Chapter 633 The Right Choice

Chapter 634 The right choice

At 9 a.m. the next day, the consultation meeting on absorbing Britain as a new member of the Treaty of the Rhine-Seine officially began.

As the Salzburg representative who proposed the motion, Viscount Schon glanced at Bailly with a complicated expression and stood up to speak first:

"I believe you all know that as a major European country, the UK has a huge market..."

Before he finished his first sentence, he heard the sound of military drums coming from outside the Karlsruhe Palace, followed by thousands of soldiers shouting in unison:

"Long live His Majesty the King——"

A palace official hurriedly walked into the hall, bowed apologetically and said:

"It seems like a military exercise marching team is passing through here. Please wait a moment."

After half an hour, the military exercise team left the vicinity of the palace.

Shaun couldn't help but think of yesterday's drill scene again, and he didn't feel confident when he spoke.

Next, the representative of Austria spoke, followed by the representative of Bavaria.

It was not until representatives from other countries finished speaking that French representative Bailly stood up.

He cleared his throat and was about to speak when he heard another cannon roar outside the city.

This time there was gunfire not only from the north of the city, but from all directions. It seemed that Karlsruhe had been surrounded by the army.

The sound of cannons lasted for more than 20 minutes, and then there was the sound of heavy horse hooves passing by the west side of the palace. Thousands of war horses stepped on the ground and made a dense "dong-dong" sound, making everyone's hearts tremble slightly.

After an unknown amount of time, the cavalrymen finally left.

Bai Yi seemed to be tired of standing, so he waved his hand and said:

"It's too noisy, so I won't say more. France does not support Britain joining the treaty."

After saying that, he sat back in the chair.

Silence fell in the hall.

The French representative's speech was the shortest, so short that it was almost as if he had not said anything at all. However, the sound of cannons and the sound of cavalry galloping had already said everything for him.

Austrian representative Kobczl hurriedly stood up to save the situation and kept repeating what kind of trade convenience Britain could bring to everyone. However, all the South German representatives were silently calculating in their hearts how long it would take for the French army to return from a non-combat readiness state. Get off and arrive at your home country’s border...

In the 18th century, the threshold for waging war was very low - it was entirely possible for France to declare war on them in order to protect trade agreements.

At 11 o'clock in the morning, the Baden Finance Minister who presided over the meeting saw that no one wanted to speak, so he adjourned the meeting amidst the sound of cannon outside the city.

At the cocktail party that night, Wilberforce, the British Second Chancellor of the Exchequer, seemed extremely busy. He continued to negotiate privately with representatives from various countries and raised the previously offered price by a large margin.

There is no way, the pressure brought by the French military exercises on these small countries is too great.

The reception lasted until late into the night. Kobczl took Wilberforce and muttered in the corner for a long time, obviously worried about the prospects of this motion.

The latter raised his glass to him and consoled him:

"You don't have to worry too much, the vote will be held tomorrow afternoon. Even if countries want to change their decisions, it is already too late."

Kobucil nodded. In fact, before the representatives from each country set off, they have already decided what they should vote for. Previously, Hesse and Augsburg had promised the British to vote in favor. Even if their trade representatives had any concerns, they could not make decisions without authorization.

At the luncheon the next day, Kobczl, Shaun and others quickly stuffed food into their mouths, as if they wanted to finish it quickly so they could start voting.

However, in the middle of the banquet, Lützke suddenly winked quietly at his entourage, then took a sip of milky white stewed pigeon soup, gargled it in his mouth a few times, and made foam.

Immediately afterwards, he held his stomach in pain and slid from the chair, lying down on the ground. At the same time, frothy pigeon soup overflowed from the corners of his mouth.

His followers rushed over immediately, helped him up and shouted anxiously:

"Master! Master, how are you?"

Seeing that Lützke was just moaning in pain, he quickly looked around again:

"My master had severe dysentery a few days ago, and it should be relapsing now. Call the doctor quickly!"

Baden's palace physician arrived quickly, ordered his assistants to carry Lützke away on a stretcher, and immediately gave him bloodletting treatment...

The afternoon vote had to be canceled because the representative of Upper Hesse fell into a coma due to acute illness.

For the next three days, Lützke lay weak in the hospital bed, mostly in a coma.

Until the evening of that day, the entourage brought a reply from Duke Darmstadt. He immediately excused himself to rest and dismissed the servants. Then he got up from the bed and opened the letter to read it.

Yes, after the cocktail party that night, he wrote a letter to the Duke of Darmstadt, the ruler of Upper Hesse. The letter described in detail the mobilization and assembly capabilities of the French army, as well as France's firm maintenance of the trade agreement. will, and suggested denying the British the benefit of voting against it.

After all, no matter how big the British market is and no matter how many benefits they provide, they are still very far away from Hesse.

But the French army only needed 25 days to reach Marlborough.

There's really no need to piss off the French for a little trade gain.

What's more, France's conditions are not unacceptable. With loan subsidies and steam engines, Upper Hesse's industry may be significantly improved within a few years, thus reversing the trade deficit.

After dawn, the "Rhine-Seine Treaty" consultation meeting, which had been suspended for many days, was finally reopened.

The Minister of Finance of Baden solemnly collected the votes of the representatives of various countries and said loudly:

"The voting results on absorbing Britain into the Treaty of the Rhine and Seine——"

He opened the first vote:

"France, against."

"Austria, in favor."

"Bavaria, in favor."

"Upper Hesse, against."

When Kobzl heard this, his face suddenly turned black-although he had expected that Lützke's sudden "illness" would bring variables, the moment of true confirmation was still full of reluctance and anger.

"Augsburg, against."

"Württemberg, against..."

Bai stood up with a smile and gestured to everyone:

"Thank you for making the right decision. I believe that the Treaty of the Rhine and Seine will bring us a more prosperous market and a brilliant future!"

He no longer needed to listen to the results of the subsequent votes, because as long as Upper Hesse and Augsburg opposed, Britain would not be able to get enough votes.

The French market in southern Germany was thus preserved.

More than ten days later, the French Union Steam Engine Company received an order of 1 million francs from Upper Hesse to purchase 140 LJ15 steam engines and matching parts for automatic looms.

…

Caribbean Sea.

Port Royal, the largest port in Jamaica, welcomed a large fleet.

The first few large troop transports that arrived at the port carried 4,000 soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force, as well as a large number of war horses, cannons and other military supplies.