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

Chapter 1173 Illyria
Greater Illyria, Croatian province.

When the news came, the whole country was in grief, the cries echoed in the mountains, and the sky and the earth changed color. People's heart-wrenching cries could be heard everywhere.

Tears blurred their eyes, some people knelt on the ground and covered their faces, some beat their chests and stamped their feet, some were filled with grief and anger, and some were unable to let go of their hatred.

Even the young children were infected by this emotion and tears welled up in their eyes unconsciously.

As subjects of the Austrian Empire, the Croatians' grief was genuine, but their cries were tinged with murderous intent.

At this time, there were a large number of Hungarians living in the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia. Although the war had been going on for a long time, except for a few people who actually jumped out to rebel, most people still lived a life similar to the past.

The so-called Magyars in history were merely the 500,000 people with noble status and one million civilians with free citizen status in Hungary.

In fact, most Hungarians were serfs, and the policies that were supposed to benefit them actually had little impact, even less with Franz's intervention.

The revolution had nothing to do with these people, and they naturally didn't feel much about the death of Grand Duke Stefan. These people seemed numb, but they worshipped Kossuth and his group who killed the royal family.

When someone cries, someone else laughs. This is the norm in the world. Even if someone laughs at someone who is crying, it is not incomprehensible in the eyes of some people.

But at this moment, some people just laughed and died. Cities, wilderness, hills, guns, hammers, sickles, and even stones.

The laughter was eventually drowned out by the sharp cries, and this time it was not just the unkind landlords and the erratic Hungarian nationalists who suffered.

All visible Hungarians, Hungarian supporters, and Hungarian cultural symbols were liquidated.

The blood flames quickly dyed the whole of Croatia red, and the refugee camp was the only one in the entire governor's area that was not affected.

Josip Jelačić may not be a qualified general when leading an army into battle, nor may he be a qualified governor when guarding a place, but his loyalty is something that cannot be questioned too much.

Jelačić stubbornly carried out Franz's orders. He sent all his confidants to the refugee camp and issued a death order not to allow anyone to approach the refugee camp. Everything in the refugee camp remained the same.

Soldiers' duty is to obey orders. It is impossible for a situation of disorganization, lack of discipline and crazy disobedience to occur at this time.

Although the Croatian soldiers were also very angry, they had to obey the imperial order conveyed by their leader.

In fact, the Hungarians in the refugee camps were closer to the royal family and the imperial government. After all, they had received help in times of crisis.

On a cold winter night, the howling wind howled in the valley.

However, what is colder than this winter night is Kovac's heart. As Jelacic's right-hand man, he has enjoyed a lot of wealth and glory over the years, so he is not afraid of death.

But the tiny dots of light that were gathering before his eyes made him feel fear. The Croatians were very poor, so poor that most of them could only rely on sleeping to escape the pain of hunger on winter nights.

What makes people waste precious fuel on winter nights?

It was probably a murderous brown bear, or a sheep-stealing wolf, he thought, and before he knew it, a crowd shouting "blood debt must be paid with blood" had arrived at the checkpoint.

The soldiers stood in the center of the road as if they were facing a great enemy, and the angry crowd held weapons still dripping with blood.

"Get out of the way! Let us in!"

"Make them pay with blood!"

"Yes! Kill all these traitors!"

"revenge!"

"revenge!"

"revenge!"

The officer blocking the road didn't care about that. He had received a death order: either he stop the crowd in front of him or he would be charged with deserting the battlefield.

"Get out! This is a military stronghold, no outsiders are allowed to enter!"

There was not much verbal exchange between the two sides. With one word "Fuck you", a long line of torches began to attack the checkpoint, while the soldiers used huge logs to hold the fence tightly and refused to retreat even a single step.

A sharp gunshot rang out, and a ball of light soared into the sky, dragging a long tail of flame, and suddenly exploded into a red fire lotus, and then instantly turned into a little starlight and disappeared without a trace. At this time, Europeans rarely saw fireworks, and this sudden arrival shocked everyone.

Major General Kovacs appeared behind the fence.

"Enough blood has been shed today! Don't force me, go home now! We are soldiers, I will not surrender, and I will not leave my position!"

"What about the blood feud of our relatives? What about the national feud of the royal family? They must pay with blood today!"

"Yes! My brother died on the battlefield in Hungary!"

A young man roared with bloodshot eyes.

“My children haven’t come back yet!”

A hunchbacked old woman covered her face and cried.

"My wife and daughter were captured by the Hungarians. I was the only one who escaped. Woohoo!"

"My land and house on the plains are gone! All gone! Our family's savings of several generations are gone!"

In the long fire dragon are pairs of determined and angry eyes.

"Every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt has its creditor! Go find whoever has wronged you. All of you here are victims of the rebellion. If you want revenge, go to Budapest and find Kossuth or Bautjanyi!"

In fact, in this era, most ordinary people, especially in border mountainous areas like Croatia, have a deep-rooted awe of the nobles and officials.

If they were not pushed into a corner, they would not even dare to speak in front of the nobles and officials, let alone confront them loudly.

Major General Kovacs silenced the crowd with just a few words. This was the pressure from the noble officials.

But then someone in the crowd suddenly shouted.

"We are not looking for these refugees! We are looking for the Hungarian soldiers who have mixed in with the refugees! They must not be innocent!"

"Yes! Hand over those Hungarian soldiers!"

A small stone immediately caused a huge uproar.

"Yes! Hand over those murderers!"

"Hand over those demons!"

Major General Kovacs also began to hesitate. Just as he was considering whether he should send someone to check whether there were any Hungarian deserters mixed in with the refugee camp.

Suddenly there was a sound of horse hooves, and a cavalry was approaching quickly.

Due to the mountainous environment and lack of funds, there are not many cavalrymen in Croatia, and there are only a few people who can mobilize these cavalrymen.

Yelachichi stopped his horse between the crowd and the army. After roughly understanding the situation, he glanced at his incompetent subordinates and then glanced at the angry crowd.

The crowd fell into complete silence, and even the leaders kept their heads down and said nothing.

"Listen, if you want revenge, then join the army. His Majesty the Emperor has issued a war order, and we can attack at any time.

If you really have blood in your veins, you should make great achievements on the battlefield, kill all those Magyars who have oppressed us for seven hundred years, and kill all those Huns who have invaded Europe!

Hang them from trees by their intestines and let them drown in their own blood!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

In fact, Hungarians in Croatia have lived with Croatians for a long time, so they are very familiar with the Croatian language and living habits.

The different dialects and customs in different places are more obvious in the mountainous areas. The most important thing is that they do not believe in Orthodox Christianity like the Serbs. As long as they do not admit that they are Magyars and have no property or land, the Croatians will not be able to see through their identities.