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

Chapter 1940 Desperate Measures
"Progress is going smoothly."

"Progress is going smoothly."

As Albrecht watched the successive reports of victories sent back by the vanguard, his expression grew increasingly grim.

The staff officers couldn't quite understand the marshal's thinking. Did he feel that he hadn't achieved enough in battle? But victory was the most important thing.

A senior staff officer spoke up.

"Your Excellency Marshal, we are two days' journey from Dresden. If all goes well, we can surround Dresden before the Prussians can react."

Actually, if the Prussians hadn't sabotaged the railway, our advance would have been even faster.

Another staff officer chimed in.

"The Prussian army in Erzs has not made a move yet, and even if they discover our intentions now, it will be too late."

"Look! How magnificent our army is! The earth trembles at the footsteps of our soldiers."

After our army arrives, the Elbe River will drop by a foot.

To onlookers, hundreds of thousands is just a number, but in reality, if an army of 300,000 were to be lined up in a straight line, it would probably stretch for hundreds of kilometers.

Even after they had split up and were marching, the air was still thick with dust, and their footsteps shook the earth. No one would not be proud of such a military display, but Albrecht's intuition told him—they had been tricked!

"Leave 50,000 men to continue the attack on Dresden as originally planned, and the rest must immediately march back to Bohemia!"

The officers, who were about to achieve military merit, all looked puzzled, but Albrecht knew that the journey had been too smooth, too unusually smooth.

Although the vanguard encountered some battles, they were mostly able to win quickly, and the Prussian army either surrendered or fled.

The prisoners captured were all clueless. If it were just one or two, it might be because they had encountered tough guys, but the soldiers and officers generally revealed a clear-headed yet foolish quality.

Even if the information obtained from the interrogation could be corroborated by intelligence from the rear, the scene was still too bizarre.

This speaks volumes; these people are nothing but cannon fodder.

In fact, Albrecht felt he should have realized the problem much earlier, because such a large army simply could not be hidden.

Some traditional officers felt this was nothing unusual, after all, there were generals in the past who could lead thousands of troops and appear and disappear on the battlefield unpredictably.

But that's all in the past. With the invention of the telegraph, the speed of message transmission has exceeded the theoretical limits of the past.

While the excuse of regional backwardness might be somewhat applicable on the Near Eastern battlefield, it would be completely ineffective in Saxony, the most developed state within the German Confederation.

In fact, if even one soldier or a pro-Prussian individual were to send a telegram, the Austrian army's intentions would be instantly revealed.

Of course, it would take Prussia much longer to adjust its tactics and redeploy, but it would be impossible for them not to make any changes at such a critical juncture.

On the other hand, even if Dresden was just a decoy, it's still wrong to use such demoralized troops as cannon fodder.

Because they are simply not fit to be bait, unable to complete the intended tactical mission, and more likely to collapse prematurely, leading to unintended consequences.

Dresden has great strategic and symbolic significance, and the Prussians should not take such a risk unless they have a greater objective.

When Moltke the Elder learned on the Lower Silesia front that Albrecht had led the main Austrian army around the Ore Mountains, he really wanted to celebrate, but he couldn't.

The Prussian military had long been infiltrated, so apart from a few generals in charge, everyone else thought that Prussia was going to fight a decisive battle between Saxony and the Austrian Empire.

The troops sent to Saxony all believed they had 250,000 men. To ensure everything went smoothly, Moltke and his colleagues gave different excuses to the different units.

Moltke's purpose in doing this was to create an opportunity to directly confront the Austrian Empire, but he held no hope of doing so.

The breech-loading rifle could not gain a decisive advantage against the lever-action rifles of the Austrian Empire, and tragically, this was Prussia's only advantage in weaponry.

As for the so-called armed wagons, it's not a difficult idea to come up with. If it were really effective, why wouldn't other countries do it?
While other countries might not be aware of this, the German Confederation was well aware that the Austrian Empire had developed a practical semi-dual tracked vehicle.

Equipped with the same armor, firing ports, and small cannons, this thing is far more powerful in combat than a horse.

