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

Chapter 1626 Imaginary Enemy (Part 2)
Marshal Radecki was the first to speak.

"Your Majesty, the French are now vulnerable, and we have secured the key strategic points for defending against their attack."

The French, whether from Italy or Germany, posed no threat to the empire's homeland.

"What if we go through Switzerland? Napoleon crossed the Alps through Switzerland back then, so we must be wary of that."

A senior War Department official said with some dissatisfaction that he believed Marshal Radetzky's statement had too many obvious flaws.

"There are many countries in the Swiss mountains, and the terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Prussia and Fribourg will not let the French pass through."

Moreover, the Swiss mountains are not suitable for large-scale troop movements; we can simply block the main roads and force them to retreat without achieving anything.

Marshal Radecki was very confident in his judgment.

"In fact, he really hoped that the French would choose the route through the Swiss mountains, since that would reduce the defensive pressure."

The rugged mountain roads made it difficult for heavy artillery to advance; in this era of war, the absence of heavy artillery was as deadly as soup without salt!

Indeed, as Marshal Radetzky said, France's strength had been greatly weakened, and its threat to the Austrian Empire would be quite limited.

At this point, Franz spoke up.

"Have you not considered other threats from the German direction?"

Threat from the direction of Germany? In fact, the German Confederation has been too peaceful in recent years, to the point that they have forgotten that Germany is not Italy, and there are still countries that can threaten the Austrian Empire.

“Your Majesty, the Prussians are nothing to fear. If they dare to attack us, they will have to face the counterattack of all the German Confederation countries. Frederick William IV should not have the guts.”

"Ha ha!"

Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this. In the eyes of the senior officials of the Austrian Empire, Frederick William IV was indeed ridiculous, since as king he seemed to have accomplished nothing except venting his emotions.

"We still need to be careful. Perhaps Prussia just didn't have the opportunity before, and perhaps the British can bring in more than one foreign aid."

Franz's words immediately silenced everyone's laughter.

"Frederick William IV is not the Frederick the Great of old. Even if given the opportunity, he might not dare to challenge the entire German Confederation alone. But what if we add countries like Denmark and Hanover to the mix?"

"Then we can wipe them out in one fell swoop and restore the Holy Roman Empire!"

"War Minister Count Latour said with confidence."

"If our only opponents are them, we can certainly do it easily, but what if we add Britain, France, and the Ottomans to the mix?"

Franz feared being attacked from behind. As long as the British controlled the seas, they could recklessly recruit allies and provide them with support.

Now no one can laugh anymore.

"And what about the Russians? What do they do?"

"The Russians? You actually expect them to do anything? It would be good enough if they could defeat the Ottomans as planned. Those slow-moving guys might not even get to the battlefield by the time the war is over!"

"Perhaps we can win over the Spanish, and also the Duchy of Orléans."

"Spaniards shouldn't be overestimated either. Just look at the increasing number of Hispanics in our army to see what level Ferdinand II is at."

"And that Duke Omar, he's in dire straits himself." "And what about Grand Duke Maximilian?"

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was dirt poor.

The Austrian military officials started arguing again, and they suddenly realized a problem: the Austrian Empire had many allies, but it seemed that few of them were actually useful.

"I hope you can prepare contingency plans as soon as possible and not underestimate our opponents."

It's not entirely the Austrian Imperial military's fault; Franz described the enemy as far too powerful than they could comprehend, which is why the descriptions were full of inconsistencies.

Franz knew he was being a bit of an alarmist, but he was already used to preparing for the worst.

"There are no problems on the eastern front. The Ottomans can't stop us, and we don't need the Russians' help. We can take over the entire territory of Eastern Thrace in three months."

"As long as you don't care about Constantinople's ancient buildings, we're confident we can take the city within a month."

Archduke Albrecht spoke with great confidence, which stemmed from the strength of the Austrian Imperial Army, whose capital city of the Eastern Roman Empire was captured by the Ottomans in just 54 days in 1453.

Four hundred years later, there was no reason for the Austrian Empire to be slower. In fact, Albrecht felt that Constantinople wouldn't even last a week, but he was also worried about the kind of meat grinder-like street fighting that Franz had described, so he added some qualifiers.

Albrecht enjoyed immense prestige within the army, so most people did not question his statements. Only a few were dissatisfied.

"We've already fought the war, so what do we need the Russians for?"

"Without the Russians, no one will negotiate with us."

Franz pointed out the most crucial point: the sheer size of the Austrian Empire was not enough to subdue its opponents.

"But these things were all done by the Russians, so why should we fight for them?"

Franz sighed helplessly.

"Therefore, we are doing our utmost to avoid war. The purpose of this meeting is mainly to prepare everyone psychologically. Our opponents will never give up easily, so we cannot let our guard down."

"As ordered!"

What Franz didn't say was that he was preparing for the future. A real world war was bound to happen sooner or later; this was merely a rehearsal.

As for the potential war in the Near East, Franz actually already had a complete plan, but he dared not reveal it at this time, in case the news leaked out, he might be targeted.

Secondly, Franz also needs to create some smokescreens, making himself appear like a primary school student with learned helplessness, in order to gain as many opportunities as possible.

Of course, only strong countries can do this. Weak countries don't have the strength, and others won't believe them. Moreover, showing weakness could very well lead to even greater disasters.

However, at this time, no one in the Austrian Empire would really dare to treat it as a weak country; at most, they would just think that Emperor Franz was being paranoid.

The modern dispute over the Holy Land originated from the Treaty of Capitolachion signed between France and the Ottoman Empire in 1740, and the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainargi signed between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in 1774.

The Treaty of Capitol-Lassion affirmed France's traditional right to protect Catholics within the Ottoman Empire and granted Catholic monks certain rights, privileges, and jurisdiction over certain holy sites, including the right to repair and priority in rituals, in particular the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

While the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kenargi did not explicitly state that the Tsar was the protector of all Orthodox Christians within the Ottoman Empire, it did grant the Russian Church many rights, including the right to build churches and even the right to request "goodwill intervention" from the Sultan.

Successive Tsars have always been adept at using this power.
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　　(End of this chapter)