Chapter 88: Chapter 86 – Slaughtering the Fat Sheep

Soon, news of the tragedy that took place in Pest spread outside the city. The news of this tragedy coincided with the news that General Haynau had liberated most serfs in the villages between Pressburg and Buda-Pest. As if invigorated by the liberation and enraged by the massacre, many serfs in villages south of Buda-Pest rose up against their oppressors. The insurgents captured the manors, killed the stewards, and divvied up the land.

The uprising soon spread along the Danube, which terrified the Hungarian nobles, who turned to Buda-Pest, and even Vienna, for help. The Viennese government, which wanted nothing more than to suppress the Hungarian nobility, refused on the grounds that "it was not responsible for the safety of rebels." Meanwhile, Kossuth, who wished to win the support of the nobility, heavily criticized the serf uprising. However, he was unable to provide any support to the nobles due to Buda-Pest being surrounded by the Austrians.

Still, thanks to the previous suppression of the strike in Pest and the stance against the serfs, Kossuth and his Hungarian Republic won the support of capitalists and nobility, which presented itself in the form of many low-interest loans and donations. Still, even though the Hungarian Republic was able to avoid bankruptcy, it now stood against the common people.

Meanwhile, General Haynau went the opposite direction by liberating serfs and distributing seized land to them in order to win the hearts of the common people. Even though the serfs would need to pay a part of their income as yearly mortgage payments for the land, General Haynau still won a wave of popularity. In the future, probably no one would be able to call him a butcher or a hangman.

Soon, the locals learned that they could obtain free land if they helped the Austrian forces suppress the rebellion and young peasants and escaped serfs near Buda-Pest volunteered to join the Austrian army. They were reorganized into a few battalions that would be headed by Austrian officers and focus on serf liberation in the south as General Haynau couldn't deploy too many men away from Buda-Pest.

The Austrian spies within Buda-Pest also became more busy as they began to spread the news about the happenings outside the city. Kossuth's government lacked the capability or prestige to block the news. After the news of the seizure of lands and businesses was spread, the nobles and capitalists trembled while the workers movement was revitalized.

Realizing that the Hungarian Republic was about to sink, the thoughts of many people began to change. Even if the powerful nobles were unwilling to capitulate to the Viennese government, they had no choice but to lower their heads. After all, they were unwilling to be buried along with Kossuth and his lackeys.

With the cooperation of the influential locals, the work of the Austrian spies proceeded much more smoothly. Kossuth's government, which had no  experience with governance, was blind to these changes. They might have caught on if they had a secret police. However, the secret police was abolished soon after they came to power.

Since then Buda-Pest's law and order was maintained by the local militias, who were no more than thugs of the noble and capitalists.

 

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Hofburg Palace, Vienna

Prince Windisch-Grätz reported, "Your Imperial Highness, the Croatian Corps has successfully joined up with the Bohemian Corps outside Buda-Pest. I believe that it is now time to end this Hungarian rebellion. It would be very unfavorable for us if it continues to drag on!"

He was not exaggerating. The reason why the rebel army was so ineffective was due to it being formed in a hurry without much formal training. Such an army which was no different from a militia could be easily handled by the regular army. However, if they were given time to complete their training and form a proper command system, they would no longer be so easy to deal with.

Historically, the Hungarian revolution had ballooned beyond the capabilities of Austria because it had not been taken seriously from the get-go and they had been given too much time to train their forces. Ultimately, Austria had been forced to ask for help from the Russians to put down the revolution.

Franz held his chin in thought for a few minutes before he replied, "Alright, let's begin the siege, but order them to be thorough so that no one is able to escape, even if it takes more time."

"Yes, Your Imperial Highness!" Prince Windisch-Grätz replied.

"Minister-President, how will the government manage Hungary once the rebellion is put down?" Franz asked, concerned.

Minister-President Schwarzenburg confidently replied, "Your Imperial Highness, considering the special circumstances of Hungary, the cabinet has decided that it would be wise to further divide Hungary into three provinces, bounded by the Tisza and Danube rivers.

First, the western Hungarian province west of the Danube with the provincial capital at Pécs; the central Hungarian province between the Danube and the Tisza with the provincial capital at Miskolc; and, finally, the eastern Hungarian province east of the Tisza with the provincial capital at Debrecen.

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Together with the provinces of Croatia, Transylvania, Slovakia, and Vojvodina that we previously created, the Kingdom of Hungary will be divided into a total of seven provinces.

As a result, the lands dominated by the Magyars will be divided into three. The government will also invest a lot of resources in local education to help the local people integrate into Austria as soon as possible."

Once the administrative area was split and the language and culture were assimilated, the chances of a rebellion in the future would plummet. A few centuries later, Hungary would turn into just a regional pronoun.

Franz continued, "How will the government procure the education expenses?"

Austria's current wartime economic system, also known as the planned economy, seemed healthy, but that was mainly because the government had seized a lot of wealth and property from the rebels. However, this economic model was only suitable for short-term emergencies. If left unchanged, over time, the system would become rigid and restrict economic development.

In fact, this was his main concern with the government's plan to assimilate the Hungarians. If the central government were to allocate funds, the financial pressure would be too great, especially after the economy returns to normal. After all, Hungary wasn't the only place within the Austrian empire that needed to be assimilated. The assimilation of Italians and Serbs was equally pressing.

Minister-President Schwarzenburg hesitantly replied, "Your Imperial Highness… we have decided to cancel the tithe of the Church and instead levy a compulsory education tax to fill the funding gap…"

Franz's eyes flashed. In fact, he had long wanted to abolish the tithe of the Church, but as a Catholic ruler, he could not easily abolish the tithe and confront the Church. Since the Minister-President had proposed it, Franz couldn't stop himself from smiling. If the Church has an opinion on this matter, they could trouble the cabinet. After all, the cancellation of the tithe was their proposal.

Anyways, times had changed. This was no longer the Middle Ages. The Pope could no longer cause the collapse of dynasties by excommunicating monarchs as had done to in 1076. The current Pope, , had been exiled to Naples by a group of mere revolutionaries, and the Church could not even administer the Papal States.

Franz asked, "Will the tithe be enough? A massive amount of funds would need to be invested throughout the empire."

Having obtained Franz's consent, Minister-President Schwarzenburg became much more confident and replied with a smile, "Your Imperial Highness, the clergy has suffered severe degradation. As devout believers of God, we have a duty to clean up the dregs of the Church.

The cabinet is prepared to conduct a strict and widespread investigation of the clergy, severely punish those who violate the precepts, and confiscate any property obtained through illicit means.

We will spend all the confiscated property on education. Adding on the compulsory education tax, there should be more than enough funds to fill the gap in the education funding."

"Lord Minister-President is correct. The moral temperance of the clergy must be strengthened. As children of God, we have an obligation to help guide the lost servants of God back on the right path."

Franz replied as the two men shared a smile with a hidden meaning.

Franz, a "devout Catholic," naturally couldn't blatantly rob the Church, so he decided to use the excuse of cleaning God's house. Similarly, Minister-President Schwarzenburg knew that confiscation of the tithe would certainly offend the Church, so he decided to forego any mercy and slaughter this fat sheep.

In fact, it was difficult to determine the exact wealth of the Catholic Church of Austria during the mid-19th century, but after so many years of accumulation since the Reformation, it would certainly be much richer than the Viennese government.

Too much wealth without the power to safeguard it was not necessarily a good thing. The Catholic Church had already experienced this once during the Reformation in the 16th century and now, 300 years later, the Viennese government  planned a repeat of the Reformation.

 

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