Holy Roman Empire

It's fine if there is no meeting. If something really happens, it will be troublesome if there are too many people who need to hold a meeting.

From a management point of view, reducing the number of states is undoubtedly a good thing.Franz would not do this kind of hatred thing, otherwise the Principality of Liechtenstein would not exist.

Supporting the Principality of Baden now means deliberately provoking George I and luring him to resort to violent means to solve the problem.

I don't know whether George I was shrewd or not courageous enough, in short, he just couldn't be fooled.

If the central government is not strong enough, small states will naturally not buy it.

At the beginning, everyone was still afraid of Hanover's strength. After seeing George I's inaction, everyone became more and more courageous, and simply used the Imperial Parliament to evacuate the central government.

This is also the fundamental reason why the German Federal Empire cannot be integrated. The rulers of small states are used to freedom and are unwilling to give up their rights.

The Habsburg dynasty wanted face, and the marriage of the crown prince must not be sloppy, and the scene was naturally not small.

There is no need for Franz to ask about the specific preparations. There are dedicated staff in charge. He just needs to communicate with the royal family of Baden as an elder and confirm the date by the way.

Frankly speaking, if it wasn't for showing importance, Franz wouldn't even ask this question himself.

There is no way, there is too much work recently, even he, the salted fish emperor, feels busy.

The Prussian-Russian negotiations need attention, and they are tinkering with the new Vienna system. They also need to pay attention to the issue of refugee resettlement, and the big purges carried out by the Tsarist government...

Compared with before, Franz has been working overtime every day recently, and the working hours have exceeded eight hours a day, and he has not had a vacation for five days in a row.

If he continues to be so diligent, Franz very much doubts that he will die in depression.If it wasn't for the immatureness of his sons, he would definitely grab the strong men and take the top.

I just had a phone call with the Grand Duke of Baden to finalize Frederick's marriage. Before I had time to rest, things came to me again.

……

Foreign Minister Weisenberg: "Your Majesty, the embassy in St. Petersburg has just received news that Crown Prince Alexandrovich has called a halt to the purge.

The tsarist government charged the Narodnaya Volya party with the assassination of Alexander II, and Alexandrovich announced the execution order for the assassin as the crown prince.

The suspects arrested by the tsarist government, except for those who have been identified as having problems, have been released one after another. "

The charges have been pinned on the People's Will Party, which means that the purge is coming to an end.The Revolutionary Party has always been wanted, and generally speaking, the debts are too high.

Of course, this time may be an exception.The crime of regicide made the Narodnaya Voyager Party famous and at the same time pushed them to hell.

If nothing else, the remaining Narodnaya Volya members will definitely change their signs and continue the unfinished revolutionary cause.

If we continue to wear this brand, we will not even be able to attract international sponsorship. Monarchy countries will not sponsor "King Killers".

This is political correctness, and in an age of strong monarchy, politicians would not make such an obvious mistake.

Franz nodded: "It seems that the tsarist government is about to undergo a reshuffle, and if nothing else happens, the Russians' road to reform will come to a halt.

Alexandrovich is not his father, Alexander II, and has no determination to reform, which is also a good thing for us.

Since the Russians have given the coffin conclusion, then hand over all the Narodnaya Volya we captured to the tsarist government. "

The domestic situation in Russia is very obvious. As Alexander II continues to deepen reforms, more and more interest groups are involved, and the strength of the opposition is also growing day by day.

To be able to carry out the reform, it means that the tsar has mastered the army.Alexander II's top-down reforms were pushed entirely by force.

If Aleksandrovich wants to continue to deepen reforms, the most important thing to do now is to expand the "regicide case" and engage in large-scale involvement, taking the opportunity to suppress conservatives who oppose reforms.

Alexander II liberated the serfs and gave everyone land. The folk reputation is very good.

Using the excuse of the "regicide case" to act, even if the conservatives want to rebound, they will not be able to gain the support of the people.

A few nobles and capitalists alone, in fact, that's the case.Kill a few leaders, and the rest will make the right choice.

Aleksandrovich just killed a few of the most active jumpers before stopping the cleaning, undoubtedly giving up the biggest hole card in his hand.

Of course, it cannot be said that his decision-making was wrong.The strength of the opposition is not weak. If the purges are really expanded, the chaos will definitely not be small.

Alexandrovich does not have the prestige of his father, let alone his great talent and grand vision. If he really deepens reforms, he may not be able to calm down the situation, and it is not surprising that he chooses to compromise.

After Alexander II's reforms, the contradictions in the Russian Empire have eased, and the most dangerous time has passed. It is not difficult to be a Taiping Emperor.

If we are not prepared to continue to deepen reforms, then it is meaningless to continue to suppress the opposition.After a knock, he stopped immediately, which is enough to prove Alexandrovich's political skills.

