Daming 1805

The news of the Danish royal family's surrender to Prussia quickly spread throughout the western continent.

It would not be an exaggeration to describe the reaction from all walks of life in Taiwan and the West as an uproar.

Among the uproar, the most nervous and excited people were probably the Austrian royal family and ministers of the court.

Austrian Emperor Franz and Prime Minister Metternich contacted the homeland via telegram on their way back to the homeland.

Let the court personnel invite suitable people to Vienna to prepare in advance for the Congress of Representatives from all walks of life in the Austrian Empire.

After the two returned to their homeland, they immediately held meetings with representatives from all over Austria.

Driven by Metternich, Austria passed the resolution establishing the Kingdom of Hungary as quickly as possible.

Emperor Franz of Austria concurrently served as King of Hungary and established the Hungarian Parliament, which was dominated by Hungarians.

The Austrian Empire was renamed the "United Austria-Hungary Empire", referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Franz established a Hungarian court and granted a large number of important official positions to local Hungarian nobles.

And gave the Hungarian local government a very high degree of autonomy.

At the same time, several local nobles were appointed to local official positions in areas outside Hungary and Austria.

The same large-scale decentralization gave these nobles great autonomy.

When Prussia was conquering Denmark, Austria was reversing history on a large scale.

The mainstream thinking of the central courts in various countries now is centralization.

Weaken local autonomy, especially the power of the original feudal nobles in various places.

The small feudal territories handed down from the Middle Ages were integrated into a modern country.

This is the right direction to move forward, but it is certainly difficult to implement.

Highly dependent on the force directly controlled by the central court.

Prussia is a relatively good country, destroying the most powerful local forces through actual wars, and relying on strength to force weak local forces to obey.

In the end, it can be regarded as a relatively complete annexation of local forces within the territory.

Austria is doing relatively poorly.

It did not use too much force and relied on various political means to slowly and progressively restrict local power.

Austrian monarchs and ministers of all generations worked hard for decades or hundreds of years before they managed to turn Austria into a barely decent modern country.

Now Franz threw away the results of these efforts almost overnight.

To a certain extent, after this reform, Austria, which had already been cracked, was once again completely shattered into pieces.

But this can indeed add great trouble to intruders.

If Prussia was facing a unified country, the local armies would all be in the same system and be in contact with each other.

So if Prussia defeated the defenders in a place, these defenders would probably have a cascading effect after they fled.

It is likely to lead to the rapid defeat of the defenders in the vicinity.

At the same time, Prussia can also judge the combat effectiveness of the entire Austrian official army through the defenders in one place.

Once Prussia defeated the regular main force of the Austrian imperial court head-on, other places that had not yet been occupied and attacked would also have the opportunity to spread the word.

Now Austria is in pieces.

After Prussia defeated the defenders of a territory, the probability of the defenders in the neighboring territory being implicated and collapsed was greatly reduced.

Because they are no longer a system.

The key is that even if the Austrian emperor is captured, it will be difficult to get all the lords of the territory to surrender directly.

After defeating the defenders of one place, it is difficult to judge the level of the defenders of other territories.

The most important thing is that local generals and defenders defend local lands and cities, and their fighting will is likely to be much higher than that of defenders from all over the country.

This leaves the opportunity for the invaders to remain trapped in the swamp of intermittent local warfare.

This was the intention of Austrian Emperor Franz and Prime Minister Metternich.

A large part of the nobility and opinion leaders of Hungarians and other ethnic groups were very happy to see this decision of the Austrian court.

Because Austria is not a whole and has no absolute dominant nation, its natural centripetal force is very low.

So this matter was handled relatively smoothly.

However, this kind of thing is an absolutely big deal. Even if Franz and Metternich want to speed up the process, there are still many processes that cannot be deleted.

There are a lot of rules and protocols that must be spelled out.

Simply drafting various documents will take a long time.

The meeting here was barely finished, and when preparations for various canonization ceremonies began, the news of Denmark's surrender came.

This directly shattered the last hope of the Austrian Emperor Franz.

