"Tricks?"

Brion looked at MacDonald, who looked suspicious, picked up a cup of coffee on the desk unhurriedly, and replied: "Yes, the people of Germany and France, and of course the politicians who are still talking in Paris today, have been deceived by Austria. The so-called declaration of peace was nothing more than a delaying tactic against us, and the war between Austria and France would probably not end for some time, and it was on this that the Austrian Empire's dangerous move was pressed. ”

"You mean the Italian battlefield that hasn't ended yet?" MacDonald blurted out without thinking, and Brion smiled with great satisfaction. It was clear that MacDonald had guessed correctly this time, and to Briand's great satisfaction.

Briand nodded: "Now that the Austro-French War has reached its final stage, the German battlefield has ended, but Napoleon in the south is still engaged in a final battle to the death with the 100,000-strong army of Wilmzer. Why, then, did the peace declaration mention only military restraint in the German region and not mention anything about the Italian battlefield? If Austria really wants to negotiate an armistice, why doesn't it immediately stop Italy's military operations? Therefore, even if the Austrian government really sends diplomatic envoys to negotiate with our army, I think that at most it will be fighting and talking, and nothing will be achieved unless the Italian battlefield is over. ”

"Of course, in my opinion, the exchange of fire on the battlefield in Italy is unavoidable. Austria had already lost all of South Germany, and with another 100,000 troops in Italy, it was impossible for Napoleon to occupy the military stronghold of Mantua so easily. However, Napoleon swept Italy, and the losses were not small, and naturally he would not give up easily on the Mantua issue, even in terms of interests. ”

Brion is particularly relaxed in analysing the situation, which is chaotic but extremely favorable to Brion. After taking Munich and occupying the whole of Bavaria, Brion had an advantage, it can be said that he already had the dominance of the war to a certain extent, and the southern battlefield no longer had such a great influence on Briand.

If Napoleon had defeated Wirmzer, the victory in Italy would have inevitably given impetus to peace talks between Briand and the Austrian government, and it was undoubtedly Briand who benefited the most. However, if Napoleon was unfortunately defeated, Brion could have struck first, and the 100,000 Rhine army marched eastward to Vienna, directly and completely defeating the Austrian Empire. Today, Briand did not choose to move eastward, but feared that other European powers would intervene and that he wanted to leave the Austrian Empire and Prussia in the struggle for hegemony in order to continue the chaos in Germany. You must know that Brion is afraid that the world will not be chaotic, and Brion's current rise is precisely because of the turbulent situation of years of war in Europe.

However, the efficiency of a series of military operations launched by Napoleon in Italy recently did disappoint Briand, and the Austrian army began to use attrition tactics, so that the Italian army and the Austrian army fought fiercely in the Mantua area for nearly half a month, but never made any substantial progress in the control of the Mantua fortress, and even did not bring much effective blow to the main Austrian army, on the contrary, the losses of the French army were getting bigger and bigger. After several battles in succession, the lives of nearly 7,000 soldiers were lost.

The magnitude of the war losses caused the morale of the Italian legion to be extremely low, and even the commander of the legion, Napoleon, could not help but feel worried about the war. Although on the surface it appeared that the Italian legions had defeated the Austrians on the battlefield one after another, it was still an inherently unbreakable standoff, and the Achilles' heel of the Italian legions' lack of strength became more and more apparent after the huge attrition in the war.

You must know that at this time, although the Wilmze army lost its troops, it never hurt the army at all, and only lost more than 10,000 people in a few tough battles. At most, the defense line in the Mantua area was tightened somewhat, and the final count of troops still maintained a superior strength of more than 70,000 men. In the face of such high-intensity war attrition, Napoleon's troops were reduced to less than 30,000 men, and how could they continue to hold out? This is what Napoleon is most worried about at present.

To put it mildly, in such an endless fight, sooner or later the Italian legion will be exhausted by Napoleon.

However, such a difficult war of attrition for Napoleon naturally did not come from the hands of the old marshal Wirmzer, but was strongly advocated by General Balinloch, who had always been known for his steadiness in the army. If it had been according to the old marshal's fighting style, he would have set up a position long ago and had a hard-fought decisive battle with the Italian legions. But it is necessary to mention that if he really fought like this, I am afraid that Napoleon would be the most happy, because Wilmzer's doing so would be tantamount to creating an opportunity for Napoleon to completely annihilate the main force of the Austrian army.

