Iron Cross Fire

In the prosperous Vienna lies the Schönbrunn Palace, which has been the home of the great Habsburg family since the Thirty Years' War. No matter how prosperous the city is, it cannot compare to its splendor; but it is not the center of Vienna, it is just a gorgeous flower among thousands of flowers, embellishing Vienna, and at the same time bringing endless corruption and contradictions...

Today, in addition to Emperor Franz, Minister of Seals Elenthal, and Hungarian Prime Minister István Tisza, a familiar figure was also welcomed here.

Franz, holding the imperial edict, can move freely in the palace.

He went straight to the palace, met the emperor and three others, and saluted them.

"My dear Franz, how is the reform going?"

The old emperor spoke first. He is old and no longer glorious, but instead coughs constantly, indicating that his body is not far from withering.

As for the two people around him, Elenthal may have come back to report on his work, but the empire has been deeply mired in the quagmire of the century war, and diplomacy seems to have no effect.

That Hungarian prime minister is not a good guy either. In Franz's mind, people who damage the interests of the empire, no matter how powerful and ambitious they are, are just a bunch of rotten wood, and will be hanged by the royalists and the Democrats sooner or later.

István Tisza may be a capable person. After all, he served as the prime minister of Hungary from 1903 to 1905, and has been in office since 1913. He served as prime minister twice in just eight years. This is probably the only case in the empire.

But this did not prevent Franz from discriminating against Hungarians. He only looked at the emperor and the foreign minister. The Hungarian prime minister did not even look at him and said bluntly:

"Your Majesty, the reforms are quite effective. But the troops on the front are a bit nervous."

"Oh? There are no gaps in our front line. I even heard from the generals that even the reserve troops were not put into the battle, and the enemy could not get in at all. Thanks to General Kuster, this is a record we could not have achieved the previous year. All fronts are progressing very smoothly. Why do you say that you are a little nervous?"

The person who spoke was the foreign minister on the left side of the emperor-Elenthal. He sat upright and looked very majestic.

But in Franz's eyes, no matter how majestic a person in the political arena would be frightened by the muzzle of a gun and tremble all over.

Therefore, he was quite disdainful. Even if he broke a leg, it did not affect him standing up at all.

His eyes were full of pride, he looked straight at Elenthal and told the reason:

"You know, Foreign Minister, as long as Marshal Custer is here for one day, our army will be unstoppable."

"Of course I know this, no one knows more about military affairs than him, he is the most considerate and visionary person."

Elenthal said admiringly. Even though he was a cultured man and had no interest in soldiers, he knew that absolute military strength could make people surrender, and Custer was one of the people who mastered the secrets of war.

"So, why don't we launch a counterattack, send more troops to the front line, first take the Peloponnese, and then take the Apennines."

"Uh...Mr. is responsible for military reform, so it's natural to cut troops, but as for increasing troops, I'm afraid I don't have the right to do so."

Elenthal said with some embarrassment. Usually he is active in the political arena, helping the emperor to mediate between various forces, and by the way, he also arranges some royal marriages, and he has quite rich experience.

However, he is really stumped now, because no matter what he says, he will be opposed.

If he agreed, his political enemies would use this as an excuse to ridicule him, especially since the emperor was still by his side, and he would not tolerate nonsense.

If he disagreed, it would be even more serious. The military power headed by Kuster expanded rapidly during the war, even involving politics, and even signing treaties would not involve them.

However, even if they committed a serious crime, they could not be punished unless they wanted to start a civil war. The military power was deeply rooted, and what was more fatal was that they could unite. Unlike the bear cub nobles in Hungary, the interests of these soldiers were unified. No matter what nationality, they would fight for the same interests in the end.

In order to appease the military class, they could only sell their titles in exchange for favor.

And Franz in front of him was the second in command of the military, holding considerable power, so the empire had to let him become one of the members of the cabinet.

At this juncture, if Elenthal said something wrong, it would lead to the country's irreparable destruction, and the negative impact would be huge.

On the contrary, even if he was right, and particularly right, there would be no reward, and in return he would only get the soldiers' insatiable demands.

Elenthal had to glance at the old emperor who was coughing beside him, praying that he could help him.

The emperor glanced at him, his eyes full of helplessness, stretched out his hand to cover him, and said reluctantly:

"My minister, you are right, we should attack. But the domestic forces really scare me!"

"Don't worry, the Hungarians will not move under the pressure of our army."

I am worried about you!

There were tens of thousands of alpacas galloping in the emperor's heart, rushing from the endless plains to the winding and rugged mountains.

In a hurry, the lung disease suddenly broke out and coughed several times.

Franz seemed to sense the emperor's displeasure in the cough, and the reckless him rarely said in a calm tone:

"Please rest assured that the army will always be loyal. And I will always be your most sincere warrior, keeping pace with Marshal Custer."

However, this sentence not only failed to eliminate the emperor's concerns, but also made him cough more severely.

The Hungarian Prime Minister, who had been silent all the time, was also quite afraid of this scene. After saluting several people, he hurried out of the palace without saying a word.

"Hungarians are really cowards!"

After the door was closed, Franz said disdainfully, and then turned around again, respectfully with some anger towards the enemy:

"My emperor, if we don't launch an attack again, we won't get a share of the pie, and we can only watch the green cancer become glorious again! More than half of our army is a new army that has been reformed, and its combat effectiveness far exceeds that of other countries. Moreover, we have nearly 4 new armored divisions, which is more powerful than the Germans!"

If the two people in the seat insist on finding fault, they can find a big problem from it.

Kuster has a good relationship with Turkey, so there is no need to make a big fuss. Even at the negotiation table, the Turks may return this favor.

Although the new army is strong, it only has 1.4 million troops, and it has to take into account two fronts, which is quite far-fetched.

Moreover, the Apennine Peninsula and the Peloponnese Peninsula are mostly mountainous, with complex and rugged terrain. What's the use of your armored division? Are you just going to waste it for nothing?

But the two of them obviously considered politics more than military affairs, so the emperor had to say:

"Since the minister said so, just do it at will."

"Long live the emperor! I wish you good health."

Franz praised loudly and turned to walk out of the hall.

The emperor took out a handkerchief with trembling hands, wiped his sweaty forehead, and said to Elenthal:

"Be careful in the future, don't go against the soldiers. Also, please invite Kuster back quickly, he can at least understand some human feelings."

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