War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Belgrade, Congress Hall.

Franz was sitting in the main seat, looking a little embarrassed. Under the stage was the seventeen-member parliament that once held the highest power in Serbia, but at this time there were only fourteen people left.

There are serious differences within the Austrian government regarding the ownership of the glory of recovering Belgrade. Should a certain general accept it? It seems that no one has this qualification.

Glory to the Royal Family? The only person whose age and identity match the question is Archduke Karl's eldest son, Archduke Albrecht. However, Archduke Friedrich has just achieved great success, and now it seems inappropriate to let his elder brother get the glory of recapturing Belgrade. .

Based on the emperor's physical condition, he might have ascended to heaven before he arrived in Belgrade. Even if he arrived in Belgrade, he would not be able to embody the majesty of the royal family and make the locals surrender.

The emperor's younger brother seems to be similar, and can only have some counterproductive effects.

Metternich and Count Korolaf searched the royal family and found that Grand Prince Franz Joseph was a suitable candidate.

As a result, Franz was loaded onto the ship overnight and sent to the Novi Sad Fortress.

Austria's 80,000-strong army entered Serbia in a mighty manner and headed straight for Belgrade. The Serbs along the way neither stood in the way to welcome them nor fled away. They didn't seem to care about this at all.

Fights occurred twice, but both were one-sided defeats. Franz looked at the endless army in front of him and behind him, and he couldn't even understand why those Serbs jumped out to fight.

In recent years, Serbia has produced at least dozens of kings, large and small.

The members of the Seventeen-member Council have changed several times. All these troops can do is collect grain and capture young men. However, almost all the young people in the villages along the way have been recruited, and the remaining women are just plowing the fields mechanically.

In fact, generally speaking, when the Austrian army goes to conquer other countries' lands, it will send some quartermasters to buy local grain and specialties at high prices to show the kindness of the Habsburg family and to win people's hearts.

However, what surprised the quartermasters was that no one took the initiative to sell things. Now they had no choice but to buy them themselves.

But when they came to the village on their tall horses and a group of infantry, there were only a group of old men and women standing at the end of the village holding farm tools, looking like they were going to fight the soldiers desperately.

Fortunately, they were just a group of old men and women. If they were a group of young men, I'm afraid they would have been corpses all over the place.

The leading officer suppressed the raised muzzle of the soldier beside him and called a messenger who knew Serbian.

"Tell them that we want to buy some food, wine, livestock, fodder, wood, gold, silver, weapons, ammunition, and horses for them to take."

After a while the messenger came back on horseback.

"They said they didn't want any money and asked us to get our things and leave quickly, not to enter their village."

The officer was actually quite helpless. If it hadn't been for repeated orders from above and the royal family sitting in charge, he would have ordered a food grab.

"Damn it! Look at what's edible in this field and load it into the car quickly."

"Don't step on your horse to chop branches. Can that thing be used as firewood?"

"."

The officer took out a bag and handed it to the orderer.

"Go and settle the bill with those damn guys and give them the remaining money as a tip. A bunch of idiots are trying to get some luck from above. These people really don't know how to behave. Bad luck!"

The march along the way can only be described as deserted.

However, in the carriage, Baron Camp, the diplomat sent by Metternich, was talking nonsense.

At one moment he said that he had been to the North Pole and climbed the Himalayas. At another moment he said that he had wiped out entire Indian tribes by driving cattle on the Great Plains of North America. At another moment he said that he had seen the Golden City in the Amazon rainforest... and how he was in Singapore. Won 37 million with two dollars in a casino.

At the same time, he showed great courtesy to Adjani who came with Franz. Adjani, who has been with Franz all year round, has already surpassed the women of her generation in knowledge, and she only finds Mr. Kemp's boasting ridiculous.

Mr. Kemp feels that he is very attractive and is a veteran in love. He has never seen a woman who is not interested in him. So he thought that the other party must be playing hard to get, and Archduke Franz beside him was so drowsy that he seemed about to fall asleep.

Then Mr. Kemp became more and more bold. Adjani glanced at Franz, who nodded.

Then I saw Adjani lifting up her skirt. Just when Mr. Camp wanted to see what was going on, Adjani kicked him out of the carriage.

"Why did you lift up your skirt before kicking someone? Are you going to fulfill his last wish?" Franz didn't care about Mr. Kemp who flew out. After all, he was the one who caused his own trouble.

"No, it's very inconvenient to kick someone while wearing a skirt. You'll know after wearing it once." Adjani teased.

But before she could finish speaking, a scream came from outside, interrupting their conversation.

Theoretically speaking, the carriage is not traveling very fast, and there is a dirt road below. Even if it flies out, there will be no problem. At most, it will be a little embarrassing.

However, Mr. Kemp, who flew out, did not stand up in time. The horse behind him did not stop and stepped on his third leg.

Mr. Kemp's body was now covered in blood and he was unconscious.

After some rescue efforts, Mr. Kemp's life was saved, but he may lose his happiness in the rest of his life, and he will not be able to participate in scheduled negotiations.

As a result, the negotiations could only be chaired by Franz.

Franz read out the conditions of the Austrian Empire and the specific procedures for the exchange.

Austria took Bosnia from the Ottomans under the pretext of saving the Catholics, and now used it to exchange Belgrade with Serbia.

This series of operations made everyone in the Serbian Assembly of Seventeen a little dizzy.

But one thing they know very well is that they only need to pay one province in exchange for three provinces. Not only that, the residents of those three provinces are still mainly Serbs, and the Austrian Empire has promised the Serbs in West Bosnia the freedom to go and stay, and will not hinder them.

The Seventeen-member Parliament originally thought that the Austrian Empire would take the opportunity to annex Serbia, or establish a puppet regime loyal to Austria and forcibly dissolve the Serbian Parliament.

But now they feel that they have made a lot of money, and their land and population have almost doubled. And the price they have to pay is just one Belgrade.

The Seventeen-member Parliament readily signed the treaty, but Miloš, who had always been considered a pro-Austrian, did not sign.

Milos himself fully believed that the Austrian Empire would support him as the Grand Duke of Serbia and give him various promises.

However, now the Austrians have not mentioned a word about who will be the Grand Duke of Serbia, and they even want to take away Belgrade, the land of Serbia's prosperity.

As a big Serbian, Milos could not accept all this.

"I object!" Miloš mustered up his courage.

"Objection is invalid!" Franz did not want Austria to make the same mistake again, and he would not allow his own flesh and blood to be fed to a poisonous snake.