Chapter 187 Objection Is Invalid (Part 1)

With the previous experience of Palmerston, the British no longer plan to hold a meeting on their own territory. The purpose of this meeting is to beat Russia and France, so Paris and St. Petersburg must be excluded. The remaining options are only Berlin, Vienna, and Istanbul.

Among them, Istanbul is the home court of the British, but in order to win over Austria, Vienna can only be chosen. Viscount Stratford (Canning) will also go to Vienna to discuss with Metternich about the convening of the Five-Power Conference.

Vienna, Regent Council.

Although Count Korolav strongly opposed it, most of the military and civil service groups in Austria were excited about the recovery of Belgrade.

Historically, Austria has recaptured Belgrade three times, each time representing the highlight of the empire, which will remind people of great names such as Prince Eugen and Joseph II.

And Friedrich's victory gave great confidence to the Austrian Empire. After all, Austria did not have a real fleet before. Listen to the name of the Austrian main fleet, and you will understand what kind of navy this is.

The Danube Fleet and the Rhine Fleet were undoubtedly originally inland fleets. In fact, the Austrian Navy has never had a separate organization. They are more like an auxiliary branch of the army.

Even the naval commanders were once served by the army. In the Austrian Empire, there were very few professional naval commanders like Friedrich.

With this glorious victory, the navy has the qualifications to form an independent army.

In fact, Austria began to form a navy after 1756, but its predecessor was the Danube Navy, which had been fighting against the Ottoman Empire for many years. In 1802, the first and only naval academy was established. However, until Archduke Friedrich came to power, the commander-in-chief of the navy was always the army.

Friedrich also became the first vice admiral in the history of the Austrian Empire. At the strong suggestion of Franz, Friedrich set up the naval headquarters in Trieste.

In fact, according to Friedrich, Venice was the best port in Austria at this time.

But Franz knew very well that Venice's development potential was not great, and its throughput was not even half of that of the unpopular Trieste Port.

Moreover, in the storm of 1848, the city would fall. Under the command of General Ritchie, the Austrian army surrendered the city without firing a shot.

The last ones to resist were a group of Italian sailors who refused to surrender. They built barricades at the docks and all died after a day and night of fierce fighting with the rebels.

In the end, the Venetians captured 90% of Austria's ships, so that the Kingdom of Sardinia dared to blockade the Adriatic Sea with only two battleships.

After all, Franz didn't know whether Archduke Friedrich would dissolve in water before the storm came.

Historically, Archduke Friedrich drowned in 1847.

The newly appointed naval commander chose to vacation in Belgium to avoid the storm of 1848. After the unrest ended, he was awarded the rank of marshal and lived to be over 80 years old.

The original purpose of Trieste was to be used as a naval port. The defense here is not worse than Venice, and the troops are relatively loyal. Coupled with the construction of railways, the potential here is huge.

The nineteen battleships brought back from Egypt can be reborn as long as they are equipped with steam power. Although this fleet is not enough for Austria to dominate the Mediterranean, it is enough for Britain, France and other countries to no longer dare to underestimate Austria's maritime strength.

The church's ships no longer need to fly the flags of France and Spain and swindle everywhere.

Before, the merchant ships of the Austrian church could only fly the French flag to avoid pirate harassment as much as possible.

With this fleet, Austria can send out the original frigates to protect merchant ships.

Although there are cannons and combatants on merchant ships, the Austrian warships cruising on the ocean can greatly enhance the influence of the Austrian Empire.

Bosnia Governor's Office.

Abidal Pasha had just received an order from Mejid saying that he could withdraw from Bosnia, and he couldn't wait to pack up his belongings and run away.

It is said that a Qing prefecture can earn 100,000 silver coins in three years, but Abidal has been the governor of Bosnia for three years. Except for more than twenty assassinations, he got nothing, and even had to pay for the guards himself.

Of the 8,000 soldiers under his command, there were actually only more than 4,000. This was not because he was paid for nothing, but because his men often went on strike, and he could only rely on money to settle these problems. Of course, Abidal could not pay the money himself, so he had to use military pay.

Although this was the territory of the Muslims, the locals ate pork like the damn pagans (the Muslims believed that pork was unclean food), which made Abidal feel disgusted.

The local Bosniaks and Serbs all followed the patriarchal system, and the ethnic groups formed villages and often resisted paying taxes or robbed on the road.

If the troops were sent to suppress, if there were too few people, they might not be able to defeat the local armed forces, and they might be surrounded and suppressed by nearby villages; if there were too many people, those people would go into the ravines, and the army would have to return without success; and the mountain people were fierce and often fearless in battle, and their companions were mostly relatives, so killing one would attract a group of crazy revenge.

Bosnia is located on the border between Austria and the Ottoman Empire. Although there are constant frictions between the two countries, trade has never stopped for a single day, but only in the form of smuggling.

Smugglers hired a large number of desperate men to travel between the two countries to make huge profits, while the government troops and bandits hoped to get a share of the profits.

As a result, the blood on this land has never dried up, and even many local young people yearn for the kind of life of fighting, conspiracy and betrayal.

The most direct result of this situation is that the entire Bosnia region cannot collect much tax.

In fact, Mejid himself still hopes that Abidal Pasha can resist a little, and it would be best if he could die for his country, so that he would appear heroic and the Ottoman Empire would have a better face.

The local people in Bosnia are really not very loyal to the Ottoman Empire. Most of their ancestors were Christians, but they were conquered by the Ottomans in 1463. In order to become real Ottomans and enjoy their rights, they converted to Islam.

Of course, there are also some immigrants from other places in the Ottoman Empire. At this time, Bosniaks are the second largest ethnic group in the area.

After hearing the news that Austria was about to annex Bosnia, a considerable number of them were ready to leave this pagan land and return to the Ottoman Empire.

But most people were ready to welcome the king's army and change their religion and clothes.

The local Serbs had different thoughts. Some thought it was a good thing to join the Austrian Empire. After all, they would be civilized people from now on, and at least it would be better than in the Ottoman Empire.

But some people didn't think so. They thought that heresy and paganism were all the same, and it was very likely that the land would be remeasured and they would be asked to pay taxes, which was not a good thing for the local gentry with certain power.

Soon they heard that Austria was going to divide Bosnia into two and give East Bosnia to Serbia in exchange for Belgrade.