The turbulent situation in the The Balkans did not affect Franz's mood. Even the destruction of the rebel group did not attract his attention.
After being an emperor for so many years, he had seen his fair share of storms. If someone wanted to rebel, wasn't it suppressed before it started?
Franz was used to this kind of thing. Almost every few years, there would be a few suicidal people. Usually, they were suppressed by the police. Even if they occasionally raised the flag of rebellion, they were quickly extinguished by the local feudal forces.
Almost all the feudal remnants were very wary of revolution. Since the gunshots of 1848, the situation in Austria had changed.
Anyone could suppress a rebellion, no matter when or what the reason was. Suppressing a rebellion was just. Even if there was an accidental injury, there was no need to worry about being held accountable.
The butcher general could be promoted to marshal and held a state funeral after his death. Public opinion in Austria had been reversed.
This change naturally mobilized the enthusiasm of the people below. Suppressing a rebellion was a great achievement, and there was no need to worry about being held accountable. There was also no need to worry about retaliation. Since he was a feudal emperor, naturally, if one person rebelled, the whole family would suffer.
Affected by the environment, Austria's revolutionary groups had moved to overseas activities, almost cut off from the country.
The warriors who dared to return to their country to cause trouble had gone to add bricks and tiles to the country's construction. It was possible that the Government of Vienna would not record their death.
Even if the government did not record it, the intelligence organizations must have a record. As an emperor who cared about his reputation, Franz did not want to see the history books record: killing millions of rebels.
This was not a joke. After so many years as an emperor, the number of rebels killed by Franz was not much less than a million. Otherwise, how could Austria stabilize?
The The Balkans, which was a powder keg, did not explode. Lombardy and Venetia, which had always wanted independence, did not move. Hungary, which was active and noisy, became the most stable place in the empire.
Behind the stability, there was naturally no lack of swords. These dangerous places were purged again and again, the ambitious and idiotic people who wanted to rebel were all killed, and a new ruling class was replaced. Only then did the country truly stabilize.
To some extent, the revolution of 1848 provided Austria with an opportunity to rise from the ashes. Taking advantage of the opportunity of suppressing the rebellion, Franz was able to change the ruling class.
The turmoil in the Balkans did not affect Austria, so Franz could naturally read leisurely. However, Alexander II Of Russia, who was far away in St. Peter's Castle, could not sit still.
Alexander Alexander II Of Russia did not care about the coup in Greece. That was within Austria's sphere of influence. However, he had no choice but to watch the Bulgarian rebellion.
In terms of geographical location, Bulgaria was far from the heart of the Empire and could be considered dispensable. But the presence of Constantinople next door raised Bulgaria's status.
The Tsarist government had special feelings for the Constantinople. Alexander II Of Russia had invested a lot in the city over the years. Today, the Constantinople had been reborn from the flames of war.
With the advantage of geographical location, Constantinople once again became the largest and most prosperous city in the Near East. It was also the financial center of the Tsarist government.
The outbreak of the Bulgarian rebellion was bound to affect the stability of Constantinople. If it was not extinguished quickly, the flames of war might burn over.
Alexander II Of Russia threw the battle report in his hand on the table and roared, "A bunch of useless people. A division of troops can't even win against a group of mobs. What a disgrace …"
There was no doubt that the situation at the front was not optimistic. An infantry division of the Russian Army ran to suppress the rebellion but was defeated by the rebels.
Kafkos, the Minister of War, lowered his head and waited for Alexander II Of Russia to finish cursing before explaining, "Your Majesty, this Bulgarian rebel army is not simple.
According to the intelligence received at the front, the enemy is a regular army. Although they are still immature, they are still orderly and do not have the chaos of ordinary rebels.
There must be someone supporting them from behind the scenes. Otherwise, their weapons, equipment, and officers would not have dropped from the sky. "
Kafkos did not lie. The Bulgarian rebel army's performance was indeed like a regular army. However, they did not rely on external support. They had their own forces.
Russia also contributed to this. During the Near East War, they recruited a large number of Bulgarian guerrillas as cannon fodder. The unlucky ones who died died with the wind, while the survivors became veterans. Many of the guerrillas became qualified officers.
After the war, these people naturally returned to the countryside. The Tsarist government was poor and could not even settle their own people. The treatment of these second-class soldiers was even worse. They were only given a small reward as a token.
Other than a few high-ranking officers who received benefits, most of the guerrillas did not gain much. Naturally, they did not have a good impression of the Tsarist government.
In the end, most of the land fell into the hands of the Russian Army nobles stationed in Constantinople. Many Bulgarians once again became serfs.
After Alexander II Of Russia's reform, the land problem was solved by reclaiming land. If no one stirred up trouble, the people's hearts would be at peace.
Unfortunately, nationalism was already rampant in Bulgaria. The revolutionary party's bluff aroused the dissatisfaction of the guerrillas veterans. Many of them started a revolution in a daze.
The Near East War had only happened a few decades ago. Most of these people were in their thirties or forties and could still fight. With these backbone and a group of strong youths, the Bulgarian rebel army was born.
Some of the weapons were left behind by the Russian Army and some were sponsored by Bulgarian "patriotic merchants".
The rebel army might not be stronger than the Russian Army, but their morale was definitely higher than the Russian Army. The Russian Army that went to quell the rebellion was unlucky. They dared to go against the rebel army when their morale was at its peak.
If they fought a few battles or dragged on for a while, the morale of the Tsarist government would be depleted. At that time, the rebel army would be the easiest to deal with.
