Chapter 873 April Fools' Day

London, Whitehall.

The members of Congress did not have much objection to going to war with Austria, but they were a little worried. Is it really wise to fight against two powerful countries, Austria and France, at the same time?

"Mr. Prime Minister! We know that you have deployed a fleet in the Mediterranean region a long time ago, but we have not yet achieved a decisive victory in the battle with the French.

Is it too hasty to intervene in the Italian issue at this time to fight against Austria?"

John Russell shook his head.

"Mr. Congressman, we have to look forward. Now the only countries that can compete with us for colonies in the world are France and Austria.

And I don't know if you have used Austrian products? They are strong, durable, and cheap.

If it weren't for the weak navy and their own narrow-mindedness, they could have easily surpassed France and become our biggest competitor.

Until now, no company in our country has made a replica of the Austrian sewing machine, which is undoubtedly a huge shame.

But compared to honor, I think we should extinguish this fire that threatens us in advance."

There was warm applause from the audience. After all, what Britain has been doing for hundreds of years is to protect its own trade and fight against competitors. The tycoons behind the congressmen like to hear this the most.

In fact, John Russell is not the only one who has used Austrian products. Most congressmen have used them. After all, there are more than one rich person.

In particular, the richer the people, the more they like to consume high-end luxury goods from abroad, because this is the only way to be innovative and show their uniqueness.

In the 19th century, the British bourgeoisie no longer catered to the tastes of the king and the nobles like their counterparts on the European continent. They wanted their own independent art and aesthetics.

However, John Russell's idea was a bit naive. Whether luxury goods are good or not is actually secondary. Their main function is to serve as a tool for the upper class to compete and differentiate with each other.

Moreover, sewing machines are actually labor tools, not luxury goods. It's just that some nobles and businessmen's crazy desire to buy them led them astray.

Franz's factory also catered to their needs and deliberately distinguished between sewing machines for industrial production and household sewing machines.

Then, in order to further divert customers, they also came up with a bunch of concepts, such as steel sewing machines and mahogany sewing machines.

Franz estimated that this was the earliest prototype of consumerism, and this concept was strongly welcomed by the British.

However, sewing machines and rubber shoes became luxury goods, which was still a bit magical in Franz's eyes.

In fact, Austrian sewing machines and rubber shoes were the best-selling smuggled goods in the UK at this time. The technology of sewing machines and vulcanized rubber was not difficult.

However, they started many years later than Austria, and the lack of some key technologies and processes made their products completely unable to compete with Austria.

If trade barriers had not been restored before, then London might be full of Austrian goods now.

There was no strong opposition in the entire British Parliament. After all, Britain was experiencing an economic crisis and domestic rebellion at this time, and they were eager to start a war.

Although the British did not recognize the temporary republican government of France, they had no idea of ​​restoring the country for Louis Philippe, and they had no good feelings towards Count Chambord.

The British purpose was very simple, that is, to keep Europe in chaos. If Palmerston could really support a pro-British France on the European continent, that would be good, but it was not important.

Later, the Earl of Auckland, the Minister of the Navy, announced his great battle plan in Parliament, a plan that could be invincible.

At this time, the British Parliament was full of confidence, and they felt that their sudden attack would definitely catch the Austrians off guard.

However, what they did not expect was that Solomon Rothschild had already received the news that Britain was going to declare war on Austria and would send a Mediterranean fleet to blockade the Adriatic Sea.

What they did not expect was that one day after they declared war, the British Mediterranean Fleet ushered in the fate of complete destruction.

Albania, Port of Durres.

Sentinel Jack tried to hide his body in the sentry tower. The death and missing rates of sentinels here were frighteningly high.

Those barbaric locals would try every means to assassinate these invaders, kidnapping, poisoning, and shooting.

However, the most terrifying thing is not them, but some bounty hunters, who can shoot sentinels from a very long distance.

According to the above estimate, it is likely that they are skilled old hunters in the mountains, and most of them use homemade super-long guns.

(The so-called super-long gun refers to a rifle with a barrel length of more than 1.2 meters. At that time, most military rifles had a barrel length of about 1 meter.

