Chapter 627: Request from Charles

Kobutsel and Count Rheinphels exchanged glances once again, each discerning a shared intention in the other's eyes.

To tell the truth, the "Rhine-Saone Treaty" had brought nothing of what Austria had wanted.

At the start of the agreement, Austria as a whole had believed it could use this opportunity to penetrate the French market with its products and, by extension, dominate the Southern German market.

France had also allowed Austria to impose quite high protective tariffs on its own leading industries.

Little did they know, the pace of industrial development in France was astonishing; whether it was production scale, quality, or cost, it didn't take long for France to completely surpass Austria, let alone the other Southern German states.

Even Austria's traditional strengths, such as iron smelting and glass manufacturing, started faltering under French competition.