Chapter 551: Suspects All Over the Place

  Chapter 539: Suspects Everywhere

Franz’s prediction was not wrong, the Greeks did not know what to do once they had captured Ludwig, the king-to-be.

There was also a split within the insurgent army, with one part advocating the establishment of a republic in an attempt to get rid of Austrian control over Greece.

Others favored the succession of Ludwig on the grounds that Prince Ludwig was the rightful heir to the throne.

Before Austria could intervene, the republicans and royalists were on the verge of war. The Republicans were mostly capitalists and a bunch of middle-aged teenagers, while the royalists were naturally aristocrats.

As for the large number of peasants and workers, they were spectators, and the coup had nothing to do with them, so they did not need to take a stand.

Before the coup was launched, they were able to cooperate, and that was to expel Otto I’s Bavarian cabinet and seize the supremacy of the government.

Now that the goal had been achieved, the two factions were at loggerheads over power. The nobles, who now held most of the troops, had the upper hand, and perhaps Ludwig could have taken the throne without Austrian troops.

Looking at the information in his hands, Franz did not know how to evaluate. Said the revolution to come, how before the beginning of the end?

With a little deduction, Franz knew that someone was up to something. Greece itself is a small country, and the current Greece is less than half the size of Greece in later times.

The territory is small, the resources are scarce, and the population is only a million or so at most, how can the capitalists develop and grow under such circumstances?

Not having enough strength and a favorable geographical location is not a good thing. From the beginning of its independence, Greece had always been heavily influenced by the Great Powers.

Heavy debts have kept the Greek government in a permanent state of not being able to make ends meet, and it has had to step up its plundering of the people.

Greece’s home market has long been reduced to a dumping ground for the goods of the Great Powers. National capital has been hovering on the edge of life and death, perhaps all together, not as much as a big capitalist.

The economic power of the Greek aristocracy was not so good either, but at least they had an army in their hands. Now the capitalists have also formed an army, though still underdogs, which is more than they can handle.

Franz didn’t think that the capitalists could destroy their families for their country. Even if there were individuals with high morals, it was impossible for the whole group to be like that.

Politics is complicated and what is seen is not always true. Austria could create smoke and mirrors, but other countries were doing the same.

Who was responsible for the sudden unrest in Greece, Franz could not make an accurate judgment without precise information.

One thing led to another.

On September 11, 1873, the Bulgarian Revolutionary League launched an anti-Russian uprising in Sofia.

……

Bulgaria, it was a tragic country. It was hard to drive out the Ottoman Empire, and then came a Russian Empire.

Thanks to the efforts of the bureaucrats in the Tsarist government, the pro-Russian faction of the day has now become largely anti-Russian.

Looking at the independence of Poland and the three Central Asian countries, it is certainly impossible for the Bulgarians to say that they are not moved. Only the Russians attached great importance to Constantinople and stationed heavy troops here, which discouraged many people from thinking of independence.

In any case, the Russian rule is still stronger than the Ottoman Empire, the exploitation is not so hard, both sides in the cultural field, religious beliefs are almost the same.

If the Tsarist government had been interested in promoting national integration, it would have been a matter of a generation. It is possible that the St. Petersburg government did not have such a mind, or there would not have been so many ethnic groups in the Russian Empire.

No man is as good as a flower.

The Russian Empire, which was strong for a while, eventually fell. Ever since the Russians lost the Russo-Prussian War, the idea of national independence has taken root in Bulgaria.

The agricultural crisis was another catalyst. Bulgaria’s industry is just starting out, and its economy is entirely supported by agriculture. Farmers in the Bulgarian region lost a lot of money last year because of the plummeting international food prices.

With the fall harvest approaching, there is no one to buy the food, which in turn increases the fear of the people.

Now there are rumors that the Tsar’s government has banned the collection of grain in Bulgaria in order to protect local grain exports.

There were many people who were willing to believe this obviously false information. The general public is not so well informed; they just see that no one has come to collect grain this year.

Not only Bulgaria, but almost the entire continental European grain capitalists have slowed down. Another harvest year, who does not know how much the price of grain will fall, if the early acquisition of loss how to do?

To know that last year’s prices drastically turbulent, many people have lost a lot of money. Before the grain is in the hands, you can still pass the loss on to the farmers, if you buy it in the hands, you will have to carry it on your own back.

In order to protect their own interests, capitalists chose to wait and see which way the wind blows first. Wait for the market to stabilize, and then collect grain from the private sector.

Anyway, there is still a lot of inventory, and it can’t be digested in a moment, so you don’t have to worry about the grain being snatched up by others.

It’s not as if the Russians haven’t done anything over the years; with the headlong confinement removed, education in Bulgaria has flourished.

The new intellectuals were the first to be influenced by nationalism, and they soon forgot the credit the Russians had taken for driving out the Ottomans, and now remembered only Russian enslavement.

Of course, the Tsarist government would certainly not have recognized the enslavement of Bulgaria, as many Bulgarian peasants were the beneficiaries of Alexander II’s reforms, which treated everyone equally. Only this wave of dividends did not have time to be felt, the agricultural crisis broke out first.

In July 1869, the Bulgarian Revolutionary League was secretly formed in Greece. In order to drive out the Russians, almost all Bulgarian revolutionary groups joined the League.

Many could not have imagined that the real reason for the emergence of the League was the reform of the Russian agrarian system.

The revolutionaries feared that the revolutionary cause would be aborted if the Tsarist government bought off the peasants. So the reforms carried out by the Tsarist government in Bulgaria were resisted by both the conservatives and the revolutionaries.

In the process, the two sides achieved a merger and the revolutionary forces began to grow.

