Make France Great Again

"This is surely God's punishment upon me!"

Suffering from intermittent mental disorder, Frederick William I began to blame everything on God's punishment of the Kingdom of Prussia after learning that the kingdom had fallen into unprecedented diplomatic isolation. He clasped his hands together in a gesture of prayer, muttering some "mad words" under his breath.

A moment later, Frederick William IV concluded his prayer.

Just as Count Brandenburg and King Qin William I thought King Frederick William IV was about to return to normal, Frederick William IV rolled his eyes and collapsed heavily to the ground with a loud "thud."

The sudden collapse of Frederick William IV greatly alarmed Count Brandenburg and Prince William.

Both of them hurriedly ran to Frederick William IV, and in his panic, Prince William gently shook Frederick William IV's body, shouting loudly, "Your Majesty, wake up! Your Majesty!"

Prince William's lion-like voice quickly alarmed the servants and butler in the corridor. They rushed to the door of William IV's room and exchanged glances but none dared to open the door.

Until Count Brandenburg's voice resounded from inside the room: "Someone! Quickly, someone!"

The butler Baron was the first to burst into the room. He saw the King lying on the sofa, with Prince William and Count Brandenburg pacing back and forth beside him.

Before the butler and servants could react, Count Brandenburg's roar filled their ears: "Why are you still standing here stupidly? Quickly, go get a doctor!"

Amid Count Brandenburg's roar, the butler hurriedly went to fetch the royal physician.

After a while, the doctor finally arrived before the unconscious Frederick William IV.

"Move His Majesty onto the bed!" The doctor frowned and instructed Count Brandenburg and Prince William.

Everyone carefully lifted Frederick William IV into the adjacent bedroom. The unconscious Frederick William IV was gingerly propped up on a white velvet pillow by the doctor, with a white embroidered bedspread covering his lower body as well.

After all this, the doctor removed Frederick William IV's military uniform and leaned his head onto Frederick William IV's heartbeat.

[Since stethoscopes did not exist at this time, doctors wanting to listen to heartbeats could only lean on the patient's chest, and the chest needed to be bare, giving some doctors certain invisible benefits. It was not until a doctor who had had enough of the cumbersome steps invented the stethoscope that doctors avoided the "trouble" of lying on the patient's chest.]

Subsequently, the doctor also lifted Frederick William IV's eyelids to examine his pupils.

After pondering for a moment, the doctor called Count Brandenburg and Prince William aside and humbly asked, "Count, Prince, may I ask you some questions?"

"As long as it can help His Majesty, it's fine!" Count Brandenburg responded to the doctor.

Prince William, standing by, also nodded in agreement with Count Brandenburg's words.

"Count, Prince, has His Majesty faced any recent disturbances?" the doctor queried.

Count Brandenburg and Prince William exchanged glances and then both nodded.

The doctor let out a sigh of relief and said, "I understand!"

"What exactly caused the current situation, Your Majesty?" Count Brandenburg asked the doctor.

The doctor glanced around the hallway and surroundings, made sure there was no one else nearby, and then whispered in a low voice, "His Majesty seems to have some mental issues!"

"Impossible!"

"Nonexistent!"

Count Brandenburg and Prince William successively responded to the doctor, their attitudes very firm.

Subsequently, Prince William questioned the doctor, "Prior to His Majesty's fainting, there were no such issues!"

"Prince, Count, please trust my judgment as a medical professional!" The doctor did not back down in the face of Prince William's skepticism. He steadfastly stated, "Mental issues come in many forms; some are innate from birth, while others are due to later stimuli..."

Count Brandenburg and Prince William fell into deep thought. After a moment, Count Brandenburg asked in a heavy tone, "Is there a possibility of a cure?"

Prince William also asked the same question: Is there a possibility of a cure?

The doctor regretfully shook his head and said, "Problems at the mental level cannot be explained in a sentence or two, and I don't know if they can be cured!"

"Then do your best to save him!" Count Brandenburg responded to the doctor with a heavy heart, at the same time turning his gaze toward Prince William.

If there was truly no way to cure him, Count Brandenburg would have to consider having Prince William succeed to the throne.

"I will do my best!" The doctor nodded. He too did not want this "Prince" (compared to his brother William I) to leave.

"There's one more thing!" Count Brandenburg sternly said, "I do not want news of His Majesty's illness to spread, understood?"

