I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 550 Sacrifice to Poland
Marquis Wellesley nodded slowly. "You are right. As long as Prussia and Austria cannot expand eastward, they can only choose to fight for control of the German region."

If a country wants to survive in the jungle of the world, it must continue to grow stronger. This is the consensus of everyone. If it does not become stronger, it will be swallowed up by the strong.

Expansion is undoubtedly the most effective way to enhance strength.

Lord Grenville continued: “As long as Prussia and Austria continue to fight, no country on the European continent will have the strength to threaten France.

"So if we want to re-establish the balance of power on the continent, we must first end the hostility between Prussia and Austria."

Marquis Wellesley frowned. "I'm afraid this won't be an easy task. They were still fighting for Silesia a few months ago, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides are still facing each other on the Breslau front."

"It's certainly not easy." Grenville nodded, "but it's not impossible.

"After the war last year, the financial situation of Prussia and Austria has become very bad. As you know, the drought in recent years has hit the economy of almost all countries hard. As far as I know, Prussia and Austria actually want to end the stalemate in Silesia as soon as possible.

"So at this time, we need another target to divert their attention - a target that is more attractive and easier to obtain than Silesia."

"Poland, you mean?"

"It's so relaxing to discuss issues with you." Grenville smiled, "Prussia and Austria have been fighting in Silesia for so long, with countless casualties, but actually not much has been gained.

"If they put their hundreds of thousands of troops into Poland, they could easily gain land several times larger than Silesia.

"If the timing is right, I believe they will not be able to resist this temptation."

"No, no, Prussia and Poland are still allies, this should be..."

"Please believe me, Prussia's desire for the port of Gdansk will make them tear up any alliance without hesitation."

Gdansk is the later Danze. It is the estuary of the Vistula River, which flows through Warsaw to the fertile East European plains of Hungary, connecting to the Baltic Sea in the north. It is an important node for Eastern Europe to participate in the Atlantic maritime trade.

At the same time, it is also the closest seaport to Prussia, which has unparalleled attraction for Prussia, which lacks good ports.

Later, the core factor of Germany's blitzkrieg against Poland in World War II was to seize the port of Danze. The Allied fleet's naval blockade of Germany was also mainly launched here. This shows how important its strategic location is.

The Marquis of Wellesley shook his glass and said, "Then we are back to the original problem. First of all, we must get Prussia and Austria to cease fire."

"We will have to do something, and even pay some necessary price." Grenville had obviously been planning this for a long time, and said confidently, "Fortunately, we can still rely on Russia's strength.

"You know, Russia wants Minsk and Podolia more than anyone else. It's the 'forward base' that gives them easier access to the heart of Europe.

"I believe that Russia should be willing to give up some interests and make necessary threats for this.

"If we continue to use this as a tool for mediation, Prussia and Austria will definitely sign an armistice agreement." Wellesley's eyes lit up. He thought that his successor was a genius in strategic planning if he could get the Russians to contribute to the British strategic goals.

If it were anyone else, they would have complimented the Foreign Secretary, but Wellesley thought for a moment and asked very cautiously, "One last question.

“Even if we succeed in using the interests of dividing Poland and other means to make Prussia and Austria abandon their mutual hostility and even form a certain degree of military alliance, how can you guarantee that they will become enemies of France?

"Especially since Austria is currently an ally of France."

"To be honest, I don't have a solid plan for this either." The Foreign Minister spread his hands, "At least we have built a force outside of France that is strong enough to fight against it.

"Oh, there is one thing we can use. I heard that the Holy Roman Empress Maria Ludovica hates the French. She should be willing to help us."

"Oh? I've really been away from Europe for too long. This actually happened."

"It seems that the woman her dear cousin loved was snatched away by the French crown prince." Grenville showed a playful smile, "Later, the French were probably still worried, so they sent assassins to assassinate Baron Walter. Fortunately, he was lucky and escaped, but he also lost his left hand."

Well, yes, after Walter had three fingers amputated, he followed the advice of a famous British doctor and soaked the wound in a soup made from mallow leaves, violets, beetroots, cinnamon, cardamom... and more than a dozen other things. As expected, the pickled left hand became infected and had to be cut off completely.

Fortunately, he was in good health. After 5 days of high fever, he miraculously managed to hold on and barely survived.

However, this brush with hell made him hate the mastermind who sent the assassin - the French Crown Prince - even more.

So he began to constantly speak ill of the French in Ludovica's ear. In fact, the Holy Roman Empress had previously been resentful of the French royal family because of the humiliation of her daughter being rejected for marriage - at least she firmly believed that this was the case. This time, coupled with the new hatred of her cousin, she has become a core figure in the anti-French faction in Vienna.

The Marquis of Wellesley shook his head slightly: "These alone are far from enough. After all, the pro-French forces in Vienna are also very large.

"We must find the differences in interests between France and Austria and try to expand them, so that we can reverse Vienna's attitude as a whole."

Grenville shrugged and said helplessly: "But there is no conflict of interest between France and Austria for the time being. There are some common interests, such as the Southern Netherlands..."

Before he finished speaking, Wellesley suddenly thought of something and said excitedly: "You are such a strategic genius! That's right, the Southern Netherlands, it's here!"

As the sound of ball music filled the hall, two of Britain's best young politicians soon smiled as they talked, then nodded at each other.

In fact, many major decisions that have affected countless countries and caused the deaths of tens of millions of people did not come from serious discussions in conference rooms, but were more likely to be made in occasions such as dances and salons.

Five days later.

In his office at 10 Downing Street, Pitt Jr. looked around at the cabinet ministers sitting there and nodded, saying, "I think Lord Grenville's diplomatic plan is excellent. This will enable us to have a reliable military alliance on the European continent that can effectively check and balance France."

(End of this chapter)