Hans walked briskly out of the room, and as he did, the smile on William's face grew brighter.
It is no secret that Maximilian had ambitions for the supremacy of Austria.
Under these circumstances, Maximilian sent his henchmen to Brandenburg, presumably in order to reach a consensus with Prussia on some point.
Although Wilhelm had reached a friendly agreement with the Austrian envoy Bodø, and the two sides were willing to abide by the Austro-Prussian peace agreement signed by William and Joseph II last year, this agreement could not completely bind Prussia, support the opposition within the Habsburg family and then create political turmoil in Austria.
Just as Richard had just stayed in a hotel in downtown Brandenburg, several uninvited guests suddenly broke into his room, and after identifying himself to Richard, Richard followed them out of the hotel without any resistance.
Coming to Prussia at this moment, in order to ensure the secrecy of the operation, Richard was completely alone, and not only that, but in Cologne, Richard also arranged a stand-in disguised as himself.
He knew that Maximilian had not yet turned against Leopold, at least neither side had declared the other party a rebel by name, and in such a situation, the actions of Cologne and others must be low-key and low-key.
"Your Excellency Richard, welcome to Prussia!"
At this moment, William was standing in the main hall of the Brandenburg Palace, and standing in front of him was Richard, who had been taken away.
Seeing William in front of him, Richard's heart couldn't help beating rapidly, he didn't expect that he had just arrived in Brandenburg and was invited by the king.
This situation can be said to be quite good, because it is enough to show that the Prussians still attach great importance to his arrival, otherwise they would not have waited for him to see the future.
William ordered him to be brought to him.
"Greetings to Your Majesty, on behalf of His Royal Highness Maximilian, Elector of Cologne!"
After Richard calmed down his excitement a little, he bowed generously to the future, seeing Richard's actions, William urged this person's favorability to go up a level, and this person's ability to recover his mentality in such a short time is extraordinary.
William nodded, then smiled: "Get up, Lord Richard, I wonder why you have come to Brandenburg in such a hurry?"
"Your Majesty.
He came down on the orders of my lord, the Elector of Cologne, who considered that both Cologne and Brandenburg were the most important princes in the Empire, and that the two countries should strengthen their diplomatic relations.
As the number one power on the European continent.
The Holy Roman Empire was supposed to be the strongest in the world, but the situation in the empire has always been turbulent due to the large number of princes within the empire and the discord of many princes.
Fortunately, God arranged for the empire His Majesty Emperor Joseph II.
Because of the presence of His Majesty Joseph II.
Peace within the empire was achieved.
But now that His Majesty Joseph II has passed away, and the throne of the Empire is vacant, my lord intends to abide by the tradition of nearly a thousand years to elect a wise monarch who can benefit the people of the empire, and I ask your majesty to support my lord!
” Well, although Richard was full of nonsense before, he still said the purpose of his visit in the end.
After listening to Richard's words, William smiled knowingly, and Richard's words confirmed the speculation about the future.
This made William feel profitable.
"As the Elector of Cologne said, His Majesty Joseph II is the supreme monarch of the entire empire.
It is precisely because of the efforts of His Majesty Joseph II that the empire has been able to reach the present harmonious and prosperous situation, and I am deeply saddened by the passing of His Majesty Joseph II.
But it is said that before the death of Joseph II, he had left a testament, and the imperial throne was inherited by His Royal Highness Leopold, this ..................................."
"Your Majesty, do you not doubt the death of His Majesty Joseph II?
Imagine if His Majesty really died of illness, such a significant event, why we didn't know anything about it before this, and His Majesty's health was very healthy before Regency Leopold.
But since Leopold's regency, the entire Vienna Imperial Palace has been blocked by Leopold's henchmen, and only after that came the news that His Majesty the Emperor was seriously ill, and in the next two months, His Majesty died of illness, which is definitely problematic!
My lord does not want to see His Majesty Joseph II, a righteous prince who has done his best to the empire and then died, so he died at the hands of villains in this way, as an important prince within the empire, my lord thinks that your majesty should apply to Vienna with us to thoroughly investigate the cause of the death of His Majesty the Emperor!
