Chapter 1681 - 1587: Twilight of the Empire

Chapter 1681: Chapter 1587: Twilight of the Empire

Right now Prussia has been fully plugged into France’s metallurgical system. Even though it’s using last-generation technology, it can still utterly crush the entire Germanic Region.

This allowed Prussia’s steel products, in less than a year, to seize over half of the Northern Germany market; even Austria has begun smuggling Prussian steel.

In recent years, the various Northern Germany states have all rushed to launch railway projects; Prussia has made a killing just selling rail tracks, and the state finances have finally caught a breather.

Of course, the French companies exporting coal to Prussia are likewise making hefty profits.

But for Austria, this is bad news.

Once they really go to war with Bavaria plus Wurttemberg, Prussia will inevitably loot the house while it’s on fire.

Franz II blurted out, "Should we have the Russians help deal with Bavaria?"

Metternich and Stadion immediately lowered their heads, lest the Emperor see the way they were looking at him as if he were an idiot.

If Austria were to bring the Russian Army into Western Europe, they would instantly become the public enemy of all Europe.

Seeing the two of them silent, Franz II knew he’d made a rookie mistake, and hurriedly changed the subject: "Ahem, so we should first give ground a little?"

Metternich was very pleased that His Majesty the Emperor was so receptive, and he further laid out for him the current situation in Germany, then left the Emperor’s study with Stadion, feeling reassured.

The next day at noon, the Emperor’s new diplomatic directive was delivered to Metternich’s desk.

The Foreign Minister casually opened the file; after only a few lines his face had already gone dark—The Emperor wanted him to send someone to Bavaria to explain the matter of the O’Leary Army. At the same time, Austria would no longer pursue the issue of the rebels crossing Bavaria.

And of the three million florins in compensation demanded by Bavaria, the Emperor agreed to pay two million. As well as reaffirming Bavarian territorial sovereignty in the Imperial Assembly...

Metternich was practically going mad.

If this plan were carried out, Austria would henceforth become a complete laughingstock in the Germanic Region!

He let out a long sigh and hurriedly rose to rush off to Eggenberg Palace.

...

September 1802.

Olsperlo, presently on his way to Munich, had his brows tightly knit; he knew this assignment was no enviable job.

The Emperor had authorized him to pacify the Bavarians, and he could even offer them trade concessions to compensate a hundred thousand florins. Then there was increasing Bavaria’s voice in the Imperial Assembly.

For Austria, conditions like these were all but a diplomatic humiliation. And when accountability was settled in the future, the odds were high he’d be the one made to take the fall.

By the time Olsperlo entered Munich City, his mood had shifted from depression to worry.

The city walls were plastered with slogans opposing "the oppression of the Empire" and promoting the "Southern German Dual Core." Demonstrations and speakers were everywhere; he even faintly heard shouts of "Death to the Emperor."

Things indeed developed very badly: when the Bavarian Foreign Minister heard him roughly outline the conditions proposed by Austria, he immediately took a hard line, stating that their demands must be accepted word for word, otherwise further measures would be taken.

And the Bavarians had drawn a final deadline—mid-September.

At the same time, newspapers all across the Germanic Region began madly reporting news like "His Majesty the Emperor has vetoed all Munich’s demands" and "Bavaria suffers diplomatic humiliation."

Yes, Bavaria’s conditions had indeed not been accepted, but almost no one mentioned Austria’s rather sincere compromise plan.

All the media spin was devoted to portraying Bavaria as a tragic victim.

Anti-Emperor demonstrations on Munich’s streets grew even more intense; Olsperlo even narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.

Less than half a month was nowhere near enough time for Metternich to come up with any effective counter-strategy, and yet Bavaria’s deadline was already upon them.

None of the states in the Germanic Region had expected the Bavarian Government’s reaction to be so extreme.

At 8 a.m. on 16 September, the Munich Royal Palace formally announced to the outside world that it would permanently renounce the "Elector Palatine" status, withdraw from the Imperial Assembly, and no longer be bound by any decrees or agreements of the Holy Roman Empire.

Put simply—Bavaria was no longer one of the Holy Roman Empire states.

...

Graz.

Franz II’s eyes, as he looked at his ministers, were filled with both panic and hope.

After two consecutive days of fierce argument, those advocating a hard line against Bavaria now held a slight majority, but they still hadn’t managed to form a unified position.

Several hardline ministers murmured among themselves, "Once Archduke Karl returns, all opposing voices will disappear!"

"His Highness should arrive in Graz next week, right?"

"His Highness ought to be bringing troops with him; those weaklings will be arrested!"

An official from the Foreign Ministry walked in at a brisk pace and handed a report to Count Stadion—Metternich had gone to England to seek support; he wasn’t here.

Stadion quickly skimmed the document, then said to the Emperor with a grim face, "Your Majesty, yesterday at noon, Wurttemberg, in accordance with its agreement with Bavaria, also declared its secession from the Empire."

The hall instantly filled with the buzz of discussion, though it wasn’t particularly heated.

After all, Wurttemberg siding with Bavaria was something everyone had long anticipated.

Two hardline ministers stepped forward a few paces, just about to make use of this to grandstand, when they saw another Foreign Ministry official walking along the wall toward Stadion.

And the man’s expression was clearly somewhat strained.

This time, after reading the report, Stadion kept silent for a long while, and only when War Committee member Earl Teigen pressed him did he stammer out, "Cologne... has betrayed the Empire too..."

Earl Teigen snatched the report from his hand and saw written there: The Cologne Congress, in response to the Austrian Government’s persecution of the elected National Assembly and its mass slaughter of Members of Parliament, had issued a resolution declaring that it no longer recognized the Emperor of Sanctum’s rule over Cologne as legitimate, and was withdrawing from the Imperial Assembly...

The document was passed from hand to hand, yet no one uttered a word.

If the secession of the Southern German Dual Core from Holy Rome was a "frontal enemy," then what Cologne had just pulled was "the killer’s lethal bullet fired from the shadows."

One must remember, Cologne was a tiny country with a population of under three hundred thousand—the original Archbishopric of Cologne had split into three parts after the "Archbishop Disappearance Incident"—this was tantamount to announcing to all Europe that the Empire had completely lost its grip on Northern Germany!

And what troubled these Austrian ministers most was that, faced with such a small state, they truly had no way to deal with it.

If they dispatched troops to attack Cologne, they’d have to cross practically the entire Germanic Region—Saxon, Hesse, Brunswick, Nassau, none of them were easy countries to handle.

And even if they somehow reached Cologne, Prussia would hardly stand idly by. This was, after all, his "pre-designated" sphere of influence.

Yes, Cologne was the "needle Joseph had picked out in Northern Germany to puncture the Holy Roman Empire."

After the Archbishopric of Cologne was partitioned, Cologne had become a republic governed by a Congress, and because it was not at all welcomed by its neighbors—almost all of its neighbors were monarchies or bishoprics—it had grown extremely radical, tolerating no speech or action opposed to elections and Congress.

So when Talleyrand and several senior Members of Parliament from Cologne "communicated" with them about the situation of the Austrian National Assembly, the attitude of the Cologne Congress swiftly swung to an extremely hard line against Austria’s Royalist Party.