Chapter 188 Objection Is Invalid (Part 2)

Belgrade, Congress Hall.

Franz sat in the main seat, looking a little embarrassed. Below the stage was the 17-member parliament that once held the highest power in Serbia, but now only 14 people were left.

There were serious disagreements within the Austrian government about the ownership of the honor of regaining Belgrade. Should a certain general receive it? It seemed that no one was qualified.

Should the honor belong to the royal family? The only one who met the age and status requirements was Archduke Karl's eldest son, Archduke Albrecht. However, Archduke Friedrich had just achieved a great feat, and it seemed a little inappropriate to let his brother receive the honor of regaining Belgrade.

Given the emperor's physical condition, he might have passed away before arriving in Belgrade. Even if he arrived in Belgrade, he would not be able to demonstrate the majesty of the royal family and make the locals submit.

The emperor's younger brother seemed to be similar, and could only play a counter-effect.

Metternich and Count Korolov searched the royal family and found that Archduke Franz Joseph was the right person.

So, Franz was loaded onto a ship overnight and sent to the Novi Sad Fortress.

The 80,000-strong Austrian army marched into Serbia and headed straight for Belgrade. The Serbs along the way neither lined the streets to welcome them nor fled in fear. They seemed to not care about this at all.

The battle took place twice, but both were one-sided. Franz looked at the endless army in front of and behind him, and even couldn't understand why those Serbs jumped out to fight.

In recent years, Serbia has produced at least dozens of kings, big and small.

The members of the Seventeen-member Parliament have been replaced several times. All these armies can do is collect food and capture able-bodied men. However, almost all the young people in the villages along the way have been collected, and the remaining women just plow the fields mechanically.

In fact, generally speaking, when the Austrian army went to conquer other countries' lands, they would send some quartermasters to buy local food and specialties at high prices to show the kindness of the Habsburg family and to win people's hearts.

However, what surprised the quartermasters was that no one came to sell things on their own, so they had to buy them themselves.

But when they rode on tall horses and led a team of infantry to the village, there was only a group of old people and women holding farm tools standing at the entrance of the village, looking like they were going to fight the soldiers.

Fortunately, they were just a group of old people and women. If they were a group of young men, I'm afraid they would have been dead bodies on the ground.

The leading officer suppressed the muzzles of the soldiers raised by his side and called a messenger who knew Serbian.

"Tell them that we want to buy some food, wine, livestock, fodder, wood, gold, silver, weapons, ammunition, and horses."

The messenger came back on horseback soon.

"They said they didn't want money, and asked us to leave quickly after taking the things and not to enter their village."

The officer was actually quite helpless. If it weren't for the repeated orders from above and the royal family sitting in charge, he would have ordered to rob food long ago.

"Damn it! Look at what's edible in the field, load it all in the car."

"Don't fucking cut branches, can they be used as firewood?"

"."

The officer took out a bag and handed it to the messenger.

"Go settle the bill with those damn guys, and give them the remaining money as a tip. A bunch of idiots, the higher-ups want to ask for good luck, but these people are really ignorant. Unlucky!"

The march along the way can only be described as deserted.

However, in the carriage, Baron Kemp, the diplomat sent by Metternich, was talking nonsense.

He said that he had been to the Arctic and climbed the Himalayas, and then he said that he had driven cattle to destroy an entire Indian tribe on the Great Plains of North America, and then he said that he had seen the Golden City in the Amazon rainforest... and how he won 37 million with two dollars in a casino in Singapore.

At the same time, he was very attentive to Ajani who came with Franz. Adjani, who has been with Franz for many years, has long been more experienced than women of the same generation, and she only thinks Mr. Kamp's boasting is ridiculous.

Mr. Kamp thinks he is very charming and a veteran in the love field. He has never seen a woman who is not interested in him. So he thinks that the other party must be playing hard to get. Archduke Franz next to him is drowsy and seems to be about to fall asleep.

So Mr. Kamp became more and more bold. Adjani glanced at Franz, who nodded.

Then Adjani lifted up her skirt, and when Mr. Kamp wanted to see what was going on, Adjani kicked her out of the carriage.

"Why lift up the skirt before kicking someone? To satisfy his last wish?" Franz didn't care about Mr. Kamp who flew out. After all, he would not live if he did evil.

"No, it's inconvenient to kick someone in a skirt. You will know it after you wear it once." Adjani teased.

But before she finished speaking, a scream came from outside, interrupting the conversation between the two.

Theoretically, the carriage was not moving very fast, and the road below was dirt, so even if he flew out, there would be no problem, at most he would be in a mess.

However, Mr. Kemp did not stand up in time, and the horse behind him did not stop, and stepped on his third leg.

Now Mr. Kemp's body was covered in blood, and he was unconscious.

After a rescue, Mr. Kemp's life was saved, but he was afraid that he would not have happiness in the second half of his life, and he could not participate in the scheduled negotiations.

Therefore, the negotiations had to be hosted by Franz.

Franz read out the conditions of the Austrian Empire and the specific process of the exchange.

Austria took Bosnia from the Ottoman Empire under the banner of saving its believers, and now used it to exchange Belgrade with Serbia.

This series of operations made the members of the Serbian Parliament of Seventeen a little dizzy.

However, they were very clear about one thing, that is, they only needed to pay one province to get three provinces back. Not only that, the residents of those three provinces were mainly Serbs, and the Austrian Empire promised the Serbs in Western Bosnia that they would be free to stay or leave, and would not stop them.

The Parliament of Seventeen thought that the Austrian Empire would take the opportunity to annex Serbia, or support a puppet regime loyal to Austria and forcibly dissolve the Serbian Parliament.

But now they feel that they have made a lot of money, and the territory and population have almost doubled. And the price they have to pay is just Belgrade.

The Parliament of Seventeen signed the treaty readily, but Milos, who has always been considered pro-Austrian, did not sign it.

Miloš himself was fully convinced that the Austrian Empire would support him to become the Grand Duke of Serbia and give him all kinds of promises.

However, now the Austrians have not mentioned who will become the Grand Duke of Serbia, and they want to take away Belgrade, the birthplace of Serbia.

As a great Serbianist, Miloš could not accept all this.

"I object!" Miloš mustered up his courage.

"Opposition is invalid!" Franz did not want Austria to repeat the same mistake, and would not allow his own flesh and blood to feed a poisonous snake.