Chapter 1186: The Three Principalities

  Chapter 1163 – The Three Great Duchies
The aftermath was opened, and the enthronement of the meritorious ministers was also on the agenda. The people below are impatiently waiting, if not for Franz’s high prestige and good reputation, they would have started to make a fuss.

It’s not that the military is inefficient, it’s mainly that the number of people to be enthroned this time is too large, and there is too much coordination and communication work that needs to be done.

Although the principle of voluntary, respect for the wishes of the individual, the actual operation is simply impossible to do.

Good places were snatched up by a swarm of people, and bad places were simply left unattended. In many cases, there are more than one meritorious ministers who have their eyes on the same piece of land, which needs to be coordinated by the Ministry of Staff.

The past few months had been spent mostly in tug-of-war. In order to get more meritorious ministers to agree to go to America and Australia, the General Staff had gone through a lot of trouble.

After months of effort, it finally came up with a proposal that most people could accept.

The general principle remained the same: the better the place, the smaller the size of the fiefdom you could get; and conversely the more rotten the place, the larger the fiefdom.

In order to get more people to open up the land, Franz also allocated a special fund to provide direct economic assistance to the lords of the remote inland areas.

Mainly for roads, bridges, water conservancy projects and other infrastructure assistance, meet the application conditions directly report the project is.

On top of that, there were special policy low-interest loans. Ensure that everyone has enough money to build the fiefdom.

Compared to the earliest nobles who were engaged in the opening of colonies and had to think of everything on their own, the current wave of military nobles were much happier.

The policy loan benefit was not just for the nobles, but the ordinary officers and soldiers who got the military field could also apply for a construction loan.

If it is not eaten to the hegemony dividend, Franz is never dare to spread money like this. You have to know that now is the era of the gold standard, the government’s pockets are also limited.

However, as the world hegemony is different, the divine shield replaced the pound sterling as the only international currency, the original countries holding the pound sterling, now have to change the object of foreign exchange reserves into the divine shield.

The market expanded all of a sudden, and the original divine shield circulating in the market was not enough, and the printing of tickets became inevitable.

As for the issue of gold reserves, there was no need to worry about it now.

With the credibility bonus brought about by the world hegemon, as long as it’s not a big flood, there’s no need to worry about a run, and there’s no harm in slightly increasing the leverage ratio.

The Vienna government was able to get out of its financial difficulties quickly after the war, and one of the major factors was the issuance of additional Shendian to the market.

With money in your pocket, you are hardened to do anything. Internally, it could appease the meritocracy, and externally, it could continue to remain strong.

To knighthood thousands of nobles was no easy task. A separate knighthood ceremony is naturally out of the question. Not only does Franz not have the time, but everyone can’t afford to wait.

Even if it was a group that wanted to play wholesale, the ceremony should still not be missing. The most scenic moment in life, not to give enough exposure is not possible.

In order to do as much as possible to achieve 360-degree shooting without dead angle, photographers are busy back and forth, the reporters’ cameras are also “click click click” non-stop.

As one of the main characters, Franz, is even more unbearable. Luckily, he survived, otherwise he would have had a lot of fun.

Franz would never want to do the same thing again. The years are getting old, it’s almost eighty, so it’s not a good idea not to give in to old age.

“Abdicate.”
“Abdicate.”
“Abdicate”!
At this moment, Franz’s determination to abdicate was extraordinarily strong. If it were not for the fact that the state had not yet been established, he would have issued an edict of abdication by now.

……

Vienna Palace, the first members of the Habsburg dynasty had gathered, and the moment had come to decide the future fate of all.

Franz, as the parent, surveyed the spirited juniors and asked solemnly, “Are you all ready?

You should know that after taking this step, you have to rely on yourselves to work hard. The outside world is definitely not beautiful, and the difficulties you will face in the future will be several times, or even dozens of times more than before.

All sorts of plots, tricks, and calculations will come at you. If you don’t have the ability to face all this, it’s not too late to retreat.

Do not feel ashamed. One should be self-aware, and a clear self-knowledge is vital if you want to become a qualified monarch.

If one goes out and is then driven back, or if one is sent to the guillotine, that would be a true disgrace.”

Not knowing whether it was intentional or not, the gazes of the crowd swarmed towards Massimiliano I.

As the family’s negative example, Massimiliano I had never had a good time over the years. If he hadn’t been supported by the idea of restoring the country, I’m afraid that his spirit would have collapsed long ago.

For all of this, Franz could only express regret, and the words just now, he really didn’t mean them. It was just that he had to use a heavy hammer in order to warn his descendants.

As for hurting his brother’s self-esteem, that was completely overthinking it. For so many years, because of the issue of restoration fundraising, what kind of blank stares and sarcasm, Massimiliano I did not experience.

Idealists are this powerful, as long as they are able to realize their ideals, they are able to suffer any pain, any anger.

This Grand Ennoblement is essentially to spread the risk and increase the family’s viability. Helping to restore Massimiliano I is also a logical thing to do.

Only to complete this plan will no longer be Massimiliano I himself, but by his son directly succeeded the Mexican emperor.

All parties have communicated more or less, suffered a round of social beatings after the Mexican power faction, have become royalists, have invited Massimiliano I to return to preside over the situation.

Only Franz do not trust the ability of Massimiliano I, in order to avoid being dragged down again to clean up the mess, directly to worry about the body of the unlucky egg brother as a reason to stop.

This reason is very good, from Vienna to Mexico by ship to be a good month, the sea wind and waves, young people will feel tired, let alone more than seventy years old.

