Holy Roman Empire

He ordered: "Prepare the car immediately, I want to leave the palace!"

Non-vegetation, ruthless Practice makes perfect.

Since the era of the Great Revolution, Felix has been the Prime Minister of Austria. The two have worked closely together for more than 30 years to bring the Habsburg dynasty back from the brink of death.

In terms of merit, Felix can be said to be the number one contributor to the revival of the Habsburg dynasty.

Felix Schwarzenberg, who was born in 1800, is now 85 years old. Judging from the average life expectancy of this era, this has more than doubled.

Thinking of this, Franz's heart suddenly sank.

Time is not forgiving, even if he is already the emperor, he can only watch the people around him leave one by one, and there is nothing he can do.

Don't talk about the 85-year-old age, even in the 21st century, once you fall ill at this age, it will be difficult to recover.

……

As the Prime Minister of Austria, Felix naturally has a personal doctor to serve him at any time, and even all kinds of medical equipment are always available at home.

Mainly these days, there are not many medical devices.If it is like the 21st century, with a lot of various instruments, it will not be always available.

Everything is readily available, and the treatment is naturally carried out directly at home.When Franz arrived, almost all the medical experts in Vienna were also there.

A large group of nobles from Vienna also came, but not many government colleagues came.There is no way this is a rule. It is working hours now. Even without the prime minister, the government still has to operate normally.

Seeing Franz coming in person, everyone was not surprised.Almost every important minister was critically ill, and he had to visit him personally.

Facing the unconscious Prime Minister Felix, Franz swallowed back all his words and waited quietly outside the ward.

There is no such thing as entertainment, and Franz is feeling annoyed, so he has no time to care about so much.

Seeing the emperor's gloomy expression, everyone knew that they were definitely looking for scolding when they came together at this time.

Time passed by, and the weather was gradually getting dark. The chief guard reminded: "Your Majesty, it's getting late, it's time to go back to the palace."

Franz nodded, looked at a large group of nobles and officials outside, waved his hands and said: "Let's go!"

At this moment, Franz realized that because he, the emperor, stayed behind, the others could only wait.

Returning to the palace with a depressed mood, Franz knew that a new round of political reshuffle was about to begin.

With Prime Minister Felix's current physical condition, even if he recovers, it will be difficult for him to continue to be the prime minister.

Not only is the prime minister old, but many dignitaries at the top of the government are over seventy years old.Unknowingly, the Vienna government also entered old age.

Lying on the bed, Franz couldn't help thinking that it would be great if he could travel to an era of revived spiritual energy and pursue longevity.

Over time, Franz switched on fantasy mode in his dreams.

……

In Egypt, under the repeated urging of Napoleon IV, Governor Adolf's counter-insurgency army finally completed its assembly in Cairo.

One French infantry division + two Egyptian colonial divisions + one cavalry battalion is the entire composition of the counter-insurgency army.

Without the artillery regiment, suppressing the colonial rebellion would be redundant, and the field artillery carried by the infantry division would be sufficient.

Artillery is a high-tech arm these days. It's not that they can shoot out shells. Even if they are artillery, the hit rate is the key.

Even if Britain and Austria were willing to spend their money to provide artillery, the rebels could not find a gunner who could operate it.

On a sunny day, Governor Adolf led a 3.6 counter-insurgency army and set off from Cairo mightily.

Facing the menacing French, the rebel army has fallen into panic.France's reputation as the world's number one army power is too strong, and some people within the rebel army were shaken even before the battle started.

Mahdi held mobilization meetings many times to boost morale, but still had little effect.

As the representative of Austria, Lieutenant Colonel Huthier also participated in a meeting. After seeing the ugly appearance of the high-level rebels, he resolutely refused to participate.

At the headquarters of the Eighth Division, the newly appointed Division Commander Hutier said worriedly: "The composition of the rebel army is too complicated, with a lot of internal contradictions, neither training nor combat awareness is enough.

Judging from the current situation, it is only a matter of time before they collide head-on with the French.

The perfect strategy that the British helped them formulate completely ignored the execution of the insurgents.It has been such a long time, and it has not been determined where to intercept the river.

A group of people are still arguing now, and it is estimated that when the French call, they may not be able to determine the location. "

The water volume of the Nile River is not so large all year round. In the dry season, intercepting the river and storing water to hit the downstream will not achieve the effect at all.

Unfortunately, it has just entered April, and the Nile River is dry season from January to May, and the water level will start to rise in May at the earliest, and the peak will be in August.

