The Prague peace talks began in earnest.

Neither Prussia nor the Austrian Empire were willing to go to war anymore.

After the crushing defeat of Austria, it was already broken, and King Franz Joseph hurriedly invited not only the French Emperor Napoleon III to come forward, but also the English Queen Victoria to put pressure on the Prussian king. It is clear that Franz Joseph has been frightened and does not dare to fight any further. Even if you want revenge, you have to accumulate strength for a long time, and you can't think about revenge in a short time, and your troops and morale have been deflated.

Prussia originally wanted to take the opportunity to completely defeat Austria, occupy more territory, and unify the whole of Germany. But as soon as France and England came forward, even the French Emperor Napoleon III sent a secret telegram to the Prussian king Wilhelm Frederick Ludwig, warning him to take it as soon as he saw it, and urging the transfer of the Saarland region of the Rhine, coupled with the strong protest of the Prussian Prime Minister Bismarck to continue to send troops, the Prussian king obeyed Bismarck's words, so the Minister of War Ron was loyal, so the Prussian army stopped the attack on Vienna, but made a long-term move to threaten Hungary, In fact, it was circling on the Moldavian border, waiting for Austria to send an envoy to negotiate peace and make conditions.

At the same time, certain problems also appeared in Prussia, a small amount of turmoil in Berlin, Nassau, Württemberg and other places, many democratic liberals began to make trouble, demanding the cessation of foreign wars of aggression, resisting feudal autocratic rule, demanding the return of government to the people, giving freedom to the people, etc., Prussia was already short of troops, and at this moment the country began to be turbulent, and they were highly nervous, where did they dare to send a large army outside for a long time? If Austria hadn't sent people to the peace talks, they would have thought of leading their troops back to Prussia to stabilize the situation.

In fact, the original plan was that after Prince William's Fifth Army captured Prague, it would send the Fifth Army back to the country for security.

The newly annexed states such as Nassau and Württemberg needed some troops to show Prussian force, and troops were needed everywhere, even if Prussia was desperately developing and expanding its army, sending five legions to fight in Austria would not be able to bear the attrition for a long time.

Therefore, Prussia also had the intention of withdrawing its troops for a long time, but insisted on waiting for the peace talks before taking action, and tried its best to create good conditions for the peace talks.

The peace talks took place in the Church of St. Vitus in Prague Castle on the Beit Sun Hill on the west bank of the Vltava River in Prague. Formerly the palace of the Bohemian royal family, the Prague Castle was destroyed by fire, and today the castle was rebuilt on the remnants of the fire and has become a symbol of power for the Bohemians.

The representative of the Prussian kingdom in the peace talks was none other than Bismarck, the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Prussia, who arrived here yesterday, and Prince Wilhelm, because he happened to be the commander of the Prussian army that occupied Prague, naturally joined in and became Bismarck's deputy.

The Kingdom of Italy, which was allied with Prussia, also attached great importance to this peace talks, and sent Prime Minister Urbano Lataczi, who had a close relationship with the late Count Cavour, the former prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and had always been Cavour's right-hand man, serving as Minister of Justice, Minister of the Interior and other important cabinet positions, and now becoming the third Prime Minister of Italy. Although Italy suffered a crushing defeat in the war with Austria, as an ally of Prussia, the Prussian army finally defeated the Austrian Imperial Army, and Italy appeared in the peace talks as the final victor as if it had won in the end.

On the Austrian side, the envoy sent was Archduke Carl Ludwig, the special envoy of the Austrian Emperor, and his deputy was Baron Carl Ludwig von Bruck, Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire. However, because Archduke Karl Ludwig was the younger brother of the Emperor of Austria and had a noble status, but among the brothers, he was the most rude and rude, so the Emperor had already explained that everything was subject to the decision of his deputy, Baron Brooke.

In addition to the central British and French Foreign Ministers Glanville Georges Levisen-Gower and Baron Ottoman, the Danish king also sent the young Crown Prince Frederick.

In addition, several principalities and states of the German Confederation, Bavaria, Hesse, Saxony, Mecklenburg, etc., also sent envoys, but they were more obedient to the negotiations between the two powers, Prussia and Austria, and did not have much autonomy.

The peace talks actually went very smoothly, and as soon as they entered, the two sides did not have the same tense atmosphere as on the battlefield, but like friends who had been friends for many years, they talked with each other for a while, until the main coordinator of the peace talks, Baron Haussmann, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the French Empire, coughed lightly and said loudly: "Everyone, I have a major matter to announce next!" ”

Everyone knew that what Baron Ottoman was about to announce was nothing more than the official opening of the peace talks, but what surprised them was the following sentence: "His Majesty the Emperor of the French Empire has just arrived in Prague this morning, and at the request of the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia and the King of Italy, and other heads of state, His Excellency intends to preside over this peace talks in person today." Now, our Emperor His Majesty, Napoleon III, is here! ”

No one expected that Napoleon III would secretly rush to Prague, and without anyone knowing, suddenly appear at the venue of the peace talks, and personally hold the four peace conferences of the four countries of Austria and Italy, which will affect the whole of Europe.

A thin middle-aged man with an arrogant face, escorted by more than a dozen palace guards, walked into the church, and came to everyone, it was the French Emperor Louis, he directly said aloud: "Now, as the emperor of the French Empire, I officially announce that this Prague peace talks have officially begun!" ”

The first was to settle the dispute between the two most crucial countries, Austria and Prussia. As the original specific mediator, the French Foreign Minister Baron Haussmann had already made prior contact with both countries, and the conditions that the two sides were willing to offer were actually in the hands of France, and what France had to do was to take the chestnuts from the fire and get benefits!

Therefore, Louis and the others sat down and announced directly to Bismarck, the representative of the Prussian side: "I will first announce the terms of Austria and Prussia.

The demands of the Austrian Empire were threefold: first, that the war should cease immediately between the two sides, and that the Kingdom of Prussia withdraw all its troops to the territory of the Kingdom of Prussia. Second, Prussia returned all the Austrian territories it occupied to the Austrian Empire. Third, the Kingdom of Prussia will occupy Saxony, Hanover, Hesse, Württemberg and other German states, unless the citizens of the country voted to annex Prussia or the original owner of the state to relinquish the right to rule, or all the corresponding Grand Dukes.

In return, of course, Austria officially declared defeat, was willing to pay 5 million Rhein-guilders in reparations for the war costs, and the Austrian Empire was willing to cede the previously occupied Schleswig-Holstein region to Prussia, and promised not to interfere in the internal affairs of the northern German Confederation principalities. ”

Without waiting for Bismarck's response, Louis again announced to the representative of Austria, Archduke Carl Ludwig: "The demands of the Kingdom of Prussia are also threefold: First, Austria formally dissolves the German Confederation and allows the establishment of the North German Confederation headed by Prussia, and Austria promises not to interfere in the internal affairs of Germany in the future." Second, Prussia annexed Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau, Upper Hesse, Saxony, Weimar and the Free City of Frankfurt. Third, to keep the post-war line of junction unchanged, that is, Austria ceded Upper Bohemia and Middle Bohemia, including Prague, to Prussia. ”

The entire Prague Peace Conference became a stage for Napoleon III alone.