Chapter 727 Weak Countries and Diplomacy
Chapter 728 Weak States and Diplomacy
Franz II squeezed his cane hard and began to pace back and forth anxiously.
Austria's financial situation was already very bad. He originally planned to take advantage of Russia to attract most of the Polish army, and take a big piece of meat from Poland to solve its domestic problems.
But now they have been fighting for several months and have only managed to capture Sandomierz, and only the part west of the San River. Only about 80% of the area of a province.
The benefits obtained by Austria were only slightly higher than the military expenditure invested.
If the war between Poland and Russia ceases at this time, Poland's troops on the eastern front will soon be transferred to the western front.
Wilmser couldn't eat Krakow in the first place, so there would be no need to think about it then.
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He stopped and said to Turgut: "I want to send more troops to the front and capture Krakow as soon as possible!"
Turgut looked down at the toes of his shoes with some embarrassment and coughed lightly: "Well, Your Majesty, that will evolve into a full-scale war with Poland... and the military expenditure will be at least 8 to 10 times what it is now."
"What? So many!"
Franz hesitated for a moment, then hesitated: "What is your suggestion?"
Turgut raised his head again: "Your Majesty, we can negotiate an armistice with Poland as an alliance with Prussia and Russia.
"Poland will face the joint pressure of the three countries, and only then can we maximize the consolidation of the current results."
Franz II had no other ideas. He pretended to think carefully and nodded: "Then please contact Prussia and Russia as soon as possible."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
…
Potsdam.
Sanssouci Palace.
William II waved his hand and shouted: "Gdansk, what I want is Gdansk!"
Prince Heinrich sighed secretly and said: "Your Majesty, in my estimation, in another month at most, 60,000 to 70,000 Polish troops will return from the eastern front to defend Gdansk and other places.
“With the will to fight that the Poles have shown recently, it may be difficult to deal with them.
"We currently occupy three provinces in Greater Poland, and the benefits are already large enough."
William II glanced at him: "So, you think there should be an immediate ceasefire?"
"Yes, we should unite with Russia and Austria to force Poland to make concessions in the armistice negotiations."
…
St. Petersburg.
Catherine II glared at Zubov, who had just returned from London, and gritted her teeth: "The British have repeatedly said that they support our war against Poland. For this, I did not hesitate to offend France, expand trade with them, and allow They mine in Donbass.
“And this is how they repay me?
"500,000 rubles, ha, are they sending beggars away?!"
Zubov lowered his head and did not dare to breathe.
He went to London with confidence for a loan, but he did not expect that Britain was busy preparing for war with France. Coupled with the previous London gas street light incident and the losses of the Caribbean colonies, Congress did not hesitate to veto the loan to Russia.
Right now, for Russia, the only option left is an armistice.
The Tsar looked at Zubov again and said angrily: "You will be responsible for negotiating the armistice with Poland. At least you must protect the results of Minsk and Mozyr for me."
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will not let you down."
At this moment, a palace official walked in quickly, saluted Catherine II and said: "Your Majesty, Prince Heinrich of Prussia will arrive in St. Petersburg tomorrow morning, and he hopes to be summoned by you. "
The next day.
After listening to Prince Heinrich's proposal for a three-nation alliance to jointly negotiate an armistice with Poland, the Tsar immediately nodded with deep understanding and added: "The United Kingdom can also join the negotiations."
The British are unwilling to borrow money from Russia, so they will certainly not refuse to contribute a little in diplomacy.
As an ally of Britain, Prussia naturally had no objection to Prince Heinrich: "Your suggestion is very good. I will make a request to London."
"They will agree." The Tsar smiled.
Even though a small country like Poland performed well on the battlefield, it had no choice but to surrender under the pressure of the four major powers.
Perhaps, Russia can also gain something beyond Minsk and Mozyr.
She appointed Zubov as her plenipotentiary that afternoon and went to London with the Prince of Austria.
…
Paris.
Palace of Versailles.
Joseph looked at the document Sieyès had just submitted regarding the armistice negotiations in Poland and couldn't help but frown slightly.
The document reads: Russia, Prussia, and Austria formed an alliance to jointly conduct armistice negotiations with Poland, and the United Kingdom also participated in "mediation."
Russia, Prussia, and Austria demanded that Poland cede the territory they occupied militarily, totaling: two Russian provinces, three Prussian provinces, and one Austrian province.
Poland must control the number of troops to no more than 40,000.
The Port of Gdansk is jointly managed by Poland and Prussia, and no troops are allowed to be stationed.
A huge amount of war reparations...
The UK expressed full support for the three countries' demands and urged Poland to sign as soon as possible.
"It's really a world where the weak eat the strong."
Joseph sighed softly and looked at Sieyès, who had just returned from Poland: "So, what is Warsaw's opinion?"
Sieyès said in a low voice: “Your Highness, the Polish Parliament is ready to accept these conditions.
“You know, the situation in Poland is also very bad.
"According to the current intensity of the war, if there is no external assistance, they can only hold out for 2 to 3 months at most. In the case of exhausting all national strength."
Since the beginning of the war, Poland has recruited more than 240,000 young and middle-aged men. In addition to those who went directly to the front line, there are more than 100,000 people responsible for logistics and transportation.
For a small country with a population of only 10 million, this is almost the limit.
You know, there are still many Orthodox people in Poland. The parliament is not very willing to use these people in this war.
And Poland's fiscal revenue is almost entirely dependent on agriculture. If it were not for the support of the Tarnovsk Mountain Silver Mine, it would have collapsed two months ago.
So, the weakness of national strength forced Poland to accept a ceasefire, otherwise what awaited them would be the collapse of the entire country.
Joseph picked up the terms of the armistice negotiation again.
To be honest, this is much better than the result of the "two melons" in history that Poland lost 300,000 square kilometers of territory.
Even if all the six provinces required by Russia, Prussia and Austria were ceded, the total area would be only about 50,000 to 60,000 square kilometers, and there was only one relatively wealthy province, Poznan.
"Triple Alliance?" Joseph looked at the top line of the document and suddenly thought of something. "They want to exert pressure together, but an alliance that is only in name only often has a counter-effect."
He thought for a moment and told Sieyès to return to Saxony immediately - that was the location of the armistice negotiations.
March 14, 1793.
Saxony.
Dresden Palace.
Polish Royal Minister Malachowski looked around at the four negotiators in front of him with cold eyes and threw his pen on the table: "Robbers, traitors, perfidious people, ah! Poland will not accept these conditions!"
