War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

The second person to find Metternich was the French. Thiers hated Metternich very much, a man who participated in the dismemberment of Napoleon's empire.

But now France needs allies. At least it cannot let Austria fall to the British side, otherwise Egypt will face catastrophe.

This is of course not the strength of the Austrian Imperial Navy, but that Austria can provide supplies to the British fleet while preventing the French fleet from participating in the siege of the British fleet.

Thiers had the confidence to deal with Britain, but he did not have the confidence to fight the whole of Europe. He believed that the root cause of Napoleon's failure was that he had made too many enemies, so he did not want to follow in his footsteps.

Thiers expressed his willingness to support Austria in establishing the Apennine Customs Union in Italy, and at the same time, he could share the Egyptian colony with Austria.

Metternich was not satisfied with the conditions offered by Thiers, because the Apennine Customs Union did not need French support at all, and after Egypt was defeated, Austria could also share Egypt's resources with Britain.

"Mr. Thiers, I think you should know that the Apennine Customs Union is currently only participated by countries ruled by members of the Habsburg family, and it should not need your support. As for Egypt's resources, you France cannot eat them, and they will definitely Willing to do business with Austria.”

"Mr. Metternich, believe me, once the British enter Egypt, they will find a way to monopolize the export of Egyptian cotton. By that time, the safety of the raw materials of the Austrian textile industry will be in the hands of the British." Thiers said.

"Aren't there Americans? I heard that Brazilians have also begun to grow cotton. I believe we will no longer worry about cotton in the future." Metternich replied.

Thiers was unwilling to transfer actual benefits to Austria because Austria was not strong enough and was not worth the greater cost.

The conversation between the two parties naturally broke up unhappily. At this time, Thiers pinned his hopes on the Egyptians to quickly reach an agreement with the Ottoman Empire to avoid collective interference by the powers, so that France would only have to deal with Britain.

Giving up the alliance with the powerful Britain and France was actually not in line with Metternich's usual style, but their offer was too low. They only wanted Austria to do things but were not prepared to distribute the benefits to Austria. This was unacceptable to him.

Neserlov was much more cheerful than Palmerston and Thiers.

"Your Majesty, what can I do in exchange for your support?"

"Belgrad is not the whole of Serbia. For this reason, we are willing to exchange the three nearby provinces of Tuzla, Sarajevo, and Foca for Serbian land." Metternich did not beat around the bush because he was afraid that the other party would not listen. Understand.

Exchanging three provinces for one province in Serbia should be a profit. Moreover, the populations of these three provinces are mainly Serbian, which can definitely greatly strengthen the strength of the Slavs here. I believe His Majesty the Tsar will agree.

Neserlov suddenly thought something was wrong.

"Wait a minute, Your Excellency the Prince. The three provinces you mentioned seem to belong to the territories of the Ottoman Empire."

"Yes, but Austria can get these lands from the Ottoman Empire first, and then exchange them with Serbia. This is a letter written by the Serbian Grand Duke, Miloš Obrenovic, to the Austrian Imperial Family."

After Prince Metternich finished speaking, he handed a letter to Neserlov and continued.

"I think you should know that our Austrian Empire can completely eradicate the pro-Russian faction in Serbia under the guise of helping to counter the rebellion, and then take the opportunity to support a puppet state. This transaction is entirely based on the long-standing friendship between the two countries. .”

After hearing this, Neserlov was convinced that he could not decide on this transaction, but he felt that it was necessary to let His Majesty the Tsar know the importance of this transaction.

In subsequent negotiations, Austria and Russia were on the same side, which forced Britain and France to briefly join forces to prevent Russia from moving south.

In fact, Russia has no intention of going south, unless the Egyptians intend to break the secret agreement with Russia and get involved in the Balkans or the area north of the Euphrates River.

However, the sense of oppression given by the European military police Russia was so strong that Britain and France had to work together to defend themselves against the enemy.

But Russia has the support of Austria. These two countries join forces and have no rivals in the Balkans.

Just as the two sides were at a stalemate, Mahmud II died.

July 1, 1839.

Mahmud II, who had been ill in bed for a long time, received bad news one after another. First, the fleet he spent heavily on building surrendered to the Egyptians, and then the new Ottoman army, which he devoted all his efforts to build, suffered a disastrous defeat in the Fourth Battle of Nizip. , almost completely destroyed, and his most trusted general died in battle.

Mahmoud II roared with all his strength.

"The king is not the king who will subjugate the country, and the ministers are not the ministers who will subjugate the country. In fact, the people's wisdom is not yet enlightened, and the kings still need to work hard."

After that, the whole person fell down as if he had been drained. At this time, his heir, Abdul Mejid, came over with medicine.

"Megid, although you are weak, you are my smartest son. You will definitely become the greatest sultan in the future. If you want to take advantage of the contradictions between the great powers and fight for the interests of the Ottoman Empire, you must open up the people's wisdom, otherwise the people will If you only recognize gold and not the country, you will still fall short in the end..."

"Father, drink the medicine."

Mahmoud II drank the medicine, and shortly after lying down, his eyes widened, he vomited a mouthful of black blood, and died.

Although Mahmud II was known as the first thief of the Ottoman Empire at the time, later generations ranked him as one of the greatest sultans.

Mahmud II was different from his great ancestors in that he was not a military genius or a diplomat who was good at playing with people's hearts. Under his rule, the territory of the Ottoman Empire continued to shrink and national sovereignty continued to be undermined.

However, during his reign, he cleared the obstacles to reform for the Ottoman Empire, and used far-sighted planning to halt the decline of the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire thus got a chance to be reborn and began to slowly move in the direction of a modern country.

After the death of Mahmud II, his 16-year-old son Abdul Meguid succeeded to the throne as sultan.

Magid looks gentle and gentle, with no shadow of the fierceness of his ancestors. His slender arms are even called "the thinnest Sultan".

However, beneath his frail appearance, he hides a huge ambition that is not inferior to that of his ancestors.

Without making a move, Magid replaced all the important ministers in the palace with his own confidants. Those ministers who opposed him were either suddenly killed or transferred to the front line to fight against the Egyptian army.

What he inherited was a country riddled with holes. There were religious sects and reactionary forces inside who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to seize power. Outside, Muhammad Ali's army was approaching step by step.

Just when everyone thought that the Sultan would definitely call for domestic forces to unite with the outside world.

But Magid made a surprising move. He wanted to negotiate peace with Muhammad Ali.

At the same time, he asked ambassadors from various countries to come to his flower hall and listen to his speech.

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