At least in terms of deterrence, they are not even in the same league.
To win, they had to create the perfect fighter for Prussia; Saxony was just a decoy.

If the Austrians were to abandon Saxony and launch a forced attack on the Kingdom of Prussia, then fighting a defensive war on their own soil would be perfectly acceptable to Moltke the Elder.

If the Austrian Empire takes no action, the Kingdom of Prussia will continue to erode Austria's allies.

In fact, in Moltke's eyes, the Austrian Empire's allies were not worth mentioning, and their armies were probably not even third-rate.

Moreover, the entire German Confederation has been at peace for too long, and the soldiers lack the will to fight on, so they are very likely to surrender quickly, just like Dresden.

Finally, when the Austrians could no longer resist launching an attack, Moltke the Elder would lead the main Prussian army to invade Bohemia and engage in a decisive battle with the Austrian Empire.

This approach was extremely risky, but if successful, it would cut off the Austrian Empire's army and allow them to seize key strategic nodes in Bohemia.

In this way, the Kingdom of Prussia would gain absolute initiative on the battlefield and greatly reduce the war potential of the Austrian Empire, since Bohemia was an important industrial center of the Austrian Empire.

In fact, Franz had already paid close attention to the importance of dispersing Bohemia, whose status had declined considerably compared to the same period in history.

But Bohemia was indeed one of the most suitable regions for industrial development in the Austrian Empire, and Franz could not ignore the basic logic of the world.

The door to the Prussian front-line command post was kicked open, and Bismarck shouted.

"Moch! You madman! What have you done! First you attacked Saxony saying it was some kind of flexible defense, and now you want to abandon Saxony?"
What exactly do you want to do?!

Moltke didn't seem to care; he simply continued tidying up the maps and other items on the table.

"What are you doing?"

Bismarck then remembered that the troops along the way seemed to be preparing to break camp, and he suddenly had an even worse premonition.

"As you can see. Take over Austria."

Bismarck was stunned for a long time before he could speak.

"Why wasn't this major operation announced in advance? I told you it was to give you three months to hold Prussia."

Old Maoqi, however, answered with a blank expression.

"You said our intelligence department had been hijacked by the Austrian Empire, and we have verified that before."

"Any news will reach Vienna within a few hours. To fool the Austrians, we must first fool ourselves." Old Moltke paused and then said.

"Didn't you say I could freely decide on military deployments based on my own judgment?"

In fact, the Prussian side had already noticed some problems at this time, especially the possibility that the telegraph lines had been monitored, since many telegraph lines were laid by the Austrians to save money.

Telegraph technology at that time was still very primitive, and there was little difference between simple encryption and open letters.

The cost of eavesdropping is extremely low, while the cost of countering it is extremely high, and finding the eavesdropper is almost impossible.

The Prussian side simply abandoned the use of telegraph to transmit important information. While this prevented intelligence leaks, it also greatly reduced the efficiency of information dissemination.

Bismarck was also somewhat speechless.

"Alright. I don't want to waste time. How confident are you? I want you to tell me the truth."

Bismarck's change of heart surprised even Moltke the Elder, but regardless of the other party's attitude, Moltke the Elder was determined to do it because he felt it was the only chance.

"Twenty percent. But if we don't take the initiative, we won't even have a fifty percent chance. This is no longer the era of Frederick the Great; our fortresses and bastions are simply no match for us."

Austria's heavy artillery is now more than five times that of the French in the past, and if you take into account the density of firepower, their firepower is dozens of times that of the French.

This doesn't even include the Austrian Empire's heavy rockets and airships.

According to our intelligence, Austrian airships can now carry several tons of cargo. If all of that cargo were replaced with explosives and detonated over any of our fortresses, the damage would be devastating.

The established rules of war have been broken; we simply cannot defend our country against such an attack.

Moltke didn't like to explain, but he knew what he was doing was indeed crazy, so he had to explain.

Bismarck was much calmer than Moltke had imagined.

"A 20% success rate? What if we lose?"

When faced with this question, Mao Zedong answered truthfully.

"In the best-case scenario, we will both be severely weakened by the Austrians. We can then retreat to Prussia to prepare for defense, while the Austrians will launch an attack on us after regrouping."

