Chapter 0660: The Request of an Ally

Qin Tian's reasoning was undoubtedly somewhat strained. However, this time, Germany had clearly no intention of sharing the benefits extracted from France with Austria-Hungary. Qin Tian believed that Crown Prince Karl had now understood his point.

Crown Prince Karl, of course, grasped the implication of Qin Tian's words, and a flash of both shame and anger crossed his eyes. How dare Qin Tian use the excuse that Austria-Hungary had not deployed its troops in the attack on France to exclude them from any claim to war reparations? It was nothing more than a flimsy pretext, an unjustifiable argument.

Had it been anyone else, Karl's anger would have erupted immediately. But now, standing before the heir to the most powerful empire in the world, this man, younger by only a year, was already one of the most powerful figures in existence. The Crown Prince could not help but feel a mixture of jealousy and, perhaps, an unexpected fear—a fear that he might not have even fully recognized himself.

"Your Majesty," Karl insisted, "even so, I still believe Austria-Hungary has every right to a portion of France's reparations."

Qin Tian, his patience thinning, responded with growing impatience, "Very well, Your Highness. Austria-Hungary may negotiate with France on its own terms. Whatever you manage to secure from them is entirely up to you."

Karl's fury deepened. To him, Qin Tian's suggestion was shameless. For Austria-Hungary to approach France independently, what could they possibly gain? France had already been drained by Austria-Hungary's demands. Moreover, with the slightest hint from Germany, France would simply disregard any requests from Austria-Hungary. To think that they could extract anything substantial from the French was virtually impossible.

Realizing the futility of their efforts to extract reparations from France, Karl turned his attention to Italy. If Austria-Hungary could no longer hope for anything from France, then their focus would have to shift to the Kingdom of Italy. Austria-Hungary had sent hundreds of thousands of troops to fight Italy, and Karl firmly believed that their efforts merited a substantial reward in the peace settlement.

"Very well, Your Majesty," Karl continued, his voice hardening. "Austria-Hungary can forgo its claim to France's reparations, but in the forthcoming negotiations with Italy, Austria-Hungary's interests must be guaranteed. After all, we were the primary force fighting Italy. We sent hundreds of thousands of men into battle, so we should rightfully claim a major share of Italy's reparations."

Qin Tian smiled, understanding that this was Karl's true intent—to secure greater advantages from Italy. However, despite Austria-Hungary's large military commitment, their contribution to the war effort had been nowhere near as significant as the few German divisions that had been involved.

"Your Highness, of course, Austria-Hungary's interests in Italy will need to be secured. However, everything will be subject to the terms of the negotiations," Qin Tian replied.

"Naturally. Your Majesty, I hope that the German Empire will support Austria-Hungary's legitimate demands during the talks," Karl added, clearly confident that Germany would back their claims.

"And what exactly are your demands in the negotiations with Italy?" Qin Tian inquired.

"We seek reparations of five hundred billion kronen from Italy," Karl said. "In addition, we require the cession of Venice and the surrounding regions to Austria-Hungary, as well as Italy's overseas colonies, including Libya, Eritrea, Abyssinia, and Somalia."

Qin Tian's brow furrowed as he processed the Crown Prince's demands. He had to admit that Austria-Hungary's demands were no small matter. Five hundred billion kronen was roughly equivalent to four hundred billion marks. Given that Germany had already set its demand for two hundred billion marks from Italy, Austria-Hungary's total claim would amount to six hundred billion marks. This sum was even greater than the reparations France had to pay. However, Italy was far less wealthy than France. 

Though Italy had been a great power before the war, its late unification and lack of industrial development meant its economy was relatively weak. While Italy had amassed wealth during its unification, particularly through plundering the riches of the Papacy, it was uncertain how much of that wealth remained after several decades. Qin Tian knew that Italy would never be able to pay such a large sum.

Moreover, he estimated that once Italy had paid the two hundred billion marks to Germany, there would be little left to satisfy Austria-Hungary's demands, perhaps only a few tens of billions of marks at best. 

As for the territorial demands, Italy would be forced to cede significant portions of its northernmost territories, including Venice and its surrounding regions, all of which were some of the most developed areas in Italy. With Sicily already claimed by Germany, Italy's territorial losses would be considerable, significantly weakening the country.

Italy's overseas colonies were fewer, consisting mostly of Libya and its territories in East Africa, including Eritrea, Abyssinia, and Somalia. Of these, Libya was the most valuable. Qin Tian's own German Energy Company had begun extracting oil from Libya, and he was well aware that it held Africa's richest reserves. Given Germany's growing demand for oil, Qin Tian had already made up his mind that Libya would become part of Germany's domain.

Although the Middle East had even greater oil reserves, it was farther from Germany. Qin Tian had no intention of relinquishing control over Middle Eastern oil, but Libya's oil would also be seized by Germany.

Now, to think that Karl wanted to claim all of Italy's overseas colonies was audacious in the extreme. No matter what, Qin Tian could not allow that. At most, he would consider conceding Italy's East African colonies to Austria-Hungary, but Libya would remain firmly under German control.

"Your Highness, Austria-Hungary's demands are undeniably excessive. I am certain that the Kingdom of Italy will not acquiesce to them," Qin Tian said, his tone unwavering.

"If they refuse, we will send troops to Italy and obliterate them," Karl declared, his voice cold and resolute.