When Sophie resigned, the old emperor's face remained calm and did not make any expression. It was not until she walked out of the room that a sneer full of ridicule and helplessness appeared on the corner of his mouth.
"She's still not convinced... Hey, it's obviously her willfulness that makes us have to clean up the mess, but she justifiably thinks that I'm sorry for her!"
Metternich said nothing, after all, anything he said at this time would add fuel to the fire.
Although she kept saying that it was "in the past", Sophie did not let go of the past. How could the old emperor let go of the past?
Resentment is resentment, but now that the mess is beyond repair, everyone can only tolerate each other and make do with each other for the rest of their lives.
After venting his dissatisfaction for a while, the old emperor regained his composure and sighed again.
"Women, it's so strange! I've been married four times, but I still dare not say that I understand women. Why do you think she can't let go? Is my grandson worth remembering so much? He is obviously a libertine..."
"Her Royal Highness Sophie likes literature and art, and she has a bit of a chivalrous heart, so she is particularly fond of the kind of depressed and beautiful young people in distress. At that time, the versatile and imprisoned Duke Lechstadt exactly fit her taste.
Mental needs." Metternich replied in a low voice. "In addition, in the entire court, there are only a few people who are qualified to accompany her and associate with her on an equal footing, and none of them except the Duke.
He fell into her eyes, and over time, she naturally became the only one with him... In addition, she is the kind of stubborn and sharp person who likes to get into trouble, so once she gets emotional, she can't look back."
It has to be said that Prince Metternich has been in the political arena for many years and has a very vicious eye when looking at people. In addition, he is "a bystander", so he has a clear understanding of the secrets of the royal family and can easily see through the ins and outs.
The emperor was silent for a moment.
Because even he knew that the gap between his son and grandson, both in talent and appearance, was so huge that they were even incomparable. It was perfectly normal for Sophie to look down on her husband and fall in love with her nephew instead.
"You have taught a good student! I have learned all your promiscuous skills." With a bit of shame and sullenness, the old emperor glared at Metternich.
Can you blame me for being so good-looking? Metternich could only smile bitterly.
He was also a handsome young boy at the beginning, and he had countless affairs whether in Vienna or Paris.
In a sense, in the past few years, after seeing Aigron's achievements growing more and more, and even taking advantage of the situation and becoming the emperor of a country, he was indeed gratified that Aigron was still somewhat of a "favorite pupil".
Of course, even at this time, he still did not forget to comfort the emperor.
"Your Majesty, after all, Duke Lechstadt is also your grandson, and you personally took care of and educated him. The reason why he has such a talent is partly due to your inheritance... Without you, he would definitely be
Today without him."
Although the emperor knew in his heart that this was just flattery from the prime minister, he felt really relieved after hearing this.
In any case, now that Sophie has taken action, there is no longer any obstacle to "resolving the old feud" between him and his grandson.
After all, in his mind, Sophie must be more effective than his mother in speaking.
"You must monitor Sophie well and prevent her from saying things she shouldn't. The focus should be on the future cooperation between the two countries." After pondering for a moment, the emperor began to explain his thoughts to the prime minister, "Since we want to open our arms
Reconciliation, then in addition to curbing the Czar's ambitions, we should carry out comprehensive and extensive cooperation. On the Italian issue, we especially need reconciliation. We must let him understand that we are willing to appease the national sentiments of the French and are willing to help them.
Consolidate his own rule, but this ambition must be limited within reasonable limits - he should know that peace is also beneficial to him, and once he behaves recklessly, the Holy Alliance will not sit idly by and watch."
Of course Metternich understood what the old emperor meant.
While he scolded the Tsar, he also used the Holy Alliance to scare people. In essence, he was "taking advantage of foreign countries to show his self-respect". He wanted to rely on Franco-Austrian relations to contain Russia, and he also wanted to rely on Russian-Austrian relations to contain France. He used his own situation to
In the middle position, we can have both sides and maintain a balance. This is also the situation that Metternich tried so hard to maintain after the Vienna Peace Conference.
Not only in 1815, in the original historical line, until the Crimean War in 1855, Austria still wanted to play both sides between France and Russia and use the contradictions between them to benefit itself.
