Prussia's greatest loss was not the Saarland, but the French annexation of Baden, Württemberg, and the northwestern enclave of Bavaria, which had been a German state.

When the agreement was signed, Bismarck felt that something was wrong, but in the end, his greedy nature, his desire for land, and his desire for the great cause of unifying Germany, made him give up his insistence. After all, whether it was Baden, Württemberg or the Kingdom of Bavaria, in the course of the original Austro-Prussian dispute, they were all inclined to the Austrian Empire, and relations with Prussia were not very good.

At this critical period when the Kingdom of Prussia was preparing to replace Austria and re-establish the German Confederation, Bismarck did not want these states that were not convinced by Prussia to cause any trouble, so for Baden and Württemberg, the annexation by France was a good thing, and the weakening of the Kingdom of Bavaria made it feel the threat from the powerful French Empire at all times, and on the contrary, it would push it further towards the Kingdom of Prussia, which had become the head of the German Confederation at that time. These were Bismarck's calculations, and everything was for the sake of Prussia's smooth unification of the entire German Confederation, and even if some sacrifices were made, it was worth it.

Moreover, Bismarck thought that Prussia's efforts would also be greatly rewarded. Through this secret meeting, Prussia resolved the internal problems of the German Confederation, and from then on, Prussia could break through all obstacles, first reorganize the German Confederation, and then plan to unify the entire German Confederation and restore the glory of the former Holy Roman Empire. In addition, Prussia could expand eastward, not only to occupy Bohemia centered on Prague, but also to move further eastward, perhaps taking advantage of this opportunity to annex all of Poland, if not Warsaw, to the south of Lodz and Krakow. The most important areas are Lithuania and other areas around the Baltic Sea, and even further afield in the Neman River valley and the upper reaches of the Dnieper, as long as Prussia occupies these places, the land area will almost double, if not to unify the whole of Germany, it will be enough to become a European power.

Moreover, once these territories were fully digested, it would be much easier to believe that it would be much easier to unify the German Confederation, and then the temptation to go down in history would be incomparable.

In fact, the most important thing is the attitude of Tsarist Russia. But now that Tsarist Russia has been scattered in chaos, this powerful empire that used to be awe-inspiring and close to Prussia has now been thinned and defeated by the Chinese Empire one after another, and it has become terminally ill due to the consumption of civil strife. Bismarck, like all the leaders of the secret meeting, hardly considered the possibility of a resurgence of Tsarist Russia. Even if it rises in the event of a rise, the excuse that everyone has already helped find it, is to help the Russian Empire resist the attack of the Chinese Imperial Army from the Ottoman Empire and the East, and take over temporarily, it's a big deal, really Tsarist Russia will rise again one day, and these secret countries will fight together, once it really can't be defeated, it's a big deal to return it to Tsarist Russia, but the plundered wealth is always earned in the hands.

This was Bismarck's calculation, and it was for these reasons that he persuaded himself to finally agree to sign the secret treaty, even though he understood that France wanted to occupy Baden and Württemberg nakedly.

And for the Austrian Empire, this time the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph became smart and made huge concessions, but at the same time, great gains.

Although it ceded two areas bordering northern Italy, these territories were actually small, mountainous and did not have much oil and water. Withdrawing from the leadership of the German Confederation was the greatest loss, but the Austrian Empire itself suffered huge losses in the war with the Kingdom of Prussia, and was defeated for a time, so this result is also reasonable.

The ensuing cession of Bohemia to Prussia and the granting of troops to the French Empire to capture Baden and Württemberg, members of the German Confederation, and the Kingdom of Bavaria, were very hurtful to the Austrian Empire. But since even the German Confederation has withdrawn and declared that it will no longer pay attention to all the affairs of the German Confederation, what does the life and death of these federal member states have to do with the Austrian Empire? It is still important to satisfy the French Empire, and now in the eyes of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, it is still the French Emperor Napoleon III who is more worthy of dependence, and can think of himself every time.

What impressed Joseph the most was actually the territory that the Austrian Empire was about to annex. The principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which originally belonged to the Ottoman Empire, could directly occupy and annex them with their own troops, and the whole of Europe would no longer oppose them. In the last Crimean War, which was opposed by Britain and France, who favored their allies the Ottoman Empire, now everything is different, the Ottoman Empire is an enemy of France, and the two principalities, which were largely independent, will be annexed to the Austrian Empire.

It is a pity that that the principality of Serbia and the Kingdom of Greece somehow gained the support of France, especially Serbia, which completely bordered its own Austria, unfortunately could not be annexed. However, the thought of not only being able to occupy the Duchy of Moldavia, but also the Podol Heights and the middle and lower reaches of the Dnieper to the east of the Duchy, as well as the Crimean Peninsula and even further north of the former Kiev Principality, which was the richest region of Tsarist Russia, lit up Joseph's eyes.

These places are almost half the size of the Austrian Empire. Therefore, even if Joseph ceded as much territory as he could, he would be extremely willing to occupy and annex these places.

One can imagine what a powerful state the Austrian Empire would have become after occupying these territories. The original German Confederation was no longer a problem at all. Moreover, the most important thing is that Austria not only has access to this small area of the Adriatic Sea, but also has access to a large area of the Black Sea, which can develop its naval power on a large scale, and completely eliminate the sphere of influence of Tsarist Russia in the Black Sea, so as to prevent future troubles.

In the last Crimean War, Joseph already knew that he had completely offended the Tsarist Empire, so he would never let go of such an opportunity to weaken Tsarist Russia.

He was even ready to send troops immediately, send more troops to quickly catch up with Prussia, occupy Kiev first, and completely blockade Tsarist Russia in the original Muscovy and St. Petersburg, the far north, so that the previously powerful Tsarist Russia will never be able to turn over!

In this way, the heads of state and delegates of various countries with evil intentions, after signing the secret treaty, left directly, and they were all in a hurry to return to China to arrange the division of the Ottoman Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire, but they did not pay much attention to the Yellow Peril from the east, and completely ignored the defeated Britain and Queen Victoria, who coughed up blood.

Except for the two Grand Dukes of Moldavia and the Principalities of Wallachia, who did not speak and could not avoid the fate of annexation anyway, the envoys of the other countries were full of joy and full of harvest. Each country has reaped tremendous benefits. I wish this happened a few more times, how could I still sympathize with the former powerful British Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire?

In their view, the most important thing is how to use the secret agreements that have been signed to extract more oil and water from the two weakened empires of Ottoman and Tsarist Russia, and to divide the occupied territories. Even, to completely crush these two empires, so that they can never turn over, and there will never be any possibility of reclaiming the land they occupy, this is the most important thing!