Eagle’s Glory

"Sir, no matter how sincere you say this, I'm very happy."

This sentence clearly revealed that Archduke Karl did not quite believe in Aegron's sincerity.

It doesn't matter, Aegron doesn't expect himself to be able to fascinate others with just a few words, not to mention that the Grand Duke has never seen any storms in his life, how could he be easily fooled by himself?

Anyway, nice words are not worth the money, so it's good to liven up the atmosphere.

Aigron just laughed without saying a word, not arguing with the Archduke how sincere his love for Austria was.

Then, Archduke Karl took the lead and took Aigron and others for a walk in the garden, while Aigron and others followed suit and chatted with the Archduke.

Although he has been in the military for decades, the Grand Duke is already 55 years old after all, and his energy is not good after all, so he stopped under the corridor of the botanical garden and looked at the flowers and plants in the garden with great interest.

"It was so lively here when I was a kid!" He suddenly exclaimed, "Sometimes it's really hard to imagine that you are the last child to grow up here."

Although the Grand Duke's words may seem a little ignorant, the people who are in them can understand them.

Although the Habsburg family faced a crisis of extinction before Queen Marie-Theresa came to power, after a wave of reliance on the son-in-law, it suddenly changed and became famous for its "high yield".

Teresa and her husband were very loving and gave birth to 16 children, 9 of whom lived to adulthood; and her two sons Joseph and Leopold ascended the throne successively, and Leopold also had 16 children - the current emperor Frederick Lanz and the Archduke Karl himself were among these children.

One can imagine how prosperous the main branch of the Habsburg family was in the childhood of the Grand Duke. This huge palace was once filled with laughter and laughter from children.

However, perhaps because of the expiration of the fresh blood of the Duke of Lorraine, the situation seems to be different when it comes to the current emperor.

His Majesty Emperor Franz married four times, but only the first two marriages continued the bloodline, giving birth to a total of 12 children, seemingly many, but only two sons survived to adulthood - one with epilepsy and seemed unable to manage The country can never leave the crown prince Ferdinand, and one is the husband of Princess Sophie, the mediocre Archduke Franz Karl.

The last child born here so far was Princess Amary in 1807, and she died not long after, leaving no trace in the world.

As a result, Aiglon, who came here in 1814, is the only descendant of the imperial family who has grown up in Schönbrunn Palace in the past two decades. It is ridiculous to think about it.

However, although what Archduke Karl is seeing now can be called tragic, if he knows what happened later in history, I am afraid he will be even more disheartened and hopeless—

After Emperor Franz, the bloodline of the Habsburg family became thinner, and it seemed that everyone was unlucky. The crown prince Ferdinand was forced to abdicate due to mental illness and passed the throne to his nephew Franz (that is, Sophie). The son of the princess), and Franz was even more unlucky, the only son Rudolph committed suicide, the nephew Ferdinand died in the Sarajevo incident, and finally in 1916, after his death, he could only pass the throne to his grand-nephew Karl.

The Emperor Karl I became the last emperor of the empire. He was deposed in 1918 because of the failure of the World War, and lost the empire. He died of pneumonia in 1922 at the age of 34.

In other words, in the next century, the Habsburg family did not have a direct line of succession to the throne...

If Archduke Karl knew, what would his expression be? Aegron thought maliciously.

"It's my pleasure," he replied calmly. "I have a lot of love here."

"Yeah, who wouldn't love it." The Grand Duke shrugged, "Because I love it, as a family member, I have to defend it, no matter what the price."

"I must say that you have done well in this work," said Aegron, half sincere and half compliment.

"Results? If I leave the stage, no one will care how much I have done, the world will only remember me as a failed commander, not even at all, and your father will enjoy more than he deserves. More honor." Archduke Karl curled his lips and smiled slightly self-deprecatingly, "Sometimes I am really jealous of the Duke of Wellington. Fate allowed him to enjoy the honor of defeating Napoleon in a dignified manner, but I was at the last moment. Tossed aside, if I had been in Leipzig instead of Schwarzenberg in 1813, my name would have been much brighter than it is now!"

After the defeat of Wagram in 1809, although Archduke Karl was at a disadvantage, he still believed that he had the strength to continue fighting Napoleon. After all, the French casualties were also very large, and even Napoleon himself had lingering fears.

However, his elder brother, Emperor Franz, was tired of war and finally chose to ask Napoleon for peace. Archduke Karl angrily resigned to His Majesty the Emperor, and then he was refrigerated and could no longer command the Austrian army.