Unfortunately, this wishful thinking backs up every time.
The shrewd calculation in 1815 came to naught because of Napoleon’s sudden return, allowing the Tsar to take the opportunity to do whatever he wanted and get everything he wanted.
During the Crimean War, the then Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph took advantage of the fact that Russia was defeated by Britain and France and was unable to be distracted. He deployed troops on the Romanian border to demand that the Tsar withdraw from the Balkan Peninsula.
Tsar Nicholas was extremely angry about this, because not long ago in 1848, he had sent 150,000 troops to help Austria suppress the Hungarian revolution at Austria's request. In the Tsar's view, the Austrians were taking advantage of others' danger.
This approach can be described as extremely "ungrateful".
The furious Tsar Nicholas cursed Austria before his death, "I am really the biggest fool in the world, to actually believe that someone will repay a favor."
Although Austria scared off the Tsar, it did not get any benefits in the end. Britain and France felt that I fought such a difficult battle with my own efforts, and you only came forward at the end. Why do you want to harvest the fruits of victory, so they deliberately excluded Austria.
.
Since then, the hostility of the Russian royal family towards Austria has been deeply rooted, and the conflict of interests between the two countries surrounding the Balkans has become increasingly fierce. At the same time, Austria, which is at odds with Italy and Russia, has become increasingly hostile in its geopolitical situation and has less and less room for maneuver.
In the end, Yue Xiao had no choice but to commit himself to the "protection" of the German Empire.
In the end, the World War broke out between Russia and Austria, ushering in the Great Liquidation in Europe in 1914.
The reason why they are often "self-defeating" is not because the Austrians lack intelligence, but more importantly, because they lack strength.
Precisely because they are not strong enough, they try to "make it easy" and win over allies everywhere.
However, on the international stage, the weight of a country's voice does not depend on the number of alliances, but ultimately relies on its own strength. After all, sophisticated diplomatic ideas are just "embellishments" and cannot truly replace the role of strength. On the same issue
, powerful countries can often win twice because they can use their strength to overturn the table or refuse to admit defeat.
In 1815, the Tsar relied on his own victory over the power of Napoleon and ignored Metternich's protests, and almost monopolized the entire Poland; in 1855, Britain and France were naturally able to defeat the power of the Tsar on their own, ignoring Austria's "goodwill contribution" and basically
I don't want it to be involved in dividing the spoils.
In 1859, Napoleon III even took the initiative to go to war with Austria in the name of protecting the Kingdom of Sardinia, forcing it to spit out its most fertile province of Lombardy, which could be described as a serious loss of vitality.
The world is so ruthless, and powerful countries can go back on their word and be ungrateful. No one dares to hold them accountable. But if Austria does this, it will become a "crime". The reason is that it is not strong enough to make people forget its stains. Instead, it will become a "crime" again and again.
The target of others turning over the table and opening the knife.
The current old emperor and Prime Minister Metternich cannot predict the future, but as the actual rulers of Austria, they can clearly feel that their strength is getting weaker compared to other powerful countries, so they are often unable to do what they want.
feeling.
This country, just like their aging bodies, is plagued by serious illnesses, but they do not have the energy and courage to carry out those strenuous reforms.
Rebuild the country’s chaotic tax system and crack down on the corrupt bureaucracy?
Recover the tax-free privileges of the Hungarian Magyar nobility?
Open up financial resources and reduce the huge debt that is dragging down the country's finances?
Promote compulsory education and improve the quality of all people?
Encourage scientific and technological breakthroughs to catch up with the industrial revolution that is now beginning to loom on the horizon?
From the position of a king, every one of them is crucial to this aging empire, but the implementation of each one is ineffective.
Under the erosion of time, the energy and vision of the old emperor and prime minister have greatly declined. They are more inclined to "maintain the status quo" than to "forge ahead". They just hope that the empire will not be in big trouble during their lifetime.
To put it harshly, they have all become the "pastors" of the empire.
What makes the old emperor even more desolate is that after his death, his two ineffective sons may not even be able to be "pastors", and the empire will fall far behind its powerful neighbors.
