Washington. The same Christmas, yet a completely different mood. This war had relatively little direct impact on the United States. Aside from some disruption to import and export trade, life across the country remained largely peaceful on the surface. However, that was only an illusion. A fatal mistake in political alignment had dealt the United States a heavy blow. The United States had repeatedly applied to the Continental Alliance, hoping to withdraw from the war. Unfortunately, the Alliance never gave a clear response. Anyone who understood politics knew this well. A demanding enemy was not frightening, because demands meant there was still room to negotiate. Being ignored was far worse. Once you were ignored, there was nowhere to even begin talks. With the British Empire’s surrender, the last sliver of hope the United States had been clinging to was completely crushed. The United States was unrivaled in the Americas, but compared to the Continental Alliance, it was nothing more than a small fry. While ordinary people were still happily celebrating Christmas, completely unaware of the looming crisis, the White House was trapped in a deadlock. “Has the Holy Roman government responded yet?” President Theodore Roosevelt asked with anticipation. Secretary of State Pete Neidermeyer replied, “The Holy Roman Empire’s Foreign Ministry says we should wait for further notice. All issues will be addressed at the Vienna Peace Conference. Judging from the current situation, I am afraid this time we are in real trouble. The main reason is that the British surrendered too quickly, leaving us no time to react.” Obviously, “the British surrendered too fast” was only an excuse. The real reason the United States was being sidelined was its enormous growth potential. Of course, its earlier organization of a coalition in the Americas to besiege Austrian Central America was also one of the reasons it was being treated with special caution. Now that the British Empire had declined, it still retained a substantial foundation. Its overall industrial strength was second only to the Holy Roman Empire, and in certain specialized sectors, it remained at the very top of the world. It was much like the collapse of the Soviet Union. Whoever inherited the Soviet legacy became the world’s second strongest military power after the United States. The United States was tied too closely to Britain, or more precisely, the capitalists of the two countries were bound too tightly together. After the war, British capitalists would inevitably leave the homeland in search of a more suitable environment to survive and grow. Although Europe is geographically close, the continent’s own financial power is already formidable, and it is further constrained by an even stronger aristocratic class. Clearly, it is not a suitable place for these foreign capital groups to move into. Looking across the globe, there are actually very few countries capable of absorbing large-scale British capital. Once racial and cultural factors are taken into account, the only real candidates are the United States, the Confederate States, and Brazil. As for countries like Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela, their populations are simply too small. They cannot possibly absorb large amounts of capital. A deeper look shows that Brazil is not an option either. Not only is its population limited, but its internal contradictions are severe. Revolution could break out at any time, making the risks far too high. The Confederate States are slightly better off, but their economy is built around plantations. The room left for capital operations is extremely limited. That leaves the United States as the best choice. Whether in terms of population size, resource endowment, or social environment, it is well suited for capital expansion and development. If there were no external interference, once British capital withdrew from the homeland, its first destination would inevitably be the United States. And once capital and technology were transferred there, another rising power would emerge. That would be extremely unfavorable to the Holy Roman Empire’s global strategy. Trying to intercept individual capitalists one by one would require enormous effort and would still be impossible to fully prevent. By comparison, directly targeting the United States was far simpler. As the saying goes, those inside the game are often blind to it. The Americans, deeply entangled in the situation, never thought that far ahead. After all, the United States at this time still had limited strength and was riddled with internal contradictions. It hardly seemed worthy of a hegemon’s concern. “We need to change our strategy,” Theodore Roosevelt said. “Not only must we lobby the Holy Roman government, but our diplomatic outreach to other countries must also be stepped up.” Unable to understand why they were being singled out, Roosevelt could only treat a dead horse as if it were alive and broaden his diplomatic efforts. This was destined to be an uneasy Christmas. Almost all political leaders of the former Oceanic Alliance were worried about their countries’ futures. Even those who had switched sides in time were no exception. “Turncoats” were never welcome anywhere. During wartime, the Holy Roman government accepted their defection out of necessity. That did not mean they would be treated as true allies afterward. One only needed to look at the ongoing division-of-spoils conference in Vienna. Every country present had joined the Continental Alliance early on. Not a single latecomer had been invited. The neutral countries that joined the alliance midway were relatively lucky. Although they had not contributed much to the war itself, at least they picked the right side politically in time. The countries that switched sides late were another story. With the label of “turncoat” hanging over their heads, they were never going to be trusted. Especially the few unlucky ones that had