For Franz, the weak Russian Empire is the best Russia. If the tsarist government has completed internal reforms, it will be the real confidant of Austria.

It is just right that Alexandrovich is willing to stop, otherwise Franz will find a way to sabotage them, and the relationship between Russia and Austria will be over by then.

The Great Cleansing is over, and as the specific executors of the death of Alexander II, the Narodnaya Volya will naturally have to pay the price in blood.

Not only will the Narodnaya Volya members captured by Austria be unlucky, but members of the Narodnaya Volya party captured by other countries will probably not escape the gallows.

It is useless to flee to hostile Prussia. In order to avoid suspicion, the Berlin government will only work harder and use them as a meeting gift for the Russians.

A pardon is impossible. If the assassination attempt fails, there is still a chance to seek clemency. Alexander II has died, and it is useless to say anything now.

Not only was the tsarist government unwilling to let them go, but the Russian people below were also unwilling to let them go.

In any case, Alexander II is a hero in the eyes of the people at the bottom.

Although the failure of the first Russo-Prussian War damaged his glorious image, he was ashamed and brave, and won again, and the stain was erased.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" replied the Minister of Police

The unlucky people of the Democratic People's Opinion Party do not deserve everyone's pity. You need to be responsible for what you do.

Both are monarchy countries, and everyone's position is the same on the issue of cracking down on "regicides".

Fortunately, the People's Will Party is only a small organization in the Revolutionary Party. If it were a large organization with many members, it would be bloodshed.

Facts have proved once again that mobs can't make a big deal.A reckless action by a few middle school teenagers ruined the future of the Russian People's Will Party.

Chapter 296 Patience

After the end of the Great Purge, the Tsarist government put more energy into the negotiations, and the Prussia-Russia negotiations soon entered a critical moment.

The focus of the dispute between the two parties was on land cession and compensation.Compared with compensation, land cession is actually easier to solve.

The most serious controversy in Prussia is the East and West Prussia region, which is the old nest of the Junker nobles, and the Berlin government dare not let it go easily.

But now these areas are in the hands of the Russians. As a defeated country, Prussia has no ability to take it back.

There is a kind of "ceasement" called established fact, and this issue can be put aside temporarily, and everyone will get used to it after a long time.

No matter how dissatisfied the Junker nobles were, it could not change the fact that the Kingdom of Prussia was weak and unable to take back these areas.

Now the Berlin government is still fighting. On the one hand, it has expectations for the great powers and relies on the power of international intervention to force the Russians to make concessions; on the other hand, it is for political show.

Compared with territorial disputes, compensation is the real problem.Both Prussia and Russia are short of money now, and neither is willing to make concessions.

The Tsarist government wanted to demand as much war indemnity as possible to make up for the government's financial deficit; the idea of ​​the Berlin government was just the opposite. It was in financial difficulties and was simply unable to pay huge indemnities.

Real contradictions arise, and irreconcilable ones.No matter how great the Russians' advantage is, the Berlin government is just two words-no money.

The Berlin government really has no money, not a fake lack of money. No matter how you do it, it will not be able to squeeze out oil.

Not only can it not afford to pay reparations to Russia, but the Berlin government has suspended the payment of debts owed to the British.

The Prussian Chancellor of the Exchequer is said to have set off for London, apparently to persuade the creditors to extend the debt, or to accept payment in kind.

This lobbying operation is destined to be very difficult.The Kingdom of Prussia lacks resources, has limited industrial technology strength, and has limited competitiveness in industrial and commercial products.

Even if there is a certain discount for "in-kind payment" products, it is still a difficult problem to sell them under the competition of high-quality British industrial and commercial products.

The competitiveness brought by pure "cheapness" is still limited, unless the price gap is very different, or good quality products are more popular.

In fact, the Kingdom of Prussia lacked its own resources and needed to import industrial raw materials from overseas, and the cost of industrial and commercial products had already gone up.

The only advantage is probably that labor is cheap.It is a pity that the labor cost in the world is not high these days. Except for some labor-intensive industries, the labor cost of most industries is only a small part of the production cost.

In fact, the Berlin government also put forward a proposal to pay war reparations in kind, which was flatly rejected by the Russian representative.

There is no way, what the tsarist government lacks now is money, not industrial and commercial products, especially the foreign exchange gap is very serious.

This war brought a huge trade deficit to the Russian Empire and had to rely on foreign debt to maintain its balance.

Now that the war is over, the tsarist government urgently needs a large amount of foreign exchange to repay debts, otherwise it can only use real money to fill the hole.

The British did not have these pressures, and they could dump cheap industrial and commercial products to the colonies, and the creditors would not lose their wallets.

The tsarist government could only use these things for their own use, and they could only use rubles printed by themselves in the market, and they could not exchange them for precious foreign exchange.

Russian representative Nikita Titov stretched out five fingers: "5 million Aegis, this is our bottom line, it cannot be lowered.

