The Rise of the Empire

"If Bavaria during the Austro-Prussian War could have been as strong as it is now, then the capital of the German Empire should be in Vienna instead of Berlin!" Old Fritz looked at the battle report sent by his subordinates with satisfaction. This time the Bavarian Army fought It's so amazing that the German army, which has the largest army in the world, actually persisted for two days despite being numerically superior! This result really surprised Ao Huang, and of course, more importantly, he was excited!

"The Bavarian Legion's combat effectiveness is indeed very strong, but Prince Ruprecht is not a suitable person to associate with. It is difficult for us to control him." Archduke Ferdinand frowned slightly and said.

"Haha? Are you still thinking about this issue? We need to adopt a soft policy even for Hungary internally, and we need to make huge concessions to the Czechs. Do you still want to control the Bavarian Legion outside the empire's territory?" The Austrian Emperor asked There was a hint of sarcasm in the words.

"The strength of the Austro-Hungarian Army occupies an overwhelming advantage on the Eastern Front. The Bavarian Army is only in a subordinate position, but they want to take the lead. And I am very dissatisfied with some of Bavaria's activities in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They and Bohemia , the activities in Upper and Lower Austria are too frequent, and the scope and depth exceed what is normally allowed, especially in Bohemia and Moravia. Bavaria's influence has penetrated into all aspects. This is very detrimental to the empire. of."

Archduke Ferdinand may not have realized the change in the Austrian Emperor's attitude, but he decided to vent his dissatisfaction. For a future king, Ferdinand's desire for power and control was no less than that of the Kaiser, but the situation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire made him feel very difficult. Not to mention that the Hungarian government was constantly at odds with the empire. The Slavs and Czechs within the empire were also difficult to deal with.

At this time, Princess Mary, who had already married and became the prince consort of Bavaria, was still involved in the affairs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If before her marriage, Princess Mary's influence on Austria was average, but after her marriage, her influence did not decrease but increased. ! With the support of the Bavarian royal family, and with the help of money and technology, Princess Mary's influence in Austria, especially Bohemia and Moravia, has skyrocketed!

The first is the political world. By helping the Germans, Princess Marie gained recognition from the Germans in the Czech government. Through economic and industrial cooperation, Princess Mary gained the understanding of the Czech high-ranking officials and nobles. The latter did not become hostile to Princess Mary because of the increase in Prussians in the local government of Bomisia. On the contrary, attracted by the Golden Mark, they became suppliers and downstream enterprises of the Bavarian factory one by one.

In recent years, the Bavarian royal family and Princess Mary have gone even further! They have further extended their influence to the military and civilians, bought it off from high-level officials, and the Bavarian royal family has invested in Skoda, so it is logical for Bomisia's army to be equipped with Bavarian weapons. And those Czech leaders who have benefited from the economy do not mind making some concessions in military personnel arrangements.

As for the people? Archduke Ferdinand had to give a thumbs up to Prince Ruprecht's methods. This guy was really good at dealing with Czech nationalists! It can even be said that it comes naturally. Since the economic and commercial exchanges between Bavaria, Bohemia and Moravia are already very close, if the Czechs, who are already at a disadvantage and in a cooperative position in the industrial structure, want to make more money, Naturally, they wanted to get closer to Bavaria. They needed to learn basic German, and then established closer economic ties with Bavaria and Germany. In order to safeguard their own interests, they naturally put aside their spiritual nationalism. invisibly,

Bavaria used soft and hard methods to greatly curb the development of Czech nationalism.

However, the result now is that the influence of Princess Mary and Bavaria behind her in the above areas has become impossible to ignore. This time Ruprecht proposed to provide funds to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and then placed a legion under Bavaria's command At that time, the local military governor of Bohemia actually supported this opinion very much and put forward very sufficient reasons. First, the equipment of both sides was in the same system to facilitate logistics and supplies. Second, the Bavarian military officer corps is of high quality. Third, both parties are very close and can help each other!

Of course Crown Prince Ferdinand wilted, and he wanted to ask, are you an army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire or an army of the Kingdom of Bavaria? If Emperor Fritz hadn't expressed his opinion, he would have even wanted to kick this guy from the Czech local army out of the army on the spot.

What makes Ferdinand even more unbearable is that Emperor Fritz doesn't seem to care about this, and he almost lets this expansion of influence go unnoticed. But today, the crown prince who can't hold it in anymore is ready to make friends with the old emperor. Let's see what the other party plans to do?

"Even if Bavaria's power is doubled, do you think the Kingdom of Bavaria can replace Prussia? Or can it replace Austria?" the Austrian Emperor asked.

"This is impossible. You are joking." Crown Prince Ferdinand said with an abnormal expression.

"That's serious, what are you afraid of? In fact, even if Bavaria has this idea, it doesn't matter. Every year, you can find several letters on William II's desk accusing Bavaria of having the intention to split Germany. Have you ever seen William II deal with these? ?"

"Let me tell you, in the end, Bavaria is the first kingdom in the Allied system. It cannot become an empire. As long as it takes any action, neither Prussia nor Austria will allow it. Bavaria is too small and its population is too small."

"Then why are they still infiltrating into Bohemia and Moravia? This kind of behavior has gone beyond the boundaries of a kingdom!" Ferdinand was confused. In his opinion, this kind of thing led to foreign countries. It’s no different than treason!

"Don't mention it, it's really nothing. The Kingdom of Bavaria has embassies abroad in some countries. They already have a certain degree of diplomatic rights, but the Kaiser didn't say anything."

"As for why we should tolerate it, you have never thought about hiring a country with nearly 300,000 troops to fight for you. What kind of price do you have to pay?!" Austrian Emperor asked.

"We hire them to fight?!" Crown Prince Ferdinand said.

"That's right, it's just employment. Now that we understand this issue, let's talk about other things." Ao Huang said.

Here comes the second update~~~! Please subscribe and reward~~~!