George III was indeed mad, but he was not foolish.
Currently, the various countries on the small broken sphere were not having an easy time. Many nations were experiencing minor skirmishes with each other. England had just had a direct confrontation with France, while the war between the Russian Empire and the Habsburg alliance had not yet ended, and Benghazi was also on the verge of brewing trouble.
Given this context, to ask England to maintain only twenty thousand troops for self-defense?
That was utter nonsense!
The reason Louis XVI proposed such a condition was not necessarily to force England to agree.
The so-called bottom line was actually a matter of whether the price was sufficient. As long as England was willing to pay a sufficient price, Louis XVI would not even mind sending someone to transfer the Statue of Liberty, which was gifted to the foolish Eagle, to England.
More importantly, Louis XVI and France also wanted to end this inexplicable war and negotiations as soon as possible – they were waiting to go and beat up Benghazi!
Thus, in this atmosphere of mutual affection, France quickly reached a ceasefire agreement with England. The agreement stipulated that England would compensate eight million pounds in military expenses and redeem captured officers and soldiers for two million pounds. England would reduce tariffs on France, allow French merchants to do business within England, and transfer the colonial rights of Sri Lanka to France.
As for the matter of troop reduction... when England expressed its willingness to cede more colonies and even betray some of the Habsburg family's interests, both sides tacitly agreed not to mention it again.
However, as an old saying from the Central Plains goes: when you press one gourd, another pops up.
Just as the war between France and England ended with the "March War Armistice Agreement," Austria, under the rule of the Habsburg family, fell into great chaos.
As everyone knows, Confucianism is a very peculiar school of thought, so miraculous that orthodox Confucian scholars can wield a sword on horseback to pacify the nation and use their pens to bring peace to the world.
In other words, the Confucian school of thought is quite capable of eloquent speech and persuasion. The ability of great scholars to argue with people is roughly equivalent to that of a high-ranking player from the Zaun region, while their ability to persuade is equivalent to that of Zhao Mou Shan.
As a legitimate Confucian scholar, Jiang Xinlong was also quite capable of eloquent speech and persuasion, and he specifically imparted these two skills to the art student in Austria – God can testify that in the history of Europe over the past few hundred or thousand years, such eloquence and persuasion have never been seen!
Especially with the glorious track record of the Habsburg family being beaten and forced to pay reparations after fighting with France, and then being beaten again and facing further reparations after fighting with Russia, the lives of the Austrian commoners were not easy.
In addition, the Habsburg family itself did not care about the elegance of their image when exploiting commoners, and a large number of Isaac merchants and landlords, like leeches, were frantically sucking the blood of Austria. The result was that the already difficult lives of the Austrian commoners became even more dire.
Under such circumstances, the theory mastered by the Austrian art student found its space to survive.
Even more frightening was that the Austrian art student not only mastered the theory of distribution according to need but also specifically studied the history of the Central Plains, especially the process of Zhu Jinsong, Emperor Zhu, rising up in rebellion.
Then, the art student with the little mustache sang the song "There has never been a savior, nor is there an immortal emperor," calling on the Austrian commoners who were unwilling to be slaves to unite and eliminate the "venomous snakes and beasts that have devoured their flesh and blood."
With his excellent speech (persuasion) ability and the help of his fellow art students, the art student Adolf Hitler quickly gathered a large number of Austrians willing to overthrow the Habsburg family's rule with him.
If it were just this, it would be nothing. After all, there is an old saying in the Central Plains that a scholar's rebellion takes three years to fail. A mere art student's rebellion would definitely not be as easy as imagined.
Not to mention anything else, just the weapons for rebellion, where would they come from? Even if there were weapons, what about the army to use them? Even if there were soldiers, what about the officers?
Perhaps someone would say that the little mustache art student could copy Zhu Jinsong's rebellion notes, but don't forget that the Great Qing dynasty had desperately suppressed the development of firearms. When Zhu Jinsong first rebelled, the Qing army generally used broadswords and long spears. However, at this time, many European countries were desperately popularizing firearms. Although the Habsburg family could not get the latest flintlock guns from the Ming Dynasty, they also possessed a large number of flintlock guns.
If these problems were not solved, the art student's so-called rebellion would be a joke, and the Habsburg family, with its centuries of heritage, would not be overwhelmed.
However, the trouble lay in the fact that the little mustache art student had experience studying in the Great Ming Dynasty, and before going to study in the Great Ming Dynasty, he had worked in the Austrian court for a period.
This meant that the little mustache art student not only had connections in the Austrian court but could also find ways to obtain enough weapons through his classmates from various countries.
As for the officers... the Austrian students who went to study in the Great Ming Dynasty with the little mustache art student were the ready-made officers!
Of course, the little mustache art student himself was also extremely capable – through snippets of information from books and what he heard from Ming Dynasty students, the little mustache art student deduced much of the necessary knowledge for rebellion.
For example, Zhu Jinsong's operations to deal with the local tyrants at the time, the organization and training of the army, how to appease the common people after the rebellion, how to establish government offices, how to collect taxes, and so on. Such knowledge made the little mustache art student's rebellion journey easy, simple, and enjoyable.
Especially with the divine assistance from the Habsburg family.
Yes, the Habsburg family provided divine assistance to the little mustache art student's rebellion.
In the beginning, the Habsburg family intended to get rid of the little mustache art student as soon as possible. Franz II even specifically sent someone to contact the little mustache art student, stating that as long as he gave up his rebellion, the Habsburg family would never mistreat him. There were plenty of offers of gold notes and beautiful women, and such conditions were proposed.
The problem was that the little mustache art student was not interested in gold notes or beautiful women.
