Chapter 873 April Fool’s Day

Chapter 873 April Fool’s Day

London, Whitehall.

The members of Congress did not have much objection to going to war with Austria, but they were a little worried. That is, is it really wise to go to war with two powerful countries, Austria and France at the same time?

"Your Majesty Prime Minister! We know that you have already deployed a fleet in the Mediterranean, but now we have not yet achieved a decisive victory in the battle with the French.

Does it seem too hasty to intervene in the Italian issue and fight against Austria at this time? "

John Russell shook his head.

"Mr. Congressman, we have to look forward. The only countries in the world that can compete with us for colonies are France and Austria.

And I don’t know if you have ever used Austrian products? Strong, durable, and cheap.

If it weren't for their weak naval strength and their own narrow attributes, they would have completely surpassed France and become our biggest competitor.

There is still no company in our country that has made a replica of an Austrian sewing machine, which is undoubtedly a huge shame.

But rather than honor, I think it is more important to extinguish this fire that threatens us in advance. "

The audience immediately burst into warm applause. After all, what Britain has done for hundreds of years is to protect its own trade and crack down on competitors. The plutocrats behind the congressmen like to hear this most.

In fact, it was natural that John Russell was not the only one who used Austrian products. Most members of Congress had used them. After all, he was not the only rich person.

In particular, the richer people are, the more they like to consume high-end foreign luxury goods, because in this way they can be unique and unique.

The British bourgeoisie in the nineteenth century no longer catered to the tastes of kings and nobles like their counterparts on the European continent. They wanted their own independent art and aesthetics.

However, John Russell's idea was a bit naive. Whether luxury goods are useful is actually secondary. Its main function is a tool for the upper class to compete and differentiate among themselves.

Moreover, sewing machines are actually labor tools, not luxury goods. However, the crazy purchasing desire of some nobles and businessmen led them astray.

Franz's factories also followed suit, deliberately distinguishing sewing machines for industrial production from household sewing machines.

Then in order to further divert customers, they also came up with a bunch of concepts, such as steel sewing machines and mahogany sewing machines.

Franz estimated that this was the earliest prototype of consumerism, and this concept was strongly welcomed by the British.

However, sewing machines and rubber shoes have become luxury goods, which is still a bit magical in Franz's eyes.

In fact, Austrian sewing machines and rubber shoes were the best-selling contraband goods in Britain at this time, and the skills of sewing machines and vulcanized rubber were not difficult.

However, they started many years later than Austria, and coupled with the lack of some key technologies and processes, the products they produced were completely unable to compete with Austria.

If trade barriers had not been restored, London might now be filled with Austrian goods.

There was no strong opposition in the entire British Parliament. After all, Britain was experiencing the throes of economic crisis and domestic rebellion at this time, and they were eager to launch a war.

Although the British did not recognize France's provisional republican government, they had no idea of ​​restoring the country to Louis Philippe, and they did not have any good impressions of Count Chambord.

The British's purpose is very simple, that is, to keep Europe in chaos. It would be great if Palmerston could really support a pro-British France on the European continent, but this is not important.

Afterwards, Lord Auckland, Lord Admiralty, announced his great battle plan in Parliament, a plan that could make him invincible.

At this time, the British Parliament was full of confidence. They felt that their sudden attack would surely catch the Austrians by surprise.

But what they didn't expect was that Solomon Rothschild had already received the news that Britain would declare war on Austria and would send a Mediterranean squadron to block the Adriatic Sea.

What they didn't even expect was that one day after they declared war, the British Mediterranean fleet would be completely wiped out.

Port of Durrës, Albania.

Sentinel Jack tried hard to hide his body in the watchtower, where the death and disappearance rates of sentinels were horrifyingly high.

The savage locals will do everything they can to assassinate the invaders, including kidnapping, poisoning, and blackmail.

But the most terrifying thing is not them, but some bounty hunters, who can shoot sentries from extremely far away.

According to the above estimation, it is most likely that he is a skilled old hunter in the mountains, and he probably uses the kind of homemade super long gun.

(The so-called super long gun refers to a rifle with a barrel length exceeding 1.2 meters. At that time, the barrel length of most military rifles was about 1 meter.

