So This Was an Option?

Frankfurt, headquarters of the Zollverein (provisional).

There was an unwritten rule in this era: whenever negotiations took place, there had to be a ball.

Frankfurt was already situated at the heart of Germany, and trade had further spurred its growth. Its service industry was now considered the finest in Germany.

Historically, Frankfurt Cathedral had even been where the Holy Roman Emperors were crowned.

On the temporary stage erected in the center of the venue, one of the dancers, a peerless beauty, captured everyone's attention.

Her breathtaking dance and flawless beauty left the audience spellbound.

But Prussia's representative, Friedrich Ancillon, had no interest in watching. He ordered an attendant to pay the troupe and have them stop performing.

Even after the show ended, the delegates kept raising their glasses, seemingly having cast the meeting itself into the farthest reaches of their minds.

The Bavarian representative had even struck up a conversation about music with his Württemberg counterpart, and in a fit of enthusiasm, the two began playing a piano duet with four hands.

The Prussian representative had to call a halt to the festivities before the meeting could get back on track.

If the alliance could keep Austria out simply by refusing to answer, he would have been more than happy to join everyone in enjoying themselves.

But the letter Austria had sent was less an application than an ultimatum.

A month from now, Austria would open its borders to the members of the Zollverein and send out its own merchant caravans.

If the alliance failed to reach an agreement and explicitly reject Austria's membership, Austrian goods would enter Germany through Saxony and Bavaria.

As for expecting Saxony and Bavaria to hold Austria back, that was utterly impossible. The Bavarians didn't want trouble, while Saxony would be delighted to see Austria and Prussia clash.

The Brunswick representative spoke up first. "I object! Austria is too powerful. We want Free Trade, and Austria's membership could threaten it."

As Prussia's vanguard in the unification of Germany, Brunswick naturally had a duty to speak up. After all, many states still lay between Brunswick and Austria, and, most importantly, Prussia was among them. That was why he could be so utterly bold.

"Is Prussia not powerful, then? Why don't we expel Prussia from the alliance while we're at it?" the Saxon representative quipped.

Saxony had always regarded Prussia as the foremost obstacle to its leadership of North Germany. And since Prussia had taken over large swaths of Saxon territory, Saxony would miss no opportunity to make life difficult for Prussia.

"But Prussia is already a member of the alliance."

"Then let it leave." The Saxon representative was Ankett, Saxony's Minister of the Interior.

Normally, there was no way a matter like this should have fallen to Ankett, a mere interior minister. But as luck would have it, both Saxony's finance minister and foreign minister had fallen ill. Even the advisers at the king's side were sick.

His Majesty Anton had a reputation for being kind and generous, so naturally he wasn't going to force his sick ministers to work overtime. That meant this difficult assignment had landed in Ankett's lap, with the excuse that the capable should shoulder more responsibility.

Although His Majesty Anton often boasted that he ruled the strongest state in North Germany, Saxony was no longer what it once had been.

After the Napoleonic Wars, Saxony had been forced to cede two-fifths of its territory to Prussia. By now, two-thirds of its land and half its population were in Prussian hands.

Saxony had a thriving commercial and industrial sector. But ever since joining the Zollverein, Ankett had watched that advantage steadily vanish under Prussia's deliberate, if often subtle, pressure. Saxony was becoming more and more dependent on Prussia.

Caught between a declining country and a king who thought himself powerful, Saxon officials found every diplomatic affair they took part in an ordeal.

Though the king had declared a constitutional monarchy in 1831, the power to promote and dismiss officials still lay in his hands.

This so-called constitutional monarchy was merely for the benefit of the common rabble.

Prussia's foreign minister, Friedrich Ancillon, was also seething with frustration. Given the gap in strength between Prussia and Austria, and Austria's position as chair of the German Confederation, Prussia simply couldn't afford to take a hard line.

So Friedrich Ancillon had been told to prevent Austria from joining the Zollverein—but not to provoke the Austrians.

The reason for holding these internal alliance negotiations was that the Prussian government hoped a vote would silence the Austrians.

That meant he needed to win as much support as possible. Through years of trade, Prussia had already drawn most of the small states into its orbit.

But the powerful states within the German Confederation—Austria, Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg, Hanover, and Hesse—were not on Prussia's side.

They either supported or depended on Austria, or had ambitions of their own.

His Majesty William III was willing to provide only fifty thousand Thalers in funding, following the principle of spending as little as possible.

The dance troupe had already cost two thousand Thalers to get rid of.

Friedrich Ancillon decided to reason with the delegates first and consider bribery afterward.

What he hadn't expected was that Saxony's Ankett would be so difficult to handle.

Worse still, Ankett's words seemed to strike a chord with the other members of the alliance.

To be fair, Prussia had brought this on itself. Compared with the alliance's other members, it did have a head start in industry, as well as an advantage in resources thanks to the coal and iron of the Rhineland.

And Prussians had helped write many of the alliance's rules, so those rules were bound to favor them to some extent.

On top of that, trade inevitably caused friction. Businesspeople got jealous of one another, and nations were no different.

Before long, the delegates were all reminiscing about their hardships. Some even claimed Prussia wanted to monopolize the Zollverein and fleece everyone else.

Meanwhile, several representatives from the powerful states praised the Brunswick delegate for his foresight, calling him a true man who stood up for freedom and fairness.

Their intentions were obvious: they wanted to drive out both Austria and Prussia without earning the resentment of either.

They were redirecting the blame, and a small state like Brunswick had no way to withstand the wrath of Prussia or Austria.

The Brunswick representative immediately panicked and glanced at Friedrich Ancillon beside him.

Friedrich Ancillon nodded, then cleared his throat.

"Representatives, rest assured. On behalf of the Kingdom of Prussia, I guarantee that Prussia has no ambition to dominate Germany, and never will. We welcome any of our German compatriots who wish to join us. But we do not welcome the Hungarians in the territories of the House of Habsburg."

"The House of Habsburg's territories are too sprawling and complex. There are even customs duties between Austria and Hungary. We cannot accept Austria's unilateral trade protection," another representative added.

The members of the Zollverein already disliked Hungary's presence. After all, most German states were still agricultural countries, and Hungarian grain entering Germany would inevitably disrupt the market and cut into their income.

Friedrich Ancillon's remarks immediately found a receptive audience. But Metternich wasn't idle, either. He had already bribed Thuringia's representative, instructing him to stand up for Austria when the need arose.

"Then let Austria and Hungary draw a clear line between them and keep their customs duties in place. As long as Austria agrees, we can still share the entire market. Austria's markets and resources will surely bring new life to the alliance."

"But what if Austria refuses? Or pays lip service to the agreement and ignores it in practice? Who can punish Austria?"

At that moment, the two sides supporting Prussia and Austria were arguing furiously.

What they didn't know was that within the Austrian Empire, the Hungarian nobles were adamantly opposed to joining the Zollverein. They had gathered in Vienna to plead with His Majesty the Emperor to allow Hungary to remain outside the German Confederation's customs union.

Franz heard that and thought, There's an option like that?