Chapter 792: Super Low Expectations

In Vienna Palace, Franz is frolicking with his several-month-old grandson.

The three countries of Britain, France and Russia have been very busy recently, and everything is running normally in the country. Franz, who is idle, can only toss the little guy.

A burst of "wow" cries sounded, causing Franz to be in a hurry.

At this moment, a maid hurried over and said eagerly, "Your Majesty, news came from outside the palace just now that Prime Minister Felix fainted just after going out today, and is currently being rescued."

Hearing this bad news, Franz couldn't care about his crying grandson, and handed little Charlie directly to the maid.

He ordered: "Ready 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, which fell into hell, back from the brink of death.

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

Felix Schwarzenberg, born in 1800, is now 85 years old, which is more than double the life expectancy of this era.

Thinking of this, Franz's heart sank all of a sudden.

The years are 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 85 years old now, even in the 21st century, once you fall ill at such an age, it will be difficult to recover.

...

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

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

Everything is ready-made, and the treatment is naturally performed directly at home. When Franz arrived, almost all the medical experts in Vienna were there.

A large group of nobles from Vienna also came, but not many government colleagues. There is no way this is the rule. Now is working time. Even without the Prime Minister, the government will still function normally.

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

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

Socializing doesn't exist. Franz is in a troubled mood. How could he have the time to pay attention to so much.

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

Time passed by and the weather had gradually dimmed. The head 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 hand and said, "Let's go!"

At this moment, Franz came to his senses. Because of his emperor's stay, 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 getting older, but many dignitaries at the top of the government are all over their seventies. Unconsciously, the Vienna government has also entered the age of old age.

Lying in bed, Franz couldn't help but think that if he traveled to an era of spiritual recovery, it would be great to be able to pursue longevity.

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

...

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

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

Without an artillery regiment, the suppression of colonial rebellions would be superfluous, the field guns carried by the infantry divisions would suffice.

These days, artillery is a high-tech arm, and it is not able to shoot out cannonballs. Even if it is artillery, the hit rate is the key.

Even if Britain and Austria were willing to provide artillery at all costs, the rebels could not find a gunner who could operate it.

On a sunny day, Governor Adolf led an army of 36,000 counter-insurgents and set off from Cairo mighty.

In the face of the menacing French, the insurgent army has fallen into a panic. France's reputation as the world's No. 1 army power is too strong, and some people within the rebels are shaken as soon as the battle begins.

Mahdi held several mobilization meetings to boost morale, but with little success.

As an Austrian representative, Lieutenant Colonel Hutier also participated in a meeting. After seeing the ugly attitude of the upper-level rebels, he decided not to participate.

At the headquarters of the Eighth Division, the newly appointed division commander Hutier said worriedly: "The composition of the uprising army is too complicated, there are a lot of internal contradictions, and neither training nor combat awareness is enough.

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

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

Now a group of people are still arguing, it is estimated that when the French call, they may not be able to determine the place. "

The water volume of the Nile River is not so large all the year round. In the dry season, intercepting the impoundment of the river channel and impacting the downstream cannot achieve the effect at all.

It's a pity, it's just entering April, the Nile 1~

May is the dry season, and the water level will start to rise in May at the earliest, and peak in August.

This means that the insurgent army, at least under the attack of the French, must be supported for more than 40 days, and the "perfect strategy" formulated by the British can only be realized.

It's best to wait until August to flood the delta area downstream.

Every year in August, there will be floods downstream, washing out farmland is a common thing, and even occasionally affects the city of Cairo.

Falkingham: "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 to blow up a small mountain and block the river.

Although it is a dry season now, 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 occupied the land, and once the river was blocked, the arriving French had to take a detour.

If they continued marching down the Nile, in case the rebels were suddenly waterproof, they would have to feed the fish, and the French could not risk it.

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

Hutier shook his head: "Don't count on it, the rebels have been fooled by the British.

Perhaps Lieutenant General Jarrett thought that the rebel army, like the British army, could do the same. "

The strong contempt was evident in his words. If he hadn't been able to confirm that Lieutenant General Jarrett's identity was impossible to betray Britain, he would have doubted whether it was a spy sent by the French.

It seems that the total strength of the rebels is nearly 100,000, which is almost three times that of the French, and has an absolute strength advantage.

However, superiority in force does not equal victory. 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 upper echelons of the rebel army are already stupid, then leave them alone.

Find a chance to separate from them. Then we fight each other, let them hold back the main French army, and we go deep into the hinterland of Egypt to destroy.

If we can't win the main force of the French army, can't we still bully the plantation owner? Burn the French cotton fields and let that Adolf cry! "

The expectations were so low, although a batch of equipment was dropped by airships, the Eighth Division was armed, and simple training was conducted. Potiorec still had no expectations for a decisive battle with the French.

In his view, even bullying the plantation owner would depend on the strength of the army. In the case of equal numbers, this rabble can't do enough for the plantation owners to raise thugs.

Falkingham frowned and asked: "It sounds good, but after entering the hinterland of Egypt, how should we evacuate?"

This is a real problem. It is easy to go deep behind enemy lines, but it is easy to get in and difficult to get out.

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

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

But our mission is to destroy, why must we evacuate?

If the momentum is not right, the troops will be thrown away. We will 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 many strangers in the colony come out, and they cannot identify their identities at all.

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

The world has never been short of lunatics, and every year there are many expeditions who stray into the colonies of other countries because of getting lost.

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

This is the prevailing practice, and in the absence of a conflict of interest, the colonists would not kill at will.