Eagle’s Glory

"In front of the British, pleading and intimidation will not work. You have to convince them that the Bonaparte family has no intention of disrupting the current order and will only benefit them."

Although Count Alexander Walevsky is very young and just starting out, his intelligence is not mediocre. He can certainly understand Prince Talleyrand's strategy, but how to implement it specifically is not something he can figure out. .

"So, can you tell me how we can satisfy the appetite of the British and make them change their hostile attitude towards the Bonaparte family and let them acquiesce in His Majesty's return to the throne?"

Alexander's attitude was very humble, like a student respectfully asking for advice from his teacher.

Maybe he doesn't agree much with Prince Talleyrand's character, but he must have due respect for this expert authority who has dominated the diplomatic arena for decades. Like his "brother" Aigron, he also I firmly believe that if there is one person who can make the Bonaparte family reconcile with the British as quickly as possible, then that person must be Prince Talleyrand——

After all, he has performed similar magic tricks more than once.

For the Bonaparte family, as long as they could win Britain's neutrality, it would be equivalent to eliminating the risk of foreign armed intervention, and it was worth paying some price for it.

But he was still a little confused as to how to do it, and he had to ask Talleyrand to show him the way.

Faced with Alexander, who was destined to succeed him in the distant future, Prince Talleyrand also had a very good attitude and patiently taught the young student.

"Young man, if you want to go further in the future, you must learn to analyze the current situation in the most objective and calm manner at all times, weigh the pros and cons, and abandon unnecessary pride. Right now, the United Kingdom is the well-deserved number one power. , it has an unparalleled fleet to defend itself, and does not have to worry about invasion like us; it also has the most abundant wealth, and can not only arm itself, but also arm any powerful country on the continent to form a group to deal with its enemies, because it is now It is so powerful, so we have to accept its order for the time being, even if we don't like this order. We spent an unimaginable price to compete with it, and now we need to recuperate."

After exaggerating the power and invincibility of Britain, Prince Talleyrand immediately changed the subject, "Of course, although Britain is strong, it is not without its weaknesses. It is located in a remote location and has insufficient population. It is just due to some kind of luck that it happens to be It has strangled Europe by the throat and benefited from the fight between the continent's powerful countries. It is obvious that with its own strength, if the continent is really united, it will definitely be unable to match it. Because of this, what they fear most is That is, the emergence of an empire powerful enough to rule the entire Europe. In order to prevent the birth of such an empire, they successively fought against the Habsburg family and the Bourbon family.

He became one of their most stubborn enemies and further destroyed Emperor Napoleon's empire..."

Of course Count Walevsky knew what Prince Talleyrand said, so he just listened quietly and waited for Prince Talleyrand's next words.

The prince was obviously energetic, his originally cloudy eyes became sharper, and the waving of his arms became more powerful. “In order to prevent nightmares from happening, the British must ensure two things. The first is to sow discord at all times and use various balancing methods to keep the major powers at odds with each other and never unite; the second is to ensure that they can always fight against each other. The mainland has invested its strength to use force to fight against what they consider to be the most powerful threat. They have done this for hundreds of years, and they will still do this in the future."

"Yes, you are right." Count Alexander Walevsky nodded.

"Let's talk about the first thing first. The British will not have permanent friends or permanent enemies. In order to fight against the Spanish, they formed an alliance with France and the Netherlands; later, in order to defeat the Netherlands, they formed an alliance with France; Later, in order to defeat Napoleon's France, they allied with the Netherlands and Spain... They are so capricious, but so determined. In order to achieve their goals, they are always willing to dance with their previous sworn enemies, so we must Let them understand that we can stand with them and deal with the enemy in their eyes. Don't forget, now that we are weak, the enemy in their eyes has changed..."

"Do you mean Russia?" Count Walevsky understood.

