The "Goodwill" of the British (Part 2)

However, the "goodwill" of the British was not entirely useless; in the eyes of Milos Obrenovic, it felt as if the sky were collapsing and the earth sinking. He knew that in this lifetime, there would likely be no more days left to launch a counterattack on West Bosnia.

As for Belgrade, Milos Obrenovic dared not even think about it. After all, following so many years of repairs and renovations, this former capital of the Principality of Serbia had thoroughly and completely become a fortress.

Moreover, both the local industry and agriculture were dependent on the markets of the Austrian Empire.

The entire Belgrade region was forbidden from growing any food crops, yet they were able to enjoy cheap grain imported from the Austrian Empire.

Considering the population of the Belgrade region and the feeble state of Serbian agriculture at the time, Franz had reason to believe that even if Belgrade were returned to Serbian hands, the latter would not be able to afford to feed the former.

I could have endured the darkness, had I never seen the light.

--The Metamorphosis

That was correct; the Serbians, who had been impoverished for centuries, could endure high-intensity labor every day while eating only food that even livestock would loathe.

But after they had tasted bread, butter, carp, and the various strange animals raised by Franz, these people never wanted to return to those days of warlordism and lives as cheap as grass.

(The bread here refers to non-whole-wheat bread, priced at about a quarter of standard whole-wheat bread, though it was quite good for commoners of this period.)

The situation in West Bosnia was actually much the same, and when coupled with Croatian nationalism, it was, in reality, even harder for the current Serbia to recover than Belgrade.

However, due to