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

Chapter 1389: The Drunkard’s Intention (Part )

Franz did not leave the battle of Moldavia to Albrecht, after all, the latter was not suitable for such a task.

Albrecht was a relatively upright soldier, and Franz sincerely admired his uncle.

Moreover, Albrecht was somewhat like using a cannon to kill a mosquito. Moldavia claimed to have four armies, but its actual strength was only four regiments. Their equipment was extremely backward and their training was a mess.

The Austrian army suffered minimal losses in its sweep of Moldavia.

In fact, not much fighting took place. After all, Franz had been planning this war for a long time, and the whole of Moldavia was full of spies and spies planted by Franz.

Most of the Moldavia troops were made up of makeshift troops, and their loyalty to Grigory Alexandru Ghika and their belief in so-called Greater Romania were not enough to make them give up their lives.

Even if the Moldavia army wanted to resist, they would be like the Grand Duke's Guard outside the capital, Iasi.

The marching speed of the Austrian Imperial Army was completely beyond the Moldavians' imagination. Before Grigory's guards could recapture the palace, the Austrian Imperial Army had already arrived at the city.

"Put down your weapons and surrender! Your duty has been completed, go home! Don't make any more meaningless sacrifices!"

Grigory walked out of the palace and shouted to his guards. As Mileakov's rebels occupied the advantageous terrain, the Grand Duke's guards had no choice but to risk their lives.

And Mileyakov was also a ruthless man. He had already stored a lot of gunpowder in the palace. If necessary, he would blow everyone up.

Mileyakov had no objection to Grigore's words. After all, he didn't want to continue creating meaningless killings.

"Listen to the Grand Duke! Go home! I promise you that I will not hold you accountable for what happened!"

"You damned traitor! Don't think of us as you do!"

Grigory's guards cursed Mileyakov for his betrayal, but the situation at this time had already doomed them to failure.

However, they did not choose to listen to Grigore's advice. After leaving the palace, Grigore's guards came to the city gate. A guard rode a horse holding the flag of the Grand Duchy of Moldavia and passed through the city gate to the Austrian army.

The knight on horseback shouted loudly.

"We are here to declare war on the Austrian Empire! Do you dare to accept the challenge?"

At such a tragic moment, most of the Austrian soldiers could not understand the Moldavian dialect and were confused and even at a loss.

The Austrian soldiers couldn't figure out whether the other side was coming to surrender or scolding them, and without any orders from their superiors, they looked at each other in confusion for a moment.

Fortunately, this embarrassment did not last too long. After all, the language talents reserved in the Austrian Imperial Army were the best in the world.

"We, the Austrian Empire, accept the challenge! When? Where?"

The speaker was Gabrenz, a senior officer of the Austrian Empire and one of the persons in charge of this operation. Although as the commander-in-chief he should not be here, he did not want to be looked down upon.

"Right here, in a quarter of an hour!"

"Well! Good luck to you, my friend."

A quarter of an hour later, the Battle of Iasi broke out. All 263 members of Grigore's guards died in front of the gate of Iasi, and only two people from the Austrian Empire were slightly injured. Franz was not surprised by this result. After all, the Austrian Empire did not follow the samurai code. It was the commander's job to kill the enemy efficiently and reduce his own casualties on the battlefield.

What's more, Gabrentz had more important tasks at that time. He was already giving face by bombarding Grigory's guards. If it were someone else, he might have directly ordered an attack without giving the other side time to prepare.

However, Franz still wanted to punish Gabrenz. After all, if this was the opponent's delaying tactic, the situation of the war would change again.

After the war, out of respect for these warriors, Gabrenz ordered their bodies to be collected and buried beside the main road at the northern gate of Jakob.

When Franz learned about this, he funded the reconstruction of a mausoleum for them, framed the military flag of the Grand Duchy of Moldavia and gave it back to them as a tombstone.

Of course, what Franz wanted to do was not just military occupation. What he wanted was to integrate the two places into the Austrian Empire as soon as possible.

After entering the city, the first thing Gabrenz did was to confirm Count Cuza's death, and then he announced his crimes step by step.

The Moldavians were even crazier than expected. They rushed onto the stage and tore the dead Count Cuza into pieces. Even Count Cuza's family was not spared after being expelled.

In fact, Count Cuza himself did not do anything bad, but the actions of his family, especially his butler, were very anthropomorphic. They bullied men and women, cheated and deceived people, and did all kinds of evil.

On the other hand, Count Cuza's policies angered many people. He admired Napoleon very much, so he also highly respected Napoleon Bonaparte's governing philosophy.

On the one hand, Count Cuza tried his best to suppress the economic rights of the church. At the same time, in order to reform the military system and increase taxation, Count Cuza copied the French military service tax.

His original intention was to change the recruitment system, which he considered to be backward, into a conscription system, in order to control land annexation and increase national income.

However, the reality is that all of Count Cuza's actions ultimately fell on the lower classes. This is also an important reason why there were tens of thousands of troops throughout Moldavia, but almost no shots were fired.

The Austrian Empire's approach was considered very fair by the Moldavia people, especially the fact that the Cuza family's property was used as compensation. This was so attractive that many people who had received favors from Count Cuza chose to sacrifice their relatives for the greater good.
Russia will come to ask for an explanation no matter what, so the previous reasons must be made more formal, at least to make the Russians willing to accept them.

The only charge was collusion with the Ottomans. In order to prevent the Moldavia government from informing the Ottoman Empire, they had to occupy it and find out the traitor.

This was also done to prevent traitors from sabotaging supply lines and obstructing the Austrian army's reinforcements to Russia.

The so-called traitors are naturally the Greater Romanianists headed by Count Cuza.
These reasons may sound far-fetched in other countries, but they play exactly into Russia's hands. They cannot accept that there is a traitor within the country, but it is a fact that there is a traitor within their country.

Hedging in Moldavia was a compulsory course for almost all nobles, landlords, and merchants, so when Austria, as a third-party force, arrived, it was no exaggeration to say that there were rebels everywhere.

As long as Franz wanted evidence, he had as much as he wanted.

However, due to this characteristic, many Moldavia people bet on the Austrian Empire at this time. Moreover, Franz's own position also determined that he could not kill all the nobles.

But Franz was dismissive of these people's so-called support, simply because their strength was too weak, and he also hated the so-called local tyrants.

Franz was bound to carry out comprehensive Austrian reforms in this land, but he had to strike a balance before the Tsar gave his approval, otherwise the situation might get out of control.

Franz was well aware that the anti-Austrian voices in Russia were growing louder and louder, especially after taking control of Moldavia, which could block Russia's route to the Balkans at any time.

At the same time, anti-Russian voices within the Austrian Empire are also growing stronger, and these voices will become even stronger after Russia controls Dobruja, the outlet of the Danube River.

But as long as Franz was not crazy, he would never help the Ottomans plug this loophole.