Metternich drew up a proclamation to the Prussians in his room on the ship, which the Austrian Emperor Franz had read and sent.

Sent to the Prussians, as well as to the main newspapers in Austria proper, to give them the largest possible publicity.

The negotiations between Prussia and Austria were a very hot topic of news for all Austrians.

Metternich took the initiative to give the news, and the reporters and editors of the various newspapers were of course not stingy, and immediately began to write reports and various analyses.

The terms of the merger between Prussia and Austria made the front page of the newspapers of both countries the very next day.

On the third day, it appeared on the front page of the major newspapers in other countries of Tessie.

After all, even without the gimmick of "rebuilding the Holy Roman Empire", the position of Prussia and Austria in Tessy was enough to cause a sensation.

If the two countries can really merge normally, a truly unified German Empire will be born, a key country that occupies the most central position in the Tessie continent.

That would directly break the existing balance of power in the Taixi Continent and have a huge impact on the situation in the entire Taixi Continent.

These days, whether it is the court or the folk scholars of the Taixi countries, there are people everywhere who are considering, analyzing and discussing relevant reports.

Many people with direct interests outside of Austria fear that the success or failure of the Austro-Prussian peace could lead to war.

But there are also many people who have expectations for Tessie's future, and see this as the beginning of Tessie's rebuilding of New Rome.

However, these illusions about a future unified New Rome were soon shattered.

After just a dozen days, on the twenty-fifth day of the first month of the first year of the Common A.D.

At a time when public opinion was already brewing on all sides, Prussia once again gave a new public response.

Prussia claimed that the problems of the German regions and the Germans were not solved by the traditional HRE framework.

Nor can it be resolved by a group of politicians who compromise at the table.

It is possible to rely only on absolute power and force.

Therefore, Wilhelm III, on behalf of the Hohenzollern royal family and the Prussian court, directly rejected the invitation to negotiate from the Austrian side.

Nor are they torn between the compromises that Metternich planned.

The requirements of an approximate ultimatum were given, that is, those conditions that Zhu Jingyuan had already known through the West Factory.

Plainly demanded that Austria cede all German-encluded areas directly.

If Austria refused, Prussia would officially issue a notice of war to Austria directly through the platform of the League of Nations.

Austria has a month to make a decision.

According to the new calendar of the Ming Dynasty, a clear answer must be given before March 26 of the first year of the Great A.D.

Accept the conditions or enter a state of war.

The Austrians, having received the Prussian announcement ten days earlier, had already sped up their ships and passenger liners.

The energy-saving cruising speed has been directly increased from 15 knots to 20 knots combat dispatch speed.

At that time, it broke away from the fleet of the delegation of the Tessian countries.

Now it has entered the Great Qin Sea

At this time, there is only a voyage of more than 3,000 kilometers left from the mainland, and it will be possible to return to the military port on the mainland in four days at most.

Both Metternich and Franz had been slightly relieved.

As a result, after receiving Prussia's response, both of them were directly stunned, and they were stunned for a long time.

Franz fell directly into the state of six gods without masters, and asked Metternich who came to deliver the news very nervously:

"How so? How is it completely different from what we discussed earlier?

"Are the Prussians completely insane?

"If we don't agree to their terms within a month, will they really declare war on us directly?"

Metternich said with a gloomy face:

"The Prussians are completely insane, they are not ready to negotiate with us at all.

"The process of issuing announcements and announcements is just going through the alliance process required by the Ming Emperor.

"The month they left us to consider and decide is actually the advance time for the Alliance's internal war notice.

"They were ready from the very beginning to start a war.

"Even, their aim may not be the goal of seizing land, but the act of waging war itself.

"It was used to divert the existing contradictions in their own country and to fill the relatively dry pockets of the Prussians.

"Now that war is inevitable, we must be ready for war immediately.

"The plan we discussed earlier, which allows each ethnic group to fight independently against the invaders, must be implemented now.

"All armies must immediately enter combat readiness, move and increase their strength to the border areas.

"At the same time, a full mobilization must begin immediately.

"We can't wait for us to return to our homeland, otherwise it will be too late."

