Chapter 191: You Can’t Dig Your Own Pit
Chapter 188: You Can’t Dig Your Own Hole
Meizumi Palace
Prince Wendischgraetz marked the retreat route of the Ottoman army on the map, and then a large group of people in the Austrian government, looked at the map.
That’s right, they were stupefied, and they were stunned. Anyone who had been informed of the details would have been astonished at what the Ottoman Empire was now doing.
Shrinking the defense line is very normal, but what the Ottomans did this time is obviously shrinking too much.
Giving up the northern plains of Serbia is understandable, a flat river can not stop the Austrian army an attack, but the southern mountains, Kosovo region, Bosnia and Herzegovina, these areas why a brain also to give up?
Even if only a small number of troops left behind, organized a group of militia, using the terrain advantage, can also slow down the Austrian advance.
The momentum is not right can also be on the mountain grass, attacking the Austrian logistics line, can be said that this is the most basic military common sense.
Other regions dare not say, at least in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia region Ottoman Empire still has a large number of supporters, just give up for nothing, is simply a god operation.
Give up on it, why leave Belgrade in the center? Even if the city is again important, the four sides are given up, a lonely city can not hold?
Anyway, Franz can not understand the Ottomans gourd to buy what drug, both military and political should not be so operation.
This is the same as that what, give up …… almost.
Thinking that IQ is not enough, Franz opened his mouth and asked, “Who can tell me what the Ottomans are trying to do?”
Metternich guessed, “Your Majesty, it may be that after the failure of the Battle of Bulgaria, the Ottoman government panicked and wanted to concentrate its forces against the Russians, and made a decision in a hurry.
The unlucky man who stayed behind in Belgrade was mostly a loser in the power struggle in the Ottoman Empire and was screwed by his political opponents.
Even now Belgrade probably doesn’t have 20,000 troops, it might as well be a bunch of crooked people, deliberately put there to die.”
It’s not surprising that these things happened in the magical land of the Ottomans. The Sultan’s government is doing quite well, at least they didn’t leave the capital and run away, they are still organizing their army to fight the Russians, and all they have given up is “extra-cultural barbarism”.
The crowd nodded, normal logic didn’t make sense, so there was only one thing wrong with the Sudanese government. It seems that in everyone’s impression, this is the level they are at.
One could only say that the Sudanese government had done too many stupid things, and adding one more wasn’t so overwhelming. As one of the world’s two most bizarre empires, it would be a problem if it didn’t do something that would make people laugh and cry.
Franz waved his hand and said: “Let’s say the Ottoman government is out of its mind, what should we do now? Do we send troops to follow the Ottoman army to recover the homeland, or do we find an excuse to stay put?”
Don’t ask why it has become the recovery of the homeland, just look at Franz’s long list of titles will know, look carefully can always find the legal basis.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a bit far-fetched, this stuff is supposed to be taken out as a cover-up to prove that Austria is not waging a war of aggression, but rather is recovering the homeland.
The Habsburgs were too old, and a little too gifted by association, and then left a bunch of titles behind.
These places, even if they weren’t ruled by the Habsburgs, then they were ruled by families that were once joined in marriage, and can always be examined if needed.
Franz did not expect the European countries to recognize, as long as you can fool a part of the local people on the line, or to want to rely on the Austrians, to provide an excuse to rely on.
This world is a lot of pretentious people, we all want to save face, to restore the orthodoxy, is a good reason.
Currently in Moldavia and Wallachia two duchies on the advancement of very good, willing to defect to Austria, all recognized Franz orthodox status.
Those who are not willing to defect to Austria are naturally the remnants of the Ottoman Empire, and belong to the target of the crackdown, which has been almost suppressed with the help of the Belt and Road Party.
Successful rule could be duplicated, and since it was possible to use Austrianized Romanians to rule Romania, it was equally possible to use Austrianized Serbs to rule Serbia.
Seemingly thinking of something, Franz added, “To state in advance, the Serbian region and the region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are not within the scope of our objectives this time.
Austria does not have such a good appetite, and no matter what the final result is, we will not annex these regions this time!”
Prime Minister Felix spoke up, “Your Majesty, it’s come to this, we have to put on a full show.
Arming a group of reserve troops, we will first take over the territories that the Ottomans have abandoned. Even if we have to give it up in the future, we can still fight for our interests at the negotiation table.”
In order not to distract the main force, all that could be utilized at this time was the reserves. The Austrian reserves were huge, and it was still easy to draw out a few tens of thousands of people.
These troops had limited combat power and might suffer against the British and French allied forces, but they were still not a wimp when it came to the Ottoman army.
Franz can proudly say, Austria’s reserve troops training situation, are better than the Ottoman regular army.
Finance Minister Karl shook his head and said, “It’s not that simple, the Ottomans are prepared.
According to the intelligence we received, the roads and bridges in these areas were destroyed by the Ottomans, they also destroyed the farmland, burned it to take away food and supplies, and finally forcibly conscripted a large number of young men to leave.
We occupied these areas and could not get any replenishment on the ground, and even laborers to repair the roads were hard to find.
We even had to give a lot of food to the war refugees, and the Ottomans were prepared to hold us back.
