Chapter 570: After the War (Part 2)

Franz still likes people like Tassan Anna, after all, this kind of guy has a self-awareness as a "benevolent monarch".

On the contrary, Juan Pablo Duarte, the former president of the Dominican Republic, is a little overconfident.

First, he diluted his power by democratic elections, and then was directly driven out of the Dominican Republic by a coup by Pedro Santana.

Franz took a lot of effort to get the former president of the Dominican Republic to Austria, but the latter actually wanted Austria to send troops to help him suppress the rebellion.

Franz sent someone to tell him that the time was not right and he should be patient. In return, Juan Pablo Duarte fled overnight.

Franz didn't know how this guy escaped from Vienna, and how he escaped from Austria to France. But it's clear that the French have already reached Vienna and even to Franz's side.

However, Duarte was far less important than the French spies thought, especially since the former president of the Dominican Republic was unwilling to agree to some of the small "additional conditions" proposed by Louis Philippe.

This made the head of the Orleans dynasty very unhappy, but what he didn't expect was that Duarte dared to urge France to send troops as soon as possible.

At this time, the cabinet of the old coach Soult firmly opposed Louis Philippe's plan to return to Haiti. In the eyes of these veterans who had experienced the Haitian War of Independence, this behavior was a suicide.

(There are two countries on the island of Haiti, one Haiti and one Dominican Republic. As mentioned in the previous article, I won't go into details here.)

You must know that Haiti once defeated three powerful colonial countries, Spain, Britain, and France, and killed more than 100,000 white people successively, and then enslaved a white country.

No major power dared to despise him. The French cabinet even suspected that this man was deliberately released by Austria. After all, they had not received any news that the Austrians were preparing to take action against Haiti.

Although Duarte's reputation was not low, no politician wanted to make a deal with such a fool. Not to mention that Pedro Santana had already sent people to contact France, hoping to use the latter's power to fight Haiti.

One is just a name, the other is in power. Everyone knows which one to choose, but the Dominican Republic is really not worth such a large investment.

If France loses another 35,000 troops in Haiti, Prime Minister Soult may retire early. After all, the previous Luxembourg crisis and Alsace-Lorraine incident have already ruined his reputation.

The first time Jean Durde and Guizot took the blame, and last time it was Grouchy who took the blame. Who will take the blame next time? Who has this weight? His Majesty the King is a non-stick pan. He is the first citizen of France and a moral role model. Then he is the only old antique from the Napoleonic era.

Not only the Prime Minister opposed it, but the Minister of Finance also held up the deficit report. Now France needs too much money. The Battle of Alsace-Lorraine stimulated the military.

Alexandre Morin, the Minister of War, requested that a series of military research projects be put into place immediately, and that equipment be fully updated and the number of standing troops be increased, otherwise he would not be able to guarantee the security of France.

(Alexandre Morin came to power in 1845, but France was developing much faster than in history. Soult was old and had too many things to do, so he could not preside over the army reform and could only give way to young people.)

At this time, the number of standing troops in France had jumped to the first place in Europe, with 620,000 equivalent to the sum of the two powers of Prussia and Austria, and with it came outrageous expenses.

The French Navy had a thousand ships to transport troops and supplies to the colonies alone, and they often fought hard battles, so the consumption would increase exponentially, and France's military expenditure was also the highest in Europe at this time.

In addition, the Minister of Transport was also greatly stimulated. After visiting the UK and Germany, he sadly discovered that what the Germans said was true.

The speed of French trains has fallen behind. Although it is better than the Spaniards with a speed of 20 kilometers per hour, it is not enough to be the capital of the Gallic rooster's pride.

Moreover, France lost both of its conflicts with the German Confederation due to its lack of mobilization capabilities. The military also supported the railway reform plan of the Minister of Transport, but the amount of money to be invested was astronomical.

Louis Philippe was fed up with the money these people asked for and chose to quit directly. The remaining navy and colonial ministers could only ask Soult for money.

The latter had no choice but to find a solution from the financial consortium, but these people were bankers, not philanthropists, and they were not interested in investments that they didn't know when they could recover their costs.

At the same time, there was another point, that is, they couldn't raise so much money, because their counterparts in the German region were busy investing in their own countries.

Historically, French bankers borrowed money from the German region to develop France, and the money saved by the nobles of the Austrian Empire was also invested in France, so it could help it develop so rapidly.

Franz mainly relied on technological innovation to develop the Austrian economy, but financiers were not fools. They would naturally try their best to participate in it when they saw money to be made.

Of course, there were some who wanted to find another way. Franz had killed several of them. Thanks to their money, Austria's economy could develop more rapidly and steadily.

For many days, Duarte could not see King Louis Philippe and Prime Minister Soult. He felt that these people were avoiding him.

Then Duarte decided to ignore the guards' obstruction and find the right time to stop Louis Philippe's carriage.

Louis Philippe in the carriage had just received news from Vienna that the intelligence system built at a cost of millions of francs was uprooted by the Austrians.

He was in a rage, and suddenly the carriage stopped suddenly. Since Louis Philippe did not like Austrian products, his carriage still had wooden tires and no new shock absorbers were installed, causing his forehead to hit the seat in front of him directly.

Louis Philippe climbed out of the carriage in a panic, and was furious when he saw Duarte.

"What do you want to do? I have always treated you with etiquette as a distinguished guest, and look at what you have done!"

Although Louis Philippe was very angry, his tone and wording were relatively mild. This gave Duarte an illusion that the other party was fine, and his country's affairs were more important.

"Your Majesty, I have considered your suggestion. I think the Dominican Republic can reduce the tariff on French goods by 1%, but you should immediately send troops to help my people regain democracy and justice and eliminate the potential threat."

"No! Sir, France will not fight a war thousands of kilometers away for a 1% tariff reduction, nor will it sacrifice the precious lives of French soldiers for this.

Please go back. I don't want to see you again. Your justice is only your personal justice. I don't think the people of the Dominican Republic will recognize your civil war behavior!"

Louis Philippe really couldn't bear it anymore. He had never seen anyone more stingy than himself.

Louis Philippe covered his forehead and returned to the car, leaving Duarte alone in the wind.