Maximian I suddenly felt as if his legs were stepping into two muds.

This feeling is really bad.

He was like a man walking in a swamp, his legs were firmly trapped and could not be pulled out.

When you want to pull out any leg, the weight of your body will involuntarily press on the other leg.

In this way, the body will involuntarily tilt to one side.

There is such a bad feeling because of the threat from Italy and Bohemia, respectively.

Italy was unexpectedly attacked by the Romanesians, which Maximian had never thought of before.

He was used to the kind of delayed war, just like the French, fighting and stopping a war, and no one would have been stolen from the beginning.

But the Romans were different. It can be said that they changed the way of war from the beginning.

The Romanesian army not only suddenly crossed the "Genoa-Palma-Po" defense line they designated, but also launched an attack on Milan with fierce attacks.

The Austrian army caught off guard by the sudden attack was not even able to defend even Pavia.

What made Maximian particularly find incredible is that while the Romanesians attacked Milan, they crossed the Po River and directly threatened Veneto.

Just think about the words "The Romanesians do not have that courage to provoke a war" and "That Gumpray is already content, he has got what he needs, and will no longer have greater ambitions for the territory." These words that were still noisy in the palace before are still in my ears, and Maximian has the anger of being slapped directly in the face.

Of course, Maximian did not know that a small book called "The Book of Generals" was popular among the senior officers in Roman Thesia.

And there is a passage that explains the series of actions of his enemy in a very clear way.

"In any war, we must concentrate all the troops and weapons that can be mobilized, and do our best to strike with a storm for the first time, striving to completely lose the strategic balance of the enemy through the greatest possible killing in the early stages of the war, so as to achieve the battle goals in the shortest time..."

The Battle of Palma made the Austrians lose their most important garrison troops stationed in the Lombardy region at once.

The precarious Milan had to send someone to ask for Vienna's support, but what annoyed Maximian was that when he came from Milan, he found that he had expressed his order to mobilize troops for a long time and there was almost no movement.

Maximian suddenly realized that he had no soldiers available for a moment.

The disastrous defeat in Switzerland forced Maximilan to agree to the independence of the mountain barbarians, and the consequence of this was that he could no longer recruit soldiers from Switzerland at will.

This made him lose a very precious source of troops.

The two Italian wars that followed cost him heavy losses.

Maximian actually had a good plan to rest for two years. What was even more rare is that due to civil strife, the Ottomans could not threaten Austria's security for the time being.

But suddenly, the Iberian Peninsula completely disrupted his plan.

Maximian was very annoyed about this, but because it was related to his grandson's throne and he could take the opportunity to threaten Ferdinand to support him in annexation of Milan, he happily accepted his in-laws' request to send troops.

But now things have not developed as he imagined. The Romans' behavior of not playing cards according to routines made him suffer a great loss in Lombardy from the beginning.

But what made him feel worse was the bad news from Bohemia.

Since forcing Bohemia King Ladislas II to abandon half of Hungarian territory, Maximian has regarded Hungary as his own possession.

If the Ottomans hadn't invaded Europe, perhaps he had already completely annexed the entire Hungary through war again.

But the Ottomans helped Ladislas II this time.

The Battle of Bucharest gave Ladislas II a chance to breathe, and at the same time, through his relationship with Wallachia, he once again ignited his ambition to regain Hungary.

All of these Maximians are known.

But he didn't expect that Ladislas II would really dare to put this ambition into practice.

Just in February, reports from the eastern border frequently appeared about the fact that Bohemians seemed to be mobilizing troops at the border.

Although he was wary, Maximian did not think that Ladislas II had the courage.

Entering March, the sudden tension in the Lombardy region attracted Maximian's attention.

The Bohemians did not have any new trends, and there was also news that the female Duke of Wallachia led his army to expedition to Sicily. Therefore, except for ordering the defenders on the eastern border to take strict precautions, Maximian did not pay too much attention to the movements in the east.

Even in April, I heard that the female Grand Duke of Wallachia had returned from triumphantly, but Maximian did not think they would do something so quickly.

But his guess was obviously wrong.

Just after mid-April, the Bohemians suddenly sent troops to Hungary.

Not only did they violate the earlier agreement reached by the two sides in the Prague Treaty that each would not send heavy troops in Hungary, but they also quickly advanced from eastern Hungary to the west, with the striking stance to recover the entire Hungary in one fell swoop.

At the same time, the Wallachians also sent an elite army with an obvious combat effectiveness, although not many, although they were obviously quite amazing. Although this army did not directly participate in the attack on the Austrian army stationed in Hungary, it quickly defeated the Northern Bosnian army, which was also eyeing southern Hungary at a very fast speed.

The Wallachian army then began to advance along the trilateral border towards Hungary and eastern Northern Bosnia.

This is a very strange and complicated situation.

In Hungary, troops from four countries suddenly gathered, and the Hungarians were indifferent and disgusted with this war that broke out in their own country.

