Chapter 477: Upside Down Black and White

  Chapter 466: Upside Down Black and White

Hearing the president’s question Karen was shocked in her heart and quickly hid her panic and replied, “A consensus has been reached by and large, just that there are still a few details left to be negotiated.”

Little Pretorius said without changing his face, “I know, you go down!”

There was a slight hint of sadness in his voice, and it was clear that his heart was not at peace. Little Pretorius was not a saint, and he was unable to keep his heart as still as water in front of the interests.

Karen’s expression did not hide from his eyes, if not unexpected, this close friend of his had also come into contact with the Austrians, and might even have betrayed.

To be able to sit in the present position, little Pretorius is naturally a smart person. Whether Karen had betrayed or not, he would not go to verify.

At this point in time, it no longer mattered. Even if one remained loyal to him, refused to accept the Austrian’s bribe, and even confessed all this to him, what could it matter?

Little Pretorius could not do anything about the Austrians, not even protest to the government in Vienna. If the two sides were openly torn apart, he would not be able to keep even the last of his preferential treatment.

If the negotiations between the power players in the country and the Austrians had not progressed well, he, the president, would still have a role to play. Now that everything was going well, naturally he was not needed.

Initially, Pretorius the Younger was prepared to negotiate with the Austrians in the name of the government to secure a more favorable political position for everyone.

The reality was very facepalming, after the Vienna government started to divide and pull together, one by one they all changed their positions. How can the country get more benefits than they get?

The two Boer republics merged and joined the Shinra Empire in the name of a state, and the political status they gained was indeed better.

But in that case, the benefits they could personally obtain were very limited. To become nobles without making merits, dream on!

Even though the privileges were limited, noble titles in this era were still very attractive. After Franz made his offer, many people’s minds changed.

Since the Vienna government insisted on taking down the Republic, and couldn’t carry it anyway, why not sell the Boer Republic in exchange for a noble title and become the ruler of the Shinra Empire?

As for the future of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, did it matter to them?

Everyone was either Dutch or German, and had been a member of the Shinra Empire at one point in time, but now they were just returning to their homeland.

Even little Pretorius, the president, was not prepared to die with Austria to the end, so how could he expect others?

Not long ago the British contacted the anti-Austrian forces, and then the pro-Austrian forces caught on and took the opportunity to launch a political offensive that drove them completely out of the center of power.

If little Pretorius hadn’t been smart enough to decisively reject the British, the presidency would have changed by now.

Now little Pretorius is most looking forward to is the British hands, only the situation is out of control, there is he this president to play space, by the way to sell themselves a good price.

There is no way, now anyone can sell the country, is he this president can not. Otherwise, even if he becomes a nobleman, he will not be able to mix in the circle of nobles.

Aristocrats also need fame, especially the newborn aristocrats, if you want to integrate into the circle, the first step is to wash your hands of the ashore.

Little Pretorius did not want to just quit the political arena, naturally not able to take the initiative to lean on it. In addition to secretly to the Vienna government to show the position, openly he can not do anything.

Under normal circumstances, after joining Austria, he will become the governor of Austrian South Africa, and when the transfer of power is complete, he can take a noble title back to the mainland to retire.

If he wanted to become a powerful governor, unless the British came over and the Vienna government needed him to stabilize the situation.

For his own good, little Pretorius was not unprepared. Since the defeat of the Zulus, he had deliberately abandoned his armaments.

On the one hand, he was demonstrating to the Viennese government that he had no ambitions; on the other hand, he was revealing himself to the British in an attempt to lure them into action.

The South African strategy proposed by Governor Telford to the Government in London was based on this.

It is important to realize that because of the relationship between the Austrian immigrants to the Boer Republics, the two Boer Republics are now much stronger than at the same time in history.

If heavily armed, coupled with Austria’s strength in the South African region, the British even if the joint Portuguese, the same not much chance of victory.

……

Inside a manor house in Pretorius, the capital of the Transvaal Republic, former President Skorman is inviting the Austrian representative, Viscount Fikeni.

No one gets too much credit, and since the Vienna government decided to annex the two Boer republics, the continent’s aristocrats acted.

Viscount Fikeni, who had made his fortune by opening up colonies, was naturally not to be left behind. Although he had just crossed over from hereditary baron to hereditary viscount not long ago, it was almost impossible for him to go further.

