Istanbul, Ottoman Empire.

"Hello, Dear Sultan. I am the Imperial Chancellor of Austria, Clemens Wentzel von Metternich, and it is an honour to meet you. ”

"Hello, Mr. Metternich. It's an honor to meet you, it's just that you're a little older than I thought. McGid said.

Metternich wasn't too surprised by McGid's ridicule. After all, the young sultan's teacher was Viscount Canning Stratford.

The architect of the British weakening of Austrian influence was his cousin George Canning, and the relationship between Metternich and Canning was arguably abysmal.

George Canning prides himself on being the architect of the New World Order, and his arch-rival is Metternich, and the two are born of a woman.

Young Canning fell in love with a married woman, while the noblewoman fell in love with the more mature and stable Metternich. The noblewoman later committed suicide because she could not be with Metternich, but her husband found Canning's letter to the noblewoman while collecting his wife's belongings.

The noblewoman's husband asked for a duel with Canning, who won the duel and killed him, but he was not at all happy, and instead regarded Metternich as a lifelong enemy.

Viscount Stratford, Canning's cousin, knew of his cousin's feud with Metternich and blamed Metternich for his bizarre death.

It is unusual for Canning to die suddenly after only 100 days in power.

Viscount Stratford knew that his cousin had always been physically strong, and that Cunning was at the peak of his life after two diplomatic victories that would go down in history.

After meeting Metternich, his condition suddenly deteriorated, and Viscount Stratford felt that Metternich was the devil for all this.

But in fact, Metternich's meeting with Canning was just a routine affair to send blessings to the new British prime minister.

Aside from the personal feud between Metternich and Canning, the reason why Macgid behaved so contemptuously was more due to the decline in the power and international standing of the Austrian Empire.

Of course, the first step to becoming a qualified diplomat is to abandon personal honor and disgrace, but it does not mean that he will accept the insult of the other party, after all, negotiations can only be established by standing on an equal footing.

If you put your posture too low, it will not be easy to succeed.

"Dear Sultan, you are more naïve than I thought."

Metternich's remark was both a response to the other side and a point to the Ottomans' naïve belief that Britain alone would solve the problem at hand.

At the same time, it was also a reminder that the Ottoman Sultan should not be so frivolous as a ruler, and it was a signal that Austria was not a country to be humiliated.

But the other party didn't seem to hear it, and McJid spoke.

"I think the word young is more appropriate for you, and if you're not good at English, I also speak French."

McGid's words embarrassed the London-speaking Metternich, who did not dislike the other party's country accent, but the other party disliked him. Metternich wanted to laugh, but held back, it was rude after all.

"No, I insist that my words are not misused. By the way, I would like you to speak German if you can. ”

McJid obviously doesn't speak German, and the other party knows that he is not sincere. But the other party did not leave or give up immediately, which means that Metternich did have important matters to discuss on this trip.

McGid was not a complete fool, he knew that the British did not really help the Ottoman Empire, and sooner or later they would show their fangs like the Russians. Now you might as well listen to the conditions of the Austrians, if the conditions are not good, they will not agree, and there is nothing to lose anyway.

"Prime Minister, being honest is good for both of us."

Taking advantage of the contradictions between the great powers and taking the opportunity to make profits in order to gain time and space for their own development, McJid had a good idea.

But he miscalculated one thing

"There is a place in your country called Bosnia, where Catholics are persecuted, so my government lodges a solemn protest."

"Bosnia?" It's not that McJid doesn't know about this place, and it's not that he doesn't know that Catholics have been persecuted there for a long time, but they have been persecuted for hundreds of years, and you only mention it now? He also said that he was not robbing while the fire was burning!

However, the relationship between Turkey and Austria is a century-old feud, and Austria's fall is also reasonable, but why did you come to Istanbul to talk about it? They could have directly sent troops to occupy Bosnia.

McJid did not think that the few thousand defenders and militias in Bosnia could hold back the Austrian army of 100,000.

(At first, the Ottomans thought that Nordsavi had only 50,000 troops, but later intelligence revealed that it was actually 100,000 troops.)

There were 70,000 Ottoman troops near Serbia, but their mission was to hold Serbia and not to rescue Bosnia.

For the Ottoman Empire, Bosnia was an insignificant land, and as long as Serbia did not lose it, it would have little impact on the Ottoman Empire.

"Yes. It is the region of Bosnia, which is adjacent to the Austrian Empire, and we would like you to entrust it to us. Metternich continued.

This confirmed McGid's suspicions, and at the same time he breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately the Austrians did not have the idea of going to Serbia, otherwise the Ottoman Empire would really have trouble sleeping.

Russia to the north, Persia to the east, Egypt to the south, and Austria to the west.

If Austria had been allowed to take control of Serbia again, the Ottoman Empire would have been in a much worse position.

But Metternich's words were not finished.

"To this end, our country will help your vassal country, Serbia, to solve the problem of banditry and rebellion on its territory."

This sentence is telling McJid: You can leave the garrison on Serbian soil, otherwise you will be treated as bandits.

McJid's brain is racing, going to war with Austria? This is certainly not a wise move. Abandonment of Serbia and Bosnia? The tiger wolves around there will definitely be more unscrupulous.

Neither can fight, but also cannot make peace, and then he thought of the Russians. It was possible to counterbalance the Austrians with the Russians, and didn't the tsar call himself the protector of all the Slavs?

"You know, Prime Minister. We are allies of Russia and owe it to protect the Slavs in our territory."

"Dear Sultan, I know what you are worried about, and I know what you are relying on. The Russians have come to an agreement with us that Austria will not annex Serbia, rest assured. Our country also wants you to be our ally, which is beneficial to both countries. ”

Metternich's promise overwhelmed Megid, who had expected Austria to be jealous of the power of the Russians, and that the two countries were in a competing relationship with each other, and that they had reached some kind of agreement with each other.

McJid did not believe in the Austrians' promises, and now he could only hope that the British would defeat Egypt as soon as possible, and then support him in maintaining the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire.

At this time, a chamberlain hurriedly ran in, and McGid immediately frowned.

However, the chamberlain didn't seem to see it, and just said thoughtlessly.

"Here it is. Here they come."

"Who's coming?"

"The fleet of the British .."

McGid pushed the chamberlain away and ran to the window in ecstasy.

(End of chapter)