Chapter 816: King of the Seeds

At this time, the two Prussian enclaves were like a sword against the waist of France, and also like a piece of meat on the French mouth.

However, no matter what, it is difficult for Prussia and France to become friends again. Unless one side can give up its own interests and promote an alliance.

However, this requires great courage, wisdom and sacrifice, because in this era of rapid rise of nationalism, ceding land is tantamount to selling out the country.

Although it is an enclave, the victory of the war still makes the Prussian people excited. Prince William's heroic deeds have become the biggest topic in Berlin for a while.

At this time, Prussia from top to bottom hopes to keep this enclave, so King Frederick William IV of Prussia took the opportunity to move around in Vienna, with the aim of ensuring that Jura can fall into his pocket.

As for why it must be Jura? One is for the heroic legend of the family, and the second and most important factor is that the administrative cost is low and it is relatively easy to control.

Before Prince William (later William I) came to Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, as an enclave, had owed taxes to the Prussian royal family for decades.

Now, Prince William has recovered all the principal and interest at once, which is actually only more than 2 million Swiss francs (about 500,000 Prussian thalers).

In fact, the tax rate set by the Hohenzollern family in the local area is very low, and there are many preferential policies. But because the emperor is far away, no one cares at all.

At this time, it was different. With the outbreak of the Swiss Civil War, the German Confederation wiped out the power of the Free State like a whirlwind, and the people of Neuchâtel who once beat up the king's tax officials became obedient citizens again.

Back to the point, Frederick William IV personally went around and the princes gathered in Vienna again, which naturally had a great effect.

In fact, it was nothing more than moving people with emotion and "etiquette". Although it was already planned to give the Jura State to Prussia, Metternich still extorted money from the other party in order to increase credibility.

Previously, Franz attended the Vienna Conference on behalf of Ferdinand I. The latter was not fit to attend due to physical reasons, so he could only let Prime Minister Metternich do it for him.

On the other hand, the French finally got anxious, and Baron Pasquier and a formal delegation visited Vienna again.

But they were left aside, and instead witnessed the division of spoils within the German Confederation. The southern German countries were the biggest beneficiaries of this parliament.

Austria took back the ancestral land of Aargau, Baden got the nearby Thurgau, Bavaria got the strategic location of St. Gallen, Liechtenstein actually got Graubünden, and Prussia got the Jura canton as expected.

Saxony got Zurich, Hanover got Glarus, Hesse got Solothurn, and Bern became an enclave of Luxembourg.

At the same time, the German Confederation decided to accept the applications of the former Swiss Orthodox Union states and accept them as members of the German Confederation.

They are: Lucerne, Schwyz, Walden, Uri, Fribourg, Valais, Ticino.

When Baron Pasquier heard about Ticino, he couldn't sit still, because it was clearly occupied by France.

However, he found that the object of his negotiation had changed. The opponent was no longer Austria, but the entire German Confederation.

As for the Legitimacy Alliance, their army was still in the hands of Archduke Karl, and now France was extremely passive.

But soon something more annoying happened. According to Franz's plan, these members who had just joined the German Confederation could freely choose their own monarchs.

Coincidentally, the representatives of Ticino chose King Carlo Alberto of the Kingdom of Sardinia as their new monarch.

This is naturally not a coincidence. You must know that Ticino was still in the hands of Charles Duchat at this time.

In fact, the representative of the people was from the Kingdom of Sardinia, but the situation at this time was very clear, that is, Germany and the Kingdom of Sardinia came together to pit themselves.

Moreover, the Kingdom of Sardinia dared to stand up to France, which meant that it must have made full confidence.

At this time, France had two choices. One was to give up Ticino and take Geneva and Vaud. The other was to go to war with the German Confederation, Switzerland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia.

At this time, the German princes were still excited. After all, those small countries would be very lucky if they were not annexed. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand the territory.

Coupled with the blessing of nationalism, the streets and alleys of Vienna were full of people demonstrating. The successive victories made people think that France was just like this.

This situation was very familiar to the French. It was simply a replica of the French Revolution, but the reasons and situation had changed.

Baron Pasquier felt deep fear, and he could only ask King Louis Philippe to make the decision.

France immediately quarreled, but neither Louis Philippe nor Soult wanted to take this risk.

At the same time, the enfeoffment and reform actions were in full swing. With the "enfeoffment plan", Franz left a good impression on the monarchs of the German states. At least no one would question his IQ in person.

After two rounds, almost all states were satisfied, and those princes who did not get land were also compensated with funds.

Of course, this money was all the fat of the people extorted by the warlords of the free states.

In fact, due to the poor performance of the orthodox state bureaucrats in the civil war, the people had already complained about them.

Replacing these people at this time is completely in line with public opinion, and it can even be described as a great relief.

Franz was confused that he could fall for the same trick three times in a row. In the end, there was not a woman among the governors and representatives who had balls.

Sister Brandi's broken body was finally found in the dungeon under the Geneva City Hall. It was carefully wrapped by the Jesuit priests and sent to the Vatican. It seems that there is a great hope for canonization.

There are many benefits to enfeoffment of German monarchs, because it can greatly reduce the waste of resources by integrating some of the states that are too small in the German region, such as Saxony and Hesse, as well as Anhalt, Lippe, etc.

One of Hesse has electoral states, grand duchies, and counties. Franz was troubled by it and decided to help them.

And Austria also successfully pulled the German Confederation over as its own shield, with Prussia as the outermost layer, so that it can always keep it in a passive position.

Compared with those time travelers who only know how to farm, Franz prefers to grow kings.

In fact, this scattered division was intentional by Franz. Switzerland is different from Germany. The former has a small population, poor land, and decentralized power. If they want to rise, they can only make unified plans.

In the southern German region, only one country can take on this task, and that is the Austrian Empire. Whether it is to develop the economy or to maintain their rule, they cannot do without the support of the Austrian Empire.

On the fifth day after the first round of trilateral negotiations between the German Confederation, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and France ended, the British finally got the news.