Chapter 374 Gunshots in Sarajevo

The entire structure of the mafia, the members with code names are the core members. The smaller the code number, the greater the power and the higher the status within the mafia.

Under these core members with code names, there are also a large number of peripheral members. Although these members are also counted as members of the Mafia, they do not have access to the absolute top levels of the Mafia.

The way they serve the mafia is through core members with relatively large code names.

This also means that every core mafia member with a code name will basically have a varying number of subordinates.

These subordinates can not only safeguard their rights, but also ensure that they can better complete the assassination missions assigned by their superiors.

In early June 1914, Archduke Ferdinand's special train departed from Vienna for Bosnia.

An incident occurred at the beginning of the trip. The axle box of the special train overheated, which made Archduke Ferdinand angrily criticize: "This is a good start for this trip!"

In addition, it was already summer in the northern hemisphere, and the weather was very hot along the way, and Archduke Ferdinand felt a little unwell.

But the good news is that Archduke Ferdinand received a warm welcome along the way, which can make up for some of the bad situations he encountered before.

After successfully completing his official mission, which was to review the army, Archduke Ferdinand headed to Sarajevo in a good mood.

Sarajevo is an ancient city in the Balkans. It meanders between canyons. A clear river runs through the urban area of ​​Sarajevo. There are bridges connecting the north and south on the river, which is also the center of the urban area of ​​Sarajevo. location.

It is noteworthy that Archduke Ferdinand's train arrived at Sarajevo Station on Sunday, June 28, 1914.

This day happens to be the national mourning day for Serbians to commemorate 500 years of Turkish rule.

Serbian patriots regarded Archduke Ferdinand's visit to Sarajevo on this day as an insult to Serbia. However, this day happened to be the 14th wedding anniversary of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife. Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were in a very sad mood. proud.

Everything is such a coincidence. This day is a sad day for one party, but a good day worth remembering for the other party.

On the morning of June 28, Archduke Ferdinand sent a telegram to his three children saying that everything was going well.

Then in the afternoon, Archduke Ferdinand was wearing a military uniform and a military helmet decorated with feathers, looking very domineering and majestic.

On the other side, Duchess Sophie wore a long white dress, a sun hat on her head, and a parasol in her hand. Her good temperament made the Duchess look charming.

The couple were preparing to go to the city hall to attend a welcome ceremony. They walked out of the room holding each other's arms and smiling.

The weather was very sunny that day, and all the shops and streets that Archduke Ferdinand passed along his route were decorated with colorful flags and flowers, which looked very magnificent and beautiful.

The real reason for all this is that the mayor of Sarajevo revealed Archduke Ferdinand's itinerary in advance, in order to call on residents on the road to spontaneously place Austro-Hungarian flags and flowers to bring Archduke Ferdinand and his wife. good mood.

Little did the mayor know that his ingenious act of flattery would send the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire directly into the abyss.

The itinerary of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife was directly revealed, which was extremely good news for the assassins.

If it weren't for the fact that the mayor of Sarajevo had no contact with any mafia forces, the mafia would really think that this was their undercover agent.

Although there were police and military police stationed on the streets along the road to guard the scene, the crowds of people watching the excitement were very crowded, making the scene a bit chaotic.

At this time, Archduke Ferdinand's motorcade had already passed half of the distance smoothly. When it reached the bridge in the city center, a young man who looked young suddenly came over and asked where Ferdinand was. A bomb was thrown from the vehicle.

Seeing that something was not going well, the driver hurriedly accelerated and let the bomb fall on the canvas shed above the car. The bomb was thrown aside.

boom!

With a huge explosion, the car behind Ferdinand's seat became an innocent person and suffered the frontal impact of the bomb. Because the car lost the control of the driver, it directly hit the bridge pier. The casualties of the people in the car are unknown.

The surrounding police and gendarmes immediately became busy, arresting the assassins and protecting Ferdinand.

At this time, someone also took the opportunity to suggest that today's visit plan be temporarily canceled until everything is safe.

But at this time, Ferdinand was very calm and sneered without permission: "This guy must be a madman. Come on, gentlemen, let's proceed as planned."

