Make France Great Again

"Mediation?"

The elder's words made Prince William and King Frederick William IV pause in thought. After careful consideration, the once arrogant William had turned cautious and agreed with the view.

"Your Majesty, Count Brandenburg is right! We can invite the Kingdom of Britain, the French Republic, and the Russian Empire to mediate together! As long as they are willing to uphold peace in the German Region, we can reach an agreement with the Austrian Empire!" Prince William said confidently to Frederick William IV, not believing that the European Great Powers would want the German Region to remain in a state of tension.

"Your Majesty, we must sever our connections with the rebels while allying with the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Britain. With their support, the Austrian Empire would not dare to take action against us!" Prince William's support surprised Count Brandenburg.

As the uncle to Prince William and King Frederick William IV, he understood his two nephews' characters all too well. Prince William possessed the typical impulsive and duplicitous Junker traits, while Frederick William IV was a "new" monarch with slightly diverging ideas from traditional Junker thinking, yet had the same stubbornness as Brandenburg's brother, Frederick William III. In short, Count Brandenburg's two nephews were not easy to influence; only hitting a dead end might change their viewpoints.

Now, Prince William unexpectedly supported his perspective, which both gratified and worried Brandenburg.

Could it be that Prussia's defeat in the Fulda Region was more significant than the reports sent from Kassel to Prussia?

With some doubts, Count Brandenburg decided to inquire in detail about the battle situation in the Fulda Region after leaving Sanssouci Palace.

As the one set to succeed Radovitz in organizing the Cabinet, he could not blindly pursue foreign intervention without verifying the authenticity of the frontline reports.

Of course, Count Brandenburg's proposal was not entirely selfless; he prioritized the interests of the Hohenzollern Clan, then the Junker nobility, and finally those unruly commoners.

Currently, the 1848 Constitution severely undermines the interests of the Hohenzollern Clan and the Junker nobility, and (as Count Brandenburg believes) Brandenburg has a duty to revoke this unreasonable Constitution for the Junker nobility's sake.

How could one engage effectively in politics alongside such a group of vermin (referring to the nouveau riche of the bourgeoisie)?

The words of Count Brandenburg and Prince William caused the already wavering Frederick William IV to hesitate further, coupled with Radovitz's personal issues in the Prussian Cabinet, Frederick William IV also leaned towards dismissing Radovitz.

"Alas!" After a moment, Frederick William IV sighed and said, "How could I not want to mediate, it's just that..."

Frederick William IV recounted to Count Brandenburg and Prince William how, in early November, he had received a letter from Emperor Nicholas I of the Russian Empire, in which Nicholas I scolded Frederick William IV in the tone of Holy Alliance's big brother for provoking the conflict between Prussia and Austria, as well as between Prussia and Denmark, and criticized Prussia's new Constitution, appearing to be siding with Austria.

What further disheartened Frederick William IV was that the "big brother" Russia even demanded that the Kingdom of Prussia be responsible for instigating the conflict with Austria and hand over Graz County to be managed by the Austrian Empire.

Frederick William IV was evidently unable to agree to the request of the Emperor of the Russian Empire. Graz County was seized by Emperor Frederick from Empress Maria Theresa of the Austrian Empire in 1742, and can be considered foundational for the Kingdom of Prussia's rise, with symbolic significance comparable to Silesia. The Austrian Empire's attempt to use Nicholas I to execute a bloodless counterattack on the Kingdom of Prussia was met with Frederick William IV's refusal.

After Frederick William IV shared this "royal secret" among monarchs with Count Brandenburg and Prince William, a hint of anger appeared in their eyes.

"It's definitely Felix Schwarzenberg who has reached some agreement with Emperor Nicholas I; otherwise, the Russian Empire wouldn't so baselessly cheer for the Austrian Empire!" Brandenburg calmly analyzed, "Without sufficient interests, those greedy Slavs would never support them!"

Count Brandenburg, who had dealt with the Russian Empire for years before the Great Revolution, understood the nature of the Slavs too well. They were like a perpetually unsatisfied Jörmungandr, greedily devouring the lands they occupied.

Especially after the Napoleonic Wars, when the Russian Empire's prestige reached its peak, they became even more insatiable.

In the past thirty-some years, how many wars were directly or indirectly caused by them?

