Holy Roman Empire

Since suppressing the Vienna Rebellion, the Austrian government has been expanding its military and preparing for war. In addition to suppressing the revolution, it is also worried that foreign forces will take advantage of it.

Sometimes Franz really wanted to send the army directly, directly to the aristocrats and capitalists who might rebel, and then carry out a land reform to solve all problems.

It's a pity that this is impossible. Even the nobles who participated in the rebellion will be handed over to the noble council for disposal, let alone those who have not yet rebelled?

So far, there are only 12 rebel nobles who have been executed by the noble council. They were charged with killing nobles by despicable means in an attempt to get away with their titles!

Well, Franz has nothing to say. This is the result of Archduke Louis's efforts in the noble council because of the pain of losing his son.

Of course, Franz didn’t do nothing. At least the property of the 28 aristocrats who were determined to be extinct was temporarily confiscated. All offshoot heirs were not allowed to inherit the title until they proved that they had nothing to do with their murder.

Unfortunately, this is an unsolvable question. As long as an application for inheriting the title is submitted, there will be a motive for committing the crime.

You did not participate in the rebellion, did your relatives and friends participate?If it doesn't work, your neighbors participated, or maybe someone you know participated, but you can't get rid of your suspicion.

Franz directly gave the aristocratic parliament the right to affirm that they were cleared of suspicion. As long as the aristocratic councilors who can reach the eighth floor believe that you are not suspected, and you are the legal first heir, you can inherit the title.

The relationship among the nobles is too chaotic, there are a lot of relatives who have the right to inherit, everyone has the problem of pink eye disease, and internal problems are difficult to settle.

As long as there is a problem with the first heir, it will be the second heir's turn for titles and fiefdoms.

Because of the marriage of nobles, the first heir and the second heir are often not from the same family, and they may even be hostile, which is even more difficult.

For those who do not have a group of relatives and friends, it is difficult for them to inherit the title, but it is not difficult at all to prevent others from inheriting the title.

……

"Your Highness, if all the major Italian states join the war, Marshal Radeski may not have enough troops. Should we call in another reinforcement from another place?" Felix suggested.

"The Italian states are not monolithic, and they are forced to send troops out of public opinion, and each of them is still bargaining.

Now it's the Sardinians who jump out, and I guess the Sardinians will attack only if the Revolutionary Party agrees to merge with them.

In the Italian area, we have already deployed [-] troops, plus these [-] reinforcements, not to mention defeating the enemy, but dealing with the enemy for a period of time is not a problem.

The current domestic situation is also unstable. If we continue to deploy troops, if rebellions break out in other areas, we will be exhausted.

You can tell Marshal Radesky not to worry about the gains and losses of a city or a place. As long as you can win in the end, it doesn't matter if you lose some places now. "

Franz still resisted the temptation to quickly defeat the Italians and chose to play steadily.

Historically, Marshal Radeski had no preparations. He was able to continue fighting even when the Vienna government ordered to abandon Italy. Now there is no reason to lose if he receives reinforcements.

Franz had no idea about the combat effectiveness of the Austrian army, but thinking about the record of the Italian army reassured him.

Austria and Italy have fought so many times in history, except for the fact that the original owner personally commanded and the French-Italian allied forces lost the PK. At other times, Austria beat Italy, including the extremely decadent Austro-Hungarian Empire, which can also beat Italy .

Chapter 48 Lure the Enemy Deep

In the Lombardy region, the situation is very unfavorable to Austria. The Italian-Austrian war is definitely not as simple as recorded in the history books. There are bourgeois and aristocratic rebellions inside, and enemy troops are suppressing the border outside.

The reinforcements sent by the Vienna government were suppressing the rebellion in the Venice area at this time. Only one Austrian division arrived at the front line. Marshal Radeski now has less than 3 total troops at his disposal.

This number is double that of the same period in history, otherwise, it would have been the same as in history, retreating from the Milan area in despair.

