I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 649: Enemies Reunite

Two Italian-speaking officers rushed into Kem’s tent, newspapers in hand, forgetting to salute, and shouted angrily: “General, these damn reporters…”

"We can't just let this go! General, let's go and settle accounts with the French!"

This sentence seemed to pierce General Keim's brain, and a huge force surged through his body. Yes, as long as he could lead his troops to surround those thousands of French troops and humiliate them, tomorrow's newspaper headlines would definitely be very exciting.

As for invading Modena, haha, isn't it possible for him to come and go as he pleases in such a small country?
General Kem stood up suddenly, and just as the words "assemble the army and attack" were about to come out of his mouth, he was suddenly stuck.

He remembered the dolphin and iris on the French flag he had seen yesterday, indicating that it was the French Royal Guards.

He had experienced the Battle of Liegnitz and witnessed with his own eyes how the French Guards Corps, which consisted of less than 10,000 men, cut into the Prussian army, which was several times larger than theirs, and pinned it to the west of the Austrian defense line.

Among his 3 troops, there were only 4 elite members of the Royal German Legion, and the rest were the Bohemian Guard and the Hungarian Frontier Infantry Regiment. This was why the sudden sound of artillery would cause chaos in the Austrian army - the latter two were mobilized nearby and had very average combat qualities.

General Keim slowly sat back in his chair.

Putting aside the danger of his impulsiveness triggering a war between France and Austria, even if he went to settle accounts with the French, the result would most likely be that he would be humiliated again by thousands of French guards...

He waved at the two officers with a sullen face: "It was just an accident. Pass the order that no one should mention this matter again from now on."

However, newspapers across Italy seem happy to talk about it.

In just two or three days, all major newspapers from Sardinia to the Two Sicilies reprinted the news from the Genoese Commercial News. Of course, this was driven by Segur's financial support.

Italy was full of talk about how "the Austrian army was frightened out of their wits by thousands of French troops at the border of Parma." The story became more and more outrageous, and soon became "the Austrian army ran all the way back to Tuscany, with cannons and flintlocks scattered all over the ground," and "the people of Tersuco even picked up General Kem's carved toilet."

The military exercise, which was originally intended to demonstrate the Austrian army's powerful combat capability, ended up being a joke.

……

Palace of Versailles.

At the door of the Peace Hall, Count Rheinfels straightened his collar and prepared to continue "fighting" with Bailly with high morale.

The situation in Italy was very favorable, and he believed that the French would soon give in.

At this moment, his assistant trotted over and handed him a letter: "Sir, it was just sent by the ambassador to Parma."

Count Rheinfels opened the letter and the smile on his face froze.

The letter first briefly stated the embarrassing incident of the Kem Corps, and then mentioned that Parma and the Two Sicilies both expressed their intention to reconsider the proposal to adjust tariffs on France. Tuscany announced the proportion of additional tariffs on France - fur products, porcelain, etc. were increased by 18%, and other commodities were increased by a maximum of 3%.

The Austrian Foreign Minister crumpled the letter into a ball. Fur? Porcelain? These things were not on the French export list. And the most important wine, textiles, furniture, etc., only increased by 1.5%, what's the difference between this and no increase? !

These small countries are very practical. When two giants quarrel, they naturally will not offend the one with more developed muscles.

The only state that insisted on raising tariffs was Venice, an Austrian vassal state.

But Count Rheinfels knew that France would never give up the huge Austrian market for just Venice.

He took a deep breath and walked into the Peace Hall.

Sure enough, today, Bailly, contrary to his previous procrastination and prevarication, stated firmly that the Rhine-Seine Treaty must be respected and France would not consider adjusting it.

……

Half a month later. Prague, Austria.

Francis II walked out of St. Vitus Cathedral. His face showed no solemnity and majesty that a newly crowned King of Bohemia should have. Instead, he gritted his teeth and kept muttering something.

"Volatel is a jerk... the damned French..."

Volatel is the last name of Count Rheinfels.

Francis II remembered that he was still talking to his ministers yesterday about "unifying the Holy Roman Empire" and "making the empire the master of Europe again", but the reality was that he couldn't even ask France to make concessions in trade.

He turned sharply to his attendant and shouted, "Tell that stupid Kaim to go to Marosh to manage the warehouse!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After Franz II had his tantrum, he soon fell into deep worry.

If the current trade pattern cannot be changed, the Austrian market will definitely be gradually occupied by France, and Austria's trade income will continue to decline.

Even if you have ambitions comparable to those of Emperor Otto the Great, if you don't have enough gold coins to support them, it will always be just a dream.

He immediately recalled the poor performance of the Austrian army in Italy.

It was obvious that the army was in urgent need of a large-scale reform. All the kings who went down in history had an invincible army, and he was no exception.

Military reform also requires a large amount of money.

Money became a towering mountain that he could not climb.

Francis II returned to the Prague Palace dejectedly and saw Bathurst, the British ambassador to Austria, waiting at the door.

The latter saluted him on the chest, said a lot of congratulations on the coronation, and then continued:

"Your Majesty, there is a distinguished guest who wishes to meet with you. I am sure this is of great importance to both of you."

Francis II asked in surprise: "Please tell me his name."

"His Majesty, King William II of Prussia."

"What is he doing here?" Franz II frowned. Prussia and Austria had fought bloody battles in Silesia a year ago. Now, the King of Prussia suddenly wanted to see him, which was very unreasonable.

But the British were able to play a role in the matter, yet they also forced him to be cautious.

noon the next day.

A black carriage stopped at the square of the Royal Palace of Lager. The servant opened the door and William II stepped out. He bowed to the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from a distance and said:

"Your Majesty, I was originally planning to attend your coronation ceremony, but you know how difficult the mud in Lusatia is, so I arrived just now."

Franz II looked at his old Austrian rival coldly, then gave a standard diplomatic smile:
“Your arrival is welcome, no matter it is early or late, it shows your respectful attitude as the Elector.

"Oh, please come in."

William II ignored the suppression of his status in his words and followed him into the palace. He exchanged a few words of greeting, then coughed lightly and said:
"Ah, I heard some news that Austria's financial situation doesn't seem to be very optimistic recently."

(End of this chapter)