Chapter 354 Disappearing Foresight, Mentality Change

The Russians quickly paid the price for their actions, and the Polish independence movement broke out more rapidly than in history.

Britain and France increased their financial assistance to the independent organizations. After the uprising broke out, the independent organizations pulled up an army at the fastest speed and began to sweep the Quartet.

Franz, who was a melon eater, soon received a letter of protest from the tsarist government.

Franz asked in disbelief: "Prime Minister, are you sure the content of this protest letter is true?"

Franz couldn't help but be shocked that 400 Austrian volunteers participated in the war in this Polish uprising. Most of these people were retired officers and soldiers from Austrian Poland.

Under the eyes of the Vienna government, the independence of Poland can actually pull up such an armed force. If there is no problem, it will be a ghost.

It's one thing to stumble on the Russians secretly. So many volunteers appearing on the surface are not telling the outside world that Austria supports the Polish independence movement.

Has the Russian-Austrian alliance been dissolved yet? It is not morally justified to stab the tsarist government like this!

Prime Minister Felix replied embarrassedly: "Your Majesty, there are indeed many Poles in the Galicia region who support this uprising. Not only 400 people participated in this uprising, we counted 800 people.

If nothing else, this number is still increasing. We had miscalculated in advance and did not expect so many people to take part in this uprising, so no measures were taken. "

Franz rubbed his forehead, he didn't know what to say. After the Polish independence movement broke out, Poles all over the world participated.

There are millions of Poles in Austria, and some volunteers are unavoidable, but this number is a little too much.

"No one will frame us, right?" Franz asked uncertainly

He very much suspects that this is a British and French conspiracy, the purpose is to provoke Russia-Austria relations and disintegrate the Russia-Austria alliance.

Prime Minister Felix replied: "Your Majesty, please rest assured. We have checked and there is no problem with these people, who indeed volunteered to join the uprising.

Many people here were originally residents of Russian Poland, but they immigrated to Galilea because they could not stand Russian rule.

Now they go back to the uprising, mostly the force of hatred. We have taken action, and this will not continue to happen in the future. "

Faced with this result, Franz can only attribute it to the fact that the Russians are too dead. Can let people in exile appear on the camera, not forgetting to work hard for revenge, what else can I do.

Of course, someone in the Vienna government must have provided them with convenience, otherwise it is absolutely impossible for so many people to enter Poland smoothly.

Franz thought for a while and said, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russians will explain it slowly. By the way, they will issue a diplomatic statement that the issue of Russian Poland is the internal affairs of the Russian Empire, and no countries should interfere."

No matter what happened, you can only find a way to deal with it. Just as Britain and France supported the Polish Independence Organization internationally, European countries responded one after another, and the tsarist government also needed the support of Austria.

When this happened, Franz didn't expect any good. Show your attitude first. As for whether the Russians believe it or not, they can only resign themselves to fate.

In this matter, it is enough to divide the relationship between the two countries, and it is still a little bit closer to the rupture of the Russian-Austrian alliance. As long as the alliance is still there, the big deal will slowly repair the relationship later.

Foreign Minister Wesenberg replied: "Your Majesty, the Russians will soon be overwhelmed. According to the news we received from St. Petersburg, the Polish insurgent army has exceeded 100,000 people.

The Polish Independence Organization had long-planned. After the uprising was launched, under the cooperation of the inside and the outside, the more than 100,000 troops deployed by Russia in Poland were beaten to pieces by the Polish insurgents.

Many troops became prisoners without reacting at all. Many soldiers directly joined the Polish independence movement. It seems that the Russian Revolutionary Organization and the Poles have united.

Judging from the information we have collected, the insurgent army is not entirely a rabble, and their leadership should have received short-term military training.

From the outbreak of the Polish uprising to the present, at least 5,000 volunteers from all over the world have participated. Most of these people have received military training and become officers of the uprising army.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs suspects that someone has provided military training to the Polish independent organization. These volunteers are probably trained in advance, and they quickly entered Poland after the outbreak of the uprising and led the uprising. "

Franz's face changed greatly, this is probably the truth. Even Austria, who is secretly underhanded, can toss out hundreds of volunteers. The existence of the UK and France, which has a clear knife and a clear gun, will only go too far.

Is it difficult to train people for Polish independent organizations?

It's too easy for the big hooligans, recruit a group of anti-Russian Poles, then conduct simple training, fight a few battles in the colonies, and the only ones who survive are qualified soldiers.

If there are also Russian revolutionary organizations involved, things are more complicated, which means that the rebellion will not be confined to Poland alone, and that revolutions may break out in large areas of the Russian Empire.