Franz was still a little flustered and unacceptable to ask:

"Is that really all there is to it? Will Prussia really attack us? ”

Franz was also a little dizzy.

It's hard to accept the reality that makes him feel powerless.

Metternich felt that all he could do was shatter his last illusions and hopes:

"Five years ago, that warning might not have come true, but now it is almost certainly coming true.

"Foreign war is the most ideal and implementable solution for Prussia at present to divert contradictions."

Franz actually understands this himself, but he just wants someone to wake him up.

Now he closed his eyes directly, sat down in his place and sighed and said:

"Do as your Excellency says."

The fleet of the Austrians increased again, from twenty to twenty-five knots.

At the same time, the telegraph ordered the local territory to begin mobilization for war.

Prussia and Austria, two old enemies, finally came to the brink of war.

The Prussian response to the Austrians was also public, likewise directly disseminated by the major local newspapers and radio.

Then, the entire German region, as well as most of the Tessie countries, the atmosphere of public opinion quickly exploded.

The new Prussian proclamation, compared to the previous one, is of a completely different nature.

The original demand for Austria's allegiance to merge was excessive, but it was not an uncommon thing between the nations.

The various statements and warnings between countries with a history of hostility may be even more exaggerated.

To put it bluntly, that's a sky-high asking price at most.

Superficial attitude.

But the new proclamation is directly a declaration of war.

The current state of the Taixi countries is already at a very dangerous critical point.

Prussia's warning of war directly raised the crisis to another level.

Now that Austria and Prussia had decided to start a war, both sides had begun a full-scale public opinion bombardment in the period leading up to the war.

Both sides bombarded each other's royal family and court through newspapers and broadcasts that they had control and influenced.

The Habsburgs questioned the legitimacy of Hohenzollern's royal rule, Prussia was not a German land, and the Prussian king was not a title of Shinra.

Hohenzollern questioned that the Habsburgs were not really Germans, and that the Habsburgs, who could only pretend to engage in bed politics, were not worthy of being the emperor of the Germans.

This kind of straightforward exposure of each other can be regarded as a face-tearing behavior among traditional aristocrats.

The two sides have indeed torn their faces.

This caused the situation on the continent of Tessy to quickly become tense.

The monarchs of the other Tessie countries, after a brief discussion with their main ministers, decided to give orders to prepare for war at once.

The state of the Tessie countries was already dangerous, and now there are fuses in the center that can explode at any time.

The war can be said to be just around the corner.

None of these monarchs and politicians dared to relax in the slightest.

At the same time, the monarchs of the countries also decided to speed up the fleet of the delegation.

It was also raised from 15 to 20.

The monarchs and ministers of each country wanted to return to their homeland as soon as possible to take control of the situation.

However, the development of events was still a bit unexpected by the monarchs and politicians who were still on board.

Although the Prussian and Austrian cannons were fiercely fired, both sides were also accumulating strength with all their might.

However, after all, the two sides are still in a state of pre-war scolding.

The Lucia, who had been silent, suddenly gave everyone a bigger surprise.

Soon after Metternich persuaded Franz to begin preparations for war, the Lucian army had already begun its most direct action.

On 5 February AD, the well-prepared Lucia Army Group North crossed the border directly and launched a full-scale attack on Sweden and Norway.

Nearly a thousand aircraft appeared on the border of the three countries in Lucia, covering the mechanized army of more than two thousand new armored combat vehicles.

Raids on Swedish border cities and military facilities began directly.

Norway and Sweden, though wary of the Lucians, knew that each other coveted their territory.

But the vigilance of the two countries is far from enough.

It was mainly the Prussian and Austrian mouth cannons, which were now the hottest thing on the entire Tessie Road, which directly affected many people's judgment of the situation.

The Swedes took it for granted that Prussia and Austria were talking about it, and that if the Lucians wanted to do something to themselves, they would probably be the first to shout publicly.

They should first verbally ask for land closer to the Atlantic.

As a result, I never expected that Lucia didn't shout at all, and started directly without saying a word.

The sudden attack of Lucia's army, which had completed the air-ground coordinated attack of the mechanized army construction, directly caught Sweden and Norway by surprise.

The two countries were originally deployed near the border line to guard against the Lucian army, but they were directly dumpled by Lucia.

