Holy Roman Empire

We must acknowledge the acting skills of the Japanese, who promised England and France they would join the fight against Austria while simultaneously assuring Austria that they would absolutely not invade the Austrian Nanyang.

As for the rumors circulating, those were just French conspiracies, aimed to use despicable means to incite discord between Japan and Austria.

True or false did not matter, under a series of diplomatic manipulations, the Japanese government still secured tangible benefits.

By employing their trickery, on April 11, 1891, Ito Hirobumi signed the "Russo-Japanese Far Eastern Treaty" with the French Ambassador Gleytlas, in exchange for French government abandoning its privileges in Japan, setting the stage for Japan to abolish unequal treaties.

Following that, on April 18, Ito Hirobumi repeated the tactic, signing the "Anglo-Japanese Tokyo Treaty" with the British, retracting their privileges in Japan.

Similarly, by using the same trickery, on April 26, Ito Hirobumi signed the "Japanese-Austrian Security Treaty" with the Austrian diplomat, in exchange for Austria giving up its privileges in Japan by not aligning with the French.

Having settled matters with the three major nations, the rest naturally could not make much of a difference. Through various means of coercion and persuasion, the Japanese government miraculously abolished all the unequal treaties signed by various countries, becoming the first nation in Asia to have full sovereignty.

The news reached Europe, but Japan was too insignificant at that time, and no one was interested; the media were busy reporting news of wars in Europe, naturally paying no heed.

Not to mention the public disinterest, even governments did not take this as a significant matter. Having privileges was good, but so was not having them, as Japan's market was meager, mostly leftover by England and France.

In fact, Franz only remembered Austria had privileges in Japan after seeing the treaties submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Then there was no follow-up because the Japanese were simply too poor at that time. Only a few commodities could sell well there, with the most lucrative being arms trade.

Unfortunately, since the Japanese navy studied British methods and the army studied French, there was no room for Austria in the arms market.

The Vienna Government then enacted a mineral export approval bill, blocking any path to selling resources, except for some rubber and food from Austrian Nanyang, along with a small amount of industrial products.

Exports were few, and imports were even fewer. Compared to impoverished Japan, Austria essentially lacked nothing.

Even with Japan's flagship product—raw silk—after Lombardy and Venice switched from rice to mulberry cultivation, its market was lost.

The annual trade volume between Japan and Austria was less than 100,000 Divine Shields, which could be utterly disregarded; there was really no reason to pay attention.

Having been Emperor for so many years, Franz had already become a qualified politician. Aside from causing some initial trouble to the Japanese government, he seldom stirred up any issues afterward.

In fact, Austria paid the price for the Emperor's capriciousness. The original purpose of the Vienna Government's mineral export approval bill was to strike at competitors, mainly targeting the French.

Austrian Nanyang was too far from Europe; importing ore from such a distance meant high transport costs alone, making restrictions unnecessary.

However, while defining the scope, Franz's hand trembled, and he unintentionally included Austrian Nanyang in the circle on the map.

Afterwards, the Japanese government had to go through layers of approvals to import ore from Austria and could not get it done in less than a year and a half.

For this, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also made many efforts, but for the Vienna Government, this was a trivial matter; no one was willing to change a decree for the sake of Japanese feelings.

To put it bluntly, the interests were not substantial enough; changing a law in Austria was very troublesome as it required convening a legislative session.

Even if the restrictions were abolished, it would only increase trade by a few tens of thousands of Divine Shields annually, and the tax collected by the government would only be a few thousands of Divine Shields.

For such a small amount of money, the Vienna Government was not idle enough to go amend a law. Even if they knew it was wrong, they could only persist in the mistake.

As a result, relations between Japan and Austria remained lukewarm. One must admit, in this respect, the Japanese were indeed talented in playing their role when required.

Putting down the treaty in his hand, Franz slowly said, "The negotiations between England and Russia have started; it seems our actions on the African Continent have alerted the British.

According to John Bull's usual behavior, they definitely do not want to see us connecting Asia, Europe, and Africa. If nothing unusual happens, England and France are likely aligned now.

The main force of the British Army is still in the Afghan Region; they are incapable of intervening in a European war in the short term; the threat will come only from overseas.

