In the eyes of Louis Philippe and the House of Orléans, it was clear that secession was more realistic than a counterattack against France.

Alsace-Lorraine was protected by the German Confederation, and the millions of Germans living on it were their best talisman.

After all, if the French government wanted to take back control of Alsace-Lorraine by force, it would turn into a war between the two peoples.

As long as the House of Orleans still bears the title of Duke of Germany, the French government will be afraid of three points.

The life of Louis Philippe himself paled in comparison to the interests of the family as a whole.

In fact, as a 75-year-old man, Louis Philippe didn't really care so much about his safety.

In contrast, leaving more inheritance to future generations is what he wants to do most now, so after getting Franz's promise, he agreed without thinking.

Everything went much smoother than Franz had imagined, and Louis Philippe formally handed over the Orleans protectorate of Belgium to the Frankfurt Parliament.

Frankfurt, National Assembly of the German Empire.

The corners of the mouths of Speaker Edward Simson and Deputy Speaker Gabriel Riessel twitched at the same time when they saw this transfer of rights.

But they had to pretend to be flattered in this place where the nationalists gathered, and laugh at the talisman.

This ostensibly resolved the legal rationale for the German Confederation's support of Belgium, but in reality put the National Assembly in Frankfurt in a dilemma.

The unauthorized actions of the Luxembourgers and the Dutch turned directly into officially endorsed support, and even in the eyes of the French it was a conspiracy, and everything was planned by Belgium and the German Confederation.

What was even more frightening was that there was no reason to prevent Belgium from joining the German Confederation at this time.

After all, the suzerainty has handed over power, and if it is forcibly shut out, the National Assembly will be defeated by the angry nationalists.

But if it is not kept out, then a great war between the German Confederation and France may be inevitable.

Theoretically, the National Assembly of Frankfurt had the supreme power of the German Empire (the Confederacy), but since there was no emperor (there was no real central government), their power was only theoretical.

In fact, the Frankfurt National Assembly did not have its own troops, and the reason why it dared to fight Denmark was due to the presence of Prussia, coupled with fanatical nationalism, and the most important thing was that Denmark was not a strong country.

However, France at this time was completely different, it was a real power, a mountain that the Germans had not been able to climb for hundreds of years.

But the German nationalists didn't care, they only knew that the German Confederation had won the first two crises in Luxembourg and Alsace-Lorraine.

Just because Alsace-Lorraine was a member of the German Confederation, the French Provisional Government did not dare to pursue Louis Philippe.

In Belgium, the elite French army was defeated by the volunteers from Germany, who did not even consider the possibility of defeat.

However, the members of the National Assembly in Frankfurt were few ordinary people who had been carried away by nationalism, and they knew very well that the German Confederation would have been shattered without the Austrian Empire entering the war in the previous two crises.

In addition, the Archduke Franz did not agree to be crowned Emperor of the German Empire, so it is likely that the Austrian Empire will choose to stay out of the matter, and even help the French to suppress the National Assembly in Frankfurt.

After all, the Frankfurt National Assembly at this time was in a sense the product of the revolution, and intended to overthrow the lives of the German princes.

Under these circumstances, it is not impossible for the Austrian Imperial Government and the French Second Republic to join forces to strangle the German Revolution.

Especially at this time, not many princes recognized this so-called German Empire, and even many people suffered from it.

In addition, the Jewish ancestry of the president and deputy speaker of the National Assembly, as well as nearly half of the members, was also exposed.

This greatly weakened the legitimacy of the Frankfurt Parliament, and if they rejected Louis Philippe, they would immediately be overwhelmed by the anger of the nationalists.

If the German Confederation were defeated in the war with the French, they would also be crushed.

There is only one way for them to survive, and that is to win the war against France by all means and use victory to maintain everything in front of them.

On the one hand, the National Assembly in Frankfurt offered Franz more favorable conditions, such as the emperor could retain some power and represent the state on certain occasions, hoping to bring Austria into the game.

On the other hand, they vigorously advocated war against France, and at the same time mobilized all the troops and materials they could to devote to the Belgian battlefield.

In fact, the deputies of the National Assembly in Frankfurt never understood one thing, that is, they could coerce Bavaria and Prussia, why couldn't they coerce Austria?

In fact, over the years, Franz never stopped suppressing German nationalism in Austria.

Franz is well aware of the side effects, so he has been avoiding making it bigger and trying to steer it in a milder direction.

However, due to the general trend of history and some unintentional events, Austrian nationalism is still beyond Franz's imagination.

But on the whole, the number of Germans in the Austrian Empire was grossly insufficient, and it was difficult to hold a country under control with 25% of the population. (19% for the same period in history)

The sheer size of the population became the talisman of Austria at this time.

The other side, France, Paris.

The quarrel between the Nationalists and the Reform Newspaper ceased for the time being, and both sides were very much satisfied with the proposal to form an alliance with the British and the Ottomans against Austria.

However, there was a great disagreement between the two sides on the mode of confrontation, and Lamartine, the president of the National, was adamantly opposed to all-out war, and he felt that it would be enough to send a fleet to cooperate with the British in blockading the Austrian coastline to put pressure.

But the coastline of the Austrian Empire.

Anyone who has read the map knows that the narrow coastline may not fit in with a few more boats.

The reformers wanted a complete victory and prepared to attack Austria simultaneously from Belgium, Switzerland, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the sea.

The reason for the reforms was simple: to clear the way for the future of France, and to let the wobbly wallgrass around them figure out who was the boss.

Lamartine has historically been a staunch supporter of peaceful diplomacy, having historically served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and de facto head of government in the Second Republic.

His peaceful foreign policy has historically won the French Second Republic a relaxed political environment.

Lamartine's "Declaration to Europe" is a model of peaceful diplomacy, and its proposals for seeking common ground while reserving differences, peaceful coexistence, equality and reciprocity, and non-interference in each other's internal affairs have far-reaching influence.

However, not everyone was opposed to the war, and in fact there were quite a few French people who hated peace because of the pedestal and Louis Philippe's incessant concessions to England, as well as the influence of nationalism.

(End of chapter)