Chapter 307 French assistance (asking for monthly pass)
Chapter 308 French Aid (asking for monthly votes)
Leopold II was still angry: "Austria should also express its attitude on this!"
Joseph II waved his hand tiredly to interrupt him: "General Wurmser just suffered a defeat in Rochefort. Now the German countries are watching our reaction, and we must give a strong counterattack to the Prussians."
Leopold II's eyes dropped immediately.
He knew very well that the Austrian aristocracy was extremely dissatisfied with his brother's reforms and was unwilling to contribute to the country. Bohemia, Croatia, Hungary and other countries also resisted the royal family because the reforms touched their interests [Note 1].
In such a situation, Austria could not afford to fight a decisive battle with Prussia. But if the Southern Netherlands was allowed to be independent, the German states would inevitably think that Austria was already weak and would throw themselves into the arms of Prussia.
69𝖘𝖍𝖚𝖝.𝖓𝖊𝖙】
This is an unacceptable situation!
Joseph II paused for a few seconds and continued: "Now we can only defeat Prussia if we persuade France to provide support. Clementine is not engaged to the French crown prince, so let this matter go."
Leopold II also knew the pros and cons, and nodded reluctantly. Then he thought of something and looked at his brother and said: "Your Majesty, although we are married to France, according to the supplementary terms signed by Gravier and our country, France does not assume military obligations to our country."
The Gravier he was talking about was Count Vergennes, Louis XV's foreign minister, and the one who facilitated Queen Marie of Austria to marry Louis XVI. However, as a very experienced politician, Count Vergennes took advantage of Austria's request to France and pushed France's marriage obligations completely.
In fact, after the century-old enemies of France and Austria formed an alliance for short-term interests, they hardly supported each other.
"I know." Joseph II nodded, "So we must do our best to convince Antoinette, after all, she is our sister.
"In addition, France seems to attach great importance to the trade agreement with the southern German countries. We can give them some help in this regard in exchange for their military assistance. "
According to Austria's original plan, France could not be allowed to "break into" the southern German market too easily. They would add a lot of restrictions to the trade terms between France and Germany, and build very high tariff barriers for Bavaria, Württemberg and other countries to ensure that they were the masters of this market.
However, the situation is stronger than people. At present, Austria can only offer benefits in this regard in exchange for France's military support.
Fortunately, the French are very tolerant of the high tariffs of the German states, and only require a few categories of goods such as iron products and machinery to reduce tariffs, which is acceptable to Austria.
At the same time, Austria can also use this trade agreement to enter the French market.
And no matter how this trade agreement is signed, as long as the French send troops, at least it can ensure that Austria's reforms can continue.
This is what Joseph II attaches the most importance to!
His reforms must not be interrupted, otherwise, with Austria's current situation, it will sooner or later lose its status as a first-class European power.
……
In the spacious corridor of Schönbrunn Palace, Talleyrand followed the court officials to quickly He walked towards Leopold II's reception room.
He had just returned from the negotiation venue in Munich at the latter's invitation.
Talleyrand recalled Leopold II's letter and couldn't help but sigh. When he left Strasbourg last month, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince told him that Austria was very likely to be defeated in the Southern Netherlands. As a result, Wurmser was defeated by the Duke of Brunswick.
According to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's instructions, the Austrian high-level officials - it could be the emperor, or it could be the Minister of State - would consult with him later to let France send troops to assist Austria.
Then there was this summons from Leopold II, who was equivalent to the Austrian Crown Prince.
Talleyrand immediately straightened his chest, so the follow-up arrangements made by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would be implemented by himself.
In the reception room, after a simple greeting, Leopold II led the topic to the war in the Southern Netherlands: "As I said just now, General Wurmser withdrew the main force to the dense forest near Luxembourg, thus preserving most of the troops.
"That is to say, we are still keeping huge military pressure on the rebels."
Talleyrand knew that the Austrian army did not suffer too many casualties, but the so-called "maintaining pressure" was just diplomatic rhetoric - Blücher's 20,000 troops and tens of thousands of Dutch rebels blocked the west of Luxembourg. If they were not worried about an ambush in the Black Forest, they would have driven the Austrian army into Bavaria long ago.
Of course, French logistical supplies were also an important guarantee for Wurmser to continue to persist, otherwise the Austrian army would have to snatch potatoes from Luxembourg farmers to fill their stomachs.
He just smiled at Leopold II, but did not respond.
The latter had to continue with some embarrassment: "His Majesty the Emperor has decided to mobilize 80,000 troops to Luxembourg to let William II understand how stupid it was to interfere in the affairs of the Southern Netherlands.
"Of course, the Prussians are likely to increase their troops. At the same time, the Dutch also provided a lot of assistance to the rebels.
"Although His Majesty the Emperor's army is confident that it can defeat any enemy, the war is likely to drag on for a long time. You know, this is very uneconomical financially."
He glanced at Talleyrand: "If Austria's close French ally can provide some military support at this time, it will greatly accelerate the Prussians' defeat."
After he finished speaking, he looked at the French Foreign Minister: "His Majesty the Emperor also ordered that Austria will try its best to consider France's opinions in the negotiations of the 'Seine-Rhine Trade Agreement'."
The Seine-Rhine Trade Agreement is a new name agreed upon by negotiators from various countries a few days ago. The Seine represents France, and the Rhine just passes through the southern German countries. At the same time, this name can reflect France's idea of using inland shipping for trade.
Leopold II continued: "I hope you can convey the Emperor's opinion to His Majesty the King of France as soon as possible. I look forward to further close cooperation between the two countries."
Talleyrand nodded, recalled the instructions of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and smiled: "Your Majesty, in fact, after learning about the war situation in the Southern Netherlands, His Majesty the King has authorized me to sign an agreement with you on military assistance at any time."
Leopold II was overjoyed when he heard this, thinking that his sister was still concerned about her mother's family. Before he even opened his mouth, she had already prepared to reinforce Austria.
