Raking the Grass and Flushing Out Rabbits

This cooperation between France and Austria surprised many countries. From a common perspective, Austria was the greatest threat to France hegemony on the Europe continent. According to this view, France should exploit Austria's inherent weaknesses as a multi-ethnic state, supporting internal strife and ideally, causing Austria 'Austria disintegration. This would solidify France's dominance in Europe.

However, the France chose to support the Austria government in this incident, seemingly giving up the opportunity to dismantle Austria. This greatly disappointed many armchair politicians. Some Britain newspapers even expressed their relief and disdain, saying that Napoleon Bonaparte was attracted by small immediate gains and let go of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It can be seen that although he was indeed worthy of the reputation of "English Bonaparte" on the battlefield, he was too naive in politics.

Of course, the France media would never attack their leader in this way, but their rebuttal could only be made from the perspective of morality. France newspapers stated that this proved France was a great peace-loving country and a pillar of world peace, not an aggressive and evil nation like Britain.

When discussing this issue, generally speaking, * Science and Truth * has the highest level of expertise. * Science and Truth * does not deny that the France government should strive to protect France interests. However, it points out that France interests are not merely about the visible things. For France, something unseen and intangible is far more valuable: the spirit of the French Republic.

What is the spirit of France? It is the adherence to the spirit of 'democracy,' 'liberty,' and 'fraternity.' It is under the inspiration of this spirit that the France people united and established the great French Republic. This spirit is the foundation of France, the banner and bond that unites the France people. For France, there is no greater interest than upholding this spirit. Of course, some people whose minds are filled only with vulgar interests cannot understand this principle.

Indeed, Austria is not a progressive country that meets this standard; compared to the Northern Italian Republic and the Confederation of the Rhine, Austria is far more reactionary. From our perspective, it still retains too many feudal and backward elements. But in this particular situation, what are those who stand in opposition to Austria?

We must never assume that what opposes something reactionary and backward is necessarily an advanced or progressive force. Often, it may be an even more reactionary and backward force. What did the Hungary nobles who launched the rebellion demand? Not democracy or freedom, but 'preservation of tradition'! To put it more bluntly, they wanted to maintain their privilege as nobles, to ride roughshod over the people; they wanted to maintain the privilege of doing whatever they pleased in their own territories, even bathing in the blood of virgins! (This alludes to the legend of Elizabeth Bathory, an ancestor of the House of Báthory. It is said that she killed hundreds of virgins to maintain her beauty and bathed in their blood. The Countess in the Tower of Oblivion, a minor boss in the game Diablo II, is based on her.)

Therefore, the actions of the Hungary nobles constituted an outright rebellion. It threatened not only the interests of the vast majority of the Hungary people, but also the interests of the vast majority of the Austria people, and even more so, the interests of all freedom-loving people in the world, and the very creed upon which France was founded. Therefore, our support for the Austria Emperor in suppressing this rebellion ultimately and primarily aims to uphold our beliefs—this is France's most cherished treasure."

This article in * Science and Truth * isn't entirely just empty rhetoric, because "democracy, freedom, and fraternity" are indeed among France's most cherished assets. Joseph, in a conversation with his two brothers, divided national strength into two parts. One part was hard power, including economic capacity, industrial level, and military strength. The other, which he called soft power, was the influence of France culture, art, and even ideology on other countries.

Mr. Mencius said: 'If all those aspiring to politics wish to serve in your country, all farmers wish to cultivate your land, all merchants wish to trade in your markets, all travelers wish to travel your roads, and all those who have suffered at the hands of their kings wish to come to you to complain about them: if all this is the case, who can stand against you?'

When we were fighting the Austria in Italy, the Italy people stood by our side, providing us with all sorts of assistance. This was a major reason why we were able to achieve such a swift and decisive victory. And in Belgium, the Belgium people originally welcomed us with bread and beer. If it weren't for the incompetence of those fools, we would have crushed them in Ninety-Three. Why were we so warmly welcomed by these foreigners? This is the effect of our slogans, our flags, and our soft power. We must cherish our soft power and not destroy it for petty gains. This will help us cultivate more and more people in other countries who will be willing to guide our armies in the event of war. Yes, Lucien, this is the core of your job."

Therefore, France's actions do indeed align with its "progressive" persona. A nation can also have a persona, and a successful persona can bring many unseen, long-term benefits. Of course, personas are fragile; even a nation's persona can crumble if it's not careful. If it produces a tyrant like Trump, coupled with an advisor who loves to spout blatant lies such as "We lie, we cheat, we steal, and this is the glory of our continuous progress," the nation's persona will collapse. The result is often that they gain a small advantage but reap a huge reward, leaving their adversaries wanting to award them a ton of medals.

However, maintaining a public image is not the only reason why the France side with the Austria this time. There are also more realistic and darker reasons for the France doing so.

First, based on the three brothers' research, they believed that, in the long run, the only people on the Europe continent who might threaten France's position were the Germany. Generally speaking, the Germany nation was large and well-educated; if they weren't currently divided, and if they had truly united into one country, creating a single Germany, then Germany would certainly have become a challenger to France's status.

Today, Germany is divided into three parts: the Confederation of the Rhine, Prussia, and Austria. The Confederation of the Rhine and Prussia are Protestantism, while Austria is Catholicism. Therefore, although the Confederation of the Rhine is currently an ally of France, the question remains: will they eventually align with Prussia, or even create a separate Germany? This is a concern for France. Of course, under the current circumstances, France could certainly use its strength to prevent this. However, doing so would damage France's public image. Therefore, to maintain the division of Germany, France does not want to excessively weaken Austria.

Furthermore, Austria was riddled with internal contradictions. In order to maintain the empire and counter Northern Germany, the Habsburg family had to become increasingly dependent on France. As a result, they became the representatives of France interests, or, to put it more bluntly, "Compradors."

All of these factors combined are the reasons why France took such action. As for the tricks involving Austria government bonds, fundamentally, that was just killing two birds with one stone.