I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 311 Historic Trade Agreement

As for the battle plan, Marshal Lacy and other senior military officials had already discussed it, and now they just brought it out.

Austria recruited 80,000 troops from all over the country - due to the influence of Joseph II's reform, this was already the limit of its military strength - led by Marshal Lacy, and secretly went to Silesia.

At the same time, only 5,000 troops were left in Luxembourg to keep an eye on the Brabant rebels, and the main force was brought back to Austria by General Wurmser, and after a brief rest, it was also deployed to Silesia.

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On the Bavarian side, try to persuade Karl Ottoor to send 10,000 to 20,000 troops, and the bargaining chip is naturally the exchange of the territory of the Southern Netherlands.

France needs to send more than 50,000 troops.

If the military support that the southern German states may provide is added, the Austrian coalition can probably gather 150,000 to 170,000 troops in the direction of Silesia.

At present, Prussia can recruit no more than 120,000 troops, and Saxony is almost certain to participate in the war with a force of about 30,000.

In other words, in terms of total military strength, the Austrian coalition has a certain advantage.

Moreover, whether it is the Austrian army or the French army, the combat effectiveness will not be weaker than that of Prussia, but far stronger than that of Saxony.

As long as France ensures that Poland does not send troops to support Prussia as agreed, the Austrian coalition will have a great chance of winning.

If France can send more troops, it can even crush Prussia.

It was not until dusk that the imperial meeting in Schönbrunn Palace came to a temporary end.

Of course, the person presiding over the meeting had already been replaced by Leopold II. After confirming that the troops would be sent to Silesia, His Majesty the Emperor changed rooms to rest.

After the meeting, Leopold II seemed to be worried. He knew that there was another extremely important factor to consider in the Battle of Silesia, that is, Russia's attitude.

Russia and Prussia have highly consistent interests in Poland. If Prussia's war situation is unfavorable, Catherine II is very likely to send troops to intervene.

Although Russia is still at war with Sweden, with its powerful military force, it can have a huge impact on the war situation by randomly dividing a few legions.

So how to ensure that Russia stays out?

Leopold II rubbed his eyebrows, and suddenly remembered that France and Russia have recently dealt with the Ottomans and the huge common interests in Mediterranean trade. He thought to himself: "It seems that my dear sister needs to come forward on my behalf. But what should I use in return..."

Bavaria.

Munich Palace.

Negotiation site of the Seine-Rhine Trade Agreement.

"Regarding the tariff on wood products, I still hope to increase it a little bit." Count Winzengerode of Württemberg looked at Bailly, "It should be at least 45%..."

Austrian Foreign Minister Baron Thugut shook his head and interrupted him: "You always get entangled in these trivial issues.

"If it continues like this, I am afraid that a trade agreement will not be reached by the end of the year.

"And this will cause all of our countries to lose nearly half a year's worth of trade revenue.

"I think you just need to grasp the overall direction. You shouldn't let your family hold us all back."

Count Winzengerode looked at him puzzled. Since last week, the Austrian representative has been urging for an agreement.

As a big country with a huge influence on southern Germany, Austria's attitude is something that the small countries in southern Germany cannot ignore.

The Baden representative also shouted: "Baron Turgut is right. We are also waiting for the implementation of the agreement.

"The merchants in Baden heard the news of the trade negotiations and piled up their goods at the dock, waiting to be shipped to France and Austria for sale.

"If we delay too long here, they will probably go crazy."

The Augsburg representative nodded in agreement: "I think the current terms are completely acceptable. And the draft also says that the detailed terms will be renegotiated every three years in the future.

"Many things will be studied carefully at that time."

Not surprisingly, the two of them were also the "results" of Talleyrand's bribery, and the cost was very low, only 30,000 livres per person, and they were completely "taken".

Of course, the terms of the agreement did not seem to be disadvantageous to Baden and Augsburg, so they were also happy to take the money - just to speed up the signing, and they would hardly have any risks.

As for Bavaria, they got the most favorable terms of the agreement, and Archduke Ottoor was still dreaming of "moving" to the Southern Netherlands, so he was more inclined to listen to Austria's opinions.

So the negotiation site formed a situation where France, Austria, Bavaria and two small countries firmly promoted the signing of the agreement, while Württemberg and Hesse were somewhat hesitant.

However, after Hesse was secretly threatened by Austria to kick him out and let other countries sign the agreement in advance, Hesse quickly compromised - if they missed the large market of Southern Germany plus France and Austria, they would probably suffer a big loss in trade, and then their national strength would fall behind rapidly.

Small countries just want to gain more benefits, but they never want to be "outsiders".

Under the strong mediation of Austria, the countries have reached a preliminary agreement after only half a month of trade negotiations. Count Winzengrod finally relented after he was unable to survive alone and obtained France's promise to import at least 800,000 picograms of coal at market prices every year.

A pico is a standard-sized basket, and one pico of coal weighs about 20 kilograms. 800,000 picograms is 16 million kilograms. This was only a negligible number in later generations, but in the 18th century when coal was mainly used for heating, this was basically close to the total output of all coal mines in Württemberg.

For Württemberg, this is definitely a big deal.

On July 1, 1789, the "Seine-Rhine Trade Agreement", which had a huge impact on the European trade pattern, was officially signed. The contracting countries include France, Austria, Bavaria, Salzburg, Württemberg, Augsburg, Hesse- Darmstadt, Baden.

Signed together with the agreement, there are also supplementary provisions of the agreement - shipping vessels from the signatory countries in the Seine and Rhine river basins can directly enter other countries. Although landing is not possible and locals must be hired to unload the goods, it is already a huge convenience for free trade.

…

Paris.

Palace of Versailles.

Queen Mary put down the war participation plan jointly submitted by Archbishop Briand and the Minister of War, Duke Broy, and looked at them with some surprise: "Are you sure that France should participate in the war in the German region? Is this really in the interest of France?"

The two cabinet ministers nodded in unison.

Of course, this was the order of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, so they complied with the request and wrote the documents and submitted them to Her Majesty the Queen.

Queen Mary asked cautiously: "So, is France ready to join the war?"

Brian and Duke Broy were not very clear about the specific situation, but they still nodded firmly: "Yes, Your Majesty. The battlefield is far away from France, and the interests are large enough. We only need to send some troops to Silesia. Even No need to worry about winning or losing.”

Only Talleyrand, who stood aside and knew the inside story best, shrank his head and muttered in his heart, you are still here worrying about whether you are ready... His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has already finalized everything with the Austrians, and now The Austrian army may have completed its assembly.