Chapter 298: Storm
As is customary on the European continent, its time for negotiations. Especially since the Vienna System was reinstated, the French had no choice but to abide by these rules.
Since the delivery of the French diplomatic note, Cavour had rushed to Paris, trying to lobby everywhere with gifts.
But it was all in vain. The French bureaucrats were not stupid; they knew which gifts to accept and which to reject. Its better to stay out of matters related to the attempt on the Emperors life.
Foreign Minister Clio complained with a bitter face, Prime Minister, the gifts have all been returned. These people wont even let us through the door.
This was still relatively tactful; others went so far as to accept the candy coating, only to throw the shell back.
In other words, they took the gifts, stuffed some random things into the gift boxes, and then threw them out grandly.
Dont expect them to accomplish anything. At best, these things might help to douse their fire a bit, so that they clamor a little less loudly for war.
There was no way around it. To show their loyalty to the Emperor, slogans had to be shouted. Even the anti-war faction was now clamoring to teach the Kingdom of Sardinia a lesson.
The investigation results showed that someone had aided the assassins and leaked the Emperors whereabouts. And that person had not yet been caught.
To avoid suspicion, no one dares to make this political mistake.
Cavour said helplessly, I havent gotten any results on my side either. Napoleon III used the excuse of recovering from an injury to avoid receiving guests. Im afraid this matter will be difficult to resolve.
However, we have no choice. Since the French wont accept them, lets give gifts to representatives of other countries. This is not the time to be stingy. If we give them something, even if they just say a word for us in the meeting, it will be worth it.
Its the crudest method, but the most effective. Currently, the Kingdom of Sardinia lacks the ability to exchange interests with other countries, let alone influence their diplomacy.
In this context, the only option is to bribe representatives of other countries. Now, governments all over Europe are very angry about this assassination attempt, but at the same time, no one wants to see France continue to expand.
Even Cavour himself was extremely angry about the assassination attempt and had no sympathy for these so-called patriots.
If possible, he wouldnt mind simply getting rid of those guys to end it all. As for the French demand to punish the perpetrators, Cavour didnt even want to argue; as long as it didnt escalate any further, it was fine.
However, he couldnt tolerate the French governments demand for territorial concessions. The prospect of Italian unification was already slim, and if they were to give away more land now, there would truly be no hope left.
Clio whispered, Prime Minister, the French are also doing public relations, and it may be difficult for us to compete with them. The Austrian representative this time, Marti, is from Lombardy and represents the anti-Sardinian faction in the Austrian government.
His appointment by the Austrian government may be related to the secret agreement between France and Austria. This time, we cant count on the Austrians in the negotiations. We even have to worry that France and Austria will reach an agreement to divide us.
Lombardy is in Italy, but Lombards are not synonymous with Italians. Specifically, they are a distinct ethnic group, considered a branch of the Germanic peoples originating from southern Sweden.
During the independence movement of 1848, the Lombards were divided, with some supporting the Austrian government and others siding with the revolutionaries.
Martis high position undoubtedly indicates his support for the Habsburg dynasty. As a beneficiary of the status quo, he is naturally opposed to the unification of the Italian region.
In the previous Austro-Sardinian War, the invasion of the Sardinian army had devastated his homeland. With such personal suffering, hostility towards the Kingdom of Sardinia became inevitable.
Facing such an opponent also gave Cavour a headache. He wouldnt even know where to start in trying to trick him.
Talk about unifying the Italian region? The other party didnt even see themselves as part of the Italian ethnicity to begin with, even with Lombard cultural tradition having been influenced by Italian culture.
This was also useless. All of Lombardy was in the process of being de-Italianized, receding back into the larger Germanic cultural circle.
After some thought, Cavour said carefully, This intelligence is extremely important. We must inform the British immediately. I will personally go to the British Embassy tonight to discuss countermeasures.
France alone was bad enough, but add Austria to the mix and there was really nothing they could do. Other than turning to the British, Cavour was powerless.
Its not that he lacks personal ability, its just that the enemy is too powerful and the Kingdom of Sardinia is too weak to even qualify for equal dialogue.
Now the British were desperate to defend Sardinia, not only for strategic reasons but even more because they were tied to the loans they had granted to them.