What kind of interest would make Nicholas I ready to risk completely alienating the Kingdom of Prussia to help the Austrian Empire?

Count Brandenburg, Prince William, and Frederick William IV, these three Prussian craftsmen, were contemplating the potential interests between the Russian Empire and the Austrian Empire.

In a flash of inspiration, Count Brandenburg's gaze, as if influenced by some unseen force, involuntarily turned to the map of Europe hanging on the wall, and his eyes happened to rest on the Balkan region.

Could it be! The Habsburg wouldn't risk it for Graz County...

Count Brandenburg was startled by his own speculation, gently shaking his head, attempting to deny this thought from various angles.

However, the more Count Brandenburg tried to deny it, the more he felt this possibility was highly likely to be true.

The only condition that could sway Nicholas I to take sides is this...

Count Brandenburg, having slightly calmed himself, spoke, "Your Highness, Your Majesty!"

Prince William and Frederick William IV were "drawn" to Count Brandenburg's voice and looked toward him. King Frederick William IV smiled and said, "Dear Mr. Earl, what do you wish to say?"

Count Brandenburg, having slightly calmed himself, shared his speculation with the two of them: "Your Highness, Your Majesty, I suspect that the agreement between the Emperor of the Austrian Empire and the Emperor of the Russian Empire might relate to Constantinople!"

Prince William and Frederick William IV both displayed astonished expressions, exclaiming in unison, "Impossible!"

"Your Majesty, Your Highness, besides this, I really can't think of any other conditions that could persuade Nicholas I to act for the Austrian Empire!" Despite the refutations from Prince William and King Frederick William IV, Count Brandenburg responded calmly.

"If, as you say, the Austrian Empire and the Russian Empire have indeed made an agreement! Won't they need to consider the impact of Britain and France?" Frederick William IV was no ignorant monarch; he stood beneath the wall adorned with the map of Europe and pointed to Constantinople, addressing Count Brandenburg, "If the Russian Empire occupies this place, then the Russian Empire's fleet could sail unimpeded in the Mediterranean! This would inevitably affect the interests of Britain and France!"

Subsequently, Frederick William IV moved his finger to Marseille's port in France: "This is less than 400 nautical miles from Marseille, making it easy for the Russian Empire to attack this place!"

"What if France were also part of this deal?" Various clues intertwined as Count Brandenburg analyzed like peeling back layers: "Suppose the Austrian Empire also agreed to some conditions from France..."

Frederick William IV also recalled a message sent over a year ago by the French envoy to Prussia to their home country.

The message stated that the French Republic was willing to support all of Prussia's claims in the German region, on the condition that the Kingdom of Prussia was ready to satisfy some of the French Republic's conditions in the Rhine region.

In other words, as long as Prussia opted to cede territory, France would support Prussia's wish to unify Germany.

Such conditions were, of course, rejected by Frederick William IV, and now it seemed the Austrian Empire might have agreed to the French Republic's conditions.

With this thought, Frederick William IV suddenly felt his hands and feet turn cold, with a chilling sensation spreading throughout his body.

Before the Kingdom of Prussia declared war on the Austrian Empire, Felix Schwarzenberg had already ensnared the Kingdom of Prussia in his meticulously woven net, with the Russian Empire and the French Republic as participants in this net, leaving the Kingdom of Prussia now in an unprecedented state of isolation.

"How foolish I am! Truly!" At this moment, Frederick William IV, like a possessed Xianglin's wife, loathed himself for his slowness, for the unrealistic illusions he still harbored toward the Russian Empire.

He loathed even more the insincere dealings between the French Republic and the Austrian Empire before this.

Especially in July of 1850, when England and Russia signed an agreement regarding Denmark's indisputable inheritance rights over Schleswig and the Hol Duchy, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Republic declared unequivocally that the German problem ought to be resolved internally by Germany, and France would respect the will of the German people.

The statement from the French Republic earned it a wave of goodwill in the German region, making the Kingdom of Prussia at that time feel no sense of isolation.

Frederick William IV naturally forgot the "warning" issued by the French envoy to Prussia. Looking back at the situation at that time, it might have been the French Republic deliberately "digging a pit" for the upcoming actions of the Kingdom of Prussia.