Chapter 337

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

On March 28, a rebellion broke out in the Dalmatian region. Fortunately, the Government of Austria did not have to send troops to suppress it, and the locals suppressed the revolution themselves.

Looking at the information in his hand, Franz felt as if a group of grass mud horses were running through his heart. The rebellion was initiated by the local government's self-defense force, and it was the local capitalists and serfs who helped the government suppress the revolution.

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

The rebellion was mainly caused by the local aristocrats' dissatisfaction with the government's reform that harmed their interests. Under the instigation of nationalists, they foolishly declared a revolution.

This kind of idiot was not uncommon in ancient and modern times, and Franz was no longer surprised.

Every year, there would be a few aristocrats in Austria who drank too much and declared independence. After sobering up, they immediately revoked their independence and ran to the emperor to ask for forgiveness.

Being born on the European continent, these idiots were lucky. As long as they did not cause serious consequences, the emperor usually would not do anything to them.

It was normal for serfs to help suppress the aristocratic rebellion. The Government of Vienna announced the abolition of serfdom and gave them personal freedom, but these aristocrats wanted to continue to enslave them.

Needless to say, they must be suppressed. This was a fight for freedom.

However, this group of aristocrats armed their serfs to make a revolution, which was why Franz thought they were idiots.

The only thing that surprised Franz was that the local capitalists actually stood with the Government of Vienna and helped suppress the rebellion. They did it so quickly that it looked like it was premeditated in advance.

Even Franz suspected that the aristocrats and the capitalists might have agreed to a revolution together. As a result, the capitalists saw that things could not be done and sold them out.

Dalmatia's presence in Austria was very low. It was a dispensable frontier province with a backward economy and no strategic value. It was easy to be ignored.

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

"Your Royal Highness, the Dalmatian rebellion was caused by the local government and aristocratic officials. They wanted to gain greater power under the banner of loyalty to the royal family.

After their interests were damaged, these bastards actually wanted to unite with Trieste to rebel and prepare to establish a country with the rebels in the Regions of Italy.

But they forgot that the National Guards in their hands were loyal to the Empire, and the rebellion was doomed to failure from the beginning.

Moreover, their geographical location determined that they were heavily dependent on the Empire economically. Once independence was achieved, the local area would immediately decline.

For the sake of their own interests, it is inevitable that the capitalists will part ways with them. "

Franz nodded thoughtfully. It was more likely that the capitalists felt that the success rate of rebellion was too low, and they couldn't get more benefits, so they betrayed their comrades.

As to why the Dalmatian nobles were so stupid, Franz could only attribute it to the fact that there were too many ignorant and incompetent good-for-nothings, and that they were blinded by greed and lost their reason.

"Then first send people to confiscate the property, and at the same time, reward the meritorious officials who participated in suppressing the rebellion, and immediately implement the abolition bill.

Exempt the meritorious capitalists from this year's taxes, take out a part of the land and grant it to the serfs who participated in suppressing the rebellion, and give a pension to the families of the dead and wounded. "

(The abolition of serfdom also took time to implement and could not be completed immediately, so the serfs had not been completely liberated.)

Franz was setting up a model. No matter what their purpose or motivation was, helping the Empire to suppress the rebellion must be encouraged.

In particular, the rewards for the serfs must be publicized, and it would be best if everyone in Austria knew about it.

At this time, Franz had decided to distribute land and mobilize the workers and peasants to fight against the reactionary aristocrats and capitalists. Let's see who would follow them in rebellion.

"Your Royal Highness, this is not good. Just give the capitalists rewards. We have given the serfs freedom, there is no need to give them land!"

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

This meant that if the emperor obtained the weapon to destroy the aristocratic class, the monarch's power would be further expanded, and the aristocracy's political voice would be limited.

"Prime Minister, this is not expedient. The rebellion in the Regions of Italy has not yet been eliminated, and those bastards want to take advantage of the situation.

A rebellion may break out in Prague at any time, the Poles in the Galicia region 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 catch these rebels in one fell swoop. Naturally, we must reward the meritorious officials, so what's a little bit of land for this? "

There was no doubt that Franz was pretending to be confused. In any case, as long as the current situation was a matter, the aristocrats had no reason to object.

If there were no aristocrats participating in the rebellion, then Franz would really not be able to deal with them. Now that some aristocrats had rebelled, as the regent, he had reason to doubt the loyalty of the aristocrats.

In this context, it could be explained that he supported the serfs who were about to obtain the status of free people.

These people were illiterate, and their concept of judging right and wrong was very simple, black and white.

As long as they were given land and had enough to eat, they would be able to live. In the coming decades, these people would be the most loyal subjects of Franz, and even their descendants would be the supporters of the Hapsburg family.

Any ruler needed a foundation to support their rule. The current foundation of the Austrian Empire was the aristocracy, and it would not change for a long time. Franz just added a farmer behind the aristocracy.

These problems were only considered by politicians. Most of the aristocrats would not think so far ahead. Even if they said it, no one would believe it.

After hesitating for a moment, Prime Minister Felix chose to give in.

Unlike in history, he was now appointed by Franz, and his right to speak in the government was not that high. If he wanted to use the power of the Prime Minister to fight against the power of the monarch like in history, he should stop dreaming.

Seeing that the Prime Minister had acquiesced, Franz naturally would not be aggressive anymore. It was fine as long as he achieved his goal. It was not easy for him to be a scapegoat every day, so it was better to be respectful.

Then the Austrian version of "beating the local tyrants and dividing the land" 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.