On November 25, Yang Shiqi and Austro-Hungarian Empress Zita held secret negotiations at the Grand Budapest Hotel.

After the negotiations began, Yang Shiqi said: "Your Royal Highness, since you represent your Emperor Karl I, then I must first of all name our position, it is impossible for our side to completely ignore the 14-point principle put forward by US President Wilson at the beginning of this year, I know that the 10th of these 14-point principles is the most unfavorable to your country, and other matters can be discussed without violating the principle of this main purpose!" ”

Empress Zeta also knew that Hua would not be able to openly do anything contrary to the main purpose of the Entente, and before she came, Karl I had clearly told him not to expect to keep all the existing rights of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor, it would be good to be able to keep Austria and Hungary, but if you could keep a lot of land, try to keep it.

Empress Zeta thought for a few seconds and said: "Your Excellency, I can agree to let the various ethnic groups under my rule be autonomous, and they can even break away from the empire and become sovereign states, but we want to retain the rule of the Duchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary, and on this basis, we are willing to surrender unconditionally!" ”

Yang Shiqi smiled: "Then why did we promise you?" ”

Empress Zeta knew that the other party wanted benefits, and she didn't know how big the appetite of the Chinese side was, so she didn't know the bottom of her heart, so she could only tentatively say: "I don't know what your request is, Your Excellency the Special Envoy can put it forward, as long as it allows us to retain the ruling power of the Duchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary, and maintain the authority of Emperor Karl I in the above two regions, any question can be discussed."

Yang Shiqi smiled, took a folder from his assistant and handed it over. "Your Highness the Queen, all our requests are here. You can take a look! ”

Empress Zeta took the folder and looked at it, and her face suddenly changed greatly. After reading it, she looked up at Yang Shiqi with a pale face and said: "Your Excellency, your requirements are too harsh, we really can't accept them, these second and fourth articles can be discussed, but the other terms are beyond the scope of our country's ability to bear, if we agree to these terms, my husband and I will be scolded forever."

Yang Shiqi said with a smile: "Her Royal Highness the Queen doesn't need to worry, since it is a negotiation, as long as there are common demands between us." To be able to talk about together, there will always be conditions that are acceptable to both parties, right? ”

After an hour of negotiations, they could no longer proceed, and the other side could not back down on the demands and conditions of both sides, so the negotiations had to be terminated.

On 26 November, negotiations continued, this time with some concessions from each side. Although the talks were not as difficult as the first time, this time it was not easy, and the two sides tried their best to reach an agreement on several major terms.

Empress Zita insisted that the Habsburgs want to control the Duchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. It is possible to give up the Kingdom of Bohemia (Czech Republic), the Kingdom of Dalmatia (the narrow coastal strip of southern Croatia), the Kingdom of Galicia-Lodomeria (western Ukraine plus a small part of southeastern Poland), the Duchy of Bukovina (a small part of southwestern Ukraine), the Duchy of Carinthia (the coastal area of southern Slovenia), the Duchy of Caniola (part of Slovenia and part of central Croatia), the Duchy of Salzburg (a small part of southwestern Austria), the Duchy of Silesia (southern Poland), Control of the Duchy of Styria (southeastern Austria), the Marquis of Moravia (most of Slovakia), Tyrol and the former Alps (northern Italy), the Littoire (southwestern coastal strip of Croatia), the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (most of Croatia), the Free City of Fum (Jaste), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

However, the Chinese could not allow Karl I to control Austria and Hungary, which was too large to include not only later Hungary. It also includes the Transylvasinia Plateau in western Romania, which covers a very large area. Romania at this time was only a very small part. Yang Shiqi insisted that the Habsburgs could only control the Duchy of Austria, Carinthia, Salzburg, and Styria at most!

One of the terms of Yang Shiqi's request was that Empress Zeta would sell most of the mines and mines being mined in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Chinese merchants, and Empress Zeta would agree if she agreed. Then all the minerals of Austria-Hungary will be controlled by China, and Austria-Hungary will face a situation where there will be no ore available.

Of course, Empress Zita could not agree, in fact, she had no right to be the master, you must know that although the Austro-Hungarian Empire was an empire, this empire was composed of a number of kingdoms and principalities, which all enjoyed a high degree of autonomy, especially the Kingdom of Hungary and several principalities and kingdoms on the southeast coast, and these important strategic resources such as minerals and mines were held by the nobles of various kingdoms and principalities, and the ownership was in their hands.

