Metternich didn't expect much from Britain.

As Zhu Jingyuan said, the future heir to the king of Britain is the prince of the Ming Emperor.

Although he is only a child now, he is the heir of the third generation.

But its very existence has directly bound the British royal family to the Ming royal family.

Declaring war with Britain now is basically equivalent to declaring war on the Ming Dynasty.

Before the war began, Austria refused to become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and after the country was really in the midst of war, it would probably not accept it if it wanted to apply to become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.

At that time, accepting Austria's accession was equivalent to voluntarily joining the war.

The point is that this choice is in the hands of Da Ming.

No matter whether the Ming Emperor was thinking about righteousness or simply considering interests, he would not join when the Austrians wanted the Ming to join.

But when Britain was invaded, if the defense force really couldn't bear it, the king could pass the throne to his grandson in advance.

In that case, Britain will directly become the country of the Ming prince.

In this way, the Ming army can be taken for granted, and it has already had to join the war directly.

This choice and initiative is in the hands of the King of England.

Of course, the British king did this, which is equivalent to giving the country to Daming, which is basically unconditional integration, and Daming is not a loss.

The Prussians and Lucians understood this, and the British themselves understood this perfectly.

So Prussia will be jealous, and the British will have nothing to fear.

If there is no Ming Dynasty, a certain country in the Taixi continent has shown the posture and ability to unify the European continent, and the British overseas may find a way to interfere.

Otherwise, if the Tessie continent is really unified, then the British on the island will be marginalized.

But the world has been connected, and Europa and Shenzhou are no longer two isolated civilizations.

In particular, there is already the Ming Dynasty, which is undoubtedly the world's hegemon.

If the Ming had no intention of continuing to maintain the balance of power among the kingdoms of the Taixi Continent, then the British also had no point in maintaining that state.

Britain, a country destined to become the prince of the Ming Dynasty, will never be marginalized.

So now the pressure on the British is minimal.

In fact, they can sit and watch the countries of the Taixi Continent fight into a pot of porridge.

Now Austria wants to pull the British into the gang and take the initiative to contain Prussia's plan, and the success rate is very low.

But Metternich is out anyway, and he has to go to England.

At the very least, it is necessary to confirm the attitude of the British, whether they want to watch the excitement over there, and whether they are willing to wade into this troubled water.

However, things turned out to be unexpected for Metternich......

After meeting King George IV of England, Metternich greeted him and explained his intentions.

Then George IV did show a lack of interest, but Princess Charlotte, the Crown Prince of England, showed great interest.

Charlotte directly urged her father to accept Metternich's suggestions and ideas, and expressed her willingness to cooperate with Austria and France to contain Prussia.

Metternich even felt a little caught off guard.

But since Britain is willing to join, it is definitely a great thing.

So Metternich immediately joined the French diplomats to discuss with the British a concrete plan for cooperation.

At the end of a busy day, George IV hosted a banquet at the palace for Austrian and French diplomats.

During the free time of the banquet, George IV could not help but ask his daughter:

"Charlotte, if we join the quasi-alliance between Austria and France like this, will His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty really have no opinion?

"There is no need for us to join this kind of alliance, and no one in the current Tessie countries is willing to fight against us Britain.

"Let's live our lives well, isn't it right to watch the head break and bleed on the mainland?"

Charlotte smiled and said to her father:

"Don't worry, your majesty, he looks at reality, not nominal behavior.

"Even, the matter of us joining this alliance, even if it is morally and nominally, will not make it difficult for Daming.

"Sooner or later, the Ming Dynasty will meddle in the affairs of the Tessie Continent, and now let Prussia and Lucia swell just to facilitate the harvest in the future.

"At that time, we will definitely have to cooperate with Daming, and now standing on the side of Austria is the reason for the future.

It can even be a key reason for Daming's fate.

"But the timing of our England's real exit is different from that of France and Austria.

"We are going to follow Daming.

"When Daming starts to participate, we will officially participate in the war at the same time.

"Until then, what we're going to do is to watch the head on the continent bleed, as you said.

"Although we are nominally allies of Austria and France, we can provide all support except help."

It dawned on George IV:

"Just take a place in this camp, provide moral support to the Austrians and the French, cheer for you......"

Charlotte smiled and bowed:

"That's right."

George IV had been a little apprehensive in his heart, but now he was completely relaxed.

Over the next few days, Metternich returned to France with the British Prime Minister and French diplomats.

A memorandum of understanding was signed in France to jointly guarantee each other's independence and freedom.

In fact, the content is very simple, that is, each side guarantees each other's independence and the territorial and sovereign integrity of the other side from being violated by other evil countries.

If other countries, by any means, declare war on one of them, the other two countries should join the war at the same time.

If other members of the League of Nations threaten one of them with war through the alliance channel, the other two countries will also issue a counter-threat of war at the same time.

In view of the current situation, Britain and France needed to send a notice to Prussia through the channel of the alliance.

If Prussia declared war on Austria, then Britain and France would declare war on Prussia at the same time.

Soon after the signing of the agreement, the three countries drew up this document and communicated it to the League of Nations and Prussia through official channels.

Metternich instinctively wanted to contact more Tessie countries to join, but was stopped by British Prime Minister Jenkinson.

Jenkinson's reasoning is also very simple and straightforward:

"This kind of mutually guaranteed agreement can only be signed by countries with sufficient strength of similar proportions.

"It doesn't help to pull countries like Portugal and Denmark to join.

"Moreover, our main target was Prussia, not Lucia in eastern Prussia.

So Lucia's main targets, Norway and Sweden, which were still alive, and the Ottomans in the south, did not refrain from joining the alliance.