Lying on his previous book of achievements and eating his old capital, naturally there was no problem, but he couldn’t help but have many sons!

The eldest son naturally inherited the title and most of the family business, while the remaining two younger sons could only share a portion of the property and become a side branch of the nobility depending on the eldest son, and then the next generation would be commoners.

Baron Fikeni, who loved his son very much, naturally did not want to see this happen. The great Franz His Majesty was merciful and considered this problem for them in advance.

He allowed them to make merits and exchange them for a few more noble titles, and at the same time, he could also apply for these titles to be inherited by multiple heirs.

Of course, the heirs must be in the relationship of parents and children. If it was any other inheritance situation, it could only be in accordance with the provisions of the original title inheritance law.

The main purpose is to combat the sale of titles, according to the new law of nobility, nobles can only sell titles to the government of Vienna, and prohibit the private trading of titles.

There is no way, the world is never short of losers, when the time comes to create a title auction, the impact on the nobility system can be imagined.

In order to avoid this worst case scenario, Franz directly from the source to cut off the hereditary title trade, life-long noble title do not worry, simply can not inherit.

If there really is a loser to sell, the Vienna government is also open to recovery, the price offered is also very high.

The lowest grade of hereditary knights, are fifty thousand divine guilders; the highest grade of the throne, but also opened a ten million divine guilders of the sky.

Of course, this is limited to Franz sealed out of the title, but also with the fiefdom together to recover, empty title must be discounted.

Prior to this, the title will be priced according to the actual situation. Basically as long as the Habsburg dynasty sealed out of Franz are recognized, others sealed out of the cabbage price recovery, foreign titles are not within the scope of recovery.

The gold content was determined, and everyone was more enthusiastic about the title of nobility. The rights of the great nobles were restrained, and the bannermen nobles they had enthroned were now no longer recognized by the state.

Including the kings of several states, they were likewise unable to ordain nobles indiscriminately, and the empire would not recognize those who were ordained without sufficient merit.

From the initial quota restriction to the current merit test, Franz successfully took away the right to knighthood from the kings of the states.

Selling a title wasn’t a simple matter, it required the consent of all the legitimate heirs, which was almost impossible.

Nobles have a large group of relatives, no matter how far down the rankings are, as long as they have the right to inherit, even if it’s an indirect inheritance, they are all heirs. It wasn’t impossible for a title to have thousands of heirs.

This inheritance relationship is estimated to be capable of being crushing. If one wanted everyone to agree, one might as well expect them to collectively receive a boxed lunch.

Viscount Fiknee said with poise, “Mr. Skorman, our speed must be accelerated. As far as I know, the British next door are training a native army and are likely to get into trouble.

Your Majesty, doesn’t want to see a chaotic South Africa, so we have to move ahead. Once the amalgamation is complete, the British won’t dare make any small moves.”

This was the rule of the game among the powers, and in colonization activities, everyone was intentionally controlling the scope of conflict.

Before the colony is not under actual control, it is considered a masterless land, and everyone can use their own means, and once it is included in the other party’s actual control, then the nature of the action will become an invasion.

Normally, this does not happen, and when it does, it means war.

If you don’t want to directly confront each other, even if you want to grab the territory, you will usually just secretly lay your hands on the other party and squeeze them out.

If it wasn’t for the fact that everyone was exercising restraint and there were so many clashes between countries during colonization activities, the several major colonial empires would have fought to a standstill long ago.

Skorman had been the acting president of the Transvaal for a while, and while his personal reputation was not good, the power he possessed was not small.

Because of a business, and Fikni Viscount accidentally met, the two are considered nodding acquaintances. Under normal circumstances, there wasn’t much difference between this little relationship and a stranger.

However, as the situation changed, it brought the two together again.

Viscount Fikeni needed to draw in the Transvaal powerhouse and join the Austrian colonial system; while Skorman needed to hook up with Austria in order to preserve his interests in the new era.

The two sides were instantly in agreement, and instantly became “good” friends.

Since he had already decided to follow Austria, Skorman naturally did not hesitate, and after thinking about it, replied: “Your Excellency the Viscount, I will push for it as soon as possible.

