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

Chapter 1803 Evil Deeds (Revised)

Although the Congress of Constantinople had ended, the Austrian Empire still had some final tasks to complete.

For example, regarding the takeover of Canaan, although the Ottoman Empire had signed a treaty, they were neither willing nor dared to hand over Canaan to the Austrian Empire.

Of course, the Ottoman Empire did not dare to prevent the Austrian Empire from entering Canaan, but this meant they did not dare to incite the people.

In reality, Queen Sheffield Zaharie did not relinquish her power; she was extremely angry about Mehdi's actions.

However, Mehdi now has the support of the British and has reached an agreement with Olma Pasha.

Queen Mother Sheffield really couldn't do anything about him at this point.

When the other side holds military, political, diplomatic, and economic power, the only thing left for the nominal leader of the country to do is resort to crooked and unorthodox methods.

Queen Sheffield decided to incite her followers. Jerusalem was, after all, the third holiest city, and it would be easy to use it to launch a holy war.

However, the Ottoman Empire's strength has been weakened and it dares not confront Austria head-on, otherwise the ten-year armistice treaty would become a worthless piece of paper.

This worthless piece of paper was obtained in exchange for a third of the Ottoman Empire's territory, and Queen Mother Shefkefza even sacrificed her eldest son for it.

In fact, the news of Murad V's death was still not made public at this time, much to the dismay of the Ottoman Empire.

At this time, the Ottoman Empire was going through a turbulent period, having just suffered a major defeat and ceded territory and paid reparations, and was about to lose the Holy City.

If the news of Sudan's death were announced now, the entire country would be in chaos.

Left with no other option, the ceremony had to be postponed until a less sensitive time was reached before the Sultan's coronation.

However, this also gave Queen Sheffield Zahid a certain amount of room to maneuver, as she could falsely convey Murad V's decrees to the Ulimas.

Even if Queen Shefkefza hadn't done that, the Ulima would have still incited the people once they got the news.

However, Queen Mother Sheffield Zahir clearly wanted the Austrian Empire to suffer a terrible fate; she wanted to drown it in the raging tide of the entire Muslim world.

She called on all believers around the world to unite against Austria, and she refused to believe that she could not drown all the Austrians.

In the eyes of Queen Mother Sheffield, Austria was Russia's accomplice, and they conspired to kill her son, so she wanted revenge.

Austrian imperial troops, monks, aid workers, and pilgrims landed in Jaffa and Haifa, only to find local Muslims massacring Christians as soon as they stepped ashore.

Queen Sheffield's strategy of inciting hatred did work, but the locals and fanatical religious figures attacked the local Christians first.

The reason is simple: the Austrian Empire was far away and had powerful ships and cannons. The jihadists also had their own ships, but they all chose to retreat after seeing the Austrian Empire's fleet.

It wasn't that these people weren't fierce enough, but rather that their wooden boat was practically committing suicide by colliding with the warship, and the other side might not even have known they were going to their deaths.

However, regardless of the circumstances, massacring Christians in front of a religiously charged nation like the Austrian Empire was a highly taboo act.

Even the most composed commanders and officials of the Austrian Empire would have ordered a counterattack at this point. A century-old feud, and to massacre civilians now would be an unforgivable crime.

In the Austrian Empire, some people might not have heard the story of Santa Claus, but it was absolutely impossible for anyone not to have heard the story of the Crusades. Centuries of indoctrination with hatred, coupled with a century of historical enmity, meant that Austrians harbored a deep-seated hatred for the Ottomans.

But no amount of hate education or incitement can compare to witnessing evil deeds firsthand.

A mound of Jingguan (a type of ancient Chinese statue) was erected in the square, consisting of hundreds of round spheres of various sizes, with some reddish-brown residue remaining on the ground.

There was also a ring of headless bodies arranged radially around it, the vast majority of which were male.

The doors of shops on the street were broken open, and the goods inside had long since disappeared.

The crows circled in the sky as if enjoying a carnival.

A foul stench drifted in from afar.
The road in front of the church was covered with bloodstains from being dragged, and the main gate had been violently damaged.

Several church staff members were nailed to makeshift crosses erected on both sides of the road and to the dismantled gate, with charcoal already turned to ashes beneath them.

The bodies inside the church were mostly young women, their hands nailed to the wooden structure inside the church, their deaths gruesome.

Torn scriptures were scattered on the church floor, and the central altar was empty.

The church walls were covered with writing in blood and excrement.
The bodies of some elderly people were found in the church's well.

(The original event was the 1860 Lebanese convent massacre, but I can't go into the details.)
As the vanguard of the landing force, they were not greenhorns who had never seen blood or death.

Even seasoned veterans who had seen countless battlefields and countless corpses couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines. Some even vomited, and some of the war machines known for their cold-bloodedness even cried.

At this point, without the need for instigation from officers or clergy, the soldiers immediately began forming combat squads and started eliminating the culprits as they had practiced.

Some officials and clergy who were not fond of war had changed their stance at this time, feeling that war was necessary, and that bloodshed and sacrifice were also necessary.

They don't want to negotiate with the Ottomans now; they just want to make sure there are no Ottomans around, and ideally, never to be around, so that their descendants can be safe.

At this time, all officers, nobles, high-ranking clergy, and anyone with influence in Vienna were racking their brains to figure out how to get His Majesty the Emperor to issue an order for the complete purification of the region.

The war correspondents were more direct; they immediately took out their cameras—these were all news material.

They would present the most authentic tragedies to the people of the Austrian Empire. At this time, the Austrians were not yet deeply influenced by British ideology, and they found it difficult to empathize with the Ottomans.

This incident occurred after the war; if it had happened during the war, the Austrians' hatred for the British would have been even stronger.

It would be difficult for the British troops to surrender, and even if they did, they would not fare well.

On the other hand, the Austrian army captured the cities of Haifa and Jaffa in a very short time and completely wiped out the enemy forces.

Then the Austrian vanguard reached Jerusalem within two days, faster than a forced march.

In reality, even from Jaffa, which is relatively close, it takes 3-5 days to get to Jerusalem, while from Haifa it usually takes about a week.

However, after witnessing the atrocities committed by the Ottomans in the two cities, they both chose to rush to the Holy City at an unprecedented speed.