Shadow of great britain

Germans can be properly divided into two classes: those with "von" in their names and those without "von". Those who have this word in front of their name are very lucky, it means they are aristocrats and therefore belong to a high social class. Others who don't have that name can make up as many letters as possible, but they're still common people.

——John Lothrop Motley

On the boulevard of the University of Göttingen, Schneider happily flipped through the student files of the Austrian Prime Minister.

People who work in intelligence work more or less have this bad habit. They are very interested in snooping into other people's privacy. They want to get to the bottom of even the privacy of ordinary people, let alone a prominent figure in European politics.

Arthur was sitting on a bench smoking a cigarette and suggested: "To be honest, I don't understand why Viscount Palmerston is so interested in Metternich, but in my opinion, his influence on Austrian politics is The influence is far less than that of Mr. Talleyrand on French politics.”

"Huh?" Schneider raised his head and glanced at Arthur: "How can I say this? I admit that Metternich and Talleyrand are outstanding figures of the same level, but one of them is now the Prime Minister of the Austrian Empire, and the other is just He's just the French ambassador to England."

"If you just look at the job title, that's indeed the case."

Arthur turned and spoke.

"But according to the information I learned, although Talleyrand was only the ambassador to Britain, France's main foreign policy was formulated by him. And throughout his life, he was the guy who led the way. It has never been completely controlled by anyone.

But Metternich was different. Although he was nominally the Prime Minister of Austria, that was because his line was the same as that of the emperor. If he disagrees with the emperor in some aspects, then he as prime minister will become a complete decoration.

Look at the reforms he made in Austria. At best, at least in name, the government underwent the necessary reorganization, the Council of State and the State Council were convened, and the new meeting format injected fresh blood into the dull atmosphere.

But actually? Nothing has changed in Austria. The State Council was established, but it could not be convened according to procedures. This was due to the fact that the new form of meetings was not favored by the emperor and the bureaucrats. Many reform initiatives ended up being ancillary to political struggles. The ability of the appointed officials was not high, but all kinds of corrupt bureaucracy prevailed.

This can be seen from Mr. von Cromel, whom we have dealt with. The two of us dared to take that money because as far as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is concerned, what we want is the result of Italy being in chaos for a while. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not care about the specific process. In other words, although the two of us received money, we still got things done for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and we are still competent public servants of the country.

However, for Mr. von Cromel, northern Italy belongs to the core interests of the Austrian Empire, but he still dared to support the self-respect of the invaders and allowed Mazzini and others to start an uprising, and then used this to highlight his own brilliance. August, although we are all silkworms foraging on the big tree of the country, at least we are both capable of spinning silk, but Mr. von Cromel can only get in and out.

What does this mean? This shows that the Austrian state machine is dying on the old track, but there is no one to guide it, and there is no authority to stop it. Everyone is doing their own thing, and everyone is relying on the law of inertia to move forward. Few people take their immediate boss Metternich seriously, because they all know that Metternich is actually no different from them, and everyone's power comes from the emperor. "

When Schneider heard this, he couldn't help laughing: "Arthur, you are right. In fact, you are not the only one who discovered this. Many people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also think so. Although Metternich has a high reputation in Europe, , the emperor could not remove him at will, but we also found that his influence on the Austrian emperor was always limited, and the emperor was not actually able to completely trust him. You know why I approached von Kromel for a deal before. Instead of looking for someone else?"

"Why?"

Schneider put away the file in his hand and stood up and said: "Because Kromel is a close associate of the Austrian Minister of Interior Kroflat. There are two powerful figures in Austria, one is Kroflat who is responsible for internal affairs, and the other is Kroflat. One is Metternich, who is in charge of diplomacy, and the two of them are very difficult to deal with. In terms of political affairs, their ideas are almost completely opposite.

Metternich was a typical conservative monarchist, but his identity as a royalist was not so pure. I don’t know if it was because he studied in Göttingen when he was young. Although Metternich was a German, he did not like centralized management in administrative affairs and economy, but recognized the British model.

Mr. Kroflat, an ardent advocate of centralized management, called for limited reforms and greater administrative efficiency. But on the other hand, Kroflat extremely despised the traditional German supremacist management and often flaunted himself as a 'Bohemian patriot'. "

Arthur thought for a moment: "So, Kroflat is a nationalist? This is what Metternich hates the most!"

