Chapter 938

What was said was like spilled water. Naturally, there was no way to take it back. Especially something as important as the succession of the throne, it was not a joke.

Since he had made a decision, no matter how others persuaded him, Franz was not prepared to change his mind.

Any profession would get tired of it after a long time, and the emperor was no exception. Power was tempting, but after holding power for more than 50 years, Franz had long lost his initial passion.

Looking at his performance in the past 10 years, a large number of government affairs were pushed to Frederick The Great in the name of training the "Crown Prince's political ability," but in fact, it was because he was lazy.

No matter how lazy he was, the emperor was still the emperor, and he needed to be responsible for the country. Franz could not deal with specific matters, but he still had to personally formulate the long-term development of the country, strategic diplomacy, and so on.

In fact, Franz had long wanted to quit. He was already in his 70s or 80s, but he was still struggling in his post. He was simply a model worker.

The main reason was that there was a lot of competition before, and the international situation was not clear. Franz was not sure if Frederick The Great could handle it.

Now that the dust had settled, the era of conquering the world was over, and the Holy Roman Empire was established. The personal ability requirements of the monarch had been greatly reduced.

As a giant, the Holy Roman Empire's fault tolerance rate was still very high. As long as they did not mess around and went step by step, the hegemony could at least last for hundreds of years.

Franz was old, but Frederick The Great was not young either. He was already 50 years old and had long passed the age of messing around.

What's more, he had been trained by Franz for more than 20 years. He had seen all the swords and tricks in politics, and his edges and corners had been polished. As a master of preservation, he was just right.

Abdication was not something that could be done easily. The transfer of power also needed a process.

Before that, Franz also had to deal with some troublesome matters so that Frederick The Great would not be disgraced when he just succeeded the throne.

For example, the division of states.

Although Shinra now occupied a lot of territory, and the central government could no longer rule it, there were still many people who opposed the division.

Not everyone could see the collapse of the colonial system. In the eyes of most people, colonial rule was still the most convenient way.

Anyway, it had been like this before, and there was nothing wrong with continuing.

Including the previous process of localization, if it was not for Franz's strong promotion, it would not have passed at all.

Everyone opposed localization, mainly because the cost of governance would increase greatly, and they could not continue to be unscrupulous of wealth.

However, localization could increase the power of the central government, and at the same time, increase the power of the feudal nobles in politics. The main opposition was the capitalists, so it was not difficult to implement.

The division of states was different.

In essence, the ones who benefited the most from the establishment of overseas states were the royal family and the nobles of overseas fiefs, followed by the local immigrants.

It was not good for the central government. It seemed like the country had not left the Empire, but the meat was still in the pot.

However, states had a lot of autonomy, which directly divided the power of the central government and affected the interests of the bureaucratic groups.

When it came to their own interests, competition was inevitable. In the face of the powerful Franz, even if these guys wanted to make trouble, they would think twice. Frederick The Great was not so sure.

Human nature could not stand the test. Franz did not think that every bureaucrat below was a loyal minister and filial son.

Most of the time, opposition did not need to be done, as long as you couldn't do what you were told to do. When it came to the ability to drag people down, all bureaucrats were professional.

In Franz's view, the power of ministers and the power of the monarch were complementary and opposed to each other.

No monarch liked a strong minister, and no minister liked a strong monarch.

There were some unscrupulous ideas: the emperor was so capable, why did he need ministers?

In Franz's era, the emperor was too strong. Even if everyone had ideas, they could only keep it in their hearts.

If Frederick were to take over, it would be hard to say. If it was not handled well, it would hurt the prestige of the monarch.

Nicholas II was a ready-made negative example. The bureaucrats of the Government of Vienna might not be so bold, but it was still possible for them to take the opportunity to put pressure on the monarch.

If the new monarch messed up the first important thing after he succeeded the throne, he could not expect to have high prestige in front of the ministers in the future.

From this point of view, the saying "three years without changing one's father's ways" made sense.

"The more you do, the more mistakes you make. The less you do, the less mistakes you make."

With a three-year buffer period, the political situation would be stable, and the prestige of the monarch would rise. It would be much easier to do things in the future.

After leaving the daily affairs to Frederick The Great, Franz took the map of Shinra and drew circles. Enfeoffment was never an easy thing, and there were many problems to consider.

Not only did he have to consider politics, economy, and strategy, but he also had to consider the local culture and social background, as well as the personal ability and will of the enfeoffed.

They were all family, and Franz did not want to make things unpleasant because of this problem. It was impossible to be fair. Enfeoffment was destined to be divided into big and small.

…

With the end of the World War, Lisbon once again returned to its former prosperity. Only the damaged buildings left behind told the world that it had just experienced a civil war.

There was no doubt that the Portuguese Republics were badly tricked by the Revolutionary Party. Because of the "rebellion," they were directly cleaned up by the Allied Forces that put down the rebellion.

The reality was such a comedy. For a long time, Carlos I was subject to domestic interest groups and could not control the national power according to his own will.

Unexpectedly, after a wave of exile and restoration, the interest groups suffered heavy losses, and Carlos I truly grasped the national power.

