The opening of the Vienna-Salzburg railway on December 4, 1852, did not cause a sensation except for the news in the newspapers.

Recently, there have been a lot of railways in Austria, and apart from the initial surprise, the Austrian people are now accustomed to it.

The most affected are the railway companies, which have invested so much money and can finally see the money back, which is directly reflected in the stock market, and the booming operation of the railway has stimulated the stock to rise again.

As for the strategic value of this railway, not many people really pay attention to this, even if the railway transportation is convenient, can it be compared with the Danube?

Franz was naturally happy to do so, the idea of German unification had been hyped up, and it was time to start the next step.

Franz joked: "Chancellor, your visit to the German states this time is a big task, and if you can convince everyone to rebuild the Holy Roman Empire, then we will make a lot of money." ”

Convince everyone to agree to rebuild the Holy Roman Empire, unless Austria puts a bayonet on their necks, otherwise everyone is living a good life, why should they find a boss to take care of themselves?

Today, unlike in the past, regional nationalism in Germany has awakened, and even the freedom of the state governments has been harmed by the emergence of a central government.

No matter how loose the empire was in this period, the constitution was indispensable, and it was inevitable that the autonomy of the governments would be greatly weakened.

Regardless of the need for independent foreign power, monetary unification is inevitable, and tariffs will definitely be abolished, which means that the central government is no longer an empty shell.

With these things, Franz can responsibly say that he can control most of the small states by political means.

If you are a little more shameless and provoke a foreign war, you can use the pretext of war to get the command of the armies of various states.

That's what the Americans did, by taking command of the armies of the states during the war, increasing the authority of the central government, and finally turning the loose federation into a unified nation.

Prime Minister Felix smiled and said, "Your Majesty, this joke is not funny at all. If I can convince them, then what do I need the army for? ”

Franz's butterfly effect is at work again, and Felix Schwarzenberg, who died in an accident on April 5 this year, is still alive.

Naturally, there is no such thing as a prime minister, Felix's political ability is still very good, and he is also comfortable presiding over cabinet work, and Franz is not Emperor Chongzhen, so he doesn't like to toss and turn.

Felix knew very well what the purpose of the trip was about, and convincing the states to rebuild the Holy Roman Empire was a disguise, and the real purpose was to create a pretext for war.

It was only after the failure of the peaceful reunification efforts that the Austrian government was able to gain popular support when it launched a war of unification.

No, it should be the unification of the South German region by force, at most plus the central German region, and any more will choke to death, and the Kingdom of Prussia is not so easy to deal with.

Of course, the slogan is to unify the German regions, otherwise the nationalists will not buy it, and without their support, this war will not be easy to fight.

Franz said solemnly: "It doesn't matter, there are so many German states, one is counted as one, I don't believe that there are so many small states, there is no one who is stupid." ”

This is not Franz's nonsense, in history, the Prussians successfully fooled several small states to help them wave their flags and shout, and after the incident, they directly swallowed these states in one bite.

On the contrary, the South German states, which resisted fiercely, retained a great deal of power, and because they feared the intervention of the foreign powers, the Prussians did not dare to continue the civil war after the Franco-Prussian War, and had to compromise with the South German states.

"Your Majesty, I am going to start with Prussia, which is the most difficult, anyway, among the German states, apart from us, the Kingdom of Prussia is the most powerful, as long as they oppose it, it will be created.

However, in this case, the diplomatic pressure will increase greatly, and the European countries do not want to see the reunification of the German region. Prime Minister Felix said

"Chancellor, the diplomatic problem is easy to solve, and we will use negotiation to solve the problem of German reunification, I guess many people will take it as a joke, and now what we have to do is to make this plan more like a joke," Metternich said.

As long as they see that the German states are opposed to our proposal, the pressure on us is not really great. ”

Everyone laughed, and it was right that the countries opposed the unification of the German region. But if Austria had only shouted slogans and had not taken concrete action, they would have no interest in intervening.

