Chapter 1503: Easy to Enter, Hard to Exit
Metternich stepped forward, placing his hand over his chest in a salute, and continued, "I really have no place to speak here, your noble Royal Highness the Prince Regent, but I truly do not wish to see the royal houses of Europe engulfed in tragedy."
Joseph looked at this political genius who historically extended the life of the Austrian Empire by several decades, and asked calmly, "Mr. Metternich, can you tell me what the price of bread in Vienna was a month ago? I mean the actual transaction price, not the government price caps."
Though puzzled by why the French Prince Regent suddenly asked this, Metternich replied quickly, "Four pounds of bread for fourteen kreuzers and two pfennigs, Your Highness."
He was referring to the price paid in silver coins. If paid in banknotes, it would be sixteen kreuzers.
Joseph nodded. "So that is four sous and three deniers for a pound of bread. Hmm, Paris is at one sou and eight deniers. What about salt, then?"
"Thirteen florins per bushel, Your Highness."
This time, Joseph calculated for a moment before saying, "Ah, one franc and four sous per kilogram. Your salt tax is indeed high; Paris only charges four sous."
"But speaking of tax collection, Vienna is still far more formidable. Things like the war tax, chimney tax, milling tax, newspaper tax, and so on are already gone here.
"Oh, how much land tax do you collect now?"
Joseph did not press further, smiling slightly. "You see, perhaps the dream of the rebels in Vienna is simply to live a life like the one in Paris. And if a riot against my father were to actually break out in France, it probably wouldn't even alert the police. Before they could even walk down a single street, the public would surround and beat them to death.
"Now, do you still feel it is necessary for me to engage in 'mutual defense' with Vienna?"
Metternich was stunned, but his reaction was extremely swift: "Your Highness, at the very least, the behavior of the Hungarians—betraying their king and attempting to split the Empire—serves as an extremely dangerous demonstration to all rulers—"
Joseph sighed: "I have no concerns in that regard. In fact, my biggest headache lately is deciding how much budget to allocate to Upper Germania Province."
Metternich fell silent again.
Indeed, France not only had no issues with regional separatism, but a bunch of small nations were desperately trying to integrate into France. The people of Basel were even fighting a war with the Empire for this very reason.
He found that the speech he had prepared for so long was completely shut down by the French Prince Regent in just a few moments.
Well, this was not due to his incompetence; it was simply because Austria and France were no longer on the same level.
He wanted to engage in political maneuvering, but he had absolutely no room to move.
Seeing the "full of confidence" expression on the Imperial Secretary's face vanished without a trace, Little Cobenzl could only pull him back slightly, preparing to plead tearfully with the French Prince Regent.
Joseph raised his hand, cutting him off: "I will repeat myself: the Stuttgart Declaration."
"But—"
Joseph cut him off again: "You can tell His Imperial Majesty Franz II that I will directly help him resolve the rebellion, rather than just providing some loans and supplies."
Metternich was instantly astonished: "Are you planning to dispatch troops?"
"The Stuttgart Declaration. That is the basis for our continued talks."
Little Cobenzl and Metternich looked at each other, left with no choice but to take their leave in frustration.
An issue this massive was not something they could decide on.
The next morning, while the two of them were still waiting for instructions from His Imperial Majesty, the Austrian Consul to France knocked and entered in a hurry.
Seeing his face looked off, Little Cobenzl hastily asked, "Did something happen?"
The Consul to France handed him a Chappe Semaphore Tower document: "Yesterday, Bavaria announced it would support Basel."
Little Cobenzl frowned and opened the document, only to see it written: Bavaria supports Basel, Schwyz, and other cantons in joining the Stuttgart Trade Agreement, and will provide all assistance, including military force, for their "cause of liberty" until the "invaders" are driven out—
At the very end, there were also joint signatures from Württemberg, Baden, Augsburg, and other states.
"Those damned bastards!" he raged immediately. "Once the Empire resolves its current troubles, we must make them pay!"
However, Metternich's expression suddenly became extremely grave: "This is bad! Now, Mikhalevich's legion will not be able to immediately withdraw from Switzerland."
Little Cobenzl looked at him and said, "There is no need to worry. Actually, according to the intelligence agencies' assessments, these states have long intervened in the situation in northern Switzerland; they've only made it public now. They can't do anything in Switzerland anyway."
"The point is not what they can do," Metternich said in a deep voice. "Think about it. If we immediately withdraw from Switzerland right after Bavaria and the other states announce their intervention in the Basel situation, we will never again be able to dominate the affairs of South Germany!"
Little Cobenzl was instantly dumbfounded.
Indeed, if they withdrew their troops now, wouldn't that be equivalent to Bavaria and the other states driving the Imperial army out of Switzerland?
The Empire would be stripped of authority before the South German states, while Bavaria would assume the posture of a "victor" and become the most influential state in South Germany.
Right now, the Empire either had to achieve total victory in Switzerland and establish the Swiss Confederation, or they would have to declare war on Bavaria in the future and crush them to re-establish their authority.
But neither of these paths was viable.
With Mikhalevich's legion of forty thousand men remaining bogged down in northern Switzerland, it meant that the forces available to suppress the rebellion at home would be greatly reduced. And the rebellion in Vienna could spread outward at any moment.
As for declaring war on Bavaria—they had tried that during the War of the Bavarian Succession, and it wasn't that easy to win. Moreover, the South German states would most likely send troops to support Bavaria, and even France might intervene.
Little Cobenzl pulled Metternich, anxious: "What should we do now?"
The latter's brow was tightly furrowed: "Now, we can only see what solutions the French have. But we must get authorization from His Imperial Majesty first."
"Do you mean... the Stuttgart Declaration?"
Metternich nodded.
Little Cobenzl sighed: "Fine, I will write another report to His Majesty right now."
That evening, they received a reply from Brno. Thanks to France opening up the highest priority of the Chappe Semaphore Tower for the Austrians to use, their communication efficiency was extremely high.
Evidently, Franz II had also received the news from Switzerland. In his letter, he ordered Little Cobenzl to negotiate with the French, and if necessary, he could accept terms involving the Stuttgart Declaration.
At noon the following day, the Austrian Minister of State once again requested an audience with the French Prince Regent.
"You are saying... we should allow the Russian Army to enter our country to suppress the rebellion?" Little Cobenzl looked at Joseph in surprise. "But they are currently fighting the Poles."
Metternich added, "Furthermore, if this is your plan, we could easily negotiate directly with the Russians ourselves."
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