Chapter 985: Meeting to Divide the Stolen Goods
Chapter 965 – Meeting to Divide the Spoils
The autumn wind rolled up the yellow leaves and brought the joy of a good harvest. The continental war that had lasted for over a year was over, and now it was time to harvest the fruits of victory.
The unattainable Vienna Hotel in the past was now overcrowded. Surging clientele, so that as the lobby manager Drost headache.
Working in the world’s most luxurious hotel, and coming into contact with big shots from all walks of life every day, Drost was also used to seeing big waves.
The Vienna Hotel is not without its customers full of time, in the past held what big activities, celebrations, there will be full of customers.
Anyway, the hotel has its own rules, who first booked to who, no one dares to make trouble here.
This time is different, since the news of Vienna to convene a peace conference, the booking phone has been busted.
According to incomplete statistics, those who have already confirmed to stay include seven kings, hundreds of great nobles, and dozens of dignitaries from various countries.
Undoubtedly, it was impossible for only one person to attend the peace conference, and all of these big names came with delegations. The choice to stay at the Grand Hotel Vienna was naturally due to face.
Don’t look at the Vienna Grand Hotel’s room rates that seemed to be unattainable, but in reality, that was only for ordinary tycoons. When the big shots stayed, naturally it wasn’t the same price.
This is also mutually beneficial, sky-high room rates, high-end services, set off everyone’s honored status, anyway, as long as they do not say anything, no one knows the discount; big nobles stay, and enhance the hotel’s grade.
The stay of top nobles like kings and grand dukes is never free. Luckily, these days, the big nobles are more facetious, if they are put aside in the later generations, there will probably be a bunch of exiled monarchs running over to mix food and drink.
The problem arises when big shots pile up. Nobles are also people, there are also conflicts with each other, it is inevitable to have a conflict.
This is just, the nobles are also face, unless it is too much to drink, under normal circumstances can still maintain the cultivation. If there is a conflict, it is not a hotel management personnel can intervene.
Looking at the rows and rows of lists, Drost was so worried that he was about to go bald. There was no way, there were not enough rooms to match the status!
The big shots also want to save face, if the status and treatment does not match, they will turn their face in minutes.
Headaches aside, work still needs to be done. If you can’t handle such a small thing, Drost’s job as manager will be over.
……
In the Royal Opera House in Vienna, the countries of the Antifa Alliance gathered together and began a closed-door meeting. If nothing else, this meeting to divide the spoils will end before the arrival of the delegations.
As for the Vienna Peace Conference that followed, it was only a program to put the content of the conference into practice.
“Your Excellency the Marquis, the continental war has only just ended, so it’s not right to put all the French warships up for auction, is it?”
Spanish Foreign Minister Behdad Salimi questioned. There was no way around it, who let the continental war end, the war that belonged to Spain was not yet over!
As an old power, despite its decline, the arrogance of the Spanish still existed. In the European continent to suffer a little bit of aggression is not bad, that is their own strength is not good. But the Japanese also came to mess things up, that can not be tolerated.
In the past few months, the Philippine fleet had been almost completely destroyed, and even the Philippine Islands had been lost, but the Spanish government still did not give in.
What gave them strength was naturally the anti-French alliance. According to the prior agreement, Austria gave a promise: after the victory of the Continental War, Spain would get part of the French fleet.
The promised warships were suddenly turned into an auction, which Behdad Salimi naturally could not accept. You know, the Spanish government was still waiting to get the warships to teach the Japanese a lesson!
Weissenberg smiled slightly and immediately assured, “Your Excellency, please rest assured that Austria’s prior commitment is still valid. There is no way to auction off the French warships.
Everyone knows how large the French Navy is. In the recently concluded continental war, Austria paid too much of a price and has no plans to expand its navy in a short period of time.
If we don’t participate in the distribution and all of it is divided among everyone, I’m afraid that the financial pressure on each country will be very great.
Moreover, the essence of the French Navy is only the hundred or so ironclads, and the rest of the auxiliary warships can only be considered as chicken ribs. If we don’t bundle them, we won’t be able to find buyers.
If you want to get some of the warships, just take them directly from the auction. Don’t worry too much about the price, we can operate in the dark.
Of course, if someone offers a sky-high price, there’s no need for everyone to grab it. If the auction fails, we’ll just sell you a batch of current warships at a low price afterward.”
Weissenberg didn’t keep it a secret, Austria really wasn’t interested in the French warships. As for the news to spread out, whether the British believe it or not then no one knows.
This is just a small problem, the pit to the British is considered to have earned, did not pit to also no harm. Sell as many as possible, really can not be disposed of, the big deal is to take the French warships.
