Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Metternich was shocked by the news that Archduke Albrecht had led his army, along with his bodyguard and Franz's Royal Dragoon Regiment and the 1,000 elite troops drawn from the garrison near Vienna.

It is extraordinary that these five thousand men alone dared to attack Belgium and Holland; According to common sense, no matter how well-equipped this army is and how brave the soldiers are, this move is no different from sending them to death.

Another point is that as a member of the royal family, Albrecht led the army to another meaning – representing the attitude of the royal family.

Although Metternich tried to suppress belligerent rhetoric through the public opinion position, the spectacular scene of thousands of officers and soldiers boarding the train at the railway station was captured clearly by the citizens of Vienna.

This is more lethal than 100,000 newspapers, not to mention that the banner of the German Confederation Volunteer Army is simply a weapon of swagger and deception.

Austria itself has a tradition of volunteering; Well, the news of the departure for Luxembourg in droves of soldiers from all over the country soon spread to the rest of the German states, and the locals followed suit, so much so that the government could not stop them.

Albrecht was an impulsive and not reckless young man, and the reason why he was so resolute was that Archduke Franz had the advice behind his back, so that he could not hesitate.

"Your Highness, what did you say to Archduke Albrecht? Did you know? You have provoked an armed conflict on the European continent. Originally, it was a war within the German Confederation, and now our country is also involved in it. ”

Metternich looked very helpless, and he was obviously embarrassed by the sudden change, as it seemed that the clever student had not been able to convince the teacher.

"I'm just telling him one thing, soldiers are fast."

Franz calmly replied that since he could not make the other party believe his judgment, it would be better to prove it with practical actions.

"But now this is a lonely army, once the Archduke Albrecht is defeated and captured, it will be a political disaster for the empire."

Metternich said earnestly, he still admired Franz's previous strategy of combining vertical and horizontal, although it seemed fanciful, but there was some operability.

But at this moment, it was simply stupid to act rashly, which really made him feel regretful, could it be that the empire really fell into the hands of a reckless man?

However, the seemingly naïve diplomatic strategy and seemingly unscrupulous brute force are actually a combination of punches.

However, Franz was not interested in talking about an old man in his seventies at this time, so he replied indifferently.

"Prime Minister, the way you want to avoid a political catastrophe now is neither to complain nor to question me. Rather, it is necessary to fully support the actions of the Archduke Albrecht. ”

A child's remarks made Metternich inevitably feel a little unhappy, but due to the identity and situation of the other party, he really had no time to delay, and he had to fully support this reckless and stupid war.

"I would also like to solemnly remind you that Britain is indeed strong, but it is not invulnerable. If you don't even have the courage to challenge, then you might as well swim to the other side of the channel and become an Englishman. ”

Franz's slightly mocking words made the old prime minister stop, but he still did not choose to turn back and walked away.

When Metternich had gone away, Franz turned to the shadows and said, "Archbishop, there are 1.6 million German-speaking Catholics in Belgium, and if they don't want to live in Holland, I hope they can reach the empire safely." Can you do it? ”

"It is the duty of the Church to educate the world and protect the faithful, and my generation will do our best."

Franz nodded, but he didn't expect that at the critical moment, the most unreliable person was the most reliable.

Due to the activities of the Church, the resistance of the people of the Belgian region was not fierce.

Of course, Franz also explained to Archduke Albrecht the three major disciplines, the eight points of attention, preferential treatment of prisoners of war, and so on.

Franz and the gambling Showa staff officers and Juncker officers were not the same kind of people. Regardless of whether Albrecht wins or loses, the goal of knocking the mountain and shaking the tiger has been achieved, and the rest is the garbage time.

Of course, he didn't think that his uncle would have any accidents, if he could be defeated by an unsuspecting opponent while taking advantage of the time, place and people, then he would better pack up and give up the battle for hegemony.

Gathering the country's carefully selected elite troops, equipped with the most advanced weapons of the moment, relying on the tactics of rapid troop transportation against unsuspecting enemies, and a large amount of detailed intelligence, even the Belgians asked God to bring steel helmets could not win this battle.

In the eyes of a few sharp-eyed people, this was the first time that railways were used in warfare.

According to common sense, it will take 1-3 months for the German state to increase the number of troops; Such a large-scale operation to Luxembourg would have taken about two months; Unified scheduling and assignment of tasks wastes another 1-2 weeks.

(At this time, the speed of rapid marching in Austria was 15~20 kilometers per day, and the speed of forced marching was 30~40 kilometers per day, but most of the time the marching speed was about 10 kilometers.)

During the Battle of Solflino, the Second Italian War of Independence, the Austrians marched 1.5 kilometers a day. ）

With the transport capacity of the Empire at this time, there was no problem at all in sending 3,000-4,000 soldiers to Luxembourg every day. It is not impossible to double that number if we go full throttle, but that would affect the economy and trade.

However, this figure is exaggerated when enlarged to the entire German Confederation, which was able to send more than 20,000 troops every day.

So in a very short period of time, more than 100,000 volunteers from the German Confederation gathered in the Luxembourg area.

After Franz and his subordinates reviewed the materials and investigations, it was found that although France had 150,000 troops in the north, only 20,000 troops of General Jean Dourd could rush to the front line within a week, and it would take at least half a month for other troops to enter the Franco-Belgian border.

Theoretically, the French should not send troops to go deep alone, after all, there is a hidden danger that the risk is too high; And when their forces are assembled, they will suddenly find that the number of opponents is beyond their imagination, and there is a high probability that they have completed the set goal.

By that time, unless the French had gone mad, it would be too late to intervene, since the hundreds of thousands of troops entrenched in Wallonia and Fleish were not dry.

On the other hand, even if the French really didn't care about the fate and wrestled with the German Confederation, the Russians and the British would not share the same fate with it.

At this moment, the Russian economy has been bound to the Austrian market, and the two sides are separated by the Carpathian Mountains, and the Russian army fighting in Poland is obviously insufficient, and it may take three months or even half a year to transfer troops from South Russia and Siberia.

As for the Anglo-Saxons, they are born merchants; There is a high probability that they will turn back on their neighbors across the sea and confiscate the French colonies. This was the best option for Britain, and even the unification of the Netherlands could not threaten their interests.

Both Prussia and Austria were land powers, and both members of the German Confederation were in a competitive relationship, which weakened France but also made the European continent's military power more balanced.

(At this time, Prussia was inferior to France, both economically and militarily.) ）

However, the war did not go exactly according to Franz's estimates, and the emergence of Jean Durd and the gambling tactics of Moltke Sr. changed the situation.

(End of chapter)