Chapter 784

In Paris, the French were holding a funeral for Napoleon Iii. The dense crowd outside was enough to prove the popularity of Napoleon Iii.

On this day, the French workers collectively had a holiday. The capitalists had to take a holiday even if they wanted to. Napoleon Iii's title of "Socialist Emperor" was not a joke. His influence among the workers exceeded that of anyone.

The people spontaneously organized mourning activities. Compared with the desolation of the original space and time, it had to be said that this was an irony.

Although there were many people attending the funeral, there were very few guests of importance. The sequelae of the Bonaparte family's poor popularity were vividly reflected here.

The European royal families seemed to be very busy. Except for those who depended on the French for a living, the other great aristocrats only sent representatives to attend, and some didn't even bother to send representatives.

Take the House of Habsburg as an example. Franz sent a collateral count to deal with the matter. Even if the two countries were allies, it still couldn't change the fact that the two royal families didn't like each other.

The grievances here were a mess that couldn't be sorted out in a short time. Not only the House of Habsburg, but most of the European aristocrats were not friendly to the Bonaparte family.

The aristocrats were also vengeful. When Napoleon swept the European continent, it was unknown how many people's rice bowls were destroyed. How could they let this account go?

If the Bonaparte family had also declined, it was estimated that everyone would feel better. But now, the result was the opposite. The Bonaparte family was still glorious. Seeing this nouveau riche, everyone was jealous. How could they support them?

The accidental death of Napoleon Iv in the original space and time in South Africa caused a stir. Many people speculated that the British royal family planned the murder.

The reason was that when Napoleon Iv encountered the Zulu warriors, Second Lieutenant Carey and his men were only 50 yards away from Eugène, but they retreated to the camp without firing a shot.

There must be something behind this obviously abnormal behavior, but it was hard to say who planned it.

The Bonaparte family had too many enemies. The number of people who had the ability to plan such a low-level accident was at least in the triple digits.

There was no other way. With the death of the last direct heir, the Bonaparte family not only lost the hope of restoration, but also lost the ability to track down the real murderer.

The atmosphere at the funeral was a bit strange. If someone paid attention, they would find that many people had a gloating expression on their faces. If it weren't for the occasion, they would have laughed.

That's right, some people came just to watch a joke. Napoleon Iii had just left, and the upcoming Eugène Crown Prince was too young. The Government of France was bound to fight fiercely.

For example, the former King of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel II, came to watch the show. He hated Napoleon III., who had thrown him out of power, and now he had come to make a scene.

He didn't bother to hide the smile on his face, completely ignoring Euren's murderous gaze. Europe did not have the habit of regicide. Even if he was a former king, he was still a king.

As a member of a vested interest group, no matter how angry Ou Ren was, he could not kill the king. As, it, it Iii was the Emperor King Prince, King.

Perhaps in the eyes of many, this was a very unwise move. Even if he couldn't do it on the surface, couldn't he take revenge in the dark?

Victor Emmanuel II, however, had his reasons for doing so. The Sardinian Restoration Organization he led had joined forces with the Italian Revolutionary Party.

Now that the Italian independence movement was at a low ebb, as the elected leader, Victor Emmanuel II had to do something to cheer people up.

He used Napoleon Iii's funeral. Those who could sneak in naturally had someone to cooperate with. There were many people who wanted to see the Bonaparte family make a fool of themselves.

Anyway, after the funeral, he would leave with the guests. If the French wanted to intercept him, it would be even better. He could also hype up public opinion. The countries who wanted to see the French make a fool of themselves would not give up this opportunity.

…

Franz didn't care about the farce at Napoleon Iii's funeral. It was a small problem. It was because he was young and couldn't stand the provocation. If it was a wily old fox, he would never care.

They had already destroyed their country and taken away their throne, so why couldn't they throw a little tantrum?

He just laughed. He didn't come out to make trouble and disrupt the order of the funeral. He would just treat these guys as air.

There would be plenty of time to settle the score. There was no need to be in a hurry. As the French Emperor, it was too easy for him to deal with a few clowns.

As long as their source of income was cut off, these guys would soon cry. If they couldn't kill the Emperor, then they would have to worry about daily necessities for the rest of their lives.

The life of an exiled monarch wasn't easy. He had a large group of people to eat with him. He couldn't live without money.

Franz had seen this before. Massimiliano was such a failure. There were hundreds of people who came to seek refuge.

If it weren't for Franz's brother who often took out money and Empress Dowager Sophie secretly subsidized them, it wouldn't be easy to let so many people eat, let alone keep the Emperor's ostentatious appearance.

These people were talking about attacking Mexico, but if they were to carry it out, it would be useless. But there was no other way. They had to be supported.

Don't look at these people's lack of ability. It was completely different with these people and without these people. Without these people to help, what would happen to the Emperor's reputation?

Franz was willing to pay for a group of idealistic people to promote Massimiliano's reform measures. Whether it was practical or not, at least it looked good on the surface.

The people who didn't know the truth couldn't think of the deeper problems and were easily led astray.

Of course, these people's activities in Austria were also restricted. They couldn't go anywhere, and the articles they wrote were selectively published.

A large number of them were sent to France by Franz to further their studies. He said that they were learning the experience of the Bonaparte Dynasty's restoration.

So far, it seemed to be working well. Massimiliano's Mexican Restoration Organization had been established and attracted many Mexican students to participate.

It was a bad era. Seeing the warlords fighting, these people finally realized that the Emperor was better.