"Reform" was once again put on the agenda. Only this time, the object of imitation was no longer Britain and France, but the Holy Roman Empire that had once again ascended to the top.

Before the formal reform, the Portuguese government still had an important problem to solve.

With the end of the World War, Africa had completely become Shinra's Africa. The Portuguese African colony suddenly became awkward.

It was definitely not an easy thing to be a neighbor with a hegemon. The entire African continent was occupied by Shinra. Who could guarantee that the Government of Vienna did not have any ideas about Portuguese Africa?

Even if they did not have any ideas now, it did not mean that they would not have any ideas in the future. Once the Government of Vienna became interested in Portuguese Africa, it would be a disaster for Portugal.

As a small country, Portugal was able to gain a foothold in the European world by adapting to the current situation.

Instead of waiting for it to be robbed later, it was better to take the initiative to exchange it for benefits. Anyway, Portuguese Africa was not a good place and was losing money every year.

Carlos I asked, "How did the negotiation go? What price is the Austrians willing to offer?"

Reform needed money. Although Portugal was an old colonial empire, its colonies had been in the hands of interest groups for a long time. Not only did the government not make money from it, but it also had to spend money on it every year.

If it was before, Carlos would still be worried about the opposition of vested interest groups. Now, there was no need to worry. Those people had already seen God in the previous Restoration War.

The Allied Forces did it so straightforwardly that there was naturally an exchange of interests. Just listen to the propaganda of the Revolutionary Party: Tyrant Carlos betrayed national interests and colluded with foreign forces to suppress the Republic government …

"Tyrant" was really an unjust accusation. As for Carlos I's performance, it had nothing to do with "brutality" at all. It was nothing more than his own incompetence.

Betraying national interests was even more nonsense. Which king would want to betray their country? It was because they were not strong enough and had to compromise with foreign forces.

For example, now, Carlos I's positive performance made it difficult not to suspect that he had made a secret deal with the Government of Vienna.

However, everyone was smart. Except for the Revolutionary Party and the Gonghe Party who had slipped through the net, everyone else chose to see through it and not expose it.

This was the helplessness of a small country. In the face of the world's hegemon, Portugal was too weak. No matter what kind of deal existed, as long as an agreement was reached, it must be fulfilled.

"The Government of Vienna has given two plans: one is for them to invest 50 million BD in a lump sum to buy out our colonies in Africa; the other is to carry out a colony swap.

On this issue, the Government of Vienna is still very sincere. They have taken out three colonies for us to choose.

They are: Annam in Indochina, the eastern part of the former Persian Empire, and the former southern part of Colombia in South America.

According to the information provided by the Government of Vienna, these three colonies have their own advantages. The Annam region has the largest population and the best economic conditions.

The eastern part of Persia is connected to our colonies in India, and the advantage of the southern part of Colombia is that it has the largest territory. "

It was obvious that Frank was very satisfied with this deal. No matter which deal the king chose in the end, the answer given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was enough to explain to the people.

Everyone present was shocked and thought to themselves, It's actually an equal deal. Could it be that I made a mistake before? Wasn't Portuguese Africa a condition in exchange for the Government of Vienna's support for the restoration?

Doubts were doubts, but this was a good thing. Since it was an equal deal, they were not afraid of being criticized.

It was not easy for a small country to be able to do this. If they wanted to take advantage, they should just wash up and sleep. Did they really think that the hegemon of the world was a vegetarian?

As if he had expected it, Carlos I smiled slightly. "These proposals are all acceptable. Let's leave it to the parliament to discuss, lest they always complain that we are arbitrary."

…

In Tokyo, since the news of the signing of the "Vienna Agreement" came, a huge movement to denounce national traitors broke out in Japan.

For the fragile Japanese nationalists, ceding land and paying reparations was simply intolerable.

The delegation had not yet returned, and this firepower could only be carried by the Government of Japan. In order to alleviate domestic contradictions, the Government of Japan, headed by Katsura Taro, was forced to resign.

However, this was still not enough. Angry patriotic youths put forward the demand of "not cutting an inch of land, not compensating."

If it was just a civil disturbance, it was not the first or second time anyway, and the Government of Japan had rich experience in dealing with it.

The troublesome military also joined in the uproar. Not to mention the navy, since the defeat in the Battle of Malacca, they had become the sinners of Japan, and they had no say in politics at all.

The biggest problem now was that the overseas army refused to retreat, wanted to defend the Japanese colonies to the death, and asked the government to refuse to implement the "Vienna Agreement."

International treaties were not child's play. How could they not implement them just because they said so?

The smoke of gunpowder in Tokyo Bay had just dissipated, and it was less than a month since the Shinra Navy held a bonfire party in Tokyo.

The people below could ignore it, but as a senior government official, they had to consider the terrible consequences of refusing to implement the treaty.

Today was different from the past. The Russian Empire was deeply involved in the civil war and could not extricate itself. The European world no longer needed Japan to contain Russia.

The chess pieces that had lost their value became dispensable, and they were only one step away from being "abandoned."

The previous bonfire party in Tokyo was a warning from the Government of Vienna. If they did not obey, it would really be dangerous.

For a time, the Japanese Council of Elders was caught in a dilemma.