The issue of Poland in the imperial meeting was in quarrel.

Whether Sobesky dies or not, the issue of inheritance of the Polish throne is already on the surface. At least those who are interested in running for the Polish throne are already ready to move, and the empire must also react. Even because the center of the empire is too far from Europe, it must react in advance.

In fact, two years ago, the Empire had discussed this issue when King Sobesky was seriously ill, but that time it was soon heard that the king's condition improved.

In the last discussion, the plan formulated by the Empire Center was to support a pro-China faction to become the Polish king. Of course, that time the emperor clearly stated that King Yu was no longer among the candidates. Therefore, a new question arises, that is, should another imperial nobleman be supported to become the Polish king?

This voice still existed in this imperial meeting, and the candidate became Zelenko, the leader of the Ukrainian Workers' Brotherhood.

However, this proposal was rejected by Li Junwei and Li Su from the beginning because the two agreed that supporting Zelenko would be a waste of money.

Zelenko was born as a Chinese Cossack nobleman and had a resume of receiving a complete education in the empire. He was also appreciated by King Yu in Xijin. He helped the empire expand its territory and stabilize North America abroad, and assisted the empire in managing foreign workers to develop Xijin at home. But the problem is, my honey is the arsenic.

In Poland, Zelenko is definitely a person who can be labeled as an orphan.

There have also been many conflicts in the friendly cooperation between the empire and Poland in recent years. In addition to the economic reasons for the loss of interests due to the rise of the empire, as well as population reasons. The empire's efforts to develop Xijin were very strong, attracting a lot of foreign workers, and Poland is also the main provider.

But the problem is that Poland is a feudal country, with most of its population being serfs fixed on the land by Polish nobles, and most of the workers who go to work in the empire were fugitive slaves. Poland has been negotiating with the empire on this issue over the years, but it has not been well resolved.

After all, returning these labor forces to Poland means the stagnation of development in the Xijin area, and these workers themselves are unwilling to go back. The development boom in Xijin has never lacked job opportunities, and the income is also extremely high compared to the hometown of Poland.

More importantly, the empire had a complete labor bill. Although later generations believed that the empire's labor bill was full of discrimination against foreign workers, based on the current situation, foreign workers were also protected by law. Compared with their hometown, the Xijin area is a paradise.

In terms of protecting these foreign workers, Zelenko was the leader, so in Poland, he was almost the public enemy of the nobles.

"Theoretically, all nobles are qualified to run for the Polish throne, including the nobles of the empire. The original title and strength of the candidates also greatly affect the success rate. The nobles of the Polish Federation will also be divided into three classes on this major issue, one is the great nobles, the other is the Schrachita class, and the third is the Lithuanian nobles.

But with the development over the past century, class is no longer important. Among the nobles, there are three pro-French, pro-Russia and pro-Austrian factions. Of course, there are pro-China factions that have emerged recently, but the time is too short and it is not possible to decide the winner or lose for the time being. Obviously, no matter from any aspect, the possibility of the people we directly support to become the king of Poland is very low." Li Junwei stood up and introduced himself, and he found that the imperial ministers of the empire still had too little understanding of Poland.

Chen Ping asked: "Prince, what will happen if French or Russian supporters become kings? Will it affect the interests of the empire in Poland and even the entire eastern Europe?"

Li Junwei snapped his fingers and said, "This is a good question. According to my understanding of Poland, although the nobles of this country are close to the close major powers, it is difficult to have the possibility of the nobles of great powers becoming kings directly. For example, in France, Louis XIV certainly supported Prince Conte to become Poland, but this possibility is relatively low. The reason is the same as us. Polish aristocrats rely on major powers and do not want to directly obey the great powers."

"Since that's the case, what about our interests?" Zhao Wenting asked.

Li Junwei thought about it and replied: "Our interests are divided into two types, one is the maintenance of existing interests, and the other is the development of new interests. I think protecting existing interests is a very simple way. Poland's politics is very special, and they call it golden freedom. It is a bit complicated to put it in detail and a bit ridiculous. Do you have any information to prepare? Let me introduce it."

