Chapter 354: Retrograde Mentality
Chapter 344: Retrograde Mentality
Does Massimiliano have any abilities?
The answer is: yes!
As long as they weren’t congenitally deficient, those who had been trained by the royal family would definitely have abilities that exceeded the vast majority of ordinary people.
Only the ability is often accompanied by arrogance, and this kind of arrogance needs to be polished, only after the convergence of the sharp edge, is able to really play out.
Massimiliano is not encountered setbacks, in the dowager empress Sophie’s favor, the first half of his life is smooth sailing, and then raised the idealism of the spearhead.
Idealism is a monarch’s greatest enemy, and once tainted, the best end is to become a rubber stamp, poorly refer to the historical Massimiliano.
Franz sneered, “This is the program you prepared? My stupid brother, are you out of your mind?
According to your program to rule the country, you are thinking that Mexico is not chaotic enough, add another fire to them, and then kill a bloodbath, and by the way, put put you, the emperor, to the guillotine?”
It’s not that Franz is spewing nonsense, Massimiliano’s program is indeed unreliable, and the core ruling philosophy is actually liberalism.
Liberalism is any country can play? In Austria Franz did not dare to engage in liberalism, or any monarchy in the world, do not dare to engage in this kind of liberalism.
Dissatisfied, Massimiliano said, “My elder brother, on what basis do you say that my program does not work?”
Franz did not answer this question directly, but instead asked, “Very good, learning to question, there is progress.
Unfortunately, this is not enough.
Since your planning to rule the country program, then you tell me what is the biggest social conflict in Mexico? What are the strengths and weaknesses?
And the distribution of resources in Mexico, what places are suitable for the development of what industries?”
It was Massimiliano’s turn to be dumbfounded, this countries are managed in a coarse manner, not the bureaucrats in charge of the sub-division, others usually know nothing.
Far away in Vienna, Massimiliano naturally can not have these details, Franz to provide him with only the basic domestic situation, and even the Mexican government has not done detailed statistics.
But in Franz’s view, these basic things, as the emperor must master, otherwise how to formulate the development program.
For example: to develop heavy industry, ready to build a steel mill, because nothing is known, so that the bureaucrats a pat on the head to randomly select the site, and finally found that the raw materials in thousands of miles away.
After hesitating for a few moments, Massimiliano frowned and replied: “The main conflict in Mexico is between the reformists and conservatives, interspersed with the conflict between the republicans and the constitutionalists.
As long as the problems in the political system are dealt with, these conflicts can be solved. The latter question is so tricky that I refuse to answer it.”
Franz rubbed his forehead and said helplessly, “It seems that my stupid brother, you really have been fooled into stupidity.
The system exists because of the people, and it is always the people who have problems, not the system. As long as the people problem is solved, none of these problems are problems.
There is no right or wrong in front of interests, and as a qualified emperor, you don’t need to distinguish so clearly.
You just need to figure out which are your own people want, which are neutralists, and which are enemies.
Your own people can be reused, the neutrals can be drawn in and used, and the enemies just need to be killed, things are that simple.
The fundamental social conflict in Mexico is interest, the conflict of interest of various classes, and the conflict of interest between different ethnic groups.
Only after you have smoothed out the chain of interests and solved the problem at its root, all other conflicts are better. If you can’t solve the problem, then solve the people who created the problem.
This is just the basic condition of sitting on the throne, ultimately it depends on the development of the country, at least you have to let the people have enough to eat.
Having said that much, do you still think what I’m asking isn’t important?”
This was a lesson in politics, the blackened art of imperial power. Franz hadn’t taught Massimiliano before this, and no one in the Habsburg dynasty had been able to teach him.
Hearing Franz’s words, Massimiliano was directly stunned. He was completely surprised that Franz actually said something like this, overturning his three views.
If according to Franz’s meaning, to sit on the Mexican throne, the first thing to do is not to ease the conflicts, but instead to stimulate the conflicts and use a civil war to solve the people who created the problems.
Even thought of the rebellion of 1848, the Vienna government used this opportunity to solve the Hungarian problem once and for all, and incidentally also solved the social conflicts in the country, introduced labor protection laws and abolished serfdom.
Massimiliano instantly understood a lot, the more he understood the more difficult to accept. The elder brother, who was regarded as the greatest monarch of the Habsburg dynasty for a hundred years, had actually done so many things in secret.
