Declaring War on Prussia-No, on the Netherlands Rebels

France would certainly be extremely cautious about participating in such a major event as the war between Prussia and Austria.

Therefore, after receiving affirmative replies from several key ministers, Queen Mary immediately convened an "expanded Cabinet meeting" to discuss the deployment of troops to Silesia.

Apart from the Minister of Commerce was still negotiating a trade agreement in Munich, all Cabinet Minister and high-ranking military officials, as well as members of the royal family such as the Count of Provence and the Count of Artois, were present.

The seemingly serious and grand meeting was actually not much of a surprise; under Brienne's leadership, the Cabinet Minister unanimously agreed to join the war.

In particular, the Minister of War, the Duke of Broglie, claimed that this was a "historic opportunity" for France to expand its influence in the European Continent. Of course, he was so enthusiastic because His Crown Prince had promised him benefits that he could not refuse.

He then had Berthier conduct a military analysis to demonstrate that supporting Austria was highly likely to succeed, and that even if Prussia won, France would suffer minimal losses.

The Count of Provence, Louis XVI's younger brother, who was not very familiar with the situation, frowned as he looked at the Minister of War speaking eloquently and asked a crucial question:

"Duke of Broglie, how many troops are we planning to send? Will there be any Finance problems?"

After all, France is still carrying a deficit of several billion Livre.

This was also Queen Mary's biggest concern, and she immediately looked at the Duke of Broglie.

Before the Minister of War could speak, Talleyrand rose first and bowed slightly to the Count of Provence:

"Count Excellency, it is very Finance worthwhile for our country to participate in this war."

"Because His Majesty Joseph II has promised that, in return for participating in the war, he will do everything in his power to facilitate the signing of trade agreements between France, Austria, and the South German States. You may have already heard the news, namely the Seine-Rhine River Trade Agreement."

"In fact, the negotiations were nearing their end when I left Munich."

"In other words, our goods can be sold in large quantities to the South Germany market in the future, and the expenses incurred in this war can be recouped from here."

Duke of Broglie immediately replied:

"Furthermore, we will strictly control the scale of our participation; the initial troop deployment will not exceed 50,000, and the costs will not be too high."

Queen Mary turned to look at the Minister of Finance.

Brienne, who had been prepared for this, immediately said:

"Your Majesty, the current Finance situation is relatively stable. Issuing some government bonds will be enough to support the military expenses of 50,000 troops for one or two years."

In fact, if Joseph hadn't needed to spend a lot of money on Taxation reform, the fifty or sixty million Livre that had been "confiscated" from the Duke of Orléans would have been enough to support the French Army's operations.

Queen Mary was finally relieved. She then discussed the pros and cons of participating in the war with her ministers. Seeing that everyone's opinions were surprisingly unanimous, she no longer hesitated.

At 5 p. m., she looked at Brienne and solemnly gave the order:

"Then please draft the document: France will formally ally with Austria and declare war on Prussia."

Joseph, who had been sitting quietly in the corner, almost choked on his own spittle upon hearing this. He thought to himself, "Mom's really honest. She's just trying to profit from the chaos of the war between Putin and Austria. Why is she talking about forming an alliance and declaring war?"

By doing all this, you've turned Austria's problems into France's problems, making it impossible for them to shake off now.

He quickly coughed lightly, stood up, and bowed slightly to Queen Mary:

"Your Majesty, I believe it is not necessary to declare war on Prussia for the time being."

Seeing the surprised looks from Queen Mary and the others, Joseph explained:

"The current situation is still unclear, and we should be cautious about declaring war."

"But our army is about to go to Silesia to fight the Prussia, which is practically a declaration of war."

"No, no, we were only invited by Austria to go there to maintain local order."

"But..."

"We will send the troops they are supposed to send, and we will fight the war as planned. There is no need to declare war on us. Prussia is unlikely to initiate a war against us either."

If the Prussia weren't stupid, they would have pretended not to Military Uniform involved in the war; declaring war would have been tantamount to binding France firmly to Austria's side.

Duke of Broglie frowned and said:

"Your Highness, I'm afraid Austria will strongly urge us to declare war on Prussia."

A sly smile flashed in Joseph's eyes:

"If we must declare war, then we will declare war on the Southern Netherlands Rebels."

"Last month they brazenly robbed our caravan. This is an open provocation, and we must not tolerate it!"

"Huh? The Southern Netherlands robbed France caravan?" A chorus of question marks immediately filled the Conference Hall.

Berthier was the first to react:

"Your Highness, are you referring to the Netherlands Rebels' attack on our logistical supplies for Austria?"

"What supplies for Austria?" Joseph deliberately frowned. "Those are grain and iron products purchased by Luxembourg; it's normal commercial business!"

"Yes, Your Highness. I was mistaken; it was indeed goods ordered by Luxembourg."

Ministers such as the Duke of Brienne and the Duke of Broglie immediately echoed the Crown Prince's opinion, and Queen Mary ultimately had no choice but to heed his advice and decide to first declare war on the Southern Netherlands Rebels. If Austria gained the upper hand on the battlefield in the future, they would then formally announce the Franco-Austrian alliance and declare war on Prussia.

However, little did she know that Joseph had already made plans and would never allow either Prussia or Austria to gain a clear advantage.

As long as the conflict between Prussia and Austria continues, even if the fighting is not so intense, they will not be able to join forces to partition Poland. In fact, in order to win Poland's military support, they will even try to curry favor with Poland.

Even if Russia were to attack Poland in the future, Poland could avoid being attacked from both sides and concentrate its efforts on dealing with the Russian Army. Even if it ultimately loses, it could at least hold out for a few more years than in the past.

While the rest of the European Continent was engulfed in fierce fighting, France quietly developed its own economy, while simultaneously providing opportunities for the belligerent nations to sell their supplies.

At 6 p. m., the Cabinet Meeting concluded, France took a crucial step in joining Austria in the Austro-Prussian War.

Of course, such a major issue as being involved in the war between Prussia and Austria cannot be discussed in a single day. Today's meeting only set the tone; the specific details of participation will require lengthy discussions at a subsequent Cabinet Meeting.

However, the actual plan for participating in the war was formulated in the Crown Prince's Study, and then it was only submitted to the Cabinet Meeting to be "officially approved".

Eman pushed open the Study door and stood respectfully to one side with his head bowed.

Joseph stepped into the house and turned to ask Talleyrand beside him:

"Is everything ready in the Southern Netherlands?"

The latter nodded immediately and lowered his voice:

"Yes, Your Highness. Ferdinand will receive the message as soon as the time is right."

The Ferdinand he mentioned was the Duke of Brunswick, the Commander-in-Chief of the Prussian Army.