Order the Governor of Southeast Asia and the Governor of Central America to increase their vigilance; be wary of all surrounding neighbors, and do not provide the enemy with any opportunity.

As for other areas, where our strength is too weak, if war breaks out, allow them to surrender directly."

Although Franz did not believe that the Japanese would go on a raid in Austrian Nanyang after having their fill, considering the problematic strategies the Japanese deployed in the original timeline, he ordered increased vigilance immediately.

In other regions, it was purely speculative, but under the backdrop of possible cooperation between England and France, fooling a few fools into charging into battle was not at all difficult.

It could be the Japanese, but it could also be other countries. Among Austria's overseas colonies, apart from Nanyang and Central America, which were doing well enough to engage in friendly matches with neighboring countries, the rest were not particularly successful.

Especially in Austrian Alaska, there was only one infantry battalion stationed there, coupled with a population of less than fifty thousand, a third of whom were criminals.

If the British made a move, it could potentially fall within minutes. Since a defeat was inevitable, it was better to simply admit defeat.

Managing these places was not easy; if their resources were depleted, they would have to invest anew.

After all, once the European wars were concluded, no matter who owned the territories, they would have to spit them out with profits, so making meaningless sacrifices was unnecessary.

Through his many years as a time-traveler, Franz had been influenced by European culture. When pondering issues, he increasingly thought like a European politician.

Foreign Minister Weisenberg, "Your Majesty, perhaps if we spread the news of occupying Egypt to the outside world, it might dispel these unrealistic fantasies of these folks."

Although the Austrian army had already breached the Suez defense line and was even on the verge of entering Cairo City, the Egyptian war was still ongoing.

Just recently, the French government had dispatched reinforcements to the Egypt Area, although they could not turn the tide; they still delayed the Austrian army's occupation of Egypt.

However, that did not prevent the Vienna government from spreading rumors. Since the Austrian army was already approaching Cairo, breaching the city was only a matter of time.

Be they careerists or opportunists; these people were like grass on the wall, leaning wherever the wind blew stronger.

Although the alliance of England and France was intimidating, Austria's prowess was also not to be underestimated. Receiving such news, and without confirmation of its truth, no one could easily take sides.

In those days, verifying news was not easy by the time other countries realized what was happening, the Austrian army would likely have already captured Egypt.
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By then, with a reversal in strategic situations, the wall-leaning folks would naturally know how to choose. The essence of politics was to increase the number of friends and decrease the number of enemies.

In the face of interests, humans cannot withstand testing, and the same applies in politics. Franz was not a war fanatic; he had no interest in playing a strategy that would entice snakes out of their holes and create enemies for himself.

"Give it a try, but don't make it too obvious; just release some photos of our army in Egypt and leak a few minor rumors. Let them guess the progress on the battlefield themselves."

The mix of true and false news was the most difficult to judge. If it were photos from another battlefield, one could usually judge the progress by recognizable buildings.

But the situation in Egypt was different; the Austrian army was advancing on three fronts, and the French Army could only hold strategic locations and major cities, leaving the rest of the area entirely to the Austrian cavalry.

Simply from the route of the Austrian army, it was easy to conclude that the French Army was doomed. As for the truth, that no longer mattered.

...

Everything has two sides; once the news of the Austrian occupation of Egypt was released, it caused a sensation worldwide.

Not only were those looking to profit from the situation shocked, but even Austria's close ally, the Russians, were impacted.

Perhaps the shock was too great, or perhaps to enable the British to better restrain Austria, the Tsarist Government, reversing its previous aloofness in negotiations, swiftly completed an interest swap with the British and reached a ceasefire agreement, ending the Anglo-Russian war.

While the European nations were still choking the French, they also shifted their stance, opening the gates wide when exporting strategic materials to France, as if overnight, everyone's relationship with France had entered a honeymoon phase.

However, this was also the limit of what the governments could do, just as they had not joined the Anti-French Alliance before; they likewise could not arbitrarily join an Anti-Austrian Alliance.

Easing restrictions on the French was merely to balance the power between France and Austria, to encourage more fierce fighting between them on the battlefield, not because they had become friends.

In the eyes of most politicians, France had always been the greatest destabilizing factor in Europe, a prime target for suppression.

...