After the Austro-Sardinian War, the economy of the Kingdom of Sardinia collapsed and relied entirely on British capital to stay afloat. Naturally, the Sardinian government borrowed heavily, and today the Kingdom of Sardinia can almost be considered a semi-colony of Great Britain.
Customs duties, salt taxes, tobacco and alcohol taxes, railways and ports were all mortgaged to the British. If the Kingdom of Sardinia were to collapse, the tens of millions of pounds lent by the British would be lost.
Unless the British government is confident that it can make France and Austria repay the money, the British financial consortium will not tolerate the downfall of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
There is no doubt that neither Napoleon III nor Franz would want to be the scapegoat in this situation.
That would be invasion, not inheritance. Only the heirs had ever inherited debts. No one had ever heard of invaders needing to bear the debt as well.
With such an astronomical sum of tens of millions of pounds involved, British prestige could not be relied upon either. In fact, whenever interests were involved, British prestige became useless.
On the other hand, Marti and the French Foreign Minister, Auvergne, had a very pleasant conversation. Given Austrias support for Frances annexation of the Kingdom of Sardinia, it was difficult for the two not to reach an agreement.
In return, the French government promised to open up several overseas colonial ports to them and provide supplies to the Austrian navy.
Previously, the Austrian government had made agreements with Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands. With this agreement with the French, the Austrian navy had the ability to enter any ocean in the world.
Strategically, this was a step further in the Austrian Navys globalization strategy.
Of course, the French stood to gain more. Now, as long as Napoleon III could withstand the pressure from various European countries, they could swallow up the Kingdom of Sardinia.
Then they could gradually crush the rebellion. After all, the French had plenty of experience in suppressing rebellions, and by exchanging ideas with the Italians, they might even spark new flames.
Failure to withstand the pressure would also be fine. At least the path to an Anglo-French alliance was cut off. The proud French cannot continue to play second fiddle to the British indefinitely.
Especially after damaging their core interests, even if Napoleon III was pro-British, the two countries would still end up confronting each other politically and diplomatically.
The atmosphere in the British Embassy in France was very strange at the moment.
To show his support for the Kingdom of Sardinia, the British Foreign Secretary Thomas had come in person to attend the Paris Conference, having arrived early.
Thomas asked seriously, Prime Minister Cavour, are you sure what you just said is true?
He couldnt afford to be careless; if France and Austria agreed to divide the Kingdom of Sardinia, they would be in a passive position. The British government, apart from shouting, would be powerless.
The only method was to take action in advance either to sabotage this Franco-Austrian cooperation or to pressure both countries into concessions by allying European nations.
Neither outcome was something the British government wanted to see. As for Sardinia itself, its fate was already very clear the only question was how much it would lose.
If diplomacy fails, they will lose everything; if it succeeds, they will end up bleeding heavily. Attempting to assassinate the Emperor cannot come without a price. The French still have to save face.
Cavour said with a sad expression, Mr. Thomas, how could I joke about such things?
This was the worst-case scenario. He didnt want to see this either. How could he make something up out of thin air? They didnt even know about the news of the arrest of the Carbonari assassins in Vienna, otherwise, the two men wouldnt have felt confused about Austrias actions.
Without this excuse, even if Franz wanted to outsmart the French, it wouldnt have been so smooth.
There was considerable opposition within the Austrian government to accommodating the French. Even Franz couldnt ignore everyones outcries.
After the assassins were arrested, things changed. For political correctness, everyone now stood in opposition to the Kingdom of Sardinia.
Thomas paced a bit and then said, The Austrian government must have undergone some changes. Not long ago, our ambassador in Vienna sent word that the voice for restricting French expansion still held the dominant position within the Austrian government.
With Metternich, that old fox, around, he couldnt possibly be unaware of the threat posed by allowing French expansion.
In the last Austro-Sardinian War, Austria had the opportunity to annex the Kingdom of Sardinia, but they backed down. This is sufficient proof that the Austrian government has no ambitions against you.
Now, there hasnt been any change in the Austrian government; not a single member of the cabinet has been replaced, and political stances dont shift so quickly.
Thomas analysis was very insightful; political stances cannot change arbitrarily, especially when they are accompanied by governing philosophies. Under the stable framework of the Austrian government, sudden policy reversals are even less likely.
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