Chapter 731: Conflicts
Chapter 714 Contradictions
Compared to Austria’s calm response, the Berlin government was on fire in a hurry.
The brand of the Pupo Federation was still there, and the refugees were all citizens of the Pupo Federation, so it was obviously unreasonable to stop their own nationals from entering the country now.
However, not intercepting the same problem, millions of refugees pouring in, jobs are certainly not available, the Berlin government even if all efforts can not be resettled.
Employment placement can not be in a hurry, the problem of housing is also easy to deal with, just support a shed is a family, have become a refugee is not picky qualifications, but always have to take care of food, right?
The stomach can’t be fooled, millions of mouths are waiting to be fed, as long as they are let in, the Berlin government must find a way to feed them.
It’s a bottomless pit, no doubt about it. Maybe the Russians wouldn’t even have to attack, the refugees would be able to eat their way through the Kingdom of Prussia.
Since the beginning of the Second Russo-Prussian War, Wilhelm I’s health had been declining rapidly, and the unfavorable news from the battlefield had left the senile old king gasping for breath.
The years had dulled William I’s ambitions, and now all he wanted was a safe landing. However, this was already a luxury.
The unique system of the Kingdom of Prussia dictated that the chariot, once started, could not be stopped. Anyone who tried to block the chariot’s progress would be crushed to pieces.
This chariot without brakes could only stop when the horse got tired of running. As the coachman, William I was only able to adjust the direction of the carriage’s advance, picking the spacious road as much as possible.
William I dragged his old body and asked with concern, “What is the position held by the European countries?”
Undoubtedly, several million refugees had already exceeded the limit that the Kingdom of Prussia could bear, and the Berlin government was unable to solve the refugee crisis and had to turn to the international community.
Foreign Minister Jeffrey Friedman replied with a grim face, “The situation is very bad, all European countries have condemned the atrocities of the Russians, but not many are willing to take actual action.
It is mainly the countries of the German region that are currently offering us substantial assistance.
Austria has promised to provide us with 5 million marks worth of supplies and 20,000 tons of food for relief within a month, and the other German states together have about 30 million marks worth of supplies.
Our previous negotiations with Britain and Germany have also taken a turn for the worse, and the position of the London government has again changed, and is now more in favor of Hanover.
If we want to gain more support from them, we will have to establish North Germany together with Hanover, and we will also have to sell a portion of our territory to Hanover in exchange for funds to pay off our debts.”
William I had no time to lament the fact that it was his own people who could be relied upon in times of crisis, but was stunned by the conditions that followed, which clearly ate them up.
The establishment of North Germany can be, dominated by Hanover although the heart is a little difficult to accept, but who Prussian Kingdom is now down and out it, behind the sale of territory will be fatal.
The huge debt owed by the Prussian-Prussian Confederation will fall on the head of the Berlin government in the future. To alleviate the debt crisis, the territory that needs to be sold is certainly not half a star.
In order to gain dominance in North Germany, Hanover would also weaken the Kingdom of Prussia as much as possible, and getting slaughtered was an inevitable result.
Frankly speaking, if paying these prices can get through the current crisis, William I really do not mind compromising with Hanover.
The problem is that Prussia is not his decision, Hanover put forward the conditions, has long broken through the bottom line of the Junker nobles, they simply can not accept.
This aspect and the end of the Ming Dynasty’s Donglin Party is somewhat similar. Knowing that do not pay taxes will be the end of the Ming Dynasty, reshuffle the cards, as vested interests in them will also follow the bad luck, is not willing to back down half a step.
After the end of the Ming Dynasty, they found that the new master was not easy to serve, and it was already too late to regret. Under the butcher’s knife, these people quickly chose to compromise.
The current Junker aristocracy is similar, it’s fine to have a truce, but the premise is that their interests must be safeguarded first.
However, the reality was that it could not be done. No matter which family, it was impossible to offer this astronomical price.
Things got stuck here, and the Berlin government didn’t even dare to take action if they wanted to make good. Because the first to get up and wake everyone up usually doesn’t end well.
William I asked, “What do you think?”
The room was quiet, no one took up the topic, not that people didn’t know how to answer, but they simply didn’t dare to answer.
Politics is cruel, often say a word wrong, will pay a terrible price, especially now this sensitive moment, or will be put to death “national traitors”.
See no one to answer, William I sighed: “Today’s conversation will be strictly confidential, only a few of us know, out of here you can not admit that you have said, have any ideas on the assured boldly say it!”
No way, this is the “****ism” system sad. Especially after the first Russo-Prussian War, the Junker aristocracy grew stronger, and the Berlin government had to be influenced by it.
It is worth mentioning that these cabinet members, without exception, all have Junker aristocratic background, theoretically they are the interests of this group of spokesmen.
However, thanks to the power of Wilhelm I and the different interests of the Junker nobility, the group was also divided.
Now, except for the group of radicals in the army who still want to fight back, everyone else knows that the Pope’s Confederation is finished, and if they don’t save themselves the Kingdom of Prussia will be finished as well.