There was no way, Ferdinand had the highest status at the scene, so it was naturally Ferdinand who had the final say.

After that, the journey to the city hall went very smoothly, which made the security forces breath a sigh of relief.

At the welcome meeting in the city hall, when the mayor was giving a welcome speech, Archduke Ferdinand looked impatient and interrupted the mayor's speech directly, saying: "Damn it, that's enough, that's enough! I don't want to I came from thousands of miles away to visit you, but you welcomed me with bombs!"

Ferdinand's anger made the kind mayor tremble all over and his speech became stammering.

Fortunately, Archduke Ferdinand had no plans to hold him accountable for the time being, so the welcome party went smoothly.

After the welcome party, before setting off to the next stop, Ferdinand looked at Governor Bertrand next to him and asked with a hint of meaning: "Mr. Governor, do you think we can still visit the National Museum as planned? ?"

The Governor hurriedly replied: "Of course, Your Highness. I promise you that such a despicable thing will never happen again."

The governor even planned to use his political career as a guarantee, but Ferdinand waved his hand, unwilling to listen to the governor's nonsense.

What the governor did not expect was that what happened next was not only despicable, but also plunged the entire Europe directly into chaos.

Archduke Ferdinand's next stop was the National Museum, but because of this assassination, Ferdinand temporarily changed his next stop to a hospital to visit those injured by the bomb explosion.

But Ferdinand's change of itinerary was temporary, perhaps because the driver forgot about it and still followed the mayor's car ahead without making any modifications.

At this time, Governor Bertrand on the side reminded: "We are going to the wrong place, we are going to the wrong place! We should go to the hospital!"

Under the Governor's order, the driver stopped and changed the route, which also caused the entire convoy to slow down and stop at this street corner.

The convoy seemed to be planning to change its itinerary, which also panicked the assassin hiding in the dark.

If the convoy takes a new route, it also means that the assassination they deployed will fail.

The assassins selected by the Mafia were all extreme patriots. After thinking for a moment, the assassin named Princip resolutely chose to assassinate in advance.

50 meters, 40 meters. 20 meters, 10 meters.

Seeing a young man getting closer and closer to the Grand Duke, the policeman standing on the street noticed something was wrong.

"Protect Your Highness!"

The moment the police shouted, Princip came to the convoy. Without the slightest hesitation, he fired several shots at Archduke Ferdinand with the M1910 pistol developed by Browning.

Perhaps because of some nervousness, some of the shots were a bit erratic, and they happened to hit Duchess Sophie next to Archduke Ferdinand.

The piercing gunfire caused everyone present to panic instantly. The shouts of the guards and the screams of the crowd made the voices of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife a little weak.

Governor Bertyrek looked at the Grand Duke and his wife not far away from him, and he was suddenly shocked and frightened.

Archduke Ferdinand's chest, neck and Duchess Sophie's abdomen were all bleeding crazily. The blood was already dripping down the car door to the ground, forming a small pool of blood on the ground.

"Sophie, Sophie, don't die, stay alive for our children." Archduke Ferdinand, who was shot in the neck, shouted righteously.

"Go to the hospital quickly! Send His Highness the Grand Duke to the hospital quickly!" Only then did Governor Bertyrek react and shouted to the driver who was already stunned and didn't know what he was doing.

Although catching the assassin is also very important, nothing is more important to Governor Bertrand than saving the lives of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife.

It's a pity that the chest and neck are fatal places. Archduke Ferdinand also encountered two of them, and the end can be imagined.

Duchess Sophie, who was in slightly better condition, also bled to death on the way to the hospital.

By the time Archduke Ferdinand and his wife successfully arrived at the hospital, they were already looking for two cold corpses.

Fortunately, the police's deployment was relatively successful and did not allow the Archduke's assassin to escape.

After frantic arrests by the surrounding police, the assassin and seven of his accomplices were finally captured. They were all Serbian and members of a Young Bosnian organization.

Among them, one of the assassins was the one who threw the bomb before, and the other was Princip who shot and assassinated.

After an overnight interrogation, Governor Bertyrek finally confirmed that this was an assassination targeting the Grand Duke.

