Franz's ultimatum was even more deadly to those factory owners and merchants, because the Austrian Empire itself was the monarchy they least wished to provoke—a tyrannical power that had no reason to play fair.
Of course, when faced with an unexpected crisis, this lot's first reaction was denial and sophistry. First, they refused to acknowledge the Austrian Empire's accusations; second, they did not believe their own actions had gone too far.
Yet those words appeared pale and powerless before all their previous boasting, especially when the reasons and the whole course of events had been laid out in black and white.
Even so, this lot had no desire to clash head-on with Austria. Compromise remained their true color.
A group of capitalists and factory owners wanted to bargain with Franz, the emperor, only to discover that they did not even have the standing to speak to him.
In fact, throughout the entire German Confederation, there was not a single capitalist capable of speaking directly with Franz. Not even the chairman of the Austrian Empire's Federation of Industry and Commerce could do so.
What was more, the chairman of that federation had been appointed by Franz himself. How could one of his puppets fail to know his own weight?
And Austria's ultimatum allowed only one week. There was simply no possibility of dragging things out.
Thus, large numbers of capitalists planned to flee abroad. Yet at this time, the German Confederation was conducting strict investigations into fleeing capital.
Unless these people were willing to abandon their assets—but that was absolutely impossible. They had struggled their entire lives for those assets; making them give them up was harder than making them die.
Besides, even if the states of the German Confederation had not inspected asset transfers so strictly, liquidating one's assets within