Chapter 562: Trip to France

Paris, France.

The Bonapartists firmly opposed the preconditions for negotiations proposed by the German Confederation. After all, Alsace-Lorraine was French territory. Why should the French army withdraw from the region together with the German army?

However, Louis Philippe did not care about these minor issues. He would not suffer any loss if both sides withdrew at the same time. Moreover, the coalition forces had already withdrawn from Alsace-Lorraine to show their sincerity in the negotiations.

Therefore, Louis Philippe agreed to the conditions for negotiations with the German Confederation without the approval of the Congress.

The Bonapartists felt that it was a bit shameful to seek peace without fighting, and the orthodox faction also took this opportunity to criticize Louis Philippe for his weakness and incompetence, while the Orleans faction was worried about the king's increasing interference in state affairs.

(In fact, the July Monarchy was a constitutional monarchy, but the king's power was not small, and he was not a complete mascot. In theory, Louis Philippe could dissolve parliament, appoint and dismiss the prime minister, and issue decrees directly without going through parliament.)

The Bonapartists and the Legitimists were the traditional opposition within the July Monarchy. Their reactions were understandable, while the Orleansists were interest groups that were deeply tied to Louis Philippe and even the July Monarchy.

But since Louis Philippe's youngest son got engaged to the theoretical Queen of Spain, he has changed and is no longer the puppet of the financial capitalist.

After all, power breeds ambition, and once you have tried to have power, it is difficult to give it up.

But Louis Philippe himself did not think he was weak, and did not even think that he was seeking peace, but was just reaching some kind of agreement with the German Confederation.

As for unconstitutional things, you will get used to it after doing it too much.

In Louis Philippe's view, the Bonapartists were a group of fools who were more likely to cause trouble than to accomplish things. In particular, Jean Durde's actions directly caused France to lose the province of Namur (the French-speaking area of ​​Belgium), which made Louis Philippe even more convinced of this.

Those people missed the glory of France in the past all day long, why didn't they go to accompany Napoleon?

That short-sighted Corsican dwarf would only sell out his country and hand over the land of France to the Americans, while he, the real French King Louis Philippe, would take back what France had lost from the Americans and Mexicans.

One was a scum who died for selling out his country, and the other was a victor who expanded his territory. In comparison, the Orleans Dynasty far surpassed the Napoleonic Empire.

The delegation of the German Confederation set out from Vienna and took a ship to the port of Toulon in France via Genoa in the Kingdom of Sardinia.

As soon as Metternich got off the ship, he was welcomed by the French who thought they were warm. Although the corridor composed of four salute guns and 140 cavalrymen was of high specifications, it was full of an uncomfortable feeling.

Afterwards, the Bonapartist officials ordered people to play the "Marseillaise". Although Louis Philippe ascended the throne in the July Revolution of 1830, accompanied by barricades and the "Marseillaise", it is still a taboo for a kingdom.

With the passionate "Marseillaise", the Bonapartists achieved their goal of humiliating Austria.

But they seemed to have forgotten one thing, that is, the original name of the "Marseillaise" is "The Rhine Army Song", and it also has a German name called "March to the Rhine Region", and even the earliest region where this song began to be sung was Alsace-Lorraine.

At this time, the Prussian representative Heinrich von Bülow's face became very ugly. You must know that the Rhine region at this time was Prussia's territory, and Prussia was also beaten badly during the Napoleonic Wars, so this song not only insulted Austria, but also Prussia.

The other representatives of the German Confederation also looked unhappy. They all had a lot of opinions about this song. After all, the German region has been the object of France's ravages for centuries.

Metternich was completely unmoved and took it in stride. After all, he had experienced scenes that were ten thousand times more humiliating than this.

But no matter what, this "Marseillaise" did temporarily unite the German Confederation negotiation team, which had previously had their own ulterior motives.

Afterwards, the French official arrogantly introduced to the German delegation the "crystallization of French wisdom" - a train with a speed of up to 30 kilometers per hour. He also deliberately emphasized the word "train".

Although the French official said it with a serious face, the German representatives thought it was a cold joke and keenly captured the "laughing point". After all, telling cold jokes is one of the stereotypes that Germans leave to the world.

A group of people representing the country naturally cannot laugh too much, but the scene of holding back laughter makes the French feel even more uncomfortable.

"What's so funny about this? Don't you know that laughing in public is a sign of lack of education?"

Faced with the insulting questioning of the French officials, the representatives of the German Confederation finally reacted. It turned out that it was not a joke, and then they showed a more contemptuous smile on their faces.

Prince Metternich didn't even talk to the young French official. He just passed him and whispered a few words to the French Foreign Ministry official who was in charge of receiving the young official, then patted him on the shoulder.

The young official immediately broke out in a sweat, and even took out a handkerchief to wipe his bald forehead, bowing and thanking the direction Metternich left.

The other members of the negotiation team didn't have the restraint and authority of His Royal Highness, and they all responded.

"The slowest speed of our German Confederation train is 40 kilometers per hour, and the latest test vehicle has a speed of nearly 60 kilometers per hour. Frog in the well!"

"The fruit of French wisdom!"

"Train!"

"Thirty kilometers is such a fast speed!"

In fact, Germany, especially North Germany, was far behind France in terms of railway and train technology.

The earliest steam railway in France had a speed of only four kilometers per hour, and even used horses before that. The situation in Austria was similar to the former.

The first train used when the first railway in North Germany was just opened, the Adler, had a speed of only eight kilometers per hour and a traction of only 550 kilograms.

It was just that it was soon replaced by more advanced Austrian products and did not leave a deep impression on people.

However, due to Franz's interference, the railway technology in Germany climbed very fast, and it was on par with Britain in the early stage, and then it overtook the curve.

The invention of the compound expansion steam engine made the dream of 60 kilometers per hour easily become a reality.

However, after the speed reached 60 kilometers per hour, Franz urgently cut the funds for further acceleration using steam power.

Because Franz knew the upper limit of this kind of machinery. Although the British had developed a steam locomotive with a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour at this time, it could only run for a short time and was not practical at all.

Considering efficiency and practicality, Franz felt that a speed of 60 kilometers per hour was enough, and the remaining money could be used to study the newer model "internal combustion engine".

Of course, steam locomotives are not not studied, but the weight can be relatively reduced to give way to more urgent technologies.

Although Franz did not know the upper limit of the steam engine, he had seen the green train, which was about 50 to 60 kilometers per hour.

When it came to the era of internal combustion engines, the speed of trains could stably exceed 100 kilometers.

At this time, the Austrian Empire's land area in Europe was only more than 700,000 square kilometers, only 700 kilometers from north to south, and only 1,400 kilometers from east to west, so the speed requirements for trains were really not too high.