At this point in time, the first thing that officials in politics want to protect is their own interests. Of course there is patriotic integrity, but for most politicians, it comes after personal interests.
Being looked at by William I, Prime Minister Melanie Griffith replied apprehensively, “Your Majesty, at this point in time, no matter how excessive the conditions are, we must go to the negotiation.
It is not surprising that the British have fallen back to Hanover, and since they want to support the pawns, of course they have to choose the ones that are easy to control. Compared to us, having Hanover control North Germany is even more inseparable from them.
On top of that, debt is an important factor. After the war our revenues will surely drop drastically, and in the next five years our revenues may not even be as high as the interest rate.
It is not surprising that the British, who want to recover their debts on the condition that we have money in our pockets first, are forcing us to sell our land.
However, we owe too much debt, if we are slaughtered again by the Russians and sell all the remaining territories, we may not be able to pay off their debt.
The British want us to continue to pay our debts, they have to leave us with enough capital.
Besides, Hanover is limited in size and they can’t eat much of it, so extrapolating from that, the price we need to pay shouldn’t be too big.
If the conditions with them are too much, we can also consider contacting the Austrians. Although the Vienna government may not necessarily welcome it now, they will definitely not be able to refuse it if we send it to their door.”
Melanie Griffith, the Prime Minister, was the result of a compromise between all parties, an eraser in normal times without much presence. But to be able to become Prime Minister is not as simple as it seems.
This answer made William I light up, it’s not that he couldn’t think of these problems, mainly because he was too old and didn’t have that much energy to think deeply.
That’s right, the Berlin government now has a choice, although both roads are not good, but have a choice is better than no choice. One more choice is one more point of bargaining capital.
Foreign Minister Jeffrey Friedman shook his head, “Austria would not have to think about it, at most make a gesture of contact and bargain with Hanover, the military is unlikely to agree.”
Joining the Austrian dominated Shen Luo Empire, the biggest loss is not the government but the military, the Vienna government generally does not meddle in the local area, but the military must be held in the hands.
Look at a few other states to know, after the central government took over the state’s army and was responsible for military expenses, the government armed forces of each state were left with the police and militia.
Of course, just because the state government has no soldiers does not mean that the king has no soldiers. In addition to the palace guards, the local troops were also under the command of the king.
This was also the reason why the Vienna government could easily get the command of the army, but only deprived the state government of the command of the army, the king’s right was not lost.
From the king’s standpoint, this was actually still a strengthening of the king’s power. With soldiers in his hands, he was able to speak with a strong voice, and the military expenditure was still allocated by the central government, so it was difficult for the state governments to influence it through their finances.
It is just that it is not impossible to do so, if the state government is willing to take money out, it can still maintain a certain influence.
Only no state government is willing to do so, and then how to expand the army command in the hands of the king and the emperor, they simply can not get involved.
They are not ready to rebel, so why do they need to maintain influence over the army?
Essentially, the political structure of the New Shinra Empire was created by the Emperor and the kings of the various states, and the core was to maintain their own power.
William I didn’t mind, but the Prussian military didn’t want it! In other states, the government had suffered and lost control of the military; Prussia was the complete opposite, they were the military that had lost control of the government.
If the merger had taken place, the first thing the Berlin government would have done would have been to stop funding the military and carry out large-scale disarmament.
The politicians could also apply to the central government to disband the army, if conditions permitted.
There is a precedent for this, as the Duchy of Liechtenstein disbanded its army after joining Shinra. Don’t ask why, they just didn’t want it anymore.
Finance Minister Gorman laughed, ”It’s not completely impossible, if the military suffers a defeat on the battlefield and suffers heavy damage, they won’t have the capital to object.
Judging from the current situation, the chances of that happening are very high. The only trouble is that the army suffers heavy losses and we lose the capital to negotiate with the Russians.”
Politics is brutal, class interests are not the same as personal interests, and while the Junker nobility suffered heavily after the defeat, it was an opportunity for the politicians to seize power.
If they weren’t worried about losing the capital to negotiate with the Russians after the defeat, the people in the room really didn’t care that the military suffered heavy losses.
William I’s heart was also very contradictory, on the one hand, he hoped that the army could win a few battles and gain the capital to negotiate with the Russians, so that the war could be ended in an honorable way.
On the other hand, he also wanted to use the war to combat the military’s power, so that the government can take the lead, in order to end the war as soon as possible, through the current crisis, to save his throne.
After hesitating for a few moments, William I made a decision: “First, the two families will contact each other together, and finally decide according to the situation on the battlefield.
Austria’s power has been, the Vienna government now do not want to get into the muddy water, I think it will not be able to talk about the results. Really come to that point, we directly rely on it is the same.
The focus now is still to talk to Hanover, it is necessary to find out how much support the British have for them, this is related to our future position in Germany.”
The answer was not unexpected, the Prussian military was too strong for even the king to be able to go against them.
Unless the Prussian army was defeated on the battlefield and the Russians simply took over Berlin, the government would have to take the military’s interests into account when making decisions.
(End of chapter)