What made him unable to refute was that Franz had succeeded, and those who succeeded should not be blamed. From 1848 to the present, Austria’s combined power has more than doubled.
The country had become stronger, the life of the people had improved, and all walks of life had made remarkable progress.
The devastated Massimiliano did not know how he left, full of echoes of what Franz said, torn between affirmation and denial.
Looking at the soulful husband, Princess Charlotte asked with concern: “Why Massimiliano, is not where uncomfortable?”
Woken up, Massimiliano said listlessly, “Charlotte, do you think I’m not fit to be emperor?”
Princess Charlotte was shocked, she still wanted to be the Empress! She had spent a lot of effort in order to encourage Massimiliano to agree to go and become the Emperor of Mexico. It had only been a short while, and it had turned into this.
Princess Charlotte doesn’t think it’s that hard to be emperor, just look at Franz. On average, he worked three or four hours a day, and most of the time was spent reading, reading the newspaper, drinking tea, and taking care of his children, and Austria developed well as usual.
“How to return? You have to believe in yourself, you’re the best!”
Massimiliano shook his head and said, “No, I’m probably not really suited to be an emperor, not even knowing the basics of being an emperor.”
Princess Charlotte persuaded, “What happened to make you deeply shocked? The you I know is not like this, did a little setback hit you?”
Massimiliano calmed down a bit and said, “I just went to see my elder brother with a plan for the future development of Mexico, hoping to gain his support.”
Charlotte asked uncertainly, “He doesn’t approve of you going to Mexico to become emperor?”
It was important to know that the relationship between Franz’s brothers was very good. Under normal circumstances, if Massimiliano wanted to be the emperor, Franz would definitely support it.
This was also one of the reasons why they dared to take over that mess in Mexico. After all, Austria’s tentacles have been deep into the Central American region, just need a telegram, the Austrian army can come over to give them force support.
Massimiliano shook his head and said, “No. He just told me some basic common sense about being an emperor, and it gave me a very big shock.”
For the specifics, Massimiliano kept his mouth shut. He was also trying to save face, and didn’t want his wife to know these bad things.
Hearing the news, Princess Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Franz, the emperor, did not object, it was fine, and it did not matter if the rest of the Habsburg family objected.
To Mexico to be able to provide them with support, only Austria’s troops in Central America, which just need Franz agreed.
“Don’t worry, there have been so many successful emperors in history, and each one achieved success in a different way. Cousin Franz’s experience, it’s normal that some things don’t suit you.
As long as you are diligent and love the people, I believe I will be fine!” Princess Charlotte continued to encourage
Massimiliano smiled bitterly, “But the facts are in front of us, he did succeed. Austria was reborn in his hands, and the glory of the Habsburg dynasty was revived in his hands.
And all of this took only a dozen years, and everyone gave him very high praise, and when you go out on the streets and alleys, people will shout ‘Franz the Great’.”
“Diligent and loving”, the last two words may have some relevance to Franz, the first two words are just too much to make the connection.
If one were to choose the least industrious monarchs in Europe, then Franz would certainly make the top three, with one of them possibly being Queen Victoria.
This is awkward, Britain is a constitutional monarchy model where the monarch’s rights are limited. Queen Victoria didn’t get involved in politics much, which makes sense.
Not so with Franz, both the Emperor of Austria and the Emperor of the New Holy Roman Empire, which was a monarchy. Despite being cloaked as a constitutional monarchy, the emperor’s power was still supreme.
Because political parties are so weak, this constitutional monarchy is even more powerful than the imperial power in the vast majority of monarchies.
In any case, Franz succeeded. Austrian influence spread to all parts of the world where civilization existed, and the flag of the Habsburg dynasty was planted on all four oceans and seven continents.
From now on, I am afraid that the word “hardworking” will be kicked out of the evaluation of the merits of kings. At least in the Habsburg Dynasty, everyone just needed to be successful, who cares whether the emperor was diligent or not?
In fact, this is only Franz’s self-awareness. If he was in charge of everything, he would be exhausted and end up making a mess.
Instead of that, it would be better to just manage the hundred and eighty people at the top of the government, and then they go and run the country.
This is easier said than done. In order to create this team of bureaucrats, Franz also spent several years grinding away before finally finding a balance.
