Metternich did not have high expectations for Britain.
Just as Zhu Jingyuan said, the future heir to the king of Britain is the prince of the Ming Emperor.
Although he is only a child now, he is still the third generation heir.
But its existence itself has directly bound the British royal family to the Ming royal family.
Declaring war on Britain now is basically equivalent to declaring war on Ming Dynasty.
Before the war started, Austria refused to become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. After the country really fell into war, if it wanted to apply to become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty would probably not accept it.
At that time, accepting Austria's participation was equivalent to actively joining the war.
The key is that this choice lies in Ming's hands.
Regardless of whether the Emperor Ming considered the great cause or simply considered interests, he would not join when the Austrians wanted Ming to join.
But when Britain is invaded, if the defense forces are really unable to hold it, the king can pass the throne to his grandson in advance.
In that case, Britain would directly become the country of the Ming prince.
In this way, the Ming army can take it for granted, but it has no choice but to directly join the war.
The choice and initiative rested with the King of England.
Of course, when the British king did this, it was equivalent to giving the country to the Ming Dynasty. It was basically an unconditional integration, and the Ming Dynasty did not suffer a loss.
The Prussians and Lucians understood this, and the English themselves fully understood it.
Therefore, Prussia will use the weapon of caution, and the British will be confident.
If there was no Ming Dynasty and a country in the Western European continent showed its attitude and ability to unify the European continent, the British overseas might find ways to interfere.
Otherwise, if the mainland of Thailand is truly unified, the British on the islands will be marginalized.
But the world has been connected, and Europa and China are no longer two isolated civilizations.
Especially since Ming Dynasty is the unquestionable hegemonic country in the world.
If the Ming Dynasty had no intention of continuing to maintain the balance of power among the countries in the western continent, then the British also had no meaning in maintaining that state.
Britain, destined to become the country of the Ming prince, will never be marginalized.
So now the pressure on the British is minimal.
In fact, they can just sit back and watch the countries in the Western European continent fight into a pot of porridge.
Now Austria wants to recruit the British to join the plan to actively contain Prussia, but the success rate is very low.
But Metternich has come out anyway, so I have to go to England for a trip.
At the very least, we need to confirm the attitude of the British people, whether they want to watch the excitement over there, and whether they are willing to wade into this muddy water.
However, the development of things was beyond Metternich's expectation...
After Metternich met King George IV of England, he greeted him politely and explained his purpose of coming.
Then George IV did show a lack of interest, but the British Crown Prince Princess Charlotte showed a high interest.
Charlotte directly urged her father to accept Metternich's suggestions and ideas, expressing her willingness for Austria and France to work together to contain Prussia.
Metternich even felt caught off guard.
But since the UK is willing to join, that is definitely a great thing.
So next, Metternich immediately worked with French diplomats to discuss specific cooperation plans with the British.
At the end of a busy day, George IV held a banquet in the palace for Austrian and French diplomats.
During the free activities of the banquet, George IV took the time to ask his daughter:
"Charlotte, if we join the quasi-alliance between Austria and France, will His Majesty the Ming Emperor really not have any objections?
"There is no need for us to join this kind of alliance. No one in the current Thai and Western countries is willing to fight with us, Britain.
"Let's live our lives well, isn't it good to watch the mainland being beaten and bleeding?"
Charlotte smiled and said to her father:
"Don't worry, old man, Your Majesty is looking at reality, not nominal behavior.
“Even if we join this alliance, even if it is morally and nominally, it will not make it difficult for Ming Dynasty.
"The Ming Dynasty will intervene in the affairs of the Western Continent sooner or later. Now it is allowing Prussia and Lucia to expand just to facilitate future harvesting.
"We will definitely cooperate with Ming Dynasty when the time comes. If we stand on Austria's side now, it will be the reason for our fate in the future.
“It can even become a key reason for Daming’s demise.
"But the timing of our real end in the UK is different from the French and Austrians.
“We are going to follow Daming.
"When will Ming Dynasty start to participate, we will follow suit and officially join the war.
"Before that, what we have to do is, as you said, watch the mainland being beaten and bleeding.
"Although we have become allies of Austria and France in name, we can only provide all support except help."
King George IV suddenly realized:
"I'm just occupying a position in this camp, providing moral support to the Austrians and French people, cheering..."
Charlotte smiled and nodded:
"Is such that."
George IV was a little nervous at first, but now he was completely relaxed.
In the following days, Metternich returned to France again with the British Prime Minister and French diplomats.
A memorandum of understanding was signed in France to jointly guarantee each other's independence and freedom.
The content is actually very simple, which is to protect each other's independence and protect each other's territorial and sovereign integrity from infringement by other evil countries.
If other countries, by any means, declare war on one of the parties, the other two countries should join the war at the same time.
If other members of the League of Nations issue war threats to one of the parties through alliance channels, the other two countries must also issue counter-war threats at the same time.
Specific to the current situation, Britain and France need to send notifications to Prussia through alliance channels.
If Prussia declares war on Austria, then Britain and France will declare war on Prussia at the same time.
After the three countries signed the agreement, they quickly drafted this document and notified the League of Nations and Prussia through formal channels.
Metternich instinctively wanted to contact more Thai and Western countries to join, but was stopped by British Prime Minister Jenkinson.
Jenkinson’s reason is also very simple and straightforward:
“Only countries with similar and sufficient strength have the qualifications and significance to sign this kind of mutual guarantee agreement.
“There is no use in getting countries like Portugal and Denmark to join.
“Moreover, our main target is Prussia, excluding Lucia in eastern Prussia.
"So Lucia's main goal, Norway and Sweden, which were still alive, and the Ottomans in the south, were not to join the alliance.