This means that the rebel army must be supported by the French for at least 40 days under the attack of the French, and the "perfect strategy" formulated by the British has a slight chance of being realized.

If you want to rely on flooding to destroy the downstream delta area, it is best to wait until August.

Every August, there will be floods in the lower reaches, and it is common to destroy farmland, and occasionally even affect Cairo City.

Falkenhayn: "The British plan simply won't work, the French won't give them enough time.

If Mahdi was smart enough, he would immediately choose a suitable location and blow up a small mountain to block the river.

Although it is the dry season, the destructive power to the downstream is limited, but it is better than nothing, and no matter how bad it is, it can delay the French counter-insurgency army. "

The upstream itself occupies a favorable location. Once the river is blocked, the French who are coming have to make a detour.

If you continue to march along the Nile, if the rebels suddenly release the water, they will feed the fish, and the French cannot take risks.

It's just that once the plan is advanced, the destruction of the delta becomes a dream.After all, the amount of water is not enough and the destructive power is limited.

Hutil shook his head: "Don't count on it, the rebel army has been fooled by the British.

Perhaps that Lieutenant General Jarrett thought that the rebel army, like the British army, could enforce orders and prohibit them. "

The strong contempt was palpable. If he hadn't been able to confirm the identity of Lieutenant General Gerrett and it was impossible to betray Britain, he would have doubted whether he was a spy sent by the French.

It seems that the total strength of the rebel army is nearly 10, almost three times that of the French, and has an absolute advantage in strength.

However, military superiority does not mean winning battles.In the battle to suppress the colonial rebellion, let alone one against three, even one against a hundred is nothing new.

Potiorek suggested: "Since the top leaders of the rebel army are already stupid, let's just ignore them.

Take a chance and part with them.Then each fought his own way, let them hold back the main force of the French army, and we went deep into the hinterland of Egypt to wreak havoc.

If we can't defeat the main force of the French army, can we still not bully the plantation owners?Burn the cotton fields of the French, and let that fellow Adolphe cry! "

The expectations were so low, even though a batch of equipment was airdropped by the airship, the Eighth Division was armed, and simple training was carried out.For a decisive battle with the French, Potiorek still did not have any expectations.

In his view, even bullying the plantation owner depends on the superiority of troops.In the same number of cases, this gang of rabble is no match for the plantation owner's thugs.

Falkenhayn frowned and asked, "Sounds good, but after entering the hinterland of Egypt, how should we evacuate?"

This is a practical problem. It is easy to go deep behind enemy lines, but it is easy to enter and difficult to come out.

Once the French find out that someone has burned their cotton fields, they will not be beaten to death.

Potiorek shook his head: "The French are not fools, once they react, they will soon send troops to encircle us, and it is impossible to evacuate.

But our task is to destroy, why do we have to evacuate?

If the momentum is not right, we will throw away the troops. Let us disguise ourselves and run away. "

Although it is a bit ruthless, the feasibility is indeed very high.There is no ID card these days, and a few more strangers in the colony come out, and it is impossible to identify them at all.

Even if it is caught by the French, it can pretend to be an Austrian expedition and stray into Egypt.

There is no shortage of road idiots in this world, and there are many expedition teams who stray into other countries' colonies every year because of getting lost.

It's okay to be caught, just notify the leader of the Austrian colonial government and ask for a ransom by the way.

This is a common practice. In the absence of conflict of interest, colonists will not kill people at will.

Chapter 53 The British Strike Back

The next day, Franz received mixed news.Prime Minister Felix woke up last night, but the cause of his coma has not yet been found.

No way, the level of medical care in the 19th century was only so high.In the absence of instrumental testing, doctors can only make judgments based on past experience.

If it is an ordinary person, there is only one doctor to receive him, so naturally he will not have so many troubles, just rely on God's blessing.

If you get it right, you will prescribe the right medicine; if you get it wrong, you will seek blessings for yourself.

Prime Minister Felix is ​​different. After his old man fell ill, all the top doctors in Austria came.

Then, a different conclusion was drawn.Professionals can't unify their opinions, and others are even more confused.

In such a situation, Franz was helpless.As a medical novice, he could only choose to wait.

Before Prime Minister Felix's condition was confirmed, something happened internationally.

Affected by the demise of the Ottoman Empire, the British government began to accelerate the pace of invasion of Persia.

On February 1885, 2, under the threat of force from the British, it obtained the right to telegraph from British India via Kerman, Tehran to Bushehr.

