Chapter 51: Chapter 50: A secret meeting in Hungary

Budapest, Hungary, Austrian Empire

“The actions of the Austrian Government are becoming more and more constricting and damaging to our interests. We need to make some radical actions for the Emperor to hear our cause.”

“What kind of action? Armed uprising or political protest? Either way, we are already damned. The Austrian Government would not hear our demands because it would be the exact opposite of their policies. And if we would go on an armed or violent path, we had already lost the support of most of the people. We should keep up with the change if we want to survive.”

“We should not bend our knees from those Austrians. We should fight!”

“The people have become more Austrian than Hungarians. We have lost a lot of support over the years especially the new economic and social edicts implemented by the Emperor.”

“The people will fight with us. We have led and managed them for centuries, they would obey our orders. We can just fight a few battles and defeat the Austrian army and immediately have a truce with the Austrian Government to accept our demands.”

“Why are you scared after fighting a few battles? I think we should go all the way for independence. The Ottomans are already supporting us we don’t need to be scared of the Austrian.”

“Are you a heretic for joining hands with the Ottomans? I would rather die than be branded as a traitor in siding with the Ottomans.”

“Wake up! The Ottomans would invade the Austrian Empire whether we supported it or not. I think it is better to side to the winning side than believing in such honor and dignity.”

“Shame on you…”

“Die…”

“You are just an Ottoman dog!.”

“You are just a coward…”

The Hungarian nobles are currently having a secret meeting inside one of the secured noble mansions in Budapest. The actions that the Austrian Government has done over the years have damaged the interest of the Hungarian nobles and they want to end this debacle. They were forced to have this meeting to plan their actions.

But everyone in the meeting is in conflict with what action should they undertake. Some advocate for just a political protest against the Austrian Government while others advocate for a more violent path to make their demands accepted by the Austrian Government. There are even a few who are advocating for the Hungarians to join hands with the Ottoman Empire and declare independence from the Austrians.

Everyone is divided that it becomes so noisy and chaotic that is barely any order inside the large meeting hall for the gathering. Everyone has their own ideas on what the best path Hungary should take to achieve its demands is.

“SILENCE ALL OF YOU.”

Count Gál Boldizsár, the most prominent Hungarian nobleman in the Austrian Empire silenced the Hungarian nobles who are noisily fighting in the meeting. He is now having a headache with how the Hungarian nobles are conducting themselves. In his eyes, the Hungarian nobles have become a disgrace and more of a noisy market in a sense. As a noble in a high position, it is disappointing seeing his fellow nobles lack the delicacy and elegance of a noble.

“We are here to unite everyone in a united front for our demand and future, not to further divide ourselves. Show some proper decorum worthy of being a noble here.”

Everyone becomes silent when the Count has spoke to the nobles. Everyone here respects him as the Count is the most powerful and influential Hungarian noble in the entire Austrian Empire. Having the outskirts and land near Budapest his domain, he controls most of the trade routes in the Hungarian regional capital. Especially when Hungary still practice serfdom and feudalism to some degree, powerful nobles still has large control in their domains compare to the nobles in other parts of the Austrian Empire.

“My fellow gents and noblemen, it seems like the Austrian Government is planning to undermine our control in Hungary. We have already suffered for decades, our influence is diminishing already even in Central Hungary where our main support lies… So I have a preposition with you my fellow nobles. How about we send a delegation to Vienna to have talks with the Crown Prince, I heard he has enough power and influence in the imperial court that can sway the Austrian government.”

“Then Count Boldizsár… how would you convince or persuade His Highness in our cause? His father is even more liberal than His Majesty that’s why a lot of nobles around the Empire petitioned that the young Archduke would become the Grand Prince.”

“We can offer our support to the rumored relationship between the Crown Prince and the foreign girl officially. His Imperial Highness would feel indebted to us if we support him.”

“That’s atrocious Count…”

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“We can’t agree with that…”

“That’s blasphemous…”

“The pure royal blood of the Imperial Family would be tainted…”

After Count Boldizsár had said his suggestion to the nobles, everyone reacted negatively to that suggestion. They can’t accept that a foreign girl somewhere far away would become the future Empress of the Austrian Empire.

Hungary is one of the most conservative regions in the Austrian Empire. Even now, serfdom is still practiced inside Hungary as the means of income for the Hungarian nobles. As one of the largest granaries in the empire, they need large manpower of cheap labor in their fields so that they could their wealth and profits. That’s why in the first place they were against the economic and agrarian reforms the current government and the Emperor have implemented.

The Austrian Government had also for years tried to undermine the serfdom and feudal system in Hungary that it often clashed with the Hungarian nobles.

“You know that would break the status quo of the empire Count Boldizsár. It might not affect us directly in the short term but that would give the people ideas of changes and we would be the ones who would suffer the most.”

“That’s right. It can be accepted…”

“How about we find a suitable noble lady or a princess for the Crown Prince? I’m sure he would be happy with that and be indebted to us…”

“We can contact our acquaintances in the other countries to persuade them to have our Crown Prince marry someone suitable for him from their countries…”

Everyone is not on board with the suggestion of the Count but they need to be respectful to the Count as he is their leader. They tried to give some alternative or other solutions that can be considered acceptable but the Count can only think that there is no other way. Aside from his plan, every other plan could only have resulted in failure for their cause.

“I know that everyone is skeptical of this plan. But this is the only possible way for us to convince the Imperial family of our demands. We can sacrifice something to be able to gain something in return but if you want another way then we can work together with the Hungarian nationalists.”

Everyone becomes silent and thinks for a moment about what the Count had just said. The plan to support the Crown Prince in his relationship is better than having to ally with the Hungarian nationalists who want to create an independent and democratic Hungary. For them, these nationalists are more of a threat than the Austrian policies. The Hungarian nobles were able to endure for decades the policies than joining hands with these nationalists.

These people were indoctrinated in the United States of America and believe in destroying the current status quo to build an equal and free society. These are the real enemies of the nobles who are conservative and want to keep the system of Aristocracy in Hungary. The only reason that these nationalists were not able to gain widespread support is that the common people were able to enjoy better life under the rule of the Habsburgs. The policies that the Emperor implemented throughout his rule were beneficial and good to the people that the nationalistic movement in other regions of the Austrian Empire was non-existent.

“I can accept your offer Count but we should send a large delegation to Vienna next year to appeal to the Emperor and protests against the Austrian government. We would only agree if you would allow us to send also our representatives in each faction here to satisfy our concerns.”

After a few moments of thinking, one of the prominent members of the faction who supported an armed uprising, Count Balog József, speak out. Count Boldizsár finds the suggestion reasonable and accepts the offer. The suggestion is reasonable enough to make everyone in the different factions agree with the plan. This is the best compromise that they could have so that they could move on and carry out the plan.

Everyone then agrees with this plan on the condition that the plan could change depending on the situation in Vienna. They also had agreed to send a fixed number of delegates from each faction to have every faction represented in the talks. The meeting then continues to agree on the small details in the plan and ended after everyone is satisfied with the compromise.

Everyone then starts leaving the meeting hall discreetly so that the people would not know that there is a large noble meeting that had just taken place. One of them is Count Balog József who ordered his coachman to make a detour before heading home.

“Boy… before we head home, bring me to that place.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Count József is looking at the people in the streets from his carriage with an indifferent and cold eye. He needs to talk with that person because of the change of plans in the meeting. For him, that plan is unacceptable, and a show of weakness and he is going to make it right.

 

 

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