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

Chapter 1430 Result
The situation in the Austrian Empire was much better, and even after a great war, the number of troops in the Austrian Empire increased.

This certainly does not mean that the Austrian Empire was able to achieve zero casualties, but rather that it received strange reinforcements along the way.

First of all, there are some spiritual Austrians, most of whom are small landowners or intellectuals in the Bulgarian region.

The Austrian Empire's many military and diplomatic victories were not without value. Humans are naturally attracted to the strong. A strong Austrian Empire would naturally gain a large number of supporters.

Next in line are the speculators and desperate criminals, the slaves who have risen up in rebellion, and the vagrants who are floating like duckweed. These people have nothing to begin with, so naturally they cannot say that they have much attachment to the land of Bulgaria.

They also regarded the Austrian Empire as a lifeline, especially after witnessing the disastrous defeat of the Anglo-Turkish coalition forces and the incompetence of the Russians, which further highlighted the strength of the Austrian Imperial Army.

Third, the influence of the church. Have the missionaries who run around all day long already visited here? It's just that those military priests preached here when they passed by. It's not too much.

This group of people are equally good at grassroots incitement and the ability to stir up hatred.

As a result, the evaluation of Austrians in northern Bulgaria became polarized. Some people viewed Austrians as saviors, while others viewed them as villains who took advantage of the situation.

However, under the powerful propaganda machine of the Austrian Empire, people could only hear the first voice, which satisfied the vanity of the Austrians very well.

As for the latter’s voice, what voice can a group of people who have no say have?
But Franz did not want to over-irritate Russia, and quickly suppressed the incident with other hot news. Sometimes it is not a good thing for the propaganda department to be too active.
In addition, Baron Raglan's tactics against the Russian army were indeed successful, and the entire northern Bulgaria was full of Russian deserters.

These people do not want to go back and continue to be gray animals, and they do not want to accept punishment by Russian military law.

So they chose to join the Austrian army. If it were other countries, they would probably not be able to recruit other countries' troops on the battlefield.

But the Austrian Empire was not included in this list. In fact, there were many officers in the Austrian Empire who could speak Russian and Ukrainian, and there was even a Ruthenian regiment from Galicia.

The fleeing Russian soldiers were able to seamlessly integrate into this regiment, and even other troops of the Austrian Empire that participated in the war did not find this group of people strange.

As a result, the 9th Galician Infantry Regiment increased from 1,700 to 15,000 men.
The logistics department of the Austrian Empire was also confused. Why did the number of the Balkan Expeditionary Force not decrease after the war, but instead increased from 10.3 to 12?

The senior officials of the Ministry of War thought this was a good thing. It seemed that the Grand Duke had finally learned how to draw a salary without doing anything. So they approved supplies for 150,000 people with a wave of their hand.

Franz's intelligence department reported the news to him on the same day. The intelligence department believed that the royal archduke's corruption was an extremely bad act.

However, Franz knew very well that his uncle had neither concept nor interest in money. After all, he inherited 90% of Archduke Karl's inheritance and was the largest nobleman in the Austrian Empire at that time, as well as the largest landowner and richest man besides the emperor.

Hundreds of thousands of florins of supplies were too little for Albrecht, and no one knew this better than Franz.

After all, the property of Archduke Karl's family has always been managed by Franz.
There were more than 2713 Ottoman prisoners of war and British prisoners of war in northern Bulgaria.

Franz did not release them directly. After all, these were hundreds of thousands of young and strong men who had used guns to kill people. If he really let them go, they would be an enemy force of hundreds of thousands.

Handing it over to the Russians would definitely be a humanitarian disaster. Franz felt that the two sides should cease fire. He did not want the two sides to become mortal enemies.

Franz felt that these people could be used as bargaining chips in negotiations, and it would be best if they could be exchanged for some benefits, even if it was just some money.

But for these hundreds of thousands of people, feeding them would be a huge expense, so Franz came up with a good idea.
The village of Burgnar on the Iskar River in northern Bulgaria.

Previously, the Austrian Empire's army swept through Lord Muhtal's troops and distributed cold weapons and food to the people in the village.

Everyone in the village was in a dream, and it took several days for everyone to recover and kill Muhetal's family. After that, officers from the Austrian Empire came to the village and asked each family to form a militia. The elders of the village understood that they were going to conscript men.

A young man stepped forward and said, holding the spear tightly in his hand.

"Otherwise we'll fight them!"

The village elder was so angry that he hit the young man on the head with his cane.

"Use your pig brain! We can't even beat Master Muhtal's lackeys. Aren't those Austrians much more ferocious than Master Muhtal?"

"What should we do!"

The young man thrust his spear into the ground, but the elder spoke calmly.

"What else can we do? It has always been like this. Tomorrow, every household will send out people honestly. Only after we serve the new master well can we live a good life.

It doesn't matter who is the master, we are the lowest class of the lowly people, don't forget who you are after eating a few meals of wheat!"

Most people in the village chose to accept their fate, but there were also some people who were not convinced.

"And there's Russia! When the Russians come, our good days will come!"

The elder sneered.

"Russians? Where are the Russians? What will happen if the Russians come? There are no masters in Russia?"

The next day, the Austrian army arrived as expected, but they did not take the young people in the village away. Instead, they began to give them military training and even taught them how to use firearms.

On the other hand, the army of the Austrian Empire still caused panic among the villagers. They had never seen such a scary army.

They were particularly impressed by the white uniforms of the Austrian Empire and the rifles in their hands. Although they were scary, the men, women and children in the village couldn't help but take a peek. They didn't know why, but they felt that maybe this was what it meant to be majestic.

On the other hand, the Austrian Empire's quartermaster began negotiations with the village elders.

"The young people in the village have all gone to training, so there is no one to do the farm work."

The village elders immediately became alert but continued to smile.

"Please rest assured, sir. We will be able to grow the wheat tall! We will be able to deliver enough grain in the fall!"

Obviously the two sides are not on the same channel.

The officer on the side immediately changed his statement to a more direct one.

"We have five hundred prisoners here. You provide them with food and water, and they help you work."

The experienced elder was suddenly stunned. He had experienced countless ups and downs in his life, but he had never seen such a thing. He was a little confused for a moment.

That's right, Franz's idea was to let Austrian soldiers take the prisoners to do short-term work for the local Bulgarians in exchange for food.