Chapter 690 Adding insult to injury
"The Russians did it very well."
Friedrich List said with a smile that Frederick William IV understood what the other party meant, which was to drive the Poles out.
Only by vacating the cage and replacing the birds can the complete death of Polish Zionism be guaranteed. No matter how hard the Polish Zionists abroad try, as long as there are no more Poles in Prussia, it will be in vain.
It's just that this decision is not easy to make, because a slight mistake may directly trigger a rebellion.
Prime Minister Ludwig von Thiele and War Minister Hermann von Poyn also understood what Friedrich List meant.
They are typical Junker landowners and naturally agree with this approach. After all, if the Poles are expelled from the "three new provinces", their estates can be expanded a lot.
Moreover, if a war breaks out, the status of the Juncker landowners can be further improved. The two men winked at each other, War Minister Hermann von Poyn said.
"Your Majesty, please rest assured that the Prussian Army is invincible and we are confident that we will destroy any enemy who dares to challenge the order.
Those Poles will be punished just like the unruly people in Silesia! "
Prime Minister Ludwig von Thiele quipped: "Maybe we could ask them if they are interested in Polish labor."
The new Foreign Minister Heinrich von Bülow was also from the Junker aristocracy.
Although his family has no interests in the "Three New Provinces", as Foreign Minister he knows very well that Austria is accepting Russian refugees at this time. So with Prussian refugees at this time, can Austria still be able to survive?
"Your Majesty, as far as I know, the Austrian royal family and church are accepting Russian refugees in Galicia, so we can also send our country's garbage there and it will be considered as charity for them."
Although the Foreign Minister talked about "charity", Frederick William IV knew that this was definitely a good opportunity to slow down the economic development of the Austrian Empire.
If the Austrian imperial family and the church choose to accept it, then they must provide large areas of land, money, or jobs for these refugees to engage in productive labor and allow them to survive.
Otherwise, the refugees will turn into refugees and continue to intensify social and national conflicts. At that time, Austria will have to spend more money and energy if it wants to clear up these bruises.
If the Austrian royal family and the church choose to stop their losses in time and refuse to accept the continued entry of refugees, Prussia can still take the opportunity to criticize the hypocrisy of the Habsburg family and the Catholic Church.
At the same time, the long border cannot stop the huge number of refugees. When the time comes, the Austrian side will only lose its wife and troops.
No matter what the original purpose of the Austrian Empire was, if Prussia engaged their plans in this way, their plans would be disrupted, and there might even be backlash.
Moreover, Frederick William IV himself was the largest Junker landowner. Faced with everyone's petition, he could only agree, or was forced to agree.
So Prussia began a quick trial of the conspirators, confiscated their land and properties, and auctioned them off to the loyal Junker landowners at a low price.
However, the wealth of the conspirators alone was not enough to satisfy the desires of the entire Junker class, and then the Prussian government received a large number of reports.
The reports were directed at wealthy Polish nobles, merchants, and landed farmers. The Prussian government quickly accepted the cases and required those reported to self-identify.
There is no doubt that those who cannot prove themselves are conspirators, but how can they prove themselves? There is no unified standard, but what is certain is that there are very few people who have the ability to prove themselves and can be believed by Prussian government officials.
As a result, an expanding group of refugees appeared on the border of Galicia, which confused the Austrian officials on the border.
News quickly reached Vienna, much to the chagrin of the Regent Council.
Count Kolarov: "Damn Prussian barbarians, do they really think we are a garbage dump? Last time they got a group of Silesians, this time they are Poles, next time they won't be Saxons, right?"
Prince Metternich was worried about another thing. Can Austria absorb so many refugees? Will Franz mess this up?
"Perhaps this should be a government intervention."
Metternich's meaning was very clear, that is, Franz's personal reputation was more important than the Regency Council itself. In other words, the Austrian Imperial Government could take the blame for this, but Franz personally could not.
Although Count Kolarov was somewhat reluctant, after all, his all-time wish was to kill Metternich and become prime minister himself.
However, Count Kolarov is essentially loyal to Austria and the Habsburg family, so he needs to take the overall situation into consideration.
"Yes, but I need time and your consent. The Austrian Imperial Government must enter a state of emergency."
Metternich nodded.
"I agree and hopefully we can get through this crisis."
Millions of refugees are a challenge for any country in the world at this time, but the Austrian Empire has also developed a relatively mature solution for refugees in recent years.
That is to use work as relief, use land as reward, use reward as bait, and expand and develop.
In fact, the Austrian Imperial Government will use labor force for free to carry out some infrastructure projects. During this period, it will provide them with food and accommodation, tools, design, medical care, transportation, clothing, etc.
This will also stimulate the development of the country's economy. As for the refugees, they can be guaranteed not to starve to death during this period. Then after the project is completed, they will get a piece of undeveloped land in the country or in the colony.
If they wanted to develop the land, they had to borrow money from the government or sign long-term contracts with the state, and then open up territory for the Austrian Empire.
If they refuse, they can choose to sell the land, which will be enough for them to live on for a certain period of time.
They can choose to enter a factory, do some part-time work, or join the army, etc.
In short, as long as a large number of refugees do not suddenly appear in the same area, it will not cause social unrest.
However, the infrastructure projects of the Austrian Empire have been almost completed in recent years, and it would seem a bit useless to carry out any more.
Fortunately, the Habsburg family is quite influential in the Austrian aristocratic circle, and many nobles in the House of Nobles are willing to help.
These people are generally large landowners in Austria, and their families also own some factories and other industries. Each family can solve the work problem of dozens to hundreds of refugees.
There are more than 3,000 registered families in the Austrian House of Nobility, and they can solve the work and livelihood problems of hundreds of thousands of refugees.
There are still a lot of water conservancy projects, roads, railways, and urban construction projects in Austria that need to absorb hundreds of thousands more, which is not a problem.
The military has been clamoring to pursue France and surpass Russia, and this time it happens that the expansion of the army can solve a large number of them.
Then the royal estate and government agencies can also solve the livelihood problems of tens of thousands of people.
The rest is left to Galicia to think of a solution, and it is estimated that this crisis will be over.
Franz was moved after hearing about the Austrian Empire's emergency measures, but he didn't need them at all.