Under the constant bombardment of aerial bombs, under the direct impact of a large number of armored combat vehicles, the stunned defenders in these places were quickly routed.

The Lucian front broke through more than sixty kilometers in one day.

At this time, most of the delegations from the Taixi countries to participate in the enthronement ceremony of the Ming Emperor had returned to their own land.

The fleets of the monarchs of Norway, Sweden and Denmark have also entered the waters of the North Sea.

It looks like I'll be home tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

The monarchs of the three kingdoms were stunned when they received the news of Lucia's undeclared war.

The monarchs and ministers of Norway and Sweden could not help but scold the Lucians for not speaking of martial virtues.

At the same time, including the Danes, they are now panicking to the extreme.

Although the first wave of news did not provide information on the efficiency of Lucia's attack and the speed of its advance, Lucia's declaration of war was itself the worst piece of information.

The war did not break out between Prussia and Austria, which seemed to be the most dangerous on the Tessie continent.

Instead, they started fighting in their own house first.

It's like watching a fire in a certain building and then going to see the excitement, only to find out that it's your own house.

The monarchs of the three kingdoms urged the fleet to pick up speed again and return to their native capital as soon as possible to take control of the situation.

As a result, as soon as the order was given, an eerie whistling sound sounded outside.

A large group of aircraft appeared over the fleet.

The air and naval carrier-based aircraft of Lucia and Prussia launched an aerial attack directly on the fleets of the monarchs of the three countries.

The naval fleets of the Tessie countries of this world have just completed the construction of their fleets in the World War II mode.

The world's aviation-to-ship attacks have not yet actually taken place in war, and the combat effectiveness of aircraft carriers has not been tested.

In addition to the Ming Dynasty's warship design, Zhu Jingyuan's advance guidance and instructions were given to greatly strengthen the anti-aircraft firepower.

Although it cannot be said that the current air defense capability of the fleets of other countries is none, it can only be said that it is better than nothing.

Air defense capabilities are limited to theoretical possession.

What is the situation in real combat, no one has an accurate concept at all.

The navies of the three Nordic countries were originally relatively poor, and Lucia and Prussia still had an information advantage and launched a surprise attack without declaring war.

The ships of the Three Kingdoms Monarchs soon became scarred.

The monarchs and ministers of Norway and Sweden, though angry and panicked, were able to confirm and understand that it was the Lucians who attacked them.

But the Danish monarchs and ministers were completely at a loss.

It wasn't until they received news from their homeland that the Prussians had launched a full-scale attack on Denmark proper.

The Danish monarchs and ministers were even more completely confused.

Didn't you Prussia be scolding and scolding Austria and claiming to declare war on Austria in a month's time?

Why did you backhand me now?

Could it be that the war of insults between Prussia and Austria was just a cover? Is it yourself the real goal of Prussia?

But whether they understand it or not, whether they can accept this reality or not, the war that has been brewing for many years is now officially opened.

On the turf of their own home.

The monarchs of the Three Kingdoms had no time to think and analyze, so they could only hide in the battleship's safest core compartment, allowing the battleship to avoid and escape with all its might.

But it was clear that both Lucia and Prussia had come prepared.

Air strikes were only the first round of attacks.

The fleets of the monarchs of the Three Kingdoms did not go far before they met the fleets of battleships of Prussia and Lucia.

The main fleets of Prussia and Lucia, guided by carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft of aircraft carriers, blocked the fleets of the monarchs of the three countries at sea.

Following the idea that the lion and tiger still need to go all out, the two countries sent eight 40,000-ton capital ships.

There were also a dozen cruisers and more than thirty destroyers.

In any case, most of the wars against Denmark and Norway and Sweden were fought on land.

The navies of the three Nordic countries are also picking their feet.

The most important task of the Prussian and Lucian navies was to capture the monarchs of the three kingdoms and their principal ministers.

Their mission this time can be said to have been completed very smoothly.

The two countries advanced to the approximate itinerary of the three monarchs' fleets, and the carrier-based aircraft of the aircraft carrier were responsible for aerial reconnaissance.

It's completely an action in the form of catching a turtle in an urn.

(End of chapter)