Fox of France

"You are taking my time, come and bargain with me." Napoleon said.

Metternich didn't make a sound, it was his acquiescence.

"However, this condition is not good enough." Napoleon shook his head, "This benefit alone is not enough to win you such a decent peace."

"So what do you suggest, General?" Metternich asked. He was ready to bribe Napoleon, because one thing they knew from all the Italian states was that General Napoleon Bonaparte was a man of money.

"Mr. Metternich, do you remember how Spain withdrew from the war?" Napoleon said with a smile.

Metternich was surprised at first, and then delighted in his heart.

Spain withdrew from the war on the condition of an alliance with France. Therefore, it successfully escaped the land cession compensation package. If this method is followed, then... especially Russia has just mixed with France not long ago. If the French and Austria have formed an alliance at this time, then the Russians...how could the French make such a request?

"Of course it is impossible for you to obtain Spanish conditions. Our Russian friends will not be happy if we follow Spanish conditions." Napoleon's next sentence shattered Metternich's fantasy and proved that Napoleon never No dizzy head.

"What do you mean, General?" Metternich felt that the talks seemed to have exceeded his expectations, and ran out of his preset battlefield. This made him a little flustered, because the emergence of this situation meant, in a sense, that he had lost the initiative in the negotiation.

"To achieve long-term peace between our two countries, we cannot just rely on a piece of paper agreement. You know, things like agreements are often unreliable. Between our country and your country, there are too many such things, and finally Not yet... Well, don't rush to defend your country. After signing the agreement, both our country and your country have indeed done a lot of things that went beyond the agreement. You see, such things are often difficult to avoid Yes, and the accumulation of such things may completely destroy the relationship between the two countries and cause the peace agreement to become a piece of paper. If we are going to talk about peace again today, we should naturally avoid this outcome as much as possible in advance .”

After Napoleon finished speaking, he leaned back on the soft back of the chair, smiled and waited for Metternich to digest the meaning of his words.

If it was the Prime Minister Metternich many years later in the original history, or even the ambassador to France Metternich a few years later, they might have seen something implied in Napoleon's words, but at this time Metternich was still too young, too naive. He didn't really understand where the sharp knife was hidden in Napoleon's smile, so he could only reply in a very general way: "As long as our two countries can maintain the love..."

"No, Monsieur Metternich, I'm afraid you haven't fully understood what I mean." Napoleon sat up straight, put his elbows on the table and rested his head on his fists and said, "Goodwill!" And promises promise nothing, at least not for long, because those things are not long. So 'swear not by the moon' (line from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the next line is 'It is fickle Yes, every month is waxing and waning; if you swear by it, maybe your love is as impermanent as it'), what can be relied on, what can really unite us, and make our friendship grow day by day Common interests. You see, since the peace between Spain and our country has been achieved, the friendship between us has been increasing day by day. Isn’t a big reason behind this because the peace has benefited both of us? And when we and Spain In the agreement reached between the two parties, I think there are some aspects that can be used for mutual reference.”

"Which do you mean?" Metternich asked.

"A mutual trade agreement between us and Spain," said Napoleon.

This mutual trade agreement stipulates that France and Spain form a trade community, and both parties equally give each other "trade most favored nation treatment". According to this agreement, except for some commodities, the two sides exempt or reduce tariffs on each other's commodities. The tariffs imposed on any commodity shall not exceed half of the tariffs on similar commodities from any country other than the contracting states. Nationals have the same rights, and the merchant ships of the other party have the same rights as their own ships. There are also content-specific rules such as mutual respect for intellectual property rights.

In general, this agreement, both literally and practically, is very equal. It can be called a model of equality and mutual benefit. After signing this agreement, both Spanish and French businessmen have gained more benefits.