Franz originally thought that since Prussia took action against Denmark first, the previous spat with Austria might really be just a spat.

At least in the short term, all we can do is talk.

Prussia should and would not go to war on both the north and the south at the same time.

As a result, Denmark lasted only two days.

"Only - two days!"

Franz sat at his desk, looking at the report document sent by Metternich with a surprised face:
"This can't be true, right? Why is this happening?
"Even if the Prussians were to drive from the border to the interior of Denmark, it would still take them two days, right?
"Did the Danes have no resistance at all? Or did Prussia use all its airborne troops?"

Metternich also shook his head with lingering fear, and then subconsciously looked at Archduke Karl, chairman of the Austrian Military Council.

Archduke Karl is Franz's younger brother, but he has given up his right to inherit the Austrian throne and is now Austria's most famous general.

Carl Dagong introduced to his imperial brother and colleagues with a very serious expression:
"According to the information we have received so far, the Danes did not put up much resistance. It should be said that they did not have time to resist.

“The Prussian attack was so fast that before the Danes could react, their base was already surrounded.

“The Prussians did use large numbers of air and airborne forces, and of course equally large armored mobile forces.

“As we saw in the Ming Dynasty’s military parade, there were basically no direct foot infantry, or even bicycle soldiers.

“Everyone is moving forward in cars, armored vehicles, and airplanes, so the overall speed of the attack is like driving a car.

“The large number of aircraft bombings, as well as the large number of armored fighting vehicles and mobile artillery, gave the Danes no chance to form defensive positions.

"This is actually a combat method that we have also prepared and trained for, and the Prussians realized it on the battlefield in advance.

"It now appears that this method of combat is indeed very effective.

“Especially when there is not much difference in strength between the two sides, and when the territory of the war target is not huge and relatively flat.

"It is very possible that a large-scale cluster charge after accumulating strength can destroy a country.

"Of course, this kind of war only destroys the country's official military.

“If you want to effectively and directly rule the local land and people, you also need to get local ordinary people to give up resistance and obey.

"His Excellency Metternich asked the Emperor to delegate power to all parts of Austria, which should be able to resist and delay this offensive momentum...

“But this is just delay and resistance.

"Actually, there is another direction for what we can do now, and that is to take the initiative to attack!"

Franz was taken aback by his younger brother:
"How can we take the initiative to attack in our current state..."

At this time, Metternich immediately interjected:

"The attack does not have to be purely military. Attacks at the diplomatic and political and economic levels are equally important. "Of course, it is best to promote military alliances through diplomatic and political means.

"Our original plan was to wait for the rapid internal reforms to be completed and immediately begin to organize an alliance against Prussia.

“Now the main matters have been decided, plus Prussia has shown greater aggression.

“So I thought I could immediately contact Italy, the Ottomans, the French, and the British to establish an alliance against Prussia.

"If Prussia wants to attack Qin, then our best response is to contact the countries in Europe and the West to join forces.

"I hope to be able to leave as soon as possible and go to Italy tomorrow..."

Franz was slightly relieved when he heard this. This was indeed the arrangement Metternich had mentioned before:

"Thank you for your hard work, Your Excellency... But do you really want to find the Italians first? They will probably occupy the Prussian side, right?"

Metternich immediately said:

"We should go to the Italians first. The Italians are actually Prussia's potential allies and can jointly attack Austria with Prussia.

"We have to work hard for the fact that the Italians are not helping each other.

"This...of course is not something that can be done right away. Italians are used to watching the situation.

“It is indeed very likely that Prussia will contact the Italians at the same time and form a similar alliance with Prussia and Lucia.

“So I went to Italy this time to express my attitude and give a reminder.

“As well as increasing the likelihood of Italian hesitation as much as possible.

“We don’t need the Italians to make an immediate decision, as long as we can prevent Italy from joining the Prussian alliance immediately, it will be considered a success.

“I won’t stay long in Italy, I will go to France and the Ottomans next.

"The most important thing is actually the attitude of the French people."

Franz nodded gently after listening:

"I understand. I wish you a safe journey."

