After entering the 19th century, the polarization of the world became more and more serious. "The stronger the strong country, the weaker the weaker the", and the international landscape underwent earth-shaking changes.

The old empire seized the initiative of the industrial revolution and occupied a large amount of resources first. For its own interests, it has begun to suppress latecomers.

Britain and the Olympics took action this time, which seemed to be to curb France's expansion, but in fact it was also a collision between new and old imperialist countries.

Not every country is the United States, and its local area has rich resources and markets. If a new country wants to rise, it must seize enough resources and markets. This is the contradiction between the new and old empires.

The Kingdom of Prussia is not weak, and if it annexes the Kingdom of Poland, it will be even stronger. With enough strength but not matching resources, the Kingdom of Prussia will definitely be a challenger to order in the future.

This has nothing to do with whether the government loves peace. If industry is not developed, it is forgot. Once industry develops, raw materials and markets are the driving force that prompts them to challenge the world order.

The original German Empire rose too quickly, and the British overestimated the strength of the French. By the time they realized it, they could only go to the battlefield to fight a world war in person.

In contrast, Americans who rose on the other side of the ocean are much more lucky. They have sufficient resources to dress themselves up as "Uncle Sam" who is not threatening and successfully escaped the suppression of the old empire.

After a long period of silence, Foreign Minister Jeffrey Friedman said: "The situation is wrong. The conspiracy of Britain and Austria should be highly confidential. How could it be so easy for us to discover it?

You know, this not only involves us, but also involves the French. Even if the Paris government is internally unstable, it will not allow Britain and Austria to plot against them."

The information is too easy to come, which is the biggest loophole. For such a plot, there are not necessarily more than ten people who know about it, and they are all senior national leaders. Under normal circumstances, there is no possibility of leaking secrets.

William I's eyes lit up and asked expectantly: "Are you saying that one of the two countries of Britain and Austria deliberately leaked it. This alliance is not reliable, but just because of temporary unity of interests?"

Jeffrey Friedman shook his head: "No, Britain and Austria do want to take the Rhineland from us, but there may be differences on how to hand it over to the German Federal Empire.

The German Federal Empire was in a mess, and the Hanover Kingdom, which dominated the central government, was limited in strength and did not integrate the strength of this country.

Hanover's territory is only 40% of that of this country, and its population and economic output are less than one-third of that of this country.

Influenced by the system, the Imperial Parliament, the highest authority in the German Federal Empire, still retained the traditional state and one vote. No matter what the central government wants to do, the Imperial Parliament can easily reject it.

After so many years, the German Federation is still the same. Hanover wanted to integrate this country several times, but it was rejected by the Imperial Parliament.

The German region has been divided for hundreds of years, and everyone has become accustomed to state politics, so it is almost impossible to change this situation.

However, it is different in the Rhineland region. If the Rhineland region is directly under the central government, the strength comparison will change.

Even if the Hanover Kingdom alone wants to overturn the table, it is not a match for the group of states below. However, the central government of the Rhineland region has an absolute advantage.

From the standpoint of the Vienna government, there is no problem in giving the Rhineland region to the German Federal Empire, but it must join as a state.

Making the Kingdom of Hanover bigger is not conducive to Austria's implementation of the German unification strategy. This is exactly what the British want to do the most. Britain and Austria have had serious differences from the beginning.

Perhaps the negotiations between the two countries collapsed, and the Vienna government decided to destroy the British plan and simply exposed the news."

This is close to the truth. Now that the news is leaked, it is impossible to complete the original plan.

Not only the outside world, but also the German Federal Empire, did not agree. If the central government wants to directly govern the Rhineland, a bunch of small states below will not only not pay money, but will also use the Imperial Parliament to reject this territorial transaction from a legal perspective.

Unless it is done secretly to create established facts, the German federal government will not even be able to handle it internally.

It was originally a loose federation, and it was not much different from the medieval Germany. If the vassal states below did not buy it, what could the emperor do?

With the strength of the Kingdom of Hannover, even if they want to unify the German Federation by force, they do not have the strength. Moreover, Austria is eyeing him outside, so it is difficult for them to trap themselves.

William I rubbed his forehead. He was over 70 years old and his energy was no longer so full. This complex international situation was too useless.

Now he is very conflicted. On the one hand, he does not want to see the German Federal Empire grow and grow, increase the defense pressure of the Prussian Kingdom, and on the other hand, he wants the German Federal Empire to become stronger and cut off the Austrian path to German unification.