actually sent troops into battle. Not only did they have to pay compensation for losses, they were also destined to receive plenty of “special attention” in the future. Regret came too late. No matter what they did now, it could not make up for their earlier political mistakes. Even for the sake of consolidating internal unity within the alliance, the Holy Roman government had no choice but to treat different countries differently. Those who followed early got meat to eat. Those who stood on the sidelines kept watching even when the meat was being divided. Those who picked the wrong side but defected in time still had to pay a price. As for those who stubbornly held out to the end, they were nothing more than meat on the chopping block. … Time flew by, and the date of the Vienna Peace Conference drew closer by the day. Delegations from various countries arrived one after another, and public opinion was fully ignited. In front of the media, representatives of the victorious nations were high spirited and confident, while those from defeated countries kept their heads down. Two completely different scenes. Even comic magazines that normally had nothing to do with politics joined the fun, rolling out wave after wave of satirical stories. For example, The Knights and Robbers Series, The End of the Pirates, The Great Brawl of the Animal Kingdom, and many others. There were even more literary works. Writers across Europe were working day and night, using highly exaggerated language to portray this great war. This atmosphere was the complete opposite of the anti-war sentiment that emerged after the world wars in the original timeline. In the end, it came down to one thing. Europe had not been hurt badly enough. Aside from the British, who were busy licking their wounds, most European civilians did not feel the pain all that deeply. The heavy casualties existed mainly as numbers on paper. They did not even compare to the losses of the anti-French wars. Other than a few unlucky souls killed by British bombs, most Europeans never felt the war closing in on them. The bloodiest fighting took place in the Far East, the South Asian subcontinent, and Africa. Europe itself was barely touched. Although the Continental Alliance had also lost nearly a million soldiers, those losses were shared among more than twenty countries. Russia alone accounted for more than half of them. With limited casualties and enormous gains, it was only natural that people felt differently. There might not have been any timeless masterpieces born from this war, but compared to classics forged in tragedy, the happiness of real life was clearly more important. All eyes around the world were focused on the Vienna Peace Conference. Overnight, the Foreign Ministry building became a hive of activity, with a constant stream of visitors arriving day after day. When national interests were at stake, pulling favors and leveraging personal connections was obviously not enough. Still, who would not want a better relationship with the top dog? This was, after all, a world that still ran on personal ties. As long as a country’s core interests were not directly involved, first impressions and goodwill mattered greatly. The Holy Roman Empire now stood as the world hegemon. Sometimes, just a single word spoken on someone’s behalf was enough to resolve an otherwise intractable problem. If not for the empire’s ruthless anti-corruption drive, every senior official in the Holy Roman government would probably have made a fortune by now. Bribing officials was simply too risky. Once the label of “corrupting a Holy Roman official” was slapped on someone, it was game over. If ministers could not be bribed, then people looked for ways to give gifts to the emperor instead. Recently, Franz had been receiving so many gifts that his hands were practically full. It was not that he wanted to accept them. The problem was that the people giving the gifts were far too cunning. They went through every possible connection, and since Europe’s royal houses were practically one big family, someone could always claim a kinship tie. On the surface, it was framed as “strengthening ties between relatives.” Refusing such gifts would be seen as a snub, an insult to the other party’s dignity. In theory, this fell under normal exchanges between royal families. According to custom, such gifts had to be reciprocated in the future. Put another way, these were “proper ceremonial gifts,” and ones that genuinely had to be repaid. Back when he had just ascended the throne and was short on funds, Franz would not have refused gifts that came knocking at his door. He needed the money back then. But now things are different. He was not short of cash anymore, and accepting gifts meant accepting trouble. Not only did he have to acknowledge the favor, he would also need to prepare an equally valuable return gift later on. In the end, the gifts merely passed through his hands once. He gained nothing from them, and if word got out, the public impact would not be good either. The more Franz thought about it, the more something felt off. Gift giving and relationship building were only secondary. What was really happening was that various royal families were using the opportunity to line their own pockets. Nominally, the gifts were sent in the name of royal households. In reality, the expenses were paid out of national treasuries. The gifts passed through Franz’s hands once, and then, in the future, flowed back to those same royal families as “reciprocal gifts,” turning into perfectly legal income. Having seen through the truth, Franz still had no choice but to accept the gifts obediently. In the end, even an emperor could not escape the web of personal ties. There were many royal houses in Europe, and not all of them were wealthy. Quite a few were deeply in debt. The root of the problem lay in how clearly private property and state property were separated in Europe. State money was not the king’s