Chapter 122: Swiss Mercenaries
Chapter 121 Swiss Mercenaries
Whether the military was willing or not, Austria’s disarmament resolution was just finalized. The government’s focus shifted from the military, to local construction.
On top of that, the more important state policy was still compulsory education, and in order to motivate the bureaucrats, Franz decided to adopt the appraisal system.
That is: to link the effectiveness of compulsory education to the promotion of officials.
The core of this is still the promotion of the Austrian language, after all, the purpose of this compulsory education is not pure, but mainly for the unification of language and culture, to lay the foundation for national integration.
“Have the statistics of the assets purchased from the church come out yet?” Franz asked with concern
Finance Minister Karl replied, “Your Majesty, it is still being counted, many of the assets here are intricate and difficult to value.
Preliminary statistics are about four million seven hundred and eighty eight million hectares of land, including arable land, forest land, grassland, etc.; owns 386 large and small mines, including minerals such as gold, silver, copper, iron, coal, etc.; owns real estate stores, residences ……”
Franz nodded, these assets were indeed not good for valuation, cash, within antiques and paintings, had long been divided up by the clergy.
Even if there are artifacts left behind, they are placed inside the church, and it is impossible for the Austrian government to take them.
A lot of these real estate has become the private property of some clergy, but under the pressure of the Austrian government, they were forced to hand over.
This is not their choice, real estate simply can not be hidden, not to hand over they will have to go to the Papal States as a death squad.
“The value of these assets is slowly tallied, first estimate the annual revenue, about how much?” Franz asked
“Around eighty million guilders, this return is stable and basically won’t change much.” Karl replied
This figure did not cause anyone to gasp, since ancient times religions have been units of affluence, especially in monotheistic systems like Europe, churches tend to be much wealthier than governments.
They had many privileges, such as tax exemptions for church properties and free disposal of the money collected from believers.
This is still after the religious revolution, if in the Middle Ages, the church is still in control of half of the European continent, the king, the emperor must be dependent on them.
“What about tithes?” Franz continued
By the middle of the 19th century, Austrian tithes were not the exclusive preserve of the Church; the monarch and the great nobility took a share of the benefits.
After the change to the education surcharge, the money would go directly into the pockets of the Ministry of Finance, so naturally there was no sharing.
The tithe, which originated in the Old Testament and has continued ever since, was mainly for agricultural products, including grains, wheat, fruits, vegetables, livestock, and so on.
The tax rate was fixed at 10%, and Franz knew that even in the 21st century there were still some places that collected this tax.
The French were the first to abolish it, in the 18th century during the Revolution, and European countries abolished it in the 19th century, with the British receiving it in 1936.
“Your Majesty, the Austrian tithe is around 80 to 100 million guilders, but I’m afraid we can’t just change it to a surtax on education, considering the actual situation.” Karl thought for a moment and said
“What are the reasons?” Franz asked
“Your Majesty, compulsory education is shared by all Austrian citizens, if we charge a surtax on education, only for peasants and nobles who own land, it would be unfair.” Karl reminded
Franz instantly understood, the name of the tax could not be changed indiscriminately, there was also the social impact to consider.
If it was changed to an education surtax, then it would have to be collected for all industries together, otherwise don’t expect the nobles to pay taxes honestly, and it would also be easy to stimulate social conflicts.
If Austria collects education surtax for all industries, then it has to cut their other taxes, otherwise it exceeds their affordability.
On the surface the meat is in the pot and it doesn’t matter if they change it, but in reality it will be difficult to implement.
First of all, those who cannot afford this tax are the working class at the bottom, whose income is limited. It is not easy to untie them a little bit, and then a surtax on education is introduced, and they are immediately knocked out of the prototype again.
This kind of thing can not be done, Franz does not want to make a death wish, lose the hard to build up the popularity of the people.
“The Ministry of Finance has any suggestions to avoid this problem?” Franz asked with concern
Karl thought for a moment and said, “Your Majesty, the Ministry of Finance suggests that tithes should still be collected by the clergy on their behalf without changing the name, and that the Ministry of Finance sends someone to supervise it.
We could have His Holiness the Pope issue a decree that all Austrian tithes be transferred to the government to fund education.”
Oh come on, the Austrian government is ready to turn the Holy See into their subordinate organization, letting the Church do all the hate-pulling.
Franz thought for a moment and said, “Well, then, the issue of the education surtax will be put aside for now, and the Church will be allowed to continue collecting tithes.”
He really couldn’t find a reason to refuse, for the sake of compulsory education in Austria, this black pot is better to let the church continue to carry it.
Anyway, God, his old man’s divine power, some complaints can be resisted, have collected thousands of years, do not care to collect a few more decades.
When the Austrian government becomes rich, it will find a reason to abolish it.
The Catholic Church was not the only one targeted by the Austrian government; other churches did not escape.
Only these churches were not mainstream, not influential enough, and naturally their financial power was limited, so they couldn’t scrape much wealth, and didn’t deserve Franz’s personal attention.
……
On November 2, 1848, the Austrian government was invited by Pope Pius IX to send 80,000 troops to help mediate internal power disputes in the Papal States.
This was naturally opposed by the reactionary bourgeois regime, and the anti-Austrian movement in the Italian regions rose again, with countless nationalists gathering in Rome in an attempt to deter the Austrian army with their actions.
The end result was that Pope Pius IX ordered – kill, and then the heroic Austrian army sent them to God.
