The British's shocking idea shocked the Government of Berlin.
Annexing the German Confederation was their dream, but reality didn't allow it. In order to avoid being mixed up, the Government of Berlin suppressed the idea.
They didn't expect the British to propose it, but this time, it wasn't the Prussian Confederation annexing the German Federal Empire, but the German Confederation annexing the Prussian Confederation.
The order was changed, and the nature was different. The war between Prussia and Russia was still going on. The Government of Berlin didn't have the confidence to negotiate, so they had to give up their dominance.
William I had a headache. Compromising wasn't as easy as it sounded. Europe was a place of law.
Although the German Federal Empire was jokingly called the Comedy Empire by the people, it was still a recognized empire. The Prussian Confederation would only be an ordinary state if it joined.
Moreover, under the current circumstances, who knew if the other party would take advantage of the situation? For example, they could ask to split up the Prussian Confederation and join as two states, Prussia and Poland.
Or they could further separate the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, weakening the strength of the Kingdom of Prussia.
…
Foreign Minister Jeffrey Friedman advised, "Your Majesty, judging from the current situation on the battlefield, we are in an extremely unfavorable situation.
We've lost Belarus, more than half of Lithuania has fallen, and the captured Warren region no longer exists. The enemy is less than 150 kilometers away from Warsaw.
Our soldiers are brave, and our officers are excellent, but these aren't enough to make up for the difference in strength.
The difference in strength between Prussia and Russia is too great. It's hard to win the war with our strength alone.
The experience of the last war between Prussia and Russia tells us that to deal with the Russian Empire, we must have enough allies. We must attack from different fronts, disperse their forces, and increase the difficulty of their logistics.
Our unfavorable performance on the battlefield has made our former allies hesitate. Now we must pull in a strong ally to increase everyone's confidence, and the German Federal Empire is undoubtedly the best choice. "
Minister of War Filippo questioned, "Jeffery, are you trying to betray your country?"
"Do you know what joining the German Federal Empire means?"
With a boss above him, his days naturally couldn't be so carefree. Although many states within the German Confederation did not buy into the central government, the central government still had a lot of power.
For example, issuing currency.
No matter how lax a country was, it was impossible for it to allow multiple currencies. The central government claimed that it was "for the sake of economic development", so it was difficult for the states to refuse.
Of course, it wasn't like there was no other way. As long as they learned from those small countries, they could simply use international currencies like the Divine Shield and the British Pound Sterling. The central government would not be able to do anything to them.
These small countries did not care. Their market capacity was limited, and they did not have the ability to print money themselves. The losses brought about by using foreign currencies were also limited.
For the convenience of trade, international currency was used. When conducting overseas trade, it could be directly used to settle accounts, and it could also save on exchange fees.
But it was different in the Pu Bo Federation. No matter what currency was used, they would have to pay a large amount of seigniorage, greatly affecting the government's revenue.
The economic losses were secondary, and they would also have to be told what to do in politics. Franz was the first to propose that the central government would not interfere with the internal affairs of the states. It was only effective for the first few years, but it was still interfered with later on.
It was just that the Government of Vienna did it very covertly. By making laws and promoting the independence of the judiciary, they reached their hands into it.
Nominally, the central government had no right to interfere with the operations of the state government, but the judiciary had the right to arrest corrupt officials within the states.
If this influence was not big enough, then what about the taxes paid by the states and the financial allocation from the central government?
The pit was dug in advance. No one knew beforehand that there would be surplus funds while maintaining the expenses of the central government through tariffs, seigniorage, colonial revenue, and tobacco and alcohol taxes.
This was the inevitable result. The central government did not bear the administrative expenses of the local governments, and did not need to invest in infrastructure for the states. Other than the military expenses, the financial income was to support the emperor and thousands of central bureaucrats.
The surplus funds, other than being used for scientific research, the remaining funds were allocated as opportunities to intervene in the internal affairs of the states.
With money in their pockets, they were tough. In the beginning, the income was limited and not enough for the central government's expenses. They needed the states to share the expenses, so they naturally did not dare to offend the big boss.
But now that the central government's pockets were full, the states had to consider the central government's opinion if they wanted to apply for the central government's financial allocation.
Similar things could also happen in the German Federal Empire.
Although they only received seigniorage, their expenses were also very low. This was because in the beginning, the central government's power was restricted. The armies were raised by the states themselves, and they only needed to support a group of civil servants and the emperor.
Jeffery replied unhurriedly, "Of course I know what this means, but do we have a choice?
What are we afraid of?
As long as we win this war, with our strength, do you think that Hanover can do anything to us?
Don't forget that the German Federal Empire's system follows that of the Holy Roman Empire, implementing a system of electing an emperor. If we rope in enough allies, we can also change the central government.
No matter how many restrictions they set up now, we can find a way to circumvent them in the future. Treaties can be torn up, and laws can be changed.
