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

To buy the whole of Albania, Austria did not dare to do so blatantly. After all, Russia regards the place where these "Slavs" live as its own taboo.

In order to take care of the emotions of the Russians, Austria must find a reasonable reason. For example, the Ottomans are a good target.

Of course, if it wasn't for the tsar's insistence on looking for it, Franz would have postponed this plan for a few years. After all, 1848 is too close. The most sensible approach for Austria should be to adopt a comprehensive contraction strategy.

It's just that everything can be as expected, and Russia is a country that is easy to make progress.So at this time Franz's plan seemed correct and necessary.

His conditions are not harsh. Austria will manage the northern mountains for the Ottoman Empire, and at the same time lease the port of Sangeni (port in northern Albania) to transport troops and supplies.

As for the warlords in the southern plains, the Austrian side will also try their best to fight in accordance with the requirements of the Ottoman Empire.

It's just that casualties are inevitable in battle, so the latter must produce enough evidence to prove that those are rebels, and at the same time cannot be held accountable for accidental injuries and looting incidents that may occur in battle.

After that, Austria will pay 100 million Ottoman liras to the Ottoman Empire to replace the taxes in the northern mountains, and the south will be returned to the latter. After all, the plains are relatively easy to rule.

In fact, the north and east of Albania are dominated by mountains, but the north is mainly Catholic, the east is Orthodox, and the southwest is "Tianfang Christians".

At this time, Albania had more than 130 million people, including 10,000+ Catholics and more than 30 Orthodox Christians, and the rest were all "Tianfang believers."

(A country in ancient times also called Arabia the "Heavenly Fang", so there are Arabian Nights.)
Franz will definitely choose those who are easy to assimilate, and at the same time, he will also find a window for the Montenegrins and Croats to vent, lest they fight against their own people without foreign enemies.

Franz's behavior received the full support of the church. In their view, this was a "good deed" comparable to the Crusades in expelling paganism and saving Christians.

At the same time, looking at the Austrian side from Mejid's perspective, it is too sincere. After all, even in a normal year in northern Albania, it is impossible to hand in as much as 100 million Ottoman lire.

And returning the rich and developed southern region to the Ottoman government is undoubtedly a move to renew its life.As for the accidental injury and looting, in McGide's view, they were completely reasonable and reasonable punishments. He was afraid that the Austrians hadn't killed enough and robbed them hard enough.

After all, only the weaker the power of those places, the stronger the centralization of power, and the locals are all "Slavs". If the Austrians are really killing people, then Russia will not sit idly by. In this way, Ottoman and Austria can be regarded as difficult brothers up.

In fact, Austria's asking price was far lower than Mejid's expectations. In the eyes of the latter, the Western powers were greedy and shameless robbers, and they were never relentless in seizing Ottoman territory.

On the contrary, this is the first time I have seen a "civilized" bandit like Franz. After all, as long as his core interest groups are not threatened, the lands he conquered can be abandoned.

To be honest, Franz has no interest in the Balkans. After all, the ethnic and religious components of this place are too complicated, and if he is not careful, he will get back a powder keg.

Of course, even powder kegs have ways to dismantle them, such as using the power of religion to unite some local people, and then help them earn their own living space.

In this way, these oppressed people who were originally at the bottom will regard the Austrian Empire as their savior, thus building up their belief in the empire.

Then it started to improve the lives of local people, and at the same time spread Austrian culture, spirit, and customs.
Soon these people will find out what kind of life they have lived in the past. When they start to despise tradition, it means breaking with the original world. At this time, they become the real supporters of the Austrian Empire.

As for the heretics living in the fertile land, they are obviously the enemies of God and the hindrance of the empire. These devout believers should eliminate those "pests".

On the other hand, mountains are both obstacles and barriers.The Austrian side occupying the mountains is always in a favorable offensive situation, and on the contrary, the Ottomans who have lost their barrier protection will be just a dish on the table sooner or later.

The deal between Megid and Austria must have made Tsar Nicholas I furious, but Franz gave Ottoman a gift while not forgetting Russia.

In fact, as soon as the tsar returned to St. Petersburg, before he had time to check the performance of the crown prince in charge of the country, an urgent report came from the frontier.

The Chechen rebel army led by Imam Shamir once again defeated the main force of Russia, and at the same time robbed a large amount of war materials sent by the Austrian Empire.

This batch of materials includes a large number of light artillery suitable for mountain combat, as well as new rockets specially used for siege, in addition to a large number of new rifles and ammunition.

Although these are eliminated products from Austria, they are still very attractive to Russia.

After the Russians decided on the quantity, the former shipped the goods, but it was delayed for some time due to some things, and the transaction location was temporarily changed.

The new trading location is closer to the Caucasus region and closer to the Russian military barracks.

The Austrian side’s reason was to deliver the goods to their doorsteps, but there was an unforeseen event. The Russians were attacked by Imam Shamir’s insurgents just before they had finished unloading the goods and put them in the warehouse.

The unprepared Russian army was killed by the Chechen army, and Shamir continued his usual style to execute all Russians.

In this battle, the Russian army lost more than 8600 people, and at the same time lost about 2 Austrian equipment. With these equipment, Shamir could pull up a few more teams.

Imam Shamir is the national hero of Chechnya and the protagonist of the entire Caucasus War.

He is very good at defeating the strong with the weak. He has won many brilliant victories against the Russian army, and even put the Russians on the defensive for quite a long time.

Shamir implemented many reforms, intending to completely disintegrate the feudal system and patriarchal system in the Caucasus region, and establish a "Tianfangjiao country" with a military, political and religious trinity.

He led the rebel army to attack the noble landlords, liberated the serfs and slaves, and distributed the land and wealth of the landlords to them.

(In fact, serfs are not equal to slaves. There were still slavery in some parts of the Caucasus at that time.)
At the same time, people are appointed on merit, whether they are slaves, old nobles, or craftsmen, as long as they have the ability, they will all be given important official positions.

The customary law was abolished, a brand new code of law was established, and the country was governed by law to a certain extent.

Reform agriculture and encourage the development of industry and commerce.

It's just that the Caucasus region is still too small compared to the huge Russia, and in the end Shamir was defeated in the war with the Tsar.

The historical Shamir had neither allies nor resources.But now that Franz gave the Tsar a big gift that made the latter sleepless, it's unclear who will die.