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

Chapter 1140: Thorn in the Flesh (Part )
On January 1847, 1, Archduke Joseph died. The 13-year-old Archduke Stefan followed in his father's footsteps and often used his privileges to grant amnesty, causing the situation in Hungary to become increasingly chaotic.

Especially during the Galician Rebellion, he showed endless sympathy for the Poles, even writing poems to praise the Polish indomitable spirit, and was once called "Good" Stefan.

In 1848, when various factions in Hungary were hesitating, it was Archduke Stephen who convened an emergency meeting in Pressburg, unified ideas internally, established the policy of establishing an independent Hungarian government, passed the reform of counties, elected more extensive representatives of the Hungarian people, and proposed a plan to merge with Transylvania.

In fact, it would be more appropriate to say that it was annexation. After all, Transylvanians had almost no rights, and even the concept of Transylvanians was not recognized. In Archduke Stefan's plan, there were only Hungarians and ethnic groups that identified with Hungarian ideas.

Historically, he made a move that could be called the MVP among MVPs during the March Revolution.

Archduke Stephen used his royal status and privileges to bypass the entire Austrian imperial government and directly asked the ailing Ferdinand I to sign a statement directly legalizing Hungary's independence reforms.

The Imperial Decree issued on March 1848, 3 allowed Hungary to establish its own government, responsible to the Hungarian Parliament, and appointed Grand Duke Stephen as the emperor's plenipotentiary representative, in charge of reforms.

Grand Duke Stefan immediately appointed Bajanyi as his prime minister, bringing the Hungarian Revolution to a climax.
But that's not all. On the eve of the war, with the efforts of Archduke Stefan and Baurgiani, the Hungarians successfully captured Pressburg at a very small cost.

Archduke Stephen was credited with the first victory in the Hungarian army's march to the outskirts of Vienna in 1848.
The importance of Pressburg to Vienna is equivalent to the Hangu Pass of Qin. Imagine if Qin lost Hangu Pass at the beginning, how could it play?
But his heroic act ended there. The Austrian reinforcements easily defeated the Hungarian army besieging Vienna, and Archduke Stephen fled back to Vienna in a hurry.

After that, Kossuth came to power and confiscated all the property of Grand Duke Stephen, and used it to quickly form a large army to repel Prince Windischgrätz's troops.

After the war, Archduke Stephen was not punished, but he was not appointed to any official position until his death in 1867.

Many of Franz's actions, even the Vienna Riot, were out of consideration for preventing this traitor from stealing the house.

Franz had no intention of protecting this anthropomorphic thing at all, but his life was still very useful and could solve many problems if used well.

This anthropomorphic thing will have a death that he never expected.
Wait a little longer, until the Hungarians have exhausted the popularity of all ethnic groups in the territory of St. Stephen's Crown, and then take action.

Soon the information from Galicia was delivered to Franz, and he sighed helplessly.

"Some smart people just can't wait, but there doesn't seem to be much to argue with a dead man."

Franz signed an order allowing the Galicians to organize local temporary forces and three months later allow them to join the Imperial Army's combat sequence to take revenge on Hungary.

On the other hand, the Ottomans could not withstand the pressure and had to ask the British for help. At this time, Prince Albert finally faced the reality and stopped interfering in politics. He devoted all his attention to the 1851 London World Expo. He wanted to prove in other aspects that the British Empire was not inferior to others.

The new British Prime Minister Edward Smith-Stanley expressed strong indignation at Prince Albert's desertion.

After all, the latter has to clean up the mess left by the former, and if they are not careful they may be nailed to the pillar of shame.

But the good news is that the royal family's excessive interference in politics has finally been stopped. Although it has nothing to do with Edward Smith-Stanley, it can at least give an explanation to the financial tycoons and political parties behind it.

(Edward Smith-Stanley is the 14th Earl of Derby. From now on, he will be called the 14th Earl of Derby, which is more pleasant to hear than the full name.)
If there was a different prime minister, he would have used his power to put pressure on Prince Albert long ago, but who made him one of the weakest prime ministers in British history?

For the 14th Earl of Derby, it is better to fight for national sovereignty abroad and punish traitors at home than to make money through peace.

London Peace Conference? International influence? How much is it worth? Let the Austrians and Russians fight!
The 14th Earl of Derby's move caused a huge uproar in the British Parliament. After all, Britain had always acted in a high-profile manner on the international stage before, and the new prime minister had set the tone too low. "Mr. Earl! You are a spy hired by the Russians!"

"I suspect you of accepting bribes from the Austrians. I want to impeach you!"

(In fact, generally speaking, the British cabinet is collectively responsible, and even if there is a conflict with the prime minister, it should threaten to resign. However, at this time, as one of the weakest prime ministers in British history, the 14th Earl of Derby was unable to form a cabinet alone, which led to such a strange scene.)
The Earl of Derby could neither reject Prince Albert's interference in politics nor suppress the dissenting voices in the cabinet, let alone the entire Parliament.

"I'm not! My assets are public!"

"Then you must have transferred the property!"

"Now that neither the Austrians nor the Russians agree to hold a peace conference in London, what do you want to do? Go to war with Russia and Austria directly?"

Lord Derby pounded the table with both hands and roared.

"Can you beat me?"

"Our Royal Navy remains absolutely powerful."

The Prime Minister interrupted the Secretary of the Navy before he could finish his speech.

"Then how were you driven out of the Mediterranean by the Austrians?"

"The Austrians are so despicable. They actually used the army to attack our rear during the naval battle! They also used warships to attack our merchant ships to block the waterway. They are simply a group of robbers!"

"Is your navy much better than the Austrians? You even went to a third country's sphere of influence to attack Austrian merchant ships!
What was the result? You promised a foolproof battle, but the whole army was annihilated, with less than three digits of survivors, and Portugal was almost dragged into it! "

The Earl of Derby had long been fed up with the boasting and arrogance of the Admiralty, and under the pressure of the Earl of Aberdeen, he accidentally spoke out his true feelings.

"Are you the British Prime Minister? How dare you speak for the Austrians! I want to impeach you!"

"Lord Derby, you must be responsible for what you said!"

The Earl of Derby successfully transferred all the conflicts to himself. No one cared about where the meeting would be held.
In fact, Earl Derby's plan was quite successful, and the Austrian and Russian high-level officials soon quarreled over the venue of the conference.

For Prince Schwarzenberg, nothing was more important than expanding the influence of the Austrian Empire. Only with a strong enough influence could the German Confederation be effectively controlled.

In his eyes, the German Confederation was the base of the Austrian Empire, and the Near East was just a wild land.

After all, the latter's infrastructure and stability maintenance costs are several times that of the former, while the benefits are less than one-tenth of that.

Andrei Uvarov had his own considerations. On the one hand, he really wanted to win the right to host the conference for Russia to gain the initiative. On the other hand, compared with the so-called initiative and bullshit influence, the advantage in his hands was real. He hoped to buy some time for the Russian army to occupy more areas.