I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 195 Europa Universalis 4

Joseph seemed to be unsatisfied and waved his hand vigorously: "It is a pity that there are still Ottoman fortresses on the northern shore of the Black Sea. Only by wiping them out as soon as possible can we ensure the stability of the ports required for Black Sea trade.

“After that, Russia should advance to the south bank of the Danube River and wrest control of the Danube River estuary from the Ottomans!

"On the east coast of the Black Sea, Georgia - that small country protected by Russia, is still occupied by the Ottomans at the Black Sea outlet and is suppressed by the Persians. It is in urgent need of Russian rescue."

He looked at Paul seriously: "If necessary, France can provide help to you at any time!"

Crown Prince Paul was stunned. Why did he feel that the French Crown Prince was more radical than his mother? Directly put everything except the southern coast of the Black Sea - which is the hometown of the Ottomans - under the name of Russia. If there were outsiders present, they might think that he was the Russian Crown Prince.

In fact, Joseph just recited the situation of several Russian-Turkish wars in history. These places are the interests that Russia covets, and it is impossible for any Russian to not listen to them.

Sure enough, Paul nodded excitedly: "This is also His Majesty the King..."

Joseph immediately answered: "It's all His Majesty the King's wishes. Please be sure to tell Her Majesty the Queen."

As the Crown Prince of France, his words have full diplomatic effect.

Russians have a straightforward temperament and pay attention to straightforwardness in repaying kindness and revenge.

Paul also reciprocated the favor: "I assure you that we will provide support to France's actions in North Africa at any time!"

After separating from the Russian Crown Prince, Joseph returned to his palace and saw the servants surrounding the Spanish Crown Prince with helpless expressions - he had obviously drunk a lot of wine, his hair was messy, and he looked extremely decadent.

When Antonio saw his cousin coming back, he immediately stood up with the wine glass, his eyes red again.

Joseph had no choice but to drink a few drinks with him and silently patted his back to express comfort.

Soon Antonio was drunk. Joseph ordered his servants to move him to the bed to sleep. He turned around and saw Fouche coming quickly, saluting him and saying, "Your Highness, do you want to continue to stare at the second floor of the South Hall?"

He was talking about the man responsible for spying on the Crown Princess of Spain.

"No need." Joseph shook his head. Antonio himself was useless, and there was really nothing he could do.

He turned back and glanced at Antonio, and said to Fouche casually: "Is there any way to give him the courage to deal with that unfaithful woman?"

Fouche was startled for a moment and whispered: "Your Highness, it is a bit troublesome to deal with that woman, but it shouldn't be difficult to deal with her lover."

"Oh?" Joseph asked, "What are you going to do?"

Fouche showed an excited but cold smile: "Just destroy him, it shouldn't be too troublesome."

Joseph frowned. He didn't like using too "dirty" means to solve problems, so he subconsciously ignored this option.

However, he immediately remembered Antonio's painful expression and couldn't help but squint his eyes. Godoy was just a little guard with no background. Perhaps a simple and direct method would be the most effective.

He looked at Fouche: "Can you ensure that everything is foolproof?"

"Please rest assured that he just had an accident and no one will doubt him."

"Tomorrow is His Majesty the King's birthday, so don't make too much noise."

"Yes, Your Highness, I understand."

During lunch, a tall and handsome man in his thirties met Joseph in the corridor and immediately took two steps forward to salute him.

Emman was busy at the side and whispered: "Your Highness, this is Prince Poniatowski of Poland."

Joseph nodded slightly, but deliberately turned away, ignoring the Prince of Poland, and left proudly under the latter's awkward gaze.

Eyes everywhere in the Palace of Versailles were watching. Since Joseph had chosen the route closer to Russia, he had to show an attitude of keeping a distance from Poland.

Poniatowski was not too angry. After all, Poland was now in decline and suffering from internal problems, especially since it had lost large areas of territory to Russia, Prussia, and Austria more than ten years ago. Big countries like France looked down upon them. It's also normal.

Just as he turned the corner of the stairs, a strange young man suddenly saluted him and then thrust a note into his hand.