After carefully looking at the map on the desktop and considering the current international situation, Marshal Radesky made a very surprising decision at the military meeting.

"Order the troops to prepare, we will abandon the city of Milan on April 4!"

"What? Your Excellency Marshal, are you sure this is not a joke?" General Victor asked in disbelief

"General Viktor, I'm very sure what I'm doing!" Marshal Radesky said without changing his expression.

"But Marshal, we are not at the point where we have to retreat now. Once the rebellion in the Venice area is suppressed, our reinforcements will arrive. There is no problem blocking the Kingdom of Sardinia!" General Victor questioned.

This is not Victor's doubt alone. Many officers present found it difficult to accept. Why retreat when they can win?

"It's very simple, we can block the attack of the Kingdom of Sardinia, but in the face of internal and external troubles, we have no way to defeat the enemy's ability.

The rebels in Lombardy have colluded with the Kingdom of Sardinia. If the two sides confront each other for a long time, the rebellion will continue.

This also involves political and economic aspects. In short, the Vienna government has authorized me to deal with the Italian issue with full power. You just need to execute the order! " Marshal Radesky explained coldly

Abandoning Lombardy would definitely put a lot of pressure on him, and it would even cause a series of chain reactions. Under normal circumstances, no general would be willing to bear this kind of responsibility.

Marshal Radeski's daring to do this has nothing to do with the order from the Vienna government. As long as the final victory is achieved, he doesn't care about the gains and losses of a city or a place.

In his view, this is the high level of the Vienna government who has also discovered the crisis in the Italian theater. If the problem cannot be resolved as soon as possible, then the Papal State, the Principality of Tuscany, and the Kingdom of Naples will all rush forward.

To deal with the Kingdom of Sardinia and the rebels alone, Marshal Radeski's troops are still sufficient. Once these states all participate in the war, it will be dangerous.

Instead of this, it is better to give up the Lombardy region first. The Sardinian Kingdom has occupied these territories, and the other three Italian states will not participate in the war.

Anyway, they declared war out of public opinion. The main armies of several states have not yet been dispatched, and all the volunteers who are here are spontaneously organized by the people.

If the Kingdom of Sardinia occupied these areas and the people confessed, even if it was out of envy, jealousy and hatred, they would not send troops to fight for the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Internal strife will break out without foreign aggression, and the internal conflicts of the Italian states are also not small. Now it is only the needs of the politicians to transfer the hatred of the people to Austria.

But this situation cannot continue. Anything can be deceived, but the stomach cannot be deceived. People always have to eat.

The economic crisis is still going on, and there are many unemployed people in Italy. If this problem cannot be solved, conflicts will still erupt.

In addition to the Italians, the attitude of Britain and France is also a problem.

The French hope that Lombardy and Venice can establish independent states. While driving away Austria, they do not want Italy to be unified.

The British hope for a unified Italy that can check and balance France and Austria at the same time, but they don't want to see Austria collapse.

While weakening Austria, it is also necessary to preserve Austria's strength, which can block the expansion of the Russians.

In this context, once the Kingdom of Sardinia occupies Lombardy, the two sides will definitely merge, and the position of the French will change, from current support to hostility.

The support of the British for the Kingdom of Sardinia will only stay in words. They will let the Kingdom of Sardinia accept it as soon as it is good. Unfortunately, the Kingdom of Sardinia, which has been kidnapped by public opinion, can only continue to fight.

After shrinking the front line, Marshal Radeski had more troops, but the front line of the Kingdom of Sardinia was stretched.

The newly occupied Lombardy cannot provide them with supplies, and they mainly rely on domestic transportation. This is definitely a pressure on the Kingdom of Sardinia.

While fighting Austria, they had to feed the people of Lombardy, otherwise they would rebel if they were hungry.

Without the substantial support of Britain and France, three less states joined the war.The outcome of this war is already doomed. The Kingdom of Sardinia has limited national power and cannot compare with Austria at all.

