Chapter 215: The Time Is Right

  Chapter 211 – The Time is Right

On March 16, 1853, Chancellor Felix arrived in Munich after a week-long negotiation that ended in failure.

The Bavarian government was unequivocally against rebuilding the Shinra Empire, and Felix’s diplomatic efforts failed.

Pressured by public opinion, the Bavarian government proposed on March 27 to reopen the Bundestag to decide whether to re-establish the Holy Roman Empire.

On March 28, Chancellor Felix also gave a speech at the University of Munich, publicly responding to the Bavarian government.

“I have a dream that in my lifetime I will be able to see the German region united. A true unification of the German nation, not the nominally titled German Confederation, which is a joke.

Today is a bad day, the Bavarian government has closed the door to the re-establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, and all the efforts we have made have failed.

It seems I have a long way to go before my dream is realized. If I can’t see it anymore, I hope you will keep going. As the elite of the German region, it is your duty and responsibility.

We all know that rebuilding Shinra is the best option for the unification of the German region, it’s the only way to achieve national unification in a short period of time.

The many states in Germany have been divided for a long time, and have all formed their own systems, which determines that wanting to actualize unification will be very difficult, and can’t be accomplished overnight.

A vote in the Bundestag? In fact, we all know that this is not a majority rule exercise, let alone a child’s game.

The rebuilding of Shinra must have the support of all the states, and if someone doesn’t agree, even if we barely merge an empire, it will end up breaking up due to the many contradictions.

The consequences of coercion are clear to all, Switzerland became independent, Belgium became independent, Holland became independent, Luxembourg also became independent, it was their own choice, historical reasons we don’t need to examine today.

Now if we do not do a good job, a new wave of independence will emerge. Don’t doubt that there are already international forces plotting to split Germany, and they are even colluding with forces within Germany.

So I have to be careful, lest I become a sinner for Germany if I make one wrong step.

A united German empire must be an empire that is recognized by all. If this is not the case, then it is only a federation, not an empire.

I know that many people oppose the rebuilding of Shinra because they feel that the empire is too loose, with too much power for the local governments and too little power for the central government, and that such a system is not to everyone’s liking.

However, there is one thing that everyone should be aware of, if you want to gain the approval of the entire population, then you can’t shed blood, or at least not too much blood.

If a civil war breaks out because of unification, and we all kill each other and shed blood, will we still be able to sit together peacefully after the war?

The answer is no. Under the guidance of those who wish to do so, such hatred will soon take root and eventually lead to division.

……”

Felix got into the swing of things and went into mouthy mode.

The officials of the Bavarian government under the stage have been furious, but it is not good to have an attack, diplomatic etiquette is still necessary, although Felix is spouting furiously, but also did not name the Bavarian government.

If they stood out to stop the speech, wouldn’t that indicate a weak heart?

Besides, the students’ emotions had already been mobilized, and if they went to stimulate it at this time, God knows whether there would be middle-aged teenagers shouting for a revolution.

This is not without precedent, more than ninety percent of the revolutions in Europe have been started by middle-aged teenagers shouting at the top of their lungs and then blindly following suit.

For example, the February Revolution in France, the March Revolution in Vienna, the March Revolution in Berlin, and so on, these revolutions were not tightly organized beforehand, and when the slogan was shouted in the heat of the moment, everyone followed blindly.

Ever since the Bavarian government made the decision, they have been on heightened alert to guard against the rebellion of middle-aged teenagers.

Right now, for example, there were more than three figures of police inside the University of Munich, in the name of protecting Prime Minister Felix’s safety, but in reality it was a way of keeping an eye on the people he was in contact with.

Knowing that Prime Minister Felix is now the most unstable factor in the Bavarian Kingdom, and his status is too high, the Bavarian government can only expect him to get out quickly.

How much the government hated him, how much the people welcomed him, and most of the Bavarian public had a great deal of respect for the pacifist Austrian Prime Minister.

After about an hour or so had passed, Felix stopped his speech and entered an interactive exchange session.

A young student said excitedly, “Honorable Chancellor Felix, I would like to ask how can I be assured that the Holy Roman Empire can treat every state fairly?”

This kind of question, which Felix had answered many times along the way, was repeated once again:

“The question is simple, by a system, a fair system. I do not believe in the so-called rule of man, for all men are selfish and naturally inclined, and the only way to solve the problem is by a fair system.

This system will be formulated with the participation of all the states, and will be publicized throughout the country, so that everyone can judge whether it is fair or not.”

The bullshit mode was on, the applause in the arena was loud, and the accompanying officials of the Bavarian government closed their eyes, as if to be out of sight, out of mind.

Another young scholar asked curiously, “Your Excellency the Prime Minister, does this perfect system exist?”

Without hesitation, Felix replied, “It does not exist!”

Ignoring the outcry from the scene, he continued, “There is simply no perfect system in the world, what looks wonderful today may be outdated tomorrow, all we can do is to keep updating the system to make it more suitable for us.

Starting from the origin of human society, the earliest tribal civilization, matrilineal clans then to the patriarchal system, then into the era of slavery, the earliest countries appeared ……

This series of social changes have been self-modifying and improving the social system. In our view today, the present system is more advanced than the past.

