"She did commit a crime, but you have a bigger problem because you made a mistake, and that's more deadly than the crime."
Prince Talleyrand's "sharp comments" made Theresa, who was already in a bad mood, suddenly raise her eyebrows.
"What do you mean? Is this still my fault?"
"If we only do things from the perspective of fairness and justice, then of course you did not make a mistake. On the contrary, you did a very good job and helped justice - but as a queen, Your Majesty, please forgive me, what you did,
It’s really unwise.”
"Why?" Teresa asked coldly.
An ordinary subordinate bureaucrat would definitely be frightened when faced with such pressure from Her Majesty the Queen, but for Talleyrand, who was accustomed to the world, this was like a breeze blowing in his face.
"Because you ruined my plan, accordingly, you also harmed our national interests——"
"Nonsense!" Teresa immediately became even more angry, "How can a thief be involved in national interests?"
"You seem to have forgotten that Princess Maria is a member of the Bavarian royal family stationed in our country. She herself, because of her admiration for our country, is now a well-known pro-France person." Prince Talleyrand explained his words calmly,
"If such an openly pro-French member of the German royal family is expelled home by you in the most ruthless way, then this will set a very bad precedent and make all our potential friends tremble -
"
"You are being alarmist." Naturally, Teresa was not intimidated by Talleyrand's few words. "She is nothing more than a marginal princess with an empty title. She has no power and power. How can she represent the prince of Germany? Ridiculous!"
"You are right, she is indeed powerless and does not have much status in the family, but don't forget that after all, she has a superior status and has very large family connections." Prince Talleyrand responded, "
Not to mention her other relationships, her biological sisters are all well-known. Among her sisters, her eldest sister is the Crown Princess of Prussia, her second sister is the Crown Princess of Saxony, and her twin sister
Her Royal Highness Sophie is still the current Princess of Austria... In essence, she has biological ties with several major royal families on the European continent. If such a person holds a pro-French stance, it will definitely be of great use to our country's diplomacy.
——”
Prince Talleyrand mentioned Sophie, which made Theresa feel quite unhappy, but the facts were there, and she had no way to refute it.
The late King of Bavaria and his second wife gave birth to five daughters, including Maria. Nowadays, apart from Maria, they have all married one after another, and most of them have married very prominently.
In comparison, this "sister power" Theresa pales in comparison, after all, her biological sisters are not yet adults.
Although "sisterhood" is not of much use to each royal family, personal kinship undoubtedly provides considerable convenience in certain private diplomatic interactions - this is also the significance of marriages between royal families.
"According to what you said, are you deliberately trying to win over Maria?" Teresa suppressed the dissatisfaction in her heart and then asked the other party.
"You are right." Talleyrand nodded.
Then, he showed the attitude of an "elder" teaching lessons to his juniors, and began to explain to Theresa, "Since ancient times, the powerful Germany has been a major threat to France. It was not until after the Thirty Years' War that this huge force
The pressure was finally lifted due to the internecine fighting and hostility among the German states.
It was from that time that we tried every means to divide the German princes. Even if our country has an unwavering national policy, this national policy must not be changed due to the change of government. For this reason, our country has successively formed an alliance with Bavaria and Prussia against Austria, and then formed an alliance with Austria.
Against Prussia, the Rhine League was formed during the emperor's time... Ha, I was one of its founders at the time."
Having said this, Prince Talleyrand's face showed a hint of pride, "Now, as the Prime Minister of the Empire, I will unswervingly implement this strategy and win over those German princes who are willing to get closer to us and ask us for help at any cost.
Maintaining the division of Germany at all costs - Her Royal Highness Princess Maria is exactly the person we need, and we need more."
Talleyrand's self-satisfied confession made Teresa feel mixed emotions.
After all, she herself is a descendant of the ancient "German Princes".
The so-called "maintaining the divided state of Germany" means to make Germans hostile to each other and kill each other for a long time, and the Habsburg family is the biggest historical victim of this policy.
Since ancient times, how many German princes have brought foreign troops into the country to fight against the Habsburg Emperor? They are countless.
