Fox of France

The Hungarian nobles are much more martial arts than the Polish nobles. They first directly issued a statement, accusing the emperor of trampling on the legal rights of the nobles, demanding that the emperor immediately investigate this, punish the officials involved, and immediately apologize to the victimized nobles.

Such an unreasonable request was of course rejected by His Majesty the Emperor, so the Hungarian nobles with abundant military virtues declared their tax resistance. Refuse to pay taxes to His Majesty's government.

At the same time, the French government suddenly announced that it would hold a joint military exercise with the Northern Italian Republic. As soon as the news was announced, it immediately attracted the attention of the whole of Europe.

The Northern Italian Republic shares a border with Austria and is very close to Vienna. So this area has always been a point of contention between France and Austria. Of course, it is no longer possible for Austria to compete with France for this area. Therefore, the border of this area has become the most dangerous border of Austria. Once the French army attacks from here, as long as they break through the border, they can directly threaten Austria. capital Vienna.

At this time, the so-called "routine military exercises" of the French army were naturally regarded by the whole of Europe. The French were using this method to contain the power of Austria and support the Hungarian nobles and Emperor Franz II to make trouble. Many people even worried that there would be a war between France and Austria. For a while, the price of the national debt issued by Austria plummeted.

At this time, certain bankers began to buy Austrian government bonds at a low price in large quantities-in a sense, one of the secrets of successful financial speculation is that a government with strong and violent methods is doing you a favor .

At a press conference held by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a reporter asked the French government what it thought of the situation in Austria. Talleyrand even made this statement:

"Everyone knows that our country has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. Therefore, I should not express any opinions on Austria's internal affairs. However, we French businessmen have a lot of investments in Austria, and their legitimate interests should be protected. So we hope that everyone can exercise restraint, solve the problem calmly, and not destroy the hard-won peace and tranquility..."

Talleyrand's speech was widely interpreted as a move by the French to support the Hungarians, warning the Austrian government not to act rashly. So the Hungarians became more and more proud, and even began to organize the National Self-Defense Forces.

After Talleyrand made such a speech, Austria also responded quickly. At the press conference of the Austrian Embassy in France, when a reporter asked Metternich what he thought of Talleyrand's speech, Metternich replied: "As Minister Talleyrand said, today The tax resistance incident in Hungary is entirely the internal affairs of the Holy Roman Empire. Other countries should not and have no right to interfere. As for Minister Talleyrand’s concern about the legal rights of French businessmen. I can assure you that we have , is, and will be committed to protecting the legal rights of anyone engaged in a legitimate cause within the Holy Roman Empire. Minister Talleyrand need not have any worries about this. As for the hard-won peace and tranquility, it is certainly worth it Everyone cherishes it. But this cherishment must come from both sides. What I can assure you is that our government will do its best to maintain the hard-won peace and tranquility."

Metternich's speech, in the eyes of most people, was a tit-for-tat confrontation with Talleyrand. So even the underground casinos began to gamble on whether there will be a war between France and Austria.

On the third day after Metternich delivered this speech, "Scientific Pravda" published such a piece of news on the second page in an unremarkable position: "Yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs urgently summoned the Austrian embassy in France. ambassador."

The whole news is just such a simple sentence, without any other description.

But readers who are familiar with "Science Pravda" know one of the characteristics of "Science Pravda": the shorter the news, the bigger the matter. This kind of one-sentence news that has no cause and effect is often a sign of a major event that is about to happen. So in the underground casino. The odds that the two countries will go to war within this month dropped rapidly, from around 9.3 to 1 to 2. Some newspapers have already written a press release on France's declaration of war on Austria, but they just left the time empty. In this way, when the war starts, quickly fill in the time and you can get out of the number.

Some tabloids have already started war games. They spend a lot of space discussing the balance of forces between the two sides, discussing the possible development of the war, and the changes that the war will bring to Europe. It looks like the wind is all over the building.

Immediately afterwards, the Austrian government announced that the army had entered a state of combat readiness. So within this month, the odds of France and Austria going to war dropped to 1.5 to 1. A day later, France announced it was suspending the demobilization of its troops this year. So the odds became 1.1 to 1.

After receiving such "support", the Hungarian and Polish nobles became more courageous, and simply united to issue an ultimatum to the Austrian government.

In this ultimatum, they put forward a series of demands, such as asking the Austrian government to respect their traditions, especially respect their traditional rights, in fact, they demanded a complete restoration of feudalism (referring to my vassals My vassal is not my vassal's enfeoffment system), we must turn back the wheel of history.

In the end, they were very conscientious and gave the Austrian government a relatively long period of time for consideration—response within 72 hours.

But in fact, it will not take so long. The day after the ultimatum was issued, French Foreign Minister Talleyrand and Austrian Ambassador Metternich held a joint press conference.

At the press conference, Talleyrand said that what happened in Austria has seriously damaged the peace and stability of Europe, and the absurd and reactionary demands made by the rebels have shown that they are determined to stand on the side of democracy, freedom, Especially the antithesis of free trade. This is turning back the wheel of history and wants to bring Europe back into darkness. This reactionary practice of going against the trend of history must be stopped. At the invitation of the Austrian government, France will send military advisers to work with the Austrian army to quell the rebellion, restore peace and stability in Europe, and ensure that all of Europe can become a home of free trade.

Metternich said that the principle of free trade is the most fundamental principle to ensure the peace of Europe and the well-being of the people. For a long time, some reactionaries in Austria have blocked free trade and the formation of a unified European market for their own selfishness. It is really a heinous crime, which has caused complaints from businessmen from all over the world. This situation can no longer continue. France and Austria are determined to unite to create a free economic environment for the people of all Europe...