With the arrival of the Prussian emissaries, the fate of all of Europe was in the hands of the tsar.

And the tsar was in no hurry to make a decision.

It is impossible to say that for the sake of balance, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was immediately sent to beat up, which is not the style of Tsarist Russia.

Alexander didn't even need to inquire to know that Britain must be in a hurry now.

After sending off the envoy, his sleepiness had completely disappeared, and he immediately summoned all the ministers to the Winter Palace to discuss.

Gorchakov and others, who rushed to hear the news, were very supportive of the Tsar's decision, and they could never work for Prussia for nothing.

"Your Majesty, I think we should wait and see what happens, and wait until Prussia can't hold on anymore before making a move."

Alexander nodded, that's exactly what he thought, although there was no idea of expanding to Prussia for the time being, but the neighboring countries could cut a little bit.

And only in the real crisis of life and death, Prussia will be willing to give enough benefits.

The emissaries who came to seek an alliance this time only said that Galicia and Hungary could be handed over to Russia after the war, and did not say anything else.

Jokes, Russia really entered the war, these things are called trophies, and only the benefits given by the allies are called benefits.

And to be honest, Russia really didn't have much interest in the territory of Austria-Hungary.

If he could, Alexander would prefer to remain deterred on the sidelines and use diplomacy to resolve the issue when the battle was in an uncertain situation.

As Gorchakov finished speaking, the rest of the ministers expressed their thoughts in turn.

"Britain has to do something good, too."

"At least £10 million interest-free loans."

"Prussia is going to hand over Memel."

"Silesia is ours."

……

The more people talked, the more outrageous it became, especially for the conditions of Prussia, I am afraid that Austria-Hungary would not dare to open like this if it really won the war.

They all know that there is no point in saying this now, everything depends on the development of the situation later, and it is just to say it to please the Tsar.

And they did succeed, Alexander laughed when he heard this, and finally raised his eyebrows, and relieved himself of the pain of being suppressed by Britain and the rest of the Western countries for all these years.

While the Hermitage was singing and dancing, the time quietly came to 8 a.m. on March 7.

None of the officers on the Austro-Prussian border received an order for a ceasefire in the country, which only meant one thing - that Prussia did not give in.

The war has begun!

As soon as the war began, Austria-Hungary showed great aggression, and the troops deployed in Linz and Prague immediately began to advance in the direction of the west and northwest.

The 2nd Division of the Southern Army, consisting mainly of Austrians and Bohemians, the elite of the Wehrmacht, was advancing non-stop along the Isar River, a tributary of the Danube.

Munich was less than 150 kilometers from the 2nd Division's station, and if no one stopped them, they would be in the heart of South Germany in three days at the earliest.

But this was impossible, and in just an hour they were met with a Prussian army to block it.

At this time, the troops of both Prussia and Austria on the border were about 200,000, which was distributed on a vast front of nearly 1,000 kilometers, and it was no different from hide and seek.

Coupled with the lack of fortifications on the Austro-Prussian border, the war between the two sides can be said to be a field battle that opened the fog of war.

Unlike the Fao-Austrian form of the battlefield, the war here was mainly fought in divisions and regiments.

Inefficient defenses have caused the zones of control on both sides to change constantly.

In the face of the Prussian army, the Austrian gunners, who had long been ready for battle, immediately began to pour firepower, and the Krupp steel guns on the opposite side also launched a counterattack.

The terrain on the Austro-Prussian border is relatively flat, dominated by forests, hills and plains, and neither the attackers nor the defenders will suffer too much terrain penalty.

In such small- and medium-sized battles, the performance of the Krupp steel cannon was fully revealed, although since the start of the Franco-Prussian war last year, countries have been intensively developing relevant artillery, but it is difficult to achieve any results in a short period of time.

The artillery fire of the 2nd Division was suppressed almost immediately.

Fortunately, it was already March, and it was raining on almost half of the front, as was the place where the 2nd Division was located.

Muddy roads and blurred lines of sight hindered Prussia's further play.

The commander of the Austro-Hungarian Southern Army, General Benedek, was at this time operating with the 2nd Division, and he did not panic at all when he saw his side at a disadvantage, because this was exactly what they expected.

At present, the only troops engaged in the battle on both sides are the original border troops, and the Austro-Hungarian Wehrmacht is still scattered in various parts of the country, so it is not possible to reach the front line in the first place.

These troops were scattered in order to disrupt the line of sight, and it took time to mobilize.

Ideally, Austria-Hungary would have up to 400,000 field troops in just one week.

According to a meeting of the military headquarters a few hours ago, it would take three to four weeks for Prussia to smooth out this superiority in forces.

The time difference was enough for them to do a lot of things, not to mention that Prussia would mobilize, and they would too.

Even if Hungary does not do anything, Neletania alone will be enough to mobilize hundreds of thousands of more troops.

This battle will be won!

But the slap in the face came quickly, and the battle continued until the early hours of the next morning, when, amid the earth-shattering artillery fire, an adjutant trotted over and whispered something in Benedek's ear.

"The 4th Division is repulsed, let's retreat?" Benedek asked with a frown.

"Yes, according to reliable sources, the Prussian army, which defeated the 4th Division, is heading north, and if we do not withdraw, there is a risk of being surrounded." The adjutant said loudly.

Benedek turned his head and glanced at the battlefield, and the situation was not optimistic.

The reason why he was so sure was that he felt that the reinforcements from the friendly side would arrive soon, and then he would be able to win by attacking from both sides.

I didn't expect that there was a two-sided attack, but the victims were them.

"Damn it." Benedek cursed, and then signed several orders in succession, ordering the front-line soldiers to return immediately.

……

What happened to Benedek was only a microcosm, including the armies in Bohemia, which suffered defeats of varying degrees.

Obviously, things did not go as smoothly as Austria-Hungary thought.

Inside the Hofburg Palace, Emperor Franz was furious.

"The front-line soldiers are fighting bloodily, and you told me that there are no spare shifts?"

Yes, this was precisely the main reason for the defeat of the 4th Division - the reinforcements did not arrive on time.

The General Staff had only plans for how to attack / defend Prussia, and these plans did not include how to transfer troops to the front.

Because of the emperor's concealment measures, it was not until the beginning of the war that the General Staff began to draw up a temporary deployment plan.

In a matter of hours, a plan to transport 200,000 troops with complex composition and complex garrisons to the front with equipment by mixed public-private railways is clearly beyond the capacity of this institution, which has only been established for less than five years.

Don't say it's them, whoever comes will be blind.