You must know that for this war, the Russian Empire paid at least 30 billion Aegis military expenditures, causing economic losses of tens of billions Aegis.

These are all caused by you. The amount of compensation we are asking for now is less than [-]% of the loss, which is already very low. "

There is nothing wrong with it. The two Prussian-Prussian Wars combined, including the expenditures for suppressing civil strife, the military expenditure paid by the Tsarist government did exceed 30 billion Aegis.

Not to mention the economic loss, the Poland-Lithuania region was almost achieved as a white land, the Russian West Ukraine region was destroyed, and the population loss caused by the two wars to the Russian Empire exceeded tens of millions.

Adding up all these losses, 100 billion Aegis is more than enough.In this respect, the tsarist government's request for reparations is really not high.

At least they didn't ask the Berlin government for pensions.Otherwise, the pensions of tens of millions of people would not be compensated if the Kingdom of Prussia was sold.

Politics is so realistic, if the Berlin government wins, they are just, and war can be defined as: fighting to liberate minorities enslaved by the tsarist government.

The international community will define: Poland, Lithuania, Russian West Ukraine... These areas are all territories occupied by the tsarist government.

Since they lost, there is nothing to say, these areas are the territory of the Russian Empire, and the destruction of these areas by the war is all damage to the property of the Russian Empire.

The representative of Prussia, Gillian von McKess, cried decisively: "Your Excellency, the disaster brought about by this war is not only borne by your country, we are also victims.

Now the people's livelihood in the Kingdom of Prussia is dying and people are dying. Ordinary people have problems with even the most basic life. "

"No money" This is a universal reason. Gillian von McKess is not afraid that the Russians will further conquer the Kingdom of Prussia. Now the Russian-controlled area is the bottom line that the European powers can accept.

If the Tsarist government is not satisfied and wants to swallow the Kingdom of Prussia in one bite, Britain, France and Austria will let them know who is the master of Europe.

Being unable to annex the Kingdom of Prussia does not mean that the Kingdom of Prussia cannot be destroyed. As long as the Russians are willing to pay the price, it is not difficult to fight all the way to Berlin to change the government.

It's just that in this way, a huge amount of military expenditure will be increased.After the war, Prussia was beaten to nothing, so don't even think about a penny of compensation.

No sane government would disregard national interests in one breath, especially a poor country like Russia, which cannot resist the charm of money.

How short of money the Tsarist government is, you can see the payment currency chosen during the negotiation.

Generally speaking, when it comes to war reparations, everyone will pay in their own currency.

The Tsarist government had no choice but to choose "Aegis" instead of paying in "rubles".

Due to financial pressure, the tsarist government had to issue more currency, and the ruble continued to depreciate.

In order to protect their own interests, it is necessary to designate a currency with a stable currency value, and the only options left are the pound sterling and Aegis.

The largest creditor of the Russian Empire is Austria. When it reserves foreign exchange, it inevitably favors Aegis. The original financial model linked to the ruble and the pound was abandoned in the war.

Nikita Titov shook his head, and sternly refused: "This is a question that your government needs to consider, and you always need to take responsibility for doing something wrong.

If you can't afford the indemnity, you will find a way to borrow it. I think your country must have a way to raise enough funds.

If it really doesn't work, we will use our own way to get it. In short, the 5 million Aegis is not less than a point. "

Theoretically speaking, if the war indemnity of [-] million Aegis is obtained, the financial crisis that plagued the Russians will be solved immediately.

Paying off debt early can save a lot of interest expenses.If all the debts are used to repay the debts, the foreign debts can be cut in half immediately.

In order to force Prussia to compromise, Nikita Titov began to threaten without hesitation.Can I get so much money by myself?

the answer is negative!

The current Prussia is not the Second German Empire at its peak.If you want to make up for the war losses by dismantling the machine, even if you remove all the screws, it will not be enough to make up [-] million.

……

Can't make concessions, and have no money.The two sides can be regarded as rivals, and the negotiations quickly reached a deadlock.

At the Palace of Vienna, Franz, who was paying close attention to the Prussian-Russian negotiations, also had a headache at this time.

The protraction of the Prussia-Russia negotiations is also very detrimental to Austria.

Among other things, how can the new Vienna system be established without bringing this war to an end?

In the style of the British, if they take the opportunity to do nothing, they are not British, otherwise how could they have the reputation of "shit stirrer".

As the saying goes, nights are long and dreams are many. After a long delay, no one knows whether Austria's advantage can be maintained.

If this opportunity is missed, Austria will suffer a great loss.The Vienna system brought not only fame, but also huge political benefits.

Foreign Minister Weisenberg: "Your Majesty, the Russian appetite is too great for Prussia to afford.

The war indemnity of 5 million Aegis is probably more than the sum of all war indemnities in European history, and even the sum of all war indemnities in the world may not be so much. "

how?