Chapter 15: Forcing the Palace

  Chapter 15: Forced Palace

In the spirit of seeing what’s going on, Franz visited another bigwig of the Conservative Party, Count Koloft, to express his concern about the current situation.

Everyone is a well-informed lord, and it is no secret at all in the higher echelons of the government as to what role Franz has played in this political conflict.

However, everyone is temperate, Franz’s origin is destined to be one of their own, at least in the face of the bourgeois revolution, everyone is on the same boat, naturally, no one will leak the information.

Of course, even if someone leaked the information, it was useless, the contradiction between the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie could not be eased anymore, what should be done was still done!

Let the aristocracy give up suppressing the bourgeoisie? Or let the bourgeoisie give up seizing power?

No one can give in at this time, nor dare they. One step back now is not a wide sea and sky, but an abyss of ten thousand fathoms.

It has to be said that there are advantages to being young, or else Franz would have to come straight to the foreground by now.

Of course, more or the Regency Council does not want to give up the power in their hands so early, this black pot they will have to carry up.

Let Franz head out to pull hatred against the bourgeoisie can also be, the consequence is that he is the Crown Prince early regency, the Regency Committee to become history.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Metternich had a hard time, representing the interests of the aristocracy, he presented himself as a reformer and did not look very coherent.

Originally, the two factions in Austria, you fight to the death, Franz stirred up a, and now the good conservatives also played the reform.

In the past, people always take serfdom, attacked the conservatives hindered the progress of Austria, deprived the serfs of personal freedom, but also on their brutal oppression.

Now the aristocrats have begun to fight back, comparing the lives of workers and serfs, and everyone suddenly realizes that there are worse.

The aristocrats no matter how heartless, they could not let the serfs work 15 or 16 hours a day, in addition to the busy season, where is usually so much to do ah?

Lighting is not cheap in this era, capitalists let workers work night shifts, that is making money, if the nobles let the serfs work night shifts, that will lose money.

Needless to say, the life of workers and serfs is the same – bitter!

But relatively speaking, workers in this era are even more bitter, factories are like prisons, once inside, want to come out is difficult, the slightest wrong is a beating.

Wages, whether you can get your hands on, all depends on the capitalists’ integrity, encountered conscience is not dead, more or less can take a little, if encountered ruthless, work for nothing for a few years, but also let you owe him a debt.

The problem of difficult to collect wages, not to mention in this era, even in the 21st century, many areas have not been solved.

Happiness is a matter of comparison, and pain is also a matter of comparison.

Under the manipulation of the aristocrats, the working class suddenly felt that they were the ones who suffered the most. At this time when the Government wants to formulate the Labour Protection Fee, that must be supported!

When it is a matter of self-interest, the so-called constitutional reform, universal suffrage, abolition of serfdom, all these series of issues can be postponed indefinitely.

The bourgeoisie is also not a soft touch, and when it comes to its own interests, it will not budge an inch. Patriotic integrity has long been eaten by dogs at this time.

Sandwiched in the middle of the Prime Minister Metternich on the headache, the diplomatic strong man, in the face of internal contradictions, it is not able to do.

As with the abolition of serfdom, he was still negotiating with the representatives of the bourgeoisie in an attempt to gain their understanding and work out an answer that everyone could accept.

“Your Excellency the Prime Minister, I would like to know when the Labor Protection Act will come out?” Count Koloft asked indifferently

As Prime Minister Metternich’s political enemy, how could he not make things happen at this time? Even without Franz’s hints, he had to take action, only now his purpose was clearer.

“Count Koloft, it takes a while for any law to be enacted, we have to conduct actual research and then analyze it thoroughly, just wait patiently!” Metternich said disdainfully

When it came to political enemies, he didn’t bother to be polite, anyway, no matter how well it was said, everyone was an enemy.

“Your Excellency Prime Minister, I can wait, but the workers out there can’t wait, you have to know that every day hundreds of workers in Austria die because of the unbridled oppression of the capitalists!

Don’t they call themselves patriots? Every day they condescend to accuse us of immorality for depriving the serfs of their freedom, and now what do they do?

Aren’t the workers Austrian citizens? You know that the vast majority of these workers are the serfs we freed, and instead of making them better off, the emancipation of the serfs has plunged them into another abyss!

This abyss is still more terrible, he wants to devour it all and finally destroy the whole of Austria!” Count Koloft growled, pointing at Chancellor Metternich.

This was the general again, the purpose of emancipating the serfs was to give them a better life, but now the result was the opposite, there was too much evidence that their lives had gotten worse.

This was a heavy blow to the abolition of serfdom that Metternich had advocated, and until this problem was solved, all the work he had done before would have to come to a halt.

But to solve the problem meant that he would have to break with the bourgeoisie, which supported the abolition of serfdom, and even to bring the bourgeoisie down.

Most of the reformers in the country now were bourgeois, which would shake his position as prime minister unless he moved fully toward the nobility.

Well, Prime Minister Metternich is himself a representative of the great nobility and has always stood with the nobility, except for the abolitionist movement, and he is not averse to compromising with the aristocratic class once again, the problem is that there is an article in this standing as well.

He couldn’t be forced to take sides, it was a matter of future dominance. Metternich also wanted to be the leader of the aristocratic class, not become an agent supported by the aristocratic class.

“Alright, Count Koloft. The government will give an answer to this question as soon as possible, so you can go back and wait for news!” Metternich said with a frown

“I hope so, or else our Prime Minister is going to be a disappointment!” Count Koloft said grimly

After sending Count Koloft away, Prime Minister Metternich’s face instantly clouded over, having been forced into a palace, it would be strange for him to be in a good mood.

After contemplating for a few moments of effort, Metternich slapped the table and muttered to himself, “To try to seize power with such a little trick, Koloft seems to be really old!”

He said this as if he was very young, but in fact Metternich, who was born in 1773, was also 74 years old.

(End of chapter)