After being battered and bloodied once again, the Albanian coalition had completely lost the courage to keep fighting. Most tribes chose to surrender unconditionally, while the few who refused withdrew into the mountains or continued resisting in areas far from Austria's borders.
This was hardly good news for the Austrian Empire. The mountain tribes' surrender merely meant that the enemy had gone from open to hidden.
Franz wasn't afraid of a straight-up fight between the two sides. After all, his forces excelled at that and held an overwhelming advantage.
But once they entered the mountains, they would have to wage a costly counterinsurgency and distinguish friend from foe. Otherwise, they could easily spark an even larger rebellion.
It seemed every problem had returned to square one. The Austrian Empire lacked the manpower and could not afford the enormous cost of occupying the mountains.
In the end, Austrian troops merely occupied the main passes on the outskirts, along with several key areas previously identified by geological survey teams.
In truth, as a great power, Austria could never stop exploring the surrounding regions. Nor was the Austrian Empire the only great power to explore Albania. The Russians had also sent expeditions there.
Although the Russians were fighting the Ottoman Empire under the pretext of helping an ally, they had no desire for the Austrian Empire to join the war.
After all, this ally had demonstrated its formidable strength over the past year, and Nicholas I had no wish to see it grow even stronger.
Moreover, in the Russians' plans, there was no place for the Austrians in the Balkans. They did not want Austria to keep expanding there.
Austria's actions in the southern mountains laid bare its weakness. That was what finally let the Russians breathe a sigh of relief, as the