The Austrian envoy naturally refused William's answer, which had already benefited Prussia once, and it was obvious that Austria was not prepared to do a second wrong.
In the case of fruitless negotiations with Austria, Wilhelm sent the Count of Hans to Frankfurt again as a representative of Prussia, this time Wilhelm's task to Hans was to do his best to get the Reichstag to pass Prussia's proposal for sanctions against Denmark, if it could not be successful, then Prussia would still insist on its opinion, and Wilhelm would not let those who offended him go unpunished!
In Frankfurt, Hans used Meyer's network to meet many bankers and capitalists in Frankfurt, and these rich people welcomed Hans's visit, after all, Prussia was also one of the few great powers in the empire, and as its emissary, Hans was naturally the object of everyone's reluctance.
There were also rumors that the daughter of Count Hans might become the queen of Prussia, which also made Hans very popular in Frankfurt.
On the occasion of the meeting with the capitalists in Frankfurt, Hans implicitly suggested that if these capitalists could make a certain contribution to Prussia, then the market of the Kingdom of Prussia would welcome these capitalists very much, and Prussia could even award titles to merchants who had made outstanding contributions.
The news of Meyer's knighthood naturally set off a storm in Frankfurt, this was the first time that a businessman known as a nouveau riche became a nobleman of a powerful country, although it was only a title, but as long as he had a noble title, then he had a step into the upper class of Europe, which was also a place where people flocked to it.
"Count Hans.
Is what you're saying true?
” When Hans said that Prussia would confer titles on merchants who had made outstanding contributions, Merius could not sit still.
Merius was born into an aristocratic family of city-states in northern Italy.
Of course, his family had fallen by the time of his father's generation, and even the title of nobility was stripped away, which became an eternal pain in the hearts of the Merius family.
Compared with the nobility of a city-state in northern Italy, the title of nobility in Prussia is undoubtedly more valuable, which makes Merrius, who has always been eager to restore his family's fame, not excited.
"Of course, Lord Merius, although His Majesty the King is willing to award you, it is because of the opposition of the Cabinet.
Therefore, I only have a few places in my king's hands, so please pay attention to this."
Hans is no stranger to Merius, who came to Frankfurt at the age of less than 20, and after more than ten years of struggle, Merius has become one of the shadow giants in Frankfurt, with 80% of the casinos and 70% of the brothels in Frankfurt.
"Then Your Excellency Count Hans.
I wonder what we need to contribute to get these nobles?
” Before Merius could sit down, another merchant stepped forward, this merchant's name was Padekin, his estate spread throughout Frankfurt, and this Padekin was not like Merrius, Padekin's hands had both sunlit and shady business.
"It's simple.
I have heard that many members of the Imperial Diet have taken a lot of loans from you, and I hope that you will ask these nobles for these loans as soon as possible."
As soon as these words came out, the rich people in Frankfurt, who were sitting at the head of Hans, looked at each other in some surprise, and it was obvious that for them, this request was a little too simple.
Said here.
This brings us to the composition of the Holy Roman Diet, which was established hundreds of years ago.
At that time, the members of the parliament were composed of the princes of the territory and the bishops of the major dioceses.
But after hundreds of years of evolution, with the development of the times, many of the descendants of these princes and bishops gradually degenerated, and the decline of the family was inevitable.
Although the members of the Imperial Diet seem to be some great people in front of them, these people here know what kind of goods these members are behind their backs.
These councillors go in and out of high-end consumption places all day long, and many of them are addicted to gambling and prostitution, and the income of these councillors alone is naturally very soon beyond their means, but the nobles are all respectful, in order to maintain the prosperity of the family and compare and show off with each other, so that borrowing money from merchants has become the best way to maintain the appearance of decency.
But in the early days of the empire, the merchants did not dare to lend money to these councillors casually, because these councillors had immunity, in other words, even if the councillors did not repay the money, the merchants had nothing to do.
This situation did not change until more than a hundred years ago, when the decline of the empire gave the merchants greater autonomy, so that they did not have to fear the nobility of the parliamentarians, and the merchants could take coercive measures if they did not exchange their loans.