"Oh, there are some information provided by Professor Zong Qing from the Eastern Europe Institute of Imperial University. Let's take a look. King Yu also needs to take a look. There may be some things that need to be supplemented or changed." Lin Junhong asked the attendant to send the information to everyone.

Li Junwei got the information and found that the professor who provided the information had a very detailed religion, especially the introduction to gold freedom. The king's electoral system is the main representative of Polish political gold freedom, but it is not enough.

Among the golden freedom, the Polish House of Representatives is held once every two years. This is an expanded version of the Sum Parliament, with many participants. The nobles enjoy the right to negotiate, that is, all political affairs, and the king must negotiate with the nobles, and cannot make decisions separately. As for the right to religious freedom, it is understandable to everyone.

Two powers that cannot be understood are the power to revolt and the veto.

Yes, Polish nobles can legally rebel and uprising, as long as the nobles believe that the king cannot protect the interests of the state. The veto power is in the Sem Conference, and any noble opposes the legal provisions under discussion, then the bill cannot be passed. What's more ridiculous is that if this right is used by a certain noble, the legal provisions passed in this conference will also be abolished.

The Polish nobles also have the privilege of forming party members, and they can form parties openly, regardless of their political demands.

After reading all the former ministers, Li Junwei concluded: "Obviously, Polish politics is not enough to be successful. Therefore, I can answer the question raised by the Prime Minister, that is, anyone who becomes the king of Poland, even if this king is very hostile to the empire, it is impossible for the entire Polish Federation to target the empire. The harm caused will be limited by the reasons of the Polish political system.

The same goes for the other way around. Even if we support a trusted person to become the king of Poland, this does not mean that the entire Polish Federation is friendly to us, and friendship is also restricted."

After listening to King Yu's analysis, the emperor said: "As you said, in this matter, we can only prevent some enemies from becoming kings of Poland, right?"

Li Junwei nodded: "Yes, but to do this, we must support a suitable candidate to become the King of Poland. Although it is better to give timely help than to add icing on the cake, cramming for the moment is worse than doing nothing."

Li Junhua asked: "Where is the candidate?"

"I think Augustus, the Elector of Saxony, is good." Li Junwei replied.

Zhao Wenting was the first to express his objection: "Prince, Saxony's electorate is not very friendly to the empire."

In fact, Augustus, the Elector of Saxony, once had a honeymoon period with the Empire. The biggest idol of Augustus was Louis XIV. He not only wanted to have his talent and strategy, but also wanted to have his luxury. He was especially envious of Louis XIV's Palace of Versailles. Augustus also had a hobby, which was the hobby of collecting porcelain. Therefore, during diplomatic activities with Saxony, the Empire often gave exquisite porcelain as gifts.

However, the relationship between the two sides has also deteriorated in recent years. In the 27th year of the empire, Augustus had smallpox. The empire's ambassador stationed in the Holy Roman Empire happened to be in his territory. Augustus heard that the empire had medical skills to treat smallpox, so he asked the accompanying doctors to treat it. But this was just a beautiful misunderstanding. At that time, the empire only promoted the method of growing cowpox to prevent smallpox, and was helpless against Augustus who had already developed smallpox.

The doctor's isolation measures also made Augustus himself think that it was the arrogance of the Oriental people. The empire's ambassador felt nothing at that time. After all, Augustus was about to die, and his own preferences were nothing. However, unexpectedly, Augustus survived with his strong body. Since then, the relationship between the two sides gradually deteriorated.

Of course, the more important reason is that the empire deepened its relations with Prussia and gave the German region the most special status. Saxony claimed that it was not weaker than Prussia, so he was very dissatisfied.

As the deputy minister in charge of the Ministry of Overseas Affairs, Zhao Wenting is familiar with these things.

Seeing that Zhao Wenting was talking endlessly, Chen Ping was very embarrassed by King Yu, so he took the initiative to interrupt him. He looked at Li Junwei and said, "There must be a reason why the prince proposed to support Augustus."

