War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Pius IX's plan was good, but Franz would definitely not be his tool.

Although Mrs. Sophie still doesn't understand Franz's explanation, this does not affect her wholehearted support for her eldest son.

She knew that Franz had made up his mind and would not bother him any more, so she either stayed out of it or fully supported him.

Mrs. Sophie is not stupid, but it is difficult to escape from the limitations of that history.

Although Franz hates the new pope, armed pilgrimage cannot be done yet. As for the invitation from Pius IX, just find some excuse to excuse it.

Although theoretically speaking, it is impossible for the Pope to take Franz as a hostage, but what if Pius IX suddenly becomes ill?

A gentleman does not stand in danger, and Franz did not want to bet on whether a pope with proven mental illness would become ill.

Archbishop Rauscher also agreed with this, or he agreed with all Franz's ideas. However, he was particularly favorable in opposing the pope, because Pius IX went too far.

They want to collect tithes and establish the Jesuits. This is pushing the archbishops and local interest systems in various regions to death.

Coupled with Pius IX's actions of investigating, trying, and deposing cardinals, the new pope almost pushed all of Europe, and even the entire world's religious forces, against him.

In addition, let me mention here that Archbishop Rauscher should actually be regarded as the archbishop, which is usually called the purple bishop.

The Pope can remove those cardinals, that is, cardinals, but there is nothing he can do about Rauscher, the archbishop, because the latter was conferred by the Austrian emperor and was actually a pawn used by the royal family to control domestic religion.

At the same time, this is also the reason why Archbishop Rauscher always hates the Pope and often wears white robes and gold crowns, because in Austria he is the Pope.

In fact, the entire Austrian church is very disgusted with the new pope, especially the release of those political prisoners, which directly caused chaos throughout southern Europe.

While many countries rarely listen to papal edicts, they are happy to send religious demagogues and criminals to the Vatican.

After all, this can save a fortune in the cost of guarding prisoners. In theory, the church is less likely to let this group of people go, and there is no need to bear the infamy. It is a good way to kill three birds with one stone.

It's just that I didn't expect that Pius IX would not follow the routine at all. He released the criminals and gave them the status of Jesuit priests, and then sent them all back to their places of origin, which directly caused complaints from all countries.

Instigators are the most dangerous criminals wherever they are. Such people can only be locked up and cannot be allowed to go out to work collectively, otherwise there is no doubt that something will happen.

The Austrian Empire has one more troublesome thing than other countries, and that is the garrison and temporary agencies in the Papal States.

In fact, the Austrian army has officially entered Ferrara since 1836. In fact, there were troops stationed before, but in name they were still troops that had not been withdrawn.

After 1836, rebellions broke out frequently in the Papal States, and Gregory XVI directly asked Austria to station troops to quell the rebellion.

By 1838, rebellions were still coming one after another. Franz knew very well what the source of the rebellion was, which was the black nobles (referring to the church nobles).

If this group of people is allowed to continue to rule by medieval methods, the rebellion will never be quelled. I have already talked about the nobles in black twice, so I won’t go into too much detail here. In short, they are similar to medieval inquisitors, but with a different name, they are called priests.

So Franz took advantage of the long-lasting rebellion and sent officials from the Austrian Empire to take care of it while garrisoning troops.

There are many ways to expel the local black nobles. In addition to persuading and bribing them, you can also use rebels and assassins to physically criticize them.

In fact, the suppression of the rebellion in the Papal State was not because Franz wanted to be an enemy. It was not just because the Papal State could not be called an opponent, but helping the Papal State to suppress the rebellion wasted too much of Austria's troops and energy.

Bleeding with a knife is also very painful, unless the incision is not on your body. Hosting can not only reduce rebellions, but also strengthen economic exchanges between the two sides, earning profits and gaining public support at the same time.

This approach may be a loss for the Papal State in the long term, but it is a gain for the Pope himself. In the short term, the Papal State saves costs and obtains additional income, which is completely satisfactory to everyone.

However, in order to avoid arousing resentment within the Papal State and alerting the great powers, Franz extended the scope of administration to Ravenna and stopped it.

The three provinces of Ferrara, Bologna, and Ravenna are relatively close to Austria and far from the core of the Papal States, and have relatively good manpower and resources.

Going deeper will easily touch the bottom line of the Papal States and the great powers, and further ahead is the Apennine Mountains. The land and resources are of little value, and the population is relatively sparse. What's more terrible is that if the front is stretched too long, the Austrian Empire will sharply increase its power. Governance costs in Central Italy.

However, Prince Metternich relied on his relationship with the Pope and bribed several cardinals to plunge into this quagmire regardless.

Over the years, Austria's tentacles have extended as far as Ancona, and finally when they were about to attack Perugia, they were defeated by Gregory XVI.

Although he finally retained control from Ferrara to Ancona, he offended the church and Catholic countries such as France, Spain, and Sardinia.

At the same time, it also exposed Austria's ambitions in Central Italy. Even Britain and Russia raised objections, and became the number one target for Italian nationalists to overthrow.

Now the most troublesome thing came, a tough pope who was not willing to accept bribes came to power.

Pius IX demanded that the Austrian Empire withdraw from the Papal States in all aspects, in addition to paying back the past tithes, and agreeing on new tithes and customs duties.

No matter which one of these three items is for Austria at this time, the sunk cost of withdrawing from the Papal States is too high. This is equivalent to decades of hard work and tens of millions of florins. Useless effort.

The sky-high cost of backpaying tithes is also unacceptable to Austria. As for the Pope's intention to touch Austria's tithes, he is affecting everyone's interests, and no one can accept it.

There was no solution to this situation. Franz could not give in, and the Pope would not give in either. But fortunately, the latter's attack surface was too wide, so the only ones who came to add insult to injury were the British who believed in the Anglican Church.

Pius IX also disliked the British. He wrote a letter asking Queen Victoria to dissolve the Anglican Church and expel the Protestant prince Albert, and then re-swore allegiance to the Holy See. As a reward, Pius IX would personally Its coronation.

As a result, he succeeded in overcoming the "King of Understanding" who only talked about interests. The latter was directly asked out of the Vatican by the Swiss Guards because he said too many dirty words.

Later, as the successor, Viscount Stratford, his defense was broken again, and this time he almost hit the Holy Driver.