After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary held various rallies to mourn the death of the crown prince. Secretly, however, Austria-Hungary was engaged in various preparations for war.

The support of the two allies was particularly crucial for Austria-Hungary. So Vienna has put some thought into this, especially for Italy.

Today, Vienna's central train station is surrounded by military and police officers, and no one is allowed to break in. For there is a noble man who is going to leave here in a car. What happened to the crown prince before made these military and police officers dare not relax their vigilance, because if something happens to this nobleman, it will be more terrible than the assassination of the crown prince.

So who is this nobleman?

That's right, it's Queen Maria of Italy, the Italian queen from the Habsburg family, who should have been at Ferdinand's funeral when he died, let alone her brother's.

Yes, Queen Maria and Archduke Ferdinand both had a common father, and that was Archduke Carl Ludwig. However, the two were born to the second and third wives of the Grand Duke respectively, plus the generation gap caused by the age gap (the difference between the two is 13 years), so this also leads to the relationship between the two is not very close.

And after Maria married into the House of Savoy. Contacts with the Habsburgs were much less and were largely limited to a dozen letters to his mother each year.

Even his son Vittorio has only seen his maternal grandparents a few times since he was a child.

The reason for all this is the delicate relationship between Rome and Vienna. The mutual relations between the two countries are far less intimate than with Germany. Yes, Italy and Austria have close relations with Germany, but they have become difficult to deal with in terms of their relations with each other, and this is due to many reasons.

First of all, for historical reasons, the Habsburgs ruled half of Italy in their glory days, and the subsequent results are known to everyone, after the decline of the Habsburgs, Italy took the opportunity to gain independence and unity, which of course was done with the help of other countries.

As we all know, independence with the help of others will certainly not be so wishful. As a matter of fact, Italy and Austria still have a lot of disputed territories. One of the most important is the Tyrolean region, as it is known. Although sparsely populated, this mountainous area is like a jutting point in northern Italy, overlooking the Po Plain, the most important grain and industrial region in northern Italy.

Such an important place was mastered by the Austrians, how do you let the Italians sleep.

This has also created a difficult relationship between the two countries. Even if Carlo marries Maria, this can only make the relationship between the two countries more friendly.

And this time Austria-Hungary wants to seek the support of Italy, then there will be some concessions in the Tyrolean region.

Of course, Vienna also had this psychological preparation, otherwise the diplomatic envoy who visited Italy, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Zorny, would not secretly disguise himself as Queen Maria's entourage and go to Rome with her.

"Queen, please first."

On the platform, Count Zorny stood behind the queen and whispered a reminder to her.

"Then I will be wronged by His Excellency the Earl."

"For the sake of the Habsburgs and the Reich, all this is as it should be."

The group then boarded the train back to Rome, which was luxurious enough for them to live comfortably on the train.

The speed of the special train is very fast because it does not need to stop at any platform, and trains along the line need to avoid it.

So early the next morning, the train arrived in Rome.

Then a long motorcade dragged the queen and the Austro-Hungarian envoy into the palace. Of course, the queen and her entourage were home, while Count Zorni and his party were led by their attendants to the conference room. Here, King Carlo, the prime minister, the military and others have been waiting for a long time.

After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Italy consulted with military and political officials. Regarding the assassination of the Grand Duke, many people believe that it will lead to the outbreak of war between the great powers.

That's right, unlike Austria-Hungary, which believed that Russia did not dare to act rashly with the support of Germany and Italy, the Italian side believed that this was very likely to lead to a confrontation between the two camps. The reason is simple, Russia cannot afford to lose Serbia, which would have devastating consequences for its influence in the Balkans.

Just as Russia did not dare to let go of Serbia, France did not dare to let go of Russia. This would lead to a reversal of its strategy, from two countries that could turn Germany into a two-sided war, and from France facing Germany alone.

And for Italy, the outbreak of war in Europe is also in line with Italy's needs. Because Italy's war readiness is almost underway, although there are still some war readiness plans that have not fully achieved the planned goals.

But as the saying goes, everything is afraid of comparison. Compared with Germany, Italy and Austria, which are not yet fully prepared, Britain, France and Russia should be preparing. At present, France is the most prepared of the three countries of the Entente, and only this year did France change the two-year military service system to three years, and the number of service-age personnel was changed from 21 to 45 years old to from 20 to 48 years old.

According to the plans of the French military, France was to complete its preparations for war in 1915. France is not bad, Russia needs to complete the preparations for the war, it needs to wait until 1916.

And from this, it can be seen that the combat readiness of the two sides is more adequate.

Based on this understanding, the senior Italian military and political officials believe that it cannot be dragged on. It is necessary to strike before the three Entente countries are ready. Even the place was negotiated, and that was Crete, where the civil war broke out.

Italy forcibly dared the island to fight in civil war, and then annexed the island to the Kingdom of Italy. Britain and Greece would never watch Italy annex Crete, which would be a good opportunity to start a major war in Europe.

However, the plan could not catch up with the change, and Austria-Hungary preemptively triggered its conflict with Serbia, and also took the life of its own crown prince.

That being the case, it is Italy's turn to negotiate demands. After all, who does not know the ambition of Austria-Hungary to annex Serbia.

In addition, Italy has territory in the Balkans, and it also happens to be separated from Austria-Hungary by Serbia to the north and south. In every respect, Austria-Hungary needed the support of Italy. Otherwise, it would not have been able to swallow Serbia at all.

"Count Zorny, welcome to Your Excellency."

Carlo took a group of military and political officials with him to welcome the envoy's arrival.

Looking at the King of Italy and his military and political officials who welcomed him, Count Zorny felt a lot of pressure.