Later, Napoleon began to go downhill. He suffered repeated setbacks in Spain and Russia, and was finally annihilated by European countries. The commander-in-chief of the coalition forces in the Battle of Leipzig was his former chief of staff, Prince Schwarzenberg. It is conceivable that without this one Bo Lan, the commander-in-chief should be the emperor's younger brother.

Archduke Karl, who was idle, could only watch the most dazzling star of this era fall, but he did nothing in it. As a soldier and a commander, this is almost an unbearable torment.

Even after more than ten years have passed, he still seems indignant.

Aegron could understand the depressing mood of the archduke, but with a complicated position, it seemed that nothing was right at the moment, so he simply chose to remain silent.

After all, for him to continue complimenting the Archduke, saying he was stronger than Napoleon or the Duke of Wellington, would be a bit too low-key and might be looked down upon instead.

It's a pity that although he didn't want to continue, Archduke Karl continued to look at him.

"I know that in your position, you may naturally be more inclined towards Napoleon. I must admit that I hated him, but as a colleague, I also respect him very much, and I am almost the same as the Duke of Wellington. We I used to be an opponent, but I can see the flash of genius from him, and it is also an honor of this generation to play against him. What I regret is that I have never been able to fight like him. He is the undisputed master of a nation. The people followed him with their eyes closed, and he could squander the lives of the French—as he did in 1809—while I could only hold my hands and watch my honor be taken away from me, if I could It would definitely be different if he were as free as he was!"

Seeing Duke Karl's seriousness, Aigron couldn't help but laugh in his heart.

Despite his age, he seemed stubborn like a child again on this subject—and yes, men can be magnanimous on any issue, but never give an inch on the topics they hold most dear.

"I think it is a very naive behavior to simply discuss the level of personal ability of generals regardless of all the factors of war. Fighting is not a game of chess, and it also divides the king and queen. The vulgar opinion of the world cannot be used to judge you. Your peers will definitely recognize your ability and talent."

Aigron looked at the other party and replied earnestly, "Objectively, your record is not as good as Napoleon and Wellington, whose honor you can't keep up with; but as you said, there are complicated factors in it. There are too many, some of which are not your responsibility, and both of them have been greatly admired for your deployment and command on the battlefield, and your writings are equally valuable."

"Have you read my article?" Archduke Karl asked rhetorically.

"Yes, your "On the Tactics of Generals", my teacher once asked me to read it, which is part of my studies." Aigron smiled, "Also, I may need to be thankful for your defeat in 1809, Because of that setback, my grandfather decided to make peace with the French, and finally agreed to Napoleon's proposal, so I exist - otherwise I would not have the honor to listen to your teachings today!"

Hahahaha... The Grand Duke was stunned at first, and then he couldn't help laughing. "That's not bad."

"You're his military teacher, aren't you?" He turned to look at Captain Foresty, "Looks like you taught him well."

"His Royal Highness is talented and intelligent, and he is an outstanding student I have never met before." Captain Foresti lowered his head and replied respectfully.

"Yes, it's pretty good." He glanced at Aegron again, then nodded, "That man is extraordinary after all, and even the species left behind are a little different. It's a pity that he finished his empire, Otherwise, it makes people look forward to what you can do."

"It may be a good thing for me not to be an emperor. I have no interest in carrying the desires of a nation like him, and I don't want to be ruthless and squander the lives of a nation. Maybe live quietly in a corner and be an old school. It is more suitable for me." Aigron still smiled, sinking all his true emotions to the bottom of the heart lake, "The way to make achievements in the world is not only to be an emperor, you say?"

"Having said that, but in my opinion, it's better to be an emperor, not to mention an empire, and my younger brother can do whatever he wants." Archduke Karl muttered, and everyone should not have heard the phrase "slandering your lord". .

At this moment, Archduke Karl raised his hand, beckoned as if from a distance, and then said hello. "it's here!"

Aegron subconsciously followed his gesture and looked over, and then found a light figure pacing out of the botanical garden, walking towards them slowly and leisurely.

He soon discovered that it was a young girl in a light blue dress, with long brown hair pinned behind her head with a butterfly-shaped jeweled hairpin.

She looked about the same age as Aegron, pale and slender, with willow eyebrows and slender eyelashes that set off large and shiny eyes, and her gray-brown eyes were looking at the group of the Grand Duke, examining them. .

She holds a sketchbook in her right hand. It seems that there is a lot of harvest in the botanical garden just now.

"Franz, this is my daughter, Teresa." When she came over, Archduke Karl glanced at Aigron, "you must have met a long time ago, when I brought her here—but I think You probably don't remember."

He really doesn't remember.

Judging from the eyes of the other party, Aigron was also sure that he had not left any impression on her.

Aegron bowed to the girl and saluted.

"Nice to meet you, Her Royal Highness Princess Teresa."