I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 932: The Empire's Decline
The city of Venice.

The long and low whistle sound floated above St. Mark's Basilica.

The sound lasted for a long time, and just when Ludwig von Kobutzl felt his ears were about to be numb, the surroundings finally became quiet.

The new Austrian Foreign Minister subconsciously turned his head to look out to sea.

Unfortunately, this place is a bit far from the port and the church building blocks his view, but he knows that there are 20 French steam warships lined up outside the port.

When they blew the whistle, half of Venice could hear it.

Kobzl sighed secretly. It was this strange warship that forced the British to withdraw from the Mediterranean Sea. Otherwise, the empire would not have been defeated so quickly in northern Italy...

The whistle sounded again.

His assistant reminded him in his ear:
"Sir, according to procedure, we must arrive at the negotiation venue when the whistle blows for the third time."

Kobzl nodded, and just as he was about to take a step forward, he suddenly stopped, stepped aside to make way, and gestured to Marshal Alvinzi who was following behind him: "Respected Marshal, please go first."

Well, Alvinzi had regained his freedom five days ago by paying a ransom of 85 florins.

The old marshal sighed, then lowered his head and walked into St. Mark's Square first. The first thing he saw was soldiers holding colorful flags and standing in neat rows around the square. There were at least thousands of them.

Before he came, he had heard that member states of the Mediterranean Security Organization would come to observe the signing ceremony of the armistice agreement, but he did not expect it to be this kind of "observation" method.

Then he saw Talleyrand, Napoleon and several other Frenchmen standing side by side at the conference table in the middle of the square.

The lame man waited for the Austrian negotiating delegation to approach and said to them with a smile: "Ah, everyone, please take a seat. Today's meeting schedule is very full, we have to hurry up."

Alvinzi had thought that there would be long negotiations on the terms of the armistice, but as soon as he sat down, Talleyrand distributed a stack of documents to him, Kobutzl and others.

It is the text of the armistice agreement.

Ten minutes later, Talleyrand clapped his hands again and said with a smile: "I believe you have no objection, so I will start reading it."

Alvinqi had not even finished reading one-fifth of the agreement at this time. He frowned and glanced at the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Seeing that the latter just remained silent, he slowly closed his eyes and closed the agreement text.

Without waiting for anyone to reply, Talleyrand stood up, raised his hand and gestured to those around him, then recited aloud:

"His Majesty Louis XVI, King of France, and His Majesty Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, have agreed upon the following terms in order to end the war and establish a lasting peace..."

The content is exactly the same as what Joseph originally told Count Moses, but it is more detailed and accurate.

The French Foreign Minister read for nearly an hour, and finally read the ending:
“… and, a total of 4 secret clauses. They will not be read out publicly here.

“State Party…”

He then handed the formal text of the agreement to his assistant, who took it across the table and placed it in front of Kobzl.

Kobutzl, Alvinzi, and Archduke Ferdinand, representing the Holy Roman Imperial Family, signed the armistice agreement one after another.

Then the French representatives signed, exchanged the text of the agreement, and sealed the originals with wax.

Talleyrand signaled to the officer in the distance, who immediately ordered the soldiers to fire 24 rounds of salute, and then lowered the flag with the Habsburg emblem painted on it in front of the negotiation table to the accompaniment of the band. The flag-lowering ceremony was followed by the sword-surrendering ceremony, the military rotation ceremony, the map division ceremony, and the interview with reporters...

Only then did Alvinzi understand why Talleyrand said at the beginning that time was very tight.

At 6 pm, the signing ceremony was declared over after the last reporter finished asking questions.

The painters and reporters at the scene all returned with a full load.

A few days later, the whole of Europe saw the news in newspapers: Austria officially withdrew from the anti-French alliance, recognized France's rule over the Southern Netherlands, Northern Italy and the Rhineland, and paid a war reparations of 3 million florins.

Austria's halo as a top-notch country in Europe was shattered almost instantly.

At this time, in the minds of people in European countries, Austria has fallen to the same level as Prussia...

France, which defeated the anti-French alliance on its own, became the recognized first power in Europe.

While everyone was talking about the war, they began to pay attention to the development of France's industry, commerce, technology and other fields.

Newspapers in various countries turned into "France fans" overnight. Even the extravagance and decadence of the nobles in the Palace of Versailles were portrayed by them as the advantages of "leading fashion" and "promoting the economy"...

Of course, the people most affected were the Austrians.

Vienna managed to maintain calm under the strict control of the army and secret police, but large-scale protests broke out in other major cities, and the liberal slogans of "freedom, equality, and human rights" resounded throughout the empire.

Baron Thugut was assassinated three times within a week, his mansion was burned down, and he was eventually forced to flee Vienna and seek refuge in Galicia.

Fortunately, after the signing of the armistice agreement, Napoleon's troops began to return to France, which allowed Archduke Karl to withdraw a large number of troops from the border and send them to various parts of Austria to suppress riots.

Archduke Karl, the last military god of the Holy Roman Empire, resolved the rioters in most cities with extremely high efficiency in less than a month.

Although there were some bloody incidents such as the "Krems Massacre" and the "Graz Square Incident", he managed to stabilize the situation, and was commended by Francis II and awarded the title of marshal.

It was not until his army encountered Hungarian and Romanian rebels in Transylvania that its previous invincible momentum was suddenly thwarted.

More than 1 rebels relied on their familiarity with the mountains in southeastern Austria to constantly ambush and launch surprise attacks on the imperial army, causing Archduke Karl to suffer a lot...

Prussia.

Potsdam.

Sanssouci Palace.

Wilhelmine, the mistress of William II and the actual ruler of the kingdom, handed the report in her hand to the military minister, Marquis Grolman, and asked, "So, what do you think about this?"

The latter glanced at the new Prime Minister Baron Heinrich von Stein, considered for a moment, and then said: "Austria has experienced a serious rebellion, and their troops are currently in Transylvania. This is indeed a good opportunity...

"But I'm not sure our finances can support such a war. After all, Austria still has thousands of troops stationed in Liegnitz."

(End of this chapter)