However, some hunters and hunting enthusiasts usually lengthen the barrel to 1.2 meters or even longer, which will help improve the accuracy of the bullet.

In fact, according to British military history, when Afghans fought against British troops, they usually used 1.5-meter super-long guns to snipe British troops from a long distance. )

For these skilled hunters, the Albanian garrison also thought of many ways, sending troops into the mountains to sweep them and sending cavalry to pursue them.

But the results were very poor. When the army entered the mountains, it was like sinking into the sea. At most, more than 300 people were sent at one time, but no one came back alive.

Later, the British army in Albania called those mountains the mouth of the devil. In fact, for the British army, which only had a total of 3,000 people, it was a joke to go into the mountains to search for enemies.

As for the cavalry, they also have no advantage in such complex terrain. Moreover, their cavalry is limited in scale and seriously insufficient in number, so they are still giving away their lives.

Afterwards, the commander of the Albanian garrison specially hired navy sharpshooters to counterattack. However, the effect is still very unsatisfactory. After all, the opponent is not interested in fighting, and the purpose is just to harass and destroy.

There is absolutely no reason in this world to prevent thieves the day before, and the British soon discovered that this method did not work. So they spread their marksmen farther away, resulting in a large number of deaths of these elite marksmen.

The commander of the Mediterranean Navy even wanted to duel with the officer who made this suggestion. After all, the only people who play with guns these days are nobles and rich people, and ordinary soldiers even use mind bombs for training.

The so-called mind bomb is an imaginary exercise holding a gun without bullets. Therefore, most of the soldiers at that time were poor at shooting. Usually only those who have hunted with guns for a long time or who like shooting can become sharpshooters.

However, there are also some people with extraordinary talents, but due to lack of sufficient practice, they usually cannot reach a very high level.

The elite marksmen of the British army did not die in vain. One of them escaped and came back with shocking news.

There is a huge camp in the mountains. There are a large number of sentries on the outside. There are thousands of troops stationed inside, and everyone is an elite shooter. In addition, there are a large number of siege weapons and even cavalry.

Elite marksmen or sharpshooters at that time were not productive, so the commander of the garrison at that time thought that this brave soldier was confused and did not pay much attention to it.

The garrison also didn't believe this news. After all, if there really was such an army in the mountains, why didn't they just fight over?

How were the heavy siege artillery transported into the mountains? What are those cavalry here for? It all seemed so unreasonable.

As a result, a legend spread among the British troops in Albania, that is, the "Old Man of the Mountains" actually lived in the mountains in the north.

Those who came to hunt them were Hassan who was chosen by the old man in the mountain. Legend has it that these people were all highly skilled assassins who were not afraid of death.

In fact, these British people accidentally came close to the truth of the matter after thinking about it for a while, but the people living there were not the old men in the mountains, but the Chasseur Academy of the Austrian Empire.

Those who came here are indeed elites from all over the Austrian Empire. They are currently here to practice with the British troops stationed in Durrës.

Sentinel Jack suddenly heard the sound of a branch being trampled, and his nerves immediately became tense.

"Who is it? Who's there!"

"Don't! Don't! Don't! Don't shout! It's me, one of our own."

A disheveled soldier ran out of the woods, which made Jack breathe a sigh of relief. After all, he answered in English and was wearing a soldier's uniform.

Although the tone is a bit strange, it is normal. After all, no one wants to come to this ghost place. The British government has to find some refugees from Ireland to die. It is normal for their tone to be strange.

It's just that this time is not a time when soldiers can go out, and the other party is obviously not an officer. Reasonably, the sentry Jack should conduct an investigation and report to his superiors.

The other party seemed to have noticed Jack's intention and quickly made a silence gesture.

Jack was a little helpless, and the other party took out a bottle of wine from his arms. Wine is a good thing in the military camp. After all, one drink can relieve a thousand worries, and Albania is located in a remote area and the ration is not large.

Coupled with the endless assassinations and kidnappings, the entire military camp was always in a state of tension. Although restricting soldiers' movement ensured safety to a certain extent, it also made supplies even more scarce.