Marshal Radeski is confident that with the strength in his hands, he can defeat the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and then recover the Lombardy region, or even burn the war to the mainland of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

From a strategic point of view, this time it is not a retreat, but to lure the enemy deep.

Of course, Franz sent him a private letter, asking him to eliminate all the rebellious parties in Austrian Italy as much as possible, which is why he made up his mind.

The word "rebellious party" is not so simple. Marshal Radeski clearly refers to the capitalists and nobles in the Italian region. Without the exploitation of the people by these people, how can there be rebellion?

Lombardy was merged into the Kingdom of Sardinia. It is estimated that most of the nobles and capitalists will fall to the Kingdom of Sardinia, and they will be liquidated after the war. These people can become members of the rebellious party.

Using their property to buy people's hearts, Austrian Italy will soon stabilize. After all, the people of Lombardy are Germans who entered Italy. Without the obstacles of the upper class, it is much easier to carry out national integration.

There are advantages and disadvantages. Marshal Radeski doesn't need to think so much. Anyway, he has already seen the advantages, and he can solve the Italian problem once and for all.

For the final victory, both Lombardy and Venice can temporarily give up, as long as they are finally taken back, he is still the hero of Austria.

In the quiet conference room, a voice rang out from the breakthrough, and a middle-aged general stood up and said, "Your Excellency, Marshal, maybe we can do something, so we can't let the Kingdom of Sardinia occupy Lombardy so easily!"

"Edmund, what's your plan?" Marshal Radesky asked with concern

"Your Excellency, Marshal, since the Lombards welcome the Italians so much, why don't we help promote them so that they have a better impression of the Kingdom of Sardinia!" Lieutenant General Edmund Leopold Friedrich said with a sneer

……

Chapter 49 The low-profile version of "Fighting Local Tyrants" divides the fields

In Austria in 1848, revolution seemed to be the trend of the country, and there was no peace everywhere.

On March 3, a rebellion broke out in the Dalmatia region. Fortunately, before the Austrian government sent troops to suppress it, the locals suppressed the revolution themselves.

Looking at the information in his hands, Franz felt as if a group of horses ran past in his heart. This time the rebellion was initiated by the self-defense army formed by the local government, and it was the local capitalists and serfs who helped the government suppress the revolution.

In other words, the nobles and nationalists launched a rebellion, and the capitalists and serfs suppressed them.

This rebellion was mainly because the local nobles were dissatisfied that the government had harmed their interests in the reform. Under the instigation of nationalists, they foolishly declared a revolution.

This kind of idiot is not uncommon in ancient and modern China and abroad, and Franz is no stranger to it.

Every year, a few nobles in Austria would drink too much alcohol and declare the independence of the country. After waking up, they immediately canceled their independence and ran to the emperor to plead guilty.

Born in continental Europe, these idiots are lucky, as long as there are no serious consequences, the emperor will usually not do anything to them.

It is normal for serfs to help suppress noble rebellions.The Vienna government announced the abolition of serfdom and gave them personal freedom. These nobles actually wanted to continue to enslave them.

Needless to say, it must be suppressed. This is a fight for freedom.

But this group of nobles also armed the serfs in their hands to make a revolution, which is why Franz thinks they are idiots.

The only thing that surprised Franz was that the local capitalists actually stood together with the Vienna government, and even contributed to help suppress the rebellion, and it was so fast, it looked like it was premeditated.

Even Franz suspected that it might be that the nobles and the capitalists agreed that everyone would rise up for a revolution together, but the capitalists saw that they couldn't do anything, so they sold them off.

Dalmatia's sense of presence in Austria is very low. It is a dispensable border province with a backward economy and no strategic value, so it is easily overlooked.

Looking at the bewildered Franz, Prime Minister Felix gave the answer.

"Your Highness, this Dalmatian rebellion was initiated by aristocratic officials of the local government. They wanted to gain greater rights under the banner of being loyal to the royal family.

After their interests were damaged, these bastards actually wanted to unite with Trieste to rebel, and planned to build a country with the rebellion in Italy.