"Isn't it?"

Schneider mocked: "You should remember what I just mentioned. Kroflat is a Bohemian aristocrat. In his view, Metternich, a German, is actually a foreigner. He hates foreigners' influence on Austrian politics." He is arrogant. He does not recognize the existence of any main ethnic group in the Austrian Empire. The Germans are not nobler than the Slavs and Hungarians.

If we must say that there is a main ethnic group in Austria, we can only say those born in Austria, the real Austrians, not the Germans. Therefore, he also strongly opposed the Ministry of Internal Affairs requested by Metternich. "

"Ministry of Home Affairs?" Arthur asked: "But isn't Kroflat the Minister of Home Affairs of Austria? He opposes the department he serves? This is really strange."

Schneider pouted.

"It is indeed strange, but Kroflat is not completely opposed to it. His main objection is the plan to establish four ministers of state within the Ministry of Home Affairs.

According to Metternich's vision, the Austrian Empire would be divided into four regions according to the British national model and managed by four ministers, and these four ministers would need to report directly to him.

They are:

Slavic minister in charge of Bohemia-Moravia-Galicia,

Austrian minister responsible for the German-speaking Alpine provinces,

Illyrian minister responsible for Carinthia, Carniola, Istria, Croatia and Dalmatia,

and the Italian ministers responsible for Lombardy and Venice.

However, this plan became the current compromise due to opposition from Kroflat, Saura and others, as well as Franz I's refusal to establish a Ministry of Justice and a Council of Ministers.

The Austrian emperor emphasized the unity of the empire and wanted to weaken the distinctive features of each region for the sake of unifying principles. Therefore, he only established three showy ministers to show respect for ethnic differences, but in most cases these three ministers failed to perform their duties. "

Arthur nodded slightly when he heard the words: "Metternich seems to have a lot of ideas, but the emperor may feel that such reforms offend his authority. Although he admires Metternich in most cases, this time Crow The opinions of Flatt and others are obviously more recognized by him.”

Schneider sneered: "That's not all. The biggest difference between Krofrat and Metternich lies in foreign policy. Metternich believed that in order to defend the northern states of Italy within Austria's sphere of influence, it is necessary to maintain a They had to build a large standing army to guard against French interference, and on the issue of the German Confederation, they had to guard against Prussia for the same reason.

Kroflat ignored any balance-of-power diplomacy. He was unwilling to let Austria become the leader of all Germans, and he was even less willing to spend money to protect the northern Italian states. He often used huge military expenditures as an excuse to attack Metternich. . As the interior minister who knows the Austrian economy best, he believes that it is these huge expenditures that have dragged down Austria's economic development and put the government into a debt trap. "

When Arthur heard this, he suddenly realized.

No wonder von Kromel agreed to help him settle things with Schneider that day without any hesitation. It turned out that the Austrian intelligence officer was not only greedy for money and self-respecting for raising bandits, but also saved Krofrat to make trouble for Metternich. thoughts.

If an uprising broke out in Italy, Metternich would inevitably send troops to suppress it. This round and round will definitely cost a lot of military expenses. When the bill is sent back to Vienna, Kroflat can openly take the IOU and attack Metternich.

On the one hand, Krommel was able to gain visibility within Austrian intelligence agencies. On the other hand, another great achievement was recorded in the mind of the Minister of the Interior. Not to mention, he still has 3,000 pounds in his account.

Schneider winked at Arthur with contentment: "With this Italian uprising, even if we can't directly prevent the Austrians from uniting with Prussia and Tsarist Russia, at least Krofrat will help us hold back Meter in Vienna. Nie's hindrance will slow down their progress a lot. As long as they hesitate for a moment, we will definitely have to play with them when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs withdraws its hands from the poor mountains and rivers of Portugal. "

Arthur stood up after hearing this and said: "August, I thought I really helped you a little bit, but I didn't expect that you had already planned it in your heart."

"You can't say that." Schneider held Arthur's extended hand: "What I said is an ideal situation. If things don't develop according to logic, I will still need this student file for submission."

