The Omani Empire's assertiveness was unexpected by the British, who had the impression that the Austrians had been at odds with the Arabs for centuries.

Moreover, according to the intelligence of the Indians, there were fierce clashes between Austria and the Omani Empire in the Zanzibar region.

The most important thing is that from the perspective of the British, it was Austria that took away Bagamoyo and at the same time invaded a large part of the Omani Empire's territory in East Africa, so the two sides should be inseparable if not on the same page.

But Said's harshly worded reply made the British suspicious of the Indians' intelligence work, after all, Ah San was not very reliable in their stereotype.

However, the attitude of the Omani Empire did disrupt the British deployment, and it was not difficult for the British to deal with Oman and Austria alone, but it was difficult for the two to be put together.

At least the British would not be able to call in a nearby detachment to ensure victory, but if they were to move troops from elsewhere, a vacuum would be created that would greatly affect Britain's global dominance.

In fact, since some time, British diplomacy has been in a passive position, and it seems that all countries are targeting Britain.

The days when a single mouth could stir things up seem to be over, the cost of diplomatic action is getting higher and higher, and the great powers, even the little-known small ones, are beginning to doubt the "good intentions" of the British Empire.

Gone are the once puppet-licking dogs, replaced by a group of hunters who are either hostile or vigilant.

The British themselves recognized this and tried to reverse the situation, but for some reason it was as if an invisible hand was pushing them back to square one.

And the situation continues to worsen over time.

Once upon a time, the British government only had to raise the volume a little, and the French government of Guizot would agree to all conditions, even if it made the French dig out their hearts.

Once, no matter how Britain tried to rectify Austria and weaken its influence, Metternich would stand firmly on Britain's side as its most loyal ally.

At one time, no matter what nonsense the British government said, Nesherlov was willing to fully believe and do everything in his power to lobby the tsarist government for Britain.

The Dutch, Portugal and the like had to cede overseas interests in order to be qualified to lick the toes of England, while Prussia was not even qualified to lick the dogs.

What is Brazil, the Viceroyalty of La Plata? How dare Indians rebel? Shouldn't Nanyang be the UK's food basket?

But by this time everything had changed, and France dared to strike hard at Britain even in the depths of an internal crisis.

The Austrians were even more Italian, Hungarian, Bohemian (Czech, at that time the concept of the Czech nation was not widely accepted. And the German nationalists chose to fight the British.

The engagement with the Austrian navy was completely unexpected by the British side, and in fact no one in the British hierarchy expected the Austrian navy to break out of the Adriatic Sea.

Not to mention that Britain had already set up a checkpoint in Albania, from a purely strategic point of view, the Austrian Navy should also support the Venetian battlefield or directly attack the Papal States to copy the back path of the Italians.

As for the Russians, their previous bad signals turned into complete ignorance. In other words, Britain at this time had lost its influence on Russia.

Britain's influence over other small powers was also declining, and at a time when Prussia was intent on encroaching on Schleswig, their king announced the annexation of Prussia to Germany.

Although the Germans thought it strange to hear the words of Wilhelm IV, the British had their own understanding, and their understanding made them think that the matter was not trivial.

John Russell even had a bit of a sense of being a soldier, and he thought it might be a trap as well. And the purpose of the other side is the British North Sea Fleet, but who is plotting, Denmark? Is Sweden? Is it Russia? Or all of them?

A sense of nervousness and unease spread among the British hierarchy, at a time when the news of the collapse of the Mediterranean Fleet was still a piece of gossip that was dismissed as an April Fool's joke.

If this news is made public, then the cabinet will definitely resign en masse at this time to apologize.

Because Britain has not had a precedent for the total annihilation of a major fleet in a hundred years, this inglorious record is enough to nail them to the pillar of shame.

Previously, in the Turkish-Egyptian War and in the South Seas, they had already created a history of the annihilation of the detachment fleet and the mixed fleet.

Now the entire Mediterranean Fleet is even nowhere to be found, because no news of the silence of the Mediterranean Fleet has been received, so the British official tentatively is defeated and missing.