But they forgot that the National Guard in their hands was loyal to the Empire, and the rebellion was doomed from the start.

Moreover, their geographical location determines that they are heavily dependent on the empire economically, and once they become independent, they will decline immediately.

It is an inevitable result for capitalists to part ways with them for their own benefit. "

Franz nodded thoughtfully. It is estimated that the bigger possibility is that the capitalists felt that the success rate of the rebellion was too low and they could not obtain greater benefits, so they sold out their comrades.

Why the nobles in Dalmatia are so stupid, Franz can only attribute it to the lack of reading, too many ignorant idiots, coupled with greed, and loss of reason.

"Then let's send people to raid the house first, and at the same time reward the heroes who participated in suppressing the rebellion, and immediately implement the Abolition of Slavery Act.

The meritorious capitalists will be exempted from taxes this year, and a part of the land will be given to the serfs who participated in the suppression of the rebellion. A pension will be given to the family members of the dead and injured. "

(The bill to abolish serfdom will also take time to implement, and it cannot be completed immediately, so all serfs have not been liberated yet)

Franz is setting a good example. No matter what purpose or motivation they have, this behavior of helping the empire suppress the rebellion must be advocated.

Especially the rewards for serfs must be publicized, and it is best to make everyone in Austria know about it.

At this time, Franz had already decided to redistribute the land, and mobilized workers and peasants to fight against the reactionary nobles and capitalists to see who would rebel with them.

"Your Highness, this is not good, just give rewards to the capitalists, we have already given freedom to those serfs, there is no need to give land any more!"

At this time, Prime Minister Felix stood on his own class standpoint, and he did not want this to happen.

This means that if the emperor acquires the weapon to bring down the aristocracy, the power of the monarch will be further expanded, while the aristocrat's right to speak in politics will be limited.

"Prime Minister, isn't this a matter of expediency? The rebellion in the Italian region has not yet been suppressed, and those few dancers want to take advantage of the fire.

A rebellion could break out in Prague at any moment, the Poles in Galicia are also ready to move, and the ambitious Hungarians are preparing to further divide the country.

Now we need to unite all the forces that can be united, and wipe out these chaotic parties. Naturally, we will reward the heroes. What is it to pay a little land for this? "

There is no doubt that Franz is pretending to be confused.Anyway, as long as the current situation is an issue, the nobles have no reason to object.

If there were no nobles to join the rebellion, then Franz really took them all.Now that some nobles have rebelled, as the regent crown prince, he has reason to doubt the loyalty of the nobles.

In this context, it makes sense for him to support the serfs who are about to obtain the status of freedmen.

These people are all illiterate, and the concept of judging right from wrong is very simple, black or white.

Just give them land and let them have enough food.Then in the next few decades, these people will be Franz's most loyal subjects, and even their descendants will be supporters of the Habsburg family.

Any ruler needs to support the foundation of their rule.At present, the foundation of the Austrian Empire is the nobility, which will not change for a long time. Franz just added a peasant after the nobility.

These issues only need to be considered by politicians. The vast majority of nobles would not think so far, even if they said it, no one would believe it.

After hesitating for a while, Prime Minister Felix still chose to back down.

Unlike in history, he is now the prime minister appointed by Franz, and he does not have that high voice in the government.If you want to use the power of phase to counter the power of the monarchy as in history, you should stop dreaming.

Seeing that the Prime Minister had acquiesced, Franz would naturally no longer be aggressive.It is enough to achieve the goal. It is not easy for others to help take the blame every day, so it is better to respect it.

Then the Austrian version of "dividing the land by beating the local tyrants" began. No, it was "suppressing the rebellion and dividing the land". Those who did not participate in the rebellion naturally did not have to worry about being divided.

Chapter 50 Frankfurt Conference

On March 1848, 3, at the initiative of the bourgeois liberals of Baden and Württemberg, a conference of liberals from various states was held in Heidelberg.