Peace

Napoleon's army stormed into Berlin. Napoleon himself led his army through the Brandenburg Gate into Berlin, thoroughly indulging his desire to show off.

According to the customs of that era, an army entering an enemy city would inevitably engage in activities such as looting, murder, and turning young girls into young women. However, the French Army under Napoleon behaved very civilly, indeed very civilly. There was no large-scale looting or murder, and there was no evidence to suggest that the chastity of Berlin women had worsened by the time Berlin France left than France had before their arrival.

Strictly speaking, the French Army wasn't an army armed with advanced ideology. The reason it maintained such discipline wasn't due to class sentiment or a sense of military honor. The real reason was simple: the French Army, especially Napoleon's, offered exceptionally high combat pay. The combat pay for a victory under Napoleon's French Army could sometimes exceed a year's regular military pay. This naturally made the soldiers willing, especially after a victory, to adhere to all discipline.

The fundamental reason why Napoleon's army could receive such high allowances was that Napoleon was able to efficiently obtain money after each victory. And Napoleon's most common method for obtaining money was to plunder local tyrants and suppress counter-revolutionaries.

In fact, if His Majesty Frederick William III, King of Prussia, had understood this characteristic of the French Army and noticed that Napoleon had neither allowed his troops to plunder nor redistribute land from the wealthy, he would have known that Napoleon did not intend to destroy Prussia at this time.

Napoleon, of course, wouldn't engage in a losing proposition; these subsidies would ultimately have to come from the Prussia. However, the France directly plundering is different from the Prussia king first robbing his own people and then handing the spoils over to the France. If the first method were used, the hatred of Fritz and his ilk would be concentrated on the France, giving the Prussia nobles a perfect opportunity to brainwash the populace with nationalist rhetoric and incite them to fight for them. With the latter approach, although there was a middleman profiting from the difference, much of the hatred was diverted to the middleman, and in order to maintain their rule, they would actually have to suppress nationalist sentiments.

This is especially true in Prussia today. Having lost Berlin, much of the territory still under Prussia control was formerly Poland. The people still under Frederick William III are now predominantly Poland — Prussia is rapidly transforming from a Germany nation into a Poland one. Under such circumstances, the Prussia rulers, primarily composed of Germany nobles, naturally dare not pursue nationalism.

For this reason, after Napoleon captured Berlin, he did not continue to pursue Frederick William III, but stopped in Berlin to wait for Frederick William III's next peace envoy.

Meanwhile, when Archduke Karl returned to Austria with the agreement, His Majesty the Emperor initially felt he had been taken advantage of by the agreement's requirement for his army to completely withdraw from Italy. After all, his army had already captured several Italy cities and was even approaching Milan after the Italy's logistical supplies ran out.

Moreover, Archduke Karl's agreement did not effectively resolve the security issues concerning the regions bordering Italy. How long exactly that "period" in the France statement about "gradually reducing arms sales to these regions and leading to a final solution over a period of time" is truly anyone's guess.

So His Majesty the Emperor was initially very displeased, even somewhat doubting Archduke Karl's abilities. He was even reluctant to immediately sign the agreement and make it effective. However, after Napoleon swept through Prussia like an autumn wind, His Majesty the Emperor immediately changed his attitude. He apologized to Archduke Karl and publicly praised Metternich, who had played a significant role in signing the agreement, as a promising talent, and intended to appoint him as ambassador to France.

Metternich then proposed to the emperor that he be sent as a special envoy to mediate the war between France and Prussia.

"Your Majesty, it would be detrimental to our country if Prussia were weakened too much," Metternich said.

So this time, Napoleon was greeted not only by Prussia envoys in Berlin, but also by Metternich, who arrived with Prussia.

Napoleon received the two envoys. During the negotiations, he initially insisted that the indemnity of 150 million francs should not be reduced by a single sous. However, after being persuaded by Metternich, Napoleon finally expressed some goodwill and made some concessions. As a result, the two sides signed the Treaty of Berlin in Berlin.