After saying this, Schneider took off his top hat and said a simple goodbye to Arthur, then walked out of the Göttingen campus humming a tune with the dusty file under his arm.

Arthur sent the British gentleman away and was about to refill his pipe when suddenly he caught a glimpse of the figure behind the curtain out of the corner of his eye.

I don’t know if it was because the weather was so hot that the curtains were sweating and a large area was wet on them.

Seeing this situation, Arthur lit a cigarette slowly, and then suddenly shouted: "Bismarck!"

"arrive!"

The figure behind the curtain was frightened at first, and then quickly stood at attention, his figure standing straight.

Arthur found a comfortable position on the bench and sat down, crossed his legs and smoked a cigarette, and ordered in the tone of a Prussian officer: "Listen to my order! Turn back! Target: Boulevard bench! Run forward!"

Only the sound of thumping footsteps was heard. Arthur had just taken two puffs of cigarette when he saw Bismarck trotting all the way and appeared at the entrance of the avenue.

Bismarck came to stand in front of Arthur and reported loudly: "Your Excellency, second-year law student at the University of Göttingen, Otto von Bismarck reports to you!"

Arthur tilted his head and motioned for him to sit down.

But before Bismarck could sit still, he saw Arthur pull out a tobacco box from his coat pocket, flick it open and open the lid to reveal the tobacco inside: "Want some?"

Bismarck said seriously: "I won't."

"real?"

"real."

As soon as Bismarck finished speaking, Arthur reached for his pocket. The young man was startled and hurriedly covered his pocket and asked, "What are you doing?"

Arthur glanced at him, and slowly took out a red and black oak pipe from his pocket: "I knew it. What kind of brother are you pretending to be with me?"

Bismarck snatched the pipe back without blushing and poured some tobacco from Arthur's cigarette case: "I just learned it not long ago."

Arthur watched him skillfully light the pipe, watched him take a deep breath, and took this opportunity to ask: "What did you learn from today's incident?"

"Cough cough cough!" Bismarck didn't take a deep breath and almost choked on the smoke and sent him away. He took out his handkerchief and wiped his nose and tears while saying: "You can't say something like this so coldly every time. This is not good for your health.”

Arthur stretched lazily: "How about it? This is the diplomat you are fascinated by. This is the diplomatic job you are jealous of. Do you think it is not as noble as you think? Talking about other people's privacy behind their backs. , looking for other people's black accounts, and looking for opportunities to make small reports on others. To tell you the truth, we diplomats do this every day, which is essentially the same as the work of the student union. "

"Diplomat? Are you a diplomat? Aren't you a policeman?" Bismarck just thought that this unattractive superintendent was a bit unreliable, but when he heard that he was a diplomat, Arthur's identity changed. Bismarck immediately grew taller in his eyes.

"That's right." Arthur leaned on the bench: "Just because I did an excellent job as a police officer, I was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs couldn't accommodate me, so I was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Let’s go to the University of Göttingen and deal with you little bastards.”

When Bismarck heard his tone, his face was full of disbelief: "You are really a braggart better than me. How long have you graduated from school, and you have done so much work in just a few years? I remember you, don't you?" A researcher of natural philosophy?”

"Natural philosophy is a hobby. I can also play the piano. People in Paris call me 'Liszt from London'. This is the nickname Heine gave me."

"You? Liszt from London?" Bismarck was about to laugh, but he reacted before the words came out: "Wait! Why did Heine give you a nickname? Aren't you a London cop?"

Arthur rubbed his fingers at Bismarck: "If you have enough of these things, that guy Heinrich will dare to say anything for you. I always think he is the best in Göttingen in the past ten years. Student, this not only praises his talent in writing poetry, but also praises his quality of choosing the right tree for a good bird to live in. "

Having said this, Arthur stood up and walked slowly in front of Bismarck with his hands behind his back: "Otto, do you think that as a sophomore who has received a scholarship, you are an outstanding graduate who is likely to get a letter of recommendation? Mr. Schneider, a student leader of the Gestapo, is it necessary to reveal the conversation I just had with Mr. Schneider?”

When Bismarck heard this, he just took a puff of cigarette. He looked at Arthur with a blank expression: "What conversation? Didn't I just be called here by you?"