Empress Elizabeth saw that the emperor had state affairs to discuss, so she frowned and prepared to leave, Emperor Franz Joseph also wanted to accompany her, the queen said that His Majesty is the most important thing about state affairs, Franz Joseph had to let the maid send the queen away carefully, and then said to the two army bosses: "Then you two tell me, what action should we take?" ”

Marshal Benedek preemptively said: "Your Majesty, the Kingdom of Prussia is attacking Denmark, and we must come forward to declare that we will stop the other side, and at the same time strengthen our vigilance. The strength of the Kingdom of Prussia is not small, and now they dare to attack Denmark directly, I am afraid that they are likely to attack our Austrian Empire! ”

Franz Joseph shook his head repeatedly: "Benedek, you are a bit alarmist. How powerful is our Austrian Empire, it is the permanent rotating presidency of the German Confederation, their small Kingdom of Prussia is only worthy of our followers, and the other states of the entire German Confederation are also devoted to our Austrian Empire, even if they Prussia has greatly increased its strength this year, it cannot be compared with us! How could they have such a mind, are they not afraid of defeat, this is impossible! ”

Benedek defended: "Your Majesty, don't put your hopes in those states, Saxony and Hanover, Bavaria and other states, although they will support us, their forces are too weak, and they are not resolute enough, and they can easily waver. Besides, even if Prussia doesn't attack us and defeat Denmark for sure, in this case, what will we do with the Holstein we have obtained, an enclave, which is surrounded by the territory of the Kingdom of Prussia, how can we govern it, and in the end it will not have to be handed over to that Prussia? ”

Franz Joseph suddenly felt justified: "Holstein can't give that Prussia!" This is the territory of our Holy Roman Empire. ”

Archduke Albrecht added next to him: "Your Majesty! Benedek is right, we still have to beware of a surprise attack by the Prussian army! Although Prussia is no match for our Austrian Empire, we should be just in case. Recently, the Imperial soldiers in Italy have discovered that there are faint signs of gathering troops on the side of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and they have been preparing strategic materials and sending troops to the Po River Plain, which seems to be in a posture of attacking Milan. In this case, we really have to be careful, and keep an eye on the movements of the armies of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Kingdom of Prussia, so as to prevent them from wishful thinking and really attacking our Austrian Empire! ”

Franz Joseph shook his head again and again: "No matter what you say, what Sardinia Kingdom and Prussia, with such a small number of troops, it is impossible to really dare to attack us, we are the orthodoxy of the Holy Roman Empire, and we are much stronger than them, and there are so many Federal States of Germany who support us and obey our orders, they will never dare to fight us unless they are insane!"

Let's focus on the assassination of the Tsar and the civil strife in Tsarist Russia. This is a great opportunity for us in the Austrian Empire. It is better to take advantage of the fact that Tsarist Russia is too busy to take care of itself, and we will restore the glory of the Holy Roman Empire, and occupy that Poland under the guise of helping Tsarist Russia put down the Polish rebellion!

In addition, there is also the Chinese Empire in the East, it is really strange that such a barbaric and backward country in the East actually defeated Britain, which is known as the number one power in the world! It seems that this Britain is really like a big fat man, extremely weak. I think that for our Austrian Empire, too, is an opportunity, an opportunity to strengthen the Mediterranean, to expand our Austrian navy. ”

Hearing the Emperor's words like a dream, both the Archduke Albrecht and Marshal Benedek wanted to cry without tears. Although this emperor of theirs is in his thirties and has been on the throne for more than ten years, he is still like a child, and his thinking questions are very simple.

The emperor was very diligent, but intellectually retarded, and unusually stubborn, often making simple and stupid mistakes. Not only that, but he also held the power of the entire empire in his hands, not only the civil power of the entire empire, but also the military command power in his arms. However, his decisions are often like child's play, making people laugh and cry, stupid, but he has to follow his orders, even Albrecht and Benedek are his right-hand men, and they are very dissatisfied with him. In the Crimean War a few years ago, he suddenly turned his back on Britain and France, turned his back on Tsarist Russia, which had always been friendly, and despite Tsarist Russia's consistent support for him, he mobilized troops in Galicia to the Russian border, forcing Tsar Nicholas I to withdraw his troops from the banks of the Danube, causing a permanent rift between the two countries.

Even if Tsarist Russia is in civil strife, it is still a powerful Tsarist Russia, and the number of land forces alone is two or three times that of Austria, how can it fight the idea of Tsarist Russia?

And their stupid emperor, who had also fallen for the tricks of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia Cavour two years earlier, declared war on the Kingdom of Sardinia, but was taught a lesson by Napoleon III of France who quickly sent troops, and as a result, the emperor did not rush to transfer troops, but also personally went to the battlefield to command, and as a result, the Austrian Imperial Army was commanded in a disorderly manner, causing a crushing defeat and seriously damaging the morale of the Austrian army. But now, within a few years, the emperor has forgotten that he still wants to occupy Poland and expand the navy to occupy the Mediterranean, which makes the two cry and laugh.

Archduke Albrecht and Marshal Benedek looked at each other helplessly, their eyes flashing with a hint of gloom, and they were ready to take their leave. At this moment, an assistant to the emperor rushed over with a telegram of urgent military information, and shouted: "Your Majesty, something is wrong, Your Majesty...... The army of Sardinia, now called the Kingdom of Italy, numbered 110,000 men, under the personal command of its king, invaded the borders of Tyrol and Veneto in the empire. ”

"What!?" Archduke Albrecht and Marshal Benedek were shocked when they heard this! They didn't expect that this small country, newly renamed the Kingdom of Italy from the Kingdom of Sardinia, would really dare to attack the mighty Austrian Empire! Are they really crazy?

Archduke Albrecht and Field Marshal Benedek looked at each other again, and with many years of experience in military command, they immediately understood that something was wrong, and they thought at the same time of the north of Austria, the Duchy of Saxony and Bohemia, where there was danger.

And their emperor, Franz Joseph, with an incredible look on his face, exclaimed: "Crazy! Lose your marbles! Victor - that Ermanuel guy must be crazy stupid! He only has an army of 100,000 troops, or the army of the newly incorporated weak local city-states of Parma, Tuscany, and Modena, and dares to invade our Austrian Empire, which is simply self-defeating! ”

Benedek couldn't help but remind: "Your Majesty, this weak Italian army dares to attack our Austrian Empire, which means that it must be abnormal, it is definitely not the behavior of the Italian side, it is very likely that the army of the Kingdom of Prussia has also attacked us, they have the same purpose, that is, to defeat our Austrian Empire, they must have colluded together a long time ago." ”

Franz Joseph was a little stupid: "The Prussian army is also coming to attack us?" Could it be that King Wilhelm Frederick Ludwig of Prussia was just as stupid a madman as the guy from Emanuel? ”