In fact, Britain had a card up its sleeve: the Poles. Back in the day, the British Government had spent a fortune on them.
It was just that Polish strength had failed to keep pace with the times, and after Franz's series of maneuvers, they couldn't even hold Austria back.
But what if the Poles joined forces with the Hungarians? Could that work?
At least Prince Albert himself was looking forward to it. After all, he didn't have much else to hope for. Besides the Poles and Hungarians, all he had left was the Royal Navy.
Baron Bruck's earlier protests had already confirmed the effectiveness of the Royal Navy's tactics, but how much damage maritime raiding could really inflict on the Austrian Empire remained to be seen.
After all, Austria wasn't Spain. Its principal taxes and supplies still came from its homeland. Even Spain would take years to weaken.
The purpose of raiding was to sustain war through war, making up for one's own losses by weakening Austria. It was a truly brilliant idea, and history had proved it could work.
Besides, piracy had existed since time immemorial. Even if the Austrians really did catch them, it wouldn't matter.
If anything, the British Navy would be only too happy for the Austrians to take the initiative and attack. That would give them a much greater chance of exposing a weakness, and then the British Royal Navy could seize the opportunity to crush them in one decisive blow.
That was why Prince Albert held such high hopes for it, believing it could at least ensure Britain would never be defeated.
It was just that helping Hungary wasn't easy. In the past, the British Navy could have sailed openly into the Mediterranean Sea, or bought supplies directly from an ally and sent