Prussia and England.

For a time there was a pessimistic mood throughout Europe, and after two hundred years of plundering the world, they had met with an enemy of great form, an enemy that made them feel powerless.

Königsberg.

Ferre II was having dinner with Vidomia, and he was in a bad mood today, as Austria had withdrawn, Henry, who was on the verge of collapse, had lost much of his pressure, and now that the European theater had become a war between France and Prussia, he was very angry.

Feeling the mood of Ferre II, Vidomia said: "Your Majesty, there is no point in the war with France now, it is impossible for Prussia to defeat France for a while, it seems to me that it is better to make a truce and officially recognize Henry's rule over France." ”

Ferre II looked at the down-and-out Victoria, the Queen of England but also the wife of his second son, and said, "We have lost 30,000 men in this war, and these soldiers have died in vain?" “

Vidomia smiled: "Of course not, through this war, at least Austria's weakness has been seen, and now Austria has chosen to betray, maybe His Majesty can join Henry in waging a punitive war against Austria, and he will definitely agree." ”

Veret II's eyes flashed with a hint of discoloration, and he said: "Vidomia, you are really a wise woman, and I am more interested in Austria than France. ”

Vidomia smiled bitterly in her heart, she did this only to make Henry break with the empire sooner.

Once Henry rules France, he will no longer need the help of the Empire, and then Henry will remember the French colonies that the Empire had seized during the French War.