As a good brother, Franz naturally want to prevent the tragedy. Restoration of the great cause can not be separated from Franz support, Massimiliano can only be forced to accept the reality.

Realizing the embarrassment of his unlucky brother, Franz decisively changed the topic: ”If no one quits, then I will issue the appointment letter.

The next step is your last chance to build up your strength, once the state is established, it will be difficult to get the support of the central government again.

I believe you all understand exactly what to do. If you can’t solve this little problem, then hurry up and quit and don’t go out and be embarrassed.

You can use the resources of the family, but the family is not a certain person’s family, but the common family of all of us.

Supporting you guys to go out and develop, the family will provide support, but the resources that each person can obtain are limited, I hope you can use them carefully.”

When there are many people, there are many things, the Habsburg family has also been thriving in recent years, and several of his younger brothers are still alive due to the influence of Franz’s chaotic entry.

These old guys naturally cannot go out and start their own business, but their juniors are able to participate. As long as they proved their ability, Franz was willing to provide opportunities.

Anyway, the territory gained this time was large enough that it wouldn’t hurt to seal a few more states. Breaking up some of them would also reduce the risk of future trouble.

It was just that sons and nephews were different after all, the resources from the family could be the same, but the funding that could be gotten from him as the emperor was very different.

Other than that, the emperor’s sons are all grand dukes, while the title that nephews can obtain is only a count, and not everyone can get it.

The difference was definitely not just a star. Since the rules of the game had been set, as the emperor, he had to abide by them as well.

Franz could enthrone his own sons and brothers as archdukes and support them in establishing states, but he could not allow a bunch of nephews to establish states.

Otherwise, if there were a whole bunch of counts in the Holy Roman Empire, wouldn’t everyone be able to establish a Burgh State?
Now these nephews went out to start their own businesses, and that was all under the banner of their fathers, with the pretense of managing the fiefs in place of their fathers.

Whether or not they can ultimately achieve the status of a state is an unknown. At least Franz will not use his own authority to enforce it.

Not only nephews, even Franz’s grandsons, want to establish a state is difficult.

In addition to the status problem, the most critical problem is “no merit in the country”. Under the military merit system, “merit” was the core of the Holy Roman Empire.

It is not that Franz did not give the arrangement of gold-plated, it is really too young. The oldest was in his twenties, so it was impossible for him to hold an important position.

In contrast, several sons are different. Early arranged to serve as governors overseas, during the World War are one side of the commander-in-chief.

Although these military honors were not enough to obtain a solid grand duke title, but considering the status of the royal son’s addition, no one could pick a thorn in anyone’s side.

Although several nephews also have arrangements, but Franz invested significantly smaller resources. Because there is no excessive military talent, in the end just follow the sauce.

The resources they received now were all different, and the gap would only get bigger in the future. Unless they strive hard on their own and make outstanding achievements, they will only be a noble fiefdom aristocrat with an honorable status.

Of course, Franz would not say these words. For the Habsburg family, even if it is just one more overseas fiefdom noble, it is also a kind of growth.

The more powerful the family was, the more stable the royal power would be. Even if they lost in the power struggle in the future, their political opponents would not dare to go too far.

……

On September 18, 1905, Franz issued an imperial edict naming his second son, Peter, as Grand Duke of Latin America, with the fiefdom of Austrian Central American colonies; his third son, William, as Grand Duke of the South Seas, with the fiefdom of the islands south of Malacca; and his fourth son, George, as Grand Duke of the Maple Leaf, with the fiefdom of the Canadian region.

The enthronement of the Grand Duke is not news, the key lies in the fiefdom area of these Grand Duke, are exceedingly large.

But the folk also just talk about it, and did not make any trouble. The fiefdom area is not false, but many of these fiefdoms have a landlord.

After deducting the previous military nobles’ fiefdoms and soldiers’ military fields, the remaining land is their actual fiefdom.

Most of the best lands already had owners, and the rest were undeveloped wastelands, and in the short term there weren’t many truly valuable lands other than those with bigger names.

Considering the status of the prince, such treatment was not surprising. As for the matter of establishing a state, it was only being circulated in the upper circles now.

It was a yang conspiracy, on the surface the Emperor’s enthronement was completely in line with the procedure, no faults could be picked out, the government simply couldn’t find any reason to oppose it.

The fiefdom nobles themselves are equivalent to a party of vassals, except for not having a seat in the Imperial Council, other political power is similar to the state.

In the future, if these people want to gain more political power, they will either have to push for localization or apply to the emperor for the establishment of a state.

Undoubtedly, the Vienna government did not have the ability to localize so much land, and the establishment of a state was only natural.

The naked political hints could not be hidden from those who had the heart to do so. Only when faced with a strong emperor who played the game of yang, the opponents didn’t know how to go about opposing it.

While everyone was attracted to the freshly minted three Archdukes, Franz issued personnel appointments without stopping, placing several nephews and grandchildren into the Colonial Ministry respectively.

Waiting for the completion of the handover of the colonies, they would take on the status of regional colonial governors and head to New Zealand, Australia, Austrian South America, the Malay Peninsula, and other regions respectively.

Establishing a state was not something that could be done overnight, not to mention the domestic reaction. Without a full-fledged team in hand, Franz did not have the ability to rule the localities, even if he issued an edict of enthronement.

What can be done now is just to help them pave the way. The final result still depends on the future development of the situation.

In a short period of time, the three duchies can be established, and Franz may not be able to withstand the pressure if there are more.

The main thing is that the impact is not good, can not let the people feel fortunate to have fought a world war, and in the end, the benefits are divided by the nobility, the royal family, and the soldiers.

(End of chapter)