As a country that had once met France on the battlefield in the Southern Netherlands, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands received far worse treatment than the Danes.
Schimmelpenninck waited for more than three hours in a small room on the second floor of Versailles Palace before he finally obtained an audience with the Crown Prince of France.
Then, less than twenty minutes later, he withdrew from Joseph's reception room with a dejected expression.
The fact was, the Netherlands truly had nothing now that could move France.
He and the many members of the Dutch People's Party had discussed it for a long time, only to discover that they could offer France a loan of just over 1.1 million Dutch Guilders.
And because their party represented the interests of the financial capitalists, they could not even press down the interest rate.
Joseph naturally had no desire to get involved in Dutch domestic affairs for the sake of a loan of 13 million Francs.
Back then, he had helped those liberals defeat William V, only for them to turn around and follow the United Kingdom in sending troops to interfere in the Southern Netherlands. Now, letting William V teach them a proper lesson did not seem so bad.
Even if William V returned to power, it would have little effect on France.
After all, even William V's backer, Prussia, had already bowed its head to France. After going through a civil war, if he wanted to secure his rule, he might end up even more pro-French than the liberal government.
Joseph had only just finished lunch when Eman reminded him at his ear, "Your Highness, the Ottoman Sultan's special envoy has already begun preparations for the audience. He is expected to arrive at Versailles Palace in an hour."
Joseph rubbed the