Chapter 1545: Do Not Trust Louis

Vienna, the Great Imperial Palace.

Word that a joint Ming-Indian army under the Ming Prince Henry had reached Istanbul was quickly picked up by spies of the Holy Roman Empire and sent at top speed to the imperial capital, Vienna.

At the same time, another piece of intelligence concerning King Afonso of Portugal arrived, forwarded by the Republic of Venice — according to the Venetians, King Afonso of Portugal had gone over to the Great Ming, India, and the Ottoman Empire, and with their support had raised an army of 15,000 men in Goa.

This army was now advancing on Portugal in two columns. One column marched through North Africa, passing through Egypt, Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers, and would finally seek the support of the Sultan of Morocco, Moulay Ismail, and the Barbary pirates, in order to return to Portugal and retake the throne.

The other column was led by an illegitimate son of the Great Ming Emperor, bound for the Ottoman capital of Istanbul, and would then enter Greece and there await the ships of the Barbary pirates.

Leopold I, who had only recently remarried (his first wife had died in 1673), sat in his office looking at the two reports, feeling rather at a loss.

Clack, clack — outside the door came the footsteps of soldiers changing the guard, their military boots striking the granite with a strong, rhythmic sound.

Emperor Leopold raised his head from the two reports and rubbed his eyes. The sound of the changing of the guard reminded him that the hour was late and that he ought to return to his wife, Claudia Felicitas of the Tyrolean branch of the House of Habsburg, so that she might soon bear a male heir to carry on the great line of the Habsburgs!

It truly was a sorrowful matter — the once glorious and flourishing "Lower Body Fortress" had now reached the point where its male heirs were in short supply!

Leopold I himself was the sole surviving male of the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg! And Carlos II of Spain was the sole surviving male of the Spanish branch of the Habsburg dynasty — and since Carlos II was utterly incapable of siring children, the mission of continuing the line for both the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Spain had fallen entirely upon Leopold.

Yet Leopold, already in his thirties, had so far failed to produce a single child. The matter had nearly become a national calamity! And it had even given rise to a "scandal."

A group of Austrian ministers, anxious for their country and people, sought to rescue their own nation and Spain from peril. After the death of Leopold I's first wife and niece, Margaret Theresa, they imitated the advanced experience of the Great Ming and secretly organized an "Empress Entrance Examination," through which they "admitted" for Leopold I a beautiful, clever, healthy German princess of a small state, Eleonore Magdalene Therese, who looked every bit the sort to bear many children.

In the end, this infuriated Leopold — this Eleonore Magdalene Therese did not bear the name Habsburg (she was a cousin of Leopold's, of rather distant blood), and marrying her would bring no new rights of succession. For her family was extremely fertile, with a great swarm of brothers and sisters.

After rejecting the empress the ministers had chosen for him, he chose instead Claudia Felicitas, who came from a cadet branch of the Habsburg family (which had also died out in the male line, leaving only daughters).

But they had been exerting themselves for several months now, and there was not the slightest sign of pregnancy. The very thought of it made one anxious!

Just as he was mulling over returning to his chambers to exert himself, soft footsteps sounded outside the door, and then came the voice of an attendant official: "Your Majesty, the Count of Montecuccoli requests an audience."

"Show him in!" Leopold said, rising from behind his desk as he spoke.

A count whom the Emperor rose to greet was of course no ordinary count. This Count of Montecuccoli, named Raimondo, was the Grand Marshal of the Holy Roman Empire.

He was the minister Leopold relied upon most!

A few weeks earlier, the Emperor had dispatched him to France to discuss with Louis XIV the matter of jointly resisting an Ottoman invasion.

The Ottoman Empire's military preparations could hardly escape Leopold's notice, but his empire had not yet recovered from the wounds of the Thirty Years' War, and it had also been soundly thrashed by the French army in the "War of Devolution," losing the Duchy of Lorraine. It would clearly be difficult to stand against the mighty Ottoman Empire.

And the Holy Roman Empire's staunch ally in the east, Poland, had also been dealt a heavy blow by the Ottoman Empire not long before, and had likewise not recovered its strength.

Knowing that he could not resist the Ottoman Empire alone, Leopold had sent Count Raimondo Montecuccoli to the Palace of Versailles to explain to Louis XIV the crisis facing the Holy Roman Empire and the whole of Christendom.

He hoped that this King of France, who everywhere cast himself as the leading elder brother of Europe, would step forward and support the Holy Roman Empire.

"Well? Grand Marshal, has Louis agreed to support us?"

The aging and somewhat portly Count Montecuccoli first bowed to the Emperor, then gently shook his head: "Louis XIV offered us only verbal support, but refused to sign any binding treaty. Moreover, he said that the Ottoman Empire's true direction of expansion is not Central Europe, but North Africa! The Ottoman Empire has already allied itself with the Great Ming Empire and the Timurid Empire of India, and it intends to advance westward along the North African coast in the name of supporting King Afonso's restoration. It may well seize the Sultanate of Morocco in one stroke and then invade Portugal from there, so Austria is in no real danger."

"Then," Leopold asked, "do you believe him?"

"How could I possibly believe him?" Count Montecuccoli shook his head. "There is no doubt that he is shirking his own responsibility. Perhaps he is even hoping the Ottoman Empire will take our Vienna, so that he can seize the Rhineland and Italy in the confusion — and who knows, he might even press further and seek the imperial crown of the Holy Roman Empire!"

Leopold thought for a moment, then pointed at the two reports on his desk and said to the Count: "Grand Marshal, I too have received reports concerning the Portuguese succession dispute. The Great Ming Empire does indeed appear to have intervened in the Portuguese conflict over the throne."

"That is also Louis's doing!" Count Montecuccoli snorted. "There is no dispute at all over the Portuguese throne! Your Majesty, I believe Louis XIV is very likely covering for the Ottoman Empire."

Leopold was silent for a while, then asked: "If the Ottoman Empire invades in a few months, how confident are we that we can hold Vienna?"

"We can hold it with one hundred percent certainty!" Count Montecuccoli was full of confidence. "Your Majesty, the Empire is unprecedentedly united, and over the past few years we have also completed a military reform. The army of the Holy Roman Empire has never been as strong as it is now!"

His words were not entirely boastful. The Holy Roman Empire was indeed more united than before, because beginning with Leopold's father, the Holy Roman Empire had undertaken a "civil examination" reform. Through examinations, it selected for office the second sons and illegitimate sons of the great and small lords of the German lands, and it had also opened many schools to train them.

With the support of these "younger sons of lords," the Emperor's authority had been somewhat consolidated.

After its defeat in the "War of Devolution," the Holy Roman Empire had also begun military reforms, imitating the French army and adopting many new weapons, new tactics, and new technologies. The proportion of flintlock muskets had risen sharply, and it had also equipped itself with explosive shells and some new types of artillery.

In addition, compared with the past, the army of the Holy Roman Empire had become more "lightened": armor had almost disappeared, the number of pikes had been further reduced, and heavy artillery had been replaced by lighter and more mobile guns.

For Count Montecuccoli, who was highly skilled at mobile warfare, the imperial army was now exactly what he had always wanted it to be — light, swift, full of firepower, and well equipped. Its only shortcoming was that the standing army was too small. To contend with an Ottoman army far larger than his own, he would have to concentrate his main forces and fight a war of maneuver. He must never divide his troops to hold every point and scatter his already very limited strength.

(End of Chapter)