In the second half of the 19th century, the extravagant imperial capital of Vienna had a handsome young emperor who ruled the second largest empire in Europe. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoHe is of noble blood, a descendant of the 600-year-old Habsburgs; He was unusually industrious, working more than 12 hours a day, taking cold showers, sleeping in a camp bed, being fluent in the eight languages of his people, and having an unusually beautiful queen who lived the fairytale life of a prince and princess. But by the end of his 68-year reign, everything had come to fruition, with his brother shot dead in South America, his wife stabbed to death in Geneva, his son being misanthropic at a young age, his chosen heir stabbed to death by extreme nationalists, and his retaliatory war that had left tens of millions of people in blood and the empire he had fought for all his life in turmoil......

This man was the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz-Joseph I.

At the end of November 1916, Emperor Joseph died, and Vienna was full of vegetarianism. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was the main source of the last great war, and the performance of the Austro-Hungarian army on the battlefield was a mess, which greatly affected the international prestige of the old emperor Franz-Joseph. But even so, when the bad news of his death came out, the monarchs and heads of government of dozens of countries sent messages of condolence, and the emperor, king, prime minister, crown prince, prince, and ministers came one after another.

The day before Emperor Joseph's burial, Natsuki rushed from Ireland to Vienna to pay his respects to the diligent and loving king, and to visit the lucky man who was about to take over the vast empire, and to discuss the future development of relations between the two countries.

After the war, compared with the flourishing Second German Empire, the influence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was still limited to southern Europe, because Galicia's industry was damaged during the war, its economic development level was only the same as before the war, the living conditions of the people were still highly polarized, and the Slavic peoples in the empire did not completely settle down, but rebelled against the rule of the Germanic people in a more covert way. It can be said that the victory in the war did not bring substantial benefits to Austria-Hungary, and it was still the big tree that was strong on the outside and crumbling on the outside, and the situation was even worse than that of Ottoman Turkey. Based on these factors, Austria-Hungary, with a population of more than 55 million and more than 800,000 square kilometers of land (after annexing Serbia, parts of Poland and Ukraine), was not a solid and reliable ally for Natsuki and his Kingdom of Ireland, and at some point it could be a drag, but that did not mean that Austria-Hungary was not a friend to make. Austria-Hungary ranked fourth in the world in terms of machine-building and munitions industry, after the United States, Germany and Great Britain; The total reserves of resources and the abundance of the total mobilized forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Europe were only less than those of Russia, the output of agricultural products and crude oil was the highest in Europe, and the quality of heavy artillery troops was far ahead of the rest of the countries, ranking first in the world.

For Emperor Joseph, who was born in his father's time but was active in the 20th century, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had always been unexpected, showed rare respect, and the day after receiving the news of Emperor Joseph's death, he set off and was one of the first monarchs to arrive in Vienna, accompanied by the royal family members including Queen Victoria, Crown Prince William, Princess Victoria, Prince Heinrich and his wife, etc., and the imperial dignitaries and army generals led by Prime Minister Batemann-Holvik also came in a delegation. Such a high-profile visit was the first time in the history of the Second German Reich.

The atmosphere of the funeral was heavy and mournful, but the princes, nobles, dignitaries and dignitaries from various countries gathered here to mourn, and in addition to mourning, it naturally formed a large gathering of fish and dragons, each with their own thoughts. At the Hofburg Imperial Palace in the center of Vienna, Natsuki unsurprisingly met mourners from England - George V did not appear in person, but Crown Prince Edward and Princess Mary came to mourn on behalf of the British royal family.

A year ago, when Natsuki first visited England as a candidate for the Irish throne, the young Edward behaved so humbly and friendly, even making people think that he admired the genius of the Hohenzollern family from the bottom of his heart, and also made people speculate about the future relationship between the two brothers in Britain and Ireland.

As for whether Edward's change was deliberate or unwilling, Natsuki disdained to look for answers, because sometimes knowing the answers would not solve the problem. With the Belfast crisis ending with British compromise, the British people's hatred of Ireland was unprecedented, and the royal family, official exchanges, and people-to-people trade between the two countries fell to an all-time low.

Because of this cause and effect, when they first met in the Habsburg Palace, Natsuki and Edward looked at each other coldly and nodded to each other, which was considered to be the most basic etiquette.

Princess Mary, who once fell in love with Natsuki at first sight, has an expression of wanting to say nothing at the moment.

Natsuki didn't take the initiative to take care of her, but walked straight to Carl, who was surrounded by many guests like stars holding the moon. Immediately after the death of Emperor Joseph, he succeeded him as crown prince of the Supreme Commander of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces, without any twists and turns, and the titles of Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary were not attributed to the young man, who was only three years older than Joachim, until the coronation ceremonies in Vienna and Budapest, respectively.

Karl was not only young, but before the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, he was just an ordinary member of the Habsburg family, and had never been trained to be the heir to the empire, which has many similarities with King George V of England.