However, some hunters and hunting enthusiasts usually lengthen the barrel to 1.2 meters, or even longer, which is conducive to improving the accuracy of the bullet.

In fact, according to the British military history, when the Afghans fought against the British army, they usually used 1.5-meter super-long guns to snipe the British army at a long distance.)

For these skilled hunters, the Albanian garrison also thought of many ways, sending troops into the mountains to sweep and sending cavalry to chase.

But the results were very poor. Once the army entered the mountains, it was like a stone sinking into the sea. At one time, more than 300 people were sent, but not a single one came back alive.

Later, the British troops in Albania called those mountains the Devil's Mouth. In fact, for the British army with only 3,000 people in total, entering the mountains to search for enemies was simply a joke.

As for the cavalry, they also could not play their advantages in such complex terrain, and their cavalry was limited in size and seriously insufficient in number, so they still gave away their heads.

Later, the commander of the Albanian garrison specially found the navy's sharpshooters to counter it. However, the effect was still very unsatisfactory. After all, the opponent was not interested in fighting, and the purpose was only to harass and destroy.

There is no reason to prevent thieves the day before in this world. Soon the British found that this method did not work. So they spread their sharpshooters to a farther distance, resulting in the death of a large number of these elite shooters.

The commander of the Mediterranean Navy even wanted to duel with the officer who made this suggestion. After all, those who played with guns in this year were nobles and rich people, and ordinary soldiers even used mind bullets for training.

The so-called mind bullet is to practice with a gun without bullets, so most of the soldiers' shooting at that time was very bad. Usually only those who hunted with guns for a long time or those who loved shooting could become sharpshooters.

However, there are also some people with extraordinary talents, but due to lack of sufficient practice, they usually cannot reach a very high level.

The elite shooters of the British army did not die in vain. One of them escaped and brought back an amazing news.

There is a huge camp in the mountains, with a large number of sentries arranged outside, and thousands of troops stationed inside, and each of them is an elite shooter. In addition, there are a large number of siege weapons and even cavalry.

The elite shooters or sharpshooters at that time were not something that could be mass-produced, so the commander of the garrison at that time thought that this brave soldier was confused and did not take it too seriously.

The garrison also did not believe this news. After all, if there was such an army in the mountains, why didn't they just come over?

How were the siege heavy artillery transported into the mountains? What were those cavalry doing? All this seemed too unreasonable.

So a legend spread among the British army in Albania, that is, there is actually an "Old Man of the Mountain" living in the mountains in the north.

Those who came to hunt them were Hassan, who was chosen by the Old Man of the Mountain. According to legend, these people were assassins with superb skills and fearless of death.

In fact, these British people were unexpectedly close to the truth of the matter after a lot of random thinking, but it was not the Old Man of the Mountain who lived there, but the Hunting Academy of the Austrian Empire.

Those who came here are indeed the elite from all over the Austrian Empire. At present, they came here to practice with the British troops stationed in Durres.

Sentinel Jack suddenly heard the sound of a branch being stepped on, and his nerves immediately tensed up.

"Who is it? Who is there!"

"Don't! Don't! Don't! Don't shout! It's me, one of us."

A disheveled soldier ran out of the grove, which made Jack breathe a sigh of relief. After all, the other party answered in English and was wearing a soldier's uniform.

Although the tone was a little strange, it was normal. After all, no one wanted to come to this hellhole. The British government had to find some refugees from Ireland to die. It was normal for them to have a strange tone.

It was just that this was not the time for the soldiers to go out, and the other party was obviously not an officer. Jack, the sentry, should have checked and reported it to his superiors.

The other party seemed to have seen Jack's intention and quickly made a gesture of silence.

Jack was a little helpless, and the other party took out a bottle of wine from his arms. Wine is a good thing in the barracks. After all, a drunk can relieve all worries, and Albania is located in a remote area and the ration is not much.

Coupled with the endless assassinations and kidnappings, the entire barracks was always in a tense state. Although restricting the soldiers from going out guaranteed safety to a certain extent, it made supplies more scarce.