However, it will take a little time, public opinion has just been building up, and will need to build up for a while before it can reach its peak.

If we advance it, there’s a high chance of accidents, after all, there are still some flies that haven’t been cleared, and their existence is a hidden danger.”

Political struggles were rarely cut to the bone, and this one was clearly an exception. To mold the spectacle of the entirety of the Transvaal and Orange Free State demanding the return of the Shinra Empire, the hidden dangers had to be cleared away.

The face of His Majesty Franz was at stake, and the direct annexation of two independent countries created too bad an impact. Using the request of the Shen Luo Empire’s subjects to return to the mother country as an excuse, the eating would instantly look much better.

Anyway, the Boers trace their ancestry back to the Shen Luo Empire, and their cultural traditions are also inherited, so they are not afraid of being criticized. As long as they insist on returning to the motherland, the legal problem will be perfectly solved.

If not considering the problem of eating, the Vienna government does not need to spend so much effort, direct force on the hard more convenient.

Even if the Boer Republic wanted to resist by force, it would have to consider whether the German soldiers below would suddenly turn against them.

Viscount Fikeni said seriously, “This bunch of flies must be swatted to death, since they dare to collude with the British to betray the Empire, they have to pay the price in blood.”

On the issue of defending the interests of the empire, Viscount Fikeni’s stance was very firm, in his opinion any traitor deserved to die.

Although these people were not Austrians at all, and there was no such thing as betrayal. But having stood against the empire, they had to die.

Now Austria needs to make an example of them, otherwise how to deter this group of wallflowers who have just defected?

Fikeni didn’t think that these guys who could betray their country would have much loyalty to Austria. The best way, naturally, is to make them afraid to betray.

Let them personally kill the anti-Austrian elements, both so that they have surrendered, but also let them understand and Austria for the enemy need to pay the price.

Smart people make the choices that are most favorable to them, and Skorman was a smart man who decided to play dumb even though he knew that this was Viscount Fikeni’s calculation.

Immediately, he assured, “Your Excellency the Viscount, please rest assured, this group of spies lurking within the empire, we will uncover all of them and bring them to justice!”

God knows, when did the anti-Orthodox faction within the Boer Republic turn into spies for the British, and how did they lurk within the Shen Luo Empire.

To discuss traitors, it seemed that it was also their group that was more like it. Directly packing the Transvaal and the Orange Free State to Austria in exchange for themselves.

Viscount Fikeni smiled slightly and said with the wine glass in his hand that he raised, “Then I congratulate you in advance, His Excellency the future Baron Skorman.”

After saying that, he clinked his glass with Skorman’s and then drank it all in one go, as if he was genuinely happy for his friend’s attainment of a knighthood.

The sophisticated Skorman could no longer maintain his calm and instantly revealed a smile. Crossing over from commoner to noble in this era was not an easy thing, let alone a hereditary noble.

Before this, the two sides had negotiated the terms, and as long as a smooth handover was completed, Skorman would be able to become a fiefdom baron.

Skorman’s voice trembled a little as he replied, “Thank you, Your Excellency the Viscount!”

There was no way around it, the two were not really friends before, and politeness was a must.

But in the future, it wouldn’t necessarily be the case, Viscount Fikeni wouldn’t make friends with a commoner, but wouldn’t exclude becoming friends with a nobleman.

Identity determined how everyone got along, and since Skorman was willing to cooperate, then he was one of their own.

Fikni, who was in a good mood, for the sake of their meager friendship, mentioned, ”Old friend, right now you need an etiquette teacher.

When this side of things is over, you will also have to travel to Vienna to accept His Majesty’s enthronement before you can become a true nobleman.

You can’t make any mistakes during the nobility’s investiture ceremony, or you will become the laughing stock of the nobility and never want to raise your head.

Although the government will arrange for an etiquette teacher, the time available for learning is too short. In order to make sure that nothing goes wrong, it would be best for you to learn in advance.”

This was the truth, the consequences of being rude during a noble’s enthronement ceremony were but very serious, and would be considered a sign of a lack of breeding.

Lightly, it would be a disgrace and become the laughing stock of the noble circle, and in serious cases, there was the possibility of directly losing one’s knighthood.

Skorman’s face changed greatly, and he hurriedly thanked Viscount Fikeni.

……

(End of chapter)