Chapter 82 Bottom Line (Part 1)

Chapter 82 Bottom Line (Part 1)

There are two things that Austria is thankful for:

First, several important railways were completed.

Second, due to the economic crisis and the rise in international precious metal prices, the silver mines in Tyrol are valuable for mining again.

Vienna to Bayreuth, Vienna to Dresden, Vienna to Udine, these routes strengthen the connection between central Austria, southern Germany and northern Italy.

The former is Austria's most important foreign trade area, and the latter is Austria's most important tax source.

Although Northern Italy had declined at this time, it was still a tax-rich area. As one of Austria's most important tax sources, it provided even more tax revenue than Hungary, which accounted for 40% of the empire's land area.

In 1833, Austria's fiscal revenue was 130,269,877 florins, while Hungary only contributed 23 million florins, even lower than Bohemia's 25 million florins, and far lower than Northern Italy's 30 million florins. Florin.

By 1836, Austria's fiscal revenue soared to 170 million florins. Benefiting from joining the German Customs Union, Bohemia's economy experienced explosive growth, and its fiscal revenue also soared to 35 million florins, already equal to Northern Italy remained flat, while Hungary's revenue fell by 1 million florins.

As time goes by, as a region close to Germany and experiencing rapid industrial development, Bohemia will only become more open and its importance will become more and more obvious.

It's just that while the Austrian region is generally making rapid progress, the Hungarian region seems a bit different. A group of young nobles and emerging capitalists headed by Széchenyi hope to join this feast.

However, Hungary's participation in the German Customs Union violated both the German Customs Union agreement and the agreement between Austria and Hungary.

Count Korolav and Metternich were unwilling to intervene in the Hungarian issue. After all, the current situation was already dire for the Austrian Empire, so they had no choice but to give up.

Britain and France were at a stalemate on the Spanish issue, Prussia was doing everything possible to cause trouble to Austria in the German Customs Union, and Russia was ready to make moves in the East.

The new king of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Carlo Alberto, was a restless man. He developed the economy and expanded the army, while at the same time he was dissatisfied with France and Austria.

You must know that the existence of the Kingdom of Sardinia is nothing more than a buffer zone between France and Austria. At that time, it was generally believed that Alberto's ambition was an unrealistic delusion.

But even so, Austria had to re-activate the veteran Radetzky and let him serve as the commander-in-chief of the Austrian army in northern Italy.

Radetzky had originally retired in 1829, but War Minister Tural felt that the old general could still fight. At the same time, Radetzky himself was impoverished after retirement and was worried about the livelihood of his eight children.

However, the old general who went to Italy in 1831 married an Italian noblewoman in the same year to show his deep love for Italy and imply that Austria would treat Italians equally.

Radetzky himself did exactly this. He never felt that Alberto and his army of 20,000 were a problem.

But this veteran who had experienced the Napoleonic Wars knew what a terrible force it was to incite those serfs and poor people who could not survive.

Radetzky still remembers how the poor were deceived by Napoleon's unrealistic promises and turned their guns on their own countrymen.

But Radetzky asked the army to help the poor when he took office. When his soldiers broke the law, he would not choose to cover up, but immediately punish the troubled soldiers. Sometimes it was even unfair, but this made him and his The army gained a good reputation among the poor.

In this era, usually in order to maintain the combat effectiveness and loyalty of soldiers, generals would choose to protect some of their subordinates who made mistakes in order to win people's hearts.

Radetzky chose to win over the people, but his approach was a bit extreme. Even when his own son was treated unfairly, he chose to endure it and asked his son to apologize to the Italians.

Anton von Radetzky was the third son of Marshal Radetzky. He had no talent and did not yearn for a life outside the army, so he always stayed with Marshal Radetzky.

One day, Anton Radetzki was ordered to patrol the streets. When he passed a cafe, he heard people inside promoting Mazzini's anti-Austrian ideas.

At that time, Italy was just a geographical term, and most of its land belonged to Austria, and the core of Mazzini's thought was to expel the Austrians from Italy.

This made Anton Radetzki furious. After all, the mission of the Italian Legion was to defend Italy. How could he allow someone to promote the idea of ​​making Italy independent?

"Gentlemen, please stop your conversation immediately. This is an act of treason."

"You German pig, don't bother with us, this is private property." A tall man said in Italian, "God bless him, he can understand what we are saying."

The man's words caused a burst of laughter. After all, in the eyes of these people, the Austrian soldiers were only bluffing and had nothing to fear.

Anton Radetzky corrected him, "First, I am a Czech, and second, this is a cafe, a public place."

The man turned over the business sign, and then said to Anton Radecki very calmly.

"It's closed now, you can go."

There was another burst of laughter, and Anton von Radetzky was so angry that he rushed forward and struggled with the man.

The military police arrived and separated the two, and then they were sent to Marshal Radetzky's office.

Before Anton von Radetzky could explain, he was kicked by his father and asked to apologize to the Italian.

Anton von Radetzky was naturally furious. Marshal Radetzki could only order him to apologize to the Italian in his capacity as marshal. Finally, the Italian left proudly.

It is said that the Italian was an abbot and very influential.

Radetzky used this almost dog-licking method to get the poor people at the bottom of Northern Italy to accept the existence of the Austrian army.

However, in the eyes of some self-respecting Italian nobles and businessmen, these soldiers were a group of lowly losers, and giving them funding and respect was a meaningless waste.

The middle and high-level Italians often showed an arrogant attitude in front of the Austrian army.

As the commander-in-chief, Radetzki actually tolerated the unfair treatment of his subordinate soldiers by middle- and high-level Italians.

The reason why the old marshal did this was because he had always regarded the French as an imaginary enemy, and he also wanted to form a militia team like Napoleon for use in wartime.

However, Radetzky was not Napoleon, and the Austrian Empire did not have enough funds. At this time, the bottom class of Italy was not even able to survive, so his plan could only end in vain.

Vienna, Hall of Mirrors.

Ferdinand I looked at the imperial order in his hand.

"My stupid brother, who wrote this imperial edict?"

"My poor brother, have your eyes not been able to work well lately? There is my son's signature on it."

"My stupid brother, the name on this is obviously Franz."

"My poor brother, have you forgotten that my son's name is Franz?"

"My stupid brother, you have never been able to lie since you were a child. Do you think I will be fooled?"

"My poor brother, why are you spitting bubbles from your mouth?"

"My stupid brother, I'm sick and you haven't called the doctor yet."

Before he lost consciousness, Ferdinand I stamped the emperor's seal on the royal decree.

That day an investigative team left Vienna and went to Milan to arrest the traitors who had beaten Captain Anton Radetzky.