However, the main target of this assassination was Archduke Ferdinand, and the secondary target was Governor Bertrand. Sophie was the most innocent person.

No matter how panicked I was, it was impossible not to report such an important matter to Vienna.

With very complicated emotions, Governor Bertrand sent a telegram to Vienna describing in detail the assassination and all the background of the planners.

At this time, Franz I was going to his country house to hunt because of the hot summer. While hunting, Francis I learned of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife.

The old emperor announced with a cold expression: "A powerful force is trying to subvert the order. For this reason, we cannot sit idly by and ignore it."

No one knew what the old emperor was feeling at this time, but it could be seen from the old emperor's slightly shaking shoulders that the old man was experiencing one of the greatest sorrows in his life.

For the old emperor, the Habsburg family's misfortunes never come singly. Within a few years, the old emperor's brother was killed, his sister-in-law went crazy, his only son suddenly died for no apparent reason, the queen was assassinated by the Italians, and the queen's nephew was drowned.

At present, the only heir to the throne was assassinated again during such an ordinary inspection. All the close relatives are only the old emperor. It can be said to be very sad.

On his way back to Vienna, the old emperor couldn't help but lament sadly: "The future I see is dark, and people around me are dying one by one."

A few days later in Vienna, the Imperial Congress.

The old emperor sitting on the high platform had a cold face and announced to the ministers in the audience: "I want you to come up with a plan to deal with the impact of this crisis on domestic and foreign countries. Although Habsburg Faint, but the Habsburgs never feared death.”

Conrad, the Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff, had always advocated resolute suppression of the Serbs.

It is worth mentioning that Archduke Ferdinand’s strong recommendation was indispensable for Conrad’s successful appointment as Chief of Staff.

Conrad said loudly: "Your Majesty, for a long time, Serbia has attempted to annex our two provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and establish a unified Yugoslav country. The national unity of Yugoslavia may be unstoppable, but at the expense of Serbia's independence, the Austro-Hungarian Empire controlled it It is a question whether we should buy unification by lowering the empire, or let the empire suffer heavy losses and come under Serbian control.”

"If the latter is the case, it would mean the empire loses the Yugoslav ethnic areas and almost all of its coastline. Such a significant loss in territory and respectability would reduce the empire to a small state. The sooner the conflict between us and Serbia is resolved The better, the assassination of the crown prince is shocking, but it is also a God-given opportunity for us. We have a rare excuse to eliminate Greater Serbianism and eliminate Serbia as a damn country."

Berthold, the Prime Minister of the Austrian government and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who had not previously advocated war, also said: "Your Majesty, the time has come to solve the Serbian problem."

The Hungarian Prime Minister Ticza, who held a high position in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was the most talented politician in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his way of handling things was relatively calm and steady.

He thought for a while and then said: "The key to the European situation lies in the Balkans. We cannot act rashly. If we can use diplomatic means, seek support from Germany and win over Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey to resolve ethnic disputes. Provoke a war It is a fatal mistake that puts a noose around us and makes us bear the charge of violating peace in the eyes of people around the world."

But in this context, the peaceful faction is ultimately in the minority.

Chief of Staff Konrad retorted: "We can no longer tolerate this provocation with a nonchalant calm attitude. Just like Christians who were slapped on one cheek and sent the other cheek. This is not the same as damned Serbia. The knight's duel is not a punishment for the assassination, but an honor for a big country and a great power. If we keep giving in and being patient, it will make people feel incompetent. The enemy will be more reckless and push the empire to its demise. This Isn’t it clear enough that we should let others strangle us to death, or make a last-ditch struggle to avoid death? From now on, the military must mobilize."

Ticha retorted: "Mobilization means war. If we attack Serbia, Russia may not stand idly by. In this case, Germany and Romania may not be able to help us. If the war becomes between us and Russia, Serbia War, that would be extremely detrimental to us.”

After the old emperor Joseph I heard that military mobilization was required, he couldn't help but sigh and said feebly: "Mobilization is temporarily impossible. Russia may attack, but German support is still a problem."

The second update of 4200 words, please vote for me and support!