The next morning, before dawn, Metternich arrived at the French garrison early, and then he, escorted by a group of French cavalry, again came to Napoleon's headquarters and met Napoleon who was having breakfast.

"You're coming so fast." Napoleon said with a smile.

"That's because I'm using your time now, so I have to save a little." Metternich replied as he took off his hat and greeted Napoleon.

"It's so early, you probably haven't eaten yet, so let's have breakfast with me, let's talk while eating." Napoleon said.

"Thank you then." Metternich was not polite either, and sat down at Napoleon's table. One of the orderlies also brought him breakfast.

"Monsieur Metternich, you must have brought me some good news by coming so early, right?" Napoleon said.

"As for the peace conditions you have proposed," replied Metternich, who quickly sat up straight, "neither the Grand Duke nor I are opposed in principle. However, we have some other requests, and we would like to talk to you about them. ”

Napoleon frowned slightly, "I hope you don't deliberately stall for time, a suggestion, a counter-suggestion, another suggestion, another counter-suggestion, and then time—my time is wasted." ”

"Your Excellency, General, don't be in a hurry, I believe that our proposal and your request are consistent in the direction." Metternich Dao.

"Tell me about it." Napoleon didn't look very interested, and deliberately took out his pocket watch to look at it.

"Your Excellency, your country's scientific and technological level is the highest in the world, and we very much hope to be able to purchase relevant technology from your country, and hope that in this kind of rights, we can also obtain the same rights as your citizens." Metternich said.

"For this matter, my country has a "Patent Law", if you want to buy a technology patent, you can talk to the holder of the patent." Napoleon didn't seem to care about the authenticity.

"But the patented technology we want to buy is basically in the hands of you, General." Metternich said.

"The question, well, in principle, is not a problem. As for the specifics, you can go and talk to my brother, Joseph Bonaparte. Napoleon threw the matter to Joseph. Anyway, if Joseph was unwilling to sell, he would naturally refuse them.

"In addition to this, we also hope that your country will impose certain restrictions on the export of weapons." Metternich said.

"That's not going to work." Napoleon immediately said, "This would be detrimental to our commercial interests." That's impossible! ”

"We can guarantee that the order from our government can fully compensate for this loss, and it can also allow the relevant enterprises in your country to obtain greater benefits."

"It's not about money, it's about our business reputation, it's about our political credibility. Our business and political credibility are worth more than just a small amount of money. Napoleon said firmly.

"However, this would constitute interference in the internal affairs of our country, which would also be contrary to the principle of 'mutual respect for territory and sovereignty and non-interference in each other's internal affairs' contained in the peace treaty between your country and the Kingdom of Spain. In my opinion, these two principles should be more important political credibility. ”

"You're right, we do have to abide by these two principles. However, these two principles are far inferior in legal status to the Declaration of Human Rights, and the principle of 'human rights above sovereignty' derived from the Declaration of Human Rights. We fear that if we ban the civilian arms trade, it will bring about a humanitarian catastrophe in some areas. I hope that your Government will understand this fully legitimate concern. ”

So the two of them had a heated argument around this issue. Finally, Napoleon stated:

"Otherwise, we will put aside the dispute for the time being in line with the principle of seeking common ground while reserving differences. Let's deal with this issue first. We can issue a joint statement, in which we separately commit ourselves to the fact that France does not seek to implement a long-term policy of arms sales to certain parts of your country, to which our arms sales will not exceed the level of supply in the past few years after the peace between the parties has been reached, in terms of quality and quantity, and to be prepared to gradually reduce arms sales to those areas and, over time, lead to a final settlement. For your part, you are committed to resolving the outstanding issues between you and the local people in a peaceful manner as much as possible, and to avoid the humanitarian crisis caused by the use of non-peaceful means. What do you think? This is already the biggest concession I can make. ”

"General Bonaparte, we have one last request." Metternich said.

"What requirements?"

"Some influential figures in our country hope to get the opportunity to take a stake in the 'military-industrial complex'." Metternich replied without changing his face.

Napoleon thought for a moment and replied: "The military-industrial complex is a consortia of enterprises, but there is no such thing as a company or stock called a 'military-industrial complex'. You can take a stake in some of these companies, as long as you have the consent of the other shareholders, which is not a problem. ”

"Isn't your family the biggest shareholder?"

