The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1134: Just talking is not a threat.

Baron Ravis was very depressed. He never expected that as the British ambassador, he would be dragged into an alley and beaten.

What made the baron even more depressed was that the people who beat him were a group of Irish people. He thought it was an international dispute, but under the operation of the Austrian government, it became a national dispute in the UK.

The most important thing is that Baron Ravis did not expect that the Austrian Empire would be so tough and unreasonable, and actually threaten to continue the war with the Ottomans.

On the other hand, the performance of the Ottoman army was really poor. The losses caused by the Ottoman army to the Austrian Empire's army were less than three digits, and the threat to the Austrian army was not even as great as that posed by the Albanian militia. It is no wonder that the Austrians were so fearless.

In desperation, Baron Lavis could only send the news back to London as quickly as possible. On the other hand, the news from St. Petersburg was not optimistic either.

Only Napoleon Louis Bonaparte, President of the Second French Republic, expressed willingness to negotiate, but his price would definitely not be low.

In fact, this was a misunderstanding of Louis Bonaparte by the British ambassador. The newly elected French president wanted to have good relations with Britain.

However, Louis Bonaparte hoped that the other party would take the initiative to propose it, so he often gave people a feeling of being pretentious, which the British ambassador believed was simply because his price was not enough.

"Do I need to pay more?"

Prince Albert was so angry that he threw the letter on the desk and couldn't help roaring.

"Louis Napoleon, who is he? Even his uncle was defeated by us! What qualifications does he have to negotiate with us?"

“Your Highness, Cyprus is in the hands of the French. We cannot lose this opportunity.”

Edward Smith-Stanley reminded.

"I know! But shouldn't Cyprus be in Austrian hands?"

"Yes, that's right. But the French took advantage of the Austrians' evacuation and occupied Cyprus before our fleet arrived."

"Damn it! Are the Austrians kidding us? How can they be so shameless? We must make them give a reasonable explanation!"

Edward Smith-Stanley explained helplessly.

"The Austrians said they handed over Cyprus to our captured soldiers, and the French said they attacked Ottoman territory and did not find any British troops."

During this era, the British often hired local soldiers to help guard their territories in their overseas colonies. Cyprus was no exception. There were only a few hundred real British soldiers, and the rest were Greeks and Ottomans.

Thanks to the enthusiastic reports of local Greeks and Ottomans, thousands of British people on the island of Cyprus became prisoners of Austria.

As a British outpost at that time, the island of Cyprus had a lot of good things in its warehouses, including 150 old-fashioned cannons, tens of thousands of Brown Bess muzzle-loading smoothbore flintlock rifles and dozens of tons of gunpowder.

According to the interrogation, these were arms that Britain was prepared to sell to the Ottomans if necessary.

However, the British were clearly not very honest. These old cannons and Brown Bess muzzle-loading flintlock rifles were obviously stocks from the Napoleonic Wars, and the quality of the gunpowder was also quite poor.

Such poor quality could not help but pour cold water on the joyful War Department. Count Latour thought he could arm another army, but now these fire sticks are really not acceptable.

Although Marshal Latour considered these weapons useless from a purely military perspective, Franz knew that he had made a fortune this time.

What these powers saw as firewood sticks turned out to be magical weapons in the colonies. After the armistice, the shipment of these equipment to the colonies was enough to raise the armed strength of the colonies to a higher level.

Of course, it was precisely because the Austrian army took away the equipment of the Cyprus garrison that the latter had no resistance against the French. But then again, if the British had been more obedient, the French would not have received accurate intelligence that the Austrian army had evacuated in advance.

"FUCK!"

In response to these conflicting and unverifiable claims, Prince Albert could only use the British national quintessence to express his indignation.

He wanted to order a blockade of Toulon Port to let the French learn a lesson about the power of the British Empire. However, the situation was stronger than the person. Having offended Austria and Russia, Prince Albert had to win over the French, at least to prevent them from turning to the enemy.

After venting his anger, Prince Albert quickly calmed down and began to ask cabinet members for countermeasures.

This is exactly the quality that a good politician should possess, except that the thinking patterns of British cabinet members at this time are similar.

"Why do the Austrians and Russians deprive us of our legitimate rights?"

This statement represents the voice of the vast majority of British senior officials. Putting aside the facts, the British do have the right to ask such questions with confidence.

If a person with weak will is questioned repeatedly in this way, he or she may really doubt himself or herself, deny himself or herself, and then agree with the other party's opinion.

It’s just that Andrei Uvarov and Prince Schwarzenberg were both strong-willed people, and their responses were unanimous.

“What right do the Ottomans have to talk to us about rights?”

The two British ambassadors again put forward almost the same theory to refute Austria and Russia.

"Equality? Why do you think the defeated and victorious countries are equal? ​​Then wouldn't our soldiers have sacrificed their lives in vain?"

"What a joke! Why should the loser order the winner around? Are you insulting us?"

Prince Schwarzenberg and Andrei Uvarov's answers were as tough as ever, and both were men of action.

The war on the eastern and western fronts of the Ottoman Empire reignited, and Greece, Egypt and Serbia took the opportunity to follow suit, and the situation of fierce competition was staged again.

However, the Russian army's advance was very unsmooth, and the occupied areas became extremely unstable due to the previous killing, burning and looting.

The Russian army's military discipline and logistics have always been big problems. Russian soldiers' service period is as long as 25 years. They lack sufficient training and supplies.

Coupled with religious reasons, the behavior of the Russian army in the occupied areas can no longer be described as human. Moreover, this brutality does not distinguish between good people and mobs, and in a sense, it truly achieves the so-called "equality for all."

This kind of brutality can bring about a relatively stable order in the short term, but people have a critical tolerance limit. Once it is exceeded, they will either explode or collapse.

No matter which result, the Russian-occupied areas were in chaos. After witnessing the brutality of the Russian army, the Ottomans also summoned up their few remaining courage.

Nicholas I was not unaware of the Russian army's poor supply capabilities, and he tried to change this situation, but thinking and doing are two different things.

The Russian army's long supply lines are extremely vulnerable under the attacks of domestic and foreign insurgents. The terrain of the Anatolian Plateau is complex, and the crisscrossing valleys and rivers make supply too difficult.

The Russian military leaders also thought about sea transportation, but the Ottoman Navy had not disappeared at that time. They might not be able to defeat the Russian Black Sea Fleet, but attacking the supply fleet would not be a problem.

As for the so-called fleet escort, the most taboo in naval warfare is to divide the troops. When the combat effectiveness of both sides is close, it is easy to lose both the wife and the troops if a fleet is separated to escort the supply fleet.