When the time comes, this will be the internal affairs of the empire. As long as there is a justifiable reason, even the British can't say anything!
As long as they still want us to tie down the Fao and the other countries, the Government of London won't do anything to us! The most important thing now is to think of a way to rope in the German Confederation. "
In theory, as long as the Pobol Federation joined the German Federal Empire, it wouldn't be a problem to usurp the central government of Hanover.
If the Government of Berlin could think of it, Hanover could naturally think of it too.
A snake swallowing an elephant was the legendary "Bashe." Not all snakes had such a good appetite.
Hanover couldn't even deal with a group of small states within the German Confederation. No matter how one looked at it, they didn't seem to be ambitious. Even if the Pobol Federation came knocking on their door, they probably wouldn't dare to accept them.
Phillipodo was very hurt. He objected mainly because of the issue of leadership, but reality was cruel. It wasn't a matter of whether the Pobol Federation was willing or not, but whether they were willing to accept them.
This wasn't the first time they were worried about this problem. Many years ago, there were politicians who proposed the idea of "merging Austria and Germany to jointly rule Central Europe." Unfortunately, Austria was unwilling to share the fruits of their labor.
It couldn't be helped. The price was not equal, and Franz naturally couldn't agree.
Even if the Government of Berlin lowered the conditions at that time, the result would be the same. The Dual Empire wasn't fun, and Franz wasn't willing to challenge the Hell Instance Dungeon.
This time, after joining the German Federal Empire, the bottom line of the Government of Berlin was undoubtedly lower. As long as they won the war, it was no big deal to go back on their word in the future. Hanover didn't have the strength to force them to fulfill the contract anyway.
After a moment of silence, William I slowly said, "This time it was the British who pulled the strings. Presumably, the Government of London has a way to make Hanover compromise.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will contact the British first. As long as they can pull the German Federal Empire down, they can agree to any conditions first. Whether or not they want to honor it, we'll talk about it after we win the war. "
There was no problem. The Government of Berlin would only be qualified to consider these issues if they won the war. If they lost the war, the Pobol Federation was doomed.
Even if the British, Fao, and other countries took action, the Kingdom of Prussia could survive. It would be a smaller version, and it had nothing to do with them.
…
The Government of Berlin was worried, and so were the British. In particular, Sir Edward, who led the plan, regretted it as soon as he started to implement it.
Things weren't as simple as he thought. Her Majesty the Queen agreed to do the work of the royal family of the "Comedy Empire," but the Government of London must ensure that the royal family's position wouldn't be shaken.
These were all small problems. It was just a promise, and Sir Edward said it didn't matter.
After this war, the Pobol Federation would definitely need to recuperate. In a short period of time, the Government of Berlin wouldn't dare to play any tricks. As for the future, that was a problem for the government to worry about.
The problem was the special system of the Comedy Empire. It was useless to just convince the Emperor. They still had the Empire's parliament to restrict them.
The idea of "convincing these small states" was good, but the method wasn't advisable. Wouldn't telling them be the same as telling Austria?
Even Franz didn't know how much the "Comedy Empire" had been infiltrated. Anyway, the God's Shield was the country's common currency, and it had more circulation than the Rhine Guilder issued by the central government.
It wasn't that the central government didn't want to ban it. The key was that this was a legal currency approved by the Empire's parliament, and the emperor couldn't do anything about it.
Of course, the Government of Vienna also paid a price. In return, they opened the colonial market to these small states that voted in favor and provided economic assistance from time to time.
Although the two places were separated politically, they had long been integrated into one economically.
In this context, Sir Edward really couldn't believe the secrecy of these small states. As long as the news was leaked, the "plan" could only be a plan. After all, it was much easier to ruin things than to accomplish them.
Without the support of the small states, it wasn't impossible to bypass the Empire's parliament, but in the subsequent war, everyone wouldn't be able to contribute.
The army of the "Comedy Empire" belonged to the state government. The emperor could only command the troops of Hanover to barely gather a hundred or two hundred thousand troops, and that was already the limit.
If the Empire's parliament didn't give the central government face and vetoed the resolution to allow the Pobol Federation to join the empire, then even material assistance wouldn't be allowed.
At most, the emperor would take the Hanoverian army and go to war with Russia alone. It had nothing to do with the German Federal Empire.
This little bit of power would only increase the casualties of the Russians a little, but it wouldn't be enough to change the outcome of the war.
Okay, Sir Edward admitted that he was overthinking. So far, only the Government of Berlin had responded to his plan. The German Federal Empire hadn't given a reply at all.
The effort was visible, but the return was illusory. The legitimacy of the central government of the Comedy Empire had always been questioned by the people. Usually, they had to be cautious and not let the Empire's parliament get hold of them.
Without enough benefits, they wanted to take the risk of participating in the tragic Prussian war. Even the British boss couldn't do it.
It wasn't like there was no other choice. If they were pushed too hard, they could jump ship at any time. Now that there were many buyers, they could still sell for a good price.
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