Li Junwei smiled: "Augus has a well-known characteristic, that is, his ambition."

Zhao Wenting immediately expressed his support, and Li Junwei continued: "Since he has ambitions, he will not miss such an opportunity. He will definitely use all his strength to compete for the Polish throne. From the perspective of actual operation, there are two secrets to successful competition, one is financial resources and the other is force. Obviously, neither of these two cannot be compared with Augustus."

There is no doubt that the reason why the imperial meeting focused on this issue was because the empire did not want to invest too much in the issue of the Polish throne. After all, history is there. Polish nobles all tend to choose older people as kings. The older they are, the less energy they will be, and they will not be able to fight against the nobles. The older they are, the more likely they will die, and the more frequent the Polish throne changes will be.

Every time Polish king changes, it is a feast of bribery. Those who are interested in running will bribe the nobles with a large amount of gold and silver. What a good business this is, of course the more you do, the better.

The Empire's interests in Poland were ultimately limited, and it was impossible to spend a watermelon to maintain a few sesame seeds.

As for force, it is even worse. Although the empire borders the Polish Federation, it has a security agreement on the three countries on military issues. The seas between Poland and Russia and the Don River and the Dnieper River belong to the open waters of the Three Kingdoms. If the empire wants to send troops to Warsaw, it must pass through these places. It must inform Tsarist Russia in accordance with the agreement. If it cannot be kept confidential, it can only kill chickens and use a ox knife, but the result is that it is still too much investment.

Saxony is closer to Warsaw and it is more convenient to do it. That guy Augustus is ambitious and might really send troops.

"Augustus had great ambitions. He wanted at least two points to completely integrate the Politics Federation and Saxony into one country, and then implement his absolute monarchy in Saxony within the Politics Federation. To achieve these two points, we must make enemies both internally and externally, and to fight against each other in the distance. Everyone understands that the empire outside the territory is relatively the natural ally of Augustus, used to balance the threats of Tsarist Russia, Sweden and France." Li Junwei said.

Li Junhua nodded: "As you said, it doesn't matter whether Augustus is close to the empire. As long as we both have common interests, he will safeguard our existing interests in Poland and help us explore new interests."

"That's right, the ambition of Augustus is exactly the reason we support him." Li Junwei responded.

Lin Junhong asked: "King Yu, but we cannot support Augustus to realize his ambitions, which means that a new power will emerge in Eastern Europe."

"Don't worry, he won't succeed."

"Why?"

Li Junwei smiled and explained: "Because Augustus was not the first king with such ambitions. In fact, all the guys who became kings of Poland wanted to strengthen the monarchy's power, but they failed without exception. In terms of strength and prestige, King Sobesky was far superior to him. Sobesky was the commander of resisting Tsarist Russia and Ottomans, and also had the reputation of saving Europe. But so what? All his practice of concentrating power was refuted by the nobles.

These nobles who were not good at doing anything but doing anything are very good at restricting the royal power, and they are even more tormenting. A great hero like Sobesky has been addicted to palaces, wine and art in recent years. His ambitions have long been worn out by the nobles."

After hearing Li Junwei's words, Li Junhua looked at the other participants, looked around for a week, but did not stand up to refute directly. He asked again: "What do you think?"

"This is a good suggestion, spend a small amount of money to do big things." Chen Ping took the lead in saying that as the prime minister, he knew the emperor too well. The emperor was never afraid of spending money, but he had a focus on spending money. He liked to invest money in domestic construction, especially emerging industries such as railways, and was unwilling to spend too much diplomatically.

This is also one of the reasons why the emperor was willing to let King Yu preside over the empire's foreign strategy. King Yu was even more stingy. His foreign strategy not only cost less, but sometimes even made money.

"Maybe I have to send someone to contact me, it is best not to contact me official." Zhao Wenting said that he was worried that Augustus would not succeed, and public contact would anger the future Polish king.
Chapter completed!