Maximian was caught off guard by the unexpected conflict that broke out on the eastern border. He couldn't figure out when the Ladislas II, who was always hesitant, became so decisive.

Before he could react, he gave him such a "surprise".

What makes Maximian a headache for the current situation in the east is that the Wallachians did not publicly invade Hungary, and their opponents are always Northern Bosnians.

The female grand duke of Wallachia not only had a great influence in the Balkans because of her achievements in the Battle of Bucharest, but also had various relationships with the Hungarians.

So even though he knew that the Wallachians were not kind to Hungary, he could not react fiercely before they formally invaded western Hungary.

Otherwise, Wallachia would be forced directly to the Bohemians.

As for the Northern Bosnians, Maximian was not optimistic about the King of Herva, because he had actually had a lot of trouble. Southern Bosnia, who was always unwilling to fail to compete with him for the throne, and his neighbor in the eastern Principality of Caniola, were enough to make him trouble and not a helping hand.

However, Maximian still sent people to Zagreb, hoping to reach an agreement with Herva, at least so that he could restrain the Wallachians.

These sudden troubles made Maximian feel as if even God was about to abandon him, and in the palace, the struggle between the north and the south also caused the emperor to be troubled.

Many nobles believed that Austria should never give up their interests in Italy, because they had already paid too much there. Several years of wars had caused the Austrians to shed too much blood on the Italian Peninsula. If they gave up suddenly, all the previous sacrifices would become meaningless.

In addition, Austria has lost Switzerland. If it loses Italy again, it is likely to give the French an opportunity to take advantage of it.

This view is of course very consistent with Maximian's idea, but compared with it, the other party's view cannot be underestimated.

Hungary, which had been seized from the Bohemia through several wars that cost a lot, also had important value to Austria. It not only resisted the buffer against the Ottoman invasion, but also Hungary's abundant resources and minerals also allowed many nobles who had invested in the annexation war to see the opportunity to make a fortune.

But the time was too short, and the subsequent Ottoman invasion also greatly impacted the wealth path.

Now some people have proposed to temporarily give up Hungary for Italy, which is furious to the nobles who have not had time to make money back.

The two sides had a fierce debate in the palace, and later they even turned into mutual attacks.

At the same time, this debate on future policies has gradually become a power struggle for the future chief palace throne of the Austrian court.

Since Kotschach was removed, Maximier has not been in a hurry to appoint a new chief palace minister, which has given many nobles hope and opportunities.

Moreover, the several consecutive setbacks in recent wars, especially the loss of Switzerland, have made many nobles realize that they cannot allow Maximian to continue to do their own things.

Maximian's persistence in Italy caused Austria to fall into several wars, while the German princes took advantage of this and almost got ready to move.

This has made many people worried that if they continue to fall in Italy, the situation may become more unfavorable.

And when the Bohemia king had the qualifications of electoral, the nobles became even more worried.

Although the electorate could not dismiss the emperor, they could completely let the Habsburg family lose the election in the next election.

After all, the title of emperor has been coveted for a long time by the kings of France.

Since I thought so, someone naturally revealed this big and small threat to Maximian.

This made the emperor even more annoyed.

Because this kind of worry seems to be about whether his family can retain the title of emperor, but in fact it is also a reminder that if some people in the country cannot satisfy them, they will also stand opposite him.

Maximian knew those nobles so well that they were all staring at their own interests and planning for themselves all day long, so once they needed to make a choice, they would abandon him without hesitation.

Maximian was slightly surprised by the arrival of the Marquis of Baden.

The favor of his daughter did not make the Marquis Baden proud of his favor, which made Maximian very satisfied with this very sensible old nobleman.

As for the Marquis' business, Maximian certainly knew, and even heard of his cooperation with Kotschach, but this did not make him feel anything wrong.

After all, all the nobles now have more or less relationships with all kinds of chambers of various types.

The era in the early years when the nobles relied on their territory to support themselves is over.

So what did the Marquis arrive this time make him guess?

Sure enough, as soon as the Marquis of Baden spoke, Maximian immediately realized that things were indeed not simple.

"My Majesty, allow me to tell you about Kotschach's greetings."

Maximian's expressionless face showed confusion.

Of course, he did not forget his former palace appearance. On the contrary, he also heard that Kotschach is now a guest of the Fugel family in Augsburg.

The Fokel family has disappeared for a time since they fell into a big deal in the Hungarian copper mine.

But somehow, it seemed that he had a good fortune suddenly, and the Faucier family regained their family's lintel.

But what made Maximian unhappy was that the revived Fogel family did not seem to want to have anything to do with him anymore.

Now that Kotschach suddenly brought the so-called greetings by the Marquis of Baden, Maximian immediately realized what might be the subtle relationship.

"Your Majesty, the Folcolls hope to continue to serve you, and they know that you are preparing to rebuild Vienna, so they are willing to provide you with enough funds to accomplish this feat."
To be continued...