Persian Empire 1845

Chapter 420 A Series of Failures

This isn't the first time Austria has failed; everyone was prepared. But they can't keep failing, or what will Austria become?

Franz just wanted to win, even just once. That way, it wouldn't be too embarrassing. But a defeat at the start always seemed like a bad omen.

"Your Majesty, an urgent telegram from Tehran." Foreign Minister Reichberg's voice seemed to come from a great distance. "The Persians have agreed to an additional loan of 4000 million crowns, but they are demanding that the mercury mines in Tyrol and the Vienna-Krakow railway be mortgaged."

“Give it to him, anything is negotiable as long as we can get money.”

Franz was practically obsessed; he hoped Austria wouldn't suffer a crushing defeat, and even if they did lose, he wanted the situation to drag on for at least four months. This would buy him time to finalize his plans.

In the new telegram, there was a piece of advice from the Iranian Shah to himself: Try to make up for what you have lost in the north by coming from the south.

Since we can't defeat Prussia, let's try to take back Italy. As for the Italians, who cares? Whether they're dead or have emigrated, they won't have a single piece of land here.

Raindrops pattered against the windows of Schönbrunn Palace, sounding like countless tiny hooves—like the echoes of Marshal Radetzky's cavalry trampling Milan in 1848. The attendants noticed the Emperor's breakfast was untouched; the liquid in the silver coffee cup had long since cooled, reflecting the oil painting on the wall, "The Congress of Vienna"—in which Prince Metternich arrogantly looked down upon the divided Italian states.

“Tell our men that they must deliver 50,000 rifles to Trieste within two weeks. Also, have our men infiltrate Milan and Florence and incite those who support us to riot.”

Reichberg gasped. Three years ago, when Garibaldi's Redcoats swept through Sicily, the Bourbon supporters hiding in the attics were all slaughtered. Now, was the emperor going to reignite this powder keg? But when he saw the sickly light in Franz's eyes, all his words of advice were swallowed back—he knew those eyes all too well, just like the eyes of the late Emperor Ferdinand I before his forced abdication in 1848.

In the gardens of Tehran's Summer Palace, Nasser al-Din Shah was trimming a tulip from Vienna with golden shears. Abdullah rushed in, handing him a newly arrived telegram: "Have the Austrians gone mad? This will trigger a revolution across Europe!"

"No, this is a gamble. Austria realizes that it is no match for Prussia, so it can only stall for time. If Bismarck could realize this, he might give them a way out."

It seems Naserdin took Franz's suggestion to heart: if they couldn't gain it on the German front, they should take it back from Italy. At the very least, they should restore Lombardy's dominance.

Anyway, Italy's fighting strength isn't that great; Austria could easily defeat them. The most important thing now is to buy time. "Shah, the Vienna-Krakow railway is worth at least 3000 million riyals. Will they mortgage it to us?"

Abdullah expressed skepticism, given that this was the most profitable railway. Most of Austria's other railways were built for administrative purposes, barely maintaining a balanced budget.

"They will. Austria is short of money right now, and they will definitely use all their assets as collateral."

Naserdin knew all too well the Habsburgs' penny-pinching nature. For money, Maximilian I died in a ski lodge in the countryside, Philip II repeatedly declared the country bankrupt, and Ferdinand III even mortgaged the crown jewels. From the moment they reached the pinnacle of power, debt was ever-present.

“As long as they can’t do without us financially, we can control Austria. Everyone says that Jews control the government through finance, and now we can too.”

While the Prussian Fifth Army was achieving a brilliant start to the war, Marshal Bonin, who was commanding the First Army on the Eastern Front, was not enjoying such a splendid period. He set out from Silesia, advancing as the right flank of the Second Army through the Upa Gorge towards Kischin, the meeting point for the Prussian forces.

Logically speaking, a large army traversing complex terrain would inevitably face extremely high risks, but Bonin, lacking reconnaissance awareness, failed to do his homework beforehand and rashly ordered the First Army to march through the Upa Gorge. As expected, they were ambushed by the Austrian army in the gorge.

Despite a messenger from the Prussian 1st Guards Division inquiring whether Bonin needed support, the confident Bonin believed he could accomplish his planned march for the day and refused assistance. Three hours later, several Austrian divisions finally converged and launched a major offensive against Bonin's 1st Army.

Despite the Prussian striker rifles remaining powerful and inflicting considerable casualties on the Austrian army, Bonin was forced to order a retreat back to Landshut, the 1st Army's starting point at 4:00 AM, to prevent multiple Austrian forces from encircling the Prussian First Army. The day's efforts yielded no progress. Bonin's setback greatly angered Bismarck, but fortunately, the First Army remained intact and its fighting capacity undiminished, while the Prussian kill-to-Austrian ratio remained favorable at 4:1.

The Prussian 1st Guards Division launched an attack on three brigades of Austrian General Gablenz. Lacking artillery support, and with Gablenz's Austrian artillery well-prepared, the Prussians suffered heavy casualties from the shelling. In this situation, the Prussians abandoned their needle guns and engaged in bloody hand-to-hand combat, essentially fighting a one-for-one exchange. However, the Austrian artillery could no longer fire on the densely packed crowd. At this point, Prussian reinforcements arrived in time. To avoid flank threats, Gablenz led his Austrian troops out of the battlefield. But during the retreat, the Austrians encountered the Prussian 2nd Guards Division again, and an entire brigade was wiped out by the Prussian needle gun barrage. Gablenz, having suffered greatly that day, was furious that his commander, Benedek, had not arranged for friendly forces to support him.

Meanwhile, the Prussian Fifth Army, instead of waiting for the Prussian Sixth Army to cross the mountains and advance into enemy territory as ordered, boldly launched its own attack. This was because if friendly forces arrived, and their own troops had just suffered a defeat at the front, it would negatively impact the Prussian front; it was better to conduct a preliminary probe. On the Austrian side, Marshal Benedek had a different perspective. He believed the Prussian Fifth Army wouldn't dare advance alone and would wait for the Sixth Army to rendezvous. Therefore, he ordered the Austrian army to retreat along the entire Kieschen line, entrusting the rearguard with the most incompetent general, Archduke Leopold. The Prussian Fifth Army advanced alone, encountering the Austrian rearguard, their weakest point. Archduke Leopold ignored orders not to linger and instead launched an attack on the pursuing Prussian troops. In short, Archduke Leopold's unauthorized attack resulted in another heavy loss of lives. In the fierce exchange of fire, large numbers of soldiers fell on both sides. The remaining Austrian troops, leaving behind a trail of corpses and wailing wounded, were forced to flee; an entire brigade was essentially wiped out. The Austrian army suffered 3000 casualties and 3000 surrendered in this battle.

(End of this chapter)