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

Chapter 1146 Before the Storm
In fact, all this was done by Viscount Stratford on his own initiative, and Reshid Pasha did not dare to order the Austrian staff to leave.

However, the former was already used to it. As a diplomat of the world's most powerful country, he was qualified to boss people around. The more arrogant the British were, the more respectful and submissive the other side would be.

This tactic has been successful from North America to the Far East, and is the most commonly used tactic by British diplomats - a show of force.

However, the effect this time seemed a little strange. The Austrian Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not send anyone to negotiate, but the army surrounded the place tightly.

Viscount Stratford and most of the senior members of the British delegation had seen big scenes, so they still needed to eat and rest. After all, there was a time difference between London and Vienna.

However, Reshid Pasha was not so calm. The footsteps outside the fence made him restless, especially the occasional sound of the triangle, which made him feel as if he was back on the battlefield.

She woke up from her dreams countless times, and when she walked to the window she felt like countless pairs of eyes were staring at her, which made the concubines complain.

He could only curse in his mind.

"Stupid woman! Can't you see the danger lurking around you!"

The ambassador himself looked anxious, not to mention the other accompanying officials and servants.

Since Austria and the Ottoman Empire were sworn enemies, the latter was very afraid that the former would poison them or simply send people in to kill them all.

Within a few days, a group of people from the British and Ottoman missions began trying to secretly contact Austrian staff when receiving daily supplies.

Some people plan to surrender, some plan to sell information, and some even want to be long-term informants.
After a while, Viscount Stratford finally noticed something was wrong. It seemed that the Austrians were not just trying to keep him in suspense, but were really planning to "protect" them until the peace conference began.

Viscount Stratford's premonition was correct, and Prince Schwarzenberg really planned to do so. The standards of this Vienna Peace Conference were too low, and it was not qualified for Franz to preside over it personally.

Franz's request to Prince Schwarzenberg was to minimize the British contact with envoys from other countries before the conference began.

After all, the British are really good at plotting and scheming, so we have to be on guard. And because of the successful export of British values, pro-British factions are prevalent in many countries.

In fact, there are also many pro-French factions, but the human nature of admiring strength makes the world's most powerful country have more fans.

Who knows if there will be any unexpected scenes, and Franz doesn't want any accidents to happen when playing in his home court.

But an accident still happened. The French delegation, which had just met with Franz, started a full-scale war with the Russian delegation in an entertainment venue in Vienna.

Taverns, theaters, parks, department stores, even brothels and casinos.

There was a fierce fight between the members of the Russian and French delegations, and at least fifty people were injured on both sides. As a result, another major battle broke out between the two sides at the Vienna Headquarters.

In fact, Franz had long anticipated the conflict between the two sides, but he did not expect the conflict to be so intense. Fortunately, the weapons of both sides were confiscated in advance and there were accompanying personnel, otherwise it would have been a lot of fun.

In fact, as the only republican country at the conference, France itself is an outlier.

The French have a bad habit of exporting their values. Coincidentally, the Russians also had the same hobby, so the two sides had a cordial and friendly exchange.
The French felt a deep hostility as soon as they arrived in Vienna, because the diplomatic corps of other countries stayed in palaces or nobles' private houses, but they had to stay in the embassy. The audience was just a formality, and the new emperor of the Austrian Empire neither felt any guilt nor released any goodwill towards the great France.

In fact, Franz knew very well what the French were doing here, so he would never try to please them.

Franz hated these audiences very much. In addition to the collective audience of the envoys every day, many people liked to submit their names for individual audiences.

Coupled with the daily affairs reports, Franz felt a little overwhelmed.

Usually when the secret agents of the Violet Knights came to report the news, Franz would be interested in teasing them. But now he just wanted to sleep, and even let Fleglova take over the intelligence work temporarily.

Since ascending the throne, Franz has rarely dealt with affairs directly, but just making decisions is stressful enough, and now he has to receive these crappy delegations and he is really fed up with it.

The affairs of the Russians and the French cannot be left alone. Although the Russians are allies, the French will definitely stand against Austria.

But Franz couldn't show it too obviously, he still had to send someone to send gifts to express his condolences. It was not advisable to just surround people and restrict the French from traveling like Prince Schwarzenberg did.

At least at this time, Austria should appear to want to win over the French, so as to make the British bleed more.

As the deputy envoy of the mission, Alexis de Tocqueville had a different feeling.

That is, Louis Napoleon was not as friendly as he seemed, and he was trying hard to marginalize the Party of Order.

In fact, it was not just the Party of Order, but all parties that were not direct descendants of Louis Napoleon were being excluded.

This time, it seemed as if Napoleon gave the credit to the Party of Order at the Vienna Peace Conference. After all, France participated as a victorious country, but the situation was not as good as expected.

It is almost impossible for France to gain as much benefit as possible without offending Britain.

Only the British care about Cyprus. In the eyes of the Austrians and Russians, a small island in the Mediterranean is insignificant. Even the Ottomans may not value it much.

Moreover, no matter what France does, it will offend Greece. After all, it is impossible for the former to return the latter's territory like Austria did.

With too few chips in hand, it was unrealistic to take too much from the negotiation table. Coupled with the established pro-British line at the time, the French delegation had almost no room for maneuver.

You must know that France was an outlier among the great powers at that time, and Russia and Austria were the strongholds of the monarchy. The two sides were naturally in opposition, and Louis Napoleon chose to stand on the side of the British.

Let alone the results this time, it is even a question whether this delegation, which is mainly composed of members of the Order Faction, can escape unscathed.

The Russians dared to beat the French in the street, which was obviously intentional on the Austrian side.

Thinking of this, Tocqueville's disgust for Louis Napoleon increased even more.

It is not uncommon to kill someone with a borrowed knife in the political arena. However, at this time when France was in its most difficult moment, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to take action against the Order Party.