Just as Leopold looked at Konitz and Maberi, both of them fell into silence, and Konitz was undoubtedly the most tangled.
When negotiating with the Prussians, Konitz promised Prussia that he would divide Mainz with Prussia after Leopold ascended the throne of the empire, and in the agreement with the Prussians, Konitz also signed his own name.
Although Prussia has not yet made public the agreement signed by Konitz, it is undoubtedly that once the Prussians make it public, Austria will become extremely passive, so Konitz asked tentatively:
"Your Majesty, at the beginning of the year, we reached an agreement with the Prussians on the Main River, and now the Prussians have launched an action against the Main River. If the Prussians make this agreement public, then I think our position in Austria will become very embarrassing. Even the princes who regard us as saviors will inevitably change their attitude towards us Austria after learning about this agreement. You see......"
Leopold frowned and said:
"I know what you mean, but don't forget that this agreement is not close to the Main River Basin, and even the Rhine River Basin has been divided into the agreement. I think the reason why the Prussians have not disclosed this agreement is because of this reason. Now the Prussians only make the princes on both sides of the Main River feel threatened, but once it is made public, the princes in the western territory of the empire will become hostile to Prussia, so Prussia will never do things that harm others and do not benefit themselves!"
"But, Your Majesty. If you don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of something like this..."
Leopold II waved impatiently
"Even if the Prussians open the agreement, we can point out that the Prussians are forging the agreement. There is no document of compromise between us Austria and Prussia!"
Leopold's answer made Konitz's face look unsightly.
The agreement with Prussia was signed by Konitz himself. The document not only contained Konitz's name but also his seal. Even if Leopold declared to the outside world, the documents were forged. However, the princes would definitely be doubtful, and in this way, it would undoubtedly damage his Konitz's reputation. In order to appease the princes, Leopold would also throw him Konitz out to attract firepower.
Seeing that Konitz stopped talking, Leopold turned to Mabeni and said:
"Have our troops on the front line been deployed?"
After Leopold asked, a hint of embarrassment appeared on Mabeni's face, and after a while, he said:
"My Majesty, because we had never thought Prussia would launch an offensive on Christmas, so some troops have not been deployed yet!"
Mabeni's words made Leopold angry
"Mabeni, what does your military department do for food! I remember very clearly that a few months ago I asked you to start mobilizing the army to prevent the Prussians from suddenly acting to disrupt our deployment. But now you tell me that there are still some troops that are not in place, how do you, the Minister of Military Affairs?"
Hearing Leopold's roar with anger, Mabeni's waist was bent even lower
"My Majesty, because before Christmas, the Prussians showed no sign of a sudden attack, so some troops were transferred to the rear for Christmas. So........."
"I don't want to listen to the explanation!"
Although Mabeni was very aggrieved, he didn't dare to say a word of complaint at this moment.
Although Mabeni is the Minister of Military Affairs of Austria and seems to be full of power and glory, Mabeni is the candidate found by Leopold in desperation, so Leopold does not trust Mabeni's ability very much. The situation of crossing Mabeni to issue orders to the front-line army often occurs.
Leopold's own order was also the order of Leopold to withdraw the troops originally deployed to the front line for Christmas. After all, the emperor was still very humane in some things.
But now that there has been such a big mess, Leopold is obviously going to find someone to vent his anger, so Mabeni is the type who is shot while lying down.
Seeing Mabeni's fearful look, Leopold's anger decreased a little
"You said, how long will the army be ready?"
"Your Majesty, it depends on what you think. If you only put pressure on Prussia as we had imagined before, then another five days, but if you plan to fight against Prussia, then I want to finish the preparation until mid-January"
Listening to Mabeni's words in his ear, Leopold's brain was also thinking quickly.
Originally, Leopold had never thought of carrying out a large-scale war against Prussia. After all, once Austria and Prussia started, the scale of the war would definitely be small. Although Austria has developed well in the past two years, once a war is held, no matter how much money it has, it is not necessarily enough to consume.
But let Austria watch Prussia swallow the Main River Basin into its stomach, Leopold thought he could not do it. You should know that although Prussia is stronger than Austria in terms of military terms, it is slightly inferior to Austria in terms of land area, population and industrial scale. However, once Prussia takes over the Main River, the distance between Austria and Prussia will be completely widened. At that time, facing Prussia, which accounts for almost half of the empire's territory, Austria doesn't know how to deal with it.
