War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Vienna, Schonbrunn Palace

At the turn of spring and summer, the royal gardens seemed a bit sultry. This kind of weather made Franz feel irritable, and the damn sense of ritual made him feel even more aggravated.

It was obviously against the rules to conduct such an aboveboard conspiracy in such a beautiful place, even though they were discussing important strategic decisions.

But there is one thing to say, although he is already a frequent visitor to this place, he still can't help but linger.

The scenery here is really charming, completely in line with the feeling of climbing up and looking far away. There are no floating clouds but beautiful royal buildings, royal gardens and beautiful artificial lakes.

Wait what is that? Something was coming over the waves. At this moment, a seal as fat as a torpedo was dragging Friedrich rushing through the artificial lake.

Just five minutes ago the young Archduke realized that he seemed to be running late.

So he decided to take a shortcut, and after climbing up a neat tree wall, he jumped down. But his leap of faith was ruined by a branch hanging from his trousers.

Although Friedrich tried his best to swing his arms, he had no wings after all, and finally fell straight down. After the smoke and dust passed, he found that he was not injured and could feel the soft and waxy Q-bomb on his hand.

Friedrich suddenly became excited. He still remembered that Franz once told a story about a young prince who met a beautiful princess.

It's just that the princess climbed over the wall and knocked down the prince, but she was just the opposite.

While Friedrich fantasized about the other person's appearance at the moment, he was also a little troubled that he was about to get married. Is this behavior considered unfaithful to his fiancée?

After a battle between heaven and man, Friedrich finally opened his eyes. He found a pair of big black, moist eyes staring at him.

Only it was not a princess, but a huge seal.

"ah!"

"Ah!"

"Ahhh!"

The frightened Friedrich was about to get up and escape when the angry sea beast bit his trousers. He only had one thought in his mind at this time, why wasn't this damn rag torn?

However, the quality of military products has been tested by practice at this moment. Seeing that he could not pull out his feet, the young Grand Duke had another plan in mind, preparing to lift the seal in front of him with both hands and throw it out.

After all, he had witnessed Franz's father being able to pick it up with one arm. Presumably this thing should be as puffy as a balloon and not too heavy.

The idea is beautiful, but the reality is very ugly. The "little giant" who was only 1.6 meters tall could not even hold the giant beast's waist, but he accidentally touched the seal's itchy flesh.

The result was that because of the stimulation, it wanted to speed away from here, and the young archduke, who was also frightened, subconsciously pressed his whole body tightly against the seal.

Then a seal carried a man on its back and began to rush forward in the palace garden. Along the way, it passed through the trees, pressed over the flowers and plants, and knocked over several pieces of exquisite porcelain.

A team of maids delivering food were still joking, but they suddenly heard some strange noises. When everyone was confused, one person and one leopard rushed out of the bushes, rushed into the crowd like bowling balls, and knocked down all the maids. , drinks were flying all over the sky.

The moving seal also grabbed a fish in its mouth and then sucked it in. Although Friedrich's trousers were loosened, he couldn't notice them as he was already in such a mess along the way.

Finally, one person and one leopard rushed out of the garden, rushed to the pier, jumped into the air, and then landed heavily on the water.

Before the water calmed down again, the seals sprinted again, one person and one leopard chopping through the waves in the artificial lake.

Although the scene of the leopard charging was very satisfying, Friedrich as the passenger was not happy at all. Soon he couldn't hold on and fell, but what was even worse was that his legs actually cramped.

"I'm the marshal of the navy! How could I die in the sea!"

"Damn it! I can't float!"

"No wonder Franz always keeps himself away from the water. He is really hated by the sea!"

The lack of oxygen to the brain in the water made Friedrich gradually lose consciousness. Before losing consciousness, he saw a figure swimming towards him.

Half an hour later.

Franz: "Mr. Sintepna, how is he?"

"The Grand Duke is fine. He just drank some water and swallowed a fish. He may have indigestion."

"Thank you doctor, please go this way."

Franz was speechless for a while. Friedrich seemed really not suitable for "playing with water."

"Ahem!"

Friedrich coughed up another large amount of water and then woke up.

"Franz?"

"Yes, uncle, I am here. How did you fall into the water."