"Understood!" The doctor nodded and returned to the room, pondering how he could make the King wake up as soon as possible.

Count Brandenburg and Prince William looked at each other in silence. After a while, Count Brandenburg spoke, "Your Highness, I would like to talk with you!"

"Alright!" Prince William responded briefly.

With heavy hearts, Prince William and Count Brandenburg found a secluded place. Count Brandenburg inquired about the earlier doubts, "Your Highness, what actually happened a few days ago in the Fulda Region that led to failure?"

Count Brandenburg's inquiry briefly startled Prince William. Recalling the events that occurred days ago in the Fulda Region, Prince William revealed a bitter smile at the corner of his mouth and said, "We underestimated the Austrian Empire; their army still has formidable combat capability!"

William I explained to Count Brandenburg how he led two regiments to break through but was intercepted by small units.

"Although our rifles fire faster than Austria's, the accuracy is far inferior, and many soldiers attacked the opponent first before they even arrived!" William I summarized the encounter during the breakthrough at Fulda, his eyes slightly reddened, saying "Count, can you imagine a fully manned regiment of nearly 5,000 almost being wiped out by an opposing force of less than 2,000? It's an utter disgrace! The Kingdom of Prussia went through another Jena!"

Prince William I almost shouted. He did not realize that the 3,000 soldiers responsible for blocking him were elite troops who had experienced the Sardinian Dynasty War, Vienna War, and Hungarian War, starkly different from the Prussian soldiers who only fought with the Bourgeois National Guard.

Moreover, the military reform of the Prussian army had not yet begun, and the Kingdom of Prussia, with its declining combat effectiveness, was no match for the Austrian Empire.

Previously, William I believed the Austrian Empire, which couldn't even win against Hungary or Sardinia, would stand no chance against Prussia.

Who would have thought that the combat effectiveness of the Kingdom of Prussia's army was not even as good as Hungary?

This was something William I never expected, and he wasn't the only one surprised. A certain President of the Republic who was keen on propagating the Prussian threat theory also did not expect it.

"The Prussian army must undergo a thorough reform; otherwise, our forces will face situations like Fulda again!" Prince William I stated resolutely.

"Your Highness, I'm afraid this is not the time to be thinking about that!" Count Brandenburg poured a bucket of cold water on Prince William I with a wry smile, "Right now, the most important thing is figuring out how to get the Kingdom of Prussia out of its state of isolation! If we can't achieve that, the Kingdom of Prussia might be completely defeated by the Austrian Empire!"

"Count, what do you want to do? His Majesty is still in a coma!" Prince William said to Count Brandenburg.

Count Brandenburg gritted his teeth and said, "We don't know when His Majesty will wake up. I want you, Prince, to temporarily take over state affairs on behalf of His Majesty!"

"No! I can't!" Prince William decisively refused Count Brandenburg's suggestion. It wasn't that he didn't want to become King, but the situation in Prussia was extremely delicate now, and his reputation in Berlin... could only be described as infamous.

If anything went wrong, Prince William feared he might end up being assassinated by radicals.

"Your Highness, you are the only one who can control the situation now! The army only trusts you!" Count Brandenburg continued to persuade Prince William, "If you don't come forward to take charge, Prussia might face the danger of collapse!"

"I..." After contemplating for a while, Prince William asked, "What do you want me to do?"

Count Brandenburg smiled again, "Your Highness, we need to restore our image in the eyes of Tsar Nicholas I!"

"How do we restore it?" Prince William asked Count Brandenburg.

"The Austrian Empire abolished the constitution they acknowledged in 1848!" Count Brandenburg discreetly revealed his thoughts.

"No! Absolutely not!" Prince William was frightened by Count Brandenburg's audacious idea. Abolishing the 1848 constitution would mean abolishing the bicameral system of 1848, undoubtedly adding fuel to the contradictions in the Prussian Kingdom.

"Your Highness, only this way can we gain the support of the army and the Russian Empire! As long as we have the Russian Empire's support, the Kingdom of Prussia can turn crisis into safety! At worst, we also express our support to Nicholas I in obtaining Constantinople!" Count Brandenburg still wanted to dissolve the damned 1848 Prussian Constitution.

"Can this... really work?" Prince William seemed somewhat moved.

"Don't worry! The army will always support you, Your Highness!" Count Brandenburg confidently replied to Prince William.