I have to say that Russians are very good at choosing time. As soon as the ultimatum period ends, it happens to be December 24th, and the next day is Christmas.

Whether it is to endure the end or choose to compromise, the Prussians don’t have to spend this Christmas. It took several days to issue an ultimatum to the Prussian government, and there is also the intention of deliberately disgusting Frederick William IV.

Berlin

After receiving the Russian ultimatum, the Prussian Kingdom was in trouble. The pro-war faction and the pro-military faction were quarreling endlessly, and the plan to instigate Poland's independence was proposed again.

Prime Minister Joseph von Radovitz said excitedly: "No, Poland cannot become a climate at all. Even if we give up Poland and let them establish an independent country, we cannot stop the Russians' military attacks.

On the contrary, doing so will anger the Russians, who will unite Austria and France to attack us together, and the Kingdom of Prussia will not be able to win this war!"

The new Foreign Minister Alpha said disdainfully: "Prime Minister, don't be so alarmist, at most it's just fighting the Russians.

The French are fighting fiercely. The parliament, supported by the president, opposed it, and the president rejected the bill passed by the parliament. How could they participate in this war?

Austria supports us this time. Even though the Austrian government has ulterior motives, the Austrian people are our firm allies.

If the Austrian government dares to join forces with the Russians to attack us, the revolution will break out in the country before the operation begins, and they will not be able to take risks."

After pausing, he instigated again: "The Russian Empire has become corrupt, and this great empire is broken with just one stab. Since it stands on the opposite side of us, why not break it?

As long as we stand up this time, all the people of the German region will become our loyal supporters, and the great cause of unifying Germany will be completed in our hands."

Unfortunately, the top leaders of the Prussian government are no longer middle-aged teenagers. The Russian Empire is corrupt, but this corrupt empire is not something that Prussia can challenge.

The power of allies? Stop teasing, it’s okay to fool the second middle school boy. Where did the allies come from Prussia?

Many German countries are all watching the excitement and not thinking that things are big. The slogans are striking. If they really compete with Russia, it would be another explanation.

If you analyze it carefully, you will find that what everyone calls the defense of the territorial integrity of the German Federation does not include parts of Poland and East Prussia.

This is a huge pit. Once you jump into the Kingdom of Prussia, you will have to fight the Russians one-on-one. Of course, there are still some support, but there are many countries that are unhappy with the Russians.

Secretary of the Finance Minister Holder said coldly: "Mr. Alpha, unless all German states declare war on the Russians at the same time, we will not be able to win this war alone.

Maybe you haven't noticed that for the sake of the Pundan War, we spent all the last gold coins in the treasury ourselves. As early as half a year ago, the government's public officials could not receive full salary, and they have not paid a penny in the past three months.

Under the circumstances of national mobilization, our strategic materials can support up to half a month of combat time. Unless our army can win this war within half a month, there is no need to initiate this war."

Loss of money is one of the biggest problems. The Pak-Danish War broke out since March last year, and there was a truce in the middle, but the armies of the two countries were still in a confrontation.

The Prussian Kingdom's finances were a year-round deficit, and in order to support this war, they had tried every means to raise military expenses.

Now there is really no way out. International loans cannot be borrowed, and government-issued bonds are ignored in the financial market. In order to support this war, domestic people have donated money many times and have paid off their pockets.

In order to raise the money, they even let go of their faces and asked the people of the German region for help. They got a lot of money, but the problem was that there was not much left in the hands of the Prussian government.

Not having money is just one aspect, and it is really impossible to win. In the era of gun queuing, the human sea tactics are one of the most effective tactics.

There is no danger to defend the Prussian border. Once the war breaks out and the main force of the Prussian army is dragged down, the Cossack cavalry will kill the heartland of the Prussian Kingdom and they will be in a state of disgrace.

"The Russians interfere, and the PKD war cannot continue. At this time, the most important thing is to find ways to convince the people in the country, explain the difficulties we face to the people, and let them understand the difficulties of the government.

This issue was resolved by the Prime Minister. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent people to communicate with the Russians, restarted negotiations with the Kingdom of Denmark, and invited Austria to join the mediation of the war.

To express our sincerity, once the negotiations begin, the Kingdom of Prussia will lift the national mobilization." Frederick William IV arranged slowly

...

On December 23, 1849, under the armed mediation of the Russians, the Prussian government announced that it would accept the Russians' suggestions, restart the Prussian negotiations, and at the same time terminate the national mobilization.

As soon as the news came out, the German region was in a turmoil, and people's anti-Russian sentiment began to rise, and they became disappointed with the Prussian government.

When the Kingdom of Prussia was mobilizing nationwide, everyone was very moved. There were many people who donated money and materials. Now suddenly the Prussian government was timid. Isn’t this a waste of everyone’s feelings?

The Prussian government was scared, but what should the two principalities of Schleswig-Holstein do? In the eyes of the people, this is a matter of principle and cannot be given up.

Everyone's eyes were turned to Vienna. As the boss of the German state, the Austrian government must present a clear attitude at this time.

Metternich is a diplomatic old man, how could he jump in and help Prussia push the tank?