It can’t increase the combat power, but it can still be used to scare people. As long as you do not pull out and the Royal Navy PK, there is no risk. The only drawback is that it hurts the money.
“The warships are just a minor issue, just deal with them however you want, let’s just confer on what to do with France!”
The one who opened the mouth was the representative of Belgium, as the biggest victim of this war, the current Belgium could be described as a mess.
Not only the economic losses were heavy, even the nationals were tossed out. At the moment the Belgian government is busy calling the people in exile to return home to rebuild their homes, warships do not warships really can not care.
If you can not get enough compensation from the hands of the French, Belgium wants to rebuild their homes, I am afraid it is difficult.
Sweeping a glance at the crowd, Weissenberg stood up, picked up a pen and walked to the wall before the map, directly on the French mainland drew a curve.
“Let’s talk about the territory first, the map is placed here, whoever is interested, circle it yourself first. If there are no questions, it will be passed, if there are objections, we will discuss them later.
This is Austria’s goal, we want to reclaim the Shenandoah homeland that was previously occupied by France, that is, the Kingdom of Burgundy, the Duchy of Lorraine, and the Province of Alsace.”
(Kingdom of Burgundy: present-day Franche-Comté district)
In terms of territorial size, the aforementioned areas combined were less than 50,000 square kilometers, less than one-tenth of France proper.
The value can be calculated, not just by looking at the territory. Just look at the economy; both Alsace and the Kingdom of Burgundy are important industrial and resource areas in France, and Lorraine is an important agricultural area.
Austria got the above areas, the industry of France directly shrunk by one-third, and the comprehensive national power dropped by at least one-fourth.
Oscar Jimenez wanted to say something, standing in the position of the Russian Empire, he naturally did not want Austria to continue to grow, but now was clearly not the time to intervene.
The Russian military was merely participating in this conflict without significant influence. Furthermore, Austria wasn’t acting solo in its endeavors; it rallied Denmark, Switzerland, Saxony, and the Western four countries to collectively partake in the dissection of France’s territories.
At this time to jump out to be the villain, in addition to being able to offend people, there is no role at all.
Eyes openly looking at other people on the map to draw a circle, Oscar Jimenez forced himself to hold down his desire. There was no way around it, even if he was allocated an enclave, the Russian Empire was not capable of running it.
Everyone’s direction of expansion was along the mainland, there was no conflict of interest between each other, and no one was making trouble, the scene was naturally harmonious.
“If there are no objections, then this will serve as a draft for the post-war territorial disposition of France, with the specific details to be determined later.”
The division of spoils negotiation was a complex job, not something that could be accomplished by one or two people, and all countries came with teams.
The people present are all the top brass of each country, they have to respect their own identity, just finalize the general direction. The specific details of the negotiations, the exchange of benefits, were still carried out by the people below.
After a pause, Weissenberg looked up, and the complex expressions of the crowd were captured in his eyes. The crowd’s thoughts he does not care, as long as no one opposes it is enough.
“Now to the next topic – war reparations. In principle, we will respect the wishes of each country and determine their respective shares based on the actual situation, as well as the contributions and sacrifices they made for the war.
Now to determine the total amount of reparations, first count the war losses of each country, I’ll start with the beginning.
In the past year, Austria in the war against France in total: 742,300 killed in action, 2,416,000 wounded, consumed 15,460,000 tons of strategic materials, spending 6,698,000,000 guilders of war funds. Direct economic losses amounted to 18.6 billion guilders and indirect economic losses 56.4 billion guilders ……”
Watering down definitely exists, the Austrian loss statistics are not even finished yet, where is the accurate data?
Except for the casualties, which are not good for fabrication and are basically true, all the other data are seriously watered down.
The only thing everyone can be sure of is this: as the main force in this war against France, the price Austria paid was certainly not small.
“Belgium in this war a total of two hundred thousand soldiers killed in action, more than five million people displaced, civilian casualties more than half a million, economic losses are even more incalculable, preliminary estimates will not be less than ten billion guilders ……”
Halfway through his words, the Belgian representative’s tears were involuntarily flowing out. There is no way, Belgium after the war is really too miserable.
It can be said to have returned to the primitive society, the city turned into ruins, and the factories and mines of the sunset are now growing grass.
Compared to the Austrian watered down version of more than 50 billion losses, then Belgium’s 10 billion losses, that is the real deal.
It’s not that they don’t want to water it down, it’s just that they can’t. The whole country is gone, the plate is so big in total, how much loss can there be, we all have a number in mind.
In view of Belgium’s tragic experience, the people have the intention to speak out to comfort, do not know how to speak.
(End of chapter)