The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria’s Mandate of Heaven

The second person to approach Metternich was the French. Thiers hated Metternich very much, the man who participated in the dismemberment of Napoleon's empire.

But now France needs allies, at least Austria cannot be allowed to fall to the British side, otherwise Egypt will face catastrophe.

Of course, this is not the strength of the Austrian Imperial Navy, but that Austria can provide supplies to the British fleet, and at the same time prevent the French fleet from participating in the siege of the British fleet.

Thiers had the confidence to deal with Britain, but he did not have the confidence to fight against the whole of Europe. He believed that the root cause of Napoleon's failure was that he had made too many enemies, so he did not want to follow in his footsteps.

Thiers expressed his willingness to support Austria in forming the Apennine customs union in Italy, and at the same time share the colony of Egypt with Austria.

Metternich was not satisfied with the conditions offered by Thiers, because the Apennine Customs Union did not need the support of France at all, and after Egypt was defeated, Austria could also share Egypt's resources with Britain.

"Mr. Thiers, I think you should know that the Apennine Customs Union is currently only joined by countries ruled by members of the Habsburg family, and your support should not be needed. As for the resources of Egypt, your French cannot afford them, and they will definitely Willing to do business with Austria."

"Mr. Metternich, believe me, once the British enter Egypt, they will find a way to monopolize the export of Egyptian cotton. At that time, the safety of raw materials for the Austrian textile industry will be in the hands of the British." Thiers said.

"Isn't there still Americans? I heard that Brazilians have also started to grow cotton. I believe we will not worry about cotton in the future." Metternich replied.

Thiers was unwilling to sell actual benefits to Austria, because Austria was not strong enough to be worth the greater price he had to pay.

Naturally, the conversation between the two parties ended in disagreement. Thiers pinned his hopes on the Egyptians to quickly reach an agreement with the Ottoman Empire to avoid the collective intervention of the powers, so that France only needs to deal with Britain.

Abandoning the alliance with the powerful Britain and France is actually not in line with Metternich's usual style, but their asking price is too low, and they only want Austria to do things but are not prepared to distribute the benefits to Austria. This is unacceptable to him.

Nesselov was much more open-minded than Palmerston and Thiers.

"Your Excellency, what can I exchange for your support?"

"Belgrade is not the whole of Serbia. For this reason, we are willing to exchange the three nearby provinces of Turaz, Sarajevo, and Foca for the land of Serbia." Metternich did not go around in circles because he was afraid that the other party would not understand.

It should be earned by exchanging three provinces for one province in Serbia. Moreover, the population of these three provinces is dominated by Serbs, which can definitely greatly strengthen the strength of the Slavs here. Presumably His Majesty the Tsar will agree.

It suddenly occurred to Nesselov that something was wrong.

"Wait, Your Excellency. The three provinces you mentioned seem to belong to the territory of the Ottoman Empire."

"That's right, but Austria can first obtain these lands from the Ottoman Empire, and then exchange them with Serbia. This is a letter from the Grand Duke of Serbia, Milos Obrenovic, to the royal family of the Austrian Empire."

After Prince Metternich finished speaking, he handed a letter to Nesselov, and then continued.

"I think you should know that our Austrian Empire can completely eradicate the pro-Russian faction in Serbia under the banner of helping to suppress the rebellion, and then take the opportunity to support a puppet country. This transaction is entirely out of the long-standing friendship between the two countries .”

After hearing this, Nesherlov was deeply convinced that he could not decide on this transaction, but he felt that it was necessary to let His Majesty the Tsar know the importance of this transaction.

In the subsequent negotiations, Austria and Russia stood on the same side, which forced Britain and France to join forces for a short time to prevent Russia from going south.

In fact, Russia has no plans to go south, unless the Egyptians intend to break the secret agreement with Russia and get involved in the Balkans, or the area north of the Euphrates River.

However, the sense of oppression of the European military police Russia is too strong, so Britain and France have to join hands to defend against the enemy.

But Russia has the support of Austria. Together, these two countries have no rivals in the Balkans.

Just as the two sides were at a stalemate, Mahmud II died.

July 1, 1839.

Mahmud II, who was ill in bed for a long time, received bad news one after another. First, the fleet he built with a lot of money surrendered to the Egyptians, and then the new Ottoman army he devoted all his efforts to build was defeated in the fourth battle of Nizip , almost completely wiped out, and his most trusted general died in battle.

Mahmud II roared with all his strength.

"The king is not the king of the subjugated country, and the ministers are not the ministers of the subjugated country. It is true that the people's wisdom is not yet developed, and the kings still need to work hard..."

After that, the whole person fell down as if he had been emptied. At this time, his heir, Abdul Mejid, came over with the medicine.

"Mejid, although you are weak, you are my smartest son. You will definitely become the greatest sultan in the future. If you want to use the contradictions among the great powers to fight for the interests of the Ottoman Empire, you must use the wisdom of the people, otherwise the people will Only recognize gold, but not the country, and in the end it still falls short..."

"Father, take some medicine~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Mahmud II drank the medicine, and soon after lying down, his eyes widened, he vomited a mouthful of black blood, and died.

Although Mahmud II was known as the first thief of the Ottoman Empire at the time, later generations listed him as one of the greatest sultans.

Unlike his great ancestors, Mahmud II was not a military genius, nor was he a diplomat who was good at manipulating people's hearts. Under his rule, the territory of the Ottoman Empire continued to shrink and national sovereignty was constantly undermined.

However, during his reign, he cleared the obstacles to the reform of the Ottoman Empire, and with far-sighted planning, stopped the decline of the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire thus gained a new chance and began to slowly move towards a modern state.

After Mahmud II died, his 16-year-old son Abdul Mejid succeeded him as Sultan.

Mejid looks gentle and elegant, and he can't find the fierce shadow of his ancestors at all. With his slender arms, he is called "the thinnest sultan".

However, under its weak appearance, there is a huge ambition that is not inferior to its ancestors.

Without making a fuss, Mejid replaced all the important ministers in the court with his confidants. Those ministers who opposed him either died suddenly or were transferred to the front line to fight against the Egyptian army.

What he took over was a country full of holes. There were religious groups and reactionary forces inside who wanted to take the opportunity to seize power, and Muhammad Ali's army outside was approaching step by step.

Just when everyone thought that the sultan would definitely call for it, the domestic forces were united to the outside world.

Mejid made an astonishing move. He wanted to make peace with Muhammad Ali.

At the same time, he asked ambassadors from various countries to come to his flower hall to listen to his speech.