Daming 1805

Chapter 535 Is This To Rebuild Shinra?
Austrian Emperor Franz received Prussian circulars and proclamations on board.

Franz himself was then in a rage:

"Bastards! These bastards! These liars!
"What about admiring the scenery in the Ming Dynasty? It turned out that I was rushing back in advance to prepare for action!

"To make the Habsburgs swear allegiance to the Hohenzollerns!
"This is a joke!

"This is absolutely impossible!"

But after all, Franz was an old politician who had been the monarch of the great power of Thailand and Western countries for many years.

Although emotionally very angry, in the end he did not directly issue a response to rejecting Prussia's request.

Instead, after venting his emotions, he immediately consulted his most important subject Metternich:

"Sir, what should we do now?"

Metternich had read the news, and it was Metternich who sent the news to Franz.

Metternich had already considered it on the way here, and now he said directly without hesitation:

"Your Majesty, what we can do now...is to delay, as long as we can..."

Franz froze for a moment:
"Can I just drag it?"

Metternich rightly said:

"Since His Majesty cannot accept being a vassal of the Hohenzollern, he is also unwilling to become a vassal of the Ming Emperor.

"Total war...Austria is not ready either, and the current situation in Austria makes it difficult to truly defeat Prussia.

"So what Austria can do now is to delay as much as possible..."

Franz continued to ask a little frizzy:
"The current situation is already so critical, how can we delay?"

Metternich reminded with a wry smile:
"Your Majesty, the current situation is not at its most critical.

"Now it's only Prussia that has asked us for an annexation, not a direct war reminder.

“His Majesty the Ming Emperor has requested that national wars within the League of Nations must be initiated and executed in accordance with the rules of the League.

"Since Prussia has not raised a war reminder, it dare not directly choose us for the time being.

"What's more, the Lucians didn't send any news.

"This shows that Lucia is probably not prepared to fight us with Prussia.

"Because Lucia's primary goal should be Sweden, Norway, and Ottomans, and their goal is the outlet of the Europa continent.

"There is no real point in trying to seize land from western Austria right now."

Franz was obviously stunned, and then he thought that what Metternich said was indeed true.

Prussia must go through the alliance process, and the war must be officially announced.

The key is that Lucia has not participated yet, and Austria does not need to worry about the most terrifying two-front battle.

Franz went on to consult Metternich:
"Then how should we delay? How long can we delay?"

Metternich said very seriously:
"We should respond first to Prussian demands, but also to announce our responses and our demands to the world.

"Austria can be merged with Prussia, but it should be dominated by Austria and not Prussia.

"The country established after the merger of our two countries should continue to use the title of the Holy Roman Empire, and the Habsburg family will be the emperor of the empire.

"Prussia can be promoted to a real king, and will serve the Holy Roman Emperor.

"However, Emperor Shinra does not interfere in the affairs of the Kingdom of Prussia.

Franz froze for a moment:
"Such goals are of course excellent, but certainly impossible for Prussia to accept."

Metternich smiled dryly and said:
"Even if we know that Prussia is impossible to accept, we have to make such a response first.

"According to the common saying of Daming, the other party is asking for a lot of money, and we are also asking for a lot of money, and then both parties just pay back the money on the spot.

"For example, we will take a step back in the future, and the Holy Roman Emperor will no longer be the King of Germany.

"The Habsburg family can only serve as Emperor of the Shinra, and the title of King of Germany can be used by Hohenzollern.

"Even the entire empire can be divided into two parts, the Kingdom of Germany and the other provinces of Shinra.

"The German regions, including Inletania, the core of Austria, can even be included in the scope of the Kingdom of Germany.

“The Habsburg family that rules this area can use their identity as Archduke of Austria to pay allegiance to the German King of Hohenzollern.

"But at the same time, the German king also owes his allegiance to the Emperor Shinra.

"That is to say, the Habsburg and Hohenzollern families are loyal to each other in different identities and are each other's vassals.

"On the basis of these conditions, we can take another step back, or put forward other concession conditions.

"The Roman Empire we merged and established can adopt the traditional two-emperor co-government model.

"Hohenzollern, as Northern Emperor, continues to rule the existing Prussian territories.

"The Habsburgs became the Southern Emperor and continued to rule the existing Austrian territories.