Some officers who were given the right to go out even made profits from it. A glass of low-quality rum with water, which only cost five pence in London, cost five shillings here.

One shilling is equal to twelve pence.

These five shillings are equivalent to a week's salary for this soldier. You know, this is the area with the highest death rate among all British garrisons in the world.

Jack saw the other party's sincerity and naturally did not intend to make it public. He put his gun on his back and was about to take the bottle of wine.

But at the moment when the two sides came into contact, the soldier who went out privately lost his smile on his face and dragged him into the grove.

A moment later, a team of British soldiers came out swaggeringly, and one of them stood in Jack's position as if nothing had happened.

At night, a fire broke out in the barracks and the arsenal exploded. Several officers took advantage of the chaos to drive away the flagship, and the remaining ships were sunk.

Everything happened so suddenly that most soldiers did not know what happened. They only knew that their camp was reduced to ruins overnight.

However, they did not have much time to think. At dawn, the British army, which had been tossed all night, encountered an attack by local armed forces.

If it were normal times, they could completely keep the Albanians out with high walls and fortresses.

But the interior of the fortress had collapsed, and after a night of panic, fear, and fatigue, the British army fought back the Albanians who took advantage of the situation with great sacrifice.

Night fell again, and this time all 3,316 officers and soldiers of the British garrison were killed.

A Montenegrin mercenary cut off the ear of a dead British soldier, following the example of Albania, and others followed suit.

The next day, when the Albanian armed forces found that the mountain that had weighed on their hearts for many years had finally been removed, they piled up the bodies of the British soldiers and set them on fire, and immediately began to sing and dance.

Two days later, the escaped Albanian garrison officers came to Crete and claimed that Durres had been attacked by Albanians.

Commodore Baron Wesley of Crete immediately realized the seriousness of the problem. He immediately mobilized most of the island's forces plus ten battleships to the Adriatic Gulf.

Because today Britain officially declared war on Austria, according to the previous plan, they would wait for the Mediterranean Fleet's squadron to join them.

However, the Port of Durres was suddenly attacked at this time. Commodore Wesley thought that it was most likely done by the Austrians in order to break through the blockade.

However, when Commodore Wesley arrived at the Port of Durres, he only encountered a group of Albanians who were rebuilding the port. The latter were naturally no match for the British regular army, and the battle between the two sides soon decided the winner.

Commodore Wesley learned from the captives that they had received help from the "Old Man in the Mountain". However, this name sounded very Arabic, so Commodore Wesley was a little confused about the reason why Durres was attacked.

But he knew very well that the mission of his fleet was to blockade the Adriatic Sea, so Commodore Wesley sent someone to notify Crete to let the follow-up fleet join him to complete the task.

However, his men soon brought back an even more incredible news, that is, the Austrian Navy had already invaded the island of Crete.

He saw a fleet of at least thirty ships heading west.

Commodore Wesley was a little confused for a while. How did the Austrians invade Crete? How did a large fleet of thirty ships slip past him?

A lot of questions filled Commodore Wesley's mind, and shouldn't the Austrians come for him after conquering the island of Crete?

After all, relying on the strong to bully the weak is the most basic rule of naval warfare. The Austrians couldn't even know this, and at this time Commodore Wesley's fleet was an isolated army that was easiest to annihilate.

At this time, Commodore Wesley thought of the most unlikely answer. Are the Austrians crazy? Do they want to fight a decisive battle with the main force of the Mediterranean Fleet?

Then should he rush back to Crete at this time? Keep the important sea nodes first?

No! This is probably a conspiracy of the Austrians. How could his small boats be faster than battleships?

Commodore Wesley immediately ordered all the officers and soldiers on the ship that had sent the letter to Crete to be arrested and interrogated. He did not believe that everyone had colluded.

Commodore Wesley felt that he had to send someone to contact Crete again, and then prepare for a decisive battle with the Austrians in the bay.

To this end, he ordered the soldiers to push the artillery onto the turret, and he wanted to increase his firepower as much as possible.

On April 1, 1848, the British Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet was completely annihilated in the Mediterranean Sea Battle.