The reforming Russian Empire is undoubtedly at a crossroads. Now is the most prone to problems. There are too many people in the country who are dissatisfied with the reforms of the tsarist government.

The radicals feel that the reform of the tsarist government is not thorough, while the conservatives feel that the reform of the tsarist government has hurt their interests. Once these dissatisfied people are stimulated, who knows what will happen?

You know, since the reform of Alexander II, there has been no peace within the Russian Empire. The serfs who had just been freed looked at the huge amount of land ransom and sighed.

Russian land redemption, can

Not as harmonious as Austria. These ransoms are all subject to interest, and Franz’s unified payment standard is not a concept.

Austria's land ransom money is basically based on the output income on the land for 5 to 10 years, which is collected by the government and then handed over to the landowner.

Farmers can pay in installments for up to 40 years, not counting benefits. The ransom that needs to be paid every year is within everyone's ability to bear.

Because of the uniform apportionment, the expropriation standard is 20% of the actual output of the land each year. You can pay more or less, anyway, you can pay it off within the specified time limit.

Due to the rebellion, the government confiscated a lot of land. In fact, the Vienna government made a lot of money from this expropriation. Naturally, it can use some of the money to quell the shortage of ransom money in the disaster year.

When it comes to the tsarist government, it will not work. The landowners are still alive and well, and most of the land belongs to this group of nobles. Before the reform, there were less than 20 civilian manors in Russia, and the free peasants only owned a small amount of land.

In this context, it is definitely impossible to compress the land redemption price. Uniform collection and distribution, not paying interest is even more impossible.

If it weren't for the Great Revolution, Franz would not have the ability to force the nobles to accept such harsh conditions. In fact, the land reform in Austria was not thorough.

Many nobles who were not involved in the rebellion, nor were they affected by the rebellion, still own a lot of land, as long as they are not willing to the government, they cannot be forced to buy it.

There was no social conflict, mainly because the Vienna government reduced the per capita land redemption area, ensuring that everyone can buy land, but the location is uncertain.

Later, with the expansion on the Balkan Peninsula, overseas colonies were opened up, which made the originally tense land supply loosen up, and the contradiction between more land and more land was completely resolved.

The current slogan of the Colonial Department's immigration propaganda is: "Want your own farm? Go to the colony to open up wasteland.

Want your own plantation? Go to the colony to open up wasteland.

You can own as much land as you open up. "

This is something the tsarist government cannot do. Although there are many wastelands available for reclamation in the country, these wastelands also have owners.

The area of ​​land peasants acquired through redemption was, on average, lower than in Austria. Of course, this is the result of calculating the Balkans, with Romania and Serbia contributing a lot of arable land.

Alexander II's reforms only allowed 13% of the serfs to obtain enough land; 42% of the land obtained by the serfs could barely make ends meet after paying the ransom money; the rest could not support themselves with the land alone, and had to go out to work .

This provided sufficient labor for capitalist development in Russia.

Historically, with the development of the capitalist economy, part of the rural population poured into the cities, and the originally tense land issue was gradually resolved.

In the late 19th century, the Russian Empire became strong again because of the reforms of Alexander II.

Unfortunately, Russia's capitalist economy has just started, and it is unable to absorb too many people.

The social dividends brought about by the reform have not had time to play their role; but the social contradictions brought about by the reform have already begun to play their role.

"Pay close attention to the trend of the situation in Russia, figure out the forces invested by all parties, and prepare for intervention. We cannot let Russia have major changes."

Franz made a decisive decision, let the Russians suffer a little bit, but let's forget the Russian Empire!

Unless the Russian Empire can be dismembered and the threat resolved once and for all, it is better to keep the Tsarist government.

After all, Russia, ruled by the tsarist government, has limited threats to Austria, and there are too many people in the country who are holding back. Even the brilliant and talented Alexander II cannot change this problem.

If the rules are broken, it will be different. Franz can use the opportunity of civil strife to clean up Hungary and integrate Austria. Who can guarantee that Russia will not come back with a powerful figure?

At least Alexander II has the ability to reform within the scope of the rules, and he has no way to completely solve the problem.

But once the order is broken, the situation is different. The greatest legacy that Nicholas I left him was the army loyal to the tsar.

As long as the army is settled, many problems are actually not problems. As long as the table is overturned, it is very likely that Alexander II will regain the rivers and mountains.

If it is another country, they can also form a coalition to intervene in a wave, and when he encounters Russia, Franz said he is afraid of the cold.