You can't shut up the Austrians, everyone is playing politics, they all know the slogans of the politicians, just listen to them.

Even in order to make the scene more realistic, the Austrian cabinet began role-playing a few years ago, and the political positions of these cabinet ministers were known throughout Europe.

Prime Minister Felix plays the role of the Peaceful Unification faction, or the Rebuilding of the HRE faction. The supporters of the cabinet were Chancellor of the Exchequer Karl, and the two of them formed the leaders of the "HRE" faction in Austria.

At the same time, they are also the leaders of the "Shinra faction" in Germany, and at least 35 percent of the German population currently supports or identifies with their political ideas.

Metternich plays the opposition, which is his political position and is known throughout Europe.

Otherwise, when the Vienna system was established, Austria would have chosen the Kingdom of Bavaria over the economically rich Lombardy.

Archduke Louis in the cabinet was a supporter of Metternich. They proclaimed that it was impossible to unify the German regions on the grounds that the states had been independent for a long time and that the European countries would not tolerate German unity.

For this reason, the two were often scolded by German nationalists.

Because of the support of public opinion, the "HRE faction" led by Prime Minister Felix currently has an advantage in the Austrian government.

At this time, Felix came out to advocate the "rebuilding of the Holy Roman Empire" without any fault.

After Christmas, Felix set out on his journey with the joy of the people.

In the eyes of German nationalists, this was a crucial step towards reunification.

As the boss of the German Confederation, the Austrian government had already begun to work towards reunification, which was a turning point in history.

Regardless of the outcome of the negotiations, Felix walked all the way, and there were crowds welcoming him everywhere.

It's not that the "HRE" brand is popular, in fact, many people don't feel the disbanded HRE Empire.

But they wanted the unification of Germany and did not want war to break out, so "rebuilding the Holy Roman Empire" was the best option.

The "Shinra faction" was able to become the mainstream ideology in German nationalism only because the people hoped for the peaceful reunification of the German region, and they were called "peaceful unificationists".

Unfortunately, these people could not dominate the German region, and the first thing that the rulers of the states had to consider was their own interests.

……

Berlin

Although Frederick Wilhelm IV supported the unification movement, it was only a political necessity, and it did not mean that he was willing to sacrifice his own interests for the unification of Germany.

The unification of Germany, which the Kingdom of Prussia had been pursuing, was to the exclusion of Austria and could not achieve this goal, and this unification was worthless to them.

Historically, Frederick William IV took the "Three Kings Alliance" as the core, trying to use the Erfurt Union Parliament to exclude Austria.

This was also the political proposition of Little German thought, and the reason for the exclusion of Austria was very simple: the German Empire that united Austria was too large for the rest of Europe to bear.

Of course, this is only one of the reasons, and there are many other reasons, such as that there are too many other nationalities in Austria, which will undermine the purity of the German nation......

Chancellor Josef von Ladowitz said solemnly: "The Austrians' ambitions have been exposed, and in light of the current international situation, it is very likely that they have the support of the Russians."

The Russo-Austrian Secret Treaty, which we have been speculating about, is probably Austria's support for the Russians to annex the Ottoman Empire in exchange for the Russians' support for their re-establishment of the Holy Roman Empire.

I have to say that the Austrians are ruthless enough and dare to do things like tigers. Now they had chosen a good time, the Anglo-French and Russians had declared war, and a great deal of energy was pinned down.

If you want to intervene in Germany, you have to let the Russians annex the Ottoman Empire, Napoleon III may give priority to Central Europe, but the London government will definitely hesitate.

If the Austrian government could unify the German regions by diplomatic means, even if it was only in name, the French would not dare to act rashly. ”

The Russians annexed the Ottoman Empire, and the French lost only interests in the Near East and Egypt, and the French navy was still able to suppress the Russians in the Mediterranean.

The British were different, and they had lost more than just the interests of the Mediterranean. In Palmerston's words: if we can't keep the Russians in the Balkans, then we have to keep them in the Indus Valley.