Influenced by public opinion, many people thought carefully and realized that Maximilian I Of Castile didn't do anything bad.

Just as the newspapers said, the Mexican local warlords were too powerful, and the Emperor's orders couldn't be carried out.

Because they opposed the Emperor's reforms, the conservatives and the warlords rebelled together. The revolutionaries were all fools who were fooled.

Behind the scenes, Franz sponsored Massimiliano 200,000 DL every year. It could be said that public opinion was pulled back by money.

Victor Emmanuel II was under much more pressure. One was all talk and no action, while the other was taking real action to restore the country. They weren't on the same level in terms of expenses.

Although there were many sponsors in secret, the amount was not large. Victor Emmanuel II, who had a large group of subordinates, was short of money. Without enough money, they had to create a topic to arouse people's patriotism, or use the Great Deception Technique to trick the sponsors into increasing their investment.

As long as the source of funding was cut, the Restoration Organization's momentum would immediately drop. After all, people had to eat too.

…

Intelligence chief Teren: "Your Majesty, the people of Prussia are on the move. In the past few days, the Polish newspapers have been scolding the government, attributing the chaos in Poland to the lack of a king and the struggle for power among the senior government officials.

The foundation of Dombrowski's government is unstable, and they barely won the election by relying on the support of the public. The people of Prussia have taken advantage of the public opinion, and they are now hoping for international intervention.

However, Napoleon Iii has just died, and everyone is focused on the future political direction of France, so they can't care about Poland for now.

If there are no accidents, the Polish parliament will re-elect the king in a month at most. This time, there will be fewer competitors, and William I is almost destined to be elected. "

The reduction in competitors was not caused by the people of Prussia. It was completely because many people were frightened by the chaos in Poland and didn't want to get involved.

Although it hadn't been long since they became independent, they had really caused a lot of trouble. They regarded themselves as a great power internationally, as if they were already a member of the great powers.

They claimed to be the sixth most powerful country in Europe, second only to the British Fao, Prussia, and Russia. They didn't consider the feelings of Spain, the German Confederation, and the Nordic Federation at all. In terms of overall national strength, these three countries were not inferior to Poland.

Even the two inconspicuous small countries, the Netherlands and Portugal, might not be inferior to Poland in terms of overall national strength. Although they were small and had a small population, they had colonies, and their economic strength surpassed Poland.

If that was the case, he could just treat it as publicity. It was acceptable to exaggerate his own strength appropriately. The diplomatic blunder not long ago, when Austria almost used force against Poland, made many people understand.

The Kingdom of Poland looked good, and it was also a medium-sized country on the European continent. In theory, as long as it developed well, it was possible to join the club of the great powers.

However, the geographical location was too bad, sandwiched between Prussia, Austria, and Russia. The sudden conflict between Austria and Poland reminded many people of the old days when the three countries divided up Poland.

The geographical location was bad, and they loved to court death. It was clearly a huge pit. No one wanted to be the king of a subjugated country. After weighing the pros and cons, many people chose to give up.

Franz picked up his teacup and took a small sip. "Continue to watch, don't act rashly. The spies on the British side can be activated. When William I is elected as the King of Poland, they will be activated immediately.

Be careful to hide, and don't expose us. It's best to let the German Federal Empire take the initiative. They jump out and compete with the French for the Rhineland.

We and the British received news that the French want to buy the Rhineland. In order to prevent the French from continuing to expand, it is more reasonable to support the German Confederation to obtain the Rhineland. "

Austria had a great influence in the German Confederation. Many big nobles and senior government officials had secretly contacted the Government of Vienna. It was not difficult to push them to jump out, but it was difficult to keep it a secret.

No one could guarantee that these people would not leak the secret. Placing bets separately had always been the way for these people to survive. While maintaining contact with Austria, they also had dealings with other forces.

The moment they promised to keep it a secret, they sold the secret. This kind of thing happened too many times on the European continent.

In particular, this kind of thing that affected the country's decision-making couldn't be done by one or two people. There were too many people that needed to be mobilized. If someone leaked the secret, it would be difficult to find out who the traitor was.

Teren, the intelligence chief, replied thoughtfully, "Yes, Your Majesty. We will first expose the secret deal between Prussia and France, and then let the British push the German Confederation to come out and compete. "

It didn't matter if the Government of Berlin gave an empty promise, as long as everyone thought it was true.

In the face of international pressure, if the people of Prussia dared to resist, Franz dared to unite the European countries to send troops to intervene. From the beginning, he was ready to force the Government of Berlin to give up the Rhineland.

In the 19th century, if a country wanted to be strong, it first had to have enough coal and iron. Without these things, heavy industry couldn't develop.

In the original time and space, Germany was able to develop mainly because they had the coal and iron resources of the Rhineland, which was why they had the glory of the Ruhr industrial area.

In a short period of time, this part of the loss of resources might not be obvious, but with the further development of industrial technology, the sequelae would erupt.

Even if they annexed the Polish Kingdom, it still couldn't make up for the loss of this part of the resources. Europe's coal resources were mainly distributed in England, the Rhineland region of Central Europe, Ukraine, Silesia, and The Balkans.

Unfortunately, the Donbass coal field in Ukraine was still far away, and the Kingdom of Prussia couldn't reach it. Silesia fell into the hands of Austria. After losing the Rhineland, the Kingdom of Prussia would sooner or later delay industrial development because of the coal problem.