Chapter 216 Five-Nation Conference

Before the Third Five-Power Conference, a ridiculous phenomenon occurred on the Syrian battlefield.

On one side, more than 100,000 Egyptian troops were running wildly, and on the other side, 4,000 Redwood troops were chasing them closely. The Austrian and Ottoman troops behind them were walking and stopping like a horse-drawn tour.

At this time, Ibrahim was no longer as confident as before. He felt that the general situation was over. What he had to do now was to bring as many people back to Egypt as possible to preserve the fire for the future.

The experience of fighting with the armies of the great powers several times made him completely lose confidence in his army. As for those Egyptian soldiers at the bottom, they didn't want to fight at all. They joined the army purely to avoid the oppression of heavy taxes and ran to the army to make a living.

At this time, the 130,000 troops at the time of the expedition had become 60,000, of which 9,000 were killed, more than 20,000 were captured, and the rest were missing.

Since the coastal areas of Egypt had been plowed by the Austrian Navy, it was difficult for the British Navy to do more at this time, and it could only bombard Alexander to vent its anger.

The British Navy's actions planted a bomb for them, which will leave them with a painful memory in the future, which will not be discussed here.

Under the influence of Franz, the Austrian army began to cherish its feathers and was not at all interested in chasing the Egyptian army.

The Ottoman army also had no interest in chasing the Egyptians. Their large number also meant that they needed more supplies, and those recaptured lands also needed to be garrisoned, so that the troops were more dispersed.

For the Syrian guerrillas, the Ottomans' attitude was to try their best to wipe them out.

That's right, for those armed Syrian rebels who had been fighting against the Egyptians, the Ottomans responded by suppressing them with all their strength.

In fact, this is not difficult to understand, because these Syrian guerrillas are also unstable factors for the Ottoman Empire.

Vienna, Caesar Hotel.

This place was chosen as the venue for the Five Nations Conference because it is large and grand, and it has complete functions and conveniences. It can be used to hold large-scale balls and as a banquet venue for entertaining guests.

The owner here, Solomon Rothschild, naturally had to temporarily leave his "territory" and look for another place.

In fact, although it was a five-nation conference, there were seven countries coming.

The five countries naturally refer to Britain, France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, and the other two are the Ottoman Empire, the victim, and the other one may be a little surprising, that is Serbia.

The representative of Britain is the new Foreign Secretary Stratford Canning; the representative of France is Guizot, the actual helmsman of the current French government; the representative of Austria is naturally Prime Minister Metternich, who was once a European chancellor; the representative of Russia is Foreign Minister Nessellov, who has two labels: pro-British, reckless; Baron Sewell of Prussia, whose introduction is omitted.

The Ottoman Empire sent the former Grand Vizier, Fer Czak, the scapegoat in history, the most unlucky Grand Vizier, a traitor, the biggest cancer of the Ottoman Empire, the executioner who suppressed the people, and the blasphemer.

This man has signed countless humiliating treaties in his life, so much so that he himself is numb to it. The entire Ottoman court always thinks of him whenever it encounters a thankless task.

Fer Czak has suppressed uprisings in various places many times, signed death sentences for the remnants of the Guards, and even had conflicts with the sect, arresting and executing the leaders of the sect who opposed the new policy.

But in a sense, he was just executing the Sultan's orders, not his own cruelty.

The representative of Serbia is neither the Seventeen-member Parliament that holds great power, nor Vucic, who is supported by Russia, but Milos, who has bewitched the Serbs in the East Bosnia region.

The fact that Milosz appeared here was naturally the work of the French, who did not want the Austrians to take Belgrade and Western Bosnia peacefully.

Although Guizot called himself a pacifist, he also provoked many disputes, and never stopped defending Austria, instigating the three southern German countries and Sardinia to become enemies with Austria, and instigating Pius IX

As soon as the meeting started, Metternich felt that the direction of the meeting was wrong.

Because the British took the initiative right from the start and talked about sanctions against Egypt, while Guizot, who should have jumped out to oppose, nodded frequently, not only did he not mean to defend it, but he applauded.

The draft charter was:

First, the Ottoman Empire's decrees apply to Egypt and Sudan (here refers to the Sudan, which is a backward slave country in the south of Egypt.).

Second, Egyptian taxes must be levied in the name of the Sudan, and one-third of the total income must be handed over to the Ottoman Sudanese government. At the same time, Egypt must pay an additional 100,000 pounds of tribute to the Sudan every year (previously 10,000 pounds).

Third, Egypt must reduce its military strength, and the number of standing troops must not exceed 20,000. At the same time, warships must not be built without the order of the Sultan, and the army's uniforms and flags must be the same as those of the Ottoman army.

Fourth, Egypt must return Syria and Crete. The Ottoman Sultan appointed Muhammad Ali as the governor of Egypt and Sudan. From then on, Egypt and Sudan will exist as Ottoman provinces rather than kingdoms.

Fifth, Muhammad Ali can appoint a successor, but he must go to Istanbul to accept the Sultan's appointment.

Sixth, both sides return prisoners of war.

Guizot, the French representative who was expected to strongly oppose, did not say a word, which surprised the other powers.

You should know that at that time, the French government and the public were very dissatisfied with the joint attack of Britain and Austria on Egypt, and they all demanded to declare war to protect France's rights in the Near East.

Before that, Thiers had added five battleships to the French Eastern Fleet and recruited 10,000 new sailors.

King Louis Philippe of France even publicly expressed his intention to go to war with the powers, even more fiercely than the words of those Bonapartists.

The French military even formulated a special offensive plan for this purpose, cutting off the Strait of Gibraltar at sea to prevent the British Navy from entering, and then using the powerful forces of the Eastern Fleet to destroy the British and Austrian navies in the Mediterranean and force the Ottoman Empire to surrender.

On land, they attacked the Rhine region and northern Italy at the same time, declared war on Prussia and Austria, especially after the British advance fleet was severely damaged by the Egyptian Navy, the French became extremely fanatical, and the conscription station was crowded with people.

In response, Prussia and Austria sent reinforcements to the French border, and on the surface, the war seemed to be imminent.

But in fact, Louis Philippe did not want war, so Thiers, who advocated war, stepped down and was replaced by the old Marshal Soult. The person in charge of the negotiations was the pro-British Guizot.

Guizot always believed that if France wanted to be strong, it had to maintain friendly and peaceful relations with Britain. For this reason, he even sold the intelligence of the Egyptian Navy in exchange for Britain's trust.

The French government's inaction also gradually calmed the French. Many people began to realize that launching a battlefield had no chance of winning and was not the only option.

At the same time, Canning was different from Palmerston. He hated Austria but not France. After leaving Austria, he went to France without stopping and promised Louis Philippe that he would take care of France's face.

The sanctions agreement seemed simple, but in fact it was full of evil intentions. Britain had already set the gallows for the participating countries.

The content was not fully spoken in plain language. If it was not fully spoken, some people would criticize it for being a literary youth. If it was fully spoken, people would criticize it for copying books.

Please understand that fighting is also difficult for me.