Hans had done a lot of work before he came to Frankfurt, and he learned about these things from Meyer, and through Meyer's connections, he got to know these merchants, and Hans used them to put pressure on the parliamentarians.
There were hundreds of members of the entire Imperial Diet, and only a small part of them were nobles of the ruling class of the powerful countries and the nobles who kept their families thriftly, and most of them were nobles who had lost their territories.
"Count Hans, is that what you mean?"
"Well, the following conditions are so simple, I think everyone knows that some parliamentarians with ulterior motives have unjustifiably accused us Prussia in the Reichstag, which is an irresponsible move for the whole Reich, and I hope you can make your own contribution to the fairness of the Reich!"
"Of course, we will do our best."
"Since everyone agrees, then you can start acting tomorrow, and after the matter is completed, the kingdom will not treat you badly!"
In the face of Hans's calmness, the merchants present shook their fists, for it was not too difficult for them to urge the parliamentarians to take loans, knowing that many of the councillors had borrowed usury certificates from them in the drawers of the merchants' homes.
Early in the morning, after Hans had consulted with the merchants, there was an uproar throughout Frankfurt, and a large number of merchants with thugs and servants went to the houses of the councillors in the city to ask for loans.
Seeing the menacing appearance of these businessmen, many parliamentarians were frightened, you must know that many parliamentarians mortgaged their own houses and land to these businessmen, and only a small number of parliamentarians could afford to repay the loans, and most of the parliamentarians demolished the east wall to make up the west wall.
When a parliamentarian was forced to commit suicide because he couldn't afford to repay the loan shark, the whole Frankfurt was in turmoil, and the parliamentarians were like dogs in the face of businessmen who came to collect debts, begging grandpa to sue grandma just to be able to postpone the repayment of the loan.
But the merchants had already received hints from Hans, and no matter how much the councillors prayed, the merchants would not agree, and would either pay back the money or free up their property to pay off their debts, as originally agreed.
Some parliamentarians were forced to leave their families with their families where they had lived for hundreds of years, and those who did not want to leave were driven away.
The usually high-ranking parliamentarians have now become the most miserable group of people in the whole of Frankfurt, some of them have been simply left of their homes, and the stingy businessmen have not even given them decent clothes.
The Count of Hans leaned against the window of the street and laughed, and that night Hans himself led the people one by one to find the councillors who had been kicked out of their homes, and then threw out his own conditions "Either you are in favor of Prussian sanctions against Hamburg, or you will continue to oppose it, but the consequence of this will be to sleep on the streets and starve to death" In the face of Hans's threat, these parliamentarians no longer have the same lust as before, they all lowered their heads and agreed to Hans's conditions, of course, there are some hard-nosed people who will not agree to Hans's conditions.
But the next moment, when they saw the merchants with the loan vouchers appearing and selling the wives and children of the councillors to some service industry, even the hardest bones turned to mud.
Later, at the initiative of nearly 100 parliamentarians, the Reichstag reconvened to vote on whether to approve Prussia's sanctions against Hamburg, and the result of this vote was satisfactory, with more than 70 percent of the parliamentarians in favor of Prussia's sanctions against Hamburg, and another 10 percent abstained.
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Although the parliamentarians who had been cared for in advance by Hans felt as if they had eaten poop during the vote, the results of these votes still had the effect of law.
On March 5, 1789, the Holy Roman Diet approved Prussia's proposal to impose sanctions on the Free City of Hamburg, which were entrusted to Prussia by the Reich parliamentarians and allowed for the use of military force.
The result of the vote was out, and the Austrian delegate slapped the table with a loud bang, but the wood was already in the boat.
On March 13, 1789, the Prussian 1st Division, already ready for its departure, set out from Brandenburg and aimed directly at Hamburg.
And the 5th Division, which had just stopped to rest for a short time, was once again ready for war, and if necessary, they could cooperate with the 1st Division in an attack on Hamburg.
Just as the Prussian army was beginning to move in an orderly manner, Wilhelm had another headache, this time precisely because of Schleswig and Holstein.
Although the two dukes joined the Prussian side under pressure from the Prussian army during the Danish War, this was not good news for William.