A historic trade agreement

As for the battle plan, Marshal Lacy and other high-ranking military officials had already discussed it and presented it directly at this time.

Austria conscripted 80,000 troops from across the country—this was the limit of its military strength due to the impact of Joseph II's reforms—and secretly deployed them to Silesia under the command of Marshal Lacy.

Meanwhile, only 5,000 troops were left in Luxembourg to keep an eye on the Brabant Rebels, while the main force was led back to Austria by General Würmser, and after a brief rest, it was also deployed to Silesia.

On the Bavaria side, the goal is to persuade Karl Ottodor to send 10,000 to 20,000 troops, with the bargaining chip naturally being the exchange of territory in the Southern Netherlands.

France, on the other hand, would need to send more than 50,000 troops.

If the South German States were to provide additional military support, the Austria Allied Forces could likely amass 150,000 to 170,000 troops in the Silesia region.

At present, Prussia can mobilize no more than 120,000 troops, while Saxony is almost certain to participate in the war, with a force of around 30,000.

In other words, the Austria Allied Forces had a certain advantage in terms of total troop strength.

Moreover, neither the Austrian Army nor the French Army was weaker than the Prussia army, and far stronger than the Saxony.

If France, as agreed, ensures that Poland will not send troops to support Prussia, the Austria Allied Forces's chances of victory will be very high.

If France could send more troops, it might even be able to overwhelm Prussia.

The imperial council at the Schönbrunn Palace only temporarily ended as dusk fell.

Of course, the meeting was now chaired by Leopold II, and after deciding to send troops to Silesia, His Majesty the Emperor went to rest in another room.

After the meeting, Leopold II appeared preoccupied. He knew that there was another extremely important factor to consider in the Silesia campaign: Russia's attitude.

Russia and Prussia share highly aligned interests in Poland, and if Prussia's situation deteriorates, Catherine II is very likely to send troops to intervene.

Although Russia is still at war with Sweden, Russia powerful military means that it can easily influence the course of the war by simply sending out a few corps.

So how can we ensure that Russia remains uninvolved?

Leopold II rubbed his temples, suddenly recalling France and Russia's recent dealings with the Ottoman and their enormous shared interests in the Mediterranean Sea trade. He muttered to himself, "It seems I'll need my dear sister to step in. But what will be my reward...?"

Bavaria.

Munich Palace.

The scene of negotiations for the Seine-Rhine River Trade Agreement.

"Regarding Tariff on timber products, I still hope they can be increased further," Count Wintzingerode of Württemberg said, looking at Bayei. "They should be at least 45%..."

Austria Minister of Foreign Affairs Baron Thugut shook his head and interrupted him, "You always get bogged down in these trivial matters."

"If this continues, a trade agreement may not be reached by the end of the year."

"This will cause all our countries to lose nearly half a year's worth of trade gains."

"I think you just need to grasp the overall direction; we shouldn't let your family's situation hinder all of us."

Count Wintzingerode looked at him with some confusion. Since the week before last, the Austria representative had been urging an agreement to be reached.

As a major power with significant influence over South Germany, Austria's stance is something that the smaller South Germany states absolutely cannot ignore.

The Baden representative chimed in, "Baron Thugut is right, we are also waiting for the agreement to be implemented."

"When the merchants in Baden heard the news of the trade negotiations, they piled up their goods at the docks, waiting to be shipped to France and Austria for sale."

"If we drag this out too long, they'll probably go crazy."

The Augsburg representative nodded in agreement, saying, "I think the current terms are perfectly acceptable. Moreover, the draft also states that the detailed terms will be renegotiated every three years."

"Many things can be studied in detail then."

Unsurprisingly, these two were also the "results" of Talleyrand's bribery, and at a very low cost, each only received Livre to completely "win them over".

Of course, the terms of the agreement did not seem to be disadvantageous to Baden and Augsburg, so they were happy to take the money—just to speed up the signing process, with almost no risk to themselves.

As for Bavaria, they received the most favorable terms in the agreement, and since Archduke Ottodor was still dreaming of "moving" to the Southern Netherlands, they were more inclined to listen to Austria's opinions.

Thus, the negotiation process resulted in a situation where France, Austria, Brazil, and two smaller countries were firmly pushing for the signing of the agreement, Württemberg and Hesse were somewhat hesitant.

However, after Hesse was secretly threatened by Austria to exclude it from the agreement signed by several other countries in advance, Hesse quickly compromised. If it missed out on such a large market as South Germany, France, and Austria, it would likely suffer a great loss in trade, leading to a rapid decline in its national strength.

Small countries just want to gain a few more benefits, but they absolutely do not want to become "outsiders".

With Austria's strong mediation, the trade negotiations reached a preliminary agreement after only half a month. Count Wintzingerode, unable to hold out alone and having secured a France commitment to import at least 800,000 Pike of coal annually at market price, finally relented.

Pike is a standard-sized basket, and one Pike contains approximately 20 kilograms of coal. 800,000 Pike is 16 million kilograms. This is a negligible number in later generations, but in the 18th century, when coal was mainly used for heating, it was practically equivalent to the total output of all the Coal Mine in Württemberg.

This is definitely a big order for Württemberg.

On July 1, 1789, the "Seine-Rhine River Trade Agreement," which had a significant impact on the Europe trade landscape, was officially signed. The signatories included France, Austria, Bavaria, Salzburg, Württemberg, Augsburg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Baden.

Along with the agreement, supplementary clauses were also signed, allowing ships from signatory countries in the Seine River and Rhine River basins to directly enter other countries. Although they cannot land and must hire locals to unload their cargo, this is still a tremendous convenience for conducting free trade.

Paris.

Versailles Palace.

Queen Mary put down the joint proposal for France to participate in the war submitted by Archbishop Brienne and the Minister of War, Duke of Broglie, and looked at them with some surprise. "Are you sure that France should participate in the war in the German Territories? Is this really in France's interest?"

Both Cabinet Minister nodded in agreement.

Of course, this was at the Crown Prince's behest, so they wrote the document as required and submitted it to Her Majesty the Queen.

Queen Mary cautiously inquired, "So, is France ready to enter the war?"

Brienne and the Duke of Broglie were not entirely clear on the specifics, but they nodded firmly nonetheless. "Yes, Your Majesty. The battlefield is far from France, and the benefits are great enough. We only need to send some troops to Silesia. There's no need to worry about victory or defeat."

Only Talleyrand, who stood aside and knew the inside story best, shrank back, muttering to himself, "You're still here worrying about whether we're prepared... His Crown Prince has already finalized everything with the Austria, and the Austria army has probably already assembled."