Once the Russians annexed the Ottoman Empire, Persia would not be able to stop the Russians, which meant that India was in danger.

At this time, Britain only controlled India, and they had not yet had time to swallow it, and if the Russians were allowed to run out and stir up the situation, their most important colony would not be able to fly.

When faced with a dilemma, hesitation is inevitable.

After all, the re-establishment of the Holy Roman Empire was still only a loose empire, and it could not expand externally until internal integration was completed, and with the French in the way, the British would not be threatened in the short term.

Frederick Wilhelm IV sneered and said: "The Austrians think too well, Franz's little boy is probably fooled and stupid!"

As long as we do not agree, it is impossible to unify the German regions. Did he really think that the German states would be willing to be unified by the Austrians?

What would the Austrians do if the Holy Roman Empire could not be re-established politically, and was it possible to unify the German regions by military force? ”

Joseph von Ladowitz shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, this is impossible. Although Austria was militarily strong, it was not possible to unify the German regions without the intervention of the Great Powers.

In the event of Austria's use of force, we will form an alliance with the German states to resist their attacks.

We could even deliberately allow the Austrians to wipe out the military power of these small states, and as long as we did not take the liberty of a decisive battle with them, and delayed until the French intervened, Austria would lose.

As long as it is done well, after the end of the war, the strength of these small states will be greatly reduced, and the opportunity for us to unify the German regions will appear.

It is impossible for the old fox of Metternich not to see that Felix is bent on promoting peaceful reunification, and because of this, it is impossible to risk it with them in the Austrian government. ”

Prime Minister Joseph von Ladowitz was not wrong in his judgment, which is one of the reasons why Franz did not dare to take risks.

As long as the Prussian army did not come out to fight a decisive battle with Austria, whether it was to defend the city or retreat all the way, it was impossible to destroy their main force in a short time.

After a month or two, the French intervention army came, and Franco-Prussian and Austria could not resist it.

If it drags on for a few more days, the British, the Spaniards, and a bunch of small European interventionists will come.

In this case, Austria did not see any hope of victory at all. Bet on your entire net worth, and if you fail, it's over.

Can it be expected that the Austrian army will break out and take out Prussia and France before the intervention armies of the countries arrive?

Large countries maintain stability, while small countries take risks.

Franz, who is familiar with history, knows that only the victor who survives to the end is the real victor, and the country that relies on a reckless wave of victory will end in tragedy.

Japan and Germany are typical of them, they are all masters of explosive combat effectiveness, and when they broke out, they were in the air every day, and then they were beaten by everyone together, and they vomited out all the gains in the early stage.

On the contrary, Italy, which has been living a foolish life, has become a victorious country in two world wars and has taken a lot of advantage.

Even the coaxing French, after suffering a loss, know that they can lie down and win, so they must not waste.

With so many cases of predecessors, how dare Franz wave? Don't look at the Austrian army after training, the combat effectiveness seems to be very strong, the problem is that it can only break out in one wave!

If a quick solution is not possible, the weakness of the Austrian multi-ethnic state will be exposed over time.

According to the current plan, it will be much safer, but it will only be done in areas with a good population base. The small size of the stall makes the risk small.

Once this is done, the internal integration can be completed in the shortest possible time. If the French dare to take the lead, they are the invaders, and they can enjoy the morale bonus of fighting on their own soil.

Frederick William IV sighed and said, "It's a pity, if we don't have these old foxes, we can still send someone to try it."

Now, it is better to find a way to sabotage the Austrians' plans, and it is better not to arouse the disgust of the people, for our reputation cannot be tossed any more. ”

It is difficult to do anything if the reputation is stinky, and after being pitted by the German states, the reputation of the Prussian government has not been good until now.

Not only in Germany, but also in the country, the Prussian people were not very interested in the government.

No matter how they interpret it, the government's promises have not been kept, and the population always feels that the government has cheated them out of their money. Nationalists, in particular, were very unhappy with the government's compromise with the Russians.