War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

The Principality of Liege.

Although it didn't last long, the local residents obviously adapted to the new identity of "Austrians" relatively quickly. After all, they were very experienced, so there was no resistance.

On the contrary, they were overjoyed to be able to join the broader market of the German Confederation.

Even though the locals usually communicate in French, it does not hinder their interest in learning another language. Soon, Austrian-language schools (German) were popping up all over the Liège and Namur regions.

Of course knowing French is not a bad thing. At that time, almost everyone in the German aristocracy could communicate in French, which was very useful in some business situations.

Although the French have explicitly restricted trade between local residents and the Principality of Belgium, detours are always more difficult than difficult.

What's more, according to news from Vienna, Austria is ready to start building a railway in the Principality of Liege to connect important cities in the territory with each other.

Most of the appointed government officials of the principality are locals, and they are basically only responsible for taxation and do not care about politics.

The principality of Liege expressed great satisfaction with this. However, Austria seems to have no interest in sending troops to the area, and seems to intend to entrust Prussia to continue to assume the responsibility of defending the territory.

This move was immediately unacceptable to the Principality of Liege. At any rate, the troops under Archduke Albrecht were relatively well-disciplined, but the rest of the German Confederate armies were not even as good as the French.

A group of robbers who can't do anything, but they are also a group of bandits who "do it by themselves and have enough food and clothing".

In order to ensure their own safety, the nobles and businessmen in the Liege area immediately decided to invest in the establishment of their own militia. In fact, similar groups were not uncommon at the time, but the fact that an enclave had its own army was unacceptable to the officials in Vienna.

"If they own the money and the military, wouldn't they become a state within a state again?" Count Latour was obviously insinuating. How could he be indifferent to this when he couldn't even stand the behavior and attitude of the Magyars?

"That's easy. We can send a team of officers there to lead them." A minister said casually.

But as soon as he spoke, he was scolded by Count Korolaf.

"You damn idiot, do you think you can control the situation by sending a few officers? Whose soldiers are eating and using them, they know better than you."

"Everyone, please calm down and listen to me. I think it is a top priority to send troops to garrison there as soon as possible." Metternich said calmly.

He naturally understood the meaning of his old rival's words. And the word militia has always associated Metternich with the French Revolution.

Therefore, he felt that the militia group composed of Liege people was not reliable. If he wanted to stabilize the situation, he needed to mobilize troops from the country first.

Historically, the Habsburg family has always done this, recruiting a group of soldiers from within and then recruiting a group of mercenaries locally. At the same time, he won over the merchants and nobles to stand on the same side as himself.

"So according to your suggestion, how much should I send? Hundreds? Thousands? Or tens of thousands?"

A new problem has arisen, that is, if there are too few soldiers, we cannot defend it, and if there are too many soldiers, we will not be able to make ends meet.

Franz, who was not present, thought that this situation was not too difficult to deal with, and he only needed to maintain a small and capable army. The salaries of the militiamen must be paid uniformly by the empire, and the officers must be selected and appointed by the state.

Local citizens can get the opportunity to serve as officers, but they must go through the process of furthering their studies in Austria.

At the same time, the empire encouraged merchants and nobles to donate to the garrison in exchange for promises that those who fulfilled the agreement would receive official positions and noble status, but they would not be able to hold official positions locally.

The reason is that the Principality of Liege is close to France. Although its terrain advantage is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is obviously impossible to stop a powerful country with just one fortress.

Moreover, with the development of railways, the speed of troop transportation has greatly accelerated. As long as the local troops can withstand it for a few days, they can get a lot of reinforcements and supplements.

At the same time, compared with garrison defense, strengthening intelligence penetration work is the only way to solve local defense. If the enemy's offensive intentions can be known in advance, the empire can make strategic decisions in advance.

Therefore, building railways is more important than garrisoning.

From a global perspective, the Principality of Liege may be invaded by the four bordering countries, namely France and France (the Principality of Belgium is considered a vassal).

If the opponent is France, then Austria can completely use the power of the German Confederation and railway lines to send troops to the front line, and at the same time use Italy, Baden and other places to attack the French mainland.

But considering that the current conflict between Austria and France is not big, on the contrary, both countries have to deal with the suppression of the British. To a certain extent, it can even be said to be sympathetic.

Even if a war breaks out in the future, the battlefield will be chosen in Italy, otherwise the French will face the wrath of more than just Austria.

If the opponent were replaced by Prussia, it would be equivalent to a full-scale civil war in the German Confederation. In this case, the strategic importance of the Principality of Liege is irrelevant, because the decisive battlefield will be fought in the area between Prussia and Austria.

This possibility is the greatest. After all, it is inevitable that Prussia and Austria will clash over the leadership of the German region.

Next is the Netherlands. Compared with the first two heavyweight countries, the Dutch’s military strength can barely threaten the Principality of Liege; but it has no reason to take this path, because it is a way to kill one hundred enemies and lose ten thousand. act of suicide.

The same goes for Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Even since Albrecht led the Austrian army to liberate the area not long ago, the locals may not be able to accept this whimsical approach.

Naturally, Franz's advice came from his father, who had recently raised a pet seal. His proposal was very good for the royal family.

In short, as long as we can collect more taxes and spend less, the empire does not lack a so-called enclave. Of course, he himself is not interested in enclaves, but politics is not determined by one person's preferences.

If Austria does not get any real benefits or only reputation after the war this time, the people and the aristocracy will not agree.

Most people don't care about so-called fame or political benefits, they pay more attention to cost-effective benefits. For example, the empire's acquisition of new territories can immerse the people in joy, which is a simple patriotic enthusiasm.

Although they didn't understand the real meaning behind it, everyone's face was filled with happy smiles.

Franz knew very well that the current time was not suitable for preaching, and it was right to celebrate to the fullest.

Therefore, under his operation, all products of the royal family stepped up promotions within a month. However, this method was still beyond the scope of people's understanding in this era.

They did not understand that this was a commercial method and instead caused chaos in the city. Since the royal family took the lead, other merchants had to follow.

Domestic consumption in Austria has increased sharply during this period, and even citizens from some neighboring countries have heard the news and come here. After all, it is a common human trait to like high-quality and cheap goods, and it does not seem easy for Austrians to win the war.

In the end, people felt the benefits and businessmen made money.

The empire has also weakened the impact of Britain's trade dumping on the European continent to a certain extent, and its own superficial data such as taxation and fiscal revenue have also become very good-looking.

What's more worth mentioning is that the former is also the only country that has remained strong during this small economic crisis. This has given hope to many people at home and abroad, and more residents from the German region are willing to live in Austria.

It is human nature to be strong, and a prosperous and powerful country is even more desirable.