Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

The news that made Franz a little sad and laughed was that Austria had twice rejected the agreement to annex Montenegro at the negotiating table, and not long ago even rejected the initiative of the Archbishop of Montenegro.

But now something even more outrageous happened, when Montenegrins revolted to join the Austrian Empire, overthrowing the regime that had ruled the country since 1389.

Montenegro was a theocratic state, and although it was surrounded by the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years, it never surrendered.

However, the country is not really a clerical state, and the church is only the nominal leader, but in fact it is controlled by several large local families.

Franz hated such an overly powerful region, and there were already too many such powerful "warlords" in the Austrian Empire.

In fact, the reason why Montenegrins want to join the Austrian Empire so much is mainly because they have seen the changes in Western Bosnia over the years.

The former "Raiya" became the owners of the land, and they were given a large amount of food, farm tools, clothing, and even weapons.

(The Ottoman word for "raiya" means livestock, or the so-called third class, which in the past was apparently Bosnian, the second was the more numerous Serbs, and the third was the Croats.) ）

Those "Laiya" used to be "free-range" livestock of Montenegrins, and the land of Montenegro was too mountainous and barren to grow crops on a large scale or feed too many livestock.

Therefore, the local population has not exceeded 100,000 for a long time, and in fact, the local land resources can provide food supply for two-thirds of the population at most.

Plunder is necessary, almost everyone in Montenegro is a robber, living by robbery all year round, and of course if the price is right, they will also go to work as mercenaries.

Known for their ferocity and bloodthirstiness, the Montenegrin Army was an excellent hunter and a nightmare for the defenders of the city.

The Montenegrin army climbed the city walls with red cloaks and steel swords, and their appearance almost became the stereotype of barbarian siegers in Europe.

After the 19th century, Montenegro's population swelled to more than 130,000.

But with the annexation of Western Bosnia to Austria, the "cattle" who had only been hiding in the corner and shivering took up arms at this time, and never took half a step back in the face of the invaders.

The wisdom of the robbers is that "persimmons should be pinched softly", so they had to go to the territory of the Ottoman Empire to plunder.

However, the Ottoman barren land could not support the "huge" population of Montenegro at this time, and further progress would deprive them of the protection of the mountains, and they would be easily routed by cavalry if they fell into Pingyang.

This group of outlaws in the highlands had repeatedly jumped between the Habsburgs and Tsarist Russia, so the Austrian Empire had a very low opinion of this rotten land.

In fact, in order to prevent Montenegro from falling to the Austrian side, Russia provided them with an annual allowance. (from 1796 onwards)

However, this allowance was only 10,000 rubles per year, which was too little for Montenegro in 1844. Compared to the miserly tsar, the Habsburgs were simply too generous.

The latter gave autonomy to the "raiyas" of Western Bosnia, and then tens of millions of florins per year. Schools, hospitals, churches have been built, and Austrians have even built railways here.

The region of Western Bosnia is suitable for the growth of helichrysum, a very precious spice in Europe in the nineteenth century.

At the same time, due to the development of Chinese medicine in the Austrian Empire, the demand for Chinese herbal medicine was also surging, and it was obviously impractical to transport them from Asia.

Then the poor countryside of Western Bosnia was found to be very suitable for the cultivation of some Chinese herbal medicines, especially aristolochiaceae.

Moreover, the royal farm has a special person to check it, at least those farmers will never have to worry about how to sell their products.

Of course, the money will eventually go back to Franz, after all, the peasants need to spend, and almost all the local industries belong to the royal family.

In any case, the people of Western Bosniak did get rich and could live with dignity, which was the envy of Montenegrins.

As a result, the Archbishop of Montenegro came to Vienna to ask for rein, but the Austrian side was very disgusted with him, and it was difficult to be satisfactory both in terms of history and his behavior.

Franz tried his best to prevent it, and although Austria was treated as warm and friendly to the Croats, he knew very well that it was only for the Germans.

In fact, the Croats are not generally xenophobic, and Franz's partition of things is afraid of a repeat of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

And the Serbs and the Croats are still of the same origin, and if it were a Montenegrin Franz, he really didn't know what this group of guys could do.

Now the Montenegrins have made an uprising, and they directly hung up the double eagle flag, leaving Franz speechless.

In fact, the regency council members were also speechless.

"I've never seen anyone so brazen! They say they're Austrians and they're Austrians?! Did we agree?! "Count Korolav took the case.

Metternich: "Don't worry, I think the Russians and the Ottomans may have different opinions.."

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, the Russian Ambassador congratulates our country."

"Prime Minister, Ambassador Osman congratulates my country"

"Smack" This time it was Metternich's turn to smash the cup.

"These damn bastards! Why didn't you protest today?! ”

Count Latour: "Why are you doing this?" I think the terrain of Montenegro is good, but don't forget the grand plan of Joseph the Great."

"Then there was civil strife, and the people were miserable? What's the use of that rotten land?! Count Korolav sarcastically said.

Count Latour: "You said that Western Bosnia was also a rotten land, but it has only been a few years since it became a model colony"

(For the Austrian aristocracy, Western Bosnia was actually more regarded as a colony than as a territory of the Austrian Empire, even if it held the title of royal domain.) ）

Count Korolav snorted coldly and said, "Do you know how much money the empire has to invest in Western Bosnia every year? Do you know how much the royal family has invested in West Bosnia?

You don't know! That's enough money to expand the Austrian Empire's army to 600,000! ”

"So much?" The Count of Latour looked incredulous.

"So what now? But if they want to join us, should we send troops to stop them? ”

Metternich: "That's the way. We can send an army to help Montenegro restore order."

"What about the royal family's opinion?"

Grand Duke Louis: "I think it's a good thing that Montenegro joins, after all, there is an extra local tax. ”

Count Korollaf: "It's the largest bandit den in all of Europe, and if you don't want to fight the bandits every day, you'd better dispel it."

The final decision rested with Emperor Ferdinand I and his younger brother, Archduke Franz Karl.

(End of chapter)