Chapter 187: All Playing Borrowed Knives to Kill

  Chapter 184 – All Playing with a Borrowed Knife

Blue water, blue sky, green grass, and a hundred flowers competing for Vienna.

Vienna in May is the world of flowers, the streets and alleys are always filled with flowers, it seems that the Viennese are extraordinarily fond of planting flowers.

Meizumi Palace is even more colorful flowers, to the refreshing May added a different style.

Reading, flowers, tea, concerts, are Franz’s hobbies, if there are no two little lolita followed, in fact, to enjoy the dance is also good, especially the kind of long legs.

Absolutely just artistic appreciation, Franz’s private life is very decent. Never fooled around with the noblewomen of the rich and powerful, without any bad hobbies, not even a lover, can be called a model of morality in the aristocracy.

If he hadn’t embraced two little lolitas on his right and left, then it would have been even more proof of this.

Aristocrats, it is normal for their private lives to be a bit messy. Life is so tired, every day to fight, but also need to properly relax the mood.

Franz has been considered very temperate, at least he has not created any court scandal, just fooled the two little lolita, completely not worth mentioning.

Habsburg dynasty court rules are still very strict, together to accept the court education of the two little lolita feel deeply.

Although the princesses were not as demanding as the princes, they still learned too much compared to ordinary people.

Princess Helen was fine, quickly adapted and was able to enjoy herself. Princess Sissi was miserable, the pleasant childhood life and her goodbye. This is undoubtedly a shocking bad news for a young girl who longs for freedom.

Truancy? If there are one hundred and eighty students in a school, it doesn’t matter if one of them skips class; if you are the only student, if you skip class, then the teachers will not take a collective vacation? Moreover, in the palace, the security is tight, where else can you run to?

The palace life is comfortable, but it is not free, is it? This is certainly a kind of torture for Princess Sissi.

Whether she wanted to learn or not, her mother, Princess Ludwika, had already made the decision for her.

If it were not for her family’s financial situation, Princess Sissi would have received this education a long time ago. These court etiquette lessons were the basics that nobles had to master.

Princess Helen and Franz being together, that was arranged by Empress Dowager Sophie, with the beautiful name of cultivating feelings in advance. Princess Sissi joining in, that was simply to skip class.

The world is so magical, three people’s fate was stirred together. What happened later is not easy to say, in short, Franz hooked up with two little lolita at once.

Of course, in this day and age, they are not too young. Princess Helen is almost 18 years old, and Princess Sissi is 15 years old, and has already reached the age of marriage.

For all this, their mother, Princess Ludwika, was happy to see it happen. The unequal status, want to make this marriage, something else happens in the royal family is too common.

As for the Queen Mother Sophie, she is even more indifferent, her son is her own, and her niece is someone else’s family. As long as the royal scandal of unmarried pregnancy does not occur, she will not care so much.

Of course Franz would never admit his evil thoughts, in the grand scheme of things, this was to confuse the enemy and let the Bavarian Kingdom relax their guard, after all, the two royal families were going to be married, so what was there to worry about?

From a small aspect, he was saving underage girls. The very origin of the Bavarian royal family dictated that their marriage would be used for union. With Princess Sissi’s character it was decided that marrying anyone would not end well.

Freedom was too much of a luxury for the great nobles, and from the moment they were born, they were burdened with heavy responsibilities.

The 19th century was the last glory of the aristocracy, a time when the wise knew that danger was imminent. One wrong step, and an old family would have to come to an end.

It’s already a tragedy to be politically inept, but if you’re not firm enough to be influenced to get involved in politics, you’ll end up with a tragedy.

If you add the one that you are not willing to have children, I guess there is no family that can accept it. Love will always be worn out in front of the reality, the face is easy to grow old and rely on what to maintain it?

……

Prime Minister Felix said, “Your Majesty, the Battle of Bulgaria came to an end, and the final result was not unexpected, the Russians defeated the Ottomans.

However, the French performed surprisingly this time, and actually threw reinforcements into the Balkans so quickly, it seems that Napoleon III has stabilized the country.”

It was normal that the Russian army was able to defeat the Ottoman army, even though the Russian army was a bunch of rabble, it was still a humongous rabble, and against the Ottoman army, which was also a rabble, naturally, it was the upper hand of the great battle.

