On 1 March 1848, at the initiative of the bourgeois liberals of Baden and Württemberg, a conference of liberals of the states was held in Heidelberg.

A total of 51 people attended the meeting, most of them representatives of the South German Confederation, of whom four were Prussians and only one Austrian.

The conference adopted the Declaration to the German People and decided to set up a seven-member committee to prepare for the German Preparatory Congress. (Predecessor of the Frankfurt Conference)

There is no doubt that this meeting was represented for Austria.

No matter what others think, Franz will not recognize the legitimacy of this conference anyway, he was busy dealing with domestic problems and did not care about these problems, and now that the internal crisis is under control, it is time to meddle in the affairs of the German region.

Unlike in history, the Austrian bourgeoisie was hit hard, and the rest of the people were trembling on the sidelines, for fear that they would be killed by the government.

The Frankfurt conference was approaching, but instead of the Austrian delegates, a group of wanted criminals were ready to go to the conference.

Franz did not know what the capitalists thought, and from the beginning it was doomed. Without recognition by governments, how can there be legitimacy?

"Prime Minister, what do you think of this toss of the capitalists?" Franz asked

"Your Highness, I think we can ignore it, this meeting is illegal in the first place, we just don't recognize it!" Prime Minister Felix said calmly

In this era, Austria still had great capital, and now Austria is the strongest among the many German states.

Franz frowned, obviously he was not satisfied with this answer, and the Austrian government had done the same in history, and the consequences were quite serious, and the parliament passed the proposal of Little Germany, excluding Austria.

In Franz's opinion, there was also the Kingdom of Prussia behind this meeting, otherwise Austria would not have been excluded from the first place.

"Your Excellency, do you really think so? If we had not intervened, I guess the outcome of the congress would have been the creation of a small German empire that excluded Austria.

Whether the meeting was legal or not, the influence of the people was unquestionable, and perhaps not yet felt in Austria.

Elsewhere, however, the influence had already begun to spread, and once the populace accepted the theory, it laid the groundwork for the future unification of Prussia. Foreign Secretary Metternich frowned

Although he did not believe that Germany could be unified, Metternich, who pursued a balanced Europe, was also opposed to anyone unifying Germany.

Now that the Kingdom of Prussia was already strong, if they continued to create opportunities, it would not be a problem for them to annex North Germany.

This is a very big threat to Austria. Historically, Metternich had left politics at this time, losing his voice and powerless to prevent this from happening.

Now that he is still Austria's foreign minister, of course, this is the time to make a difference, and disrupting the Frankfurt conference is the first step.

This is also the purpose of Franz putting him in the cabinet, and there are few people in the world who can compare with him diplomatically, even though the "Vienna system" he created has collapsed.

"Monsieur Metternich, please don't be alarmist here, what are these capitalists, can they represent the will of the people?

Governments will not recognize their legitimacy, and this so-called German Reichstag will not have the right to get out of Frankfurt! Felix snapped up

"Let us not forget that the influence of the capitalists in the people, through the newspapers in their hands, can influence public opinion in a region, and as far as I know, the Prussian government will soon be acting against them.

As soon as the conditions of both sides are met, the capitalists will support the unification of the Kingdom of Prussia with the regions of Lesser Germany, and then we will have a war with the Kingdom of Prussia! Metternich said with an almost growl

……

Seeing that the two of them were arguing, they were about to fight, Franz hurriedly scolded: "Shut up for me, today is for you to discuss matters, not to listen to your quarrel!" ”

On the surface, Franz was angry, but in fact he was happy. No monarch wants his subordinates to be monolithic, not to mention that Franz is not yet an emperor.

As the crown prince of the regent, once the cabinet is united, then Franz is about to be hollowed out. For the sake of balance of power, he could not let the cabinet members huddle.

One is the former prime minister who has been in charge of Austria for more than 20 years, and the other is a strong current prime minister.

"Well, to be on the safe side, whether it was a Prussian conspiracy or not, we must sabotage this conference, or at least keep its influence to a minimum.

If you have any way, just put it forward. Our time is precious, and wasting every minute is a crime! ”

Franz still favored Metternich, and the Lesser German Empire was established later, and the position of the Frankfurt Conference was artificially magnified.

It is estimated that only those who have experienced it will know how much of a role it has. Franz didn't want to try it, so he just broke it.

In any case, because of the Customs Union, Austria's influence among the capitalists in Germany was limited, far less than that of the Kingdom of Prussia, and it was undoubtedly impossible to reach an agreement in favor of its own side by relying on this conference.

"Either we send someone to propose the formation of the North and South German Empire, if we promise to the South German States not to interfere in their internal affairs, the success is still very high!" Chancellor of the Exchequer Karl said tentatively

"It is useless, we may have the slightest possibility of convincing the South German states, but at a meeting of the representatives of the bourgeoisie, it is absolutely impossible to pass!

Moreover, to convince them that the price we paid was too great, and in the end it was only a nominal unity. Metternich shook his head and said

Franz was tempted that if the South German Federal Empire were formed, there would be nothing to do with the Prussians, because there was actually a clear gulf between North and South Germany because of religious beliefs.

Even if it is only nominal reunification, in fact everyone still goes their own way, and they can still use economic means to infiltrate and slowly influence their politics.

Unfortunately, now is not the time, at least until Austria has dealt with its internal contradictions, otherwise it will not have the confidence to speak.