"The people open their borders to each other, gradually reduce the customs duties and customs inspection steps between the two countries, and form a de facto unity.

"Continuously negotiating conditions like this is a continuous delay.

"These responses and the subsequent negotiation process must be as open to the world as this notification from Prussia.

"It is also a public statement of attitude to the outside world and the people.

"Austria and the Habsburg family will continue to adhere to the orthodox claims of the HRE and Germany.

"Above all, Austria also remains interested in the unification of Germany.

"And Austria is more orthodox than Prussia.

"The proactive attitude of the empire should be able to help stabilize the chaotic situation in the empire..."

Franz nodded again and again, feeling that what Metternich said was very reasonable.

Even if it is a merger, it cannot be dominated by Prussia.

Asking prices outrageously and repaying the money on the spot, this type of negotiation may last for many years.

However, the negotiations will eventually end.

Moreover, Prussia may not give Austria the opportunity to keep turning around at the negotiating table.

So Franz directly expressed his concerns:
"Negotiations cannot go on forever, and delays will eventually come to an end.

"After the negotiations finally broke down, what should we do when the delay cannot go on?"

Metternich felt that he had made his sovereign agree with his line of thinking:
"It is true that we cannot delay forever, but as long as we can delay for a few years, the international situation may undergo greater changes again.

"At that time, we may have the opportunity to make other choices. In Da Ming's terms, this is actually waiting for change."

Franz froze for a moment:
"The current situation in Europa continent... can indeed be regarded as a crisis situation, and there will indeed be new changes in the next few years.

"But will this change be beneficial to us? Will it help us maintain the survival of our country?"

Metternich explained his in-depth analysis with a serious expression:
"The two most dangerous countries in Europa right now are Prussia and Lucia.

"Prussia's main target was us without a doubt, and Lucia's was much more.

"If they are arranged comprehensively according to the benefit to Lucia and the difficulty of attacking, the order is probably like this.

"First, Sweden and Norway in the north, then the Ottomans in the south, then Prussia and our Austria, and finally the Ming Dynasty.

"The relationship between Lucia and Prussia seems to be good now, but there are also conflicts between the two.

"The contradiction may even be higher than the contradiction with us in Austria.

"If the situation between us and Prussia can be stalemate, the Lucians have achieved their war goals against Northern Europe and Ottoman successively.

"At that time, we can try to cooperate with Lucia and attack Prussia together."

Franz listened silently for a while:

"How come we...Lucia is willing to cooperate with us to attack Prussia instead of cooperating with Prussia to attack Austria?"

Metternich said very bluntly:
"This matter cannot be completely determined now, we can only try to change Lucia's choice through diplomatic means and the exchange of actual interests.

"First of all, if Lucia achieves the two-stage war goal, and Prussia can only stalemate with us, then Lucia will despise Prussia.

“At the same time, our strength will also be reflected, which is the prerequisite for Lucia and us to cooperate.

"Then, the lands of Prussia were more attractive to Lucia than to Austria.

"In terms of terrain alone, the great plains in northern Prussia are more suitable for large corps operations than Austria, which is surrounded by mountains.

"This was a key driver in Lucia's choice to work with us.

“If Lucia succeeds in capturing Constantinople, then they will be able to enter and leave the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea normally.

"At that time, for Lucia, turning the Baltic Sea into Lucia's inland sea will be more attractive than seizing inland land.

"In the end, it's the diplomatic effort we need to make, and we need to make Lucia think that's really attractive."

Listening to Metternich's analysis, Franz said rather sadly:
"Having said so many things that may happen in the future, the key is that we must be able to resist the Prussian attack now!"

Metternich said directly without concealment:
"Yes, we must be able to resist the Prussian attack, at least it is impossible to collapse at the first touch.

"Otherwise, even if the conflict between Lucia and Prussia breaks out in the later period, it will be difficult for us in Austria to effectively participate in it.

"However, Your Majesty does not need to worry too much, the situation in Austria is not good, and our current army does not have the strength to launch an attack abroad.

“But if we just pursue local defense, we can actually do a lot of things.

"I'm referring to politics here, not military affairs."

Franz was suddenly worried and curious and continued to ask:

"Your Excellency, please tell me, what can we do at the political level?"

