I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 728 Weak States and Diplomacy

Franz II gripped his cane hard and began to pace back and forth anxiously.

Austria's financial situation was already very bad. He originally planned to take advantage of Russia to attract most of the Polish troops and bite off a large piece of meat from Poland to solve domestic problems.

But after fighting for several months, they have barely occupied Sandomierz, and that is only the part west of the San River, which is only about 80% of the area of ​​a province.

The profits Austria gained were only slightly higher than the military expenditure it invested.

If Poland and Russia ceased hostilities at this time, Poland's troops on the Eastern Front would soon be transferred to the Western Front.

Wurmser couldn't even take over Krakow in the first place, let alone at that time.

He stopped and said to Turgut, "I want to send more troops to the front line and capture Krakow as soon as possible!"

Turgut looked down at the tip of his shoe with some embarrassment and coughed lightly, "Ahem, Your Majesty, that would turn into a full-scale war with Poland... and the military expenditure would be at least 8 to 10 times the current amount."

"What? So many!"

Franz paused for a moment, then hesitated and asked, "What is your suggestion?"

Tugut raised his head again and said, “Your Majesty, we can negotiate an armistice with Poland as an alliance with Prussia and Russia.

"Poland will face joint pressure from the three countries, and only then can we consolidate the current results to the greatest extent possible."

Franz II had no other ideas. He pretended to think carefully and nodded, saying, "Then please contact Prussia and Russia as soon as possible."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

……

Potsdam.

Sanssouci Palace.

William II waved his hand and shouted: "Gdansk, I want Gdansk!"

Prince Heinrich sighed secretly and said, “Your Majesty, in my estimation, in a month at most, 60,000 to 70,000 Polish troops will return from the Eastern Front to defend Gdansk and other places.

“Given the will to fight that the Poles have shown recently, it might be difficult to deal with them.

"We have currently occupied three provinces in the Greater Poland region, and the benefits are already great enough."

William II glanced at him and said, "So, you think we should stop the war immediately?"

"Yes, we should unite with Russia and Austria to force Poland to make concessions in the armistice negotiations."

……

St. Petersburg.

Catherine II stared at Zubov, who had just returned from London, and gritted her teeth and said, "The British have always claimed to support our war against Poland, and I did not hesitate to offend France for this, expanded trade with them, and allowed them to mine in Donbass.

“And this is how they repay me?
"50 rubles, ha, are they treating beggars like this?!"

Zubov lowered his head and dared not breathe.

He went to London with full confidence to apply for a loan, but he did not expect that Britain was busy preparing for war against France. Coupled with the previous London gas streetlight incident and the loss of the Caribbean colonies, Congress rejected the loan to Russia without hesitation.

Right now, the only option left for Russia is a ceasefire.

The Tsar looked at Zubov again and said unhappily, "You will be responsible for the negotiations on the armistice with Poland. At least you must keep the results of the battles in Minsk and Mozyr for me."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I will definitely not let you down."

At this moment, a court official walked in quickly, saluted to Catherine II and said: "Your Majesty, Prince Henry of Prussia will arrive in St. Petersburg tomorrow morning, and he hopes to be summoned by you."

The next day.

The Tsar listened to Prince Henry's suggestion of a triple alliance to jointly negotiate an armistice with Poland, and nodded in agreement, adding: "We can also let Britain join the negotiations."

The British were unwilling to borrow money from Russia, so they certainly would not refuse to make a small contribution in diplomacy. As Prussia was a British ally, Prince Henry naturally had no objection: "Your suggestion is very good. I will make a request to London."

"They will agree." The Tsar smiled.

Even though a small country like Poland performed well on the battlefield, it had no choice but to surrender under the pressure of the four major powers.

Perhaps Russia can gain more than Minsk and Mozyr.

That afternoon she appointed Zubov as her plenipotentiary representative and went to London with the Austrian prince.

……

Paris.

Palace of Versailles.

Joseph couldn't help but frown slightly as he looked at the documents Sieyès had just submitted regarding the armistice negotiations with Poland.

The document stated: Russia, Prussia and Austria formed an alliance to jointly conduct armistice negotiations with Poland, and Britain also participated in the "mediation".

Russia, Prussia and Austria demanded that Poland cede the territories they had militarily occupied, totaling: two provinces for Russia, three provinces for Prussia and one province for Austria.

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Poland must keep its military force below 4.

The Port of Gdansk is jointly managed by Poland and Prussia, and no troops are allowed to be stationed there.

A large sum of war reparations...

The United Kingdom expressed its full support for the demands of the three countries and urged Poland to sign as soon as possible.

"It's really a world where the strong prey on the weak."

Joseph sighed and looked at Sieyès who had just returned from Poland: "So, what is Warsaw's opinion?"

Sieyès said in a low voice: “Your Highness, the Polish Parliament is ready to accept these conditions.

“You know, the situation in Poland is also very bad.

"According to the current intensity of the war, if there is no outside assistance, they can only hold out for two to three months at most. This is after exhausting all the national strength."

Since the beginning of the war, Poland has conscripted more than 24 young and middle-aged men. In addition to those who went directly to the front line, more than people were responsible for logistics and transportation.

For a small country with a population of only 1 million, this is almost the limit.

You know, there are still a lot of Orthodox people in Poland. The parliament is not willing to use these people in this war.

Poland's fiscal revenue depends almost entirely on agriculture. If it were not for the Tarnovskaya Silver Mine, it would have collapsed two months ago.

Therefore, due to the weakness of national strength, Poland had no choice but to accept the ceasefire, otherwise the collapse of the entire country would be waiting for them.

Joseph took up the terms of the armistice negotiations again.

To be honest, this is much better than the historical result of the "Second Melon War" which caused Poland to lose 30 square kilometers of territory.

Even if all the six provinces requested by Russia, Prussia and Austria were ceded, the total area would only be about 6 to square kilometers, and there was only one relatively wealthy province, Poznan.

"Triple Alliance?" Joseph looked at the top line of the document and suddenly thought of something. "They want to exert pressure together, but an alliance that only appears to be united but actually is not together often has a counterproductive effect."

He thought for a moment, then gave instructions to Sieyès, asking him to return immediately to Saxony, the location of the armistice negotiations.

1793 3 Month 14 Day.

Saxony.

Dresden Palace.

Polish Royal Minister Malachowski looked coldly at the four negotiators in front of him and threw his pen on the table: "Robbers, traitors, perfidious people, ha! Poland will not accept these conditions!"

(End of this chapter)