Although she has now become the Queen of France, after all, it has only been a year. Her mentality has not changed yet, and she still thinks of herself as a Habsburg princess subconsciously.
Therefore, when she heard Talleyrand's straightforward and vicious truth, she naturally could not be happy.
Of course, she also knew in her heart that her role had already changed. The interests of her husband and her son required her to prioritize the interests of the French Empire. No matter how much she missed her hometown of Austria, she could only put the interests of her husband and her son first.
It went to the back of the queue.
"Even if what you say is right, how can Maria be worthy of the value you claim? How much help can her sisters really give her?" Teresa said angrily.
He asked rhetorically, "How can she represent the German prince?"
"It may not be possible to have a positive effect, but it would be too easy to have a negative effect!" Prince Talleyrand immediately replied, "Imagine if she was humiliated so mercilessly by you and then deported back to the country.
, what would her mother and her sisters think? They would certainly want revenge and sow hostility against the French in the courts of Bavaria, Prussia, Saxony and Austria... I don’t need to remind you that this is Germany.
If we have a stalemate with the four most powerful states, what kind of German policy will there be? So, I ask you, Your Majesty the Queen, how much will it cost us to reverse the negative consequences?
Influence?"
Teresa's expression suddenly froze.
Talleyrand continued to talk, "Well, what Her Royal Highness Maria did may indeed be a bit bad, but did she bring us much loss? Hundreds of thousands of francs? Maybe millions? After all, this is just an ordinary person.
It’s just an ordinary number. We have to pay a higher price than this to win over the German princes. However, if we deal with her according to your ideas, you will be happy, but how much potential should our country pay for this?
What’s the cost? Tens of millions or hundreds of millions? Let me ask you, comparing the two, which one is more intolerable?”
Under Prince Talleyrand's aggressive offensive, Theresa, who was originally angry, was suddenly stopped by the question.
Although she knew in her heart that Talleyrand was definitely exaggerating, it was not easy to completely deny Talleyrand's words - because there was indeed a certain truth in it.
Prince Talleyrand had already seen Theresa's weakness at this moment, so he continued to pursue the victory.
"Now that it's at this point, let me tell you that Princess Maria has indeed come to France a long time ago, and since Princess Maria came to us, I have been trying to find ways to win her over. I treat her cordially and am satisfied.
She makes most of her demands. It is undeniable that she is indeed a willful girl and she is very greedy. This is actually a good thing for us, because as long as we spend some money, we can win her over. Isn't this a good thing?
?
Moreover, these expenditures have now paid off for us. Her Royal Highness Maria is not only pro-French in language, she is also ready to serve us with practical actions - she has promised to use her family network to seek help for the prince of our royal family.
The marriage to the German princess, once such a marriage becomes a reality, our national interests will definitely have another weight..."
Prince Charles wanted to ask Agron to help find a princess for marriage. Of course Theresa knew about it. She also mentioned it to her mother's family. Unfortunately, there has not been much progress so far. Unexpectedly, after the operation under the table, it actually happened
Let her "contract"?
If she really gets the thing done, wouldn't it be a meritorious service to the Bonaparte family? In this case, how much confidence do I have to accuse her?
Unknowingly, Prince Talleyrand had rationalized Maria's obvious "stealing" into a "reward" for working for the Bonaparte family from a pro-French stance.
Once you accept his narrative logic, it is difficult to refute him, because France objectively does have a need to win over and divide the German princes.
Teresa slowly calmed down, and then looked at the haggard old man in front of her with a scrutinizing gaze.
Does he really have such a profound reason for protecting Maria? Or is he just looking for an excuse to fool himself?
Is this the truth or a lie? It's hard to tell.
In other words, there may really be no difference between truth and lies for him.
But no matter what, since Prince Talleyrand has spoken, it means that he has stood in front of Maria and become her backer.
"So, do you have to protect her?" Teresa asked coldly.
"What I protect is not her, but the traditional diplomatic line of our country for two hundred years, Your Majesty the Queen." Prince Talleyrand bowed slightly and answered her in a polite tone, "Because of this, it is difficult for me to stand by and watch.