Princess Charlotte said seriously, ”Massimiliano, you are jealous. That’s not a good quality to have, jealousy can lead one astray.”
Massimiliano growled in a venting manner, “Yes, I admit there is an element of that. Growing up I lived in Franz’s shadow, he was just too good.
My grades in all subjects made me despair, except for marksmanship which was an exception. It was hard to wait until his grades dropped, and before I could breathe a sigh of relief, he was regent and then emperor.
As we all learned later, Austria before his succession was just a European power, now Austria is a world power.
If he wanted to, he could also learn from the British and declare that the sun never sets on Austrian soil.
You have no idea how much pressure I am under with such a wonderful elder brother. Ever since I was a child, I have had to imitate him and learn from him.
But by now, I realize that the gap between the two sides has not narrowed, but has been stretched even farther.
I really hope that he can be a little mediocre in one aspect and can give me back a little confidence!”
Princess Charlotte, who knew her husband very well, knew that Massimiliano’s willingness to say these words meant that he was fine, and along with that, said, “At least your marksmanship is better than his.”
“It seems that’s all the confidence I have left.” Massimiliano said helplessly
Princess Charlotte revealed a bright smile and asked, “So do you want to be common sense and challenge yourself?”
Massimiliano replied without hesitation, “Of course, I will prove myself in my own way that I am not inferior to him!”
Princess Charlotte joked, “Really? Massimiliano, are you that confident?”
Massimiliano replied confidently, “Of course! Oh, there may exist a little gap, but definitely not much, please believe me!”
Obviously, the royal family’s education hadn’t been wasted in vain. At least in terms of cultivating self-confidence, there was definitely effort put into it. So that one could regain their self-confidence in the shortest possible time
This was also a result of cultural traditions, the vast majority of Europeans were guilty of overconfidence. This kind of situation can really stimulate the potential, the same is also easy to do stupid things.
So all of Franz’s efforts were in vain, Massimiliano still insisted on jumping into that giant pit in Mexico, and couldn’t be stopped.
……
Having received this news, Franz didn’t even know what to do.
Forced to stop him, probably brothers can not be made. Watching him go to his death, Franz couldn’t do it yet.
To take care of the aftermath for him, Franz said he is not a nanny. Besides, he couldn’t care less if he was in Mexico.
Franz finally endeavored to say, “You have to think clearly, Massimiliano. Mexico is not a nice place, and if this emperor was that easy, it wouldn’t be your turn.
As far as I know, many of the Napoleon family are very keen on it, but they were all blocked by Napoleon III, and he is not sure that he can put his own brother on the throne.
Now I can tell you clearly that the Vienna government is not likely to spend a lot of money to support you, because it won’t be able to recover the cost.”
Massimiliano replied confidently, “It is true that the Napoleonic family has been moved to the throne of Mexico, but they lack the support of the French system, and the Mexican constitutionalists do not support them at all.
Please believe me, brother, your investment will not be in vain, and I will be as great an emperor as you.”
Franz said seriously, “Stop, as an elder brother, I’ll give you one last piece of advice: there are only interests between nations, don’t get involved in personal feelings.
So don’t expect much help from me, Austria will not support Mexico, it is not in our interest.
As for the support you want, I’m sorry, I can only give you moral encouragement, at most verbal support.”
There was no confidence in Massimiliano, and Franz wasn’t prepared to take the resources to fill that bottomless pit, the chances of recouping the costs were just too low.
Anyway, Austria has a garrison in Central America, I think this time the Mexicans should not dare to click off this unlucky brother, really can not also send troops to rob people.
Although I do not know what Franz is thinking, Massimiliano heart or wow cool. He is clear that this is completely not optimistic about him to make such a decision.
The family members were collectively against it, and his brother, who was the emperor, was also against it, which meant that it would be difficult for him to gain the support of any family power, except for the Habsburg flag.
An emperor with family support and an emperor without support, those were two completely different concepts.
With the power of the Habsburg family, if if they were to fully support him. Massimiliano could have taken an army to be emperor and still gained the support of the Austrian power in the Americas.
With these resources in place, he could easily overwhelm the domestic opposition and not have to be subject to the French. Unfortunately, none of these were available, and he still had to depend on the French first.
It was useless to say anything now, the Habsburgs had already decided that he would fail and would not be able to spend blood money for him. Even his mother, who favored him the most, did not support him this time.
(End of chapter)