Right now Prussia has been fully plugged into France's metallurgical system. Even though it's using last-generation technology, it can still utterly crush the entire Germanic Region.
This allowed Prussia's steel products, in less than a year, to seize over half of the Northern Germany market; even Austria has begun smuggling Prussian steel.
In recent years, the various Northern Germany states have all rushed to launch railway projects; Prussia has made a killing just selling rail tracks, and the state finances have finally caught a breather.
Of course, the French companies exporting coal to Prussia are likewise making hefty profits.
But for Austria, this is bad news.
Once they really go to war with Bavaria plus Wurttemberg, Prussia will inevitably loot the house while it's on fire.
Franz II blurted out, "Should we have the Russians help deal with Bavaria?"