Friedrich gasped hard: "There was a seal, it dragged me in. Who would have thought it was so heavy?"

After hearing the cause and effect, Franz was even more speechless.

"The seal my father held only weighed about 60 kilograms, and the one you tried to lift weighed at least 150 kilograms. Even my father knew that persimmons should be picked when they are soft. It is obvious that your challenge has exceeded the level."

Friedrich rolled his eyes at Franz and then changed the subject.

"Okay, let's not talk about it anymore. Why do you want to come to me?"

"Do you remember that little island in the Pacific that I described to you?"

"Hawaii? Isn't that a British place?"

On February 10, 1843, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Calisterford arrived in Honolulu.

British merchants Richard Charlton and Alexander Simpson claimed that British people and their property were being treated unfairly on Hawaii Island.

So the British commander George Paulette made a series of demands to the then King of Hawaii, Kamehameha III, and threatened that he would immediately launch an attack if the British's legitimate rights and interests were not met.

In fact, similar things have happened before. The Americans and the French have used similar reasons to blackmail this kingdom surrounded by oceans.

But the former extorted only money, while Britain's target was the entire Hawaiian Islands.

Although Kamehameha III wanted to fight hard. After all, he had hundreds of thousands of subjects and thousands of warriors, but these natives, who were only equipped with spears, daggers, axes and some old-fashioned flintlocks, were unable to fight against the British. Long guns and short cannons.

Although George Paulette actually had only about 300 Marines and 500 Navy soldiers.

But just a simple contact with one hundred of the bravest warriors in the Hawaiian army destroyed most of them, while only one British recruit was burned by the gunpowder gas of his own rifle.

In the end, Kamehameha III had no choice but to surrender, and finally on February 25, 1843, the Kingdom of Hawaii and the United Kingdom signed a temporary cession agreement for the islands.

Afterwards, the British established a committee on the Hawaiian Islands and began to rule the islands in a high-pressure manner. They began to occupy ports, drive away merchants from other countries, erase the traces of the Hawaiian Kingdom, support puppets, and even established a puppet army composed of Hawaiians. .

However, the British's behavior of eating alone was quickly protested by French and American businessmen. The French even sent a fleet to reason with the British.

So the British soon restored the independence of the Kingdom of Hawaii, but in fact they still firmly held the position of emperor.

It has to be said that the strategic vision of the British Empire was indeed unique. This island country located deep in the Pacific Ocean did become the strategic core of the Americans' control of the Asia-Pacific region in the future, and one of its places was also occupied by an aircraft from another island country nearly a hundred years later. patronize.

Although there are three forces on Hawaii Island: Britain, France, and the United States, Britain and France obviously did not ask the opinions of the Americans when they carved up the islands, and they did not intend to let the latter join the party.

An American businessman on the island of Hawaii wrote to James Knox Polk, the U.S. President at this time, hoping that the most powerful president in U.S. history would send a fleet to threaten Britain and France like the French, thereby protecting the United States. businessman's interests.

But toughness does not mean being stubborn, especially after being tricked by the British once before at Lion Rock. Polk began to re-examine himself and the United States, which seemed not as perfect as he imagined.

The U.S. government rejected the businessman's request, so the businessman named Thomas Faneuil instead wrote to the Austrian Imperial Government, claiming that his ancestors were subjects of the Holy Roman Empire.

Austrian senior officials have little interest in this kind of operation that spans half the world. After all, the output of those small islands may not be enough for transportation expenses.

But Franz is quite interested in this, and he has other purposes, which is to knock on Japan's door.

After all, Austria wants to develop California and Nevada, and the current manpower alone is far from enough. Moreover, Japan's financial system is also very chaotic at this time, but it can still make a lot of money, and it is even possible to take advantage of the loopholes to control its financial system in one fell swoop.

In fact, Franz still brought some private goods, such as some music

In Schonbrunn Palace, Friedrich expressed his inability to understand Franz's strategy, because Japan at this time was still very mysterious to Westerners.

Although Austria has a large amount of intelligence provided by the Dutch, it still does not know much about its internal structure, military strength, and resource allocation.

Friedrich: "My navy has launched another new ship. This time it's time to give it a try."

Franz: "You can try, but I don't think I can fight."

Friedrich: "I'm not talking about the British and French. How can such a big Japan sit down and talk with us if they don't fight a few wars?"

