Chapter 309 Talleyrand's Art

Chapter 310 The Art of Talleyrand

In this way, Talleyrand's people either directly contacted the Austrian high-level officials, or spread rumors that "the Austrian and French forces will join forces to retake Silesia".

And no one will hold the French responsible for "fanning the flames", because recovering Silesia and washing away the humiliation of decades is the political correctness of all Austrians at present.

Anyone who dares to say that the French are wrong will be beaten by the Austrians next to him.

Schönbrunn Palace.

Bedroom of Joseph II.

Due to His Majesty's physical condition getting worse and worse, imperial meetings have been held here for the past year.

The core topic of this meeting was naturally the war with Prussia, so except for a dozen important ministers, almost all senior military officials were present.

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"Crown Prince" Leopold II briefly explained the situation to everyone, then turned and bowed to Joseph II and said: "Your Majesty, that's roughly it. The French idea is for the coalition forces to advance directly to Silesia and force the Prussians to leave from Nanni. Delan withdraws his troops."

Sitting on the bed, Joseph II braced himself and looked around at the officers and ministers in the room: "What do you think about this matter?"

Marshal Laodong was the first to speak out: "Your Majesty, this is a good opportunity to regain our homeland! I am willing to lead the army personally to teach those Prussian bastards a lesson!"

Joseph II looked at the old marshal's body, which was not much better than his own. He hurriedly told him not to be excited, and comforted him: "Your experience and courage are Austria's precious assets. Just let the young people handle the frontline matters."

Marshal Lacy and several other senior officers also immediately stood up. Not only had they been in contact with French diplomats, they had also been in contact with each other many times and had already reached a consensus on sending troops to Silesia.

"Your Majesty, with the strong support of France this time, it is a good opportunity for us to regain Silesia!"

"Your Majesty, I also think that we have a good chance of winning this battle!"

"Your Majesty, Prussia's attention is still on the Southern Netherlands. We must send troops as soon as possible to catch the surprise..."

"I also agree to send troops as soon as possible..."

Count Kaunitz, the Minister of State, was the leader of the pro-French faction in Austria. At this time, he stepped forward even more excitedly and said: "Your Majesty, as long as Austria and France unite closely this time, maybe not just Silesia, we can take advantage of this opportunity to defeat Saxony and then invade." It is not impossible to refer to Braunschweig!

"If this step can be achieved, His Majesty's prestige will shake the whole of Germany, and the glory of the Holy Roman Empire will be restored soon!"

When he said this, everyone present, no matter what they thought in their hearts, immediately shouted: "Restore the glory of the Holy Roman Empire!"

However, when the shouts subsided, the Minister of the Interior, Count Volataire, suddenly frowned and said: "I feel that the French want more than just their claim to Piedmont. After all, they will be involved in a very tragic war. This The benefits are really too little. They should have other plans..."

If Joseph heard what he said, he would definitely praise him, "You are right." But what’s tragic is that you, Austria and France are so far away from each other, so how much you want to get involved depends entirely on your mood. At present, public opinion in Vienna against the attack on Silesia has formed. Who cares what the French think?

Kaunitz immediately looked at the Minister of the Interior with a smile: "Count Volatel, I'm afraid you don't know how much France attaches importance to trade agreements.

“I often go to Paris and know the situation there very well. The French government transferred a large amount of bank debt to the ‘Industrial Development Fund’, which may amount to hundreds of millions of florins.

“In other words, in the next few decades, France must ensure that product sales are in good condition in order to make the fund profitable, that is, to prevent French fiscal collapse.

"To do this, they must expand their market, and in the absence of colonies, they can only sell as much as possible to the Rhine River Basin. This requires us to help them enter the market in South Germany."

Immediately, two ministers agreed with Kaunitz's statement and made more in-depth additions.

In fact, these two people were Talleyrand's "own people" in his development. More than half a month ago, he had transferred benefits to the two of them through his subordinates, spending hundreds of thousands of livres on them.

Joseph knew that Archbishop Talleyrand was the best at giving and accepting bribes. Although the XYZ incident had overturned in history, it was entirely due to the unscrupulousness of the Americans, so he gave him this important task [Note 1 】.

Of course, people from the Intelligence Bureau were also secretly watching Talleyrand at all times to ensure that the money would fall where it was needed.

Facts have proved that Laizi's bribery skills, including the ability to screen bribery targets, are completely trustworthy. Two high-ranking Austrian officials who received money began to support France according to France's "script".

"Count Volataire, France is actually very consistent with our attitude in weakening Prussia. Prussia is the spokesperson of British interests on the European continent, and you should also do what the British did to France in North Africa. heard about it."

"In addition, France and Prussia also have fierce competition in terms of influence on the Netherlands. Especially this time, the Dutch ignored France's attitude during the Brabant Rebellion and sided with the Prussians. This made the French very Annoyed..."

As the two stated their stakes, the skeptics, including Count Volataire, finally fell silent.

Joseph II was very calm. He turned to look at Leopold II and whispered, "Do you think it's worth giving up the interests in western Italy?"

As the Grand Duke of Tuscany, the latter was most familiar with the situation in Italy. If France's claim to Piedmont is recognized, then Austria's Lombardy and Tuscany in Italy will face France directly, and even Venice will be difficult to protect.

He said without hesitation, "Your Majesty, if we can get Silesia in exchange, this is acceptable.

"After all, if the French go too far in Italy, we can always introduce British forces to contain them."

Joseph II was silent for a long time, and once again looked around at the ministers in front of him with firm eyes, and finally nodded solemnly: "Then, let's discuss the mobilization of troops and specific combat plans. ”

[Note 1] XYZ Incident: At the end of the 18th century, in order to make money, the Americans restored diplomatic relations with the British and expressed opposition to the French Revolution. So France decided to retaliate against the Americans, seizing and plundering a large number of American merchant ships, causing heavy losses to the United States.

The then US President Adams sent a delegation to France for negotiations in an attempt to calm France's anger. Talleyrand, then French Foreign Minister, took the opportunity to instruct three of his men to demand huge bribes from the Americans. The Americans went to war with France in anger.

The names of the three people who demanded bribes were called X, Y, and Z in diplomatic documents, and this incident got its name from this.