But it could also be a crushing defeat with no suspense, and I, and most of the people in this room, would never be able to return to Prussian soil.

Bismarck was somewhat moved.

"Is this the only way, even if we have to burn our bridges?"

In fact, Moltke was mentally prepared; he was ready to be dismissed. However, Bismarck then changed the subject.

"Go ahead and do it! His Majesty the King has complete faith in your abilities and wishes you a resounding victory, General."

Bismarck then handed Moltke an old letter written in his own hand by William I.

In fact, William I had already written this letter, but he hoped that Bismarck could judge for him whether it was worth it.

William I's best quality was his self-awareness; he knew his own capabilities and was willing to entrust everything to others.

Of course, Bismarck, Ron, and Moltke were all capable people, which is why they were able to create miracles and glories in history.

However, this time they faced a different opponent: the Austrian Empire's economy had actually recovered considerably since it entered a state of war.

As for the public and businesses, they are quite familiar with some of the wartime economic policies. Rather than the uncertainty brought about by the price war, the certainty of these wartime policies has actually put them back in their comfort zone.

Compared to the Prussians' tactic of diverting attention from the enemy, Franz was more concerned about the French taking advantage of the situation.

Napoleon III had long coveted Alsace-Lorraine and hated Louis-Philippe to the core, so there was no reason not to take advantage of his weakness and kill him.

In fact, Louis-Napoleon wanted far more than just Alsace-Lorraine; he also wanted the territories of the House of Orléans.

However, France no longer has a good solution for dealing with the Duke of Omar in North Africa. It is unlikely that France can eliminate him in one fell swoop. A prolonged war would weaken the country and could even lead to intervention from a third country.

Even if France wanted to retake North Africa, it would need the British's help, but the British seem to be playing dead right now, and have not given any substantial response to France's requests for interaction.

However, reclaiming Alsace-Lorraine would not be easy. Although the Duke of Morny advocated speed in warfare, Louis Napoleon knew very well that a hasty attack now would likely hand Austria and Prussia a way to cease hostilities.

If Putin and Austria were to unite against France, he would end up losing more than he gained. This possibility is unlikely, but it is not impossible.

France's current national strength is not enough to take such a risk. Although Louis Napoleon has survived for so many years and made so many efforts, France at this time is far smaller than France at the same historical period.

With a weakened nation, there was less room for maneuver, so Napoleon III's solution was to negotiate directly with Prussia.

The terms were very simple: it all came down to a business deal. Prussia would recognize Alsace-Lorraine as belonging to France, allowing France to flank and assist Prussia.

In Napoleon III's eyes, this deal was definitely a win-win situation, since Alsace-Lorraine was not Prussian territory, and even if Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire, it could not annex it.

However, if Alsace-Lorraine were ceded to France, then regardless of whether France actually aided Prussia, the French occupation of Alsace-Lorraine would directly threaten the flank of the Austrian Empire.

Moreover, if France honored the agreement, Prussia's chances of victory would increase exponentially. As a show of good faith, Napoleon III dispatched his elite Foreign Legion.

In fact, Wilhelm I did hesitate before this foreign legion arrived in Prussia, but the group's reputation was so bad that it made the already turbulent Prussia even more unstable.

Their actions were more in line with their reputation, causing a great deal of trouble in the Kingdom of Prussia in just a few days.

Prince Frederick Karl, William I's nephew, even claimed he would hang all the villains sent by the French.

Of course, Prussia at this time would not want to offend France, so it could only offer some compensation to appease the situation.

However, Bismarck's response to France's demands was that they must be refused.

"If you still want to unify Germany, then you cannot agree to the French demands. Otherwise, even if we defeat the Austrians, we will face endless internal strife."

Wilhelm I readily accepted Napoleon III's request and quickly rejected it, a point on which Franz admired them greatly.

However, Louis Napoleon was, after all, a man who would leave his mark on history, and he immediately changed his tune.

“My dear brother, William I, if you refuse my sincere request, then the Second French Empire will seek to make a deal with the Austrians.”

I keep my word.

(End of this chapter)