I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 884 Return to Southern Germany
Half an hour later, Lucifer hurriedly escorted the French Foreign Minister out of the palace.

When Talleyrand's carriage disappeared from sight, he patted his trembling legs hard, turned around and walked quickly towards King Karl Eugen's bedroom.

Talleyrand had just told him that France's financial order had been severely disrupted due to the gold run, with losses exceeding 6 million francs.

If the French government had not borrowed high-interest loans from Italian states to fill the gap, France's finances might have collapsed by now.

France has found out that it was Britain that was behind all this, and the reason why the British were able to launch a financial war against France was because countries such as Württemberg provided them with a large number of franc banknotes.

Lucifer had only read in the newspapers that France had withstood the attack on its gold reserves, but he had not expected that France's losses would be so great.

He did not doubt the loss figures given by Talleyrand. After all, the incident was known to the whole of Europe, which showed how serious the situation was.

In fact, if he raised any doubts, Talleyrand would generously invite him to go to the French Reserve Bank for verification - the loss accounts had naturally been prepared long ago and were watertight.

Soon, all the ministers of Württemberg gathered in the king's bedroom, all with their heads lowered with solemn expressions.

Crown Prince Lucifer glanced at the king who was weakened by the disease and continued carefully:
"Your Majesty, the compensation demanded by the French government is -

“First, the previous loan agreement will be terminated immediately. Our country will repay all the 1 million francs of the loan within one month and pay a penalty of 5 million francs.

"Second, to compensate France for the losses it suffered in the gold run of 1 francs. This amount was calculated in proportion to the loans extended by the southern German states to the British.

"Third, my country must compensate the French central bank for its loss of credibility. This includes a compensation of 5 million francs and a public apology."

The ministers in the room all took a deep breath when they heard this.

All the compensation added up to nearly 4 million francs, which exceeded the total fiscal revenue of Württemberg in one and a half years.

Even if I sell them all, I can't afford the compensation...

As for defaulting on your debt?

They dared not even think about it.

The French army was less than a hundred kilometers away. If Württemberg did not pay compensation, Massena would bring his army to take it himself.

After a while, the Minister of the Interior said, "Your Majesty, perhaps we should ask the Emperor for help..."

Lucifer sighed: "Vienna has just launched a general mobilization and is fully committed to defending Mantua. They have no time to take care of us."

The Minister of War, Marquis Herder, whispered, "I heard that Bavaria asked the emperor for help not long ago, but received no response..."

Bavaria is considered the western gateway of Austria, and its importance is far beyond that of the small marginal country in Württemberg.

There was another uncomfortable silence.

Foreign Minister Zmelmann suddenly remembered something and said uncertainly, "Your Majesty, I heard that the French Foreign Minister loves money very much. As long as I can satisfy him, maybe I can get some advice from him."

King Karl Eugen coughed and raised his hand to signal his brother: "Lucivede, you go to see Mr. Talleyrand privately, oh, bring 20,000 florins..."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The next morning.

In an exquisite villa not far from the Stuttgart Palace, Talleyrand glanced at the gold coins in the wooden box, motioned the servants to move them down, and looked at Lucifer with a little more kindness in his eyes:

"Your Highness, regarding the matter of compensation, if you can satisfy our Royal Highness, it is possible to turn it around."

"Tell me what I must do, for God's sake!" Talleyrand smiled and handed him a glass of wine.

"You know, our country is at war with Austria. Your Highness would be very happy if your country could completely cut ties with the evil Austria."

Lucifer asked carefully, "What do you mean by cutting?"

"For example, declaring Württemberg's secession from the Holy Roman Empire."

Lucifer was immediately shocked and waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "This? How can this be possible? Vienna will not let us off..."

Talleyrand immediately frowned and said: "Since you don't want to, then I can't do anything."

After Lucifer begged and promised to increase the "consultation fee" by 1 florins, Talleyrand reluctantly said:
"Okay, let me think about it. Well, you have to at least have the attitude to cut.

"For example, expelling the Shinra Empire's garrison."

The so-called "Holy Roman Empire Army" was sent to various states by Austria in the name of the emperor.

Although the number of these troops is small, they reflect the empire's legitimacy over the various states.

At present, there are more than 400 imperial troops in Württemberg.

Lucifer struggled for a while, and finally chose the latter between 4 million francs and driving away the imperial garrison.

Austria happened to be at war, so we could use this as an excuse, and it wouldn't necessarily anger Austria.

"Well, I will advise your Majesty to let the imperial army leave." He looked at Talleyrand expectantly. "What do you think about the compensation?"

"Driving away the Imperial Army is far worse than withdrawing from the Holy Roman Empire. You have to do something else." Talleyrand pondered, "Well, I have an idea. Perhaps you can initiate the restart of the 'Seine-Rhine Trade System'."

Since the war between France and Austria went to war, the Treaty of Seine-on-Rhine could naturally no longer be implemented.

One of Austria's original motivations for going to war was to abolish this trade agreement.

Now that the war on the Rhine line has basically ended, Joseph does not want to give up the huge market in southern Germany.

Of course, Austria will certainly try its best to prevent France from returning here, but its military failure has made its voice in this region less than before.

In addition, the southern German countries violated the loan agreement and took the initiative to offer evidence, which gave France an excellent opportunity to take action.

As for these small countries being subject to trade sanctions from Austria after signing trade agreements with France, that is their own business.

In fact, Joseph was sure that given Austria's dependence on the southern German market, it was basically just a formality and the business had to be done as usual.

Of course, once Austria has recovered, it is possible that it will use the army to threaten the southern German countries to withdraw from the agreement.

However, by that time, the threatened states would most likely have formed economic ties with France and would be unwilling to accept Austria's instructions.

At that point, they will only have one choice.

That is to ask France to send troops to protect itself.

In order to safeguard its own commercial interests, France certainly has the obligation to do so.

We can even bring together the entire states under the "Seine-Rhine Trade System" to resist Austria's unwarranted trampling on the right to free trade!
No matter how the war ends, the rift between Austria and the German states will continue.

(End of this chapter)