The technical sophistication of rules

The door to the west office of the United Kingdom Embassy in Cologne was pushed open, and Sir Briggs, sitting behind a dark brown desk, looked up and saw his assistant. He immediately grabbed a few pages of documents in front of him and waved them at him. "Harvey, these just came from London. Take a look. We're now the focus of all of the United Kingdom's diplomatic attention."

"However, this wasn't without its advantages; His Excellency the Lord personally approved a grant of two thousand Pound Sterling for us."

The lord he was referring to was, of course, Lord Hawkesbury, the United Kingdom Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Just a week ago, the Holy See suddenly announced that it would relinquish a large number of Church interests within the Holy Trade Alliance.

As a result, the Cologne Parliament, with an incredibly high level of efficiency, decided to hold a vote on "the intention to join the Holy Trade Alliance" in ten days.

Sir Briggs had dealt with the Cologne Parliament for so long and had never seen the Cologne people so unanimously in agreement.

Subsequently, the United Kingdom Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent him instructions to ensure that the vote would not produce an outcome that the Empire did not want to see.

According to Briggs, the Holy See's decision had spread throughout much of Europe, and almost all Catholicism countries had shown great interest in it, except for diplomats from various Austro-Hungarian Empire who rushed to Münster to learn the details.

After all, Cologne is the first stop for this Trade Alliance in northern German Territories, making it extremely symbolic. If it succeeds, a large number of countries will surely follow suit. If Cologne refuses, it will also cause other countries to wait and see.

Instead of taking the documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, his assistant Harvey Vernon said anxiously, "Sir, we've probably encountered a..."

"A little troublesome."

Briggs waved his hand to signal him to calm down. "Let me guess, is it Dr. Gleiner who's refusing to cooperate with us, or Drost want more money?"

Vernon frowned and shook his head. "Sir, Drost was arrested this morning. And of course, Father Gleiner didn't see me either."

Sir Briggs jumped to his feet. "Arrested? What happened to him?"

Drost was a key pawn in his efforts to disrupt the Cologne Parliament. According to the plan, Hardline Faction would gather a group of people to protest outside the Parliament on election day and try to disrupt the voting process.

Without this guy, his entire plan would have been put on the defensive.

Vernon stammered, "I heard that someone gave him money last night to push through a certain bill, and two people from the Public Notary Investigation Bureau happened to be passing by his house and witnessed the whole bribery."

Well, nowadays almost all Europe countries have followed France's example and established Public Notary Investigation Bureau, as if without this department, their own corruption situation would be much more serious than that of other countries.

In reality, most Investigation Bureau are just for show, and Cologne is one of them.

But this time they performed exceptionally well, cracking a serious corruption case involving a member of parliament in one fell swoop.

Sir Briggs slammed his right fist on the table and roared, "Damn it, this is blatant framing!"

Vernon said somewhat awkwardly, "Congressman Haupt told me that later, account books were found in Drost's house, containing a lot of shady things."

Sir Briggs immediately realized that the money he had given him might also be recorded in the ledger.

He hesitated for a moment, then said to his assistant, "Your Carriage is outside, isn't it? Let's go see Dr. Gleiner immediately."

Gleiner was a core member of the Cologne Church Party, held a doctorate in theology, and maintained good relations with the United Kingdom.

However, Father Gleiner refused to open the door to Briggs, citing illness as the reason.

What angered the latter even more was that the next day, Gleiner published an article in the Münster Morning Post calling on all sectors of Cologne to support joining the Holy Trade Alliance, and also explaining the necessity of it from both theological and economic perspectives.

The United Kingdom Consul in Cologne had no idea that Father Gleiner's greatest worry in life was that his enormous wealth and status could not be passed on to his Illegitimate Son.

But the Holy See's new regulations gave him hope.

Sir Briggs gazed at the setting sun, mentally reviewing all available options, and instructed his assistant, "Harvey, prepare some money. We'll go to Councilor Westphal's house tomorrow morning."

This is another Hardline Faction who is likely to become the leader of this faction after Drost's arrest.

The following day, before the United Kingdom had even set off, they saw in the newspapers that Westphal had been arrested for forging bills.

There were only a handful of Hardline Faction to begin with, and with the two most influential members of Congress in jail, they were no longer able to cause any trouble.

Sir Briggs suddenly realized that he had run out of options.

Two days later, the Cologne Parliament unsurprisingly passed a resolution by a large majority to initiate negotiations to join the Holy Trade Alliance.

Because Trade Alliance involve too many countries, various industries, systems, and regulations need to be adjusted, so joining the alliance is not as simple as just signing a contract.

Joseph adopted a system commonly used in later dynasties, granting member states a "Negotiation Period" of up to eight years.

During this period, participants can partially benefit from the new Church regulations and the already negotiated Tariff. The flexibility is exceptional.

As for the possibility that some countries might abandon the project halfway through, there's absolutely no need to worry.

Once a country's trade patterns begin to change, the resulting inertia will be so great that no one can reverse it. Partial Tariff agreements will inevitably turn into comprehensive Tariff agreements.

In addition to swiftly deciding to begin accession negotiations, the Cologne Parliament also passed a less noteworthy bill that reaffirmed its commitment to "respecting the existing borders of the Rhineland and the demarcation results of the Stuttgart Declaration." Anyone attempting to object to this will be in violation of Cologne law.

This directly undermines the Hardline Faction in Parliament.

That evening, at a celebratory dinner held at the Prince of Münster 'Prince-Bishop's Palace, Parliament Liberals leader Harcourt was discussing negotiations with the Vice Speaker: "We must retain sufficient Tariff on the Leather, Textile, and meat trade."

"As for iron products, if the alliance can reduce the influx of Prussia goods, it will present a good opportunity."

Vice Speaker Kolkirk frowned. "Setting up too many trade barriers will also subject our exports to more restrictions. I think we should prioritize protecting hemp Textile and appropriately abandon other categories."

Congressman Steffens chimed in, "I saw news from Flemish that Limited Free Trade Zone can be formed within the Trade Alliance," which would perfectly address the issues in the Leather and meat industries.

Hackett wondered, "What is a small-scale free trade zone?"

Simply put, it means that certain countries within the Trade Alliance can negotiate lower Tariff on their own. This applies to Tariff that countries retain during the protectionist transition phase.

"For example, we can retain a 30% transitional Tariff on our meat products. This can prevent Parma's ham from destroying our Workshop, but we can sign Free Trade Zone agreements with countries in the North Rhine region without imposing this Tariff."