Duke of Florence
Crown Prince Luciveld wiped away a cold sweat and stammered, "You know, if our country reaches a trade agreement with France, it will certainly invite Austria's retaliation..."
Talleyrand smiled. "France will give Your Highness its firmest support with cannon."
His words clearly carried two meanings—France's cannons could help you resist Austria, and they could also be pressed against your forehead.
Talleyrand raised his glass to the pale-faced Crown Prince of Württemberg. "Moreover, our country is not seeking to establish an exclusionary market. Members of the Trade Alliance may continue to maintain trade with Vienna. It would not even matter if the tariffs you give Austria are the same as those within the Trade Alliance."
On the surface, this condition seemed meant to reduce the pressure the small South German states would face from Austria, but in reality, it was a plank road built openly while the real crossing was made in secret.
With Austria's current industrial capacity and technological level, a severe generational gap had already opened between it and France.
Under the same tariff conditions, Austrian goods simply could not compete with French goods, so France did not care at all about trade between Austria and the Southern German States.
On the contrary, if the Southern German States and Austria could reach a low-tariff agreement, French goods could enter Austria through these countries.
With the technological conditions of this era, tracing the origin of goods was simply impossible.
Yes, even in the twenty-first century, the already informatized United States was still at its wits' end over the tracing problem. Eastern countries bypassed tariff barriers through Mexico and achieved large-scale exports to the American empire.
Of course, after Austria noticed something was wrong, it could absolutely raise tariffs on the Southern German States. But that would be