When Russia emerges from the ashes, Austria doesn't have to do anything, just concentrate on acting as the gatekeeper of Europe and watch over the bears.

Prime Minister Felix objected: "Your Majesty, we should not act rashly now. Although Alexander II's reforms have harmed the interests of many people, they have not crossed the bottom line of conservatives.

As long as these people don't move, Russia will not be in chaos. The Russian army in Poland collapsed, mainly because there were too many Polish soldiers in it.

In order to ensure the stability of the Polish region, not long ago, the Tsarist government ordered the conscription of troops from the Polish region in an attempt to transfer these people out of the Polish region, but the uprising happened just after the plan began.

The Russian army was still loyal to the tsar, the revolutionary party had not yet influenced the army, and a little rebellion could not shake the foundation of the tsarist government.

As long as Britain and France did not personally intervene with troops, it would not be long before the rebellion was suppressed. "

After listening to the Prime Minister's explanation, Franz breathed a sigh of relief. He is a mystery to the authorities, ignoring that Britain and France will not be pro-

Start by yourself.

After losing the war in the Near East, the British were much more cautious about European issues, keeping themselves out of the way as much as possible.

Not to mention the French, Napoleon III almost lost the throne, and let him go to the muddy waters of the Russians, how could it be possible?

The Kingdom of Prussia was directly ignored. Don't look at how arrogant they were in later generations. Now that the Russians sneezed, the Berlin government was trembling with fear.

Austria's best option now is to watch the play, not prepare to interfere. Any move by the Vienna government may send a wrong signal to the outside world, resulting in an unmanageable situation.

Franz thought for a while and said: "The Prime Minister is right, I'm too nervous, it's better to be quiet now.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Tsarist government that we supported any action they did on the Polish issue, and that the volunteer matter was left to Britain and France.

Other things have nothing to do with us, we don't know anything. "

Since static braking is adopted, it is enough to pretend to be stupid.

Britain and France can stand up to fight hatred because they are far enough away from the Russians to fear the revenge of the tsarist government.

It is best to hit the Russians, but if you can't hit the Russians, you can disgust the Russians and use the Polish independence movement to delay the reform process of the tsarist government.

Is it really that simple? Today, the international situation has long since changed beyond recognition, and Franz's foresighted advantage no longer exists.

After sorting out his thoughts, Franz quickly figured it out.

Austria is no longer the Austria in history. It has accumulated enough advantages in the early stage. Even if it does not have the advantage of foresight, it is still in a favorable position in international competition.

Excessive worry about changes in the Russian Empire is actually the reason why Franz lacks confidence. After all, the concept of the previous life was so influential that he ignored the changes in his own strength.

Compared with any competitor, Austria has advantages in one or more fields, as long as these advantages are exerted.

The first is the quality of the population, taking the first step to start compulsory education, and now Austria is already enjoying this dividend.

Once the second industrial revolution starts, the first-mover advantage is doomed. By the time the competitors reacted, Austria was already at the forefront.

It seems that Austria is not lagging behind now. Following in the footsteps of the British, some industries can still go ahead.

On the contrary, the usury empire has already begun to take shape. Insufficient local coal production capacity has raised the cost of many industries in France, and capitalists are increasingly interested in making financial profits.

The short-term competitors, Britain and France, are limited by population and local area, and the development limit has been locked.

Constraints in terms of local area and resources can also be compensated by using colonies. Everyone is a colonial empire that does not lack these resources, but there is no way to do it if there is a shortage of population.

No, the French are already thinking of a solution, that is, external expansion. Napoleon III had just eaten the kingdom of Sardinia, making up for the lack of domestic labor.

There is really no way for British talents to go to the mainland if they want to expand. It's a pity that John Bull didn't dare. Once he set foot on the European continent, he would be taught to be a man immediately.

The mid-term competitor, the Russian Empire, is still in the process of reform, and has been lagging behind in industry by at least two decades, which cannot be made up in a short time.

Even if it is open, it will take more than ten years to catch up. In this age of rapid technological change, adversaries cannot wait for them to catch up.

As long as it is still under the rule of the tsarist government, this kind of open-hung development is impossible, and it can ensure the normal level of development speed, which is God's blessing.

The long-term rival Americans, after the tossing of this civil war, are estimated to have a delay of 20 to 30 years in their development. At least they have to wait for them to complete the national unity again before they can compete for world hegemony.

These advantages can only be regarded as superficial. The real advantage is that competitors have not been aware of their own weaknesses and have not taken corresponding measures to solve these problems.