Chapter 851: Arms race
Chapter 834 The Arms Race
What should be killed, what should be exiled, what should be removed from office, the entire 1887 Vienna government was cleaning up moths and confiscating illegal industries.
Along with the anti-corruption and blackmail cases, a total of 10,286 criminals were executed, 96,412 were exiled, and countless others were fined and warned.
This includes 1,274 corrupt officials identified within the government, 7,421 who voluntarily surrendered, 76 executions of the worst offenders, 376 exiled criminal officials, all those involved were removed from their posts, and 47,560,000 Shendian of stolen money was confiscated.
Frankly speaking, the amount of money involved in the case is much less than Franz predicted, and the amount of money involved per capita is only more than 5,000 divine guilders, so obviously the pig has not been fattened.
No wonder people like to be anti-Semitic, compared to the confiscation of Jewish assets, bureaucratic corruption are just child’s play, completely out of step.
Of course, this has to do with the anti-corruption efforts of the Vienna government. Most people don’t dare to pay direct bribes, and the threshold for the transfer of benefits is too high, blocking the way for many people to get rich.
The purchasing power of the Divine Shield is still bullish, and for frontline public officials, the amount of a thousand bribes can’t even be touched, and the power in their hands is limited.
Even if someone sends a gift, it’s usually just a few divine shields, or a dozen divine shields, or at most a few dozen divine shields.
With just this much money in total, it was clearly unrealistic to go around in a big circle and play with the transfer of benefits.
In that case, their gray income would have to come from a share of the profits from above. After all, they were the direct operators, and if they wanted the deal to go smoothly, they had to keep their mouths shut.
What you get is not cash, but mostly a variety of discount cards and vouchers, many of which are still issued in the name of departmental benefits.
From the legal point of view, this is not a bribery offense, their real crime is the knowledge and malfeasance.
This is also the reason why there are a whole lot of officials who turned themselves in. After all, in the investigation before the initiative to explain, “knowingly not reporting” the crime is gone, “dereliction of duty” did not cause serious consequences, dismissal from public office even finished.
Involved in the case of many people, was copied in essence is those serious problems of senior officials, so the confiscation of 47.56 million in essence is also quite a lot.
The per capita income of up to 135,000 Guilders, if the anti-corruption case broke out a few days later, it is half a ton of gold per capita, proper big corrupt officials.
This result, Franz is still very satisfied. Compared to the beginning of his reign, “nine out of ten bureaucrats were arrested, but there were still cases of missing the net”, now it is a fundamental change.
The case was closed, but the aftermath had just begun. The most immediate effect was a significant improvement in public order.
Can not say that the night is not closed, at least the protection money, loan sharks have disappeared without a trace, even the street punks are rarely seen.
The cruel reality told the middle two teenagers, mixing with the triads is to pay the price, when the boss is even more half a foot into the gates of hell.
This is also regarded as a large-scale legal education class, the Vienna government with tens of thousands of criminals’ lives cast the majesty of the law, the social unhealthy trend has been reversed.
The whole of Europe was shocked by the Austrian masterstroke, and even the anti-Semitic movement was suppressed.
The execution of tens of thousands of people at one time was a result that was enough to make many people’s heads spin and public opinion was divided.
Supporters believed that the Austrian government had upheld the dignity of the law by executing criminals who had gone through a formal judicial process, which was worthy of learning from the rest of the world;
The opponents think: the Austrian government does not respect life and does not give them a chance to reform, which is a blasphemy of human rights.
The two sides are quarreling with each other, and the newspapers are battling each other from space to space, and offline debates and academic seminars are the battlegrounds for both sides.
Well, the Vienna government still paid for public relations, or else the forces in favor of the rule of law alone would have long since fallen into disfavor.
As a result, in 1887, the total amount of foreign capital into Austria than the previous year fell 46%, in contrast to the outflow of capital, but increased by 21.2%.
It was mainly the Jewish capitalists who retreated, and while others could not see it, they, the parties, still understood it very well.
It is true that the Vienna government was friendly to ordinary Jews, but behind the friendliness was the aim of national assimilation.
To them, the existence of these obstacles to national integration, but not at all polite, especially Count Wittes, an old friend, the hand is a ruthless.
Those who could be arrested or not – arrested, those who could be killed or not – killed, all of them were severely punished, there was not a single mercy.
This can be seen from the list of executed exiles, indeed in accordance with Austrian law, the problem is that the number of Jews above is too much.
It is true that there were capitalists who were perfectly contented, but they were very few, and most of them were more or less in the gray area.
The investigation team obviously gave them special care, and a lot of hidden problems were pulled out.
Knowing that they are being targeted, there is nothing they can do. Compared to other European countries, this is still about rules.
