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

Chapter 1941 Choice
Louis-Napoleon's threats were simple, direct, and effective. Within a fixed, either-or framework, the other party is very likely to make a forced mistake.

In particular, the pressure is not something that ordinary people can bear, and it is instinctive for both individuals and organizations to seek good fortune and avoid misfortune.

Accepting Napoleon III's proposal would undoubtedly greatly increase Prussia's chances of winning, and even if they could not win, it would drag the war into a protracted conflict.

Bismarck predicted that the British would intervene, and that internal conflicts within the Austrian Empire would erupt, just like the French Rebellion of that time.

But the most terrifying thing was that Napoleon III directly threatened that if Prussia did not agree, he would go after Prussia's enemies.

If France and Austria were to join forces, Prussia would likely have no hope whatsoever. Despite the French consistently supporting Prussia by sending volunteers and providing financial assistance.

But when it comes to national interests, these superficial stances are utterly unimportant. Changing stances can happen in the blink of an eye.

There are some things and situations that you know are traps, but you still have to step into them. If it weren't for the example of Napoleon III's marriage proposal, Wilhelm I and Bismarck would probably have hesitated.

However, with the previous examples of Austria and Russia, Wilhelm I and Bismarck had more confidence and certainty at this time.

After the Kingdom of Prussia rejected Napoleon III's proposal, the French letter of credence was immediately placed on Franz's desk.

Franz threw it into the trash can without hesitation. The people around him were just stunned for a moment, but didn't have much of a reaction.

After all, Franz's actions were exactly what they expected.

"Your Majesty, the Prussians are attacking us from two directions."

Based on prior intelligence, this is believed to be the true main force of the Prussians, and we still hold the advantage in troop strength.

However, Marshal Latour felt that now was the perfect time to settle the score, otherwise the Prussians would surely cower in fear once they saw our strength.

Although our army is good at attacking cities, taking them one by one is not only a waste of time, but also results in heavy casualties.

"Why not take this opportunity to annihilate the main Prussian force and end the war in one fell swoop?"

Latour's idea was approved by the ministers.

“Your Majesty, Count Latour’s idea makes a lot of sense. If we can end the battle directly, we can minimize casualties as much as possible.”

Otherwise, if we invade Prussia after the Prussians have fled back to their homeland, we risk killing many more innocent people in the ensuing chaos.

As the leader of the German faction in Austria, Prince Schwarzenberg naturally did not want to slaughter too many Germans, even if they were citizens of the Kingdom of Prussia.

On the other hand, the German faction was already studying how to dismember Prussia.

In fact, the German faction has always considered Prussians to be Polish, so they have always had a plan for the separation of Brandenburg.

The so-called Brandenburg Separation Plan was intended to restore the Duchy of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia to their state before their unification.

Incidentally, this would also drive the Hohenzollern family out of Germany, and the ownership of Brandenburg and the Rhineland would naturally need to be re-determined.

Unfortunately, Franz had two younger brothers who hadn't been taken care of yet.

Of course, driving the Hohenzollern family out of Germany was not the end. After all, without the protection of the German Confederation, Prussia would find it difficult to survive between Russia and Austria, and would most likely follow in Poland's footsteps.

If this plan could be completed, there would be no more obstacles within the German Confederation. As for Hanover and Denmark, the Austrian Empire, with its sheer size, wouldn't even pose a threat.

The newly appointed Minister of the Interior, Count István Séchenyi, offered a different perspective.

"Bohemia is our northern bulwark, and we don't know exactly how many people Prussia sent or how determined they were."
Why should we fight them head-on when the situation is unclear?
It would be better to hold our ground and wait for reinforcements. Once our reinforcements arrive, Prussia's small force will be insignificant.

If the Prussians dare to flee, we will pursue them relentlessly. Besides, Your Highness is being overly sentimental; what war doesn't end in death?

If we don't let them experience pain, it will only escalate into a bigger crisis sooner or later. And then, it won't just be a few people dying.

Count Séchenyi's experiences made his views very strong, even leading to a complete transformation.

