After returning to the European Continent, Stephen and Gaboli went their separate ways. One was off to stir up a bid for independence, while the other wanted to find a place to watch how the situation unfolded.
Stephen and the others did not return to Hungary immediately. Their experience in exile had taught them that they had to be cautious—any lapse could prove fatal.
Although more than a decade had passed and everyone had changed beyond recognition, no one could guarantee that they would not be recognized by an acquaintance.
If word leaked out, they would be swept up in one net. Stephen and his group disembarked in the Principality of Montenegro, posing as merchants conducting market research there.
They then sent several young men who had never shown their faces in Austria into Hungary to gather intelligence.
Adversity was the easiest forge for growth. Hungary's independence organization was no longer what it had been more than a decade ago. Not only had it learned to know both itself and its enemy, its ability to stay alive had risen by N levels.
As a great tide of rebels swept toward the European Continent, the Prusso-Danish War was also nearing its end. Fortunately, the Tsarist Government intervened in time.
Though it could hardly be called timely. The Tsarist Government should have acted more than two months earlier. Unfortunately, the Russians had wanted to suppress the Polish rebellion first before dealing with the Prussians.
The Polish rebels had indeed been defeated, yet the rebellion continued. There were too many backers behind this Polish uprising, and the rebels' strength had exceeded Russian expectations.
Defeating them was easy; exterminating them was difficult. The Polish rebellion had bought time for the Prussians.
Only when the Danes truly could no longer hold on did the