At this time, he regretted it very much. If he had been willing to take risks and had divided the German region from Austria, the current situation would have been very different.

"well!"

Sighing, William I: "We have little choice, and now we may not only be Britain and Austria who want to take the Rhineland from us.

It is estimated that the Paris government has the same idea. After all, whether the Rhineland region is independent, falls into the hands of the German Federal Empire, or merges with Belgium, it is easier to get it than to stay in our hands.

What do you think is more in our interests when doing it now?"

Prime Minister Moltke: "First of all, the sale to France will be ruled out, if it falls into the hands of the French, the balance will be broken.

I'm afraid Austria will not be able to restrain the French by then, and no one knows whether Napoleon IV is the second Napoleon. It is too dangerous to allow France to grow.

The rest is nothing more than making the Rhineland independent or selling it to Belgium, and the German Federal Empire exchanged for a sum of funds.

The latter also involves the battle between Britain and the Olympics, and it is another team leader. Judging from the current situation, we are not suitable for team leader among major countries, which is too dangerous.

I think selling to Belgium for a sum of funds is more in line with our current interests. The most important thing at the moment is to annex Poland, then digest it, and prepare for a war with the Russians."

That's right, it's "now interests". From a long-term perspective, it is definitely to protect the Rhineland region and Prussia's interests.

However, this is impossible. The old empire is not stupid. Unless they give up the annexation of Poland, the two countries that are good at playing balance will definitely not give up.

In the long run, even if the Rhineland region is independent and secretly mastering the Rhineland is more in Prussia's interests than selling it.

It will be different in the short term. The Berlin government is so poor that it is a matter of the future even if it can secretly control the Rhineland region. It is better to resolve the financial crisis first.

If you sell it to the German Federation, you must take the team. Now the Berlin government owes the British a lot of debts, so you can only take the team to the British.

Now it’s so refreshing, but I offended Austria to death. What should I do if the future Prussian-Russian War?

According to the plan, the Berlin government was ready to win over Austria and completely defeat the Russian Empire. Prussia would never be able to live in peace without resolving the Russians, the mortal enemy.

Army Secretary Ron: "It's not that simple, don't forget the French. What should we do if the Paris government risked its troops to occupy the Rhineland region?

I don't think Austria will fight with the French for the Rhineland region. If they want to take action, France will take action when it annexes Italy.

I think the Vienna government's strategy is not to unify the German region. Austria's territory is already large enough and its population is large enough, so there is nothing short of anything.

Judging from the Vienna government's approach, this is more like one of their political slogans. Austria already occupied most of the Balkans and is now attacking the Ottoman Empire.

If the progress goes smoothly and the eastern coast of the Mediterranean is their territory, it will be the second largest Byzantine Empire."

The ambition to rebuild the Byzantine Empire is no less than that of unifying the German region. Austria did not yell to rebuild the Byzantine Empire, but the territory is boundless to everyone.

William I interrupted: "What Austria wants to do is not something we can stop. If they really have such a big ambition, it will be a good thing for us.

To recreate the Byzantine Empire, the Russians and the French are the ones with the greatest conflict of interest. Judging from the Vienna government's permission to allow France to annex the Italian region, the Russians should be targeted first.

Before the fall of the Russian Empire, we could all cooperate. However, the Habsburgs were best at diplomacy, not military.

Franz is one of the best. After he succeeded to the throne, Austria used diplomatic means to expand continuously. I don’t think they would suddenly become so radical. This is probably the smoke bomb they deliberately released.”

The Berlin government was in a tangle, and the Paris government was very lively. The factions in the government were constantly quarrels, and the republicans, Orleans and Orthodox factions, which were suppressed by Napoleon III, were all active.

Napoleon IV had insufficient prestige and had no ability to suppress political forces from all parties. He could only play a balance among the factions according to the plan left by Napoleon III.

Imperial power was guaranteed, but the party struggles became serious. Unfortunately, the party was brought into the government's work, and opposing it for the sake of opposition is even more common.

The French Empire, which was feared by all parties, was unable to make a decision at this time, which made Napoleon IV very troubled.

If it weren't for his father's advice, he would have to act arbitrarily and make a decision directly. Fortunately, he held back, otherwise he would soon know how low the lower limit of the bureaucrats was.
Chapter completed!