The Treaty of Berlin stipulated that Prussia would pay France 100 million francs in reparations, which had to be paid in a lump sum. Therefore, if Prussia needed loans, they could only obtain them from banks designated by the France government. As for collateral for these loans, Prussia customs duties would serve as collateral.

In addition, Prussia granted France unilateral most-favored-nation status, as well as unilateral market access and national treatment. France citizens could move freely anywhere in Prussia without visas; France could purchase property and engage in any profession anywhere in Prussia without interference from the Prussia government. France goods entering Prussia only required the payment of customs duties (the rates of which were set by a consortium of lending banks designated by the France government), and the Prussia government was prohibited from imposing any other taxes on these France goods in any other way.

Prussia relinquished all its territories west of the Elbe. Of course, these territories would not be annexed by France, but rather incorporated into the soon-to-be-established Rhine Free State —a confederation under France protection. (And having lost its territories west of the Elbe, Prussia would truly become a country with a slightly larger Poland population.)

This was practically an unequal treaty that would destroy Prussia. But this wasn't all the trouble Frederick William III had to face. Encouraged by the Prussia defeat, the Poland nobles once again supported the "independence activists" in launching an uprising. At this time, Prussia simply didn't have the power to suppress them. It seemed that Prussia was about to lose more than half of its land and population.

At this Prussia moment, Prussia's friendly neighbors Russia and Austria stepped forward to help Prussia. They both expressed their willingness to send troops to help Prussia quell the rebellion.

The attitudes of the Russia and Austria are also easy to understand. They had both participated in the partition of Poland, and if the Poland created a new Poland within Prussia territory, it would also have a negative impact on their controlled areas. Therefore, from this perspective, their assistance did indeed have a certain degree of sincerity.

But Prussia absolutely dared not accept their goodwill so easily. Who knew that after their arrival, it might end up turning a Poland uprising into Russia and Austria territory, even if it were subsequently suppressed?

So Frederick William III decided to go all in, deciding to sell out the country as much as possible. King Frederick William III and Queen Louise returned to Berlin and hosted General Napoleon Bonaparte at Berlin royal palace. During the banquet, the two sides held very cordial and friendly talks. His Majesty the King and the beautiful Queen Louise left a deep impression on Napoleon. Especially after His Majesty left early due to illness, Queen Louise's gentleness, generosity, and thoughtfulness as the hostess captivated Napoleon.

Similarly, based on a description in a novel by the famous writer Alexander Dumas that was banned for being indecent, when Lucien proudly showed off the various mermaids he had hunted, Napoleon scoffed and said, "Your prey is nothing special. Not a single one can compare to Queen Louise. That queen was a true natural beauty."

Following this banquet, Napoleon visited the Prussia royal palace, which was under the French Army protection, several more times. He quickly reached a loan agreement with Prussia, in which Prussia would use its domestic mineral resources as collateral to borrow 30 million francs from France to fund its military operations. This agreement was named the "Loan Agreement Concerning the Peaceful Reconstruction of the Nation," or simply the "Reconstruction Loan Agreement." Of course, the 30 million francs did not require the France to provide actual cash; instead, they directly transferred the value of captured Prussian soldiers and officers, as well as some seized weapons, to the Prussia.

After the agreement was reached, the French Army began to gradually withdraw from Prussia, and the captured Prussia soldiers and officers gradually returned to the command of King Frederick William III and began to prepare to quell the domestic rebellion.

As for Napoleon, after leaving Berthier to handle the withdrawal procedures, he hurriedly led a contingent to Luxembourg. Now he was heading to Paris to reap his most important spoils of war.

By sleeping in his carriage the entire way and constantly changing horses, Napoleon returned to Luxembourg from Berlin in just one week. Then, with a troop of cavalry and carrying the various military flags captured during the battles, he spent another five Luxembourg finally returning to Paris.

That morning, amidst the cheers of the Paris, Napoleon rode a white horse, surrounded by his victorious warriors, to the National Assembly to report on his achievements.

The soldiers threw the various captured military flags onto the steps leading to the main entrance of the Parliament building. A triumphant Napoleon dismounted, stepped over these flags, and entered the Parliament building under the escort of an elite guard.