War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

On the way back to Venice, Franz was going to take a nap. After all, there were still a lot of troublesome things to deal with later.

The news coming back from Berlin was that the situation in Prussia was not much better than that in Austria.

Revolutionary waves also swept through Berlin, and Frederick William IV learned the lessons of the previous zoo tragedy.

This time he mobilized 30,000 troops to Berlin, bringing the total number of troops at William IV's disposal to 50,000.

However, Metternich's early resignation and the chaos in Vienna made William IV feel no sense of security at all.

Originally, he hoped to get the Austrians to help Prussia share the pressure, but Vienna fell first.

At the same time, serious differences arose between the two major factions within the Prussian government. The hard-line faction was represented by War Minister Kannitz, who insisted on suppressing the Berlin Revolution.

The reason is simple. The Austrians have already compromised. The result is the resignation of the prime minister, frequent changes in government, domestic political chaos, coveting by many external forces, and even direct competition.

"The blood shed in the zoo cannot be in vain! They must be made to understand their status! We must not let those with low blood sit on our heads!"

Although the Junker landowners have been transforming into bourgeois farmers over the years, and the power of the nobility has become smaller and smaller, they still do not want more people to threaten their status.

"Do you want the tragedy of France to happen in Prussia?"

Prime Minister Ludolf Camphausen asked rhetorically.

Generally speaking, the status of a country's Prime Minister is higher than that of the Minister of War, but Prussia is obviously an exception at this time.

Ludolf Camphausen was a Prussian banker who participated in the founding of the "Rheinische Zeitung" and was the founder of the Deutsche Navigation Line.

He made his fortune neither from the family's banking business nor from trucking, but from transporting highly qualified German immigrants to North America and the British colonies.

Both countries pay him high intermediary fees every year, so Ludolf Camphausen is a typical pro-British faction.

Although under Franz's promotion, the German Confederation promulgated the "Anti-Human Trafficking Act" and the "Anti-Human Smuggling Agreement", and even directly sent warships to intercept smuggling ships.

But these methods were of no use to Ludolf Camphausen, who had an official background, and he could be said to be a job introduction or labor dispatch. In short, he was innocent.

Even if Franz wants to use tough measures, he is taking the Northern Sea Route, and the Austrian navy in the Mediterranean is powerless. As for the navies of other countries, it can only be said that they are more than willing but not powerful enough.

Ludolf Camphausen's goal was to imitate the United Kingdom and establish a constitutional monarchy, so the public's call for a constitution at this time was relatively welcome.

"This is Berlin! Not Paris! And I am not the weak Marquis de Lafayette!"

"Have we not learned enough lessons from the zoo tragedy?"

"Glach had only a thousand men and only rifles. Now we have fifty thousand men and cannons! There's no reason those mobs can beat us!"

The hard-liners and capitulationists were at loggerheads, and Frederick William IV had no idea. He neither wanted to hand over power nor bear the reputation of massacring people, and was even more afraid of failure.

Such an argument would naturally go nowhere, suddenly said Finance Minister Friedrich List.

"Marshal Kannitz, your army can indeed defeat the people of Berlin, but what happens after the victory? Do you want to kill them all?"

The Minister of War had no choice but to keep his mouth shut. He knew that he could not really kill all the people.

Friedrich List then turned to Ludolf Camphausen.

"Prime Minister, if we are too weak, then we will be like Bavaria and Baden, and those nationalists will ride on our heads.

My suggestion is to convene a parliament of the United Provinces of Prussia. We can transfer some powers, but they must also pay a certain price.

First of all, we must stop the civil strife and not allow the Rhineland to become independent from our country.

Secondly, they also need to agree to raise taxes so that we have enough power to deal with the current crisis. "

Frederick William IV nodded after hearing this. Finally, one of his important ministers started from the perspective of the country, and he appreciated this Württemberg man more and more.

But what Frederick William IV did not know was that Friedrich List was the largest liberal in the Prussian government.

The Assembly of the United Provinces of Prussia was theoretically the representative body of the people of Prussia, but several generations of Prussian kings failed to fulfill this promise.

At the same time, due to the relationship between the Archbishop of Cologne and the church, the situation in the Rhineland was indeed more severe at this time.

The result was already obvious. King Friedrich William IV was more partial to Friedrich List's plan. Although Kanitz was dissatisfied, there was no point in arguing further.

The original intention of the Berlin government was to kick the ball back to the nationalists, but the nationalists in the Rhineland and the nationalists in East Prussia were not the same group of people at all.

Friedrich List also miscalculated on this point. He did not expect that those people would give up the opportunity to establish a constitution for a mere religious conflict.

They directly rejected the Berlin government's proposal, and then uprisings broke out in both places. In the end, Berlin still did not escape the disaster. The army and the people fought in the streets, and both sides suffered heavy casualties.

Barricades are a commonplace issue in this era, but the reality is that the weapons at this time really have no good way to deal with such crude fortifications.

The soldiers could only endure huge casualties and win one position after another in hand-to-hand combat. These soldiers from the three new provinces in eastern Prussia had no good impression of the concept of Germans.

Coupled with the huge number of casualties at this time, they could easily become red-blooded.

The soldiers brought the cannon close to the barricade and fired. The terrifying shells easily penetrated the barricades piled up with wooden furniture.

In order to suppress this rebellion, Kannitz also purchased special shotguns and even incendiary bombs from Austria.

The use of these weapons greatly reduced the casualties of the Prussian army, but street fighting was still very cruel. Unable to distinguish between resisters and civilians, Kanitz's soldiers suppressed them room by room.

A large number of accidental injuries and killings were inevitable, which aroused more people's resistance. The morale of the soldiers was low and their mood was low, but there was no doubt that both sides were going crazy.

Bodies littered the streets, houses burst into flames, and Berliners recoiled from the infernal scene. They did not have the courage of the Parisians, and the Prussian army emphasized discipline more. These troops from the east were not sympathetic to the people and would not be directly incited to rebel like the French army.

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace.

Frederick William IV felt betrayed and muttered to himself.

"Bunch of damn traitors!"

But when Kannitz came to ask for his approval for further action, Frederick William IV said.

"Keep going! But don't shoot!"