In the Palace of Vienna, Franz was playing with his month-old grandson.
Recently, Britain, France, and Russia had been very busy. Everything was running normally in the country, so the idle Franz could only torment the little guy.
A burst of crying sounded, causing Franz to be flustered.
At this time, a maid hurried in and said anxiously, "Your Majesty, there's news from outside the palace just now. Prime Minister Felix fainted as soon as he went out today and is currently being rescued."
Upon hearing the bad news, Franz could no longer care about his crying grandson. He directly handed Little Charlie to the maidservant.
He ordered, "Prepare the carriage immediately, I'm leaving the palace!"
Humans were not plants or trees, they were all heartless.
Since the beginning of the Great Revolution, Felix had been the Austrian Prime Minister. The two had worked closely together for more than 30 years and pulled the House of Habsburg back from the brink of death.
In terms of achievements, Felix could be said to be the greatest contributor to the revival of the House of Habsburg.
Felix Schwarzenberg, who was born in 1800, was now 85 years old. Based on the average lifespan of this era, this was more than double that of the average person.
Thinking of this, Franz's heart suddenly sank.
Time waited for no man. Even though he was already the emperor, he could only watch helplessly as the people around him passed away one by one.
At 85 years old, even in the 21st century, it would be difficult to recover once he fell ill at this age, let alone now.
…
As the Austrian Prime Minister, Felix naturally had a private doctor to serve him at all times. Even all kinds of medical equipment were always at home.
The main reason was that there were not many medical equipment in this day and age. If it were like the 21st century, there would be a lot of all kinds of equipment, and it would be impossible to always have them.
Everything was ready-made, and treatment was naturally carried out directly at home. When Franz arrived, almost all the medical experts in Vienna had arrived.
A large group of Vienna nobles also came, but there were not many government colleagues. It could not be helped. It was work time, and even without the Prime Minister, the government still had to operate normally.
Seeing that Franz had come in person, no one was surprised. Almost every important minister who was critically ill, he had to visit them personally.
Faced with the unconscious Prime Minister Felix, Franz swallowed all the words he wanted to say and quietly waited outside the ward.
Of course, there were no social engagements. Franz was in a vexed mood, and had no time for that.
Seeing the Emperor's gloomy expression, everyone knew that they would definitely be asking for a scolding if they went up at this time.
As time passed, the sky gradually darkened. The guard reminded, "Your Majesty, it's getting late. It's time to return to the palace."
Franz nodded. Looking at the large group of nobles and officials outside, he waved his hand and ordered, "Disperse!"
At this moment, Franz finally realized that he was because he had stayed. Because of. Franz, and the Emperor King
Franz returned to the palace gloomily. He knew that a new round of political shuffling was about to begin.
With Prime Minister Felix's current physical condition, even if he recovered, it would be difficult for him to continue his duties as Prime Minister.
Not only was the Prime Minister old, but many of the senior politicians in the government were already over 70 years old. Unknowingly, the Government of Vienna had also entered an old age.
Lying on the bed, Franz could not help but think about how great it would be if he could travel to an era of Spirit Energy Revival and pursue immortality.
As time went on, Franz turned on the fantasy mode in his dreams.
…
In Egypt, under Napoleon Iv's repeated urging, Adolf's counterinsurgency army finally finished assembling in Cairo.
A French infantry division, two Egyptian colonial divisions, and a cavalry battalion. This was the entire composition of the counterinsurgency army.
Without the artillery regiment, suppressing the colonial rebellion was superfluous, and the field artillery carried by the infantry division was enough.
In this day and age, artillery was a high-tech unit. It wasn't just the ability to fire artillery shells. Even for artillery soldiers, accuracy was the key.
Even if Britain and Austria were willing to provide artillery, the rebel army would not be able to find a gunner who could operate it.
On a sunny day, Governor-General Adolf led 36,000 rebels and set off from Cairo.
Faced with the menacing French, the rebel army was already in a state of panic. France's reputation as the world's most powerful army was too great. Before the battle even started, there were already people in the rebel army who were wavering.
Mahdi held several mobilization meetings to boost morale, but the results were still minimal.
As the Austrian representative, Lieutenant Colonel Hutier also attended a meeting, but after seeing the ugly state of the rebel army's senior officials, he decided not to participate.