On Christmas Day, the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced: "The Austrian government will hold a federal meeting in the near future, and the Federal Parliament will send a delegation to participate in the negotiations.

Before that, the Austrian government hoped that the Kingdom of Prussia could assume the responsibility of a great power and defend the two principalities of Schleswig-Holstein."

At this time, everyone remembered that it seemed that there was a federal parliament in Germany.

However, for the Prussian government, the Federal Parliament emerged at this time, which was causing trouble for them.

Of course it is impossible to compromise in the Federal Parliament, everyone wants to save face.

Even if the Federal Parliament decides to declare war with the Russians, it is only Austria and Prussia's affairs. They are in the rear countries, so what are they afraid of?

Don't even think about it if the Federal Parliament agrees to abandon Schleswig, the two principalities of Holstein.

If Prussia gave up Schleswig, the principalities of Holstein, then all the responsibilities would be borne by them.

At this time, rumors were already rumored that the Prussian government took advantage of everyone's patriotic enthusiasm to provoke this war in order to divert domestic conflicts, and public opinion was very unfavorable to the Prussian government.

On Christmas in 1849, the people in the entire German region were not having a good life. The newspapers were filled with news of the Pundant War, and the festive atmosphere was diluted.

In order to express dissatisfaction with the retreat of the Prussian government, Franz ordered the cancellation of Christmas celebrations, and the court banquets were no longer held, and the government's celebrations were no longer held.

The Russians were very tough. In a month, the border between the two countries did not return to pre-war, and the Tsar's army would enter the Kingdom of Prussia, which directly ruined the possibility of the Prussian government making a comeback.

The Prussian government is not a fool. It is known that the longer this kind of thing will be, the more trouble it will be. Before the negotiations have begun, the Prussian army has begun to withdraw its troops from the Jutland Peninsula.

One of the factors is that they have no money. More than 100,000 troops have penetrated deep into the enemy territory. The logistical pressure is quite large. Anyway, they have decided to give in. It is better to return it earlier to save money.

...

Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna

Franz was in a bad mood. The Prussian government was too cowardly and could not do it even if it wanted to use the negotiations to delay time.

He finally understood why so many people misappropriated public funds and were caught. There were too many unexpected situations and it was difficult to effectively control them.

When investing in the food processing industry, the factory has just been established. If you want to make money, you must at least wait until the factory is running before talking about it?

The mines invested in are not much better. The time is too short and basically no effective development is carried out.

The only thing that is mining is sand and gravel mines, but railway construction has just begun, and the profits are good, but unfortunately this is just a drop in the bucket.

The total savings of Royal Bank have reached 2.7689 million rupiahs, and the bank's administrative expenses of 18,000 rupiahs each month must be deducted, and a part of the funds must be reserved for bank operations. There is not much money that can be filled in.

In theory, in donations, three million rupiahs will become bank deposits. In fact, this is also an unknown number. Franz dares not take this limit.

By the end of the year, there will be a lot of Habsburg family assets, but rashly embezzling them to fill in holes for themselves can easily cause internal conflicts.

These industries actually have a mature management mechanism. In addition to supervising operations, Franz only takes away his own share every year.

Since his uncle is still alive, the money he, the patriarch of the Habsburg family, naturally was greatly reduced, and the profits of only 300,000 rupees are distributed.

If the end of the year was about to come to the end of the year, the royal annuity would have come down, and Franz really didn't know how to fill this hole. You can't just borrow money with shame?

Or is it to withhold donations sent by the government? I believe that the Ministry of Finance will not be so eye-absent and come over to urge His Majesty to repay the money.

Since the royal annuity was to be used to fill holes, the Vienna court naturally had to reduce unnecessary expenses, and reducing palace banquets was one of them. The Prussian affairs only provided him with an excuse.

Franz sent someone to accurately calculate that the total expenses of various banquets and activities in the Austrian palace every year will not be less than 500,000 ruts, and one million ruts will not be enough if it is a little extravagant.

"Your Majesty, the Pudhan War is about to end. For the reputation of the bank, we are going to prepare to return the donations." John Steva reminded

For a bank, the most important thing is credibility. For the sake of the credibility of Royal Bank, Franz gave up even the opportunity to embezzle huge donations.

Otherwise, the donations that entered the Royal Bank would have been gone long ago. They insisted that they would hand them over to the Prussian government, which would have become a headless case.

Franz thought for a while and said, "A press conference was held to explain the story clearly, and invited Prussian representatives and notary personnel to attend and check the accounts.

Release news: If the negotiation goes well, the unused donations will be returned after the end, and everyone will bring the receipt issued by the bank and go to the original donation business point to make the same proportion of refund.

This year's Royal Annuity Club will be deposited directly into the Royal Bank, and the dividends of royal assets will also be placed in the bank, and the funding gap is not a problem.

Also, settle the previous matters as soon as possible and complete the commercial loan procedures, and do not leave any clues."

"Yes, your majesty." John Stewart replied

As long as you have money, many problems will be easy to deal with. If you fill in the fund hole, you will be able to fill the loan procedures and the matter will be over.

After such a wave of operations was completed, Franz's embezzlement of donations turned into a legal commercial loan from the bank. The money he invested in was whitewashed.

.m.
Chapter completed!