Some officers who had obtained the power to go out even used it to make profits. A glass of low-quality rum and water, which cost only five pence in London, actually cost five shillings here.

One shilling equals twelve pence.

This five shillings is equivalent to a week's salary for this soldier. You must know that this is the area with the highest death rate among all British military stations in the world.

When Jack saw the other party's sincerity, he naturally didn't want to say anything. He put the gun on his back and was about to pick up the bottle of wine.

But the moment the two parties came into contact, the smile disappeared from the face of the soldier who went out privately, and he was dragged into the woods.

A moment later, a group of British soldiers walked out swaggeringly, and one of them was still standing in Jack's position as if nothing had happened.

At night, a fire broke out in the military camp and an explosion occurred in the arsenal. Several officers took advantage of the chaos and drove away the flagship, and the remaining ships were bombed and sunk.

Everything happened so suddenly that most soldiers didn't know what happened. They only knew that their camp was in ruins overnight.

However, there was not much time left for them to think. At dawn, the British army, which had been struggling all night, encountered another attack by local armed forces.

If it were normal times, they could completely keep those Albanians out with high-wall fortresses.

However, the interior of the fortress had collapsed. Coupled with a night of panic, fear, and fatigue, the British army repelled the looting Albanians with great sacrifice.

Night fell again, and this time no one among the 3,316 officers and soldiers of the British garrison was spared.

A Montenegrin mercenary imitated the Albanian example and cut off the ear of a dead British soldier, and others followed suit.

When the Albanian armed forces discovered the next day that the mountain that had weighed on their hearts for many years had finally been removed, they piled the bodies of the British soldiers together, lit a fire, and immediately started singing and dancing.

The Albanian garrison officers who escaped two days later came to Crete claiming that Durrës had been attacked by Albanians.

Commodore Baron Wesley of Crete immediately realized the seriousness of the problem. He immediately mobilized most of the island's forces and ten battleships to sail to the Adriatic Gulf.

Because Britain officially declared war on Austria today, according to the previous plan, they would wait for the squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet to join them.

However, the port of Durrës was suddenly attacked at this time. Brigadier General Wesley felt that it was most likely the Austrians who did it in order to break through the blockade.

However, after Brigadier General Wesley arrived at the port of Durrës, he only encountered a group of Albanians who were rebuilding the port. The latter were naturally no match for the British regular army, and the outcome of the battle between the two sides was quickly determined.

Brigadier Wesley learned from the prisoners that they were helped by the "Old Man of the Mountain". However, the name sounded very Arabic, so Brigadier General Wesley was a little confused as to why Durres was attacked.

But he knew very well that the mission of his fleet was to block the Adriatic Sea, so Commodore Wesley sent someone to notify Crete to let the subsequent fleet join him to complete the mission.

However, his men soon brought back even more incredible news, that is, the Austrian navy had invaded the island of Crete.

He saw a fleet of at least thirty ships heading west

Brigadier General Wesley was confused for a moment. How did the Austrians invade Crete? How did a large fleet of thirty ships slip past under his nose?

A lot of questions filled Brigadier General Wesley's mind, and shouldn't the Austrians go their own way after conquering the big island of Crete?

After all, relying on the strong to bully the weak is the most basic rule of naval warfare. It is impossible for the Austrians not to know this. At this time, Commodore Wesley's fleet is the most vulnerable to annihilation.

At this time, Brigadier General Wesley thought of the most impossible answer. Are the Austrians crazy? Do they want to find a decisive battle with the main force of the Mediterranean Fleet?

Then rush back to Crete at this time? Protect important maritime nodes first?

wrong! This was probably a conspiracy by the Austrians. How could his boats be faster than the battleships?

Brigadier General Wesley immediately ordered all the officers and soldiers on the ship that had sent the message to Crete to be arrested and interrogated. He did not believe that everyone had colluded.

Brigadier General Wesley felt that he must now send someone to contact the large island of Crete, and then prepare for a decisive battle with the Austrians in the bay.

To this end, he ordered the soldiers to push the artillery onto the fort, and he wanted to increase his own firepower as much as possible.

On April 1, 1848, the British Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet was completely wiped out in the Battle of the Mediterranean.