It was precisely because General Balinloch saw the fatal shortcomings of the lack of soldiers in the French army, although they had won successive battles and had high morale, that they learned from the experience of previous defeats and strongly recommended them to Marshal Wirmzer. With the superiority of the Austrian army in numbers, the superior forces were put into the defense line in the Mantua area, which made it difficult for the French army, which had always advanced quickly, to advance on the next front.

"It seems that the situation in Italy is not as easy as I expected, and I am afraid that the war will continue for a long time. Brion sighed and pulled his thoughts back from the Italian side, a rare look of worry on his face. Even MacDonald couldn't help but have the illusion, could this decisive nobleman in front of him really be a national hero who worries about the country and the people?

However, Briand's inner thoughts at this time were the opposite of his expression, and he was ecstatic at the resistance that Napoleon encountered on the battlefield in Italy and the heavy losses of the French army. It's just that Brion may be a natural actor, the perfect pretender, and he can even hide his heart without a trace.

There is no doubt that the outcome of the Italian battlefield at this time could not determine the final course of the Austro-French war. At this time, Napoleon's only reason for fighting the Austrian army in Italy was only to seize benefits, on the one hand, for France to increase the bargaining chips in northern Italy in future peace talks, and on the other hand, to continue to plunder more jewels and wealth in Italy, and to add a resume that could be used for his political career after the war.

But the predicament of the French army in Italy today is, to another extent, nothing more than a great weakening of Napoleon's strength, and the entire Italian army itself is looking at Napoleon, which can be regarded as Napoleon's own descendants, just as the Rhine Army and the Baden Army are absolutely loyal to Briand.

At present, when Brion and Napoleon's fame are rising together, and Germany and Italy are competing with each other, it is difficult to guarantee that Briand and Napoleon will not face off on the battlefield in order to compete for the supremacy of France. At this time, Napoleon's troops suffered heavy casualties, which was not a good thing for Brion.

But if the Italian battlefield is so deadlocked, if Napoleon suddenly wants to draw troops from Germany to aid the Italian battlefield on a whim, then Brion probably has only one answer - no way! Brion is not a national hero of the so-called republic, in the final analysis, he is also a separatist force or a merchant who likes to trade. Unless there were some tempting conditions or a necessary reason, Brion would not have wasted the lives of his soldiers, let alone aided Napoleon in the south.

Of course, this situation can only be hypothetical in Briand's mind, and Brion also understands Napoleon's temper, unless the Italian legions are really completely defeated by the Austrians. If this is the case, I am afraid that the prestige that Napoleon has built up in the past few months by winning more with fewer battles and being undefeated may really be lost in the minds of the French.

In late August, the Austrian and French armies in the Italian battlefield were still not decided, but under the threat of tens of thousands of French troops in Germany and Brion's strong invitation, they finally received a diplomatic response from Austria. On August 26, Austrian Foreign Minister Metternich was invited by Emperor Francis II to Munich for peace talks, which was in fact the last compromise that the Austrian Imperial Government had to take.

As for Foreign Secretary Metternich, Brion had heard of it in his previous life, but he didn't know much about it. It is undeniable that Metternich is a first-class young diplomat in European politics as a whole. The purpose of Metternich's visit was to secure the greatest interests for Austria after the war on the basis of maintaining the unity and independence of the Austrian Empire's territory and a certain degree of control over the German region.

This time, Briand's aim was simple, first of all, to ask Austria to stand on his side and take the lead in recognizing the international status of the new kingdom that he would establish on the rise of Germany. As long as this can be guaranteed, Brion will be able to accept any relaxation of the requirements. But this alone would inevitably lead to the subversion of Austrian hegemony in the German region. This made Briand think that if Metternich refused to let go, the Rhine Army would have to strengthen its military deterrence on the Austrian border in an attempt to make it obedient.

So, after a grand welcome ceremony, Briand and Metternich met in the King's office in the Bavarian Royal Palace. After all, it wasn't in public, and after the two of them had a separate meeting, the atmosphere in the room suddenly became less friendly.