After a conversation, Charles learned that Karl was very interested in the General Staff system and the reserve mobilization system that he had proposed to Marshal Lacy at the military meeting.
The two brothers talked for a while longer before parting ways.
Through Karl's information, Charles learned that today, his uncle, Grand Duke Leopold of Tuscany, and his family had arrived in Vienna, which explained why he hadn't seen his father and mother all day.
Upon returning to Hofburg Palace, Auguste Sophie was already waiting for Charles in their room.
“Charles, Uncle Leopold arrived today,” Auguste said as she helped Charles take off his coat.
“Yes, I even ran into Karl just now,” Charles said with a smile.
Charles had always been close to Uncle Leopold's family; Grand Duke Leopold and his wife had even served as his godparents after Charles's birth and baptism.
Additionally, Leopold's wife, Grand Duchess Maria Luisa of Tuscany, was a Spanish princess—the daughter of King Carlos III of Spain. From a bloodline perspective, she was Empress Isabella's cousin, as their fathers, King Carlos III of Spain and Duke Filippo I of Parma, were biological brothers.
From her maternal lineage, she was also Charles's cousin (aunt).
Charles and Auguste Sophie went to the reception room, and after meeting Grand Duke Leopold and Maria Luisa, the family chatted and learned that his uncle's family had returned to Vienna not only to visit his brother, sister-in-law, and niece-in-law, but also to plan a military campaign against the Ottoman Empire.
The ladies and Charles's brothers sat silently, listening intently.
“Leopold, not long ago, Merk, the Russian ambassador to Vienna, presented me with credentials. The Russians hope that in the upcoming Russo-Turkish War, the Empire will honor its alliance and support their fight against the Turks,” Joseph II said.
Charles listened quietly, though he felt a bit puzzled. As early as three years ago, in 1781, Austria and Russia had once again formed a military alliance. If you ask who the enemy of the Austro-Russian Alliance was?
It’s a joke. Currently, Austria and Russia have formed an alliance. Besides being able to deal with the Ottoman Empire to the south, who else can they deal with?
The Ottoman Empire in the 18th century was no longer the all-conquering “Chicken Lord” of the 16th century. Since its disastrous defeat in the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Ottoman Empire had entered a period of stagnation in its expansion. After entering the 18th century, the Ottoman Empire declined even more severely.
To be frank, the current Ottoman Empire is merely a shell of a great power, outwardly maintaining its facade.
However, since this empty shell has not yet been shattered, the bloated Ottoman Empire still has some intimidating power.
This is nothing. The European powers are currently in a collective slump. The British, who have just extricated themselves from the eight-year quagmire of the North American colonial independence war, are now licking their wounds behind closed doors; France, which supported the Americans in their war of independence, is now heavily indebted, and the government is struggling to avoid declaring bankruptcy, which shouldn't last much longer; Russia is just recovering from the mess of the Pugachev Rebellion; Austria's internal social contradictions are constantly sharpening due to Emperor Joseph II's radical reform measures; Prussia, due to years of warfare and militarism, has also been focused on maintaining stability for the past two years; although Spain's national strength has improved under the diligent rule of Carlos III, after the War of the Spanish Succession ended and it lost the Spanish Netherlands and parts of Italy, its remaining European mainland is naturally resource-poor. Although it still has vast American colonies to exploit, it is no longer able to maintain its former 'empire on which the sun never sets.'
As for Poland, it has long become a delicacy on the dining tables of Austria, Prussia, and Russia.
And the Ottoman Empire had recently struggled and become quite exhausted just suppressing a rebellion in the Syrian region. This also gave the Russians an opportunity.
Looking at it this way, the European great power in the best actual condition right now is actually Spain, that old empire.
However, this is currently an era of 'who is less bad.' Since everyone is bad, it's about who is less bad. The worst off right now is actually France; other countries are relatively better.
The current Sultan of the Ottoman Empire is Abdul Hamid I, the son of Sultan Ahmed III. For the first 43 years of his life, he was imprisoned in the harem by his brother and predecessor, Mustafa III, according to the empire's tradition.
When Mustafa III died, Abdul Hamid was pulled from his confinement by officials and inherited the titles of Sultan and Caliph.
Abdul Hamid I was one of the first Sultans to attempt reforms in the declining Ottoman Empire. In the 18th century, he tried to establish a new army equipped with modern weapons. However, all reform efforts were aborted due to opposition from the increasingly corrupt Janissaries and Sipahis (feudal cavalry).
During Abdul Hamid I's reign, European powers continued to challenge the aging Ottoman Empire. Russia sought to seize the entirety of Crimea.
The Ottoman Empire's inheritance method, the fratricide law, which was akin to raising venomous insects, did indeed produce many enlightened rulers over generations, but its side effects were also quite obvious—the empire fell into severe internal strife, and the Ottoman imperial family itself was almost wiped out by this inheritance law in the seventeenth century.
Later, although the Ottoman Empire replaced the “fratricide law” with the “imprisonment law,” many Sultans, prior to their ascension, had been imprisoned for long periods, which left them lacking in the ability to govern the country.
This also led to the decline of the Ottoman Empire. When the Ottoman Empire was strong, it was unrivaled in the world. Once it declined, what its fate would be, I believe there's no need to say much.
Austria and Russia, these two powerful neighbors and old enemies, had always been sharpening their knives against the Ottoman Empire.
In original history, the Russo-Turkish War occurred twelve times. Almost every Tsar of Russia, after ascending to the throne, would fight a war with the Ottoman Empire. There's even a saying among the Russian people: “A Tsar who hasn't fought the Turks is not a qualified good Tsar.”
Fighting the Ottoman Empire seems to have become one of the important ways for every Tsar of Russia to prove his legitimacy and authenticity.
As for the long-standing enmity between Austria and the Ottoman Empire, that is even more complex and cannot be explained in a few words.
Since the sixteenth century, the successive ancestors of the Austrian Habsburg Dynasty had been locked in a death struggle with the Ottoman Empire, and it has now been over two hundred years. Who can blame Austria for its critically strategic geographical location? If the Ottoman Empire wanted to continue its invasion into the heart of Europe, Austria lay directly in its path.
Since entering the seventeenth century, there have been three large-scale Austro-Ottoman Wars between Austria and the Ottoman Empire. If one counts smaller-scale conflicts, then they are countless.
It seems that the war about to break out soon should be the Fourth Austro-Ottoman War and the Sixth Russo-Turkish War.
However, Charles remembered that this war, in original history, was supposed to break out in 1787. Why has it been brought forward by three years now?
Could it be another butterfly effect caused by my reincarnation? Charles thought, a black line appearing on his forehead.
But that's good. It's better to fight early than late. After all, if they really had to wait until 1787, as in original history, then with the French Revolution approaching, Austria wouldn't be able to gain much from Turkey. It's better to finish the fight early, cut a piece of meat from the Ottoman Empire, digest it quickly, and better prepare for the impending French Revolution.
What Austria needs to do now is to expand its national power as much as possible before the French Revolution arrives. After all, the German region is on the front line of French expansion.
Although there were many difficulties ahead, Charles was not discouraged. He felt that he could do something.
Currently, if the Austro-Russian Alliance really clashes with the Ottoman Empire, Charles believes the chances of victory are very high, as the current Ottoman Empire is not the Ottoman Empire of the 16th century, and Austria is no longer the Austria of the 16th century.
In terms of armaments, Austria recently began to fully equip the M1784 Flintlock Rifle. Unlike ordinary flintlock rifles, it is a self-loading, self-priming flintlock rifle, commonly known as a self-priming flintlock rifle.