Palmerston was also depressed, because he had tried and tested the trick of driving the tiger and devouring the wolf, and when did the Arabs talk so much?

Just when the British top brass was wondering, the intelligence services found a piece of information that had been sent a few years earlier. Intelligence revealed that a Grand Duke of the Habsburg royal family had married a princess of the Omani Empire.

"The Lower Body Fortress of All Evils!"

This was the unifying thinking in the minds of the British top brassers at this time, but the fierce reaction from the Omani Empire seemed to make sense.

In fact, Said was horrified when he saw the letter that told him to attack the Austrian colonies, and Said the Great even thought it was a conspiracy by the British.

Not just Said, but everyone in the entire Omani court felt that the British were either crazy or planning to push them into the fire pit.

It may not be clear to others, but the Omani Empire is only separated by a sea from the Austrian East African colonies.

Omanis feel that no one in the world knows Austria better than they do, and they have experienced first-hand the strength of the Austrian navy and army.

In the eyes of the Omanis, the Austrian army was simply invincible, and there was almost no single enemy in front of them.

Whether it was the mighty kingdom of Wegin, the indigenous kingdoms, or the Eastern Bantu people, they were wiped out almost as soon as they appeared.

And the navy that the Omani Empire was once proud of, could not be sunk at the cost of total annihilation in exchange for the sinking of an Austrian warship.

They were also terrified by the Austrians' attitude towards their enemies, who rarely took prisoners, and most of the time buried them on the spot or burned them on the spot.

In fact, most of the time it was the Austrian servant army that was in charge of the war, and the Dalits from India were much more ferocious than their masters.

The cruelty seemed to come entirely from the malice between the two species, and for a relatively primitive dynasty like the Omani Empire, they could not understand the meaning of doing so.

Although the British Empire claimed to be the most powerful country in the world at this time, it was regarded by the Omanis as an "honest man" who paid regular Lend-Lease fees.

The Austrian Empire, on the other hand, was a formidable and murderous conqueror, and naturally they would not choose to be enemies of such a terrible adversary.

——

In fact, according to the information sent back by Princess Sneka and the merchants who had gone to Austria to do business, Austria was completely more powerful than they could have imagined.

The steel behemoth wanders the harbor, and the soldiers are as numerous as ants. The grain and steel at the wharves could be piled up on hills, and countless workers could not carry them day and night.

In particular, the amount of steel owned by the Omanis shocked the Omanis, because there were not many iron mines in the entire Omani Empire, and the methods of producing steel were very primitive.

In the Omani Empire, ironwork was a luxury item in its own right, so it was especially impressive to see the Austrian ironclads and the reinforced concrete structures.

Princess Sneka even used her special status to visit several Austrian steel mills, and she concluded that the entire Oman Empire could not produce as much steel as one in Austria.

Such a huge steel plant was not ranked in the Austrian Empire at all, and Friedrich even said that Franz had two special steel plants, and the output of these two steel plants could be equal to the output of other steel plants in the Austrian Empire combined.

In addition, Princess Sneika also sent back some statistical reports on the Austrian Empire's industrial data, which were beyond Saïd's dreams.

However, this so-called confidential information was deliberately leaked by Franz to Princess Sneca, in fact, this woman is also very smart, she found some clues after a few successes, but she did not say it explicitly.

It was only at the banquet that the Omani Empire would be Austria's forever friend, or at least she tried to do so.

Princess Sneika's strange words confused Archduke Friedrich, but Franz knew the meaning of the words.

After all, this kind of intelligence work is very dangerous, and it is very easy to arouse suspicion, even if she pretends to be stupid and pretends not to know, once it is discovered one day, it is likely to be ruled out by Franz as a dangerous factor.

Princess Snecka is well aware of Franz's energy, and her husband Friedrich is just a military warrior.

Franz had too many opportunities and reasons to do it, and Friedrich couldn't protect her at all, and he didn't even know what was going on.

And if one day things are clear, then maybe Franz will not do it at all, and Friedrich will have her torn to pieces.