“At the same time, although this kind of agreement is just called a memorandum, it is actually an alliance agreement.
“This is actually playing on the margins of the League of Nations rules.
“If too many member states join, or even other countries from the entire European continent are brought in, then Ming Dynasty may have to intervene.
"That might be counterproductive."
In fact, the British also had an internal consideration, which was that they did not want too many countries to jointly oppose Prussia.
What if Prussia was really frightened and did not dare to declare war on Austria.
Not only did the British have no fun watching it, they also had no way to weaken the strength of the mainland countries as much as possible. The key is that it might also affect the Ming Dynasty's plan.
After Metternich listened, he thought about it for a while and roughly guessed what the British were thinking.
After all, the strategy of this traditional troublemaker is always the same.
After Metternich thought for a few seconds, he couldn't help but put forward a limited compromise suggestion:
“Other countries don’t have to fight for it, but Italy is still one that must fight for it.
“Although Italy’s strength is not as good as our three countries, it can still be regarded as a mid-range country.
"The key is that, sandwiched between Prussia, Austria, and France, its location is too important."
Jenkinson thought for a while and felt that Italy really had no reason to give up directly.
However, Jenkinson was not too worried.
Firstly, Italy's strength is limited, and secondly, Italy has been flirting with Prussia for a long time.
If Metternich wants to fight for it, there is a high probability that he will not succeed.
So Jenkinson did not continue to insist, but just expressed his disdain for Italy.
Then he handed over this natural task to Metternich.
Metternich had no choice but to take on the job himself.
Then the diplomatic negotiations between Britain, France, and Austria ended temporarily.
The British representatives returned to their homeland, and Metternich went to Rome again to find the Italians with the documents signed by the three countries.
At the same time, Britain and France's notifications to Prussia, after being made public on the European continent, once again raised the tension on the continent to a higher level.
The war that all politicians and ordinary people could directly predict was the war between Prussia and Austria.
In the eyes of the Thai people, this kind of thing can even be regarded as a civil war.
But now that Britain and France have intervened, it may directly lead to a chaos across the continent.
The Prussians on the other side were a little panicked after receiving anti-war threat notices from Britain and France.
King William III of Prussia immediately summoned his main ministers and staff to discuss the matter.
William III looked at Chief of Staff Gneisenau and Prime Minister Stein:
“The announcement by Britain and France means that they will ensure Austria’s security, and our declaration of war on Austria means declaring war on them.
"The key is why, the French's approach is understandable, they should have been aware of the risk of war with us.
“Why would Britain step in?
"Whether it is based on interests or morality, there is no need for the British to participate in the continental war.
“Of course, for us, the most critical issue is the special relationship between the British and the Ming Dynasty.
"If after we declare war on Austria, Britain does join the war.
"Then we entered a state of war with Britain, does that mean we entered a state of war with Ming Dynasty at the same time?
“So should our current combat plan be adjusted again based on this change in the situation?
"Are we still going to attack Austria at the end of the month?"
Gneisenau and Stein had already begun to consider this issue after receiving the news.
Now that the two looked at each other, Stein first explained the political considerations:
"I believe that the purpose of Britain joining the camp of France and Austria is just to gain a moral reputation.
“It may also be a habitual approach caused by the British instinct to stir up the situation on the mainland.
"He thought Austria could not withstand our attack.
“We think that Lucia and we can change the relatively balanced situation on the continent, so they have to join the relatively weak party to maintain the balance.
“At the same time, we don’t need to consider Daming’s issues for the time being.
“The bridge between Britain and the Ming Dynasty is their crown prince and the children of the Ming Emperor.
“The point is, their relationship was not officially a marriage.
“Strictly speaking, there is no direct, open, legal relationship between Britain and Ming Dynasty.
“More importantly, the choice of whether to take advantage of the relationship between Britain and Ming Dynasty lies with the British, and the decision power lies with Ming Dynasty.
"Unless it is absolutely necessary, the British will not drag Daming down.
“Because that basically means that Britain will give up its independent identity and officially become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.
"George IV will not give up his existing absolute authority until he is under sufficient pressure.
"At the same time, it is difficult for us to actually break out a war with the British.
“Until we actually annexed Austria, there was no reason or need for the British to go directly to war.
“But we should immediately arrange for diplomats to contact the Lucians and propose signing a similar memorandum or alliance.
“At the same time, go to the Italians and offer them better conditions, and be sure to bring the Italians over.
“It can be promised that all the land on the Adriatic coast and French land in the Mediterranean will be given to the Italians.
“Even if Italy cannot take the initiative to play a role in the war, as long as it is stuck between the French and Austrians, it can play a huge practical role.
"Suggest to the Lucians to bring Italy into our alliance.
"The Italians' combat effectiveness is not at the bottom in the West, and their location is dangerous enough. The Lucians should be able to understand its significance."
After Stein finished speaking, he looked at Gneisenau, who immediately explained the war-level plan:
"As Your Excellency Stein said, I don't think we need to change our war plan against Austria.
"We should even be more proactive and try our best to defeat Austria as quickly as possible after the war breaks out.
"However, the plan to increase troops in France must be accelerated as much as possible and the intensity must be increased."
After hearing this, William III was silent for a while, and then nodded directly to accept both the civil and military arguments.
Then according to the suggestions of the two men, a series of orders were issued.
Arrange for diplomats to go to Italy and Lucia, and speed up the deployment of troops and generals.
He also directly ordered to formally increase the scale of mobilization in the name of sending troops to Austria and unifying Germany, and at the same time issued national bonds to the country.
At the same time, the amount of loans to various banks was increased to make more complete preparations for the war.
