Chapter 452 Austria Is Right

Ludwig von Lens became the focus of the audience again after several months. Yes, it was this unknown young man again.

In fact, Count Pillersdorf had already made two preparations. Just now, he had communicated with those representatives who were closer to the Austrian side.

No matter what outrageous words Ludwig von Lens said later, it did not represent the attitude of the Austrian Empire. The meaning was very clear, don't flatter him.

But the sudden appearance of the King of the Netherlands, coupled with Ludwig von Lens's roar, really made people feel a little overwhelmed.

Moreover, when Dutch merchant ships encountered British pirates, it always made people feel like they were back to the 17th and 18th centuries.

In fact, the representatives of the German Confederation states were also confused by the unanimous support from the stage and the audience. After all, most states did not even have territorial waters, and the last pirates they encountered might have been Vikings.

Although Count Pillersdorf had already communicated with most of the states, there were always a few surprises. For example, Prussian Foreign Minister Heinrich von Bülow felt that this was an opportunity, an opportunity to discredit Austria.

After all, there were not many countries in the entire German Confederation with a naval system. On land, the Austrians could coerce members of the German states to fight for it, but what about at sea? Would they let those principalities build navies in the Rhine and Danube rivers?

So he stood up and applauded.

"The Austrian representative is right!"

Small states in the same faction as Prussia would naturally echo, and then those states without a position saw that the "big brother" and "second brother" in the German Confederation had spoken and expressed their indignation, demanding to help the Dutch brothers get justice.

The main reason was that these countries had no naval forces, not to mention territorial waters, and it was none of their business whether to fight or not. In addition, the previous successive victories had rapidly increased the number of Greater German nationalists. After all, everyone liked to stand on the side of the winner.

The Bavarian representative, who likes to eat melons and not mind the big trouble, shouted the loudest, wishing he could run to Asia and kick the British ass right now.

The entire parliament hall was in chaos, and the people were in a state of turmoil.

In fact, King William II of the Netherlands and his ministers had no confidence before coming, but it was great to have the famous "Ludwig von Lens" here.

At this time, King William II of the Netherlands felt that the time had come, and he ordered people to bring up a few boxes filled with gold.

But compared with the sincerity of old Kuldre, the merchant king was obviously better at doing business. He only said that he would donate the gold in the box to the German Confederation to contribute to "everyone".

However, he kept silent about how much the gold in it was worth. In fact, it was only worth 5 million florins.

This number is not small, but it is not much when averaged to the states.

Even 5 million was not a small number at the time, and William II was very determined to come up with so much money.

After all, his lover Caroline told him that under normal circumstances, whether it was to obtain the protection of the German Confederation or to resolve the maritime dispute with Britain, five million was far from enough.

William II was naturally right, but he was not going to pay for the money himself, but let the merchants and nobles in the country pay for it.

After all, the money those people handed over to the royal family and the government was too little, but it brought such a big trouble to the Netherlands.

In fact, the corruption of the Dutch East India Company was just as serious, similar to the British East India Company, and the financial report was always in a loss state.

For every one million profit handed over, there would be three million debts attached.

However, due to the increased management of the Dutch government in recent years, they did not dare to do too much.

The senior executives of the Dutch East India Company reported the incident to the government in a self-righteous way, actually trying to throw the ball away.

But William II did not expect that he would directly ask the Dutch East India Company to solve the matter, otherwise he would be dismissed and investigated.

These leaders of the Dutch East India Company would naturally not resign and hand over their power. They had no ability to deal with the British and could only plead with the king.

But William II pretended that there was nothing to talk about. The senior executives of the Dutch East India Company finally realized the seriousness of the problem. However, in order to prevent these people from jumping off the wall, Caroline had already sent people to contact them.

In European history, it was not uncommon for the king to not do things and the ministers to ask their mistresses to review the memorials.

So, these people came to Caroline, who naturally opened his mouth wide. After that, one party asked for a sky-high price and the other party paid the money.

William II finally got 30 million Dutch guilders, and he was still very happy. After all, this was the first time he defeated those greedy villains.

Caroline was also very happy because she intercepted 20 million Dutch guilders.

However, Caroline did not get carried away because of this, because the next day a letter was placed on the table in her bedroom. The letter detailed Caroline's income over the years and the reported data.

There was also a handwritten letter from Ajani, of course, only the two of them knew the specific content.

Franz understood that it was necessary to crack down on such high-ranking spies, but not too much. After all, it would not be so easy to place such a person next to the King of the Netherlands.

As for the money, the amount was indeed astonishing, but Franz did not care. He cared more about Austria's influence on the Netherlands.

The attitude of the Low Countries towards Britain will greatly affect Britain's future policies.

Historically, the reason why the British could rest easy was not because the Netherlands declined, but Belgium was willing to be the vanguard of the British.

But at this time, the world has changed. France and the Netherlands, the two countries closest to Britain, have very bad relations with them.

This forced the British to consider their own safety more. While waving the big stick to "stir up shit", they must also be careful not to be pushed into the "shit tank".

Of course, Franz did not know what was about to happen in Frankfurt at this time.

On the other side, Frankfurt, the temporary headquarters of the German Confederation.

In fact, usually, people of the status of monarchs would not attend such routine meetings.

But in order to express his sincerity, King William II of the Netherlands chose to be present in person. In addition, the atmosphere of nationalism and the large boxes of gold also moved the small states that followed Austria.

After all, this kind of thing that has both face and substance is a waste if it is not done.

Then all the pressure was placed on Count Pilesdorff, the chairman of the conference. He really wanted to find a crack in the ground to hide so that no one could see him.

But unfortunately, Count Pilesdorff failed. He had to express his position. If he did not, it would be equivalent to acquiescing to this result, and the Austrian Empire would still be tied to this chariot called nationalism.

But if Count Pilesdorff raised objections, he would make himself and Austria the public enemy of Germany.