money, and likewise, the king’s personal wealth had nothing to do with the government. A monarch could allocate and use funds from the national treasury, but he absolutely could not slip that money into his own pocket. Aside from a fixed annual allowance, everything else depended on personal operations and investments. For large countries, this was not much of an issue. Their royal allowances were generous, and as long as the population was not too large, the royal household’s basic expenses could be covered. With even a little financial sense, life could be quite comfortable. Small countries were a different story. Government revenues were limited, which meant the king’s allowance was correspondingly low. It was often nowhere near enough to maintain the dignity expected of a monarch. Yet a monarch’s public image could not be allowed to collapse. How they lived in private was their own business, but outward appearances had to be upheld. When the allowance was insufficient, the only option was to find other ways to plug the financial holes. If they were good at managing money, things were manageable. If not, it was a disaster. As far as Franz knew, at least seven or eight royal families were living on borrowed money. It was not that they were recklessly extravagant. More often than not, they were simply unlucky. Take the Italian states, for example. Aside from the pope, who never lacked funds, the other rulers were all desperately poor. That, frankly, was the French fault. During the wars, many of them had lost their estates and lands. Later, during the restorations, they burned through what little family wealth they had left, and some even ended up buried under massive debts. As for why Franz knew all this so clearly, the answer was simple. As the creditor, it was hard not to know. The Royal Bank had already extended their repayment deadlines again and again. If these had been ordinary people, they would have been forced into bankruptcy long ago. In order to make money, several of these royal families had turned themselves into the darlings of high society and fashion circles. At least they still had a sense of propriety and did not go so far as to endorse luxury brands outright. No one’s sense of moral restraint was particularly strong. Once one household took the lead in exploiting such a perfectly legitimate way to make money, it was only natural that others would follow. In any case, the more they give out now, the more they would be able to take back in the future. Being generous was unavoidable. And with postwar spoils at stake, no matter how reluctant the various governments were, they had no choice but to swallow it. After all, if everyone else was giving gifts, how could your country be the only one not to? Just look outside. There was a whole crowd desperate to give gifts but unable to get them delivered, one after another practically turning red with anxiety. Politics was, in the end, a matter of human relationships. As the leading figure of the monarchic world, Franz could not block everyone’s path to making money. You benefit, I benefit, everyone benefits. That was the foundation for any interest group to last in the long run. Since it only took a small favor, and he could help, why not help? If one looked closely, it was easy to notice that every name appearing on the gift lists was none other than a key player in the upcoming division-of-spoils conference. No one knew how future generations would judge this, but Franz was very clear about one thing. Through this round of under-the-table dealings, the relationship between the Holy Roman Empire and the European powers had grown noticeably closer. In truth, this was only a small prelude before the Vienna Peace Conference. Countless other interest exchanges were unfolding here as well. Before the conference had even officially begun, the Holy Roman government had already signed more than a hundred major commercial contracts, with arms deals alone accounting for over half of them. All the deals that needed to be made had already been settled in advance. Once the Vienna Peace Conference formally opened, there was actually very little left to argue about. Aside from the defeated nations putting on pitiful performances and begging for sympathy, the Continental Alliance was largely harmonious, with the sole exception of the Russians, who were openly dissatisfied. What should have been a proper international conference was instead turned into a grand exercise in social maneuvering and insider trading. Even Franz himself found it astonishing. But reality was just that brutal. The Holy Roman Empire stood alone at the top. As the so-called second place, the Russian Empire was not only isolated by the other powers but also preoccupied with its own civil war, leaving it no energy to stir up trouble. As for Spain, ranked third, its strength was simply too weak. Forget wrestling with the Holy Roman Empire. Being able to barely maintain the appearance of a great power was already an achievement. Looking across the entire world, there was no one left who could really stand up to them. Britain, the only country with any real strength, was now a defeated nation. Under a unipolar order like this, as long as the Holy Roman government wished, it could easily turn the peace conference into a one-man show. By now, quite a few countries were probably regretting that they had been talked into things during the anti-French wars back then, allowing the Holy Roman Empire to grow this powerful. Unfortunately, this world had no medicine for regret. The rise of the Holy Roman Empire was already an established fact. There was now only one rule-maker left, and everyone else could only follow along. And while regretting it, many countries were likely also secretly thankful. The Holy Roman government, as always, paid attention to appearances. Otherwise, life for everyone else would have become unbearable.
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