Chapter 173: Go for Broke

Ottoman Empire, Istanbul.

The Great Sarakyar Palace, also known as the "Gate of the Cannon", gives people a sense of extraordinary grandeur. However, the current strength of the Ottoman Empire has made Metternich feel no fear.

Europeans once regarded the Ottoman Empire as the "scourge of God", and because of the brutality of successive sultans, every ambassador who came here would leave a will first.

There is a mural called "God's Disaster" in the Graz Cathedral in Austria, which vividly illustrates that for the people under the rule of the Habsburgs at that time, the Ottoman attack was a disaster like the Black Death and the passage of locusts.

It's just that this ancient empire that captured Constantinople and besieged Vienna twice, his guards were full of fear when they saw Metternich.

Although the Ottomans often gave Europeans nicknames to humiliate them, due to the appearance of the Russians, a deep fear was rooted in the hearts of the Ottomans, and even the officials responsible for receiving Metternich couldn't help shaking their arms.

This fear came directly from the Austrian fleet anchored in the port. In order to show off Metternich, Austria brought over those huge battleships that had exceeded their service life.

The dock was already crowded with curious people. This was a huge fleet they had never seen before. In addition to those sailing ships, there were many strange ships without sails and oars.

At this time, the Ottoman Navy only had some light gunboats to show off, and did not dare to stop the Austrian fleet at all.

Metternich should be regarded as the highest-ranking Western official visiting Istanbul.

At the Grand Sarakyrio Palace, Metternich's visit surprised Magid.

The five-nation meeting did not reach a consensus before, but only drafted a proposal and handed it to the Ottoman government, asking them to stop peace talks with Egypt.

Magid felt that Britain had been forced to take action, and his goal had been achieved, so there was no need to talk to the Egyptians.

So the Egyptian envoy, who was halfway there, hurried back.

Mejid was a man who indulged in pleasure. He felt that the external crisis had been resolved, so he began to have fun with his concubines in the flower hall.

He was very unhappy to be disturbed. The young Sultan seemed to intend to leave the Austrian envoy alone to kill his spirit.

The Grand Vizier newly appointed by Mejid was Mustafa Rest. He was once a diplomat and of course knew what level of person Metternich was. He hurriedly reminded him.

"Great Sultan, Metternich is the Prime Minister of Austria."

"So what?" Mejid said with some disdain. In his heart, he had a blind confidence in the strength of Britain.

"This Prime Minister Metternich is known as the Prime Minister of Europe. He established a framework to maintain peace for decades. And he has not left Austria for a long time. Such a powerful person, Sultan, you still need to meet him."

"What a disappointment, let him come in the afternoon, I will take a nap first."

Seeing the Sultan's attitude, Mustafa Rest really found it difficult to connect the arrogant and pleasure-indulgent young man in front of him with the monarch who was determined to reform a few days ago.

In fact, it was true that Magid wanted to reform, and it was also true that he indulged in pleasure.

Deep down, he felt that the Ottoman Empire, with wise rulers from generation to generation, was far superior to the West, but it was only because the people were stupid that they lagged behind the West.

Especially after the imperial edict in the flower hall, the praise from those Westerners made him look down on those stupid Westerners. It was ridiculous that he had deceived those Westerners with just a little trick.

Although Magid felt that he could rest assured with the British sending troops, Mustafa Rest knew very well that the so-called five-nation proposal was simply a piece of waste paper.

The interests of the great powers diverged greatly and no consensus was reached. The British were preparing to hold another five-nation conference in London, but France did not receive an invitation, and the Austrian Prime Minister actually appeared in Istanbul, and the Russian envoys repeatedly reiterated Russia's exclusive right to the strait.

Mustafa Rest was worried about the prospects of the London Conference. In fact, his worries were correct. Palmerston tried to put aside the French and bring in Prussia, Austria, and Russia to sanction Egypt first.

After all, it is not an easy thing for Russia to send troops to the Sinai Peninsula, and the newly appointed Sultan has an obvious pro-British attitude. As long as the Ottomans are induced to tear up the agreement with Russia, it is only a matter of time.

The most important thing is that Russia will not compete with Britain for business, but the French are different. They have industrial capacity and trade volume second only to Britain.

Moreover, Egypt's interests are highly tied to France, so even if Britain wants to rebel, it has no way to start.

Historically, Palmerston was dissatisfied with the results of the Vienna Conference and convened the Five-Power Conference in London. This time, he left France aside, invalidated the agreement reached at the Vienna Conference, and directly threatened Egypt with force, and even led the Russian and Austrian fleets to deter Egypt. After that, Egypt had to accept "peace" and Britain won a great victory.

But this time the Five-Power Agreement was not reached at all, and the French did not receive an invitation. The Russians were still resentful of Britain's opposition to their hegemony over the Straits, and after reaching an agreement with Austria, they were not prepared to give the British face.

Out of consideration for its own interests, Austria did not choose to be Palmerston's younger brother, but instead planned to fight for its own interests. It had no reason to accept Palmerston's orders to attend the London Conference, let alone send a fleet to fight for the British.

The multinational fleet did not appear, only a solitary British fleet. Historically, it was the appearance of the multinational fleet that made Ali give up his crazy plan, because he could not be an enemy of the entire Western world.

But at this time, a British fleet with only eight warships dared to bombard Beirut, and Ali immediately sent out his powerful fleet with 28 battleships.

He believed that under the attack of shore artillery and a powerful fleet, no British ship could leave the coast of Beirut.

Attacking the British fleet was just a bad idea in Muhammad Ali's mind, and what he hoped most was to negotiate with the Ottomans.

At first, the death of Mahmud II reached Egypt, which made Muhammad Ali ecstatic and shouted "Allah has eyes".

Because in his mind, the Ottoman Empire has been retreating since the war began, the navy built with a lot of money rebelled, the new army with high hopes was dispersed, and now even the Sultan himself is dead, and the Ottomans seem to have no choice but to surrender.

However, the expected collapse did not happen, and no large number of Ottomans surrendered in response to Ali's call for a "Great Arab Empire".

After that, the newly appointed Sultan made a series of stupid moves, and actually proposed reforms at this time. But the development of things once again surprised Ali. Ottoman civilians enthusiastically joined the army, and even Britain and Russia, who had been sitting on the sidelines, began to take action.

This forced Ali to make a desperate bet. He knew very well that if he did not hurt these powers, they would not listen to him.