It is enough to force the laying of telegraph lines in Persia. The key is that the Persian government has to pay for these erection costs.

The Persian Empire, which had been reduced to a semi-colony, was naturally a poor ghost. In order to pay for the expensive construction of the telegraph, it could only borrow from the British.

Foreign Secretary Weissenberg handed Franz a document saying: "Your Majesty, the English eat very badly.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has just received news that the British secretly signed a loan deduction agreement with the Persian government three days ago.

This agreement can be described as all-encompassing, involving tariffs, minerals, railways, factories, water conservancy projects and other fields.

Once the above content becomes a reality, Persia will become the private land of the British, and we will basically lose the commercial market in Persia. "

After receiving the document, Franz flipped through it directly, and his brows furrowed more and more as he looked at it.

The butterfly effect still failed to change the history of Persia being a British colony.

Agreements on minerals, resources, and factories have little impact on Austria, let alone.According to the provisions of the treaty: the British got Persia's 2-year tariff right for only 25 pounds.

No wonder Weissenberg said that the British are too much, which is not only too much, it is clear that they want to eat alone.

In the last Anglo-Polish war, because of the intervention of the Russians, the British failed to meet strategic expectations.

Persia also has a more relaxed international environment than in the same period in history. After the war, the forces of Britain, Russia and Austria all penetrated into Persia, forming a new balance.

The Vienna government was not prepared to expand to the Persian region, and the local investment was not large, and it was only a part of commercial interests. The main battles were between Britain and Russia.

Because of the Prussian-Russian War, the Russians were busy licking their wounds and reduced their resource input to the Persian region, while the British took advantage of this opportunity to increase their input.

The emergence of this all-encompassing lease agreement is the product of a broken balance.

After reading it, Franz took a deep breath: "The British want to build the railway to the Caspian Sea. Surely the Russians won't watch it?"

The British gained control of the Persian Railway, and the railway extended to the Caspian Sea, which also meant that the British power had penetrated into the Caspian Sea, which seriously affected the interests of the Russians.

Weisenberg replied: "Of course! But the most angry thing about the tsarist government at the moment should not be the railway.

The Russians controlled nearly 1.5% of the tobacco trade in Persia, and the British also won the Persian tobacco franchise at a price of [-] pounds, which would directly reduce the fiscal revenue of the Tsarist government.

In addition, there are customs duties.Persia is also one of the few countries that imports Russian industrial and commercial products. The British have the right to tariff and can basically announce that Russian industrial and commercial products will withdraw from the Persian market. "

Without mentioning tobacco, Franz almost forgot.The huge profits of the tobacco industry have been revealed these years.

Persia is rich in tobacco leaves, and before the discovery of oil, tobacco leaves had always been the largest export commodity.

During the reform, Alexander II imitated Austria and implemented a tobacco and alcohol monopoly. The tsarist government imported a large amount of tobacco leaves from Persia every year.

After the processing is completed, some of them are kept in the country for sale, and some are sold back to the Persian Empire.

The Tsarist government can get a lot of income from it every year, accounting for 1 to 2 percent of the government's fiscal revenue.

In contrast, the export of industrial and commercial products is nothing.After all, Russian industrial and commercial products are like that, except for the fact that the things are relatively solid, they are useless in other aspects.

Even if such a product can be sold, the sales volume is unlikely to be high.But having something is better than nothing, no matter how little the export is, it is still an export, and it has a different meaning to the Russians.

As the saying goes, "cutting off people's wealth is like killing their parents."Franz can already imagine how the tsarist government would react when they found out about the British style of eating alone.

After contemplating for a moment, Franz asked suspiciously, "Do you know why the British did this?"

The more he thought about it, the more Franz felt that the British were acting strangely.It is good to eat alone, but you must also consider the consequences.

Russia and Austria are not soft persimmons. If you are in a hurry, you can completely overturn the table, and no one of you should think about it.

There's no way the British government didn't know this, but they did it anyway.It can't be deliberately creating conflicts to lure Russia and Austria to attack Persia, right?

Foreign Secretary Weisenberg explained: "It may have something to do with the conflict in Central Asia. The British government has repeatedly protested to the Russians to no avail, and has taken countermeasures.

As for us, the British government thinks that we are instigating the Russians to provoke the conflict in Central Asia, and wants to teach us a lesson. "

After hearing this answer, Franz felt speechless.

What about trust between people?

It was a purely innocent disaster, even if he wanted to encourage the Russians to do things in Central Asia, he would not choose to do it now!