The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven Chapter 6

Back to reality, the quarrel in the Hall of Mirrors is still going on.

"Your Majesty governs the world with the nobles, not with the common people."

As the ruling class of this country, the aristocrats are obviously opposed to the ruled common people. And as members of the ruling class, they expected the emperor to consider the interests of the nobles first.

At the same time, Prince Metternich, Count Kororav, and Baron Brooke were also nobles, and even the emperor himself was on the side that supported joining the German Customs Union.

It's just that those who keep saying that they want to rule the world with the emperor don't represent the interests of the country and the ruling class, but their own interests.

Their purpose is twofold, one is to block the passage of the small nobles and the common people, and the other is to use the power in their hands to collude with domestic and foreign forces and squeeze the people of their country to the maximum.

To put it simply, the attributes of this group of people are bureaucrats, landlords, and compradors.

Although it was said by a group of villains out of selfishness, it sounded fine at the time.

At this time, Austria is no longer the Holy Roman Empire divided into states.

As Emperor Franz II of the Austrian Empire, he has absolute power.

All this thanks to the terminator of the Holy Roman Empire - Napoleon. The Napoleonic Wars greatly weakened the power of the local aristocracy, but inadvertently strengthened the centralization of Austria. In the past, the situation where small nobles dared to support themselves and stand up for themselves and openly confronted the state apparatus has disappeared.

Even the power of the great nobles was greatly restricted. Take Archduke Karl, the largest land noble in the Austrian Empire, as an example. He only had 1,000 private soldiers, and he could not face the powerful army of the Austrian Empire at all.

Other nobles are even less capable of fighting against the country.

So now if any great nobleman jumps out and says that the emperor won't grant it, I will go against it.

Then Earl Latour must be happy to give him a ride.

At this moment, a small figure slipped in from the door. The royal guards saw it, but did not stop it. After all, he is just a child, after all, he is the emperor's favorite grandson, the future master of this country.

The upright Baron Brook said.

"Are you going to govern this country with Your Majesty? You only care about your own interests. Do you know how much open trade can bring to this country? Our national finances have been on the verge of bankruptcy. As long as there is any trouble, this building will be destroyed. It will come crashing down."

"You are alarmist! The number of banks in Vienna is the largest in the world!" (Vienna had the largest number of private banks in the world at that time, but they were very small and most of them were in a half-dead state, which could not be compared with London.)

"But who will lend us money? You? The financial industry in Vienna is almost monopolized now, and the country even has to mortgage part of its tariffs and public power to bankers. Can't you see it?"

"It's a matter of course to pay back the debt. Besides, are banks in other countries willing to lend you money? Don't make so many excuses, and find reasons on yourself."

Baron Brooke has worked hard all his life, with integrity and ability. (Historically, he committed suicide because he was framed and could not prove himself.)

It can be said that Austria's finances have not collapsed until today, which is already a miracle. He absolutely cannot accept the accusations of others.

"Do you know what the financial revenue of the empire was last year?" Baron Brook asked angrily.

Before the other party could answer, Baron Brook continued.

"130,269,877 florins."

"Do you know the total debt of the empire?"

"1,461,224,893 florins."

"Do you know the total amount of interest that the Empire needs to pay for the debt extension last year?"

"101,221,096 florins, you don't know!" Baron Brook roared.

"So what, God bless my emperor, Austria will last forever. Do you think it's all your credit?" The one who spoke was Pitru, the aide of Prince Elthhazi. He wasn't nervous, and even retorted.

This person graduated from the University of Vienna with excellent grades and once aspired to be a judge. But after waiting for 5 years in Vienna, the shortage was not filled.

Finally, under the recommendation of a classmate, he became the staff of Prince Elthhazi's family. His financial situation has improved since becoming Prince Elthhazi's staff. But because of this, he saw more dark sides of this society. It turned out that he was not good enough, but he had no connections.

Those teachers who kept teaching him to obey the law secretly colluded with those officials to sell their officials.

At this time, Austria was under the official system, that is, the emperor directly conferred official positions. But the prerequisite for being awarded an official position is that you can see the emperor, or let the emperor know your existence.

Prince Elthhazi is a great nobleman in Hungary, and even the emperor can't move him easily. Pitrulu has never been ambiguous in his execution of Prince Elthazi's orders. So what about the fall of the Austrian Empire? As long as Hungary is still there, and Prince Ertehazi is still there, he can give him everything he wants.

Seeing that Baron Brook was at a loss for words, Pitru added fuel to the fire again.

"The empire's debts have not been paid off for so many years, why don't you resign! Give the position to those who are capable!"

Baron Brook was furious and wanted to continue the theory. Count Korolov stopped the furious Brook. Although he didn't like this guy, his ability was beyond doubt. As the Minister of Finance, Kororav, naturally no one understands how bad Austria's financial situation is better than him.

There are usually only two ways to increase fiscal revenue, one is to increase revenue, and the other is to reduce expenditure.

In terms of throttling, he has achieved the ultimate. He even withheld military pay and royal annuity, and he would never spend money that could not be spent. Even so, the remaining money is only about 10 million per year. And it is beyond his imagination to use about 10 million yuan of funds every year to solve the debt problem of hundreds of millions of dong.

It's just that Brook has lost his mind now, and was led astray by the opponent.

"Twenty years! As long as I join the German Customs Union, I promise to pay off all the debts of the empire within twenty years."

This is not empty words, but calculated by the entire Ministry of Finance of Austria and all officials. According to their calculations, joining the German Customs Union would bring Austria an annual economic growth of 4%. UU reading www.uukanshu. Even so, this is an extremely considerable income.

Korolav glanced at Pitru, who was still thinking about countermeasures.

"can you do it?"

"I..."

"Shut up if you can't!" Earl Kororav was very disgusted with people like Pitru who could only play tricks.

Korolov scanned the audience.

"Which one of you can guarantee to pay off the debts of the empire within twenty years! I, the Minister of Finance, let him be!"

"Just kidding! Why do we have to pay the debt owed by the empire?" The nobles slandered in their hearts. "Besides, it's impossible to pay it back."

In the hearts of the powerful, the debt of the Austrian Empire has long been a black hole that cannot be filled.

Since it doesn't work to be reasonable, let's be tough.

Several nobles headed by Prince Elthhazy walked towards Franz II.

"Your Majesty and the nobles rule the world, not the common people. Do you want those muddy legs to ride on our heads?"

Franz II hesitated a little, he really didn't know what to do. Seeing the quarrel below, he didn't know who to listen to. His ministers seem to be for the sake of the country, but who can guarantee that they have no selfishness? These nobles look incompetent, but they are their own people.

Seeing Franz II vacillating, some people laughed. This was the moment they had been waiting for.

So they got closer and closer to Franz II, trying to overwhelm the weak-willed emperor with pressure.

"Your Majesty, have you forgotten France's attitude?" Finally someone stepped forward and pulled Franz II's sleeve more and more excitedly.

Franz also smiled, he was waiting for this moment.

Chapter end