Joseph immediately revealed a radiant smile, “Mother, I wish to personally visit Vienna. I have yet to properly visit Uncle since his illness.”
“Oh, I will do my utmost to help Uncle resolve the issues in Brabant and restore the peace he deserves.”
“At the same time, there are many matters Uncle and I can discuss.”
Queen Mary immediately nodded in relief, “That would be wonderful! My dear, I have always wanted to visit my brother, but France cannot do without me. Now you can go in my stead to see Benny. Oh, I must prepare some gifts for him.”
Shortly after the Cabinet meeting concluded, Joseph briskly returned to his own sleeping quarters, where he first instructed Eman to summon Count Saigul, the assistant to the Foreign Minister, and ordered the latter to write a letter to the U.S. ambassador in Poland in a private capacity.
Once Count Saigul had prepared his pen and paper, Joseph said, “The main content of the letter should be a warning to Prince Poniatowski never to dispatch troops to support Prussia, as that would offend Austria, the only one of Poland’s three large neighboring countries that is somewhat sympathetic to them. Poland should take advantage of the conflict between Russia and Sweden, and the issues in the Southern Netherlands between Prussia and Austria, to quickly resolve the ‘liberum veto’ issue in the Congress and train as many troops as possible.”
Due to France’s actions in North Africa, the Ottoman Empire surrendered earlier than in history, giving Russia more resources to deal with Sweden. If things go as expected, the Russo-Swedish War should also conclude earlier than in history, and that will be when Russia turns its attention to Poland.
To prevent Prussia and Austria from banding together, we must go all out to prevent the emergence of the Prussian-Austrian-Russian partition alliance against Poland. Thus, Poland must first strengthen itself.
And to keep Russia, Prussia, and Austria from harboring suspicions, Joseph used the United States as France’s front to help Poland. Therefore, the letter had to be placed in American hands.
Count Saigul rapidly noted down the Crown Prince’s instructions, and Joseph added, “Oh yes, once Archbishop Talleyrand returns from England, have him go straight to Strasbourg and wait for me there to travel to Vienna together. Remind him to bring several reliable aides.”
Strasbourg is the last border city of France on the way to Austria.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
That very noon, Joseph set out from France, not for Austria – the trip there had to wait for Foreign Minister Talleyrand, as some matters would be more convenient to handle with him. More importantly, both Prussian and Austrian sides needed massive troop mobilizations which would take several months of logistics preparation, and the uprising in Brabant could not start immediately.
His first stop was Spain.
After all, as Charles IV was crowned, it was important for him to represent France and show support. Moreover, there were many matters to discuss with Spain, this unreliable ally.
Spain’s interests currently aligned very much with those of France, and due to its weaker national power, it nearly always followed France’s lead on international matters, making it a good ally.
However, despite having a massive colonial empire and boasting the third largest navy in Europe, Spain had ended up as the weakest among European powers.
If Spain could be made stronger, France could borrow more of its strength, especially in dealings with England.
After all, the gateway to the Mediterranean, Gibraltar, is on the southern coast of Spain, originally Spanish territory before it was ceded to England more than seventy years ago after the Spanish War of Succession.
Since then, the Spaniards have constantly fixated on this strategic location, to the extent that it has become an obsession.
Taking the Strait of Gibraltar from the British would ensure France’s interests in North Africa to a great extent – even with a mighty British fleet, without access to the Strait of Gibraltar, they could not reach the Mediterranean and hence could not influence the North African countries along its southern coast.
Joseph left Paris, and his carriage headed southwest. Within a little over ten days, he arrived at the Pyrenees, the border between France and Spain.
However, once they passed the narrow passage of the Pyrenees, especially upon arriving in the Spanish city of Leon, their pace immediately slowed down.
The road conditions in Spain were simply leagues behind those of France.
Fortunately, Joseph was riding in the latest model of the “gemstone” carriage, which was quite comfortable. Nevertheless, even so, his bottom might as well have been on the rack.
After jolting around for half a month, Joseph finally glimpsed the distant buildings of Madrid. He was already pondering in his heart whether he should just take a ship straight back when returning.
Charles IV gave the Crown Prince of France the highest level of reception—greeting guards were lined up five miles outside of Madrid, guided personally by the Spanish State Minister to the grand Royal Palace of Madrid.
Charles IV, holding the arm of his good brother, walked towards the palace from outside of the palace square. Exquisite carpets were laid along the path, the guard of honor stood at attention on both sides, and thousands of Spanish nobles and congratulatory delegates from various countries surrounded the front of the palace, respectfully looking towards Joseph while the distant sound of salutes was almost non-stop.
The Spaniards all knew that the King of France was an extreme social recluse and homebody; it was almost impossible to expect him to come to Spain. Therefore, the Crown Prince of France represented the King of France here.
Joseph accepted a bouquet of flowers from a group of Spanish children and entered the palace alongside Charles IV.
He noted that the newly crowned Queen of Spain, Maria Luisa, although always at the side, behaved very cautiously and hardly spoke throughout the event.
Joseph silently breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed the old king had indeed completely stripped this woman of her power. She should not be able to rampage through Spain as she had historically, and it wasn’t in vain that he had gone to the trouble of helping Charles IV catch the adulterer.
After an exceedingly lavish banquet, Joseph savored the Spanish feast abundant in seafood. Honestly, many Spanish dishes tasted even better than those of France.
Take, for example, the main course just now—a Spanish baked seafood stew. A large bucket was brought to the table, with oysters arranged around the outer layer, then a layer of lobsters, followed by a layer of boned fish flesh, then a layer of roasted octopus, a layer of sea urchins…
The whole bucket was then baked with cheese and sprinkled with spices; a mere glance was enough to whet one’s appetite.
Joseph had only eaten half a bucket and was already so full he could not bend over.
On the other hand, Charles IV dragged his good brother into the palace theater, where a play by a French playwright, “Phèdre,” was being performed.
In the VIP room on the second floor, Joseph watched his cousin, heartlessly critiquing the actors’ performances, and couldn’t help but sigh to himself. He took the opportunity to mention when the play’s plot involved the Chancellor:
“By the way, speaking of Chancellors, Your Majesty, your current State Minister is Count of Floridablanca, isn’t it?”
Charles IV waved his hand:
“You should just call me Antonio. Oh, that’s right, it’s still Redondo.”
Joseph frowned slightly. The Count of Floridablanca was the State Minister of Charles III, and it seemed that without Godoy causing trouble, Charles IV continued to use the old king’s staff.
However, this Count of Floridablanca wasn’t on good terms with France.