Through a series of personnel changes, Franz had actually taken control of the Royal Guards. It was unknown whether Grand Duke Louis really didn't understand, or he was just pretending. Either way, he didn't have any reaction.
Franz felt that it was more likely that he was pretending. There weren't many Royal Guards, only one regiment, but they were responsible for protecting the Royal Family.
The actual control of this army had always been in the hands of the Vienna Palace. Grand Duke Louis, the nominal commander, didn't dare to make any big moves here.
Franz's training of the Royal Guards was in fact tacitly approved by the Vienna Palace. Before the operation, he also received a warrant from his uncle, Ferdinand I.
The House of Habsburg was already preparing for him to become a regent. If there were no accidents, he would become a member of the Regent Council in three years. After a few years of training, the Regent Council would be dissolved, and the Crown Prince would become a regent.
Ferdinand I didn't want to lose his power, but unfortunately, he suffered from epilepsy. On average, he had more than 20 seizures a day, so he couldn't handle government affairs at all. Supporting Franz as regent was one of his measures.
Well, Franz admitted that he relied on bluffing. This uncle of his was often not in his right mind, and there were often some ridiculous things that happened. However, he attached great importance to the foundation of the House of Habsburg, and occasionally had persecutory delusions.
This created an opportunity for Franz. Ferdinand I often made shocking statements. Whatever he thought was useful, he turned it into a written document.
In other words, now that Franz had a lot of imperial edicts in his hands, it would depend on the actual situation whether they had legal effect.
If he took them out now, the Regent Council would most likely reject them. However, when necessary, he could directly issue these orders without going through the Regent Council and become established facts.
Although the Government of Austria was actually controlled by the Regent Council, on the surface, no one announced that Ferdinand I had lost his ability to govern. The Emperor's orders were still valid.
The news of the January Revolution quickly spread across the European continent. When the news reached Vienna, people were only surprised for a while, and then acted as if nothing had happened.
When the news reached Paris, however, a change took place.
From 1840 to 1848, after the Conservative Party leader Gizo was elected as the Prime Minister, he let the capitalists enter the government and abused his power to arbitrarily approve business contracts to please the financial groups.
Corruption and bribery had become the norm in the government, with all kinds of scandals emerging one after another. The people gradually lost confidence in the government.
Now, the only supporters of the July Dynasty were the bankers, the stock exchange brokers, the railroad kings, the big mine owners, the big forest owners, and the big landowners.
In 1847, the economic crisis spread to France, and famine riots occurred all over the country. Austria introduced the Labor Protection Act, which ignited the workers' strike movement.
In this context, the news of the January Revolution spread, and the people of Paris, who were full of revolutionary spirit, were naturally influenced. The foundation of the revolution was already in place, and now all that was left was a spark.
The decadent July Dynasty, however, turned a deaf ear to all this. The banquet organized by the bourgeoisie was stopped by the government, and the event originally scheduled for January 19, 1848, was postponed to February 22.
Looking at the information in his hands, Franz heaved a sigh of relief. History had not changed because of his butterfly effect. The advantage of having foresight could still be used.
However, he began to communicate with the military generals more frequently, including the governor-general, Franz, who was in charge of a region. He also kept in touch with them through letters.
Inadvertently, Franz also revealed his concern about the situation in the country. He also mentioned the January Revolution in Sicily and boldly predicted that it would cause a chain reaction on the European continent.
Whether or not he could attract their attention, Franz could only leave it to fate and do his best. He could not just say that there would be a revolution in Austria, could he?
If this were to spread, he would either be shocked or treated as a lunatic.
Considering the current situation of the House of Habsburg, Franz felt that the latter situation was more likely.
Now, Franz fully displayed his nature as a military enthusiast. He inspected the training of the army around Vienna, and the more he saw, the more disappointed he became.
"Albrecht, do you have any way to improve the combat effectiveness of the soldiers in a short period of time? I'm talking about the City Defense Army!" Franz asked cautiously.
"Franz, this is very simple. As long as you can get the noble officers to leave and promote a group of capable people to be officers, the combat effectiveness of the City Defense Army can be improved immediately!" Albrecht Friedrich Rudolf said after thinking for a while.
Franz said helplessly, "Albrecht, this joke is not funny at all. If I could get them to leave, I wouldn't have to talk nonsense with you here!
I mean, is it possible to gather them together and train them so that they can play a little role at critical times? "
That's right, Franz did have high hopes for the City Defense Army. These nobles seemed to be a cancer that affected the combat effectiveness of the army in normal times, but it was different in times of emergency.
Not to mention anything else, at least in terms of loyalty, they were still reassuring. Once the revolution broke out in Vienna, using them to suppress the rebellion would be more reliable than using civilian officers.
The only pity was that their ability didn't seem to be reassuring. Even if they were suppressing a group of mobs, Franz was still skeptical.
"How about this, I'll give you the position of commander of the City Defense Army. I can't do anything to them anyway!" Albrecht said indifferently.
Franz thought for a while and said, "I'll do it. They're just a bunch of trash anyway. Even if they can't be trained, the situation won't get any worse. However, you should keep the position of commander for yourself. I still need your support in the future. "
"Franz, what do you plan to do? There are many noble officers in the City Defense Army that are idling around, and there are many implications. You can't act recklessly! "Albrecht said with some worry.
"Albrecht, do I look like someone who would act recklessly?" Franz asked back.
Albrecht shook his head. Franz had left a good impression on everyone.
Franz continued, "It's time for me to enter the army. I'll apply for it later. For the next three months, I'll be serving in the City Defense Army.
You can throw those idling officers over and have them undergo military training with me. Of course, those who are over 28 years old and have a name in the army can be excluded. "
He finally remembered that he was 13 years old and was already a colonel in the Austrian army. If he didn't get rid of this group of people, the nobles who wanted to join in the fun might form a "children's regiment" for him. There were mythical "young officers" in the Austrian army who hadn't been weaned yet.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