Franz: "Negotiations don't need to be done alone."

Friedrich looked at Franz with some confusion, and the latter snapped his fingers. Kagura put on the miko costume again, but the feeling was completely different from before.

"Don't you say that Japan is a patriarchal society? Are you sure this little girl won't be quartered?"

Franz: "That depends on whether you have enough deterrence!"

Friedrich sighed.

"I don't know what you are planning? But I must tell you that Britain and France have made many small moves at sea.

If we all go out like before, if anything happens, the previous U.S.-Mexican War is the best example. "

In fact, because the main force of the Austrian Imperial Navy went to the east and failed to return in time, Franz had few choices during the Mexican-American War, leaving the Austrian side strategically passive, especially in the direction of California, which was almost lost.

If the Austrian Imperial Navy had been there at that time, I am afraid that the US military would not have dared to attack California at all. Even if there is a fierce battle between the two sides, the former will have a high probability of sending the latter to the bottom of the sea.

Franz: "So this time you will only take ten ships."

Friedrich: "Ten ships?!!! Are you kidding me? Didn't you say that country has a population of at least 30 million and an army of 500,000?

Are you going to let me use ten ships to attack France? "

Franz: "Don't worry, that country has many islands and mountains, and the local separatist forces are very strong. The shogunate only has 200,000 troops, and they can only mobilize 100,000 at most, and this will take at least half a year, so you are completely Don't worry."

Friedrich: "Do they have artillery?"

Franz: "Yes."

Friedrich: "You are committing murder! Those toy soldiers of yours just killed five thousand British troops on the island of Kalimantan!"

Franz reminded: "That's the British Indian Army."

Friedrich was speechless.

"Are Indians not British?"

"It doesn't count."

"Why?"

"If you don't believe it, ask the British."

Friedrich was speechless again. When he went to India before, the British really said this.

"Just think of them as indigenous Africans."

Franz comforted, and Friedrich immediately retorted.

"It only takes a few incendiary bombs to deal with those African natives, and then wait for the fire to recede to identify the bodies. Can the same be done to deal with the shogunate?"

"It's really good!

The vast majority of houses in Japan are wooden buildings, and their layout is extremely unreasonable, with dense buildings, narrow roads, and extremely poor fire resistance.

In addition, there is no advanced fire-fighting equipment, and the burning may be worse than the dry season on the African grasslands!

It's just that fire attacks damage your moral character, so you'd better do it less. "

In fact, there have been many super fires in Japanese history, and there have even been city-destroying disasters like the Edo Fire.

A fire directly burned two-thirds of the buildings in Edo Castle at that time, and the number of direct victims was as high as 100,000.

"What is Yin De?"

"A comparative chart of killings by Eastern gods."

Friedrich was confused, but he was still looking forward to this trip. After all, it was his first time to sail around the world.

The route Franz mapped out was to start in Austria, go around South America to California, then set off for Hawaii and finally Japan.

"Okay then. I have one more question."

"Say it."

"The sea is not suitable for women, or is this Miss Kagura ready to 'dedicate her life' to the navy?"

"Don't worry about this, I have a way. As long as you put her in the same room as your fiancée."

"Sneka?"

"Yeah, it's really annoying."

"It's not you! You actually put my fiancée and Karolina together!"

"how could I know!"

"Thanks to you being regarded as a saint by the archbishop, you don't even know that my sister is the most spendthrift among the ladies in Vienna?"

"How would I know!

I just think it might be inconvenient for her to live as a girl in Schönbrunn Palace, so I sent her back to your home. After all, Princess Sneka will be your wife sooner or later and it is completely reasonable for her to live with your sister."

"Damn it, my salary and annuity combined are not enough for her."

"Isn't your family famous for spending money excessively? Why are you still worrying about this little money?"

"Who said our family spends money excessively? We are just never stingy with the money we should spend."

"Then how did Aunt Carolina develop her habit of spending money excessively?"

Friedrich said somewhat helplessly.

"Hey! My father thinks girls are born to spend money."

"Okay. I'll help you solve the money problem. It's better for you to keep her with you. As your wife, she should also adapt to your life.

Besides, I think it’s quite romantic to treat this round-the-world trip as your own wedding. "