In short, now faced with the mountain of problems and the hidden worries that are difficult to solve, the old emperor has no time to take care of them. He just wants to survive the last remaining years of his life, and then leave all the problems to future generations to solve.
Hopefully Sophie and others will find a way.
Of course, Metternich did not know what was going on in the emperor's mind, but he was keenly aware of the emperor's current state of confusion.
As he gets older and older, he can only watch helplessly as everything slowly gets out of control. This feeling is really uncomfortable, and he himself can relate to it.
But the difference is that he has no intention of leaving the "mess" to others. After all, he is still much younger than the emperor. He thinks that he can "selflessly contribute" to the empire for many more years. Even if the emperor unfortunately dies, he will still
Still want to remain entrenched in the position of prime minister.
And if he wants to achieve this goal, then the support of the palace is indispensable, and now, his backing in the palace is gradually shifting from the emperor to His Highness Sophie.
However, until now, Metternich still looked down on Sophie a little in his heart, thinking that she was just an arrogant and arrogant woman from the palace. She was young and had no practical experience. Even if she really interfered in politics in the future, she might not be able to do so.
It will make a mess.
But if there was a powerful French emperor standing behind Sophie, then the situation would be completely different.
If she can borrow a huge amount of money from the French emperor to maintain the country's finances, and even borrow weapons and even troops from the emperor, then she will have enough capital to stabilize the country - after all, the so-called king's power, to put it bluntly,
It just depends on gold coins and soldiers.
And she is Sophie's indispensable prime minister - at least she won't be able to find a replacement in a short time.
At that time, I will be able to eliminate all political opponents and enjoy the king's favor and dependence again. Wouldn't it be great to do so!
"Your Majesty, I will convey your opinions to Your Highness Sophie. I believe that she has understood her situation and she will act accordingly -" When he said this, Metternich suddenly and meaningfully said
He pondered, "But..."
"But what?" the emperor asked impatiently.
"If we want her to be obedient and work, I think we still need to give her a little sweetness." Metternich continued cautiously, "The little princess, she dreams about her every day, if we can let her see her regularly
If she can see her, I'm afraid it will greatly increase her enthusiasm. Besides, the little princess is growing up now. It would be too pitiful if she can't see her mother for a long time..."
It was obvious that the illegitimate daughter did not have the title of princess and was not even known to anyone, but Metternich still deliberately used the honorific title of princess.
The emperor frowned.
Although this great-granddaughter is a stain on the family, after all, this is the first child born in this palace in more than ten years.
He even had people brought to him from time to time.
He is indeed a very, very cute child. He is so beautiful that you can tell at a glance that he will be a great beauty in the future. He is indeed worthy of his parents’ appearance.
Why couldn't his direct descendants inherit this appearance? The emperor was puzzled.
He even occasionally thought about how nice it would be if this was a boy - of course, only occasionally.
After hearing Metternich's suggestion, the emperor was instinctively a little unhappy, after all, it reminded him of those past events.
But he soon calmed down again.
After all, he is a Habsburg emperor, with the dignity of an emperor. Even if he has a intolerant personality, he will not lose his temper with an ignorant child.
It is really unnecessary for a mother to be separated from her children.
Especially considering that the father of this child will definitely ask about his daughter's whereabouts in the future, and it will not be easy to explain it then.
"Okay, then let her go - but only twice a month, no more." After a moment of silence, the emperor made a decision.
Alas, Your Majesty, why are you still angry now...
Metternich sighed inwardly.
Either never let people see her, or simply be generous and let her keep her quietly by your side. Why restrict her so much? The emperor has always been so half-hearted in doing things. No wonder he is "tolerant" but can't find it.
Let others be grateful.
However, he also knew that facing the old and stubborn emperor, it would be useless for him to continue to persuade him and would only get counterproductive effects. This was already the biggest concession the emperor could make.
No matter what, at least he helped Sophie again, and the other party should remember his favor, and this was enough. It would not be too late to continue to earn credits slowly in the future.
"I will make arrangements right away, Your Majesty -" He bowed gently to the old emperor, and then left quietly.