Legacy and Threat

With the Prusso-Russian War having reached this point, Europe's international landscape was bound to undergo earth-shaking changes after the war. As a player at the chessboard, the Vienna Government naturally had to guide events in a direction favorable to itself.

Pulling his wandering thoughts back, Franz said slowly, "The Berlin Government is already panicking. The situation in the Prusso-Polish Federation may be even worse than we understand.

"At the current rate, the Prusso-Polish Federation has very little chance of turning the tables. We can begin preparing for the aftermath.

"This time, we will not merely strike at a competitor and recover our earlier investment. We will take the largest share of the spoils as well."

The Prusso-Russian War was far more than it appeared on the surface. The Vienna Government had invested so heavily not merely to help the Russians win the war.

Everyone knew the Tsarist Government's reputation. Without lavish returns, how could Franz possibly have supported them?

Russo-Austrian friendship might fool ordinary people at most. Anyone with even a little common sense knew that such a thing was unreliable.

Perhaps before the Prusso-Russian War, friendship between Russia and Austria had indeed run deep and long, but after the war, the two nations would transition from allies to competitors.

Of course, the Tsarist Government had paid a rather grievous price in this war. Burdened by enormous debts, it would be unable to recover for decades and would lack the means to turn against Austria anytime soon.

For a long time to come, Russo-Austrian friendship would remain the theme of both nations' diplomacy—until one side no longer needed it.

The reason Franz had been willing to stake so much was naturally not because the collateral offered by the Russians was enticing. In truth, demanding territory as collateral had merely been