On the outskirts of Vienna, on the banks of the Danube River.

The red and white Austrian battle flag fluttered in the wind, and on the field, there were forests of soldiers.

Tens of thousands of soldiers of the Austrian Army, wearing three-cornered hats and neat white military uniforms, carrying Yeager rifles or ordinary muskets, stood in silence. There were hundreds of battalion square formations and at least four hundred companies.

Team up horizontally to form a frightening lineup.

Their lineup was a bit strangely neat. There were nearly 100,000 warriors, in an incredibly tight formation, perfectly spread out by the Danube River.

The officers of each battalion and each company all stood at the head of the row, with the belts of their triangular military hats holding their chins. The cold wind of Austria's late autumn blew on the faces with extremely serious expressions, but no one moved.

This kind of killing, this kind of lineup, how could it be a mob?

This is impossible!

Henry de Mancini, the Archduke of Austria, could not believe that the army in front of him was his own Army of the Grand Duchy of Austria... This lineup looked a bit like his father's Guards.

.

Of course, the Austrian Army Standing Army is also very powerful, with extremely strict training, and it also proposes a "leadership principle" for every officer and soldier - that is, officers and soldiers at the grassroots level must have the courage to take responsibility and the ability to be ready at any time.

Assume responsibility one or two levels above your current position.

To put it bluntly, it means training soldiers as non-commissioned officers, training non-commissioned officers as officers, and training low-level officers as mid-level officers.

The reason for this is that the Grand Duchy of Austria is in a too dangerous position and war may break out at any time. Moreover, the Grand Duchy of Austria is restricted by population and the control of the sovereign state and cannot have too many standing armies.

Therefore, François Eugen, who is in charge of the military affairs of the Grand Duchy of Austria, can only take the route of completely elite soldiers! At the same time, in order to facilitate the expansion of the army, François Eugen also personally compiled the curriculum of the four-year compulsory education for men in the Grand Duchy of Austria.

, a large amount of "military sports" was crammed into it. Content related to non-commissioned officer training and officer training was also crammed into the secondary school and university courses in the Grand Duchy of Austria.

These policies were not implemented for three or five years, but have been implemented for 20 years from around 1680 to the present!

Twenty years of compulsory education and military physical training seem to be really useful at this time!

In front of the huge array of 100,000 Austrian troops, there was a square platform made of wood placed on the Danube River embankment. The square platform was a bit high, and you could have a panoramic view of the army's lineup when you stood on it.

At this time, there were only four people on the high platform, the Archduke Henry de Mancini of Austria, the heir to the Grand Duke Carl von Mancini, and the Chief Minister of the Grand Duchy of Austria Francois Eugen von Savoy, Austria

Army Director of Training John Churchill.

Carl von Mancini is the brother of Maria Theresa von Mancini and the eldest son of Henry and Mary Anne. He is only 18 years old this year and is still studying at the Military Academy in Vienna. Now he sees a hundred thousand troops.

The scene that I was waiting for was so exciting that I almost cried.

With such a powerful army, do we still need to be afraid of the Ottoman Empire? This time we might be able to go all the way east and recapture Constantinople!

Francois Eugen's somewhat ugly face was also full of excitement. With such elite soldiers, he would definitely be famous in history for defeating the Ottoman Empire!

John Churchill couldn't restrain his joy - I didn't expect the military power of the Grand Duchy of Austria to be so powerful. It's great. I will never return to Rome or go to England again. Just be an Austrian! Be an Austrian!

There is a future...

From now on it will be John von Churchill!

On the other hand, the Grand Duke Henry de Mancini did not show much excitement and joy, and still frowned.

These armies look good, but can they really fight?

They just know how to line up... Four-year elementary schools, elementary schools, and universities will all conduct relevant training. But being able to line up does not mean knowing how to fight!

Archduke Henry knew that in Austria's four-year primary and secondary schools, shooting was not taught much in the universities. They might be able to use muskets reluctantly, but it was impossible to use Yeager rifles to hit targets two to three hundred yards away.

So today, the flintlock musket is still the main firearm used by the Austrian Army infantry. Only veterans from the standing army or hunters who have passed the shooting test are qualified to use the expensive Yeager rifled gun.

Excluding skirmishers (jaegers), among the infantry battalions of the Austrian Army, only one company is fully equipped with Yeager rifles, and the other three companies only have smoothbore rifles (long guns have been cancelled).

In addition, the cavalry of the Austrian Army is relatively weak because most of the original knights of the Grand Duchy of Austria moved to the Roman Empire.

Therefore, Archduke Henry could only replace them with Goan knights, and the Goan knights were completely unable to compare with the Austrian knights.

And because the Grand Duchy of Austria is a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, it is difficult for the Austrian army to recruit cavalry from abroad. Therefore, the cavalry of the Austrian Army is very weak, with only a few thousand people. It does not form a centralized cavalry division, but divides the cavalry into various areas.

Among the infantry divisions.

"Your Highness the Grand Duke!" François Eugen approached Grand Duke Henry and whispered, "Intelligence shows that the Ottomans are concentrating on Djerburg and seem to be planning to attack us!"

"Sneak attack?" Henry I frowned, "Is it possible? We have gathered an army of 100,000 people. The Ottomans should not dare to attack, right?"

Yes, there are already 100,000 troops...so majestic and high-spirited, and Muhammad IV is not very courageous, how can he dare to fight?

John Churchill suggested: "Why don't we take the initiative to approach the Djellburg Fortress in order to seek a decisive battle... Your Highness, please rest assured that victory must belong to us!"

Because God is on our side, God will definitely bless you and Austria!"

This... Henry de Mancini was a little guilty, because he didn't really believe in God! And the bullet that killed Saint Leopold was the one he got from the Ottomans.

Henry thought: If God really cares about human affairs, he probably won't bless himself.

"Grand Duke," Francois Eugen suggested again, "we can advance along the Danube towards Bratislava to show our power to the Hungarians. The Fanar Grand Duke of Bratislava

It is very unpopular, and it does not have enough strength, let alone legitimacy... If the Hungarians there knew about our strength, they would probably launch an uprising and expel Fanar from Bratislava.

The Grand Duke and the Ottoman garrison!”

Fanar is a district in Istanbul and is the seat of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople. Most of the residents living there are Greek-speaking Eastern Roman remnants.

After the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire, these people became obedient subjects of the Ottoman Sultan and were placed in the Fanar District. They acted as the "higher Christians" and "European guide party" in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Sultan often asked Fanar to

Bureaucrats from wealthy Hungarian families served as grand dukes or governors of the conquered Christian vassals. After Royal Hungary was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, it also became a grand duchy, called the Grand Duchy of Upper Hungary, and also arranged for a wealthy Farna family.

An Ottoman official from the Atiropolos family became the Czech Grand Duke.

However, the Archduke of Hungary was not as able to win over people as the Archduke Henry of Austria, and he could not obtain the same "neutral" status for the Hungarians as Austria, nor could he turn Bratislava into the same "free country" as Vienna.

"Financial Center", of course it is impossible to spend money to provide education and implement low tax rates for a long time - this prince is here to collect money for the Sudan. He wants to reduce taxes and provide education, so where will the money come from for the Sudan?

As a result, the people of Hungary found that the Grand Duke sent by the Ottomans was not as good as the King of the Habsburg family... let alone the Grand Duke of Austria next door!

Some active Hungarian nobles began to travel around, trying to promote the merger of the Grand Duchy of Hungary and the Grand Duchy of Austria.

"Okay!" Henry nodded, "That's a good idea!"
Chapter completed!