"Your Majesty, at this time, the Prussians are still mainly shocked, and the war must not be started! Once the war begins, the achievements our country has made over the years will be transformed into a must!"
When Kaunitz heard Mabeni say something about fighting Prussia, he couldn't calm down.
Kaunitz was not a pro-Prussian faction, and even Kaunitz was definitely a staunch hostile to Prussia. It was such a person who spoke out to fight against Prussia at this time. It was not that his attitude towards Prussia had changed, but that in Kaunitz's view, it was not that he had a little benefit from Prussia at this time.
"Prime Minister Konitz can shock the Prussians. That is of course excellent, but I don't think Prussia is now. It seems unlikely that I will give up easily, and I will never be able to sit and see the Main River fall into the hands of the Prussians. Don't forget that the Main River is the lifeline for our contact with the Netherlands!"
"But your Majesty, you should also know that since Prussia occupied Warsaw, a large number of opposition suddenly appeared on the former Polish territory we obtained. These people stirred up the situation in the entire occupied territory. Now if war broke out against Prussia, what should we do if the old Polish land was going to do?"
Leopold waved impatiently and said:
"These things should be solved by your government. OK, there is no need to say more!"
Seeing that Leopold had made up his mind, Konitz stopped talking.
In fact, Konitz originally had a plan to target Prussia. Although Prussia seems to have a stable rule, it is not impeccable inside. William's military reform and liberating serfs touched the interests of a large number of Junker nobles, which cannot be finished just by saying it. In addition, although Prussia seemed to have gained an advantage on the Eastern Front, this move also offended a large number of Poles who were worried about their homeland. After all, although Poland had already died before, at least one Warsaw left behind to let some Polish nationalists have a thought, but now Prussia looks obviously preparing to completely annex Poland, which will definitely make some people hostile to Prussia.
The reason why the situation has not deteriorated is that the powerful military force in Prussia is now suppressing. Once the power of the Prussian army is dragged down in some aspects, the situation will definitely deteriorate.
Leopold pondered for a moment and said:
"Now we have 40,000 people on the front line of Bohemia and 20,000 people on the front line of Silesia. The original Polish old land had deployed 20,000 people, which was already 80,000, but these troops were far from enough. After all, the Prussian army opposite us was not fewer than us, so we also transferred 20,000 people from Hungary to Silesia. From Vienna, another 10,000 people were reinforced to Bohemia. In this way, we formed a military advantage over Prussia."
"Your Majesty, once Hungary's troops are drawn, will the Ottomans have any ideas?"
Hearing Mabeni's words, Leopold said unhappily:
"What can those barbarians have? Don't forget that on the Ottoman border, we have deployed a total of 70,000 people. Are these 70,000 people all made of paper? Besides, the Ottomans are so busy now that they can't take care of themselves, but there is no ability to join in the fun!"
Leopold's stern scolding made Mabeni silent.
"Okay, go down and pass the order! Tell the generals on the front line to give me a 120,000-strong attention. If the Prussians dare to take a step further into our Austrian territory, I will fight back without hesitation! In addition, the order is sent to the Netherlands to prepare the garrison there. If the Prussians dare to cross the bottom line, then go down the Rhine directly, and I want to see if the Prussians really took the courage to leopards!"
This was awesome, but Konitz was a little dissatisfied.
The Dutch garrison can be seen but not used. It is already very difficult for more than 10,000 garrisons to maintain the local situation. Only fools will go back and think about it when they hope that those troops will participate in the war. After all, the Dutch has never stopped resisting for decades.
In addition to being deployed in the above-mentioned areas, the Austrian army also has nearly 30,000 troops stationed in Northern Italy. This army is the greatest reliance for ensuring the rule of the Habsburg family in Northern Italy's city-states.
After this calculation, there were more than 220,000 people in front and behind, plus nearly 20,000 people who had not been garrisoned in Vienna, the total force of the Austrian regular army was 240,000.
There are a lot of 240,000 people, which is 60,000 more troops than Prussia, but Austria also needs to defend. Moreover, Prussia and Ottoman, two countries that are strong enemies, have never given up their ambitions against Austria. This has led to Austria having a strong combat power of up to 70%, and leaving 30% must be guarded against another enemy.
PS: I can't afford to get hurt. It takes more than half an hour to go to the nearest Internet cafe. Fortunately, someone taught me to use my phone to connect to my laptop, but it takes more than ten meters of traffic to upload a chapter! Is there anyway? I only have dozens of meters a month, and I go! I have to do business again!