In the Imperial Palace of the Holy Roman Empire in Vienna, Ferdinand III sat alone in his study, at this time his long-dormant heart finally set off a wave, looking at the telegram translation in front of him, he could not calm down for a long time.

It turned out that His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Empire did not mean that he should send troops to help other battlefields, but that he should send troops to assist the Ming Empire's army to break through the German Union and approach the Netherlands, the first maritime power against the Habsburg Alliance!

As the king of a country, he naturally wants all the princes, all nobles, and all ordinary people in the entire empire to listen to his orders, which is the most basic power of an emperor.

However, the Holy Roman Empire had been in civil strife for a long time, and it was not his fault that his dictates did not work in many parts of the Holy Roman Empire, and it was already like this before the Habsburgs ascended to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire.

His father, the mighty Ferdinand II, failed to change this situation, and, thanks to the intervention of the Anti-Habsburg League, most of the princely states of the German Confederation were effectively independent and did not take him seriously as an emperor at all.

Now, the Ming Empire is going to send troops to break through the German Alliance, should you take advantage of this opportunity?

If you go all out, maybe it will be possible to bring all the princes of the German League into obedience!

If he had done it before, he wouldn't have dared to think like that at all, because he didn't have the ability.

You must know that the Habsburgs are actually only one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire, but they have not been down since they ascended the throne of the Holy Roman Empire in 1474.

They are a little stronger than the other six electoral families, but they are also limited in strength, and the other electoral families have not actually paid much attention to them, which is the main reason why the Holy Roman Empire has been divided.

The Habsburgs originally had more than 100,000 troops, and the other electors controlled fewer troops than them, but at least 70,000 or 80,000, and even more than 100,000!

In other words, if he made a move against the German Alliance, then the enemy he would face would be at least four or five hundred thousand troops, and with the strength of these principalities and kingdoms under his control, he would not be able to defeat the coalition forces of the other elector families.

It was for this reason that he never wanted to unify the Holy Roman Empire.

It's different now, plus the 300,000 troops sent by the Ming Empire, there are already 500,000 troops on his side, and it should be no problem to defeat the coalition forces of the other Elector families.

Of course, this mainly depends on the help of the Ming Empire, if the Ming Empire only wants to fight the Netherlands and does not help him deal with other elector families, then the 200,000 troops he put together still can't beat the coalition forces of other elector families, and he must desperately recruit troops and expand the army to more than 400,000 before there is hope.

He thought about it for a long time, and finally sighed gloomily, after nearly thirty years of war, the Holy Roman Empire has long been hollowed out, recruiting troops, how to recruit without money and food!

Forget it, let's follow the Ming Empire to clean up the Netherlands first.

So, what exactly is the idea of the Ming Empire?

At this time, Hou Shilu, deputy marshal of the Ming Empire, was sitting on the passenger train bound for Vienna, looking out the window at the vast wilderness in a daze.

Shi Kefa, on the other hand, sat straight across from him, as if he was closing his eyes and recuperating.

After pondering for a long time, Hou Shilu finally turned around and said to Shi Kefa: "Xianzhi, what do you think of this battle?" “

Hearing this, Shi Kefa opened his tiger eyes and said respectfully: "The last general will listen to the marshal's dispatch." “

Hou Shilu smiled bitterly: "Don't be so restrained, I really want to hear your opinion, although the purpose of this battle is to conquer the Netherlands, but most of the time is still spent in the Holy Roman Empire, the situation is a bit too complicated, and it is difficult for me to choose for a while." “

When Shi Kefa heard this, he muttered: "Before the end of the world, the emperor also told the last general about the complicated situation of the Holy Roman Empire. “

What else is going on?

Hou Shilu immediately asked with interest: "Oh, what did the emperor say?" “

Elder Shi Kefa replied honestly: "The emperor said that he really doesn't want to care about that mess. “

When Hou Shilu heard this, he immediately frowned and thought about it, and after a while, he said, "Well, I know what to do." “

More than 50 special trains ran continuously for more than 10 days, and the First Army of the Expeditionary Force and the Second Army of the Janissaries finally arrived in Vienna from Kandahar.

At this time, Qin Gongming had already led the Liao army to rush outside Vienna, and the 100,000 horses of the Ming Empire Construction Corps had already been stationed near the Vienna railway station for a long time.

Hundreds of thousands of people's grain and grass have to be transported over such a long distance, even the Ming Empire is a little difficult, if those captives are all smart and capable, the problem is that they are like an abacus, you dial it, they move, you don't dial, they all lie there to rest, there is no efficiency at all.

Zhu Cijiong knew that they would not be of much use, so he simply sent a train to pick them up.

Forget it, the Eurasian railway is now completed, just let them go free, let them go back to farming, let them build the railway, it's a bit of a waste of food!

Hou Shilu did not rush to march to the Netherlands after arriving in Vienna, after all, the train capacity is limited, and the trains transferred from all over the Ming Dynasty can transport 200,000 troops and some weapons and equipment and grain and grass at one time.

Of course, Hou Shilu is not idle, it is always the fine tradition of the Ming army to plan and then move, this month is just the right time to find out the enemy's situation, and then formulate specific tactics, blindly marching, that is a stunned young thing to do, if he is so incompetent, Zhu Cijiong will not promote him to deputy marshal of the army, let him be in charge of this army.

In fact, the situation on the side of the German Confederation did not require him to send scouts to investigate, because it was originally the territory of the Holy Roman Empire, and although the princes were not obedient at all, they did not prevent the exchange of civilians and merchants from their own countries.

In other words, many people in Vienna have been there, and even Ferdinand III even has a detailed map of it.

It would be easy to do it if there was a map, so Hou Shilu personally went to visit Ferdinand III, received a complete set of maps of the German Union from him, and asked him for help, and found some businessmen who often went there to do business and asked him carefully.

At this time, the benefits of Chinese language promotion are reflected.

Since the Ming Empire is now the first power in the entire Ming Habsburg Union, and at the same time it is the most economically developed country, whether it is a nobleman or a commoner, whether it is a military officer or a merchant, many people have learned Chinese.

In order to facilitate communication, Ferdinand III sent people to contact the Ming army were basically fluent in Chinese.

These people communicate with Hou Shilu, and they don't even need to find a translator, they just speak Chinese!