.“ Compromise with the Germans! ”

In the most luxurious conference room of the Vienna court, I don't know who whispered that if it had been a day, or even a few hours, the person who made the proposal would have been caught out as a traitor and a German lackey.

But now, no one in the huge conference room refuted.

Soon, someone said in a higher voice: "It is not bad to annex Germany!" ”

For a moment, the private discussion in the room shifted from the question of the Empress to the future relations between Austria and Germany.

"Is it difficult to give up Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Galicia-Lodomeri, Bukovina, Carinthia, Carniola, Salzburg, Silesia, Styria, Moravia, Croatia-Slavonia and become a German state?" Mario's expression was gloomy, and the whole person was lifeless, "Oh, maybe it's just an ordinary province!" ”

Unbeknownst to these poor dignitaries, the Austrian family's important figure, Adamas, who had previously been nominated as a candidate for crown prince and succeeded to the throne after the assassination of Count Albert, had groveled to the Germans. The playboy did not ask for much, he just became the ruler of Vienna and the king of Austria, and he did not care whether Austria-Hungary could continue to exist, anyway, in his conception the states and nations outside Austria were unreasonable.

While useless discussions continued at the Viennese court, Ohara Hayashi Sanshosa, military attache at the Japanese embassy in Vienna, was busy sorting out something extremely important, or at least what he thought was very, very important.

"Yoshida, go see if my photos are washed out! Tell those fools, be careful, if you break one, I'll punish them for licking my toilet with their tongues! "It seems that Ohara is not very at ease with the people in the Embassy's Printing Department. And Toshio Yoshida, his adjutant, an army second lieutenant, put his feet together and his head bowed.

"Hey!"

Ohara didn't look up, but continued to crouch on the table and write, occasionally sketching the outlines of the objects he wanted to depict in his notebook with simple lines.

Compared to the crooked handwriting, his sketching level looks pretty good. Germany's Zeppelin came to life in his pen.

A few minutes later, his adjutant trotted in from outside with an excited look on his face, still holding a stack of photographs.

"Report, it's all washed out!"

Ohara immediately stopped his pen, took the photos from Yoshida like a treasure, and looked at them carefully one by one, with a sigh of admiration in his mouth:

"Oh, that's great! It's great! ”

These more than 40 black-and-white photographs record the whole process of the German Zeppelin formation flying to the airdrop leaflet in Vienna, although it is not possible to fully appreciate the spectacular scene at that time from these small films, but Ohara Linzo is quite satisfied.

Just these photos. Ohara continued to write and draw in his notebook. It took more than two hours to complete his "masterpiece", and Yoshida, who was standing at his desk waiting for the next order, was completely forgotten by him.

After Xiao Xinxin put all the notes and photos into a brown paper bag, he looked up. Seeing Yoshida with a puzzled face, "Yoshida-kun, do you know the meaning of this bag?" ”

Yoshida looked at the brown paper bag in Ohara's hand, nodded, and then shook his head again.

Ohara proudly and proudly told Yoshida that this could make a qualitative leap in Japan's military strength.

"So...... Are we going to build such a terrible airship force too? ”

"That's right, as far as I know, the structure of those airships is mainly wooden frames, skins, and hydrogen, which we don't lack in the Great Japanese Empire! In the past, we didn't know that airships could be so amazing. But today's scene made me pause! As long as you concentrate enough airships, just dropping leaflets can break the spirits of the opponent, and if they are replaced by bombs, it must be enough to wipe a city off the face of the earth! Ohara's analysis is not just a conjecture, but from the perspective of Japan's national conditions and environment, choosing a weapon with easy access to materials and relatively low fuel requirements can achieve the effect of complementing each other's strengths. Now, the Japanese military, which emphasized the artillery of giant ships, had to run around for the raw materials to build warships, especially after Germany, Japan, and Russia signed a secret agreement to maintain the status quo in China. The Japanese government had to turn its attention to Southeast Asia, which was rich in minerals and oil, and even then Japan would suffer greatly from its lack of resources, especially in the face of an enemy with a superior navy.

"Shaozuo, do you want to send these things back to China for you?"

"No, no, such an important thing, I will personally send it back to China!" Xiao Yuan said very resolutely, in his eyes, it seemed that he had seen his own way out.

Budapest, Hungary.

The splendid Buda Palace has welcomed a new group of guests, and some of them seem to be about to become new owners.

Damen Ferenc took the lead, Olg followed and Gtafe Lenz followed, and the three of them walked slowly through the promenade with elaborate frescoes on either side.

It's not the first time I've been here, but the 65-year-old Damen is still interested in admiring the frescoes, which pay tribute to the exploits of Franz Joseph I, in addition to traditional religious paintings from Central Europe.

"He was a great man, diligent in the affairs of the country, caring for every one of his people, and finally gaining the respect of the whole world! In Hungary, everyone admires and loves him, which is very rare since ancient times! Damen stood in front of a fresco depicting Emperor Franz galloping on horseback with his hands behind his back, his tone full of admiration and envy.

Olg looked at the mural, wondering what the Hungarian aristocratic leader was trying to say.

"By the way, and his wife, the noble and beautiful queen! Her smile can enchant the proudest, her kindness can tame ferocious beasts, and her fraternity can touch an entire forest! "For this Queen Elizabeth, better known as Princess Sissi, Damen did not hesitate to praise himself. Indeed, Princess Sisi from Bavaria has a kind and lively personality, and after becoming the queen of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, her footprints are almost all over the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially the lakes and mountains of Hungary**, and she is also very generous and benevolent to the people here. So many years after her death, many places in Austria and Hungary are still commemorating the charismatic empress in various ways.