But in reality, if our ancestors, adopted the advanced formulation of the present, the German nation would have become history, and would not even be found in the history books.

Is this a problem of the system? Obviously not!

The productive forces of society determine the system of production, so don’t be a human being and rail against the past social institutions as corrupt and backward; at least at the time, those systems were in line with the needs.”

Running off on a tangent, there was no way people’s minds were too active, the questions were too tricky, and Felix had to lead off into the distance to keep the pace as controlled as possible.

……

“Your Excellency the Prime Minister, is it unfair to the other states that Austria will be the new central government once the Holy Roman Empire is established?”

A question from a young student brought the topic back again.

“You are wrong, the central government is formed by the states, if Austria acts as the central government, who can this central government command?

As for fairness, I think it can only be guaranteed by a notarized constitution. The big states and the small states certainly don’t have the same say in politics, and if they have to be brought to the same level, it would actually be unfair to the big states again.

True fairness is simply equal treatment, not privilege, and my ideal Holy Roman Empire is a world without privilege.

You get as much as you contribute to this country in return. That reward could be money or social status.

In other words, it’s the opening of the door to high society, even though the door may open just a small crack.” Prime Minister Felix continued to fool around

True and false, but instead, it made his speech even more convincing.

Openly revealing the cruelty of society, the states were not privileged, but the gap in personal social status still existed.

This mode of speech was the result of painstaking research by the Austrian government’s staff. It had to be able to mobilize the people’s emotions without letting them get out of control.

This degree is not easy to grasp, in case of a fervent nationalism detonated, Austria will also have to suffer.

……

Because the Bavarian government was too vigilant, Prime Minister Felix, in addition to making a few speeches, set off on his way home.

There was no doubt that this diplomatic move had failed, and except for a very few German states that expressed support for the rebuilding of Shinra, most of the rest were in veiled opposition.

Especially after the Bavarian government openly expressed its opposition, the German region was in a fervor to attack the Holy Roman Empire.

Of course none of the governments went over the black history, local governments against the central government was also a stain for them, belonging to an absolute political error that could not be brought up.

Vienna.

After listening to Felix’s report, Franz realized that the situation in the German region was much more complicated than he had imagined.

Most of the German people were headstrong, once they recognized something, it would be difficult to pull back.

This meant that they had to be convinced in order to do so, and if they could not gain their approval, the unification of Germany could be said to be a dream.

One bad maneuver and you could end up as Felix said in his speech – a wave of independence breaking out.

“Your Majesty, nationalism in the German region is developing very fast, if we stir up national sentiments now, we can still hope to achieve unification by political means.” Prime Minister Felix suggested

Perhaps too deep into the drama, now Felix was really thinking about using political means to unify Germany.

Franz shook his head and said, “That’s not going to work, if we really get the Holy Roman Empire out of the way, I’m afraid that Britain, France and Russia will immediately call a truce and turn around and come over to seek our misfortune.”

With the unification of the German region, the Russians’ continental hegemony is gone, the French dream of continental hegemony is broken, and the British policy of continental balance is bankrupt.

This is a conflict in core interests that concerns their future development and survival, and in order to avoid this, they will definitely take action, there is no such thing as an eventuality.

Even now that Britain, France and Russia are fighting in the Near East, in fact, the secret contacts between the three governments have never been broken.

Franz was certain that Britain and France no longer wanted to fight. If they didn’t have no choice and were forced to ride the tiger, they would most likely compromise with the Russians.

Now they wanted to compromise, the prerequisite was that the Russians make concessions, otherwise they could not account for it at home.

Did the Tsarist government want to continue to fight? The answer is no. The brutality of the war had awakened many people, and they were riding the same wave.

Concession is easy to say, but it is hard to do! Once the Tsarist government made a compromise, internal conflicts would erupt, and Nicholas I naturally wanted to end the war on a good note.

Now Constantinople is right in front of us, as long as we take this fortress city, all the crises of the tsarist government will be solved, and he will become the greatest tsar in the history of Russia.

As for other interests, the Black Sea Fleet was finished. Even if they entered the Mediterranean, they couldn’t rely on swimming, could they?

Annexation of the Ottoman Empire? Fighting wars costs money too, and the Russians had the military power, but not the financial power to match.

Even they could have fought the war and interfered in the German region at the same time. With the Kingdom of Prussia, all Britain, France and Russia had to do was yell a few times and the Holy Roman Empire dissolved again.

Pointed out by Franz, Felix immediately sobered up. The Holy Roman Empire is still far from the real empire, no external threat can still slowly solve the problem, now the problem is internal and external collusion.

……

Metternich opened his mouth and said, “Your Majesty, the time is ripe to start the next plan.”

Franz nodded in acquiescence.

Austria was not strong enough to start a fight at the drop of a hat, and if there was no reason that could be accepted by everyone, it would be cheaper for the Prussians if they were to commit a public offense at that time.

Mere political disagreement was not enough to justify war. It was now necessary to add another fire to give the Bavarian government a final historical characterization.

The previous information is wrong, the current kingdom of Bavaria is Maximilian II, change it later.

(End of chapter)