Chapter 1155 Opening Lightning Strike

Chapter 1155 Opening Lightning Strike

"This is not the point. The point is what the Austrians want to do?"

Reshid Pasha shook his head. He couldn't think of what the Austrians wanted to do.

"Maybe they want to use the advantage of numbers to force us to agree with their claims?"

Viscount Stratford quickly denied Reshid Pasha's conjecture.

"What's the use of numbers? This is not a democratic vote. Those small countries are not qualified to speak on the issue of the Near East."

There was another silence. No one could come up with a reasonable speculation. They could only temporarily think that the Austrian side wanted to use the advantage of numbers to fulfill their claims.

However, under this premise, what the Austrian Empire's claims were began to make people puzzled. After all, the Austrian side did not seem to make much moves against the Ottoman Empire, and there was no reason to mobilize so many troops.

Viscount Stratford thought of many crazy possibilities. He even thought that Austria might directly designate the Ottoman Empire as an international condominium. After all, the Austrians had done so before.

One outrageous and crazy idea after another almost drove him crazy. Finally, when the day of the conference came, Viscount Stratford had been tortured by insomnia and was physically and mentally exhausted and withered.

For the sake of the country's appearance, the makeup artist of the delegation had to use all his skills to restore Viscount Stratford to some of his former spirit.

The only gain of the British delegation in these days was that they found that the French were actually in the same group with them. Even before the meeting started, the two sides had reached a consensus on the ownership of Cyprus.

However, this kind of thing can only be implemented in the treaty, so the necessary procedures must be followed.

The Hofburg Palace was very lively. Not only the original seven countries of Britain, France, Russia, Austria, Turkey, Egypt, and Greece, but also the German countries and Italian states, and even Spain sent envoys.

The representatives of the six countries except Austria were a little confused.

Prince Felix Schwarzenberg happily announced the primary topic of the conference, which was the threat of the Ottoman Empire to Europe.

As soon as they came up, the British felt the overwhelming hostility in the meeting hall. The Ottomans did not have a good impression in the minds of Europeans.

This impression came from long-term hostility, religious differences, and the Europeans' sense of superiority over their own civilization.

To be honest, Prince Schwarzenberg's approach was not brilliant, but it was simple and effective, and it directly put the Ottomans into a passive situation that was almost impossible to turn over.

Viscount Stratford also became dumb. He couldn't even stand up and say a "fair word" now. As long as someone dared to stand on the side of the Ottomans, then the hat of a pagan would not be able to escape, and the DEBUFF of "associating with barbarians" would follow.

It took the British hundreds of years to take off the hat of pirates. If they stood with the Ottomans again, I'm afraid that the identity of a barbaric nation would be unclear.

The French were even less likely to speak for the Ottomans. Tocqueville knew that as the only republic in the entire meeting hall, it might be more sensitive than the identity of a pagan.

As for Reshid Pasha, the fish on the chopping board, he didn't dare to refute Prince Schwarzenberg's statement at all.

Thus, the tone of the entire conference was set, which was a conference to punish the Ottoman invaders.

Prince Schwarzenberg first put forward the Austrian Empire's proposal.

"First, the Ottoman Empire must admit defeat.

Second, as a punishment for this war, the Ottoman Empire must cede the Albanian region to the Austrian Empire.

Third, Wallachia must be disarmed, and the Ottoman Empire's army must not cross the Danube, otherwise it will be regarded as a declaration of war.

Fourth, the Ottoman Empire must pay 10 million florins in military expenses."

Reshid Pasha really didn't care about the first three, but he really couldn't accept the fourth.

"Dear Prince, throughout the war, our Ottoman Empire has never sent a single soldier into your territory. Wherever your army goes, our army also tries its best to avoid it, and even our officials try their best to appease our people.

How can you ask us to compensate for the military expenses?"

"Doesn't our army need money to be transferred from all over the country to the Balkans? Doesn't it need supplies to be stationed abroad? In order to avoid accidents and inhumane incidents, doesn't our army need to maintain public order?"

This specious reason made Reshid Pasha speechless, but it was not the first time that the great powers did this. He could only settle for the second best and hope to reduce the compensation costs.

Then it came to the link that the Ottoman Empire was best at at this time-crying poor. He didn't even need to forge it. As long as he gave out the real economic data, the great powers would immediately understand that the Ottoman Empire could not afford to pay the compensation.

In desperation, Prince Schwarzenberg could only reduce the amount of compensation again and again, from the initial 10 million florins to 1.5 million florins.

But in fact, Reshid Pasha didn't even have to worry about the 1.5 million florins, because a French consortium immediately expressed its willingness to take over the debt, and Reshid Pasha breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the Ottomans had no objections, the British would never let Austria succeed so easily.

In the face of opposition from the great powers, the Austrian Empire's claims had to be shelved, but this was also normal after all, the participating countries still had to trade with each other.

The Russians came out and criticized the Ottoman Empire again. The main reason was that the Ottoman Empire took the initiative to deploy troops on the border to attack the allies.

On the other hand, it persecuted Christians, especially the massacre of Bulgarians and Armenians.

We have to admit that Duke Uvarov had the ability to respond on the spot. He came up with the most daring idea in the shortest time.

"The purpose of the great Russian participation in the war is only to protect and liberate, in view of the long-term political, economic and religious persecution of ethnic minorities in the Ottoman Empire.

His Majesty the great Tsar Nicholas I proposed that Bulgaria be made independent and placed under the joint protection of the international community.

Establish the Principality of Armenia to shelter Christians persecuted in the Asian part of the Ottoman Empire.

Establish the Dobruja Demilitarized Zone so that our country can better protect the security and order of the Balkans.

At the same time, our country requires the Ottoman Empire to compensate for military expenses, losses and other comprehensive expenses of about 120 million rubles.

In view of the Ottoman Empire's treacherous behavior during the war, it violated the Treaty of Unkar-Iskelesi.

Our country requires the Ottoman Empire to dismantle all defenses on both sides of the strait and disband the Black Sea Fleet, and compensate our country for losses of 17 million rubles."

After Duke Uvarov finished speaking, he received very warm cheers, and even Prince Schwarzenberg couldn't help but stand up to cheer for him.

Reshid Pasha's eyes turned black and he almost fainted. The representatives of those small countries knew that the good show was about to begin.

There is a high probability of a day off tomorrow,