Chapter 797 The country with the second fastest economic growth in Europe

Chapter 797 The country with the second fastest economic growth in Europe

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

It is not unusual for Prime Minister Metternich to appear here, but it seems a bit strange at this time.

Because there are obviously more important things for Austria at this time, such as the war in Switzerland and domestic nationalism issues.

But in fact, the purpose of Prince Metternich's trip was precisely for this purpose. Franz was no longer completely reclusive at this time, and the latter began to frequent the Regency Council and imperial government agencies.

After the two met, they exchanged simple greetings for a while before Prince Metternich got straight to the point.

"Archduke Franz, I don't think our meeting should be postponed until April. The Russians and the British are too far apart. As long as we reach an agreement with France and the Kingdom of Sardinia to divide Switzerland, it won't be a problem.

The princes of the German Confederation were either too far away and powerless, or they were not enterprising and just wanted to reap the benefits.

It’s good to have strength in numbers, but these guys who are holding us back are really embarrassing and useless.”

Franz understood what Prince Metternich meant.

"You are saying that we can put aside the German Confederation and Britain and Russia, and then sign a tripartite agreement or some secret treaty with France and the Kingdom of Sardinia."

Secret agreements between countries in this era were not uncommon. Almost every country had secret agreements with several countries at the same time.

For example, the Austrian side could gain control of Krakow before. This was the result of the secret agreement between Austria, Prussia, and Russia in 1835.

In fact, Austria still had many secret agreements at this time, such as to prevent France from making a comeback, to prevent the merger of France and Spain, to prevent France from annexing the provinces of the Kingdom of Sardinia, to prevent France from attacking Tunisia, to prevent France from annexing Belgium, and to prevent the Kingdom of Sardinia from annexing Monaco. Preventing France's colonies on the east coast of North America from being connected to the Alaska Concession, etc.

Monaco is surrounded on three sides by the Kingdom of Sardinia, and its population is less than 1% of the Kingdom of Sardinia, but Carlo Alberto cannot eat it.

"Yes, Your Highness. This is beneficial to all three of our countries, and only in this way can we join this war as quickly as possible before the Freedom Alliance wins."

By this time, news of the Swiss Civil War had reached Vienna. Metternich never expected such a rapid and tragic defeat.

However, he felt that he had underestimated Franz, a young man. Because Franz had been trying his best to prevent Metternich from sending weapons, supplies, and military pay to Ticeno State.

At this time, the canton of Ticeno happened to rebel. It seemed that it was just Franz's momentary willfulness that sent the supplies that were supposed to support Switzerland to Galicia.

But Metternich knew very well how low the probability of this happening was, and the Austrian Empire was not short of money at this time, or the treasury had never been so rich, so it would not be a problem to spend a separate amount of money to support Galicia.

The reason why Franz tried his best to stop it was either because of the so-called "prophecy" or because he had already learned the news in advance and did not want more people to know.

Metternich believed it was the latter, so he felt it necessary to discuss his thoughts with Franz. After all, the latter would be the emperor of Austria in the future.

"Prime Minister, why do you think you established the Vienna System in the first place? Switzerland is the buffer zone between us and France, and now we want to destroy it with our own hands?"

Metternich was a little surprised, but it was only for a moment. The old prime minister's expression management was still in place.

"The Austrian Empire is no longer what it used to be. We have reached balance of payments since 1836. This is the best era for the Austrian Empire's economy since 1780 after the death of Empress Theresa.

From 1834 to the present, our country's fiscal revenue has increased from less than 100 million florins to nearly 700 million florins now. "

The average annual growth rate is 17.65%, second only to Luxembourg, which regained its homeland.

Franz was actually a little helpless. At this time, the economy of the Austrian Empire was not growing completely naturally. In addition to the dividends from technology, colonies, policies, and the customs union, there was also the boost of gold mines that led to the economic miracle today.

Rapid economic growth has brought about earth-shaking changes, and at the same time, the top leaders of the Austrian Empire have begun to have some unrealistic ideas.

“But we have only just surpassed France and are still far behind the United Kingdom, and we do not yet have a fleet that can protect our overseas interests.

If you think about the conflict between us and France, which country benefits the most? "

"U.K?"

“So who is starting the Swiss civil war?”

"British"

"That's right. Doesn't Britain know that Joseph Lowe and his men can't defeat us?"

"This," Metternich said after hesitating for a while, "but now the Orthodox Alliance has fallen into an absolute disadvantage."

"So what? Switzerland's resources are scarce, there is not enough arable land, and the population is not large. This country cannot sustain a long-term war. What's more, I feel that the war has just begun."

Canton Aargau, Switzerland.

Dufour was angry at the incompetence of the defenders of Aargau, Zurich, and Thurgau, and actually let the other side burn almost all the arsenals, and several granaries were also burned.

However, he knew that although a lot of the granary was burned, there was definitely still food. Because these governors do not have the lion's mouth wide open is the best proof.

Furthermore, it is not certain whether those granaries were burned by the Orthodox Alliance army or by themselves.

Dufour didn't want to delve into this, so he could leave the overly brutal General Frei Holosa here to deal with the small forces of the Orthodox Alliance.

After all, General Frei Holloser is a rare strong-armed general in Switzerland. If he appears on the front line, he will be a huge threat to both the enemy and ourselves.

In fact, Dufour still hoped to fight a perfect war at this time, especially after the previous victory in Friborg.

The remaining orthodox alliance states, except Valais, are all gathered around Lucerne. With a perfect surprise attack, he can win a complete victory.

However, the risk of directly attacking Lucerne was still too high, so Dufour decided to order Augustin Keller to lead a force of 50,000 people to attack Zug.

The Canton of Zug is on the periphery of the Orthodox Alliance and is undefeable. The most important thing is that Joseph Loy claims to have bribed the top leaders of the Canton of Zug and can solve the problem without bloodshed.

Dufour sent another force to attack Lucerne from the front. Although the frontal battlefield is very lively, his real trump card is to advance quickly on a mountain path.

The early morning sun shines through the rugged rocks in the valley, and a Free Alliance army is walking swiftly on the mountain road.

Only these mountain people can fly on the mountain roads without any delay. In fact, there are more than a dozen mountain roads leading to Lucerne.

However, these paths are too narrow and only a limited number of troops can pass through them, so generally speaking, commanders will not be so picky.

Although the number of troops that could pass through was limited, Dufour saw the fact from the previous Battle of Friborg that the orthodox alliance army had a serious lack of fighting spirit, and its morale was so low that it could escape at any time as soon as a gun was fired.