The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1342: Withdrawal Issue
At this time, the Austrian Empire was in its heyday in the diplomatic arena, and its political influence on the European continent even exceeded that of Britain.

After all, the seemingly powerful Britain seemed to have no way to deal with the Austrian Empire, and used an excuse that sounded very lame to an outsider to keep the British Navy out.

To ordinary people, this was proof of the power of the Austrian Empire, and this view also deeply influenced those small countries.

The British side did think of countermeasures. The idea of ​​the Navy Secretary Francis Belling was to blockade the Mediterranean from the outside and give the enemy a taste of their own medicine.

However, the reality was that the Austrian Navy could not come out of the Mediterranean Sea at all, and the British side did not have a reasonable excuse. Facing the Austrian Navy that was so close and fully armed, no general was willing to take the risk.

If soldiers are unwilling to take risks, it is even less likely that politicians will agree.

The reason why Britain's actions at this time were difficult was that it had too many enemies and too few allies. This was exactly the opposite of Britain's situation in history. The British could not attract powerful allies, nor could they break up hostile alliances.

When Britain was weakening the influence of the Austrian Empire, the latter not only did not dare to resist but even fully cooperated.

At the moment before Britain sent troops to Crimea, Russia still regarded Britain as its loyal ally.

Even though Nicholas I and Foreign Secretary Neshcherlov knew that British Ambassador Lord Radcliffe had encouraged the Ottoman Sultan to reject Russia's demands and even promised him that Britain would support the Ottoman Empire as before, they still felt that the British would stand on their side.

In the past, it would have been very easy for Britain to deal with the Austrian Empire. It could just pull together Russia, Prussia, France and Sardinia, and it wouldn't even have to send a single soldier to beat Austria half to death.

Perhaps Britain could easily achieve its strategic goals without even having to go to war.

The same logic applies to the Russians.
But the situation was completely different at this time. The Austrian Empire firmly occupied Central Europe, and the Russians were obsessed with beating the Ottomans.

It was impossible to deal with Russia and Austria, or even the entire Holy Alliance, at the same time. British politicians were not stupid. They could not let them fight among themselves, and they could not find pawns. The best solution that John Russell's cabinet could think of was:

Avoid being at war with both countries at the same time.

Relatively speaking, the Austrian Empire was not a big threat, at least it was not a threat to Britain's sphere of influence, and there were not many frictions in trade between the two sides.

Although the Austrian Empire occupied many colonies, they overlapped with Britain's main colonies and there was no competition in the Far East and India.

In other words, the Austrian Empire deliberately avoided competition with Britain, so that although the latter could not gain more, it would not suffer any loss either.

There have been many open and covert battles between the two sides over the years, but the British side usually ended up being defeated.

Even Britain's attack on the colonies of the Austrian Empire did not yield any benefit. Simply capturing ports could not force the Austrians to surrender, and the local tribes had either been expelled long ago or posed no threat to Austria at all.

On the other hand, Russia's threat to British interests is more direct. In addition to the direct threat to the Near East, Russia is also threatening Persia, India, the Far East, and even Canada.
These areas are areas that the United Kingdom attaches great importance to, and they are also the source of its taxes and goods.

At this time, the control of Alaska was still in the hands of Russia, and in order to expel the French, Nicholas I also sent more immigrants and troops. Although Russia was much larger than the Austrian Empire, it was obviously easier for Britain to deal with Russia, at least Britain had absolute confidence in Russia's navy.

On land, Russia and Turkey have a vast border, so at least they won't be as hard to attack as they were with the Austrian Empire. The Austrian Empire has a narrow coastline, and a forced landing would be tantamount to suicide.

At least the British had never lost against Russia, so they chose to wait.

But Franz knew very well what was behind this endless glory: more crises and heavier burdens.

The cost of withdrawing troops from Spain alone was unimaginably high. The hundreds of thousands of Holy Alliance troops and their equipment alone would cost tens of millions of florins.

However, the Holy Alliance was not the biggest problem. The Austrian Empire formed the Spanish Legion in Spain, and more than one-third of the 300,000 people were willing to leave with the Austrian army.

If we include their families and some Spaniards who voluntarily immigrated to Austria, the total number would be terrifying. According to rough calculations by the Austrian Imperial Statistical Office, there are probably millions of people.

Franz could not fool these people by using the identity of laborers. He had to treat them as citizens and give them living space.

It is unlikely to send these Spaniards to colonies, unless the areas are highly developed or very close to Europe.

The first resettlement areas were the Spanish colonies acquired by the Austrian Empire in the War of the Spanish Succession. These areas already had a large Hispanic population and were easier to resettle.

But most of the Spaniards who followed Austria did not want to go to the colonies, so Franz could only send them in batches to Galicia, Transylvania and Hungary.

Finally, they were sent to Dalmatia and Tripoli. The former was a piece of land that no one in the Austrian Empire was willing to take over because of its harsh environment. But in the eyes of the Spaniards, it was nothing. The broken coastline and towering mountains were just like going home.

As for the issue of Tripoli, Franz was too lazy to pretend anymore. After all, the local families were all traitors, and some even took the initiative to contact the British Mediterranean Fleet during the war.

As a result, in order to protect himself, the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet sent the evidence to the Austrian Empire as soon as possible.

Given the repeated rebellions among the Tripoli elite over the years and the extremely serious hatred among the lower classes, the safety and interests of the Austrians in Tripoli could not be guaranteed.

Franz decided to solve the problem once and for all
The local government was asked to borrow money from the Austrian Empire to build railways, and the indigenous people were forced to participate in the construction of the railways.

After the railway was completed, its property was confiscated due to debt issues, and finally the Austrian Imperial Government and immigrants completely controlled the coastal areas of Tripoli.

Although Franz promised to lift the alert within three months, this unprecedented withdrawal would take at least one to three years.

Moreover, with the handover between the Austrian Empire and the new royal government, policies are likely to change dramatically. After all, Ferdinand II cannot afford so much money to continue Franz's policies, and the number of people choosing to immigrate may increase further.

For Ferdinand II, sending people away was a good way to stabilize the situation. After all, with fewer people, there would theoretically be more resources available for allocation.