Chapter 90: Chapter 88 – Undercurrent in Buda-Pest

'Damn liar!' This was Lajos Batthyány's first reaction. More than 13,000 people? If he could truly gather so many men, they could've already usurped Kossuth. After all, even a mob of a few thousand was a powerful force within the narrow confines of a city, let alone a heavily armed force exceeding 10,000 men.

Lajos Batthyány exhaled to calm himself before he said, "Minister Mészáros, I'm not asking how many people are inclined to us, but rather how many people you can actually assemble without attracting outside attention!"

Lázár Mészáros replied, "Without attracting outside attention, I can only gather around five hundred people."

In fact, the revolutionaries were not fools, how could they not have taken measures to guard themselves against the nobles? From the beginning, Kossuth had refused to allow Lázár Mészáros and other army officers from participating in the administration of the government with the excuse that politics and military shouldn't be mixed.

In fact, both Batthyány and Mészáros were descendants of nobles who had completed the transition from nobles to capitalists. Technically, the independent Hungarian Republic was more in line with their interests, so they had initially been supporters of the revolution with Batthyány even being the nominal leader.

In comparison, the tradition nobles of Hungary were decadent and incompetent. Even those who were transitioning to capitalists were overly cautious. After all, the nobles had made money through the use of their lands for centuries, so hard work and entrepreneurship did not come easy to them.

Meanwhile, the revolutionaries, led by Kossuth, were mostly descendants of lower nobility who had turned to entrepreneurs much more easily. As a result, in the struggle for domination over the government of the Hungarian Republic, the cautious and slow aristocrats naturally lost to the entrepreneurial revolutionaries who dared to take risks.

Lajos Batthyány was a smart man, but because he was so smart, he took every possibility into account, especially failure, which led him to take no action until he was 100% certain of success. If any common revolutionary had been in his place, the result would've been the opposite. They would've already launched a coup even with just 500 people and taken the leadership of the government hostage, thereby obtaining control of the Hungarian Republic.

As expected, after a few minutes of mental struggle, Lajos Batthyány finally said, "Let's think of a way to gather more people. When there's enough people, we will proceed."

Lázár Mészáros naturally didn't object. Even though he had stated that he could gather 500 people, he wasn't very confident in that claim. After all, people are unpredictable. Who knows if one of those 500 people was sympathetic to the revolution or a spy. In the event of a leak, he would be deemed a traitor and certainly lose his post and powers.

"No problem, Count Batthyány, but how will we explain it to the Austrians?" Lázár Mészáros asked, concerned.

Obviously, these high-level members of the Hungarian Republic were in bed with Austria. If they manage to internally cripple the Republic, they would be rewarded, but if not…

Lajos Batthyány confidently replied, "You don't need to worry. The Austrians only asked us to wipe out the leaders of the left-wing extremists. All other issues are negotiable."

There were two factions in the Hungarian revolution. The left-wing faction, led by Kossuth, advocated for the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of an independent Hungarian Republic. The right-wing faction, led by liberal nobles such as Batthyány and István Széchenyi, advocated improvement of the social system while cooperating closely with the Habsburgs.

One side wanted to tear the system down and replace it with an entirely new system while the other wanted to reform and remove the defects of the current system. Finally, there were the nobles who held no official position within the revolution. However, these nobles also held significant sway as they regularly switched support between the left-wing faction and the right-wing faction.

The relationship between the Hungarian left-wing faction and Austria need not be said, but the relationship between the Hungarian right-wing faction and Austria was still friendly. Even if the Viennese government had abolished serfdom and seized their land, wouldn't they still be paid the land redemption money if they cooperated with Austria?

Lajos Batthyány did not know whether the interests of nobles who sometimes supported him and sometimes supported Kossuth could be guaranteed, but he was sure that the interests of those who stood with the Viennese government would be guaranteed.

Of course, if he wanted to obtain more benefits such as future appointments in the new administrative body of Hungary, he needed to show the value of his existence to Austria. If he did nothing like the other nobles, there might be no place for him in politics after the capture of Buda-Pest became a reality.

 

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On the other side of the city, Kossuth was busy discussing the issue of the city's defense with the Polish general Henryk Dembiński, unaware that some people close to him were getting ready to use his head in exchange for merit. He watched as Henryk Dembiński marked all the important positions on the city defense map, and assigned forces according to the actual situation.

After all this was done, he turned to Kossuth and said, "President Kossuth, this is as far as anyone can defend Buda-Pest. It is unrealistic to believe that we can keep the enemy out. The main factor in the imminent war will be focused on street fighting.

In street fighting, the combat effectiveness of the regular army will be significantly reduced as they won't be able to effectively use their formations in the narrow streets. Furthermore, if we occupy the roofs, we will be able to cripple their artillery. With the help of our ditches and bunkers, the National Guard will have the terrain advantage.

As long as we can stand united, we can hold the Austrians back for at least three months, and even force them to withdraw from Buda-Pest due to heavy losses."

Kossuth asked expectantly, "General Dembiński, you are a famed general. Is there any way for us to wipe out the enemy?"

If the Hungarian Republic wants to survive, it must defeat Austria. Just being able to hold back their army for two or three months is still not especially helpful to the overall situation.

Henryk Dembiński shook his head and said, "I apologize, President Kossuth, but this would be an impossible task even for Napoleon.

We have to admit the objective fact that our National Guard is far from the Austrian regular army in terms of combat effectiveness, and there is a huge gap between us and them in terms of weapons and equipment.

In addition to having control of Buda-Pest and being able to defend ourselves for a few months, we do not have any other advantages. In such a case, it is very unwise to switch to offense."

Kossuth nodded, disappointed. In fact, he had asked this same question to other generals and their answers had been even more pessimistic than that of Dembiński.

The biggest problem was that the common Hungarians did not regard the Austrian army as a foreign invader. Between the Emperor and the Hungarian Republic, people overwhelmingly favored the Emperor. If a referendum were called, the Hungarian Republic would cease to exist. After all, only a few weeks had passed since the massacre during the workers strike in Pest.

Destruction was an easier concept to grasp and achieve than construction. Since the establishment of the Hungarian Republic, ordinary people had not received any substantial benefits. Instead, their lives had worsened. Their wages had remained the same but the cost of living had skyrocketed. They were able to do nothing as they watched the capitalists pocket their hard-earned money and those that tried to raise their voice against this oppression were killed in the Massacre of Pest.

Józef Bem said, "General Dembiński we don't have the luxury to think long-term. Buda-Pest's connection to the outside world has been broken which is very detrimental for us.

And even though there is a large amount of food stored in the city, enough to last a year, we all know that if the Austrians decide to be ruthless, there are other ways to conquer this city!"

 

-TO BE CONTINUED-

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