On November 7, 1848, the Austrian army launched an attack on the reactionary regime, killing more than 8,000 people on the spot, taking more than 30,000 prisoners, and physically hitting the Italian nationalists hard.
The stronghold of Italian nationalism was in the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was unfortunately destroyed once by Austria, and the backbone of the nationalist ideology suffered a heavy physical blow.
The government of Charles Albert, who had just returned to the Kingdom of Sardinia, was already too intimidated to make waves anymore.
In order to keep their power, they embraced the English on the one hand, and suppressed radicalism in the country on the other, fearing that they would irritate Austria and bring about their destruction.
Disappointed Italian nationalists ran to Rome, where they premeditated a final counterattack in an attempt to preserve their last base.
The end was naturally tragic, and Pope Pius IX rejoined Rome, and the first thing he did was to suppress this group of nationalists.
To unify the Italian regions, Pius IX was also willing, but the precondition had to be that the Papal States under his leadership went for unification. If this could not be done, then preserving the Papal States came first.
Among the Italian states, the Kingdom of Sardinia was the strongest and developed the best, and many nationalists were in favor of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
In Pius IX’s opinion this was a naked betrayal, as abominable as the revolutionaries. Now that he had the support of Austria, he naturally went on a killing spree.
Killing may not be able to solve the problem, but killing is indeed the best way to eliminate the enemy from the flesh. After the bloody suppression, the situation in Rome stabilized.
After the recapture of Rome, the papal troops logically fell to Pius IX, and the later battles did not need the Austrian troops to fight again.
In Vienna, Franz gave Pius IX a bad idea, suggesting that he should disband part of his army and use the savings to hire Swiss to defend the Papal States.
There was a precedent for this; Swiss mercenaries were an existence that had fought all over the continent of Europe, and their battles were widely recognized. They also often undertook missions to defend a country, or to attack a country.
Since the 16th century, the papal guards have become Swiss, and the Swiss have gained respect for their actions.
In 1789, 138 Swiss mercenaries defended Louis XVI at the Palace of Versailles, all of whom died in battle and none of whom chose to escape.
Pius IX, who had experienced a coup d’état, was naturally receptive to good advice. If Franz recommended German mercenaries to him, it is estimated that he would have to worry about whether there was some kind of conspiracy.
But when he switched to Swiss mercenaries, he was not worried at all. Everyone knew the grudge between the Habsburg family and the Swiss, although now everyone had eased their relationship, most of the Swiss still would not buy the Habsburg family’s account.
Under Franz’s butterfly effect, from now on Rome’s guards will not be Italians, but Swiss mercenaries who are brave and good at fighting.
The authority of Pope Pius IX was greatly strengthened by this group of paid fighters.
Other armies might sympathize with the revolution and even support the revolutionaries, but these Swiss mercenaries, who were foreigners, had no interest in the revolution.
Of course, this is something for the future. His Holiness the Pope’s Swiss Corps had not yet had time to form, and now the force in his hands was still the Papal States Army.
For this army, Pius IX did not trust, all of them sent out to suppress the rebel elements, and now it is still the Austrian army that guards his safety.
The Vatican
A cardinal said happily, “Your Majesty, we have contacted three Swiss mercenary corps that are willing to accept our employment, totaling up to two thousand men.”
Pius IX nodded with satisfaction, Swiss mercenaries are a little bit more expensive, but they are worth every penny, these people are loyal and reliable, much better than the gang of papal state troops outside.
Think about it, if Louis XVI had not 138 Swiss mercenaries, but 1,380 would he have been sent to the guillotine?
I’m afraid he would have covered him and gone to gather the royalist army to put down the rebellion.
Or King Louis-Philippe, who had just been overthrown. If he had had a Swiss mercenary corps, he would have crushed the revolution long ago, where would he have needed to flee?
Considering his own experience, Pope Pius IX realized that if he had had 2,000 Swiss mercenaries, he would have killed the revolutionaries long ago, and would not have needed to go into exile.
The more he thought, the more he was led astray.
Pope Pius IX had already forgotten that as a king, he needed foreigners to defend his own safety, enough to show how much of a failure he had done.
It meant an extreme lack of trust in his subjects, and when that trust was lost, the relationship between king and subjects could never be close again.
However, this problem does not matter to the Pope, anyway, his throne can not be hereditary, as long as he is comfortable, why care about the next so much?
Pius IX thought for a moment and said, “Sign a contract with them as soon as possible, and have them rush to Rome immediately to take up their duties.
And continue to contact the Swiss mercenary corps, two thousand or so people a regiment of troops, to guard the papal state is far from enough.”
“Your Majesty, are the Austrians withdrawing their troops?” The Cardinal asked with concern
“That’s right, Lieutenant General Edmund has repeatedly urged us to form a loyal army as soon as possible, they still want to rush back to spend Christmas with their families.” Pius IX said smilingly
The thing that worries him the most about inviting the Austrian army to suppress the rebellion is that it’s easy to invite the gods but hard to send them away, in case the Austrian army relies on them, that would be a big trouble.
Fortunately, this did not happen, the Austrian army took the initiative to withdraw, which is just what Pius IX intended, sparing him a big problem.
The performance of the Austrian army also made Pius IX very satisfied, strict military discipline, no harassment of the place, and even robbery are disciplined, absolutely not chaotic hand.
Perhaps he and the Vienna government cooperation is too pleasant, the Austrian army commander Lieutenant General Edmund very respect him the Pope, everywhere in his honor, did not give him trouble.
(End of chapter)