Vienna, Hofburg Palace.
Franz could very well understand that Russia wanted to seize the chance to stir up trouble too. After all, the Austrian Empire was standing at the front now; if it did not stir up trouble, that would run counter to Nicholas I's logic.
What Franz had not quite expected, however, was that the Tsar had chosen to take the field in person. It seemed Nicholas I truly wanted to replicate Peter the Great's achievements.
But the timing was not good for Russia. After all, Franz was the one who had created this timing—how could he not understand it?
Yet according to Franz's earlier conception, Russia should have launched its offensive in February or March of the following year.
By then, the ice would have melted and the snow thawed, and the rebellions within Russia ought to have been more or less cleaned up.
More importantly, Britain and France on the Spanish battlefield should have been an arrow at the end of its flight by then. At that point, a Russian attack on the Ottoman Empire would become the last straw that crushed Britain and France.
Yet Nicholas I was clearly somewhat too hasty at this moment, including with the matter of marrying off his daughter.
Such a major affair as a marriage alliance between Russia and Austria had actually been decided so carelessly, leaving Franz rather speechless.
Though it was wartime, an emperor's wedding still needed to be prepared with care. After all, this concerned the face of two countries, as well as two great families.
Franz's wedding was not a simple political marriage. For the Austrian Empire, its symbolic meaning far outweighed its practical benefits.
In this special era, the Austrian Empire desperately needed a cultural symbol all Austrians could acknowledge.
It was somewhat sad to