At the same time, this kind of agreement, although it is only called a memorandum, is in fact a de facto alliance agreement.

"It's actually playing the edge of the League of Nations rules.

"If there are too many member states to join, or even other countries in the entire Taixi continent are brought in, then Da Ming may have to interfere.

"That could be counterproductive."

In fact, the British also had an internal consideration, that is, they did not want too many countries to work against Prussia.

In case Prussia was really frightened and did not dare to declare war on Austria.

The British not only have no fun to watch, there is no way to weaken the strength of the mainland countries as much as possible, the key is that it may also affect the plans of the Ming Dynasty.

After listening to this, Metternich thought about it for a while, and roughly guessed what the British were thinking.

After all, the strategy of this traditional-stirring stick is always the same.

After thinking about it for a few seconds, Metternich couldn't help but suggest a limited compromise:

"Other countries can not fight for it, but Italy still has to fight for it.

"Although Italy is not as strong as our three countries, it can also be regarded as a mid-range country.

"The point is, sandwiched between Prussia, Austria and France, its position is too important."

Jenkinson thought about it for a moment and felt that Italy really had no reason to give up outright.

However, Jenkinson wasn't too worried.

The first is that Italy's strength is limited, and the second is that Italy has been at odds with Prussia for a long time.

If Metternich wants to fight for it, there is a high probability that he will not succeed.

So Jenkinson didn't continue to insist, but only expressed his disdain for Italy.

Then he gave Metternich the task of course.

Metternich had to take over the job himself.

Then the diplomatic negotiations between Britain, France, and Austria came to an end for the time being.

The British delegates returned home, and Metternich, with the documents signed by the three countries, went to Rome again to find the Italians.

At the same time, the British and French proclamations to Prussia, after they were made public on the continent, once again raised the tension on the continent to a higher level.

The war that all politicians and ordinary people could have predicted could have been the war between Prussia and Austria.

In the eyes of the Tessie, this kind of thing can even be regarded as a civil war.

But now that Britain and France are involved, it could lead directly to a big melee on the whole continent.

The Prussians, on the other side, were also a little panicked after receiving the anti-war threat notices from Britain and France.

King Wilhelm III of Prussia immediately summoned his principal ministers and staff members to discuss.

Wilhelm III looked at Chief of Staff Gneisenau and Chancellor Stein:

"The British and French proclamations mean that they will guarantee the security of Austria, and that our declaration of war on Austria means a declaration of war against them.

"The point is why, the French are understandably doing it, they should have been aware of the risk of war with us.

"Why did Britain plug in?

"Whether it is for the sake of interests or morality, there is no need for the British to participate in the continental war.

"Of course, the most critical issue for us is the special relationship between the British and the Ming.

"If after we declared war on Austria, Britain really entered the war.

"Then if we enter a state of war with the British, does it mean that we have entered a state of war with the Ming Dynasty at the same time?

"So should our current battle plan be adjusted again according to this change in the situation?

"Is it still necessary to attack Austria at the end of a month's time?"

As soon as Gneisenau and Stein received the news, they began to think about it.

Now that the two men looked at each other, Stein first explained the political considerations:

"It was thought that Britain might have joined the camp of France and Austria for the sole purpose of gaining a moral name.

"It may also be the habitual practice of the British instinct to stir up the situation on the continent.

"He thinks that Austria will not be able to withstand our attack.

"We think that we and Lucia can change the relatively balanced situation on the continent, so they have to join the relatively weak side to maintain the balance.

"At the same time, we don't need to think about the problem of Daming for the time being.

"The bridge between Britain and the Ming Dynasty is their crown prince and the children of the Ming Emperor.

"The point is, their relationship is not officially married.

"Strictly speaking, there is no direct and public legal relationship between Britain and the Ming Dynasty.

"More importantly, whether to use this relationship between Britain and the Ming Dynasty, the choice lies with the British, and the decision lies with the Ming.

"Unless it is a last resort, the British should not pull Da Ming down.

"Because that basically means that Britain is going to give up its independent identity and officially become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.

"George IV will not give up his existing absolute authority until he has been put under sufficient pressure.

"At the same time, it is very difficult for us to actually break out into war with the British.

"Until we actually annexed Austria, the British had no reason or need to go directly to the war.

"But we should immediately arrange for a diplomat to contact the Lucians and propose a similar memorandum or alliance.

"At the same time, go to the Italians, give them better terms, and make sure to bring the Italians over.

"It can be promised that the lands of the Adriatic coast, as well as the lands of France in the Mediterranean, will be fully ceded to the Italians.

"Even if Italy could not play an active role in the war, it would be able to play a huge practical role as long as it was stuck between the French and the Austrians.

"Suggest to the Lucians that Italy be drawn into our alliance.

"The Italians are not at the bottom of Tessie's combat power, and they are in a dangerous position enough that Lucia should be able to understand what it means."

After Stein finished speaking, he looked at Gneisenau, who immediately explained the plan at the level of war:

"As His Excellency Stein said, I do not think there is any need for us to change our plans for war against Austria.

"We should even be more proactive, and try to defeat Austria as quickly as possible after the outbreak of war.

"However, the plan to increase troops on the French side must be accelerated as quickly as possible, and efforts must be intensified."

After hearing this, William III was silent for a while, and then nodded directly to accept both the civil and military aspects.

Then, following the advice of the two, a series of orders were issued.

Arrange for diplomats to go to Italy and Lucia, and at the same time speed up the deployment of troops.

He also directly ordered to increase the scale of mobilization in the name of sending troops to Austria and unifying Germany, and at the same time issue state bonds to the country.

At the same time, the amount of loans to various banks was increased to make better preparations for war.