After lunch, Franz and Chief of the General Staff Baron Hess walked down the spacious and luxurious corridor paved with marble.
Portraits of past Doges of Venice hung at both ends of this corridor, painted so skillfully they seemed lifelike. Franz stopped in front of a portrait depicting a bearded Doge, stood still, and quietly looked at the person in the painting.
Franz found this portrait very interesting. The bearded man in the painting also seemed to be looking at him. Beside him stood a little boy in a dark green coat playing a violin. Seeing the wings appearing behind the boy, this should be an angel.
Franz was lost in thought until Baron Hess interrupted him.
"Your Majesty? Your Majesty?" Baron Hess had to raise his voice to get Franz's attention.
Originally, the two were discussing how the Austrian Army could gain an advantage by engaging the French Army, but they didn't expect Emperor Franz to be attracted by a painting.
"Sorry, Hess, I was distracted," Franz softly apologized to the Chief of the General Staff.
"Hess, let me ask you first, do you know who is in the painting?" he continued.
"The painting?" Hess was startled, looked at the painting, frowned and stared for a while, but really couldn't figure out who it was, and had to reply, "Your Majesty, I am a soldier, not an artist, I'm not sure who this person is."
"Haha, I'm making it difficult for you," Franz showed a hearty smile, and then explained, "This is Alvise Mocenigo."
"Who?" Seeing Hess's expression that he didn't know who it was, Franz continued, "He was the Doge of Venice. He contributed greatly to the victory in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571."
As a devout Catholic, Hess naturally understood the importance of the Battle of Lepanto.
This was an important battle where the united Christian world achieved a great victory over the Ottoman Empire, arguably breaking the myth of the Ottoman Empire's invincibility.
He made the sign of the cross on his chest and silently recited a few prayers.
Franz waited for him to finish praying, then continued, "I was reminded of this battle. The naval power of the Republic of Venice alone at that time could never have defeated the Ottoman Empire. They united with many countries such as the Spanish Empire to form that miraculous united Christian fleet."
Franz thought for a moment, shook his head, and sighed, "But in this Sardinian War, the Kingdom of Sardinia had the support of Napoleon III, while we Austria fought alone. Thinking about it now, some of the diplomatic orders I issued in the past were truly foolish."
Franz couldn't help but show a bitter smile, "The German states didn't help us, and our only ally, Russia, broke its alliance with us during the Crimean War."
Hess was silent for a long time, then spoke, "Your Majesty, you should know that Emperor Charles VI, in order to secure the succession rights of Empress Maria Theresa, issued the Pragmatic Sanction and promised many benefits and ceded many interests to the major powers of Europe in exchange for their support for the Pragmatic Sanction."
"However, Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitz at the time opposed this approach. He believed the Empire should not rely on foreign powers but should focus on developing the economy and building a strong army."
"But as you know the result, after Emperor Charles VI passed away, although Prussia and other countries recognized the Pragmatic Sanction, Frederick still occupied Silesia. We went through the brutal War of Austrian Succession, and Empress Maria Theresa carried out internal reforms to establish a strong Austria."
Baron Hess stared at Franz and said word by word, "Your Majesty, only by being strong yourself can you fear no challenge."
"Yes, that's right, Hess. But we also need to make up for diplomatic mistakes, don't we?" Franz said with a bitter smile.
"I remember you told me General Wigel's Ninth Army troops have arrived. Let's go take a look," Franz suggested to Hess, "Didn't you say that only by being strong yourself can you fear no challenge? Then let's go see our Empire's army."
"As you wish, Your Majesty," Baron Hess replied respectfully.
....
The commander of the Ninth Army, General Wigel, was of medium height, slightly overweight, with a round face that was always slightly red and a prominent large nose. He usually wore a cheerful smile. In the Ninth Army, the soldiers of the Ninth Army would greet General Wigel casually when they met him.
However, the always smiling General Wigel couldn't smile much today. He was constantly wiping the sweat beads from his forehead with the handkerchief in his hand.
On the temporary drill ground, Damir's Composite Third Regiment was conducting a "live-fire shooting exercise."
Order the Third Regiment to advance in a line! The drummers began beating the marching drums.
This was still normal. The problem was that Emperor Franz had just suddenly announced that the translator in the Third Regiment who spoke three languages was "killed in action" and ordered the exercise to continue.
God is my witness, this never happened during regular exercises! General Wigel couldn't help but start panting heavily.
As the troops marched, they became a bit disorganized. Fortunately, they finally saw the targets lined up in a row.
Halt! Prepare to fire!
Perhaps because the Third Regiment had just been reinforced with some Polish and Hungarian recruits, some of the soldiers in the front rank might not have heard or understood their officer's words. Some continued marching in groups of three or five, and the troops behind them also became a chaotic mess, with the rear troops starting to bump into the halted troops in front.
"Damn it, the officer said halt!" someone shouted.
"Why did you stop!" In an instant, voices in Polish, Ukrainian, and various other languages erupted within the ranks, and the formation became noisy and chaotic.
The Regiment Commander, Colonel Damir, covered his forehead and quietly looked at the group on the viewing stand.
How unlucky I am today. The Emperor is inspecting, and by drawing lots, my regiment was chosen. The Colonel had a long face, feeling very bitter inside.
On the viewing stand, some Generals couldn't help but chuckle softly, and they all stole glances at the Corps Commander, General Wigel.
General Wigel looked at the black-faced Emperor Franz, hardened his heart, and ran a few small steps forward.
The Chief of Staff beside him wasn't paying attention, and General Wigel directly bypassed Emperor Franz, who was observing this "farce of an exercise," and shouted, "Damir, you scoundrel, quickly reorganize the ranks and organize volley fire!"
Franz was thinking about some things after witnessing this scene. He somewhat understood why Austria sued for peace after being defeated by the French Army in the later Battle of Solferino, even though it still had its main force.
This is completely disorganized, the army's very foundation.
Franz's thoughts were interrupted by General Wigel. Looking at his face, which was constantly dripping with large beads of sweat, he couldn't help but wave his hand, "Wigel, let's go down and watch the shooting practice directly."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Before Wigel could feel grateful that Emperor didn't blame him for his offense, he began to pray that these rascals would shoot a bit more accurately.
By the time Emperor Franz and his entourage arrived at the shooting position, Colonel Dmitro had finally managed to reorganize the troops and was quietly saying something to his subordinates.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Colonel Dmitro replaced the troops with the Third Battalion, Second Company, which had the best shooters in the regiment besides the Jäger, and some Jäger.
Ready!
"Wait a moment, please let me call it out."
Just then, a voice interrupted the tense atmosphere.
Colonel Dmitro looked with some surprise at the person who had called out that sentence and was walking towards him.