But according to Joseph, this situation of equality and mutual benefit is actually only temporary. Soon, this equal and mutually beneficial trade agreement will turn into an unequal treaty. Because the "Zeus Project" has made great progress, and another "Hephaestus Project" is also advancing steadily. Now, as long as there are stable coal mines and iron mines, the success of these two projects is not a problem. Then French production capacity explodes.

At that time, this agreement of equality and mutual benefit will become an unequal treaty similar to the later "Sino-US Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation", which is equal in name, but in fact is equal to the complete colonization of the other party. Therefore, when signing this treaty with Spain, the French deliberately extended the time limit of the treaty to twenty-five years. It also stipulates that after the expiration of the treaty, if there is no objection, it will be automatically extended.

This kind of agreement is actually a huge trap. What's even more frightening is that once this agreement is implemented, it will be very difficult to abolish it in the future. Not to mention how powerful the French army will be after the Industrial Revolution, even in Spain, this will be resolved and opposed by a large number of compradors formed by Spaniards who have made a fortune by selling French goods. Even, under certain circumstances, it is not impossible for the entire Spanish government to change from an economic vassal to a political vassal - once it falls into this trap, it will be difficult to climb out again.

A few days ago, after Napoleon and Joseph joined forces in Verdun, Joseph predicted that it would not be long before the Austrians and the Prussians would seek peace with France. So he also specially emphasized to Napoleon that other issues can be discussed, but the issue of trade agreements must be implemented.

This trap based on the technological revolution that will appear in the future is really too hidden. Not to mention the immature Metternich, even a more cunning guy, such as an old fox like Talleyrand, would not be able to really understand the truth.

So Metternich also didn't want to understand what was going on, but this time was not the time for him to continue to hesitate. For Napoleon spoke again:

"About this incident, um, here I have relevant information on the trade agreement between France and Spain. This information is public, and I believe you can easily find it if you want to, but it will take time, and The most precious thing now is time. You can take this information back and discuss it with His Excellency Grand Duke Karl. But, you need to be fast, you know, the most valuable thing in your negotiation conditions is time, and every second you consume , it means that your bargaining chips have shrunk, and I naturally have the right to demand more compensation. If I don’t wait for your reply before noon tomorrow, I will have to start military operations.”

Metternich got up to leave, because he was always thinking about the trade agreement in his mind, so he was a little distracted, and almost forgot to take the information about the Franco-Spanish trade agreement that Napoleon gave him.

Metternich hurried back all the way, and when he saw Archduke Karl, it was already dark. Regardless of fatigue and hunger, Metternich directly reported his contact with Napoleon to Archduke Karl.

After hearing this, Grand Duke Karl thought for a while, and then asked, "Did General Bonaparte make any other requests?"

"No, he just said that time is very precious now, and after he finished speaking, he asked me to rush back to discuss with you immediately." Metternich replied.

Grand Duke Karl nodded and said: "It can be seen that General Bonaparte attaches great importance to this trade agreement. Mr. Metternich, what else do you know about this trade agreement between the Spaniards and the French?"

Metternich shook his head and said: "I don't know much about this agreement. But it seems that the Spaniards don't have too many complaints about this agreement. From this point of view, this agreement should not have too many problems. Still Yes, Your Excellency the Grand Duke, I thought of something on the way back. You know, the Bonaparte family is an upstart in France and a well-known rich man. Their family runs many businesses ranging from arms to shipbuilding, shipping, and mining. There are many People say that their family is already the number one richest man in France. I wonder if they hope to pass this agreement..."

"This is also a possibility." Archduke Karl nodded, "I have heard some comments about General Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy, and many people have noticed his greed. It is said that he only made money under the Pope's crown." When it reached tens of millions of francs, most of it was swallowed up by him... Maybe, what you said is one of the reasons."

"Your Excellency, the Bonaparte family will definitely have a very important position in France in the future, and they will even become the real rulers of France. If we have a lot of his wealth in our country, then maybe our country will be truly It will be much safer." Metternich said, "In addition, I think we can add some conditions like this..."