War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Austria, Vienna.

Except for the church and scholars who advocated war economy, most people in the Austrian Empire did not seem to care about it.

In bars and cafes, people talked more about what plays would be performed in the weekend theater, what new dishes were introduced in the restaurant, what rare goods had been shipped from overseas colonies, and what new inventions the empire had, and what benefits these inventions would bring to people's lives.

Although the heat of the war with Spain exceeded the heat of the rebellion in Russian Poland, it was only just exceeded.

Compared with Austrians outside the imperial capital, Viennese people prefer to enjoy life. Although the storm of 1848 has passed, the remaining memories still make people feel scared.

Of course, not many people in Vienna opposed the war. Compared with the fear of war, they were more afraid that they would stand on the opposite side of the emperor and the empire.

However, this did not include college students in the school, who collected the latest intelligence on the Austrian Empire's army all day long.

They discussed what kind of sense of justice prompted the empire to send this army of justice, and how the diplomats of the Austrian Empire argued in the diplomatic field to persuade the Spaniards to avoid war.

The students discussed the most about the post-war treatment of Spain. After all, from this point of view, it was only a matter of time before the Austrian Empire liberated Spain.

The students did not have so many concerns in their discussion, but the main voices were three. The first was to support a family close to the Austrian Empire to take the throne, which was in line with the Austrian Empire's diplomatic strategy.

The second was to restore the glory of the Habsburg family, and to select one from the Habsburg family or from the emperor's brothers to be sent to Spain as king, and even the emperor of the Austrian Empire could unite with Spain.

Doing so could maximize the influence of the Austrian Empire and greatly improve Spain's international status. The resources of both sides could also complement each other, which would be beneficial to both sides.

The third was to oppose uniting with Spain. Their reason was also very simple. Spain was a rotten land, full of poor mountains and bad waters.

If the Austrian Empire united with Spain, it would only be sucked dry. Now there were already many termites in the empire, and the number of termites should not continue to increase.

Most of the people who held the third idea were Germans, and they generally belonged to the elite class. In their view, not only Spain, but even Hungary was a burden.

The Austrian Empire needs to invest a lot of money to develop and maintain those extra territories, and also beware of rebellions that occur from time to time.

Franz also knew about the debate between the three factions, but he was a little disappointed. The best young people of this era were only at this level.

"Your Majesty, the Spaniards lack the will to resist. When will we start the attack?"

Prince Schwarzenberg's words interrupted Franz's thoughts.

"Attack?"

"Yes! Now the Spanish Legion is ready, the soldiers are eager to fight, and they can attack at any time."

Schwarzenberg's tone was excited. After all, he was also worried about the emperor's crazy ideas before.

Arming the Spaniards, such an operation will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history if you are not careful, and you can't even buckle it off.

The barbarity and bravery of the Spaniards are engraved in their bones. Only a madman can have fun fighting with a bull.

However, the Spaniards are never tired of it. Not only are their entertainment barbaric, but their wars are also barbaric. The Spaniards have never stopped slaughtering in wars.

Whether the opponent is the Berbers, Arabs, Aztecs, or the arrogant French, the Spanish have never stopped slaughtering their enemies.

However, the reason why the Spanish are so brutal is not that they are really bloodthirsty, but that their enemies are equally brutal.

The Spanish and Arabs fought for eight centuries in the Iberian Peninsula. If they were not a little bit bloody, they would have become Arabs long ago.

And the French are far from being as civilized as they claim. When the Spanish captured the French, they had to castrate them one by one. It is easy to imagine what they did.

"How is the training going?"

Franz asked back. This question embarrassed Prince Schwarzenberg. After all, they were all new recruits who had just joined the army. How could the training level be high?

But he still answered truthfully.

"Not sure."

"Know yourself and know the enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. Haven't you read the "Art of War" I gave you?"

Franz translated "The Art of War" and added a lot of annotations, as well as the thoughts of later generations. Each Austrian minister had a copy of this book, and Prince Schwarzenberg, as the Prime Minister, naturally had one.

"Not yet. But the generals on the front line think they can take the initiative now!"

"Take the initiative? Why not wait for the other side to surrender?"

Prince Schwarzenberg was speechless. His first reaction was that the emperor was crazy. How could the Spaniards surrender without fighting?

But think about it, the Spanish Navy seems to have surrendered

"Your Majesty, have you planned another secret operation?"

Although Prince Schwarzenberg is called the Prime Minister, it is more appropriate to call him the Chief Minister. He has no right to intervene in many parallel institutions, and he doesn't even know the existence of those institutions.

Prince Schwarzenberg was not aware of the previous plan to subvert the Spanish Navy.

When a king skips the prime minister and directly conducts political or diplomatic actions, it usually causes strong dissatisfaction among the prime minister and ministers, which in turn leads to tension in the internal power structure and even political turmoil.

However, Prince Schwarzenberg did not feel that his authority was challenged at this time. There was only respect and expectation on his face.

Now it was Franz's turn to be embarrassed.

"No"

"You mean you didn't act in advance?"

In fact, Franz did not take action, but the speed was not so fast. Some things still need time to brew.

Prince Schwarzenberg was more surprised than disappointed. The high-level officials of the Austrian Empire and the ordinary citizens of Vienna had completely different views.

In their eyes, the expedition to Spain was a gamble. If they won, they would gain fame and fortune, and if they lost, everything would be over.

Prince Schwarzenberg found it hard to believe that Franz had not prepared for this gamble in advance. He could not help but start to worry about the fate of the Austrian Empire.

"We can wait."

"Wait for the enemy to surrender voluntarily?"

"Yes."

Catalonia, Spain.

Varner was a little depressed. There were more and more deserters recently, and the size of the Austrian army was visibly expanding.

The areas around Barcelona fell into the arms of the Austrians without much resistance. There was no news of reinforcements from Madrid. Only a eunuch came with the will of Isabel II to show off his power.

This eunuch was not a eunuch in the usual sense, but a singer who was castrated by the church or the theater owner in order to always keep the pure voice of a child.

This eunuch was one of the male favorites of Isabel II. Such people are usually very distorted in their psychology, especially after they gain power, they often have greater ambitions than ordinary people.

However, Lieutenant General Varner did not take a eunuch too seriously, and he just regarded those dirty words as a joke.

However, what Lieutenant General Varner did not know was that his open-mindedness would bring him a fatal disaster in the near future.