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

Chapter 1355 Gains and Losses
Franz actually had a deeper consideration for not annexing the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which was to prevent the economic center of gravity of the Austrian Empire from moving further south.

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

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

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

Including but not limited to: extortion, kidnapping, road sabotage, shipwreck, malicious competition, malicious defamation, and using information asymmetry to create business traps.
The Austrian Empire itself was a country lacking ports, so the Venetian region was able to maintain its status.

As Francis recovered a large amount of land in central Italy, the number of ports available to the Austrian Empire increased greatly, and the natural conditions of these new ports were superior to those of Venice, which had a very low ceiling.

As long as the funds are available, these new ports will soon replace Venice's traditional status.

No one knew the consequences of the shift in trade centers better than the Venetians. They had just developed for a few years with the help of the rise of the Austrian Empire, and it seemed as if they could see their glorious days again.

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

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

So they will pin their hopes on the soon-to-be-opened Suez Canal.

Although Venice was at a clear disadvantage compared to ports such as Genoa and La Spezia in the Atlantic trade at that time, if the Suez Canal was opened, Venice would 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 influence southward, then things would be difficult to say, after all, the speed of railway development at that time was too fast.

The entire Central Italy, except Ancona, does not pose much threat to Northern Italy. However, it is different in Southern Italy. Northern Italians also discriminate against Southern Italians.

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

In addition to the three countries of Britain, France and Prussia smearing Austria to varying degrees, domestic opposition and neutral parties also jumped out.

According to 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 conflicts, Britain was at a local disadvantage at the time, so it would not fight the Austrian Empire to the end.

In response to the Austrian Empire's inquiries, the British government expressed helplessness.

"After all, we in the British Empire value freedom of speech. We cannot suppress the voice of the people."

Naturally, the British government could not control some people who went to Rome out of public indignation.

On the other hand, the UK has just introduced special measures to restrict the import of German-language books, especially Nature, Science, Time, and Playboy, which have been awarded the highest restriction rating.

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

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

The French were not as blatant as the British, but Napoleon III still used 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 as extremely great.

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

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

However, this does 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.

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

However, it is impossible for France to go to war with the Austrian Empire again before it has sufficient strength.

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

He still held out a glimmer of hope that as long as other countries opposed it, and with so many Catholics in Europe, the Austrian Empire would have no choice but to spit out what it had eaten.

Maybe I can take this opportunity
However, reality soon dealt a heavy blow to William IV. Not many countries openly opposed it, and Britain and France did not take any major actions.

Among the Protestant monarchs, William IV was the most active one in expressing his views. The attitude of most other monarchs was to avoid it if possible, and if they could not avoid it, they mostly maintained a neutral attitude.

As for the public reaction, it was much smaller than William IV had imagined. Instead, the nationalists sided with the Austrian side, further weakening the opposition's already weak strength.

Naturally, there were voices of opposition among the people, but this time they were not as loud as in 1848. In 1848, it was not even considered a riot.

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

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

Considering the relationship between Austria and Russia, will Franz continue to replicate the Spanish War in Prussia?
Ever since the end of the Spanish Civil War, Catholics in the Rhineland had been looking forward to another battle between Austria and Prussia.

A war between Austria and Prussia would certainly determine the future of the German nation, and the Greater Germans were eagerly looking forward to it.

Only William IV wanted to find a hole to hide in. 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 brave warriors. Franz just happened to deal with the corrupt officials in the country as well.

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 that it is a very reasonable thing for the Pope to give the city of Rome as a gift to the emperor. At least it is much more reasonable than leading troops to capture the city of Rome.

Of course, the whole thing did not have no impact on the Austrian Empire. As long as the Austrian Empire was weak enough one day, someone would definitely jump out and make a big fuss about it.

Franz didn't care about it, after all, there are gains and losses.