In the long run, Princess Sneka decided to have a showdown, she didn't mind being a double agent, and as an Arab woman, her marriage to Austria was actually a Habsburg or Friedrich's personal belongings.

Therefore, she did not feel any guilt at all for betraying her motherland and her original family, but she was under a lot of pressure and even a little uneasy in her conscience when she revealed Austrian information to the Oman Empire.

The attitude of the Omani Empire declared the complete bankruptcy of the British plans in the western Indian Ocean, returning to the European question at this time.

The Austrian side has already proposed peace talks, while the attitude of the French Provisional Government is rather ambiguous. In fact, the latter does not have a backbone at all, and there are many internal factions and mixed fish and dragons.

But Palmerston's previous plan to install a pro-British government also collapsed, on the one hand, because of the crushing defeat of the British Mediterranean fleet, and on the other hand, there was no pro-British soil for the rise of French nationalism at this time.

Both France and Austria should be able to accept the British peace agreement, which gives the British room to maneuver, they can pull one and fight the other.

Now the question has shifted to whether to continue the armistice with France against Austria or to continue with France.

France and Austria have a large number of overseas colonies, and they are relatively wealthy. Both the French colony of Texas and the Austrian colony of California are areas with great potential.

Of course, it's better to be able to take them all, but not now. All this is to blame for the fall of the Mediterranean fleet.

The French navy was the main force engaged in the war with the British navy, so it was bound to suffer heavy losses. The Austrian side, although it seems that it did not take part in large-scale battles, was not worth mentioning in the first place.

However, the Austrians occupied the great island of Crete and had a geographical advantage, and if the Austrians turned the naval battle into a land battle, then the British would have suffered a lot of losses.

The Admiralty Chancellor was the first to oppose the landing on the island, because first of all, the Mediterranean Sea was the territory of the Austrians, and if the Austrian side did not fight naval warfare and exclusively fight troop carriers, then the British Navy's convoy would have no way at all.

Marines can't all sit on battleships, as they don't have that much space to transport soldiers.

Secondly, Crete is too big. It took at least a month to send troops from the British mainland to Crete in the Mediterranean. (Not only the sailing time, but also the assembly and preparation time)

In the course of a month, the Austrians could send at least tens of thousands of troops to the island and enough supplies to supply them for months or even years.

It is simply unrealistic for the navy to besiege and force it to surrender, and how many troops will it take to land on the island? Ten thousand? Twenty thousand? Or fifty thousand, one hundred thousand?

As for attacking Venice? A quarter of the artillery of the entire Austrian Empire was there, and it was easy to get into a narrow area like the Adriatic, but it was difficult to get out again.

After all, no one can guarantee that the French will really not stab in the back.

In addition, at this time, the German Confederation attacked Schleswig, could this be another conspiracy of the Austrian Empire?

Now no one in the entire British government dares to gamble, because the price is too great for anyone to bear.

But the French were no less difficult to entangle, because it is not at all clear how the French won the battle and how much they lost.

The most important thing is that no one knows whether the French will perform miracles again, and the war with France is also necessary to be wary of another surprise attack by the Austrians.

Of course, there is also the safest way, that is, to stop the war with the two countries in time, so that Britain can continue to maintain the position of the world's strongest navy.

The loss of the Mediterranean Fleet is indeed a big blow to Britain, but it is still within an acceptable range, and Britain has the ability to build another Mediterranean Fleet within one to two years.

John Russell looked at the other members of his cabinet, and everyone looked at each other, after all, no one wants to be nailed to the pillar of shame in history.

That's when Palmerston proposed.

"Maybe we can hear the conditions of the Austrians first."

John Russell felt that it made sense, after all, it was necessary to shop around, and the Austrians in the Metternich era had always offered Britain very generous terms, and maybe they could get something out of them to save face.

"Well, that's a good idea."

John Russell affirmed Palmerston's idea.

But soon the conditions on the Austrian side surprised the British.

Franz's conditions were:

First, Austria would release all British prisoners of war, but in exchange for all British ships, buildings, and supplies on Crete would be used as war reparations.

Second, Britain had to return Crete to the Kingdom of Greece.

(End of chapter)