Wanting to not be treated differently, it was also very simple, as long as they gave up their inheritance and took the initiative to integrate into it.
As a matter of fact, the Jews of Austria have long been divided, and this sudden strike has only made the problem clearer.
The ones who left were only a portion of the Lord who were not willing to settle for the status quo, and most of the ordinary people were no longer willing to continue to drift, after all, they could not see the way forward even if they walked out.
……
London.
Prime Minister Gladstone: “What do you think of this Austrian government largesse?”
The general public only stops at the anti-corruption case itself, and the pundits and scholars in the market only notice the legal system, though it’s a different story when it falls into the eyes of politicians.
Foreign Minister George: “It has to do with the policy of national integration implemented in Austria, dating back as far as 1820.
These policies, however, were not carried forward until the Franz era.
On the whole, all the nationalities within Austria are well integrated, and the only people left in trouble are the Jews.
Even if the anti-Semitic movement had not broken out in Europe, the government in Vienna would sooner or later have come down on these Jewish capitalists who hindered national integration.
As for the anti-corruption case that erupted later, it was actually just Franz’s power plot, taking advantage of the situation to use the opportunity to cleanse the bureaucratic ranks and strengthen his grip on the country.”
Those who can be in high positions are intelligent people, and the benefits of national integration can be seen at a glance.
But know to know, but everyone has no intention of following suit. If you really want to carry out national integration, the British Isles have long been ironclad.
In fact, including Gladstone’s cabinet, successive British governments have tried to solve this problem, but ultimately failed.
There is no way, if they all become their own people, it is not good to exploit so much, which is equivalent to cutting off the capitalist’s wealth.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Xiaoji Childers: “These are just political, I’d have to say economic.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but in this anti-corruption and anti-Semitic campaign, the government of Vienna has received a great deal of money.
The exact amount is not known, but it is certainly the largest haul of this anti-Semitic campaign, and it is worth being vigilant about where this money’s going to be spent.”
This is the inevitable result, one side is shearing sheep and the other side is killing sheep for meat, the difference between the gains of the two sides is self-evident.
International competition, besides fighting for strength, is likewise fighting for financial strength. It is certainly not a good thing for Britannia that its rivals are rich.
Hearing the bad news, Prime Minister Gladstone frowned and muttered, “Is this the arms race, again?”
After the anti-Semitic campaign ended, it wasn’t just Austria that had money in its pocket. To be exact, it should be the European governments that have money in their pockets.
Generally speaking, when it comes to this kind of situation, everyone spends their money. Exactly what they spend it on, that’s hard to determine.
What is certain, however, is that as long as someone takes the lead in developing armaments, it will immediately ignite an arms race.
Sir Astley Cooper Key, Minister of the Navy: “Your Excellency the Prime Minister, the French government has announced its new shipbuilding program a few days ago.
According to the plan, in the next three years, the French Navy will add three new battleships, seven destroyers, four cruisers, and 24 warships of various sizes.
According to the naval shipbuilding practice in recent years, the Austrians will maintain a comparable number of main ships with the French.
If there is no accident, it will not be long before the Austrian Navy will also announce the shipbuilding program, when the pressure of the Royal Navy will be greatly increased.
In order to safeguard the Royal Navy’s seapower advantage, the Admiralty plans to build six new battleships and ten destroyers ……”
Running into the naval minister who had seen fit to speak, Prime Minister Gladstone slapped his head and thought to himself: a mistake.
Without waiting for him to open his mouth, the Minister of Finance, Xiaozhi Childers, jumped ahead and objected, “No, if we follow this plan, France and Austria will inevitably continue to increase the number of ships being built. When that happens, an arms race will be unavoidable.
Although the government has just made a fortune, there are other uses for that money, and it cannot be consumed on a meaningless arms race for nothing.”
Minister of the Navy Astley Cooper Key laughed, “How can you say it’s pointless, after consuming the financial resources of France and Austria in an arms race, they won’t be able to do anything else.
Otherwise, what do you think they would spend the money on if they got it?
Austria’s Near East Development Program, the French’s African Development Program, the Great Farm Program, these are all things that can enhance their national strength.
If we don’t deplete their financial resources and use the arms race to drag them down, will we still be able to maintain our advantage in the long run?”
This is a reality that has to be faced, the small size of the native Britain, its own development potential is very limited.
If you want to maintain your dominant position, you have to keep suppressing your competitors. Otherwise, in the long-distance running sport of national development, they will fall behind sooner or later.
This can be seen from these recent developments, first Austria’s economic output exceeded Britain, followed by France’s economic output exceeded Britain.
Although only the local part, but this still attracted the attention of the British elite, the two countries as the biggest competitor.
(End of chapter)