……

After reading the basic information about Bulgaria, Franz fell into deep thought. This uprising came a little too coincidentally, having just decided to join forces with the Russians to make things happen, revolutions occurred in Greece and Bulgaria almost simultaneously.

To say that there was no connection behind this and that it was a complete coincidence, killing Franz would not believe it. He preferred to believe that it was premeditated, and that someone was trying to target Russia and Austria, or to stall for time.

The Greek revolution was easy to solve, even if it was solved by force, it was only a matter of one or two divisions, and it was only a minor problem for Austria.

The trouble was only the international pressure, for no reason Austria could not just send troops to interfere in the internal affairs of Greece, it was a matter of international image.

When the bitch also want to make a house of cards, this is not a joke paragraph, but the obvious need. Any country that is packaging itself is just a question of how much resources to put into it.

In the case of insufficient benefits, everyone is still willing to maintain a good international image. Even Britain and France are no exception, in overseas expansion are looking for an excuse, rarely regardless of direct reckless up.

This little problem is not difficult to Franz, a different agent can also be. For example, the current Greek royalists are a good partner.

As long as they succeeded Ludwig and guaranteed Austria’s interests, it was not a bad idea for them to take charge of Greece.

Bulgaria is a problem, the Near East War Bulgarian guerrillas have shown not bad fighting strength, this unit is old, but the people are still alive, charging into battle may not be able to keep up with the physical strength, passing on experience and commanding the battle is still not a big problem.

Franz was very skeptical that the Russians could extinguish this rebellion. It wasn’t that he was worried that the Russians didn’t have the strength, but mainly that the Tsarist government didn’t have the money.

“Has the man behind the curtain been locked down?”

Head of Intelligence Tyrone: “Initial judgment is Ottoman Empire, whether it’s the Greek coup or the Bulgarian uprising, the weapons are sponsored by Ottoman merchants.”

Franz was not surprised that the Ottoman Empire was going to strike back. It’s all about hitting the door, can you not let people counterattack?

The truth is who knows? There are still some Greeks and Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire, and these “Ottoman merchants” are all Greek and Bulgarian patriotic merchants.

Even if the news leaked, only the Sultan’s government does not recognize, or a bite of these people are not Ottomans, Austria in this is also very difficult to play on the subject.

Nationality this thing, in this era is too easy to get, which international businessmen do not have a few nationalities? We all need which one to use which one, there is no Internet, even if it does not recognize multiple nationalities, it is also very difficult to find out.

Since we are going to mess things up, naturally, we have to clean up the head and tail, maybe if we investigate deeply, these people still have Austrian nationality.

Behind the scenes, Franz see who is suspected. On the surface, the Ottoman Empire is the most suspicious, the Russians are the least suspicious, Britain, France and Austria are about the same.

After hesitating for a while, Franz said: “Forget it, just keep watching. If the black hand behind the action to continue, sooner or later will reveal the scene; If this stops, the present result is not too bad.”

There was no way around it, the Greeks and the Bulgarians were confused and did it in a daze without even knowing who the backers behind the scenes were themselves.

How else can this be traced? Don’t think that these actions, necessarily, are planned by the government; bureaucrats, capitalists, and aristocrats, are just as likely to be the real culprits.

In terms of motive, there are too many suspects.

For example: to buy time to prepare for war, the Sultan’s government stirred up trouble to distract Russia and Austria;

Or perhaps Britain and France wanted to help the Ottoman Empire;

There is also the possibility that Austria did it in order to hit the Russians and gain an advantage in the distribution of benefits, which can be crossed out and Franz can prove he didn’t do it.

In terms of interests, of course domestic arms dealers, agricultural capitalists, and the great nobility are all suspect.

A shipment of arms is just a shipment of arms, very difficult for those who do not have access to it, but for those who have connections, it’s a matter of a few tens of thousands of guilders.

It didn’t matter how high the price of arms was on the international market, in reality, ordinary guns and ammunition really weren’t worth much. Used rifles could be bought for only three or four God’s Guilders a piece, and wholesale could be even cheaper.

The arms dealers, agricultural capitalists, and the great nobles who produce food are all beneficiaries of the current chaos. Other than that, the price of food has probably stabilized this year.

Not that the war consumed much grain, or that Bulgaria and Greece are important grain exporters, but mainly that it gave the market confidence.

The main reason for the collapse of international food prices is the loss of confidence in the market, otherwise the capitalists would still be palletizing and keeping food prices stable through artificial speculation.

So what if there is overcapacity, as long as the trading market is controlled, the same can be given to the outside world to send the signal that the supply exceeds the demand.

As long as there is a reasonable excuse to make everyone believe that there will be a shortage of food on the market this year, they will be able to lure enough speculators in to artificially speculate on high food prices.

Other than that, just take a look at the news released by the newspapers. From the beginning of the Vienna government’s call for production cuts, the media have constantly sung praises, as if the agricultural crisis is over.

The European newspapers were almost entirely devoted to news of the reduction of grain production, the so-called experts and scholars were over-exaggerating the effects of the Land Fallow Law, and some even declared boldly that in 1873 Europe’s grain production capacity would fall by twenty percent.

This is all a trick played by interest groups, how many people can be fooled, no one knows. Anyway, the pit can not smart people, really can not go deep into the countryside to visit, then all understand.

Market research do not know to do speculators, sooner or later will be pitched to death, early and late death, there is no essential difference.

After the news of the Greek coup d’état and the outbreak of revolution in Bulgaria spread, on September 13, 1873, the price of grain on the London futures market rose by 5 percentage points on that day.

(End of chapter)