Chapter 311: Declare war on Prussia, not on the Dutch rebels
Chapter 312: Declare war on Prussia... No, declare war on the Dutch rebels
France must be extremely cautious about participating in the war between Prussia and Austria.
Therefore, after receiving affirmative responses from several loyal ministers, Queen Marie immediately convened an "enlarged meeting" of the cabinet to discuss the dispatch of troops to Silesia.
In addition to the Minister of Commerce who was still negotiating a trade agreement in Munich, all cabinet ministers and senior military officials, as well as the Count of Provence, the Count of Artois and other royal families were present.
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The seemingly serious and grand meeting actually did not have much suspense. Under the leadership of Briand, the cabinet ministers unanimously agreed to join the war.
In particular, the Minister of War, the Duke of Broglie, claimed that this was a "historic opportunity" for France to expand its influence on the European continent. Of course, he was able to work so hard because His Royal Highness the Crown Prince promised him benefits that he could not refuse.
Then he asked Berthier to conduct a military analysis to prove that the chances of supporting Austria were very high, and even if Prussia won, France would suffer minimal losses.
The Count of Provence, Louis XVI's younger brother, who was not familiar with the situation, looked at the Minister of War who was speaking impassionedly, frowned and asked the most critical question:
"Duke Broglie, how many troops are we going to send? Will there be any financial problems?"
After all, France still has a deficit of billions of livres.
This is also the issue that Queen Marie is most concerned about, and she immediately looked at the Duke of Broglie.
Before the Minister of War spoke, Talleyrand stood up and bowed slightly to the Count of Provence:
"My Lord, it is very cost-effective for our country to participate in this war financially.
"Because His Majesty Joseph II has promised that in return for participating in the war, he will do his best to promote the signing of a trade agreement between France, Austria and the southern German countries. You may have heard the news, that is, the Seine-Rhine Trade Agreement.
"In fact, when I left Munich, the negotiations were almost over.
"That is to say, in the future, our products can be sold in large quantities to the South German market, and the expenses of this war can be earned back from here in the future."
Duke Broy immediately continued:
"And we will strictly control the scale of participation in the war. The number of troops sent in the early stage will not exceed 50,000, and the cost will not be too high."
Queen Marie turned to look at the Minister of Finance.
Brian had also made preparations long ago, and immediately said:
"Your Majesty, the current financial situation is still relatively stable. We only need to issue some public bonds to support the military expenses of 50,000 troops for one or two years. "
In fact, if Joseph had not used a large amount of money to carry out tax reform, the 50 to 60 million livres that had been "confiscated" from the Duke of Orleans would have been enough to support the French army.
The biggest stone in Queen Marie's heart finally fell, and she discussed the pros and cons of participating in the war with the ministers. Seeing that everyone's opinions were surprisingly consistent, she no longer hesitated.
At 5 pm, she looked at Brian and solemnly ordered:
"Then, please draft the document. France will formally ally with Austria and declare war on Prussia."
Joseph, who had been sitting in the corner and didn't say much, was almost choked by his saliva when he heard this. He thought to himself that his mother was really honest. Taking advantage of the conflict between Prussia and Austria to fish in troubled waters and gain benefits, how can you both ally and declare war?
After all this operation, you have turned Austria's affairs into France's affairs, and you can't get rid of them in the future.
He hurriedly coughed and stood up, bowed to Queen Marie and said:
"Your Majesty, I don't think it is necessary to declare war on Prussia for the time being. "
Seeing the surprised looks from Queen Marie and others, Joseph explained:
"The current war situation is still unclear, and we should be cautious about declaring war."
"But our army is about to go to Silesia to fight the Prussians, which is actually a declaration of war."
"No, no, we are just going there to maintain local order at the invitation of Austria."
"But..."
"We will send the troops that should be sent, and fight the war as we should, but there is no need to declare war. Prussia should not take the initiative to declare war on us."
If the Prussians are not stupid, they will definitely pretend not to see the French army participating in the war. Declaring war is equivalent to tying France to Austria.
Duke Broglie frowned and said:
"Your Highness, I am afraid that the Austrian side will strongly demand that we declare war on Prussia."
A sly smile flashed in Joseph's eyes:
"If we must declare war, then we will declare war on the rebels in the Southern Netherlands.
"Last month they brazenly robbed our caravan. This is a blatant provocation. We must not tolerate it!"
"Ah? The Southern Netherlands robbed the French caravan?" A lot of question marks suddenly appeared in the conference hall.
Berthier was the first to react:
"Your Highness, you mean the time when the Dutch rebels attacked the logistical supplies we prepared for Austria?"
"What supplies for Austria?" Joseph deliberately sank his face, "Those were the grain and iron products purchased by Luxembourg. It was a normal business transaction!"
"Yes, Your Highness. I remembered it wrong. It was indeed the goods ordered by Luxembourg."
Ministers such as Briand and Duke de Broglie immediately agreed with the Crown Prince's opinion. In the end, Queen Marie had to accept the advice and decided to declare war on the Southern Netherlands rebels first. If Austria takes the initiative on the battlefield in the future, it will formally announce the alliance between France and Austria and declare war on Prussia.
However, she had no idea that Joseph had already made plans and would never let either Prussia or Austria gain a clear advantage.
As long as Prussia and Austria continued to clash, even if the fighting was not so intense, they would not be able to join forces to divide Poland, and would even show goodwill to Poland in order to win Poland's military support.
Even if Russia wanted to attack Poland in the future, Poland could avoid being attacked from both sides and concentrate on dealing with the Russian army. Even if it was still defeated in the end, it could at least resist for a few more years than in history.
While the fighting was in full swing in other parts of the European continent, France was developing its head in silence, while quietly giving the warring countries the opportunity to sell supplies.
At 6 pm, the cabinet meeting ended, and France took a key step to join Austria in the war between Prussia and Austria.
Of course, such a big thing as being involved in the war between Prussia and Austria could not be discussed in one day. Today was just the tone, and the specific details of the war still needed a long discussion at the cabinet meeting.
However, the real plan for joining the war was formulated in the study of the crown prince, and then it was taken to the cabinet meeting for "regularization".
Emand pushed open the door of the study and stood aside with his head bowed.
Joseph stepped into the room and turned to ask Talleyrand beside him:
"Is everything ready in the Southern Netherlands?"
The latter nodded immediately and said in a low voice:
"Yes, Your Highness. When the time comes, Ferdinand will receive the news immediately."
The Ferdinand he was talking about was the Duke of Brunswick, the commander-in-chief of the Prussian army.
