In late October 1778, Joseph II of Austria had to start peace talks with the Prussians due to the opposition of the domestic nobles, especially his mother, Queen Maria Theresa.
You must know that the nobles, especially the nobles in Vienna, when the Prussian army came to the city, their manors outside the city were looted by the Prussians. And they also hated Marshal Lacy. Those nobles believed that it was Lacy.
The marshal's negative attitude resulted in the loss of their property. Therefore, after learning that the Prussians were withdrawing, the nobles hurriedly petitioned the king to take back their own private soldiers.
Although Joseph II sternly rejected the request of these nobles, his mother Queen Theresa asked the emperor to return these private soldiers in order to prevent greater conflict between the emperor and the nobles, and suggested to the emperor that for the sake of a Bavaria,
It was worth paying half Austria. The emperor had to give in under pressure from his mother.
In November 1778, Joseph II's brother Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, arrived in Potsdam, and Frederick sent Locks as peace minister to receive Leopold II.
But after a week of negotiations, the two sides have made no progress at all.
The Austrians believed that Prussia should return all the property they looted after entering the Austrian border, compensate the Austrians for their losses, and unconditionally return the defeated and captured soldiers.
The Prussians believed that all these demands of the Austrians were nonsense. Not to mention that Prussia still had many Austrian prisoners of war in its hands, but that the Prussian army retreated on its own initiative rather than retreating after being defeated.
Duke Lockes said to Leopold II: What you lose on the battlefield, never expect to gain at the negotiation table.
And Duke Locks also proposed Prussia’s conditions:
The Austrians compensated Prussia eight million silver marks, and the Austrians paid three million silver marks for those prisoners of war.
The Austrians recognized Charles as the Count of Bavaria. The Austrians were not allowed to station more than 20,000 troops in Bohemia. The Austrians must once again reaffirm the legitimacy of Silesia as the sacred territory of Prussia. Austria must hand over the assassin who assassinated the Crown Prince.
The conflicts between the two sides mainly focus on the issues of reparations, prisoners of war and assassins. The issue of Silesia has been discussed for decades, and both sides can make concessions on this condition. But once it comes to reparations and assassins, the negotiators of both sides are like
Two male lions are fighting for territory.
After the negotiations reached an impasse, Frederick said to Lockes:
"If those Austrians who deserve to go to hell still refuse to admit defeat, I will march to Vienna again. If the assassins don't give me access, I will lead people to turn Vienna upside down. Tell Leopold, when I fight, my mother
Not married yet”
Leopold had to inform Vienna of the progress of the negotiations. When Joseph II learned of the Prussian conditions, he was furious. He ordered Marshal Lacy to immediately prepare for a counterattack, but Queen Theresa stopped him.
Queen Theresa sent a reply to Leopold saying:
"Tell Frederick that we can compensate up to four million, including the ransom money of the captured soldiers. As for the assassins he mentioned, they were definitely not sent by us Austrians. This is a naked slander. If Frederick still doesn't agree,
I will go into battle personally and I will personally go to Brandenburg to take my soldiers home."
When Frederick learned about Queen Theresa's instructions to Leopold, he laughed loudly and said to himself: You haven't changed after all these years, you still have the same bad temper.
Little William was also brought into the negotiation room by Rocks in his spare time. When he saw the Prussian and Austrian negotiators arguing with each other and suddenly became excited, as if they were rolling up their sleeves and about to start a fight, Little William thought silently in his heart:
Damn it, it turns out that in the international news broadcast by CCAV in the previous life, it was said that both parties in the negotiation were restrained and the atmosphere at the scene was friendly. They were all lies. They were all slander and bullshit.
Rocks said to little William:
"Your Highness William, don't think these people are rude. In fact, the negotiation field is more cruel than the battlefield. Maybe what you win on the battlefield will be easily lost on the negotiation field. Therefore, negotiators are highly nervous during negotiations, and they will
Analyze word for word and deliberate over and over again. You must know that what these people are fighting for are the interests of their respective countries. Therefore, even those who usually behave well and gracefully in public situations will become less graceful once they arrive at the negotiation table.
"
"Your Majesty the Duke, please allow me to pay high respect to the negotiators this time. You are all fighting on another front for the benefit of Prussia. Thank you very much," William said seriously to Rocks.
"Your Highness, these are all things we should do," Rocks replied humbly.
When Leopold conveyed Queen Theresa's intention to the Prussians, Frederick understood that this was Theresa's bottom line, and it could also be said to be Austria's bottom line. Frederick said to Locks:
"Accept Austria's conditions, and let Leopold bring a message to Theresa, and let God bless her to live until the day I march into Vienna."
When European countries learned that the Prussian-Austrian peace talks had made progress, they all breathed a sigh of relief. No matter who loses or wins between Prussia and Austria, it is in the best interest of all European countries to maintain a balanced state. Once one of them is defeated,
Then the remaining one will easily integrate the power of the Holy Roman Empire. By then a powerful country will rise in Central Europe, and no country can stop it.
After Leopold returned to Vienna with his entourage, he conveyed Frederick's greetings to Joseph II and Queen Theresa, not mentioning Joseph II's gnashing of teeth and talking about Queen Theresa. The queen just shook her head and chuckled.
He said, "He still hasn't given up. Let's see who God will help in the end."
As soon as Austria's compensation arrived, Prussia released the prisoners of war. Prussia dismissed some temporarily recruited soldiers. Looking at the soldiers standing guard at the Palace of Sanssouci, Frederick asked Rocks on the side:
“Has the pension for war casualties been granted?”
"It has been sent, Your Majesty"
"How much money is left in the treasury?"
"Excluding the pensions and rewards from this war, there are still one million florins in gold coins and 20 million marks in silver coins in the treasury. His Majesty received three million marks in silver coins outside Vienna."
"Have you caught the assassin who killed the crown prince?"
"Your Majesty, it is my incompetence. So far, I have not caught Lichtnau and her accomplices. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."
"Rocks, I'll give you two more weeks. If you still can't catch anyone, just put this burden off your shoulders."
"As you command, Your Majesty," Rocks said, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead and walking away slowly.