Metternich bowed in response, and then said to Franz and Archduke Karl:
"His Excellency the Grand Duke's initiative to attack may not be unfeasible.

"Before Prussia attacks us, we can attack from another angle and direction.

“We are now delegating power to the local areas, and the Prussian offensive will actually be resisted mainly by local defenders.

“The main army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire can perform offensive missions.

"However, I am not good at military matters. Whether there is a feasible plan and how to implement it requires careful consideration by His Excellency the Grand Duke."

Archduke Karl nodded slightly, indicating that he understood:

"This is my idea."

Franz's mood was complicated and uneasy, and he didn't think there was any point in attacking under the current situation.

But Franz also believed in his brother's military talent.

He deserves a place in the history of the entire Habsburg family.

Whether he can fight or not, and how he should fight, his judgment should be more accurate than his own.

So in the end Franz could only suppress his anxiety and recognized and accepted this suggestion.

At the same time, he also directly delegated power, authorizing and ordering Archduke Karl to be fully responsible for Austria's military affairs.

Regardless of his status or ability, Archduke Karl has such qualifications, and now he bows and takes orders very solemnly.

In the next few days, Austria's various canonization and authorization ceremonies were all sped up as much as possible.

Austrian Emperor Franz personally presided over the ceremony. Prime Minister Metternich did not attend the ceremony directly, and flew directly to Italy the next day.

The current situation on the western continent is tense, and Prussia's record of annexing Denmark in two days has begun to spread wildly.

European and American countries already have the need to exchange information, attitudes and views.

Metternich's status was sufficient, and he was received at the highest level when he arrived in Italy.

The king of the Kingdom of Sardinia in Italy received him personally, and the main nobles and ministers also came to meet him.

At the meeting banquet, Metternich started his work directly.

He spoke a lot of great truths to the Sardinian royal family and ministers.

On the one hand, it is the truth that the lips are dead and the teeth are cold. Prussia is the violent Qin on the European continent, and its purpose is to annex all European countries.

So an alliance between Sardinia, Italy and Prussia made no sense.

Eventually he will be abandoned and betrayed.

Even if Austria surrenders directly, Italy may be the Prussians' next target.

France was too powerful and the Ottomans were the target of the Lucians.

Northern Italy happened to belong to the HRE system and could be regarded as part of the German world.

Another aspect is that the existence of the Ming Dynasty will not allow the Europa continent to be truly unified.

The foreign annexation war between Prussia and Lucia was bound to fail in the end.

If Italy wanted to avoid being liquidated in the end, it should have taken a stand against Prussia from the beginning.

So Austria proposed to start forming a square alliance between Prussia and Lucia now.

This alliance should include at least Austria, Italy, the Ottomans, France, and the United Kingdom.

If possible, the remaining countries such as Spain and Portugal should also be brought in.

The King and Prime Minister of Italy agreed with Metternich's views.

However, there was no positive response to Metternich's suggestion of establishing an alliance.

It just means that analysis and discussion are needed, and it is recommended to continue to maintain close contact and pay attention to changes in the situation.

Metternich knew there would be no immediate results.

Because the Italians must have had contact with the Prussians.

The Italians must have dreamed of carving up Austria with Prussia.

I came here just to remind them.

So Metternich stayed in Italy for two days and then went directly to France.

In fact, Metternich's prediction was correct. Italy did have contacts with Prussia, and the two countries were natural potential allies in terms of geographical relations.

Even as soon as Metternich left, the Prussian diplomats arrived.

The Prussians hoped to establish a "Roman Union" alliance with Italy, Prussia, and Lucia.

Three countries with Roman heritage reconquered the entire European continent.

Lucia controlled Eastern Europe, known as Eastern Rome, and Prussia conquered Western and Central Europe, known as Western Rome or Central Rome.

Italy could conquer southern Europe and the Mediterranean, known as Central Rome or Southern Rome.

The Ming Dynasty will not allow the Europa continent to be truly unified, but reducing the number of countries on the Europa continent should still be within the tolerance of the Ming Dynasty.

The painting of this pie is quite good.

The most thoughtful Italians are really tempted.