In reality, we are not prepared to continue the war, and the occupation of these areas will only bring us a heavy financial burden, in addition to the post-war negotiation table to obtain benefits.
I don’t think the benefits from the negotiation table can make up for our current expenses. Why don’t we just support a regime in the area, it’s not like we’re going to annex the place anyway.”
In the face of the Ottoman Empire’s tactic of killing 800 enemies and losing 3,000, Franz had to say – convince.
After such a toss, in the future, even if they keep these regions, they should not want to rule in peace.
Of course, it can also be said that they had the foresight to know that the Balkan Peninsula will not be able to keep it, simply give up and forget about it, and focus on the defense of the core areas along the strait.
Since they had to give up, of course they couldn’t leave the good stuff to the enemy. If it wasn’t for the fact that the city was built of stone and couldn’t be burned, they would have learned from Dong Zhuo to burn the city with fire.
Prince Wendischgraetz objected, “No way! Even if we leave these areas in the hands of the Ottomans, it is better than establishing a regime of locals.
In the hands of the Ottomans, they are unpopular and we can always take them back. If we let them become independent, it will be easy to annex these regions in the future, but it will be difficult to rule them.
The boundaries of the European continent have basically been stabilized, the only place we can continue to expand is the Balkan Peninsula, this road must not be blocked.
This is related to Austria’s future long-term development, once the overseas colonization strategy is blocked, we can only seek expansion in the Balkans.
In this era of the great world struggle, we are rowing against the current, if we don’t advance, we will retreat, and the space for future development must be left behind.”
Listening to Prince Wendischgretz’s explanation, Franz’s eyes lit up, it’s true that those who can leave a great reputation in history have their own strengths.
Prince Wendischgretz’s military ability might only be average, but in terms of strategic vision for the country’s development, it was accurate.
Especially that one sentence, “The space for future development must be left behind”, seemed very classic to Franz.
Capitalist economy, if the road to external expansion is blocked, then it can only rely on internal development. This means that external plundering, becomes internal oppression, and then disaster is about to strike.
Why did the Germans historically challenge the world order, was it really because of ambition?
The reality is very cruel, Germany has developed to the limit, not to provoke a war then waiting for their fate there are only two kinds:
Either domestic conflicts intensify, outbreak of revolution, redistribution of wealth;
Either artificially compressed development speed, the use of extraordinary means to survive the crisis, and then slowly decline.
Neither of these fates is acceptable to the German government. In the absence of both raw materials for industry and markets for the sale of goods, they chose war in order to gain room for continued development.
“Militarily speaking, taking Belgrade is very important for Austria’s defense security, and mastering this city the Pannonian Plain will be safe.” Field Marshal Radetzky analyzed
The Pannonian Plain is spread over Hungary, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, and Ukraine. The surrounding area includes Slovenia and Bosnia.
It was where Austria’s breadbasket was located and was of great strategic importance. The occupation of Belgrade not only solved the military threat from the Balkans, but also turned passivity into initiative and became strategically offensive and defensive.
Put such a strategic place in the hands of the Ottomans, Franz is very relieved, the fallen Ottoman Empire did not have the courage to do things, if the newborn Balkan countries would be difficult to say.
History, the Balkan countries have been staged style death method. In case this support up little brother, in the critical moment back stabbing Austria, that will kill people.
Franz can not dare to bet on their integrity, national interests before all the kindness is false, only the interests of the real.
A big Serbianism, will let the newborn regime and Austria part ways, into the unraveling of the mortal enemy, it is impossible for Franz to send a small half of Austria to the little brother, right?
Franz righteously said: “The Serbian region can never establish an independent state, no matter how much it costs, we can not let the Balkan Peninsula have a big power to rise, if there is then it can only be Austria.
If I really have to choose, I’d rather have the Ottomans occupy the Balkans or carve up the Balkans with the Russians than see them become independent.
Austria is a multi-ethnic country, and this is a critical time for national integration, and this any independent state established could have uncontrollable consequences.
Nationalism in the Balkans is just budding, we cannot give them room to grow and flourish, at least not the Serbs and Romanians.
Otherwise you can imagine what the Serbs and Romanians in the country would think if an independent Serbia and Romania appeared.”
The ass decides the head, perhaps in his previous life Franz had sympathized with the Balkan countries, which are now non-existent.
In this age of the herd, everyone is desperately trying to strengthen themselves. There was no right or wrong, only profit.
Thinking differently, the struggle of the Balkan countries in history is very sad, but everyone’s interests conflict too seriously, give in is death, then we can only fight.
Unfortunately, because of too much focus on immediate interests, the Balkan countries all failed in the end, and none of them accomplished their goals.
It doesn’t matter if other Balkan nationalities have independent states, there aren’t many within Austria anyway, only Serbia and Romania can’t, these two nationalities together are close to nine percent.
It was hard to pull off assimilation, and if two independent countries appeared and didn’t want anything to happen, then the only thing Franz could do was to pack up all these people and send them back to both countries.
This kind of brain-dead thing, Franz could not do. He hadn’t forgotten that historically Austria-Hungary had supported Serbian and Romanian independence and then buried itself in the hole it dug.
(End of chapter)