"You are indeed quite savvy." Prince Talleyrand gave Count Walevsky an approving look, and then laughed sarcastically, "We have been defeated and are temporarily too weak to threaten them. It is impossible to compete with them for the world. Now only the Russian Empire threatens them. On land, it has crossed Warsaw and the Vistula River and is close to the heart of Europe; and in the far east, they have crossed the Caucasus. and Central Asia, are gradually approaching Britain's most precious asset-India! The British are afraid of them, just as they hated us back then. Even before the war was over, they had already begun to prepare to deal with the next enemy! In 1814 I In Vienna, we almost stood together on behalf of France and the British, preparing for a showdown with the Russians..."

Of course Count Walevsky also knows the anecdote that Prince Talleyrand told:

In 1814, Emperor Napoleon abdicated for the first time, and the major powers went to Vienna to hold a peace (spoils division) conference to establish a new order for Europe in the future. At that time, because Russia was the main force that defeated France, it bulldozed Poland and Germany along the way. In Paris, the Cossack army was spread over thousands of kilometers of land.

Since he was the main force, Czar Alexander I, who attended the Congress of Vienna in person, naturally demanded the greatest fruits of victory. He firmly demanded the annexation of most of Poland (turning the fruits of victory that were previously divided among Poland by Russia, Prussia, and Austria into monopoly), and proposed Saxony could be given to Prussia as compensation for the loss of Polish territory.

Faced with the aggressive ambition of the Tsar, its former allies, instead of being "grateful", were deeply jealous of it, so they began to organize a conspiracy privately during the peace conference, hoping to curb the Tsar's ambition.

And they thought of using the newly restored Bourbon France as an ally.

Therefore, after many private discussions, Foreign Minister Castlereagh, representing the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Metternich, representing the Austrian Empire, and Prince Talleyrand, representing France, reached a secret agreement in private, agreeing to unite their stance against the Tsar. ambition, forcing him to give up unrealistic territorial claims, and even threaten to use force if necessary.

However, a bolt from the blue suddenly struck. In March 1815, Emperor Napoleon sneaked back to France from Elba Island, then quickly marched to Paris and became emperor again. The original secret alliance between Britain, France and Austria naturally ended without any problem.

Talleyrand's reports to the country soon fell into the hands of Emperor Napoleon. In order to alienate his enemies, he deliberately had those reports sent to Vienna and handed over to Tsar Alexander I.

The Tsar was so angry that he was furious, but for the sake of the overall situation of anti-France, he endured it and burned all the letters in front of Metternich. Then he said that he focused on the overall situation and that everyone should first eliminate the culprit Napoleon.

In order to confront Napoleon again, Britain and Austria had to choose to accommodate the Tsar's ambitions and almost agreed to most of the Tsar's demands.

Therefore, with the fall of Napoleon in 1815, the Czar became the biggest winner. Russia relied on annexing Poland to form a huge protrusion in the hinterland of Europe. It was only more than a hundred kilometers away from Berlin, the hinterland of the Austrian Empire. It was also exposed to Russia, almost forming a overwhelming posture.

Now, more than ten years have passed, and the stars that were shining at that time have gradually faded. Viscount Castlereagh died due to a mental illness in 1822, and Tsar Alexander died in 1825. Now the leaders of both countries have changed. People, but the original ambitions and the original contradictions have continued intact.

Russia's increasing advances in Europe have aroused panic and fear in the United Kingdom, but it is not enough to become an imminent threat. However, Russia's expansion in the Caucasus and Central Asia has made the British more and more uneasy, because it directly threatens what they regard as an imminent threat. India was the most valuable asset of the empire, and in order to defend India, Britain would do whatever it took.

Because of this, the imaginary enemy in the eyes of the British must be slowly shifting. Russia has replaced France, which was seriously injured, and has become the biggest threat to the British.

Prince Talleyrand was a party to the conspiracy in 1814, so he was naturally more sensitive to the changes in the situation than anyone else.

And this change is the space for him to make diplomatic compromises.

After Prince Talleyrand's presentation of the stakes, the young Count Walevsky gradually understood the key to this, and his confidence in his trip gradually increased.

