War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Franz actually had a deeper consideration for not annexing the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which was to prevent the Austrian Empire's economic center from moving further south.

Vienna was very important to Franz's strategy. The center of the Austrian Empire must be Vienna, and only Vienna.

In addition, it could also reduce the panic and dissatisfaction in northern Italy. In fact, Franz's previous lease of the Port of Genoa from the Kingdom of Sardinia had already aroused the jealousy and dissatisfaction of Venice.

Out of fear that Genoa might rise again and take away Venice's interests, the Venetians tried every means to strike Genoa, and the means could be said to be unsparing.

Including but not limited to: extortion, kidnapping, road destruction, shipwreck creation, malicious competition, malicious slander, and using information asymmetry to create business traps.

The Austrian Empire itself was a country lacking ports, so the Venice region could maintain its status.

As Franz recovered a large amount of land in central Italy, the number of ports available to the Austrian Empire increased greatly, and compared with Venice, which had a very low upper limit, the natural conditions of these new ports were more superior.

As long as the funds were in place, these new ports would soon replace Venice's traditional status.

No one knows the consequences of the transfer of trade centers better than the Venetians. They have just developed for a few years with the rise of the Austrian Empire, and it seems that they can see the glorious days of the past again.

However, with the outbreak of the Great Rebellion in 1848, the Austrian Empire had to start considering more safe ports, which made the Venetians fall into deep fear.

Their good days may come to an end in a dozen or twenty years.

So they pin their hopes on the Suez Canal, which is about to open.

Although Venice is at a clear disadvantage compared to ports such as Genoa and La Spezia in the Atlantic trade at this time, if the Suez Canal is opened, Venice will once again become the center of world trade.

However, if the Austrian Empire annexed the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and continued to expand its power to the south, then things would be hard to say, after all, the railway development speed at this time was too fast.

Except for Ancona, the entire Central Italy did not pose much threat to Northern Italy, but Southern Italy was different. Northern Italians also discriminated against Southern Italians.

In addition to the above problems, the problems brought about by the Pope's donation of land are far more than that.

In addition to the smear campaigns by Britain, France and Prussia against Austria to varying degrees, domestic opposition and neutral groups also jumped out.

In the British propaganda, the Austrian Empire not only occupied the territory of the Papal States, but also had a lot of ulterior motives.

Although the two countries had many contradictions, Britain was at a local disadvantage at this time, so it would not fight the Austrian Empire to the end.

In response to the Austrian Empire's questioning, the British government said that it was also helpless.

"After all, our British Empire emphasizes freedom of speech, and we can't suppress the voice of the people."

The British government naturally couldn't control some people who went to Rome out of public indignation.

On the other hand, Britain had just introduced special measures to restrict the import of German books. In particular, "Nature", "Science", "Times", and "Playboy", these four magazines won the highest restriction level.

But most of the people who had spare money to subscribe to magazines in this era were not ordinary people, and Franz was not ready to accept the British control.

So naturally, an industrial chain emerged from Austria to Britain, and a group of people tirelessly sent these books to the black market in Britain.

The French were not as blatant as the British, but Napoleon III still took this opportunity to sow discord between the Catholic forces in France and the Vatican.

This was the most important thing for France, because the clownish behavior of the Second French Republic in the Spanish War had highlighted Franz's personal image.

At the same time, it also greatly strengthened the relationship between the French Church and the Vatican, as well as the Austrian Church.

Louis Napoleon did not want to follow in the footsteps of Isabelle II, but at this time the French Church was so powerful that he could not suppress it directly, so he could only solve this problem by smearing and winning it over.

However, this did not mean that Napoleon III did not want to take the opportunity to kill Franz, after all, the deal between them was not glorious for the former.

It was just that due to the actual situation, Louis Napoleon only secretly supported a group of anti-Austrian forces, and he was willing to unite these people to fight against the Austrian Empire.

However, before there was enough strength, France could not start a war with the Austrian Empire again.

In Berlin, in the palace, Frederick William IV expressed strong dissatisfaction as soon as he learned about the Pope's land donation.

He still held a glimmer of hope that as long as the countries opposed it, and with so many Catholics in Europe, the Austrian Empire could only spit out what it had eaten.

Maybe it could still take this opportunity

However, reality soon dealt a heavy blow to William IV. There were not many countries that openly opposed it, and Britain and France did not make any big moves.

Among the Protestant monarchs, William IV became the most active one in expressing his position. Most of the other monarchs avoided it if they could, and most of them maintained a neutral attitude if they could not avoid it.

As for the reaction of the people, it was much smaller than William IV imagined. Instead, the nationalists turned to the Austrian side, which weakened the opposition's already weak power again.

Naturally, there were voices of opposition from the public, but this time it was not as loud as in 1848. In 1848, it was not even a riot.

In fact, what William IV did not know was that in history, a country far weaker than the Austrian Empire at that time had captured Rome, and the expected "punishment" and "consequences" did not appear.

So it was William IV's turn to be afraid. At this time, the Austrian Empire had no other foreign enemies, and even had a large army that had just fought the Spanish War, as well as a large number of vassal troops.

In addition to the relationship between Austria and Russia, would Franz continue to replicate the Spanish War in Prussia?

Since the end of the Spanish War, Catholics in the Rhine region have been looking forward to another fight between Austria and Prussia.

A fight between Austria and Prussia will inevitably determine the future of the German nation, and the Greater Germans are also looking forward to it.

Only William IV wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into. He didn't even dare to read the newspapers or the latest intelligence, for fear of seeing the Austrian Empire declare war on Prussia.

As for the Austrian Empire, those who dared to jump out and accuse Franz at this time were all warriors. Franz just cleaned up the corrupt officials in the country.

In fact, there are not many opposition parties in Austria. For most citizens, both the emperor and the pope are far away from their lives.

Moreover, it seems to be a very reasonable thing for the pope to give Rome as a gift to the emperor, at least it is more reasonable than leading troops to conquer Rome.

Of course, the whole thing is not without impact on the Austrian Empire. As long as the Austrian Empire is weak enough one day, someone will definitely jump out and make a fuss about it.

Franz doesn't care about this. After all, there are gains and losses.