Chapter 309 Talleyrand's Art

Chapter 310 Talleyrand's Art

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

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

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

Schönbrunn Palace.

Joseph II's bedroom.

As the emperor's health is getting worse, the imperial court meetings have been held here for nearly a year.

The core topic of this meeting is naturally the war with Prussia, so in addition to a dozen important officials, almost all the military high-level officials are present.

"Crown Prince" Leopold II first briefly explained the situation to everyone, then turned around and bowed to Joseph II and said: "Your Majesty, this is roughly the case. The French advocate that the coalition forces go straight to Silesia and force the Prussians to withdraw from the Southern Netherlands."

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

Marshal Laudon spoke first: "Your Majesty, this is a good opportunity to retake the homeland! I am willing to lead the army in person and teach those Prussian bastards a good lesson!"

Joseph II looked at the old marshal's body, which was not much better than his own, and hurriedly signaled him not to get excited, and comforted him: "Your experience and courage are Austria's precious wealth, let the young people go to the front line."

Marshal Lacy and several other senior officers also stood up immediately. They not only had contact with French diplomats during this period, but also communicated with each other many times, and had already reached a consensus on sending troops to Silesia.

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

"Your Majesty, I also think that this battle is very likely to win!"

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

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

State Minister Count Kaunitz is the leader of the pro-French faction in Austria. At this time, he stepped forward excitedly and said: "Your Majesty, as long as Austria and France are closely united this time, perhaps it is not just Silesia. We can take advantage of the situation to defeat Saxony and then point our troops to Brunswick. It is not impossible!

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

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

However, when the voices died down, the Minister of the Interior, Count Volatel, suddenly frowned and said, "I feel that the French may want more than just the claim to Piedmont. After all, they will be involved in a very tragic war, and this little benefit is really too little. They should have other plans..."

If Joseph heard what he said, he would definitely praise him, "You are right." But it is you Austria and Prussia that are the most tragic. France is so far away that it depends on how much we want to get involved. At present, the public opinion in Vienna for attacking Silesia has been formed. Who cares what the French think?

Kaunitz immediately smiled and looked at the Minister of the Interior: "Count Volatel, you may not know how much France attaches importance to trade agreements.

"I often go to Paris and know the situation there very well. The French government has transferred a large amount of bank debt to the 'Industrial Development Fund', and the amount may be hundreds of millions of florins.

"That is to say, in the next few decades, France must ensure that the sales of goods are in good condition in order to make the fund profitable, that is, to keep the French finances from collapsing.

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

Immediately, two ministers agreed with Kaunitz's statement and made further supplements.

In fact, these two people were "own people" developed by Talleyrand. More than half a month ago, he had transferred benefits to the two through his subordinates, spending more than 100,000 livres.

Joseph knew that Archbishop Talleyrand was the best at bribery and corruption. Although the XYZ incident had turned over in history, it was entirely due to the Americans' ignorance, so he gave this important task to him [Note 1].

Of course, the intelligence agency also secretly watched Talleyrand at any time to ensure that the money would fall where it was needed.

It turned out that the cripple's bribery skills, including the ability to screen bribery targets, were completely trustworthy. The two Austrian senior officials who took the money began to stand up for France according to the French "script".

"Count Volatel, in fact, France's attitude towards weakening Prussia is very consistent with ours. Prussia is the representative of Britain's interests in continental Europe, and you should have heard about what the British did to France in North Africa."

"In addition, France and Prussia also have fierce competition in terms of influence on the Netherlands. Especially this time, the Dutch did not care about France's attitude in the Brabant Rebellion and stood with the Prussians, which made the French very annoyed..."

As the two people explained the interests, the skeptics including Count Volatel finally stopped talking.

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

As the Grand Duke of Tuscany, the latter is 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 exchange Silesia, 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 order 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.