War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Vienna, Chancellery.

Although the two old foxes kept talking about Anselm, no one cared about the life and death of the plutocrat.

The so-called factories in Bohemia were actually a group of mines. The mining industry at that time was a high-risk industry, and of course the profits were very generous.

But the problem is that it's high stakes and has a bad reputation, often dealing with difficult problems.

In fact, Franz once imagined using prisoners to replace laborers in the mines. The reality is that it is very easy for these people to get together to riot, blow up the mines, and kill their companions in endless cases.

But the most important point is inefficiency. These people have neither the skills nor the desire to complete the work itself.

Due to the rapid development of industry in the Austrian Empire, a large amount of ore and coal were needed at this time, and these prisoners were obviously not enough.

There are many mines in the mountains of the Austrian Empire, but the output is seriously insufficient, so new mines must be opened. But if it is directly operated by the royal family, it will inevitably cause a lot of problems and will also get a bad reputation.

It is naturally better to let others do this kind of thing. At this time, Metternich mentioned it to Solomon because he wanted him to take the blame.

This is indeed a big business, which can bring a lot of profits to Solomon, and at the same time, it can also solve the urgent problems of Austrian industrial development.

But doing so will undoubtedly promote to the outside world that the Rothschild family is just the lackeys of the Habsburg family, and will be under a lot of pressure from all sides, which will also affect his reputation.

Solomon felt that Metternich still hated him for using the debt problem to blackmail the latter, so the former did not directly agree to the proposal.

On the other hand, Hungary's industrial protection law has caused public outrage. Nobles and businessmen continued to claim that they had been robbed in Hungary and asked the Austrian Imperial Government for an explanation.

The humiliating punishment suffered by Anselm Rothschild ignited the anger of other ethnic groups in the Austrian Empire.

This is not because the Rothschild family is very popular, but because everyone needs a breakthrough.

Seeing that the fire was almost burning, Franz proposed to Prime Minister Metternich to abolish the industrial protection law unilaterally enacted by Hungary.

This seems very reasonable to Metternich, and the Hungarian side must be willing to accept it.

But what he said next made him break out in a cold sweat.

"Prime Minister, we should renegotiate tax rates with Hungary."

Franz had been waiting for this day for a long time. In fact, he thought it would be longer, but he didn't expect that the Hungarians would do so much.

In fact, in history, the Hungarians also enacted a very strict industrial protection law, such as imposing heavy taxes on imported goods and establishing protective associations to supervise everyone. Both nobles and commoners must purchase expensive and inferior Hungarian goods.

But it didn't make any waves at the time, because Austria's industry was also very weak and there was nothing to dump.

At this time, Metternich smelled a hint of danger. The kingdom's local taxes were the lifeblood of the Hungarian Parliament. They had the courage to challenge the central government of the Austrian Empire because of this.

"Archduke Franz, I know that you will be a very ambitious monarch, but please wait a moment and don't act too hastily. The former Joseph II was also an ideal king, but in the end he only got the support of the people. betray."

Franz naturally understood what the other party meant, but from several incidents, it seemed that Hungary was rotten to the core. To cure it, he had to cut out the flesh and drain the pus, remove the decay and regenerate muscle.

Of course, Franz would not cut off the strength of a strong man and force Austria to withdraw from the historical stage of hegemony.

"Your Majesty Prime Minister, we cannot act too hastily, but we cannot let things go. Today Hungarians want to protect industry, but tomorrow they may want to protect agriculture. The lives of the Magyars are lives, but the lives of other ethnic groups in our country are not lives either. ?"

"Archduke Franz, you have misunderstood me. We can severely reprimand and warn them. If Hungary enacts such outrageous laws again, it will be punished by the empire."

"So as long as it's not outrageous, they can continue to make new laws?"

Franz asked rhetorically.

"But this is tradition"

"The Austrian Imperial Government still needs the approval of the Regency Council when enacting laws, but the Hungarians can enact a law as long as it is not too outrageous. What is the reason? If a civil war breaks out between Austria and Hungary one day, which side will those weak forces take? ?”

Metternich was at a loss for words. He didn't know how to answer, because his idea was always to prevent the civil war from happening.

"God bless Austria, Archduke Franz, why do you have such an idea?" Metternich's words seemed weak, but in fact they were extremely tough. He was questioning Franz.

"Prime Minister, do you remember the previous crises? The war may not be as far away as you thought." The latter did not flinch, but instead insinuated the Austrian Imperial Government's embarrassing performance in the face of crises.

If Franz had not taken advantage of the situation in the previous crises, the reputation of the Austrian Empire would have been ruined long ago.

Metternich frowned.

"Archduke Franz, if you feel that the power of the Parliament of the Kingdom of Hungary is too great, shouldn't you directly limit their power? Why renegotiate the tax rate instead of the law?"

"Your Majesty Prime Minister, the kingdom's finances and taxes are where their courage lies. As long as they have money and food, the 12 million people in Hungary are their soldiers. If they want weapons, merchants will find ways to send them to them. Therefore, their power must be weakened. "

Metternich nodded with relief. He knew that his student was no ordinary person, but to be honest, he had nothing to do with the Hungarian problem.

Every time, the Hungarian nobles could only be frightened by "liberating the serfs", but Kossuth, who had just come to power, did the opposite. He actually inherited Széchenyi's mantle and demanded the initiative to abolish serfdom. This new enemy made Vienna The government is terrified.

"Archduke Franz, what are you going to do? If you just negotiate tax rates, the Hungarians will not agree to policies that are unfavorable to them."

"My Lord Prime Minister, there have never been only Magyars in the territory of St. Stephen's Crown. There are also Illyrians, Transylvanians and Ruthenians. Strictly speaking, the so-called Kingdom of Hungary should only be Central Hungary. It’s just that area.”

After listening to Franz's words, Metternich couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, because if only Central Hungary was left, it would be a quarter of its original territory, which would be very easy to control.

"But the Magyars would not agree." Metternich said subconsciously.

“Yes, but if any one of the Illyrians, Transylvanians, and Galicians agrees, that’s our victory.

Mr Prime Minister, I also want to tell you some good news, that is the opening of the St Stephen's Crown Line. "

Metternich suddenly realized that the railway was really a good thing. It could project Austria's power to farther areas faster.

Although there is no railway in Hungary, the military built a railway around St. Stephen's Crown on the border of the Kingdom of Hungary under the pretext of supporting Belgrade and homeland defense.

(Illyrians are the collective name for Slovenians, Croatians, and Serbs.)