"In some companies, yes, but in the whole consortium, our shareholding is not particularly high." Napoleon explained, and then said, "If that is the case, can we assume that we have basically agreed?" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency." Metternich replied.

Napoleon looked at his pocket watch and said, "Because this negotiation has consumed more of my time, I now need more compensation, both for France and for me personally......"

So on the same day, Archduke Karl and General Napoleon Bonaparte initialled an agreement on the peace between the two countries. Under this agreement, the two countries will restore peace and establish closer trade relations. At the same time, Austrian troops will withdraw from all French territory, as well as from the territories of France's allies, and express deep apologies to the French and other peoples for the damage caused by the war. At the same time, Austria undertakes to never allow any person or force to use Austrian soil to engage in activities that endanger the security and stability of France.

In this way, Austria was spared, and such an agreement was signed, which neither ceded land nor paid indemnities, which of course caused some criticism in France, but "Scientific Pravda" had long been prepared for this, and they quickly published an article analyzing the current military situation, pointing out that the great significance of withdrawing Austria from the war as soon as possible was of great significance for France to achieve a final victory. In addition, France did not gain nothing, at least, those royal party elements who were hiding in Austria are now afraid of changing places.

If the person who signed this treaty was someone else, then even if "Science Pravda" tried its best to wash his ground, I am afraid that he would inevitably be labeled as a traitor. But what can one say about the fact that the one who initialed the treaty was General Napoleon Bonaparte, the god of war of the Republic, who had just won a great victory and saved the Republic more than once? The long is just a whisper that General Bonaparte may still be ...... in diplomacy Although there is nothing wrong with his general direction.

Immediately after the initialling of the agreement, Archduke Karl left Luxembourg with his army and retreated to Kaiserslautern. Napoleon, on the other hand, left all the British artillery and more than 10,000 soldiers of the Northern Army and Soul, who had experience in defensive warfare, in Luxembourg to take charge of the vigilance of Austria. Then he rushed towards Prussia with the rest of the army.

A week later, Napoleon's army approached Cologne, and the Cologne defenders surrendered without a fight. Napoleon stayed in Cologne for a day, where he met the first emissaries sent by the Prussians to sue for peace. But the Prussian sincerity for peace did not impress Napoleon. So Napoleon continued his eastward march with great momentum, and half a month later, the army reached near Hanover. And here they met the newly formed combined British and Prussian armies led by Field Marshal von Molundorff.

The strength of the coalition was about 100,000 men, but because both Britain and Prussia had lost their most elite troops in the previous Battle of Verdun, most of the 100,000 troops were untrained recruits, and they were desperately short of weapons. Not to mention the brand-new Mini rifles, even the old smoothbore guns, they are quite scarce. The number of cannons was far less than that of Napoleon. The future of this battle was naturally very unpromising for the British and Prussians.

In the afternoon, the Prussian envoy came to Napoleon's military camp with the authorization of King Frederick William III to pray for peace.

Napoleon's terms of peace, however, became even harsher than in Cologne, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he demanded that the Prussians pay 150 million francs, recognize French control over the Rhine Valley, including Hanover, and immediately declare war on Britain.

The demand for an immediate declaration of war on Britain could now be agreed to without blinking an eyebrow, and it was not a problem to recognize French control over the Rhine, including Hanover. But the compensation of 150 million francs could not be paid by the Prussians even if they smashed the pot and sold the iron. If there really had been such a sum of money, Prussia would not have fallen to this. It is said that one of the reasons why Prussia was moved by the British was because of the financial crisis.

The Prussian envoys begged Napoleon to raise his noble hand, and told Napoleon that they could not come up with such a large amount of money under any circumstances. Napoleon, for his part, said that France could lend money to the Prussians to pay for this huge sum, but the Prussians would need to use the various taxes of the whole country as collateral. To put it more explicitly, from now on all the financial power of Prussia will be administered by the French.

Finance is the mother of all governments, and if this power is lost, it is basically equivalent to the death of the country. The Prussians, of course, could not agree to such conditions, so Napoleon roared: "Let the cannons and rifled guns go and debate with you!" Then he drove the Prussian envoys out.