Viscount Stratford had only just taken Empress Dowager Shevkyevza away, and before the items in the palace could even be packed up, the British Army in Constantinople announced its surrender.
The Austrian and Russian armies immediately contacted the British troops responsible for guarding Dolmabahçe Palace, and both sides dispatched elite units to capture the Ottoman imperial family.
Fortunately, Viscount Stratford had acted quickly enough. Otherwise, it would not merely have been a group of servants and attendants captured, but the entire Ottoman court.
After the British surrender, their efficiency was astonishing; there was not the slightest dragging of feet.
This left the Austrians, who had dealt with the British for many years, deeply unaccustomed to it. In fact, quite a number within the Austrian army believed the British surrender was a sham, and that their real aim was to stall for time through some conspiracy.
There was even a theory that the British intended to launch a sudden attack once the Austrian army let down its guard.
Though that ran contrary to the common sense of European warfare, Franz's tireless propaganda had convinced Austrian generals that the British were entirely capable of such a thing.
After all, for the British Army to surrender en masse after only three days of fighting was simply too bizarre to believe.
In truth, because the casualties from the street fighting had been so horrific, the Holy Alliance forces had already come to regard the British troops stationed in Constantinople as an unprecedentedly formidable enemy.
To prepare for the grueling battle that might come, both Austria and Russia had already requested reinforcements from home.
Yet the British truly chose to surrender. Not only did they yield their positions, they even pointed out the locations of enemy troops to the Holy Alliance forces.
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