War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Ottoman Empire, Istanbul.

"Hello, my dear Sultan. I am Clemens Wenzel von Metternich, Prime Minister of the Austrian Empire. It is an honor to meet you."

"Hello, Mr. Metternich. It's an honor to meet you, but you are a little older than I thought." Magid said.

Metternich was not too surprised by Magid's teasing. After all, the young sultan's teacher was Viscount Canning Stratford.

The British planner of weakening Austria's influence was his cousin George Canning. The relationship between Metternich and Canning can be said to be extremely bad.

George Canning claimed to be the founder of the new world order, and his number one enemy was Metternich. The feud between the two started over a woman.

The young Canning fell in love with a married woman, but the noble lady fell in love with the more mature and steady Metternich. The noble lady later committed suicide because she could not be with Metternich, but when her husband was packing up his wife's belongings, he found Canning's letter to the noble lady.

The noble lady's husband asked for a duel with Canning. The latter won the duel and killed the other party, but he was not happy at all. Instead, he regarded Metternich as his lifelong enemy.

Viscount Stratford was Canning's cousin. He knew about the grievances between his cousin and Metternich, and attributed his cousin's mysterious death to Metternich.

It was unusual for Canning to suddenly fall ill and die after only one hundred days in office.

Viscount Stratford knew that his cousin had always been physically strong, and at that time Canning had just completed two diplomatic victories that could go down in history and was at the peak of his life.

After meeting Metternich, his condition suddenly worsened. Viscount Stratford felt that all this was Metternich's fault.

But in fact, the meeting between Metternich and Canning was just a routine matter, to send blessings to the new British Prime Minister.

Apart from the personal grievances between Metternich and Canning, the reason why Magid showed such contempt was more due to the decline in the strength and international status of the Austrian Empire.

Of course, the first step to becoming a qualified diplomat is to abandon personal honor and disgrace, but this does not mean that he will accept the other party's insults. After all, negotiations must be on an equal footing to be established.

If your attitude is too low, it will be difficult to succeed.

"Dear Sultan, you are more naive than I thought."

Metternich's words were not only a response to the other party, but also pointed out the naive idea of ​​the Ottomans that Britain alone could solve the problem at hand.

It is also a reminder that the Ottoman Sultan should not be so frivolous as a ruler, and it is also a signal that Austria is not a country that can be insulted lightly.

But the other party didn't seem to hear it, so Magid spoke.

"I think your young is a better word, and if you're not good at English, I'll speak French too."

Magid's words made Metternich, who spoke with a London accent, a little embarrassed. He did not dislike the other person's country accent, but the other party disliked him. Metternich wanted to laugh, but he held it back because it was rude after all.

"No, I insist that I did not use the wrong word. By the way, I would like you to speak German, if possible."

Magid obviously did not speak German, and the other party knew that he was not sincere. But the other party did not leave or give up immediately, which meant that Metternich did have important matters to discuss during his trip.

Magid was not a complete idiot. He knew that the British did not really help the Ottoman Empire, and sooner or later they would show their fangs like Russia. Now you might as well listen to the Austrians' conditions. If the conditions are not good, then don't agree. Anyway, there is nothing to lose.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister, honesty will be beneficial to both of us."

Magid had a good idea to take advantage of the contradictions between the great powers to make profits and gain time and space for his own development.

But he misjudged one thing

"One of the countries you rule is a place called Bosnia, where Catholics are being persecuted, so our government has lodged a solemn protest."

"Bosnia?" It's not that Magid doesn't know this place, let alone that Catholics have been persecuted there for a long time, but it has been persecuted for hundreds of years, and you, Austria, are just mentioning it now? He also said that he was not taking advantage of the situation!

However, Turkey and Austria have a centuries-old feud, and it is reasonable for Austria to add insult to injury, but why come to Istanbul to talk about this matter? They could simply send troops to occupy Bosnia.

Magid did not believe that the thousands of Bosnian garrison and militiamen could stop Austria's 100,000-strong army.

(At first, the Ottomans thought that Nordsawi's army only had 50,000 troops, but later intelligence revealed that it was actually an army of 100,000 troops.)

There are 70,000 Ottoman troops near Serbia, but their mission is to defend Serbia and will not rescue Bosnia.

For the Ottoman Empire, Bosnia was an insignificant land. As long as Serbia was not lost, it would have little impact on the Ottoman Empire.

"Yes. It is the Bosnia region adjacent to the Austrian Empire. We hope you can hand over this region to us." Metternich continued.

This further confirmed Magid's guess, and he also breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the Austrians did not attack Serbia, otherwise the Ottoman Empire would really have trouble sleeping and eating.

Russia is in the north, Persia is in the east, Egypt is in the south, and Austria is in the west.

If Austria were to take control of Serbia again, the situation of the Ottoman Empire would be even worse.

But Metternich did not finish his words.

"To this end, our country will help your vassal state, Serbia, to solve the problems of banditry and rebellion on its territory."

This sentence is telling Magid: Your garrison on Serbian soil can leave, otherwise you will be treated as a bandit problem.

Magid's mind was racing, starting a war with Austria? This is certainly not a wise move. Give up Serbia and Bosnia? The tigers and wolves around him will definitely become more unscrupulous.

Unable to fight or make peace, he thought of the Russians. The Russians could be used to counterbalance the Austrians. Didn't the Tsar claim to be the protector of all Slavs?

"Master Prime Minister, you know. We are allies of Russia and should protect the Slavs in our territory."

"Dear Sultan, I know what you are worried about and what you rely on. The Russians have reached an agreement with us. Austria will not annex Serbia. Please rest assured. Our country also hopes that you can become our Allies, it’s good for both countries.”

Metternich's promise left Magid at a loss. He originally thought that Austria would be wary of the power of the Russians, and that the interests of the two countries were in a competitive relationship and could not be reconciled. Unexpectedly, the two sides had already reached some kind of agreement with each other.

Magid did not believe in the Austrians' promises. Now he could only hope that the British would defeat Egypt as soon as possible and then support him in maintaining the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire.

At this time, a chamberlain hurriedly ran in, and Magid immediately frowned.

However, the chamberlain didn't seem to see it and just said in a confused manner.

"Coming. Coming, they are coming."

"Who's coming?"

"The British fleet..."

Magid pushed the waiter away and ran to the window in great joy.