Chapter 1605: The Biggest Winner

Archduke Henry of Austria was truly exhausted. These days he had been busy preparing for war, drilling troops, and fighting battles — he was nearly run off his feet. His sleep had been squeezed again and again, and his whole body was in a state of extreme fatigue. Not just fatigue, but tension... going to war with a colossus like the Ottoman Empire!

This was the Ottoman Empire that had killed Leopold I, made half of Europe tremble, and was universally acknowledged as one of the world's three great powers!

The tiny Archduchy of Austria was simply not in the same league as the Ottoman Empire! One could even call it a mantis trying to stop a chariot. Although in the twenty years since Archduke Henry came to power, he had never forgotten the danger of being situated between the two great empires of Rome and the Ottomans just because banking was easy money, and so he had constantly built up military strength, preparing to defend the Archduchy of Austria when necessary. But he had never imagined that half of Austria's strength could defeat the mighty Ottoman Empire... one look at a spread-out map showed it was impossible.

So after the military confrontation between the Archduchy of Austria and the Ottoman Empire began, Archduke Henry never slept soundly again. Either he lay awake all night, or he had all sorts of terrible nightmares... in his dreams, he, the Archduke of Austria, was always hacked to death or shot to pieces by demon-like Janissaries. How wretched!

But no one had expected that the Lakeside–Danube Campaign would turn out the way it did!

Of course, in hindsight, the outcome of the Lakeside–Danube Campaign seemed inevitable. Because the Ottoman Empire's army had made almost no progress in the past twenty-plus years. Although it was equipped with more rifled muskets, its tactics had not improved — it was still the same old playbook from the Battle of Győr.

The Austrian army's tactics, by contrast, had been carefully designed and continuously refined by Count Eugene and Count Daun, based on first-hand material from multiple wars in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Third, the Austrian army's level of training was actually no worse than the Janissary corps. Austria's pre-war expansion looked rushed, but in fact it had been in the works for several months. Add to that the recall of reserve veterans and the fruits of twenty years of compulsory education, and the quality of Austria's conscripts was excellent — after a few months of training, they were already a usable force.

Finally, the disparity in size between the Archduchy of Austria and the Ottoman Empire was not actually as great as it appeared on the map. Because after the Battle of Győr, large numbers of Austrian nobles had fled their homes, giving Archduke Henry, once he entered Vienna, the opportunity to greatly weaken serfdom in Lower Austria and Styria — the noble landlords who had oppressed the serfs had all run off, so serfdom was naturally weakened.

At the same time, the Catholic Church had also been greatly weakened within the Archduchy of Austria — after all, the Archduchy was a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, so the Catholic Church could send bishops but had no way to collect tithes.

And the Archduchy of Austria's limited territory and population actually worked in Archduke Henry's favor for governance — even without the support of powerful nobles and the Church, he could run the country in fine shape.

As for the mighty Ottoman Empire... it actually lacked the capacity to mobilize the strength of the whole realm. Due to the decay of the timar fief system, the Ottoman Empire found it very difficult to summon armies from across its vast territories. Even when it could recruit some troops, they were low-quality militia or vassal-state soldiers like Tatar cavalry.

Moreover, the Janissary devshirme system had in practice become a dead letter. Most Janissary soldiers were Istanbul natives... so from the standpoint of core manpower, this war was really a war between the Archduchy of Austria and Istanbul.

The Archduchy of Austria had far more people than Istanbul!

So the present result — a great Austrian victory and a great Ottoman defeat — was entirely predictable...

But predicting it was one thing; having the overall situation actually settled was quite another.

Now, Archduke Henry could finally get a good night's sleep!

Just as Archduke Henry was sleeping sweetly, he suddenly felt something being laid over him. Half-asleep, he wondered: what is this? A blanket or a robe?

At the thought of a robe, Archduke Henry was instantly wide awake. Investiture with the purple robe!

At last, the moment had come!

His son Karl, though a Westerner, was still a filial son — a filial son of the West!

Just as Henry was rejoicing, he heard the soft rustle of footsteps beside him. It seemed quite a few people had come together. Had they come to urge him to take the throne?

At that thought, Henry stopped pretending to sleep. He yawned and sat up. He rubbed his eyes and looked around, and there he saw his wife, Marie Anne. The woman was also wearing a Roman-style purple robe, her bosom full and prominent — she had a fine figure!

Seeing her husband gazing at her with deep affection, Marie Anne was delighted, and said to him with a smile, "Henry, I have good news for you!"

Good news? Henry thought: is it the urging to take the throne?

Marie Anne said with a smile, "One hundred and eighty-eight great nobles from Upper Hungary and Lower Hungary, after deliberation, have unanimously decided that I, Marie Anne de Bourbon-Mancini, shall possess the Crown of Saint Stephen and become Queen of Hungary, ruling Upper Hungary, Lower Hungary, and Transylvania... my dear Henry, are you happy for me?"

Happy? Henry was dumbfounded!

He had toiled for so many years, taken such enormous risks, and finally defeated the Ottoman Empire and seized most of Hungary — all waiting to be invested with the purple robe. And now... the purple robe had been put on Marie Anne instead!

Although Marie Anne was Henry's wife, and the two were deeply in love and had raised six children together.

But their love was not so great that he could yield the Crown of Saint Stephen to her!

Henry quickly scanned the room full of dignitaries and found his son, Prince Karl — what was the meaning of this? How did you study Song dynasty history? When the yellow robe was draped on someone, who was it draped on? Was it Zhao Kuangyin or his wife, Empress Xiaoming?

Seeing the odd look in his father's eyes, Prince Karl said to Henry in Chinese, "My lord, I discussed it with the Cardinal and Mother... we felt there was good reason for you not to take the Crown of Saint Stephen. Your status is special. But we also couldn't let the Crown of Saint Stephen fall into the hands of outsiders, so we had Mother take the throne of Hungary on your behalf."

I don't want the Crown of Saint Stephen? Since when? Henry opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Prince Karl said with a beaming smile, "Mother's surname is Bourbon! She is the daughter of Louis the Great... if she becomes King of Hungary, then the Bourbon dynasty will rule Hungary!

Besides, if Mother becomes Queen of Hungary, then what does Grandmother become? Louis the Great is single right now! Could he let the mother of a queen be his mistress?"

In fact, after the death of the Spanish princess Maria Theresa, Louis the Great had secretly married the Marquise de Maintenon as his secret queen. And Marie Anne's mother, Louise de La Vallière, had long since lost the Great King's favor...

But if La Vallière's daughter became Queen of Hungary, Louis the Great would probably have to make La Vallière Empress of Rome!

And once La Vallière became Empress, Marie Anne's brother, Louis de Bourbon, Count of Vermandois, would become the legitimate son of Louis I...

Karl continued, "My lord, when that happens, we can arrange a crown for the Count of Vermandois as well! Once the Count of Vermandois has a throne, you and Mother can arrange thrones for my younger brothers and sisters... we can take Wallachia, Moldavia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, and Albania one by one, and turn all the kings there into Bourbons or Mancinis... we might even take Constantinople!"