In comparison, the little mustache art student wished more to eliminate the Isaac merchants and landlords who were sucking Austria's blood, and he wished more for Austria to become a powerful nation in Europe.
Therefore, the conflict between the Habsburg family and the little mustache art student was that the Habsburg family offered what the little mustache art student did not want, and the Habsburg family could not give what the little mustache art student wanted.
Their first contact thus broke down.
However, to everyone's surprise, after the first contact negotiation failed, the Habsburg family made a god-like move – continuously sacrificing heads!
As everyone knows, there is an old saying in the Central Plains: "Even a lion uses its full strength to catch a rabbit," meaning that to eliminate an opponent, one must go all out and never be overconfident.
For example, when Zhu Jinsong rebelled, Emperor Qianlong, after Governor Fucha Mingxing of Shandong failed to suppress Zhu Jinsong, directly dispatched Fuk'anggan and even specially transferred the Solon tribe from outside the passes into the passes.
Although Fuk'anggan did not end well, and the Solon tribe directly defected to Zhu Jinsong, the arrangements made by Emperor Qianlong showed that Emperor Qianlong had indeed exerted his full effort.
So, setting aside Emperor Qianlong's stance and intellect, at the very least, his actions were quite correct.
But!
Franz II, whether because of the pressure from the Russian Empire or because he simply did not take the little mustache art student seriously, did not mobilize a large army to suppress the little mustache art student at the beginning.
With such a divine development, the subsequent events were naturally not difficult to imagine – when the little mustache art student repelled the Habsburg family's first encirclement and suppression, his strength grew by a notch. And the army that Franz II sent out for the second time was configured with only a slight advantage over the little mustache!
After several battles that could be described as leveling up, the little mustache art student openly declared his rebellion.
Then, the art student did not continue to fight the Habsburg family's army to the bitter end but, imitating Zhu Jinsong's approach of establishing a base in Menglianggu, directly established a base for the little mustache art student in the Luxembourg area.
To ensure that the rebellion would be foolproof, the little mustache art student also specifically had his fellow art students lead a portion of the army to open up new bases throughout Austria.
By the time Franz II fully reacted, the little mustache art student's bases had bloomed everywhere in Austria.
Franz II was very distressed: "Why? Why exactly?"
Facing Franz II's question, Zweig and other Habsburg elders, as well as a number of ministers in the Austrian court, chose to play dumb.
After all, the little mustache art student had clearly stated in his declaration of rebellion that his goal was to eliminate those Isaac merchants and landlords and allow the common people of Austria to live good lives.
Of course, the Habsburg family was also among the targets that the little mustache art student intended to eliminate.
With a heavy heart, Franz II finally proposed an even more astonishing idea: "Send someone to see Adolf Hitler again and tell him that Austria is currently at war with the Russian Empire and cannot withstand turmoil – if he agrees to stop now, I am still willing to give him countless gold and silver treasures and beautiful women, and I can even promise him to be the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, where he can freely implement his ideas and thoughts."
Faced with the conditions offered by Franz II, Zweig, the Austrian Prime Minister, hesitated: "Your Majesty, I must remind you that Luxembourg was previously ceded to France during the peace talks with France. If you then promise Luxembourg to Adolf Hitler..."
Franz II waved his hand and chuckled: "Of course, I remember. And that, coincidentally, is my goal – as the new Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Adolf Hitler has the responsibility to protect Luxembourg's security, so he must face the attack from France."
Upon hearing Franz II's words, Zweig and the other elders almost spat out blood.
If you say Franz II is foolish, he could come up with such an idea of using a borrowed knife to kill someone.
If you say Franz II is smart, he thought of an idea that could not be conceived without ten years of cerebral thrombosis.
Did he really take the art student as a fool?
Besides, even if that art student were a fool, you couldn't do it like this!
Because, even without any foundation, the art student had already caused such a stir. If Luxembourg were given to him, wouldn't this little mustache become uncontrollable?
After thinking about it, Zweig cautiously advised: "Your Majesty, perhaps you should reconsider? After all, the art student has already occupied many mountainous areas, and now he has colluded with Khamis of Benghazi. It is likely that Khamis will also fully support him?"
Upon hearing the name Khamis, Franz II and the Habsburg family, as well as a number of elders in the Austrian court, could not help but feel a sense of consternation.
Admittedly, Franz II had some brains, so he directly rejected Khamis's request for an alliance – now that they had finally entered the small broken pot, it would be truly unjust to be beaten again because of that lunatic Khamis!
But who could have imagined that that lunatic Khamis would turn around and seek an alliance with the art student, and the art student not only agreed to the alliance but also roped in Mussolini, the rebel from Italy!
Now, it turned out that there was a group of rebels on Austrian territory, and there was also a group of rebels in Italy. As for Benghazi, Khamis had already publicly declared his intention to drive out the French – so, Austria, Italy, and France had become brothers in misfortune?
The more he thought about it, the more he felt a headache. Franz II simply ordered: "Send someone to contact France and see how they plan to deal with Khamis. If possible, our Habsburg family will also send troops to participate."
Upon hearing Franz II's order, Zweig and the other elders were even more bewildered.
The Habsburg family and France were not on good terms, and now they were going to send troops to help France attack Khamis?
Was this treating the Habsburg family as those foolish marmots of the Ottoman Empire?
Seeing the bewildered expressions of Zweig and the other elders, Franz II immediately reprimanded them in frustration: "Are you foolish marmots? Gentlemen, please remember – Khamis of Benghazi publicly accused the Five Great Benevolent Ones of the small broken pot conference, especially the Great Ming Empire!"
"Our Habsburg family alliance has just joined the small broken pot in the name of Austria. Now is the time to show our capabilities and earn merits to prove our Habsburg family!"