Carlo was in an excellent mood.
This banquet had resolved the issue Carlo most wanted to address: establishing an institution that united all nobles and ensured his influence over the entire aristocracy.
Although the nobles present were only part of Spain's entire aristocratic class, most of the Dukes with relatively high status and influence were there, aside from those too far away or delayed by other matters—such as Duke Serrano, far off in Cuba.
Once news of the Royal Council's establishment was announced, it would surely draw more nobles to apply for membership.
This was also an opportunity for the nobles to declare their stance. Those who eagerly applied to join the Royal Council were naturally willing to support Carlo.
Those unwilling to declare their position by joining the Royal Council were, in effect, unwilling to support Carlo, and their loyalty to him was open to question.
While Carlo established the Royal Council to draw in part of the nobility, negotiations between Prussia and France over peace in northern Spain were also drawing to a close.
In fact, according to the draft reparations agreement signed by Prussia and France, the French government only needed to pay Prussia 200 million francs.
This indemnity was not harsh; France could even have paid it immediately.
But as the situation within Paris developed, the terms of the peace talks swiftly changed as well.
Although the Government of National Defense had suppressed the Paris Citizens' first uprising, it had not completely dispelled their increasingly fierce opposition toward the Government of National Defense.
Especially after learning that the Government of National Defense might cede territory in France, the Paris Citizens were furious, their anger shooting to the heavens, and they completely lost all trust in the Government of National Defense.
The enraged Paris Citizens gathered once more, erupting into an uprising even larger than the last.
Though the Government of National Defense acted swiftly to suppress it, for the furious Paris Citizens, there was now no choice left but resolute resistance.
The demoralized army of the Government of National Defense in France had no advantage at all against the impassioned Paris National Guard. Many government soldiers not only bore no hostility toward the National Guard, but treated them like brothers, repeatedly passing them intelligence that benefited the National Guard.
There were two extremely important strategic heights within Paris: Montmartre Heights and Belleville Heights.
Large numbers of cannons and other weapons were stored there, and naturally, the Government of National Defense would not allow these weapons to fall into the hands of Paris's insurgents.
Yet while seizing these two heights, mutiny broke out within the Government of National Defense's own forces.
General Claude Martin Lecomte, who was responsible for attacking Montmartre Heights, not only failed to complete his mission, but was betrayed by his own soldiers and executed by firing squad.
The reason for his execution was that General Lecomte had once ordered his soldiers to open fire on the Paris National Guard and ordinary citizens.
As the uprising in Paris surged forward with tremendous force, the Government of National Defense in France discovered in terror that its own army seemed to be slipping from its control.
The Government of National Defense's army had originally been formed from insurgents, and its composition was exceedingly complex. Although capitalism controlled the voice of the Government of National Defense, the army also contained vast numbers of soldiers with various ideologies, including Republicans and Democrats.
Compared to the capitalist Government of National Defense that had colluded with the enemy and betrayed the nation, these soldiers clearly gave greater support to the newly uprising Paris National Guard.
Seeing the situation grow ever more intense, Prime Minister of the Government of National Defense Thiers was so frightened that he did not dare remain in Paris any longer. He chose to move the Government of National Defense to Versailles, more than ten kilometers outside Paris.
Why Versailles? Because the German army was still stationed there. To the officials of the Government of National Defense in France, the Paris insurgents were more frightening than the German army.
After all, the Germans would at most make them cede territory and pay compensation. But those insurgents in Paris wanted to send them to the guillotine and hang them from lampposts.
Which mattered more, the loss of national interests or their own lives and safety? For these officials of the Government of National Defense in France, there was no need to think about it at all.
Bismarck, who was preparing the German Empire's coronation ceremony in Versailles, smiled. He had not expected the people of France to hand him such an opportunity. Was this not freely delivering benefits to the soon-to-be-established Germany?
Bismarck would not let such a fine opportunity slip away, and neither would the powerful Junker nobility within Prussia.
Prussia was a highly unusual country, where the Junker nobility possessed immense influence and status.
If France was a country that possessed an army, then Prussia was an army that possessed a country.
That was why the Prussian army was so valiant and battle-hardened, but it also shaped Prussia's diplomatic strategy.
What did the nobles fight for? Naturally, to raise their own ranks and secure more land for themselves.
How could they secure more land for themselves? Naturally, by seizing land from France and then dividing it among the many Junker nobles.
After all, the nobles were not philanthropists. They had labored so hard in battle for Prussian King William I not without demanding payment; it was simply that the defeated France would have to pay that reward.
Could Bismarck ignore the immensely influential Junker nobility within Prussia? Of course not.
As the Junker nobility repeatedly pressured William I and Bismarck, demanding more land from France, Bismarck finally spoke to Thiers again.
"Because our previous estimate of our nation's losses in the war was mistaken, I hope to renegotiate the reparations terms with your government and sign a new indemnity treaty.
"This concerns the interests of tens of millions of people in Prussia and Germany. I ask that Your Excellency consider it carefully. Of course, I will guarantee your government's safety and ensure that the uprising in Paris does not affect Versailles."
Bismarck's meaning was simple.
Either agree to greater reparations and cede more territory, and the Prussian army could guarantee the French government's safety in Versailles.
Otherwise, Prussia might very well hand the French government over to the people rising up in Paris.
If that happened, the fate of the officials in France was easy to imagine. The last Parisian uprising had directly executed the king; were these officials somehow more noble than a king?
Under Bismarck's threats and intimidation, even if Thiers did not wish to renegotiate the reparations terms, he had no choice but to nod in agreement.
After all, those rioting Paris Citizens truly would hang them from telegraph poles. The Paris Citizens were far more terrifying than the Prussian army.
Perhaps the Paris Citizens themselves never imagined that their uprising would only make the government more cowardly, to the point where it would even cede more territory in exchange for Prussia's protection.
But even if the Paris Citizens knew, they would probably only resist more fiercely. Such a cowardly government could not lead France forward; France should establish a fairer democratic republic.
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