Chapter 580 Save me the trouble
The setting sun has completely fallen below the horizon.
In Schönbrunn Palace, Talleyrand looked indignant on the surface, but in fact he was secretly proud and left the Grand Gallery Hall with Leopold II to have a dinner together.
Before he came to Vienna, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince gave him instructions to use the order scam to propose to Austria the use of francs to settle part of the trade in the Southern Netherlands as compensation.
But by virtue of his eloquence, he not only brought the franc settlement rights of the Southern Netherlands, but also brought Tuscany to accept the franc settlement - the Grand Duke of Tuscany was Leopold The son of De II is a vassal of Austria and will definitely obey the arrangements here.
The two places will also reduce some tariffs on French iron products, paper products, alcohol and other commodities for one year.
In addition, Leopold II also told him an important piece of information - the mastermind behind this order scam was the Dutch banker named Henry Hope, including payment The deposit money was all paid by his bank.
Of course, this news was told to Leopold II by the British.
The matter is so big that the British are also worried that Austria will find out that they are behind it, which will seriously affect British-Austrian relations.
So they sold Hope directly to the top tank. Moreover, it was indeed Hope who came up with the order scam, and he really provided a large amount of funds for it. Naturally, the Austrian intelligence system could not find any flaws no matter how hard it checked.
After the dinner, Leopold II finally sent away Talleyrand, the "god of plague", and immediately returned to his study to handle the government affairs accumulated today.
As the last relatively competent monarch of the Habsburg family, he has generally stabilized the situation in Austria by relying on his pragmatism and his diligence.
Soon, he saw in the pile of documents on his desk that the war situation in Silesia would be discussed at tomorrow's cabinet meeting, and he suddenly raised his head and sighed haggardly.
The next day.
In the mahogany hall with a calm decoration style, a group of core senior executives in Vienna started an extremely fierce dispute.
The subject of the debate was naturally about whether to have an armistice in Silesia.
Due to the British's pre-arrangement, Walter's anti-French faction also carried out a large number of "joint vertical and horizontal alliances", so the voices supporting the armistice quickly overwhelmed the other side.
However, among those who supported continuing to be tough on Prussia was Kaunitz, the Minister of State with great political influence.
The Minister of State of Austria is the equivalent of the prime minister, the first person under the emperor. If he kills him and continues to attack Silesia, then even Leopold II will not be able to force an armistice.
What's more, recovering Silesia is Austria's political correctness. Kaunitz always started talking about the humiliation of the Seven Years' War, restoring the glory of HRE, etc., and almost single-handedly resisted many ministers of the armistice faction.
After the meeting lasted for more than half an hour, Baron Turgut and Interior Minister Kobucil looked at each other and began to implement the Duke of Leeds' plan.
"Count Kaunitz, it is obvious that our country can no longer support a full-scale war with Prussia." Turgut said loudly.
The Home Secretary immediately agreed: "Yes, we should not fight a war that is destined to be unwinnable for the sake of our personal political future."
"What took away your courage? ?” Kaunitz immediately retorted, “Under His Majesty’s New Deal, our country’s financial situation has greatly improved, and our military resources are more abundant than ever.
“Now is the best time for us to completely defeat Prussia. opportunity! ”
The so-called “New Deal” of Leopold II actually canceled most of the reform measures of Joseph II, so that the aristocracy no longer resisted the government. Only then did the “ZTE” appear. Illusion. Baron Turgut looked at Kaunitz and said in a cold voice: "You are taking a big gamble, and the bargaining chip is Austria's future! And you have no winning cards at all! "
"No, I am sure of winning. Kaunitz glanced at him contemptuously, and then said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, we will definitely be able to recapture Silesia in this battle!" ”
As a veteran politician, he has also made full preparations before.
Including the Hungarian Parliament of Nobles, the Bohemian Parliament, the Transylvanian nobles, and even the southern The Romanian nobles expressed that they would provide money and people to support him in advancing the war in Silesia
Arguably, this is Austria's most united moment in recent decades. He is naturally confident.
But Baron Turgut immediately said: "You are just shouting slogans in vain."
Kobczl was also angry at the side: "Even if the front line really loses, some people will look for it. Other excuses."
"No, there is no excuse!" Kaunitz was also aroused and said to Leopold II, "Your Majesty, I am willing to take responsibility for the war in Silesia. You let me go and do it!"
Tugut and others immediately smiled proudly, they were waiting for a moment.
"Count Kaunitz, if we fail to take back Silesia, how will you be responsible?"
Kaunitz hesitated for a second and said in a deep voice: "I will resign as Minister of State. He will take office and leave the political arena."
He looked at the armistice faction again and said with force, "But what if I win?"
"I am willing to accept whatever you do. ." Turgut was also tit for tat.
Not long after, when Turgut and others no longer objected, Leopold II reluctantly authorized Kaunitz to plan a new round of offensive in Silesia, and even selected frontline officers All power was given to him.
After the meeting, Vienna newspapers immediately began to publish a large number of news such as "Count Kaunitz insists on continuing the war in Silesia and stated that he will resign if the war situation is unfavorable."
The whole Vienna was excited. People took to the streets and sang Kaunitz loudly, as if he had won the war.
The nobles even spread rumors about Count Kaunitz's heroic appearance at the cabinet meeting, and even gave him the nickname "Natural Enemy of Prussia".
The high-spirited Kaunitz soon began to prepare for war.
A series of orders for the mobilization of supplies and troops were sent to all parts of Austria after he signed it. Under his orders, Marshal Lacy on the Breslau front also resumed the artillery bombardment of the Prussian positions.
However, what he did not expect was that the day after his order was sent to Budapest, the Hungarian Parliament of Nobles passed a resolution vetoing his bill to "increase special war taxes".
The Bohemian Parliament did not veto the bill, but it requested that the special tax can only be levied from the middle of next year on the grounds that it suffered a freeze at the beginning of the year.
At the same time, whether it was the Hungarians, Bohemians, or Slavs, they all sent their armies to Silesia without delay. In just one month, Marshal Lacy's army surged to 160,000.
(End of this chapter)