Poniatowski held the note in his hand in surprise, and did not open it until he reached a quiet place to read it.

The note was written by the French Crown Prince and contained only a simple sentence, asking him to wait for him somewhere outside the Palace of Versailles at two o'clock in the afternoon.

Summer afternoons are very hot, especially since it hasn't rained in France for a long time.

Poniatowski wiped his sweat and was about to look at his watch again when he saw two of France's most popular "jewel" high-end carriages parked next to him.

A moment later, in the compartment of the carriage, Joseph looked at the heroic Prince of Poland in front of him and smiled: "I'm sorry to see you in this way. But please believe that our next conversation will be beneficial to both you and Poland." Very important."

Joseph knew very well that the current Polish King Stanislaw II was simply unreliable. Back then, he was promoted to the Polish throne by the tsarina by being Catherine's lover [Note 1].

Perhaps in his previous life experiences, Catherine was too powerful in front of him. Even after he became the king, he was still very afraid of her.

This also led to the fact that in the second war to carve up Poland, Stanislaw II firmly believed that he could never defeat Russia when the main force of the Polish army still existed, so he ordered the entire army to surrender.

Throughout Poland, most of the nobles formed gangs for their own political interests, either defecting to Prussia or colluding with Russia. No one cared about the life and death of Poland.

Only the nephew of the King of Poland, Prince Poniatowski, and the famous general Tadeusz Kosciuszko always insisted on preparing for war, and they were once able to do so in the Second Partition War a few years later. Defeating the Russian army is an object that can be cultivated.

In particular, Kosciuszko has not yet risen to prominence. Poniatowski is responsible for Poland's army formation tasks, and as a prince, he also has a greater influence on Poland's political situation.

This time he happened to come to France, and Joseph naturally wanted to seize this opportunity and introduce him to some ways to "strengthen" Poland.

As for how much he can implement after listening, it depends on Poland's luck.

Poniatowski looked at the young French Crown Prince for a few seconds, then nodded solemnly: "I believe you, Your Highness. Please tell me."

Joseph breathed a sigh of relief and said: "First of all, you must understand that the situation facing Poland is very dangerous. It may only take about five years to face the danger of annihilation."

According to the historical trajectory, Poland will be partitioned for the second time five years later.

Poniatowski was stunned, shook his head slightly and said: "Your Highness, are you being a little alarmist?

"Although Poland faces many threats, we are still a big country, and we also have an alliance with Prussia. Once we encounter threats, Prussia will send troops to help us."

Joseph was speechless. The Poles are really naive. Prussia is the country that is most active in carving up you, even more than Russia!

It's just that Prussia believed that it might not be able to defeat Poland on its own, so it secretly encouraged Russia to join forces, while pretending to form an alliance with Poland on the surface.

Historically, as soon as Russia sent troops, Prussia immediately tore up the alliance and attacked Poland from both sides.

Joseph immediately said in a deep voice: "If you want to keep Poland, you must first remember that you must not trust Prussia!"

The Prince of Poland was surprised: "Why do you say that?"

"I..." Joseph really wanted to tell him that he had read historical materials, but he could only say, "The French intelligence system has received absolutely reliable information, and gaining access to northwestern Poland is Prussia's primary strategic goal."

"This, how is this possible?!"

"You can confirm it through your own intelligence methods." Joseph didn't expect him to believe it immediately, but as long as the Poles could be on guard, I believe they would find some clues sooner or later.

Poniatowski nodded and asked again: "Why are you telling me this?"

"First of all, I don't want Prussia's plan to succeed."

Poniatowski had no doubt about this - Prussia and Britain were very close, and Britain and France were feuding countries, and France certainly did not want Prussia to become stronger.

Joseph continued with a sincere face: "Of course, more importantly, because I sympathize with Poland very much and do not want more suffering to fall on the Polish people."

Poniatowski automatically ignored this point. "Sympathy" and "goodwill" are just useless decorations in international politics.

"Thank you very much for the reminder, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

"This is nothing." Joseph continued, "Also, the constitution being established in Poland probably needs to be accelerated."