It was a mistake for her to rush back like this, and I can't let this mistake happen-"
Facing the tough-minded Talleyrand, Theresa's anger reignited.
"Are you still accusing me of disrupting the country? If you had such a plan before, you should have told me earlier, and you should have let her understand the proper things to do, otherwise things would not have reached this point!"
"Then, in what name am I telling you?" Talleyrand asked pointedly.
Teresa was stunned for a moment, not understanding what the other party meant, but soon she realized what she meant.
Then, a large amount of blood rushed from the heart to the brain, and she was so angry that her whole body started to tremble.
"Do you think that I will betray this country? How disrespectful this is!" She suddenly stood up from the chair, then raised her hand and pointed at Prince Talleyrand with a trembling finger, "I...since I married
I gave it to Your Highness, now that I have come to this country, I know where I stand!"
The more she spoke, the more her mood became turbulent, and her eyes became more sharp and terrifying, "Yes, I am a German princess, but I know better that I am the Queen of France and the mother of the Crown Prince! Louis XIV's mother, Anna of Austria,
She is also a Habsburg princess. For the sake of her son’s empire, she is also an enemy of the Habsburg Empire, and I can also show the same consciousness!"
"Then now, I ask you to use one-tenth or even one percent of your awareness to prove these words - Your Majesty." Prince Talleyrand did not back down because of Theresa's anger. On the contrary,
He still responded calmly, "Her Royal Highness Maria is the first German prince we have won over, and she is now serving us, so why not pay a little money as a price? I hope you will forget what happened today.
Things, it's good for our country."
Although Talleyrand's tone was gentle, it was obvious that he had no intention of making concessions.
"What if I say no?" Teresa laughed angrily.
Of course, Talleyrand had expected this, and he had already prepared a "killing move" to deal with it.
"Then, please replace me -" He spread his hands calmly, "As the Prime Minister, when I see His Majesty and his wife do something that is obviously harmful to the national interests, I should make a remonstrance. If the remonstrance is
If it doesn’t work, then I shouldn’t be in love with you, but should make my last effort to safeguard the interests of the country and your own interests.”
Prince Talleyrand's showdown instantly forced Theresa into a corner.
This is not resignation, this is blackmail.
Because at this time, it was impossible for her to replace Talleyrand, and she could not come up with anyone who could replace Talleyrand.
Besides, for what reason? Just to suppress a German princess and quarrel with her, so you have to force the Prime Minister to resign?
She has no right to do this.
Even if she is really capable and does this, then who in the outside world will care about Maria's little things?
Criticisms such as "a willful, autocratic foreign queen" will inevitably be thrown at me overwhelmingly.
What's even more fatal is that people will ask, are they on the side of French interests or on the side of German interests? How should they defend themselves?
He has blocked all roads.
Although Teresa had always hated Talleyrand as a person, when Prince Talleyrand actually stood in front of her and took action, she realized that this old man who seemed to be already weak was actually so hard to shake.
This feeling of being forced by others only increased Teresa's hatred for Talleyrand. She had long made up her mind to liquidate Talleyrand's estate after his death, and at this moment she wanted to give it away now.
This dead old man returned to the West.
However, this can only be thought about.
"Your Majesty, I know you are very unhappy now, but I must tell you that as an emperor, you must learn to deal with people and things you don't like." Under Theresa's angry gaze, Prince Talleyrand
He stood up leisurely, and then looked at her like a generous elder, "Actually, you have done a very good job today, I think it is very good! It is very admirable. You just lack the last bit of fierceness."
That's all, you didn't create a fait accompli, but took a step back, so you gave others room to fight back... But it doesn't matter, you are still so young and beautiful, time will teach you the rest. You may not
I believe that, but I have the best intentions and the best expectations for Your Majesty and you. I firmly believe that entrusting the country to you is the best choice. All I can do is to provide you with the final guidance before you grow up.
That's all...well, I don't deny it, by the way, I also want to have some final fun."