Chapter 837: Entrusted to an Inhumane Person

Chapter 837: Entrusted to an Inhumane Person

In fact, Kossuth was in some trouble at this time. In fact, at this time, he was no longer the little lawyer who only had a reputation in history.

In fact, Count Szechenyi, who was supported by Franz, engaged in a series of debates with him. As a result, Count Szechenyi lost so much that he lost his pants.

His cautious reform theory was dismissed as toilet paper, and he was on the wrong side of the aisle. According to Széchenyi's theory, the abolition of serfdom and giving farmers their original land would offend the great nobility.

Because this will re-divide those large farms into countless scattered pieces of land, which may be a good thing for farmers and prevent the big nobles from playing tricks in land distribution.

But the farm costs of the great nobles will rise sharply, and who will pay for the land liberated by the serfs? Széchenyi hoped that the state, serfs, and landowners would share the responsibility, which was unacceptable to the landed aristocracy.

This operation is equivalent to the nobles not only giving up feudal power, but also destroying the original farms, and finally having to pay a sum of money.

Szechenyi also wanted to abolish guilds and price restrictions, because France had abolished the guild system in the last century, and Britain had already consigned 99% of its guilds to the dust of history in the sixteenth century.

Only the Booksellers' Guild barely survived because of the British government's need to control speech, but it also declined at the end of the eighteenth century.

However, this is Hungary, not France, nor Britain. Those guilds are the main force behind his plan to develop the capitalist economy, and these people cannot easily give up their power.

On the other hand, if there were no price restrictions, then Hungarian goods would be directly overwhelmed by Austrian goods, and the productivity levels of the two parties were not on the same line at all.

Both the abolition of guilds and the abolition of price restrictions were unacceptable to the Hungarian bourgeoisie at that time.

Széchenyi had a very good idea. He hoped to allocate land to farmers so that they would be motivated to work.

At the same time, guilds and price restrictions were abolished, and every household participated, allowing handicrafts to flourish again.

In this era, Hungary's textile industry was still stuck in the cottage industry era, similar to the declining Prussian Silesia region.

But in the industrial age, this pastoral life of men farming and women weaving was obviously a little too naive.

Moreover, in Hungary, there are no comrades of his in the parliament among the people who can read newspapers.

Szechenyi's actions and ideals directly offended the great nobles and businessmen. At the same time, he regarded serfs and other lower races living in the territory of St. Stephen's Crown as Hungarians.

This approach angered radical nationalists, and as a result, he didn't even have a single friend.

On the other hand, Kossuth continued to improve his theories in the debate with Count Széchenyi. Coupled with his amazing speaking skills and charisma, he has become the leader of the Hungarian nation.

In addition to the merchants and single-clothed nobles who originally supported him, due to a series of operations by the Hungarian government in recent years, his prestige in the empire has dropped again and again.

At the same time, as Austria joined the German Customs Union and Franz's series of reforms, the gap in strength between the two sides further widened.

Feeling a sense of crisis, the great nobles hoped to at least retain their privileges and Hungary's special status.

Then someone needs to take the lead in making trouble, but they don't think they can defeat Austria, so they need a scapegoat.

As a result, the forces of the three parties finally gathered together, and Kossuth now had all the fame, wealth, and status.

In particular, the property obtained from intercepting and killing the leader of the Polish Restoration Army was now stored in Kossuth's personal name. As long as he wanted to, he could fly away and have food and clothing for the rest of his life.

But human desires are endless, and after those who admired him listened to his praises for a long time, Kossuth really thought that he was different.

Kossuth believed that he was the savior of the Hungarian nation. There was only one way before him, and that was victory.

However, as far as Kossuth's personal experience is concerned, he still hopes to solve the problem through negotiation as much as possible, because several previous battles made him feel that the Austrian army was terrifying.

And he never lost in a fight.

Baujani Lajos was also an enlightened Hungarian nobleman who had traveled to Western Europe. He was also a moderate. The Austrian Imperial Government had high hopes for him. After all, he had joined the Austrian army and had lived in Vienna for a long time.

Prime Minister Metternich was not ignorant of what was happening in Hungary. On the contrary, he knew everything too well, but he felt that a war between the two sides was impossible.

Although the Hungarians screamed fiercely, they did not take any actual actions. They did not expand the army, hoard food, or raise funds to purchase weapons.

Metternich actually wanted to bribe Kossuth and give him a large sum of money and a less important official position, but he did not succeed.

This was not the first time Metternich wanted to use bribery to deal with Kossuth. Previously, the former pardoned the latter from prison and appointed him as the editor-in-chief of the government-run newspaper "Pest".

As a result, Kossuth was not grateful, but passionately praised Hungarian nationalism in the newspapers. The most frightening thing was that it took more than a month for the news to reach Vienna due to poor information.

Metternich hurriedly dismissed him, but he could not throw him into prison again because the Hungarians elected him as a state representative, and the Prime Minister of the Austrian Empire had no power to deal with Hungarian representatives.

After two failed bribes, Metternich took a more direct approach and hired assassins to kill the man directly.

But unfortunately, it was not just Prince Metternich who wanted Kossuth's death, but also many conservative nobles who did not want to give up their power. As a result, several assassination teams fought together.

Kossuth has experienced many assassinations and has already developed escape skills.

Later, as his reputation grew, some military nobles were willing to serve as his bodyguards and began to counteract the assassination, making the possibility of a successful assassination even lower.

So Metternich decided to change his tactics. He also wanted to use moderates to check the radicals, and Baujani Lajosh was the person he chose.

But what Metternich didn't know was that the moderate he chose would be Hungary's first prime minister, and he would fight Austria until death (execution).

In fact, the Hungarians were not unprepared. They established a number of steel factories and gunpowder factories, but they lacked raw materials.

In fact, only the Terš region in Hungary has both coal and iron resources, but none of the Hungarian steel plants with huge investment was built in this town.

These steel plants actually belong to different families and are within different spheres of influence. And not only are their business philosophy and location selection backward, they are also in a mess on the technical level.

To put it bluntly, these so-called steel plants are just a bunch of larger blacksmith shops, but they are not an exception at this time, including the well-known Krupp Steel, which is actually of this nature.