In fact, Count Séchenyi had always turned a blind eye to corruption and bribery in the past, after all, he had a family tradition of learning, so he was very clear about what was going on in the imperial government.

Even Count Séchenyi believed that those who misappropriated public funds and then made up for it were capable ministers, since the country suffered no loss and the individuals gained a great deal.

He also didn't care much about his subordinates accepting bribes, since such things are common throughout history and across the world.

Although the Austrian Empire frequently launched anti-corruption campaigns, and occasionally a number of officials would be brought down, those "capable people" always remained unscathed. Therefore, Count Széchenyi thought that perhaps the emperor was tacitly condoning this, after all, those people were indeed very talented.

However, when the real calamity struck, he discovered that the abilities and achievements of those capable people could not protect themselves at all.

The emperor showed no mercy, and those people, because of his indulgence, ended up on their own path, their fates often being extremely tragic.

Many people give up their entire fortune for a chance to atone for their sins in Africa, while some don't even have that opportunity.

If they had been punished from the beginning, their lives might have been completely different.

The same thing happened in Hungary in the past, where Hungarians (actually Hungarian nobles) also held a privileged status.

If those people hadn't been so crazy, would the outcome have been different?

Severity and pain do not only bring harm; they may also correct some of people's mistakes.

Of course, the Austrian Empire was not only populated by Germans; there were also Imperials who were not keen on seeing an increase in the number of Germans.

In the eyes of the Prussians, this group was actually a typical Greater Germanist, whose goal was very clear: to annex Germany or at least restore the Holy Roman Empire.

However, this group did not want the number of Germans to continue to increase, because there were already too many Germans in Austria.

In their view, maintaining the stability and peace of the empire required preventing any single power from becoming dominant, so the more Prussia was ravaged by the war, the better.

“That’s right! Your Majesty, we should weaken Prussia’s manpower as much as possible and exhaust their human resources, which will be more conducive to our future rule.”

Otherwise, we risk repeating Albania's mistakes.

Trade Minister Marquis Basec said that his lineage was very mixed. His ancestors were Czech nobles who were exiled to Transylvania. His family had long intermarried with Hungarians and even had minor nobles from Croatia and Transylvania.

Therefore, the Marquis of Basec despised ethnic theories because his bloodline was too mixed; he couldn't enjoy any ethnic benefits, but instead suffered from the stains and hatred associated with ethnicity. No one treated him as one of their own; everyone saw him as an outsider, which is why his family could only engage in commerce for generations.

In his generation, he simply married a Jewish woman of noble birth.

Marquis Bassac hated this so-called era of nationalism. He didn't want the Germans to dominate, at least for now he could still be an imperial citizen.

The counterinsurgency campaign in Albania was frustrating Austrian officials. There weren't many enemies, but the conflict was relentless and seemed endless.

The Albanian resistance groups refused to surrender or fight to the death.

What's most infuriating is that these people frequently trespass across the borders of the three countries, but due to some basic principles, the Austrian army is unable to pursue them.

However, some countries deliberately avoid setting up checkpoints on their borders for certain purposes.

The military expenditure on this tiny piece of land accounted for more than half of the Austrian Empire's military expenditure in the entire Near East. They didn't want another Albania, especially since Prussia was much more troublesome than Albania.

However, Prince Schwarzenberg was anxious, as he still had some nationalistic sentiments.

"Nonsense! If we really kill so many people that white banners are everywhere, what will we do then?"

Marquis Bassac immediately retorted.

"Your Highness, what is there to fear about those Prussians! We are not afraid of them when they are alive, so why should we be afraid of them when they are dead?"

And why take the initiative? Wouldn't it be better to wait and see? We have the initiative now, why should we take the risk?

This, in turn, touched another sore spot for Prince Schwarzenberg.

"You think we'll lose? How dare you!"

This issue is also sensitive. At this time, the confidence of the Austrians, from top to bottom, was extremely inflated, and no one thought that the Austrian Empire could possibly lose the war.

"enough!"

Franz finally spoke up to stop this pointless argument.

"The war is still undecided, and our goal is to win, so there is really no need to take any risks."

