"Bang, bang, bang,"

There was a knock on the door of the palace, and the visitor strode into the palace of Mahmud II without waiting for the news from the palace officials.

At the sight of the comer, both Mahmoud II and Grand Vizierfer Chak smiled awkwardly.

The person who came was none other than the British ambassador Palmerston, but this Englishman, who had no one in his sights, was the Ottoman Empire's greatest reliance at this time.

"A true Sultan should not put his sword in his sheath, but use it to punish those who are wicked." Palmerston's words, of course, meant something by implying that Mahmud II should use troops against Egypt to take back the rights that should have belonged to him.

Although Mahmud II had long hated Ali Pasha in Egypt, he was not ready to fight against Egypt.

The Ottoman army at this time had 350,000 men, almost twice the size of the Egyptian army.

The Ottoman navy also had an advantage over the Egyptian navy in terms of numbers, and in terms of capital ships, the Ottomans had 3 first-class battleships, 6 second-class battleships, and 6 third-class battleships.

And Egypt had only one battleship of the second class, fifteen battleships of the third class.

However, Mahmoud II was not sure of victory, and he was more worried about the intervention of the French, who had been fighting with Egypt at this time, especially when the French helped the Egyptians train their troops, which made him even more angry.

Recently, the Englishman Palmerston frequently hinted to Mahmoud II that he should use troops against Egypt, and Mahmoud II was curious about what the British wanted to do, he didn't want to be used as a gunman for no reason, and there was a group of crazy Russians behind him.

The fear of the Russians was the biggest reason why Mahmoud II did not dare to use troops against Egypt.

"Dear Mr. Palmerston, I don't understand what you mean." Mahmud II simply played dumb.

"Dear Sultan, you will soon understand, because the Egyptian Pasha Mohammed Ali has decided to refuse to pay you tribute. It's a blatant provocation, and I think you know what it means, this shameless thief is about to take your country. ”

"War?"

Palmerston's words shocked Mahmoud II, who thought that Muhammad Ali would join him in choosing to stay in the dark rather than choose to break openly because it would be bad for both the Ottomans and Egypt.

Manio Palace, Egypt.

Ali picked up his gold diamond-encrusted pipe and took a hard sip, the smoke that made the French envoy cough.

"I'm sorry, sir. Choked you, what did Prime Minister Thiers say? Ali said with concern.

"It's okay Ahem, Prime Minister Thiers said that France will always be a friend of Egypt, and he would like to see you go further." The French envoy said.

Ali's hanging heart was put down, everything was in his hands, as long as he had the support of the French, he could defeat the British, because he had signed an agreement with the Russians, as long as the Russians could abide by the agreement, then the Ottoman Empire would eventually become history, and he, Ali would become the only sultan in this world.

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

When they were reunited after a few months of absence from Friedrich, Franz asked with a strange feeling.

"Why hasn't it been a year, uncle, you haven't grown taller at all?"

Archduke Friedrich was less than 160 centimeters tall, while his eldest brother was 185 centimeters tall, a slight difference.

"You're not as tall as me!" Friedrich roared angrily.

"I'm only eight years old." Franz blinked, "I've grown eight centimeters this year." ”

"It's amazing to grow tall! I was taller than you before I was eight years old! Be careful to be the same as me in the future! ”

Apparently height was a taboo for Archduke Friedrich, so Franz "comforted" him.

"It is said that Napoleon was not tall either."

"Don't compare me to the Corsicans! You stinky boy! ”

Enraged, Archduke Friedrich tried to pounce on Franz, but was restrained by Talia and Adjani.

Talia is 175 cm, Adjani is 168 cm, Friedrich looks at his feet that have left the ground, his heart is like ashes, obviously the height of the two girls makes Friedrich feel even inferior, so Friedrich is carried back to his seat.

Talia was about to comfort Friedrich, but Adjani gave her a look and told her to leave.

Because Adjani could see that Friedrich was very concerned about height, and boys of this age were easily impulsive.

And his identity is a royal duke, so he doesn't necessarily take into account Talia's status as a woman.

"Uncle Friedrich, does growing sprouts in the water help the water quality?" Franz decided to change the subject, after all, talking about other people's shortcomings is not a virtue.

"Don't mention it, you dare to say that it's all your bean sprouts, which makes the whole boat upset." Friedrich said indignantly, apparently he was deeply affected.

“.”

Bean sprouts have some laxative effects, but as long as you don't eat them every day, there should be nothing wrong, is it a special variety of bean sprouts here in Europe?

"Uncle Friedrich, what do you usually eat on the ship?"

"Bean sprouts! Didn't you say that it can also replenish vitamins and purify water? ”

"Why didn't I kill you," Franz said to himself.

"Uncle Friedrich, you can eat something else, don't stare at those sprouts all day. Also, hasn't your steamship been successfully retrofitted? If you have a steam ship, you can use a steam engine to boil water and drink it. ”

"I had some problems, that is, most steam cargo ships are not suitable for conversion into warships, so I decided to build my own and expect to be launched by the end of the year."

"Yes"

Franz was about to speak when Friedrich interrupted him.

"I know what you're trying to say, you don't have to worry, the training of the Marine Corps is basically complete. The performance of this unit is sure to surprise the world, and the Imperial Marines of Austria are sure to make a name for themselves. ”

Although he did not want to pour cold water on Friedrich, the performance of the Austrian Empire really could not be too dazzling. Because the Austrian Empire at this time did not have enough strength, in Central Europe, the land of four wars, it was also a trouble to be too dazzling.

"Uncle Friedrich, this is not a battle to be celebrated."

"Don't worry, I know what you mean. I also have Plan B, and I have found people who can cooperate with us within the Egyptian army. Archduke Friedrich said.

"Who? Those Jews? Franz blurted out that it was a very bad habit, but he had recently heard something that had made him unconsciously reveal his thoughts.

"Jews? No, no, no, I don't want to deal with those people. Grand Duke Friedrich shook his head.

"That's?"

"The Karamanli family, they are willing to help us, inside and out."

"But cooperating with the Karamanli family may have a bad impact on the reputation of the empire and the family."

The Karamanli family is notorious Barbary pirates.

(End of chapter)