"Huh? Constitution?" Poniatowski did not expect that the French would talk about Poland's internal affairs.

"With all due respect, the constitution you are currently trying to develop is too huge, resulting in too many things to discuss and slow progress."

Joseph said: "The biggest sticking point in Poland right now is the 'free veto', and the process of abolition of it should never be mixed with the new constitution. According to my estimation, your Sejm will not be able to complete everything within three or four years." constitution."

The so-called "free veto power" means that when the Polish Parliament makes resolutions, members can veto them with one vote.

This has resulted in foreign countries, such as Russia and Prussia, being able to bribe a small number of parliamentarians to prevent Poland from passing any bill that makes them unhappy.

At the same time, out of consideration of their own interests, legislators will veto a large number of bills that are beneficial to national development. The final result is that Poland has been able to implement almost no good policies for hundreds of years, and the country is getting worse and worse.

The Polish Sejm is planning to implement the abolition of the one-vote veto system in the new constitution, so until then Poland will still be a backwater.

"what do you mean?"

"Enact a separate bill to abolish the 'free veto'." Joseph added, "Poland is really in danger, we must seize the time!"

He didn't know if the Polish prince listened, and continued: "The Polish army also needs to expand as soon as possible. To achieve basic national defense security, a standing army of 100,000 is necessary. And you currently only have 10,000."

Poniatowski was a little surprised. According to repeated studies by the Polish military, it also believed that the army needed to be expanded to 100,000, which coincided with the statement of the French Crown Prince.

In fact, Joseph told him in advance the 100,000 military expansion plan required by the Polish Constitution four years later. However, at that time, there was only one year left before the second partition. In the end, Poland only expanded its army by 37,000 people, which was still far from the "lifeline".

Joseph continued: “Besides, let your Sejm not hasten to abolish serfdom.

"I know that the abolition of serfdom can greatly improve Poland's national strength, but all reforms will have a 'pain period' before great development. And Poland cannot afford the pain now.

"Of course, you can improve the situation of the serfs, but the prerequisite is to unite as many forces as possible to resist foreign enemies."

Historically, Poland offended many old aristocratic forces because of its radical serfdom reforms. These people were passive and sabotaged when Poland was invaded, which greatly weakened the power to resist foreign enemies.

Poniatowski found it a little funny. Poland’s current reform trend is freedom, equality, and constitutionalism. Aren’t these ideas all passed down from France? What about Rousseau and Montesquieu.

As a result, the French crown prince suggested that Poland temporarily retain serfdom...

On the driving carriage, Joseph expressed to the Prince of Poland that France would provide certain assistance to Poland through the United States, and hoped that they would complete preparations for war as soon as possible.

After basically everything that needed to be said, Poniatowski returned to his carriage and took a different route back to the Palace of Versailles.

…

Louis XVI's birthday.

All of Paris went into carnival mode. Several places where the government distributed free food became gathering places for citizens.

Every three hours, there will be a free performance by a theater troupe hired by the government.

During the breaks between performances, people took out their musical instruments, played and sang to themselves, and tried their best to praise His Majesty the King's wisdom, martial arts, kindness and fraternity. It was a scene of peace and prosperity.

No one could remember that France was facing its worst food shortage in centuries.

At the same time, various celebrations in the Palace of Versailles have reached their climax.

Both the singing, dancing and fencing competitions produced top eight. Professionals were commenting on the characteristics of the contestants, which caused loud cheers from the audience from time to time.

In an inconspicuous small room on the second floor of the Palace of Versailles, Fouche was staring at his men and asked in a deep voice: "Are you sure there are no exceptions?"

"Yes, my lord. Godoy came to the Palace of Versailles for four days and attended Mrs. Garland's music salon on time at 9 o'clock every evening."

Fouche nodded secretly when he heard this. He had already found out that Godoy was favored by the Spanish Crown Princess because he was good at playing guitar and singing. Music is his bread and butter.

[Note 1] At this time, Poland implemented a system in which the king was elected by the nobles. Moreover, the political situation in Poland was chaotic. Catherine used money to bribe the Polish nobles and forcibly elected Stanislaw to the Polish throne.