Chapter 547

Not only did the Government of Austria take action, but the European governments also joined in this feast.

It was true that Jewish capitalists attracted hatred, but this was only a secondary factor. After all, capitalists these days were birds of a feather, and no one was more noble than anyone else.

The essence of the anti-Semitic movement has always been the same:

First, the intensification of social contradictions. In order to consolidate the rule, the rulers adopted the method of shifting contradictions;

Second, they had no money in their pockets and couldn't afford the usury of the Jewish capitalists. The rulers didn't want to bear the notoriety of reneging on their debts, so they used the name of anti-Semitism to renege on their debts.

Religious factors and the hatred of Jewish capitalists were also one of the reasons for the outbreak of the anti-Semitic movement, but in modern times, it became a secondary factor.

Of course, there were exceptions. Sometimes the Jewish capitalists were really courting death. They often had no bottom line in the face of profit, and it also caused a lot of anti-Semitic movements, but this was mostly local.

The essence of this anti-Semitic movement was very simple. The Government of France had no money, and other European countries followed suit.

Take the Tsarist government for example. After the outbreak of the anti-Semitic movement in Europe, Alexander III confiscated a large number of Jewish capitalists' property, especially the banking industry, and nationalized all those with a Jewish capital background.

Well, the latter one was added by the bureaucrats.

The main reason was that more than a decade ago, the Russian Empire had just carried out a huge anti-Semitic movement. Now the Jewish capitalists in Russia had not had time to recover, and there was not enough property for everyone to divide.

Left with no other choice, everyone could only try to expand the scale.

Other industries were not easy to move, and it involved the problem of workers' employment. If it was not handled well, it could easily cause a big mess. In addition to greed, the bureaucrats were also afraid of trouble.

The only exception was the banks, which held a large amount of cash. With the opportunity of nationalization, everyone completely embezzled a part of the cash, and then pushed the blame to the Jewish capitalists.

If the means were clever, after a period of time, they could find another excuse to sell the nationalized banks to private capital at a low price, and then get a good fee.

As for the other capitalists involved, it would depend on whether their backing was strong enough.

Naturally, the strong backing was the return of the property. After a bribe, it was even possible to join the carve-out team and take the opportunity to annex the shares left by the Jews.

If one's background was not strong enough, then one could only regret it. Being able to protect one's own interests was considered lucky. If one was unlucky, then it would be confiscated.

The Tsarist government really had no table manners. Not only were the domestic capitalists affected and suffered heavy losses, but even foreign investors like Britain and France were no exception.

The party lasted until, after the loss of Austrian capital, the Government of Vienna protested to the Tsarist government, and Alexander III intervened.

However, that was something that would happen half a year later. Many of the unlucky ones in the early stages would already have grass growing on their graves.

In comparison, Austria had better table manners. The unlucky ones were the criminal Jewish capitalists, and the law-abiding ones were able to escape.

Although there were very few who knew their place, that was not important. It was already very difficult for them not to kill all of them at once and deliberately expand the scope of the incident to implicate more innocent people.

…

Winter passed and spring came. The earth began to recover and trees began to sprout.

The rows of trees in the Vienna Palace had already sprouted new branches, green leaves, and fragrant red buds, which indicated the prosperity of Austria's country.

This beautiful time was just like Franz's mood at the moment.

Looking at the income report handed over by the Prime Minister, Franz finally understood why the European countries loved to be anti-Semitic and why they didn't wipe out all the Jews.

It was not that they didn't want to, but they couldn't bear to. These were good leeks that could be harvested once every few decades, and each time, they could reap great profits.

If they were all harvested in one go, what would happen if their descendants ran out of money? In a sense, this was also a sustainable pig farming model.

The confiscated cash was not too much, less than 200 million DND. However, the seized enterprises, factories, real estate such as land and houses, bonds, stocks, and other assets were an astronomical figure.

According to the preliminary estimates of the Government of Vienna, the value of these assets added up to more than 3.5 billion DND.

Of course, many of these were virtual assets that existed in theory.

For example, a listed company's market value was 30 million DND, but its actual assets might only be 10 million DND, or even only a few million DND.

No one could say for sure how much of that was true. Franz didn't know how the Government of Vienna calculated the valuation.

If they were to sell it, they wouldn't be able to sell it for so much money in a short period of time. They might not even be able to sell half of it.

No financial group in the world could fork out so much money. Even the Royal Financial Group that Franz created didn't have the capability to do so.

After all, wealth and cash were two different concepts. In terms of theoretical assets, Franz, Queen Victoria, and Alexander III were definitely the top three in the world. Each of them had 10 billion DND.

However, these assets were only in name. In theory, Franz's greatest wealth was the Royal Territory, which had an area of up to 10 million square kilometers. Compared to this, the Royal Financial Group was nothing.

The colony in Britannia was the Queen's property, and its value was impossible to estimate.

It was the same for Alexander III. The Russian Empire was large enough, and Tsar's nominal land was up to 10 million square kilometers. Even if the land was mostly frozen soil, it was still valuable.

If this theoretical wealth could be turned into cash, all the financial groups in the world combined would be nothing compared to it.

In total, more than 5,000 Jewish capitalists were involved, accounting for 68.5% of all Jewish capitalists.

Without a doubt, these 5,000 people were mostly small and medium-sized capitalists. Those who were at the top of the world of capital were still the minority, and it was precisely these minority that held the most wealth.

According to the statistics, the top ten tycoons all had assets of more than 100 million DND. The top 100 people had assets of more than 2.5 billion DND, and the lowest assets were more than a million.