” After Richard finished speaking, he looked at William with hopeful eyes, but to his disappointment, William's face revealed a look of hesitation.
After a long time, William said: "Your Excellency Richard, this matter is really important, and I need some time to think about it, so I can't give you an answer yet!"
"Your Majesty, Leopold dares to do such a heartbreaking thing today, once he ascends to the throne of the empire, it is really not a blessing for the people of the empire, for the livelihood of hundreds of millions of people in the empire, please stand up for the sake of God and uphold justice!"
"Your Excellency Richard, you go down first, I will order someone to entertain you well, this matter is very important, I need to consult with the important ministers of the country, so please stay in Brandenburg for a while during this time, and I will inform you after the results of our deliberations!"
After speaking, William waved his hand, seeing William's resolute attitude, Richard had no choice but to salute William and leave the hall.
After meeting Richard, William summoned Locks and Henry and other Prussian king** dignitaries the next day, and when William informed everyone of Richard's intentions, everyone fell silent.
This matter is not big or small.
In the past, there had been a consensus within Prussia regarding the death of Joseph II and the accession of Leopold, but now because of the arrival of Richard, the countermeasures negotiated by Prussia must be modified to a certain extent depending on the situation, so as to ensure that Prussia can obtain the greatest benefit in this matter.
First of all, in Habsburg, not everyone was happy with Leopold's succession to Joseph II, Leopold was only a vanguard, otherwise he would not have had the courage to send someone to contact the Prussians, apparently with the support of a large force behind Maximilian.
We all knew before that Maximilian and Ferdinand were allies within the Habsburg family, and the combined influence of these two caused great turmoil within the Habsburg family, and in the Austrian government, Maximilian was not without roots, just looking at the last time Maximilian was able to entangle more than 50 noble ministers to go to the Vienna Imperial Palace to ask for Joseph II, it is enough to see that Maximilian has not eaten dry food in vain these years.
Although Leopold had been appointed crown prince and regent of Austria, he had only been in power for a short time, and many of his things had not yet been deployed.
Moreover, with the death of Joseph II, the current attitude of many Habsburg domains, including Hungary, Croatia, Pamar, Milan, etc., is not clear, and the possibility of their opposition to Leopold's succession is not ruled out.
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Under such circumstances, the only force that Leopold could use for the time being was Austria, but as mentioned earlier, there were also forces opposing Leopold in Austria, and coupled with the strength of Maximilian himself in Cologne, the final result of this power struggle was really difficult to say.
All Leopold can rely on now is Joseph II's edict, but once Leopold is considered the murderer of Joseph II's death, I am afraid that he will immediately become the finger of the husband.
It all depends on whether Leopold's coronation in Vienna can go smoothly, and if Leopold officially inherits the titles and titles left by Joseph II except for the emperor, then Prussia's position will not change fundamentally, after all, Wilhelm is not ready to turn against the Austrians at this stage.
At this stage, Prussia's deployment of chess pieces in France and Russia is waiting to be launched, since Prussia is ready to gain benefits from France and Russia, then moving Austria again is undoubtedly adding to its own blockage, although Prussia is strong, but not strong enough to be hostile to the entire European continent.
The marriage to Anna was William's way of appeasing Austria, so if Maximilian could not achieve absolute superiority in Austrian politics, then William and the Prussian government would definitely not risk turning against Leopold to support Maximilian.
At most, the Prussian government could use its presence to extract some benefit from Leopold's hands.
In the end, the Prussian government decided to act according to the strategy suggested by Locks, and the strategy suggested by Locks to Wilhelm was to wait and see, and Prussia now had no energy or ability to intervene on a large scale in the conflict of interests within Austria.
As the saying goes, interests have a priority, and now that the affairs of France and Russia have reached the point where they are about to reap the fruits, they must at least wait until Prussia has reaped the benefits of both countries.
Prussia, however, did not mind using the matter to demand some advantage from Leopold.
Just after everyone left the conference room, Anna hurriedly broke into the conference room, and only William and Buel were still in the conference room.