Weapons and equipment above, Russia and the Ottoman is a rotten brother and brother, everyone is the same backward. In the end, whose weaponry is more backward, it depends on the bureaucrats’ temperament.

The efficiency of the French government proves once again that one person making a decision is much more efficient than hundreds of people making a decision together.

The fact that the London government had only just persuaded the Parliament to send troops when the French sent them to the battlefield was enough to show that Napoleon III’s control over the French government had reached the point where a single word was enough to make a decision.

But this was a minor issue, Franz didn’t care about the French’s domestic affairs, and there was no way for him to intervene anyway.

“How is the fighting strength of the French army? Are there any areas that need special attention?” Franz asked with concern

Marshal Radetsky analyzed, “Your Majesty, the combat strength of this French expeditionary force is still good. According to the information we have collected, we can determine that these 50,000 French troops are the most elite troops in the French Army.

It seems that Napoleon III has put in his blood this time in order to put up a winning fight.

But now he should be feeling the pain in the flesh, even though on the battlefield the French army has hit a higher exchange ratio, it’s more than worth it to them.

In the Battle of Razgrad, the French lost almost a division of elite troops directly, and these elite soldiers are not so easy to replenish.

Elite troops are not so easy to train, the French Army has this kind of fighting force, but also a rare few, and now it is just consumed in the irrelevant battlefield.

Do not say and the Russians to fight a 1:1.3 casualty ratio, even if it is to fight a 1:3 exchange ratio, the French also suffered a big loss.

If this French army had not blindly thrown themselves into battle and fought the Russians without acclimatizing to the environment, the results they achieved would have been even more glorious.

Pitted against each other on a frontal battlefield, 50,000 such elite troops would have been enough to defeat 100,000 Russian troops.

If this French army could arrive half a month earlier and be used as the main force in this battle, I am afraid that the result of this meeting would have to be changed.”

Franz nodded noncommittally, these French troops were indeed elite divisions, and now the heavy losses were obviously weakening the combat power of the French Army.

However, to say that Napoleon’s flesh hurts, that may not be the case. These elite divisions were accumulated by the July Dynasty and are loyal supporters of the July Dynasty.

If not for King Louis-Philippe’s fainting, did not first mobilize these troops, or have these troops in, suppressing the rebellion is simply easy.

For France as a nation, these troops were the most important defense force, but for Napoleon III personally, these troops were a hidden danger.

For his own interests, these troops will be consumed in the battlefield, I am afraid that Napoleon III’s established strategy.

The present situation is completely in line with Napoleon III’s interests.

The French troops on the front line, caught in an unfavorable state, were still able to fight a high exchange ratio, giving him a lot of points politically.

Through this war, these troops troops were severely attritioned, and to regain their fighting strength, then it was inevitable that new recruits would have to be added in.

As long as this opportunity is utilized, Napoleon III can support his little brother to the throne and slowly take control of this force.

As for the issue of declining combat effectiveness, it was completely worthless in the face of loyalty. Franz would most likely have made the same decision if it had been easy.

Felix tentatively asked, “Your Excellency the Marshal, if we find a way to make all these troops disappear, how much of an impact will it have on the French military power?”

Marshal Radetzky pondered for a few moments of effort, then gave his answer, “These troops make up about two tiers of the French’s current military force.

However, this does not mean that these tens of thousands of French troops are two tiers of French military power, they can still be mobilized nationally, only that the newly mobilized troops have very low combat power.”

France is not a small country and its own military strength is not weak. To be able to weaken the enemy that much in a short period of time is already very rare.

Prime Minister Felix shook his head and said, “If that’s the case, then this matter, it’s not worth our involvement. It’s better to leave this enemy for the Russians to solve, I think they will like it.

Now this French expeditionary force, with only 36,000 or so men left in fighting condition, would be almost lost if they fought the Russians a few more times.”

The French had put so little into the Balkans that even if they were all destroyed, it wouldn’t hurt them enough to break their spirit.

At a time like this, the best option for Austria is not to let the Russians eat this elite French army in one bite, but rather this should be used as a lure to encourage a steady stream of British and French troops to be thrown into this war.

A big defeat would probably cause Britain and France to call it quits, and then using the Near East War to deplete the strength of Britain, France, and Russia would not be realized.

Napoleon III could use the Russians’ sword to remove dissenters, and Austria could likewise follow suit. Use the power of the Russians against Britain and France, and then use the power of Britain and France against the Russians.

(End of chapter)