Moreover, even if orders were issued now, the front lines wouldn't have time to change their strategy. Rather than hastily taking action, it's better to proceed according to the original plan and wait for the enemy to tire themselves out.

In reality, the Austrian Empire had two battle plans. Albrecht did take away the main force of the Austrian army, but the truly defensive elite troops remained in Bohemia.

Besides the differences in troop characteristics, some of the Austrian Empire's defensive equipment was also not well-suited for offensive operations. At least outside the borders, its mobility was poor, making it unsuitable for infiltration warfare.

The biggest lesson of this war was that intelligence transmitted from enemy countries should not be relied upon too heavily. Because the Austrian Empire's intelligence operations were so successful, some systems had become dependent on intelligence.

This dependence greatly reduces some people's vigilance and judgment, leading to the current situation if the intelligence is wrong.

Fortunately, Franz wasn't the overconfident type who liked to act recklessly. Although things didn't go as planned, it was generally acceptable.

Moreover, Vienna has not yet received news that Albrecht has returned to the team, so judging from the current conditions, defense is definitely the best option.

Personally, Franz did not want the war to turn into a bloodbath, because cleaning up the mess was the most troublesome thing.

Besides this, Franz had more than one mess to clean up, and he also had to consider the impact of the price war, which he did not want to turn into an economic crisis.

Finally, and most importantly, Franz needs to be wary of France; the allure of Alsace-Lorraine is too great for them.

Coupled with the boiling nationalist sentiment within France, even if Napoleon III wanted to remain calm, he couldn't.

Why were the French so concerned about the Italian independence movement and the internal turmoil in Germany at that time? A large part of it stemmed from their hatred of the Austrian Empire.

Franz was well aware of this. France at this time was not the France of later generations. The pride and spirit of the French people had not been extinguished. If they did not take any action, they would not be French.

In reality, Alsace-Lorraine and Belgium were like two thorns stuck in Napoleon III's flesh. He wanted to remove them at all times, but unfortunately, he lacked the strength and the time was not right.

Previously, there was Alexandre Colona Walevsky giving him advice, but now the former prime minister has been expelled from mainland France.

At this time, Napoleon III was surrounded by Bonapartist factions or opportunists like the Duke of Morni, who naturally would not oppose the recapture of lost territories.

The Prussian army's advance was very difficult. The Austrian troops on the border did not hold the fortresses or surrender. Instead, they fought and retreated while harassing the enemy along the way.

The armored wagon legion, on which William I had placed high hopes, was destroyed as soon as it appeared. Rockets exploded in the center of the formation, and the armor could not withstand the impact of the rockets, let alone the horses.

Neither shrieks, flames, nor explosions are things horses can withstand.

Horses moving at high speed may be temporarily immune to these disturbances, but like humans, once the excitement subsides, the instinct for fear will immediately take over.

On the Bohemian border, Prussian chariot troops had just caught up with a group of retreating Austrian soldiers, and the drivers skillfully turned their armor towards the Austrian soldiers.

However, this time they were not met with a barrage of bullets from lever-action rifles, but rather with rockets trailing long plumes of flame.

Explosions rang out one after another, and people and horses were thrown into chaos wherever they went, but the entire legion of several hundred tanks was not overturned by a few rockets.

But horses are animals after all; they can hear the mournful cries of their kind before they die, and the scent of death in the air.

Finally, when the second round of rockets arrived, the horses lost control and began to flee in a frenzy.

Out-of-control horses, pulling their out-of-control carriages, rampaged through the ranks. The coachman tried to control the horses, but the chaos of the battlefield prevented effective communication, and he was unable to calm the frightened steeds.

Soon the chaos caused more coachmen to lose control of their horses, and more warhorses began to gallop wildly through the ranks, dragging the carriages behind them.

Every now and then, chariots and warhorses would collide, and the broken shafts, overturned chariots, and neighing horses made the battlefield even more brutal.

Austrian soldiers naturally wouldn't let go of this opportunity to counterattack, and the Prussian tank commander, seeing that casualties were piling up, had no choice but to order a retreat.

Soon, only a few warhorses, now without their masters, were left on the battlefield, pulling wagons stuck in the ditch, spinning helplessly in circles.