Of course, the prerequisite was that the rebel army could not win. If they won a few more times, they would believe that victory was in front of them and that they could soon establish an independent Bulgaria.
Alexander II Of Russia glared at him: "I don't want to listen to this nonsense. No matter what, we must immediately extinguish the rebel army.
If someone is up to no good, then find the mastermind and not complain to me here. Don't tell me you want me to find the mastermind myself? "
Kafokis was helpless. Finding the mastermind was not his specialty. If he wanted to ask, he should ask the intelligence department!
Well, the Tsarist government did not pay enough attention to intelligence work and did not spend much effort to build it. The intelligence organization was also very scattered and had many part-time jobs.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had their own intelligence gathering team, the police had their own intelligence gathering team, and the Ministry of War also had their own intelligence gathering team. The division of authority was not clear and was often decided by the chief.
"Your Majesty, the information we received is very vague. There are too many suspicious countries.
The merchants who provided weapons and equipment to the Bulgarians came from the Osman Empire. Logically speaking, the Government of Sudan was the biggest suspect. But the hatred between the Bulgarians and the Osman Empire was as deep as the sea and it was impossible for both sides to cooperate.
We checked the weapons and they were all standard Arcana equipment. Other than us, there are Austria, Greece, Montenegro, and the German Federal Empire who are equipped with these weapons.
These small countries can be ruled out as they cannot be the mastermind of this conspiracy. The Austrians are the biggest suspect. But we had just joined forces with the Government of Vienna to attack the Osman Empire. They should not have done this at this time.
Later, we investigated the source of the merchants' funds and found that it was provided by a French bank. But the French have no need to stir up trouble. Without enough benefits, they have no reason to support the Bulgarian Revolutionary Party. "
After listening to this explanation, Alexander II Of Russia also felt dizzy. They were all suspects but they could all be overthrown. Who knew who the real mastermind was?
Kris Basham asked in surprise: "Why is there no British?"
Kris Basham could not help but be surprised. Shouldn't all the big countries be involved in this kind of thing? Why was there no British?
Cafoukis explained: "It's not that there is no one, but the suspicion is relatively small. The ship responsible for the transport is British. The ship departed from the port of Karasu in the Osman Empire and was directly sent to the port of Burgas to be handed over to the rebels.
The British FAO has been implicated, and the merchants who provided the weapons and equipment to the Bulgarians have disappeared. The Ministry of the Army really does not have the ability to make a judgment. "
This was a mess. There were suspicions everywhere and there were smoke bombs everywhere. But compared to the first aid, the information of the weapons assistance this time was more exposed.
Alexander II Of Russia slammed the table and made a decision: "Continue to investigate secretly. At the same time, announce to the public that the Bulgarian rebellion was planned by the Osman Empire. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will send a note to the Government of Sudan to hold them responsible."
The current Russian Empire was no longer as domineering as it was in the past. When it was time to feign ignorance, it was time to feign ignorance.
The best result was for the real culprit to be the Osman Empire. Otherwise, if the investigation led to Britain, France, or Austria, what would the Tsarist government do?
Of course, it was also important to investigate secretly and find out who the enemy was. It was just that they could not open the lid to prevent the situation from getting out of hand.
Not only were the Russians investigating, but the Austrian intelligence organization was also not idle. Ever since the Black Hand supported the Bulgarian rebels for the second time, many things could not be hidden.
First of all, it was impossible for such a large batch of firearms to not leave traces. It was quickly determined that it came from the Ferde Munitions Factory.
Initially used by the Austrian army, it was decommissioned a month ago and sold to a Deklas arms dealer. Through the Osman Empire, it flowed into Bulgaria.
In this era, the export of firearms was not so strict, especially for common weapons like second-hand rifles. There was no need to carefully examine them.
However, to be able to complete a series of operations in such a short period of time, it was obvious that some power was used. Once these things were investigated, many things would be exposed.
Looking at the information in his hands, Franz could not help but mourn for the Russians. It was fine if they could not find the real culprit, but if they did, the Tsarist government would probably not be able to sleep at night.
The British led the way and were responsible for arranging the transportation. The French provided the funds, and the Austrian capitalists provided the firearms.
Alright, the ones who really contributed were the British. The total value of this batch of firearms was less than 100,000 BD. It was not even worth mentioning to the financial giants.
Capital had no borders. Franz secretly increased his vigilance and decided to strengthen the surveillance of private capital.
It seemed that the Austrian capitalists did not participate much in this operation. They only pushed for the firearms trade. From the beginning to the end, there was only one cannon fodder arms dealer.
However, a deeper investigation would reveal that someone had already colluded with the British and French capital. Although Franz had already expected this, he still felt uncomfortable.
Austria did not have enough capital. In the process of development, they used British and French capital. It was inevitable that they would have connections with the capitalists.
Now, for the sake of benefits, they could quietly cooperate with the British. In the future, if they encountered a greater benefit and betrayed Austria, they would probably not care.
Of course, there were two sides to this matter. The British could buy off the Austrian capitalists, but Franz could also buy off the British capitalists. The loyalty of this group had always been the lowest.
Although he was vigilant, other than increasing the surveillance of the big capitalists, Franz still did not take any targeted actions.
No matter what, this was still within the scope of the rules. Outstanding arms dealers would sell their weapons to their enemies. They did not directly provide delivery services to the Bulgarian rebels, which proved that they could still be salvaged.
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