"I understand...Yes, we can use their fear of Russia to resolve their hatred of the Bonaparte family. As long as there are interests, the British will never hold grudges." He nodded lightly, and then Questions were quickly raised, "However, I think we can no longer get involved in a war with Russia rashly... That may lead to public opposition and bring unpredictable risks to His Majesty."

As a child who was born and raised in Poland, and as the illegitimate son of Napoleon, Count Alexander Walewski naturally did not have any good impression of Russia, but he was naturally not sentimental and blinded by hatred. He clearly realized that this was not the case. At the time of the war, His Majesty does not have enough capital to take such a big risk, so he has some doubts about it.

"Of course we can't fight! Now all countries are looking at us with suspicion, fearing that the past will happen again, so we can't afford a war with any powerful country now, otherwise we will be defeated by the new anti-French alliance soon. Now we have to do The only thing is to recuperate and divide and alienate other countries. Only when the conflicts between countries become more intense and people forget the past disasters will there be an opportunity to take action. I am not anti-Russian because I want war, it is just a gesture. ." Prince Talleyrand replied matter-of-factly.

"Then...if we only have one gesture, how can we convince the British to accept our sincerity?" Count Walevsky asked doubtfully.

"On this issue, we are not without chips." Prince Talleyrand smiled slyly, "I just said that the British not only focus on sowing discord and disintegration among European countries, they also focus on the power they invest in Europe—— If you look at a map, you can see that Belgium is the UK’s gateway to Europe, and Antwerp is the UK’s doorknob to the continent!”

Although the UK is closest to France, and the English Channel is less than 30 kilometers away from Calais, France, the southernmost tip of England is a cliff and the economy is not developed. For the UK, it faces London and the bustling commercial city of Ned. Lancai is the window for British commerce to the mainland, and the port of Antwerp is also the most convenient place for Britain to project military power on the mainland.

After the Netherlands launched the War of Independence to get rid of the rule of the Habsburg family, the Netherlands was divided into two. The northern part became the United Provinces of the Netherlands, which believed in Protestantism, and the southern part was Belgium, which continued to be ruled by the Habsburgs. After the French Revolution broke out, the republican government drove away the Austrians after a bitter battle and brought Belgium under French rule.

In 1815, with the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire, the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the north ruled Belgium. However, the Belgians did not want to be ruled by the Protestant princes, so they repeatedly launched resistance. In 1828, the Belgian Liberal Party and the Catholic Party formed an opposition alliance to form an opposition alliance. Repeal of new taxes and fight for legal equality.

"You mean to support the independence of Belgium and allow the British to protect this new country to satisfy the British desire to maintain a continental window in exchange for their recognition of His Majesty?"

"Yes." Prince Talleyrand nodded, "I think this is also the best way to promote reconciliation between Britain and France at present. As long as we show such sincerity, the British will believe that we are a rational regime and will not take risks. .”

Count Walevsky thought for a while, and he felt that this might not be a good idea, but he could also see the risks involved.

"The people will not want to see this happen. In their eyes, Belgium is still ours..."

"Alexander, I reminded you, never get caught up in meaningless emotions!" Prince Talleyrand grimaced, and then said to Count Walevsky almost reprimanding, "Have we lost anything? No ! We didn’t lose anything, we just admitted the existing facts. If we look closely, we even split the Netherlands in two, happily weakening one of our neighboring countries! What price did we pay for this? It’s just Just some meaningless feelings!"

"I understand what you mean, but many people are obsessed with this meaningless emotion... It is very difficult to convince them, especially considering that His Majesty has just returned and his prestige has not yet been established..." Count Walevsky He quickly defended himself.

"So this is why you and I came forward. Your Majesty has nothing to do with this matter." Prince Talleyrand replied indifferently, "I am already notorious, so let me bear the infamy. What's the big deal? , the whole of France has reviled me more than once, but I have never fallen from my heights!”

Then, he looked at Count Walevsky and said, "Young man, if you don't have this awareness, then I advise you to stay away from this world and go back to being a rich young master."