The distance from Berlin to Uzhhorod is not far, hundreds of kilometers. At the same time, there is no direct connection www.biquge.info railway. Qin Tian could only travel all the way by car.

The chief of staff of the 8th Army Corps, Major General Ludendorff, also did not act with him, but rushed to the front with the staff headquarters. Rushing to the front line with Qin Tian was Brigadier General Manstein, deputy chief of staff and chief of operations. Brigadier General Hoffmann, the former deputy chief of staff and chief of operations, has been promoted to major general and appointed chief of staff of the 9th Army Corps.

When the Crown Prince of the German Empire arrived in Uzhhorod, he was greeted by the Austrian generals, as well as Crown Prince Karl and Archduke Friedrich, who had arrived first. Although Crown Prince Karl was somewhat unhappy, he could not show it under the persuasion of Archduke Friedrich. After all, the current occupation was not good for Austria-Hungary, and the Crown Prince of the German Empire came to help them.

"Your Highness Oscar, welcome to Uzhhorod. His Majesty the Kaiser is very grateful to the German Empire for being able to lend a helping hand to us in this critical situation. Crown Prince Karl had a smile on his face. However, if you look closely, you can tell that this is clearly a hypocritical smile that is not smiling.

Qin Tian was a little confused, not knowing why Crown Prince Karl had such an expression. It's just that he didn't take it to heart either. In Qin Tian's seriousness, Crown Prince Karl was just a lucky guy. If not Franz? If Joseph I's son committed suicide by martyrdom, and Archduke Ferdinand had not been assassinated, such a good thing as becoming the crown prince of Austria-Hungary would not have been Karl's turn at all.

In addition, in another time and space, Crown Prince Karl's performance after succeeding to the throne was also extremely bad. As one of the two major empires of the Allied Powers, the emperor was bent on peace and had no determination to continue the war and defeat the enemy, which led to the loss of the Allied Powers in this war. Of course, the fate of Austria-Hungary was even more miserable. After the defeat, the Austro-Hungarian Empire directly disintegrated, split into several countries, reduced to a second- or third-rate small state, and completely removed from the list of foreign powers. And Carl's own fate is also a tragedy.

On another occasion, Karl was a peace-loving man who tried several times to get Austria-Hungary out of World War I by secretly suggesting to the Entente powers, the most promising of which was to negotiate peace with France in 1917 through his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus of Parma, but his behind-the-scenes activities failed completely because he refused to cede any of the Habsburg possessions to Italy. And because of his support for French claims to Alsace and Lorraine, when his efforts were exposed, his reputation was greatly damaged in Germany and in his own country, and Austria was in a very embarrassing position. At the end of World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was mired in civil strife and national contradictions. U.S. President Woodrow? Wilson proposed a fourteen-point agreement advocating the independence of the peoples of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. On 14 October, Karl convened a royal parliament and accepted the 14-point agreement, agreeing to a federal state with national self-government. But the reforms soon got out of hand, and the national self-governments declared full independence and withdrew from the First World War. The republicans in Austria eventually repudiated the monarchy.

On November 11, 1918, Karl declared: "I formally renounce any political affairs, but I will not renounce the throne. The next day, the Republic of German Austria was established, and Karl was forced to leave Vienna. In March 1919 he went into exile in Switzerland, and in April the Austrian parliament deposed Karl from the throne. In 1921 Karl twice tried to restore the throne there with the help of Hungarian conservatives, but was unable to obtain the Hungarian Führer, Horthy? Admiral Miklosh's support was defeated. Exiled to Madeira, he lived in extreme poverty, and in 1922 Karl died of pneumonia at the age of 34.

Therefore, in Qin Tian's eyes, Crown Prince Karl is also completely a tragic character. If he hadn't changed history and saved Austria-Hungary from the danger of defeat, Crown Prince Karl's life would have been a coffee table full of cups!

After a brief greeting, Qin Tian and Brigadier General Manstein attended the luncheon prepared by the Austrian Command. Although the situation at the front was critical, the lunch prepared by the Austrians was very rich, and from this, it seemed that they did not have any worries about the current situation.

After lunch, Qin Tian was arranged to rest in the lounge. In this regard, although Qin Tian was a little unhappy in his heart, he never showed it, and he was as good as the host.

Besides, now Austria-Hungary was already the only and most important ally of Germany. In any case, the German Reich could not afford to lose this ally again. At the very least, this ally cannot be lost until Germany has a decisive victory. Therefore, even if Qin Tian was dissatisfied, he would not have an attack.

"Knock knock!" There was a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Qin Tian said.

"Your Highness!" Brigadier General Manstein walked in.

"Sit down, what's the matter?" Qin Tian asked with a pleasant face about the favorite general he had selected.

In Qin Tian's plan, Manstein's talent in staff operations will be brought into play little by little. In the future, he even hoped that Manstein would become the chief of the General Staff of the German army.

"Your Highness, the generals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it seems that they are not in a hurry! Don't they know that the Southwestern Front of the Russian army has regrouped 4 army groups? In addition, there is a Russian army group, which will arrive soon. At that time, they will have to face the attack of more than a million Russian troops. Manstein was a little puzzled.

After the Russian Northwest Front was completely annihilated, the Russian Southwest Front was paid more attention, and every group army was a fully organized group army with more than 300,000 troops. Once all the five armies of the Russian Southwestern Front are gathered, it will be a huge force of nearly 1.5 million people. On the Eastern Front, Austria-Hungary only had three army groups, and at most a million people. Moreover, they were constantly defeated by the Russians in the previous battles, with heavy losses, and the morale of the troops was also very low.

"It seems that the generals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire have pinned their hopes on us. The burden on our shoulders is heavy! Qin Tian said a little speechlessly.

Manstein's face was also ugly. He also discovered that the ally of Austria-Hungary does not seem to be very reliable! Originally, they actively cooperated, but now, as long as they don't pull back, they have to thank God forbid.