Metternich was not very emotional at this time, and sighed before speaking:

"Your Majesty, please delegate power and establish the Kingdom of Hungary. Your Majesty will also serve as the King of Hungary, but establish the Hungarian Parliament to formulate laws in Hungary.

"At the same time, autonomous administrative regions of different levels have also been established in other ethnic gathering areas with a certain scale in the territory.

"Choose the leader of the local traditional forces as the local governor, who is fully responsible for the local military, political and legal affairs.

"In other words, give these people conditions that Prussia will never give, and give them an autonomy that Prussia will never allow.

"For their real interests and identities, these people will try to mobilize all local forces to resist."

Franz was a little confused:
"Decentralization? The 2000-year history of China has been from decentralization to centralization, and the political changes in the European countries in the past few hundred years have also been centralization.

"Ouluopa accelerated the centralization of power after fully contacting Ming culture.

"Now we have to delegate power to the localities instead? Allow local autonomy and even allow locals to serve as local governors?

"Isn't this... going against the grain?"

Metternich explained rather helplessly:
"To a certain extent, this kind of behavior can indeed be regarded as a perverse act, and it can even be regarded as drinking poison to quench thirst.

"But when it comes time to really die of thirst, even if we know that the wine is poisonous, as long as it is a chronic poison, we can only choose to drink it.

"After His Majesty refused to become a vassal state of Ming Dynasty, Austria now has no other choice.

"I can bluntly say that the barriers between the various ethnic groups in Austria are now difficult to completely and quickly eliminate.

"The current surnames that are forcibly kneaded together have actually had the opposite effect.

"If the local people are allowed to manage themselves, although it is basically impossible to achieve the concentration of power in the entire country at the imperial level.

"However, at the very least, the local basic strength should be able to be exerted, and the direct constraints between different ethnic groups can be basically eliminated.

"In the history of Ming Dynasty, and in the history of our Europa, there have actually been similar situations.

"The army of the local separatist forces is more capable of fighting than the regular army of the imperial court, especially in the homeland defense war.

"Because the regular army can retreat backwards, but the local separatist forces can only hold on."

Franz fell silent when he heard this.

A very painful entanglement and struggle began in the depths of my heart.

Decentralization means reducing the authority of the court and the authority of the monarch.

It is very easy to delegate power, but it is very difficult to take it back later.

Especially in the current situation in Austria, there are already a large number of unofficial local forces in the territory, which can be regarded as intertwined.

After the imperial court itself gave them official status, they immediately seized all local power.

It will be difficult for the royal family and the central court to intervene in the future.

However, this road seems to be the only way out for the Austrian imperial court and the Habsburg royal family at present.

Otherwise, when the Prussians came to fight, the local ethnic groups and local forces who had already had opinions on the empire would probably surrender directly to Prussia.

Especially... the native Germans in Austria have many young people who are interested in Prussia.

Therefore, Franz did not give a response immediately, but first asked Metternich about Austria's suggestion:

"A place like Hungary can set up a new kingdom, but what about Austria's Netania?
"The local Germans will probably choose Prussia between Prussia and Austria."

Metternich relaxed after hearing Franz's question.

Although Franz did not directly respond to the previous suggestion, this kind of question already shows that he has recognized his thinking in his heart.

Metternich smiled dryly and said:
"With regard to the Germans in the Netanya region, we can only take the initiative to attack through public opinion propaganda.

"We can directly aim at the unification of Germany and recruit local conscripts composed of Germans.

"Although many local young people really want Prussia, the main reason is that Prussia has a tendency to attack.

"Austria, on the other hand, just showed a state of wanting to be conservative.

“Now that Austria is deliberately showing an offensive tendency, coupled with Austria’s inherently higher legitimacy, it should be able to win back a large number of Germans.

"At the same time, after the local young people are recruited into the army, they can be transferred to other places.

"Soldiers can be assigned to different tasks according to their status."

Franz nodded slightly, but still had some concerns:
"Are we really going to use these troops to take the initiative to attack Prussia?"

Metternich went on laughing and said:
"It's part of the strength that's shown in the negotiation process."

Franz immediately understood, and nodded slightly:

"Then do as you wish."

(End of this chapter)