The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1099 New Confederacy

After the German Zollverein was merged into the German Confederation, Franz still needed to make some reforms.

Historically, after the Prussians took complete control of the Customs Union, they began to exploit it crazily. They even used the income from the Customs Union to support the army.

According to the Prussian thinking, the armies of those small countries are uniformly trained by Prussia anyway, and the security guarantee is shared with Prussia. It is better to hand over all the money to the Prussian army for unified management.

However, unsightly food and shocking corruption have led to a surge in military spending, and a large amount of money has gone unaccounted for.

In the end, the customs union was unable to make ends meet, and each member country had to pay back, causing internal dissatisfaction within the alliance and almost falling apart.

The customs union led by Austria will give priority to tariff revenue for the daily expenses and operations of the confederation, and the remaining 30% will be used as a confederal reserve to deal with unexpected wars and disasters, as well as to reward outstanding figures within the confederation and those who have made special contributions to the confederation.

The remaining 70% will be redistributed according to the country's population. This can ensure that all countries can enjoy the alliance dividend, which is of great significance for maintaining stability within the confederation.

At the same time, this is also Franz's policy to stimulate population. Each state will definitely encourage childbirth in order to get more dividends, which can effectively increase the population growth in the German region.

A considerable part of these new populations will flow into the Austrian Empire, and the specific amount will depend on the future development of the Austrian Empire.

Even so, if it were a customs union dominated by the Prussians in history, then all countries would still be dissatisfied. After all, it would still harm their interests to a certain extent.

But it was different at this time, because the Confederacy owned a large number of shared colonies, and this was no longer a simple loss-making business.

Any loss or loss is a loss, but some profits are different.

The most important thing is that the Germans also long for the land under the sun. In the past, it was just due to lack of strength. At this time, the Austrian Empire has taken the first step, and other countries naturally want to take a share of the pie.

The development and construction of colonies requires a huge amount of funds and a large population. If a country is responsible for it, even a great power like Austria can only choose those golden lands.

Ordinary countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands, and Portugal either do not have enough strength to carry out development, or they cannot even do routine maintenance after the development is completed.

But the German Confederation was different. They only needed each country to bear part of the cost to accomplish what a single country couldn't do with all its efforts.

Moreover, the colonies Franz selected for the German Confederation all have great potential, but they may cause some minor frictions with other countries in the future.
In fact, Franz still has a lot of reform plans, but he cannot implement them all at once. Some are too radical, some are too advanced, and some may simply affect the interests of some people, so he can only follow the temptation.

At this point, the main issues of the German Confederation Conference in 1848 have basically ended, and the results are as follows:

1. Proposal for merger of families of the same clan.

2. Prussia and Denmark immediately and unconditionally cease fire.

1848. Prussia must complete its withdrawal before September 9, 20.

4. Denmark officially joins the German Confederation. Danes must abide by the laws of the German Confederation and respect German traditions.
5. Cancel the status of the four major free cities.

6. The division of ownership of the four free cities: Bavaria gets Frankfurt, Saxony gets Hamburg, Hanover gets Bremen, Denmark gets Lübeck, and Prussia gets the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg.

7. Determine the method of dealing with the remnants of the constitutionalists and the masterminds behind the scenes. 8. Designate Patagonia as a place of exile for the Jews.

9. In order to prevent the resurgence of the constitutionalists, the designated location of the Confederation Assembly was changed to Vienna, and a permanent office was established, with all expenses temporarily borne by the Austrian Empire.

10. The German Customs Union merged with the German Confederation and became a subordinate agency of the Confederation. Its headquarters was also in Vienna and the Confederation Reserve Fund was established.
The internal problems of the German Confederation have come to an end for the time being, but Franz also deliberately dug a few holes. For example, Saxony and Belgium, Nassau and the Netherlands, Hannover and Braunschweig, Lübeck and Denmark
Lübeck is indeed one of the four free cities, but it is a poison for Denmark.

Because with the addition of Lübeck, the power of the Germans in the Kingdom of Denmark will completely overwhelm the Danes, and Danish nationalists will never give up.

A series of struggles will inevitably break out between the two sides in order to compete for dominance. If it is just an internal struggle within Denmark, then there will be many factors that determine the outcome, and it is difficult to say whether the two sides will win or lose.

But now that the Kingdom of Denmark has joined the German Confederation, there can only be an inevitable result.

More than a million Danes will succumb within ten years, Germanization will begin within twenty years, and within two or three generations Denmark will completely become a geographical term.

Franz dug holes just for people to step on, but some people could no longer hold back.

The blind king of the Kingdom of Hanover wanted to prove himself so much that Georg V directly made a request to merge with the Principality of Brunswick.

The performance of the Principality of Brunswick in 1848 can be described as amazing. In the turbulent German region, not only was it not affected, it even strengthened the government's credibility and control.

Duke William was one of the few wise kings in Germany at this time. He had outstanding ability and firm will, but lacked ambition.

After George V publicly made this unreasonable request, Duke William actually agreed.

This made Franz feel very speechless. The situation of the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick did meet the conditions for the merger of the same clan, and he really had no reason to stop it.

It's just that this time the mentality of King William IV of Prussia completely collapsed. Saxony reunited and got Hamburg, and Hanover got Bremen and Braunschweig successively.

In particular, Braunschweig has always been deeply influenced by Prussia, and it can be called Prussia's little brother from an economic and political perspective.

However, once Brunswick returns to Hanover, the situation will be completely different. Hanover will inevitably compete with Prussia for the position of the largest power in North Germany.

Coupled with the recovering Saxony Kingdom, Prussia's life will become increasingly difficult.

Although Franz cannot and will not prevent the merger of Hannover and Braunschweig, he still has to be a favor.

"Duke Wilhelm has always been one of the most talented and able men among us, and I propose that he may be used as governor of Bremen to stabilize hearts and minds."

George V was blind, but his heart was not blind. He understood what Franz meant. Letting Duke William serve as Governor of Bremen was indeed the best way at this time.

This will not only reduce Duke William's dissatisfaction, but also minimize the negative impact of the merger of the same clan, and block the long-winded mouths of relatives.

The most important thing is that after Franz's suggestion, Georg V even felt that Duke William had set his sights on the post of Governor of Bremen early on.

You must know that a wealthy governor lives a more carefree and happy life than a king of a small country, and it is not impossible for governors in this era to be hereditary.