Olg glanced at Damen from behind the side, this old man must be more than 10 years younger than Princess Sissi, perhaps he had seen the young and beautiful Sissi when he was a child. Perhaps he was attracted by Sissi's beauty and temperament at that time, and the infatuation of his youth lasted until middle age and even old age, or perhaps it had become an indelible mark on his life.

Of course, this is Olge's imagination, and perhaps nothing has happened, nothing more

Olg is now certain that, after the victory in the last war, Hungary was the equal of Austria in the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. It had gradually been relegated to a secondary position that was unacceptable to the Hungarian aristocracy.

Long before the war, Count Esther von Tissau, the Prime Minister of Hungary, had strongly opposed an invasion of Serbia because it might provoke an attack by the Russians, and he felt that after the annexation of Serbia, Hungary's status in the empire would be reduced to a very small partner of Austria, but Tissau reluctantly agreed to support Austria thanks to the deceptive assurances of the Austrian Foreign Minister, Count Belcidowd. As a result, the annexation of large territories in Serbia and Italy threw Austria and Hungary out of balance. Austria, which contributed the most troops and contributed the most money in the war, also achieved the greatest results. Now not only the Navy. Even the army was dominated by Austrian generals, and in the central government of Austria-Hungary, Hungarian influence was waning.

This. It was also the reason why the Damen family were desperate to put Gitaffel Lenz in the position of crown prince, and after this hope was dashed, they began to turn to the side of the Germans for their own interests and status.

Because of this, Lieutenant General Olg of the German Army stayed in Budapest for more than a week, while the German troops entering Bohemia halted their unstoppable advance in the Hungarian border area.

The Kaiser's will was to give Hungary another week to consider, whether it was weighing it or waiting, in short, a week later. The Hungarians had to make their choice between secession from Austria-Hungary or joining Austria-Hungary in accepting a formidable German challenge.

After four years of Vienna rule, secession was not an easy affair for Damen Ferenc and his family, or for Hungary as a whole.

Walking to another fresco, Damen stopped again, looked up at the handsome young soldier on the fresco, and said:

"Look at how heroic His Majesty the Emperor Ao is in military uniform!"

"Ground is true!" Olg agreed with Damen. The frescoes depict people with handsome faces, piercing eyes, grass-green uniforms, striking medals, delicate swords, shiny leather boots, and tall horses, with fierce battles going on in the background, and the people in the painting look into the distance, as if waiting for news of victory.

It is a pity that with the exception of the 1864 UDP wars against Denmark and the 1914 UDE-Germany wars against Britain, France, Russia and Serbia, Franz Joseph I never won a single war, which is a great irony of his military status. Joseph I, despite his diligence, was battered by defeat and disaster, losing in 1859 to the Franco-Sardinian coalition, in 1866 to Prussia, in 1889 to his only son, Rudolf, then Crown Prince, in 1898 to his beloved, in 1914 to his nephew Ferdinand, then to the Crown Prince, in 1915 to his nephew Karl, and in 1916, when the candle was extinguished in the wind, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was already on the verge of collapse.

"I've never been in a war, but I love wearing a uniform, it gives me confidence, self-esteem and perseverance, which is very important to me!" It is not taboo that Damen revealed the fact that he had never fought as a Hungarian field marshal, in fact, it is not surprising that he received a military rank because of his noble status in Europe, look at the monarchs of those large and small countries, all of them wear beautiful military uniforms in public, in fact, there are few real military commanders.

Olg listened silently beside Damen.

"General!" Damen suddenly turned his head to look at Olge, "Do you think it's better to keep these murals here as historical relics, or to tear them down and send them to the museum?" ”

"This ......," Org didn't know how to answer.

At this time, Gitaffe Lenz behind him interjected: "Historical things should always have their own destiny, don't you say? Grandfather! ”

Damen shifted his body and turned his gaze to his grandson, who had a bad habit of doing things in front of him and behind his back, but this could not be more politically suitable.

After making a slight eye contact with Damen's gaze, Ge Qi bowed his head respectfully.

Taking advantage of this short gap, Olge thought of his lines: "Then it depends on whether your country is ready to take this Buda Palace as a historical memorial, or a future imperial palace!" ”

Damen looked at Olg and smiled.

The three of them continued to walk forward.

When the palace was built, it was not expected that the Emperor would deign to stay here for a long time, so its symbolic significance far outweighed its usefulness, as time has proven.

At the end of this corridor, Damen suddenly said:

"If His Majesty the Kaiser does not mind, I intend to renovate this palace with the 20 million Marco he has financed and make it a symbol of Hungarian-German friendship!"

Olge still didn't quite understand what the old man was up to, so he had to respond: "Since the funds have been funded by Your Excellency, it is naturally up to Your Excellency to decide how to use them!" ”

Then Damen's tone became very pertinent: "Then please tell His Excellency the General that if he has time and Yaxing, he can come and stay in this palace built for him, and I and all the citizens of Hungary are waiting for his arrival!" ”

Unfortunately, His Majesty the Kaiser did not intend to bring Hungary under his rule, and sometimes a large country was not necessarily a good thing, and it might be better to make a country his vassal than to annex it, at least without a lot of problems.

After dark, Damen Ferenc entertained German guests and Budapest's leading nobles in the palace. Since its enthronement in 1867, the palace has not been so lively for nearly half a century.

That night, in a secret telegram sent to Berlin, Org wrote:

Paying tribute to His Majesty the Kaiser, the Hungarian aristocracy still expects to join the German Empire as a state, and our country can exert a certain military deterrence, coupled with diplomatic persuasion, and finally achieve the goal of inducing Hungary to become independent.