In the Eighth Division's headquarters, the newly appointed Division Commander Hutier said worriedly, "The composition of the rebel army is too complicated, and there are a lot of internal conflicts. Be it training or combat awareness, they are lacking.
Looking at the current situation, it's only a matter of time before we clash with the French.
The perfect strategy that the British helped them come up with completely ignored the rebel army's execution. It's been so long, and they still haven't determined where to intercept the river.
Now, a bunch of people are still arguing. I reckon that when the French attack, they might not even be able to determine the location. "
The water volume of the Nile River was not that high throughout the year. During the dry season, intercepting the river to store water downstream would not achieve the desired effect.
Unfortunately, it was only April now. January to May was the dry season for the Nile River. The earliest the water level would start to rise would be May, and the peak would be in August.
This meant that the Revolutionary Army had to hold out for at least 40 days under the French's attack. Only then could the "perfect strategy" formulated by the British be realized.
If they wanted to rely on the flood to destroy the delta area downstream, it would be best to wait until August.
Every August, there would be floods downstream, and it was common for farmland to be destroyed. Occasionally, it would even affect Cairo City.
Fakingham said, "The British plan won't work at all. The French won't give them enough time.
If Mahdi is smart enough, he will immediately choose a suitable place to blow up a small mountain to block the river.
Even though it's the dry season now, and the damage to the downstream is limited, it's better than nothing. At the very least, it can delay the French counter-insurgency army. "
The upstream had the geographical advantage. Once the river was blocked, the French would have to make a detour.
If they continued to march along the Nile River, they would become fish food if the rebel army suddenly released the water. The French would not take the risk.
However, once the plan was brought forward, destroying the delta would become a dream. After all, there wasn't enough water, and the damage was limited.
Hutier shook his head. "Don't count on it. The rebel army has already been fooled by the British.
Maybe that Lieutenant General Jarrett thinks that the rebel army is like the British army and can follow orders strictly. "
If he wasn't sure that Lieutenant General Jarrett's identity wouldn't betray Britannia, he would have suspected that he was a spy sent by the French.
It seemed that the total strength of the rebel army was close to 100,000 people, almost three times that of the French. They had an absolute advantage in terms of military strength.
However, military strength didn't equate to victory. In the battle to suppress the colonial rebellion, it was nothing new to fight one against a hundred, not to mention one against three.
Potiorek suggested, "Since the rebel army's higher-ups are already stupid, let's ignore them.
Find an opportunity to separate from them. Then we can fight our own battles and let them stall the main force of the French army while we go deep into the heart of Egypt to wreak havoc.
Even if we can't defeat the main force of the French army, can't we bully the plantation owners? Let's burn the French's cotton fields and let that Adolf guy cry! "
Their expectations were so low, even though they relied on airships to drop a batch of equipment and armed the 8th Division and did some simple training. Potiorek still didn't have any expectations for a decisive battle with the French.
In his opinion, even if they wanted to bully the plantation owners, they had to rely on their military strength. In a situation where they had the same number of people, this motley crew couldn't beat the thugs raised by the plantation owners.
Fakingham frowned and asked, "Sounds good, but how are we going to evacuate after entering the heart of Egypt?"
This was a practical problem. It was easy to go deep into the enemy's territory, but it was difficult to get out.
Once the French found out that someone had burned their cotton fields, they would beat them to death.
Potiorek shook his head. "The French aren't fools. When they realize what's going on, they will soon send troops to surround us. It's impossible to evacuate.
But our mission is to wreak havoc. Why must we evacuate?
Bring the troops and fight randomly. If the situation doesn't look good, we can just abandon the troops. We can disguise ourselves and run away. "
Although it was a little cruel, the feasibility was very high. There were no identity cards these days, and if a few strangers came out of the colony, it would be impossible to identify them.
Even if they were caught by the French, they could pretend to be an Austrian expedition team that had strayed into the Egyptian area.
There was no shortage of people with no sense of direction in this world. Every year, there were many expeditions that got lost and strayed into other countries' colonies.
It was fine even if they were caught. They would just inform the Austrian colonial government to take them back and ask for a ransom.
This was common practice. In the absence of a conflict of interest, the colonists wouldn't kill people at will.
