Chapter 310 Historic Trade Agreement

Chapter 311 Historic Trade Agreement

As for the battle plan, Marshal Lacy and other senior military officials had already discussed it, and now they directly brought it out.

Austria recruited 80,000 troops from all over the country - due to the influence of Joseph II's reform, this was already the limit of the troops - led by Marshal Lacy, and secretly went to Silesia.

At the same time, only 5,000 troops were left in the Luxembourg direction to keep an eye on the Brabant rebels, and the main force was brought back to Austria by General Wurmser, and after a brief rest, it was also deployed in Silesia.

On the Bavarian side, try to persuade Karl Ottoor to send 10,000 to 20,000 troops, and the bargaining chip is naturally the exchange of the territory of the Southern Netherlands.

France needs to send more than 50,000 troops.

If the military support that the southern German states may provide is added, the Austrian coalition can probably gather 150,000 to 170,000 troops in the Silesia direction.

At present, Prussia can recruit no more than 120,000 troops, and Saxony is almost certain to participate in the war with a force of about 30,000.

That is to say, in terms of total military strength, the Austrian coalition has a certain advantage.

Moreover, the combat effectiveness of both the Austrian army and the French army will not be weaker than that of Prussia, but much stronger than that of Saxony.

As long as France ensures that Poland does not send troops to support Prussia as agreed, the Austrian coalition will have a great chance of winning.

If France can send more troops, it can even crush Prussia.

It was not until dusk that the imperial meeting in Schönbrunn Palace came to a temporary end.

Of course, the person presiding over the meeting had already been replaced by Leopold II. After the emperor decided to send troops to Silesia, he went to another room to rest.

After the meeting, Leopold II seemed to be worried. He knew that there was another extremely important factor to consider in the Battle of Silesia, that is, Russia's attitude.

Russia and Prussia have highly consistent interests in Poland. If Prussia's situation is unfavorable, Catherine II is very likely to send troops to intervene.

Although Russia is still at war with Sweden, with Russia's powerful military, as long as a few legions are randomly divided, it can have a huge impact on the war situation.

So how to ensure that Russia stays out?

Leopold II rubbed his eyebrows, and suddenly remembered that France and Russia have recently dealt with the Ottomans and the huge common interests in Mediterranean trade. He thought to himself: "It seems that my dear sister needs to come forward on my behalf. But what should I use in return..."

Bavaria.

Munich Palace.

Seine-Rhine Trade Agreement Negotiation Site.

"Regarding the tariff on wood products, I still hope to increase it a little bit." Count Winzengerode of Württemberg looked at Bailly, "It should be at least 45%..."

Austrian Foreign Minister Baron Thugut shook his head and interrupted him: "You always get entangled in these trivial issues.

"If it continues like this, I am afraid that a trade agreement will not be reached by the end of the year.

"And this will cause all of our countries to lose nearly half a year's worth of trade revenue.

"I think you just need to grasp the overall direction. You shouldn't let your family hold us all back."

Count Winzengerode looked at him puzzled. Since last week, the Austrian representative has been urging for an agreement.

As a big country with a huge influence on southern Germany, Austria's attitude is something that the small countries in southern Germany cannot ignore.

The Baden representative also shouted: "Baron Turgut is right. We are also waiting for the implementation of the agreement.

"The merchants in Baden heard the news of the trade negotiations and piled up their goods at the dock, waiting to be shipped to France and Austria for sale.

"If we delay too long here, they will probably go crazy."

The Augsburg representative nodded in agreement: "I think the current terms are completely acceptable. And the draft also says that the detailed terms will be renegotiated every three years in the future.

"Many things will be studied carefully at that time."

Not surprisingly, the two of them were also the "results" of Talleyrand's bribery, and the cost was very small. Each person only gave 30,000 livres, and they were completely "taken".

Of course, the terms of the agreement did not seem to be disadvantageous to Baden and Augsburg, so they were also happy to take the money - just to speed up the signing, and they would hardly have any risks.

As for Bavaria, they got the most favorable terms of the agreement, and Archduke Ottoor was still dreaming of "moving" to the Southern Netherlands, so he was more willing to listen to Austria's opinions.

So the negotiation site formed a situation where France, Austria, Bavaria and two small countries firmly promoted the signing of the agreement, while Württemberg and Hesse were somewhat hesitant.

However, after Hesse was secretly threatened by Austria to kick him out and let other countries sign the agreement in advance, Hesse quickly compromised - if he missed the large market of Southern Germany plus France and Austria, he would probably suffer a big loss in trade, which would lead to a rapid lag in national strength.

Small countries just want to gain a little more benefits, but they don't want to be "outsiders".

Under Austria's tough mediation, the countries reached a preliminary agreement after only half a month of trade negotiations. And Count Winzengerode finally gave in after he was unable to support himself and received France's promise to import at least 800,000 picograms of coal at market price every year.

A picogram is a standard-sized basket, and one picogram of coal is about 20 kilograms. 800,000 picograms is 16 million kilograms. This is only a tiny number in later generations, but in the 18th century when coal was mainly used for heating, it was basically close to the total output of all coal mines in Württemberg.

For Württemberg, it is definitely a big order.

On July 1, 1789, the "Seine-Rhine Trade Agreement", which had a huge impact on the European trade pattern, was officially signed. The contracting parties included France, Austria, Bavaria, Salzburg, Württemberg, Augsburg, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Baden.

Along with the agreement, there was also a supplementary clause to the agreement - shipping ships of the signatory countries in the Seine and Rhine River basins can directly enter other countries. Although they cannot land and must hire locals to unload, it is already a huge convenience for conducting free trade.

…

Paris.

Palace of Versailles.

Queen Marie put down the war plan jointly submitted by Archbishop Brian and Minister of War Duke Broglie, and looked at them in surprise: "Are you sure that France should participate in the war in the German region? Is this really in the interests of France?"

The two cabinet ministers nodded in unison.

Of course, this was ordered by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, so they wrote the document and submitted it to Her Majesty the Queen as required.

Queen Marie asked cautiously again: "So, is France ready to join the war?"

Brian and Duke Broglie were not very clear about the specific situation, but they still nodded firmly: "Yes, Your Majesty. The battlefield is far away from France, and the interests are great enough. We only need to send some troops to Silesia. There is no need to worry about winning or losing."

Only Talleyrand, who was standing aside and knew the inside story best, shrank his head and muttered in his heart, you are still here worrying about whether you are ready... His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had already finalized everything with the Austrians, and now the Austrian army may have completed its assembly.