Neither side would budge on this issue, and Empress Zeta had to send a telegram back to Viana to ask Karl I for his opinion.

"Your Highness, a call back from His Majesty the Emperor!" Jessica, the maid, walked into the room with a telegram and said to Queen Zeta, who was standing in front of the mirror to get dressed.

"What did Your Majesty say?"

The maid Jessica said: "Your Majesty said in the telegram that the mineral resources controlled by the Habsburgs are only the mineral resources in the Duchy of Carinthia and Salzburg and the Duchy of Austria. Salzburg and Bosnia and Herzegovina sell their mineral resources to them, of course, this is certainly not to collect money, can only sign a transfer of ownership ceremony, in addition, in order to get the protection of the Chinese side, we can consider choosing a place from the two cities of Yaste and Zadar as the other party's military base, once our country is attacked by other independent countries afterwards, we can ask the Chinese side to intervene! His Majesty instructed that the situation does not allow us to hesitate too much, the war on the Western Front has been extremely unfavorable to Germany, although Britain, France, and the United States have also fought to exhaustion, but the Chinese side has a strong offensive capability, at present the Chinese Sixth Army has captured all of Moravia and most of Bohemia, and even the 200,000 German troops who went south to reinforce have been beaten back by the other side, and it is impossible to ask the German army for support at present."

Empress Zeta did not expect that in just a few days, the situation had become so serious, and even Bohemia and Moravia were captured by the Chinese army, so that means that only the Duchy of Austria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Styria, and Tyrol were still in the hands of Austria-Hungary.

Queen Zeta dropped her comb and turned around to grab the newspaper and read it, after reading it, her face was a little pale, her body shook, and the maid Jessica was startled, and hurriedly stepped forward to help her.

Empress Zeta sat on the sofa and rested for a while to relax, and she said in a low voice: "It seems that Germany is also difficult to protect itself, since the Chinese army has captured Moravia and Bohemia, then the German border is in front of the Chinese army!" Now it is only possible to negotiate with the Chinese side according to His Majesty's wishes, to renounce the Kingdom of Hungary and other principalities and regions, and to retain Carinthia, Salzburg, Styria, Austria ??????".

At this time, the maid Jessica said: "Her Royal Highness, in fact, I think that even if we keep the Kingdom of Hungary, we may not be able to keep it in the future, Hungary has its own administrative system and parliament, many times they do their own thing, completely contrary to the empire, keep the Kingdom of Hungary, maybe they will drag their feet and cause civil strife, while keeping Carinthia, Salzburg, Styria, Austria and other places are different, from the map, these principalities are all connected, and there is a coastline in the south of Carinthia, there is an outlet to the sea, As long as there is an outlet to the sea, our country will not be surrounded on all sides by other independent countries, and we will be able to conduct overseas trade with other countries on our own, and if we allow China to build a military base on the seaside, we can still get the protection of the other side ??????."

After listening to the analysis of the maid Jessica, Empress Zeta sighed: "After Wilson's fourteen principles were proposed, it was simply forcing the autonomy of all forces in our empire, this damn Wilson, he did this completely to the detriment of others and himself!" ”

Jessica asked, "Your Highness, will the negotiations continue tomorrow?" ”

Empress Zeta nodded: "Go on, you go and contact Mr. Yang, the special envoy of China, to say that the negotiations will continue tomorrow, and our side is willing to make some concessions, but please also ask the other party to make some concessions appropriately!" ”

"Yes, Your Highness!"

On 27 November, negotiations resumed.

The negotiations progressed greatly, Empress Zeta made significant concessions on behalf of Karl I, and Yang Shiqi also made some concessions, and the two sides agreed, Yang Shiqi, on behalf of the Chinese state, promised that after the surrender of Austria-Hungary, the Chinese Congress would support the Habsburgs to maintain control of the Duchy of Austria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Styria, and the Tyrolean region; On behalf of the Habsburgs, Empress Zeta agreed to surrender unconditionally, allowing autonomy for all ethnic groups except the Duchy of Austria, Carinthia, Salzburg, Styria, and the Tyrolean region, and transferring the mineral resources of the Duchy of Carinthia, Salzburg, and Bosnia and Herzegovina to China free of charge!

The parties reached a secret agreement on this, but no agreement would be signed until Austria-Hungary formally surrendered. (To be continued......)