Based on the information Natsuki shared from the Hohenzollern royal family, the young heir to the empire seems to have a lot in common with the late Archduke Ferdinand in terms of personality preferences, such as their tolerance in ethnic policy, and their enthusiasm and support for naval development, but they also have some differences, such as Karl's fascination with hunting is far less than that of the archduke.

Four or five meters away from Karl, Natsuki stood silently, watching the new leader of the Habsburgs behave in the face of the compliments of the crowd. After a while, Karl finally realized that there was such a special pair of eyes on him from outside the crowd, and he pushed away from the crowd and took the initiative to walk over to the young monarch, who was famous for his "Irish speed", and raised the champagne in his hand.

"Forever to Franz Joseph in our hearts." Natsuki Road.

"To the immortal Franz Joseph." Karl Dow.

Taking a sip of wine, Karl asked straight to the point: "I've always been curious, what is the secret to Ireland's rapid development after the war?" Don't tell me that it is because of the German government's financial aid, that the livelihood of four million people can be solved with those funds alone, and that it is the number one economic miracle of the 20th century to enable a country without an industrial base to quickly build a modern shipbuilding industry and automobile, airplane, food manufacturing, and a large oil refinery, and at the same time build a metropolis of a million people! ”

The secret of Ireland's recent rapid development is nothing more than taking advantage of the general trend of popular aspirations, using external economic aid and a large number of loans as the source of power, using infrastructure construction to stimulate domestic demand, and then repaying loans with national debts and new loans. European countries committed to post-war reconstruction, there is a greater demand for civilian ships and aircraft, and Ireland has obtained a large number of military orders in the form of strategic speculation, which has brought follow-up impetus to Ireland's economic development, which can be said to be a miracle created by current events. Carl's words were mellow and decent, but he didn't know whether it was polite or genuinely asking for advice, so Xia Shu smiled slightly: "It's simple and complicated, if Your Majesty is interested, we might as well find a time to talk in detail while drinking tea, how about it?" ”

Karl replied: "Recently, I have been busy with affairs, and if I can invite Your Majesty to stay here for a few days, I will not be able to ask for advice." ”

The Portuguese crisis has passed, the international situation has returned to stability, and Ireland's political, military, industrial, and economic affairs have been on the right track, with a group of old-fashioned and strict German officials staring, Xia Shu's shoulders are much lighter, but from time to time he is pulled by the stubborn German emperor to serve as a senior shipbuilding consultant, so he does not mind staying in the Austro-Constitutional Empire for a while, and goes to Baden, the city of forest spa spa spa in Vienna, to relax for a while, so that his single life can also be colorful.

So, Natsuki responded: "The last time I visited Vienna was ten years ago, this is a rare opportunity, the plan is to stay here for a while, to savor the unique charm of Vienna, if Your Majesty does not mind, I also plan to take my vassals to Pula Harbor for a few days to rest and enjoy the warm sunshine of the Mediterranean coast." ”

Pura is the jewel of the Austro-Hungarian coastline, a busy commercial port and the number one naval base of the Austro-Hungarian Navy after Italy's independence. So when he heard Natsuki's words mention this place, Carl was a little surprised, but his eyes rolled: "I am planning to arrange the location of the next meeting in Pula Harbor, since the itinerary coincides, we will finalize it like this, how about it?" ”

Between the words, Natsuki heard that the other party had other intentions, and this matter was extremely sensitive, and it was not convenient to speak out on such an occasion. The Habsburgs ruled half of Europe in history, and the Hohenzollerns were the new European hegemons, both with their own glory. With the current situation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was impossible for the Austrians to compete with the Germans for the leadership of the German world, but to obey the will of the German emperor, the new ruler of Vienna was obviously unwilling, but Wilhelm II brought many members of the royal family and military and political officials to come this time, and the sincerity of condolences and condolences was full, but it was also popular in Austria, wanting to make the dominant Germanic nobles fall to Germany or even defect to Germany. The merger of Germany and Austria would not only achieve the complete unification of the Germanic peoples for the first time after the demise of the Holy Roman Empire, but would also raise the industrial, economic, and military strength of the German Empire to a higher level. Taking a step back, even if the Austrians were loyal to their emperor and refused to unite, the position and attitude of the princes, nobles, and even the officer corps would greatly weaken the diplomatic independence of Austria-Hungary and make it repeat the mistakes of the latter part of the Great War -- it was completely subordinate to the German General Staff in terms of military strategy, and its political and diplomatic relations were basically Germany's lead, and at best they were extremely close allies, but in fact they played the role of puppet followers. This can be heard both in the personal correspondence of the British and Russian monarchs, as well as in the slogans of the combat mobilization of the Tsarist Russian army, and this asymmetrical relationship is generally regarded as the key reason for the least "spoils" of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after the war.

(End of chapter)