Needless to say, these people who were singled out were dead meat. Although they were dealt with in accordance with the law, their rich assets were the motivation for the Government of Vienna to expose their dark history.

Franz didn't believe that so much money was legally obtained, no matter whether others believed it or not.

The House of Habsburg could be compared to the total assets of a royal family that had been passed down for hundreds of years before Franz took over was less than 100 million DND.

This had nothing to do with hard work. It was more about the productivity of the times. There was only so much wealth in society. No matter how good one was at doing business, the upper limit would still be there.

There were too many files at the back, and Franz was too lazy to flip through them. Anyway, he wasn't a judge, and it wasn't his job to judge criminals.

Putting down the documents in his hands, Franz asked curiously, "According to the current laws and regulations, how will these people be sentenced?"

Prime Minister Carr replied with a bitter smile, "In fact, there are far more people who are suspected of committing crimes. This list is already the result of the government's leniency.

For those whose crimes are less serious, we only gave them a fine and didn't include them.

According to the current laws, these people on the list are at least ten years old. More than half of them can be sentenced to hanging.

This is only based on the information provided by the informant, and the results of other crimes are not investigated in depth. Otherwise, I doubt that these people would be able to live. "

Hearing this answer, Franz was also shocked. Isn't this the real-life version of "nine out of ten capitalists are killed, and there is still one who escaped the net"?

Franz had reason to believe that the people who escaped were not because of how clean their background was, nor how lucky they were. It was more likely that too many people were involved.

In order to reduce the political impact, the Government of Vienna couldn't execute tens of thousands of people at once. They could only catch "fat sheep" and "guilty of the most serious crimes" to deal with.

As for why this was so, it was necessary to ask Austria's law. Compared to later generations, the legal punishment in this day and age was much more severe.

After all, the aristocracy was in power now. Naturally, they wouldn't be lenient to the bourgeoisie who might threaten their status.

A simple example was hoarding in Austria. If the circumstances were serious, all property could be confiscated, and there would be a head hanging.

Bribing a government official, regardless of the seriousness of the circumstances, the bribed official and the briber were both guilty of the same crime, and the prison term for both was the same.

If you bribed multiple officials, it would be tragic. The prison term could be accumulated, and there was no limit.

If the officials who had bribed were sentenced to death in the future, then there was no need to say that they would be directly sentenced to a hundred years in prison.

Was this fair?

It was definitely not fair, but the world was not fair to begin with.

When it came to power struggles and to curb the spread of corruption, Franz still chose to acquiesce.

Moreover, there was a backdoor. If you wanted to escape punishment, you had to report it.

If he reported the officials he had bribed, he could have his sentence reduced. In theory, reporting a few more offsets the crime, and you could be released from prison after paying a fine.

Affected by this, basically every major anti-corruption case would involve a large group of people.

In Austria, whether it was bribery or bribery, it was a high-risk activity. So far, the highest prison term was 3,416 years.

Franz asked with some apprehension, "How many officials were involved?"

Now he was really afraid. If there was another shocking news, the executioner's performance this year would be through the roof.

There was no other way. The dignity of the law had to be maintained. If they were found out, they had to be dealt with. Franz wouldn't use amnesty for these scumbags.

Prime Minister Carr lowered his head and replied, "As of now, there have been 4,864 public officials who have successively surrendered to the anti-corruption bureau and handed over 13.47 million DER.

The exact number of officials involved is still under investigation. There have been many criminals who have reported to the government, but there is no way to directly file a case due to the lack of evidence. "

Hearing this answer, Franz breathed a sigh of relief.

There were many people involved and the amount of money involved was also large, but the average amount of bribes was not large. Coupled with the reduction of their sentences by surrendering, these guys could mostly be dealt with internally.

Confiscation of the dirty money, dismissal of public officials, and punishment of voluntary labor for varying periods of time would be over. At least there was no need to go on a killing spree.

As for the diehards who were currently being investigated, there was nothing to say. They could be used as a warning to others.

Franz had a hunch that these guys who refused to confess were mostly guilty of the most heinous crimes. Most people wouldn't resist when they saw the truth.

"Investigate! No matter who is involved, investigate to the end. This time, no criminals will be tolerated. "

With so many Jewish capitalists arrested, no government officials would be implicated. No one would believe it.

Not counting the small shrimps who surrendered, the big fish behind them had yet to surface. Franz didn't believe in the Jewish capitalists as they had no foundation in Austria.

The Government of Vienna's action was successful because they were caught off guard. No one knew that the government would use the law as a weapon.

After all, Austria didn't have either of the two core elements of the anti-Semitic movement. The Government of Vienna didn't need to divert social conflicts, nor did it encounter financial difficulties.

According to past experience, the European anti-Semitic movement had a violent start, and the Government of Vienna didn't have any warning before taking action.

In particular, the government also strengthened the police force to stop the anti-Semitic actions of civil extremists, which made many people feel at ease.

This illusion of experience misled the judgment of the Jewish capitalists. The Government of Vienna suddenly issued an arrest order without any warning, leaving them no time to react.

The power of money was strong, but no matter how much money it was, it was not worth mentioning in front of the state machine.

The relationships and networks that had been built up in the past were now broken. At least until now, Franz hadn't encountered anyone who pleaded for the Jewish capitalists.

Not being launched didn't mean that it didn't exist. If the involvement was light, they could take the opportunity to kick the Jewish capitalists away and escape. Those who were already tied together would find it difficult to escape at this time.

Franz couldn't sleep if he didn't pull out the Jewish capitalists buried in the government.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

…