Chapter 340: Capitulation
Call off his hounds? Surely he was not referring to Bruno was he? That was a bit of an insult, now wasn’t it? Either way, the Kaiser thought little of the remarks made by the Italian King as he spoke of his demands to end the war. Which were not the same as Franz Josephs.
"Frankly speaking, I’m fine with a white peace. Or at the very least, a treaty which imposes favoritism towards the German Reich and its merchants when it comes to trade between our two nations, but I am quite certain that my friend here has other plans.... Ultimately, it will be between the two of you to decide how you wish to settle this matter."
Franz Jospeh smiled and nodded his head at Wilhelm’s words. Austria, after all shared a border with Italy, and Italy had done a number on its border towns during their occupation. Some proper recompense was in order, and the Habsburgs would not accept peace without it.
And thus after making this fact known the two sides began debating over the amount that should be owed to the Austrian Crown and its ruling dynasty over perceived damages that were caused during the time of the Italian occupation.
Evidently the Austrian Emperor had a list of grievances written to him by the people that he kept on him, and because he had the "receipts" so to speak he was more adequately able to push for what he wanted, even if the balance of power was only slightly in his favor during these negotiations so far.
That is until of course a servant came bursting into the room, whispering something to the Italian King that had him become ghostly pale, before red with rage. He stood up and immediately threw allegations at both Wilhelm and Franz Joseph neither of which knew what their Italian counterpart was remotely talking about.
"You damned knaves! You seriously thought I would not find out about your dastardly schemes!?!"
The two emperors looked at each other as if they were being hoodwinked by King Victor Emanuel III, before finally giving voice to their outright confusion.
"I’m sorry, but what in the hell are you talking about? We have done nothing to provoke such a furious response!"
This only elicited a scoff from the Italian King who made clear what was happening in the north of Italy as of this moment.
"You have done nothing? Truly? Then why has Milan, Turin, Genoa, and Venice fallen into the hands of your alliance? Huh? I thought we agreed that your men would not set foot into my lands until after these negotiations had been concluded! And not a second more! So what exactly had happened if you two are not secretly conspiring behind my back!?!"
This was most certainly news to Wilhelm and Franz Joseph, and frankly speaking they did not know if they were being setup by the Italian King in order to fall into some forced admission of wrongdoing.