War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Dalmatia was considered the most desolate region in the Austrian Empire at this time, and it still had a smaller population than it had during the ancient Roman period.

Dalmatia was not one of the most desolate provinces in the Austrian Empire, not even the newly conquered mountainous areas in the east.

It covers an area of ​​13,000 kilometers and has a population of less than 100,000 at this time. During the ancient Roman period, the local population once numbered hundreds of thousands, but no one thought that this would be the local peak.

In the following thousands of years, wars continued in Dalmatia, and various conquerors came one after another. War, massacre, and famine almost became the norm.

(The population size in 2023 will be approximately 730,000.)

Dalmatia has the second lowest literacy rate in the country and the lowest tax contribution rate in the country.

But this does not mean that this land is worthless. In fact, Dalmatia has a precious coastline and the land is relatively fertile. Otherwise, it would not have been able to support so many people during the ancient Roman period.

The local climate is warm and the sunshine is abundant, which is very suitable for the growth of economic crops such as olives, grapes, and tobacco. However, locals prefer hunting and sheep herding because this property is easily transferable.

The Austrian Empire once wanted to use Slovenians and Croatians to develop this land, but they were relatively backward peoples, and their development methods were to herd sheep and raise donkeys, but they still had no results after decades.

Franz felt that the Poles could be allowed to develop this land. After all, people from other parts of Austria did not like to live in this desolate land.

After the locals see these outsiders getting rich, they should choose to follow suit, and the Austrian government can revitalize the entire region if it intervenes appropriately.

In fact, there is no need to worry about the Poles becoming bigger, because although Dalmatia's coastline is long, it lacks truly excellent ports, and the upper limit of local agriculture and animal husbandry is not high, and it lacks industrial production capacity.

In Franz's plan, Dalmatia should be built as a tourist resort focusing on agriculture and animal husbandry.

The Dalmatian region is actually quite dependent on the Austrian Empire's market and all products except agricultural and sideline products. The thousands of Polish nobles are unable to have much practical impact on local society.

If there is a pro-Polish tendency in the local area, then continue to mix in the sand and beat the leading bird. If it doesn't work, you can continue to vacate the cage and replace the bird.

Everyone in the Regent Council had no objections to Franz's proposal, because the land in Dalmatia was naturally less fertile than Galicia, and the area was mountainous and swampy. These bad lands gave the Austrian government a lot of control. space.

In fact, everyone knew that the Austrian nobles were concerned about their own interests, not the life and death of the Poles.

As long as the overall plan is acceptable in form, it doesn't matter what happens in the future.

At the same time, both Count Korolaf and Metternich knew that Franz would become emperor in the future, and this future was not far away.

To oppose Franz at this time is to submit your resignation in advance, but the old foxes will not do it too obviously.

The two made some minor repairs to Franz's plan, and at the same time put forward some relatively feasible suggestions based on their own experience, allowing Franz to discover it on his own.

Although Franz has been in this world for more than ten years, his understanding of the country is still not as good as the two old men who have been in business for decades.

For example, how to monitor the movements of these thousands of Poles, and how to segment them to prevent them from connecting with each other to form new interest groups.

In fact, the simplest thing is to divide it by parish, and the priests are the best supervisors. There are usually conflicts between different parishes in the lower society. These small parishes are usually small interest groups.

It is impossible for priests to tolerate their believers (herds) going to other parishes to join forces. This situation is more serious in poorer places.

In addition to using religion, the government could not stand idly by. At this time, the Austrian Empire was relatively rich in funds.

They also planned to take advantage of the famine after the locust plague to move another group of Italians, because there were too many Italians in Austria.

At the same time, the scale of local government will be expanded by another 50%, which will also solve the unemployment problem of college students piling up on the streets of Vienna.

College students are indeed very valuable in this era, but official positions in the Austrian Empire are even more scarce. This is not because the total number of official positions in the Austrian Empire is small.

But due to the traditional system of conferring officials and the aristocratic clans that have accumulated for hundreds of years, they have occupied the vast majority of official positions, and there are not many positions available for newcomers.

Franz had previously recruited support teachers, as well as colonial managers and administrators. This kind of secondary civil servants was also to solve the employment problem of college students in the Austrian Empire.

It is difficult for these highly educated people to accept simple and dull manual labor, and they even despise jobs such as bookkeepers and accountants.

However, we cannot do without them if we want the stability and sustainable development of this society. The era of obscurantist policies that simply restricted the spread of knowledge has passed. The quality of citizens has become an important indicator of a country's strength.

It's just that this indicator has not been accepted by all countries at this time, and some countries are already benefiting without knowing it.

So far, the senior officials of the Austrian Empire have no objections to Franz's increase in the number of civil servants in the empire, because he only added low-level clerks and non-staff personnel, and did not touch the interests of the upper class.

Moreover, for senior officials, increasing manpower will not only improve government efficiency, but also increase the power in their hands, so there is no reason to object.

As for government spending, this is not an issue they need to consider. In contrast, it is troublesome for some nobles to be jealous. Fortunately, Franz also increased the number of jobs for the nobles in disguise.

Generally speaking, all classes in the country are quite satisfied. However, Franz knew very well that this infinitely expanding game could not be played forever——

This is a lengthy Imperial Government announcement—

In fact, this announcement is thankless, because no matter how it is handled, some people will be dissatisfied. First of all, there are the Polish nobles who are being held hostage. It is useless even if you give Vienna to them.

Secondly, there are the soldiers who shed blood on the front lines and the ordinary people who transport supplies behind. Their simple concept of justice makes them feel that the evildoers have not received the punishment they deserve.

The traditional nobles of the empire didn't actually care about the life and death of the Polish nobles. They just wanted to prove that they still had the power to influence national policy and ensure that the power of the royal family and the government would not be too great.

In this feast of performances, not only the nobles resident in Vienna, but also nobles from all over the country and all nationalities came to put pressure on the government, and even the Hungarians participated.

Their only purpose is to roast the royal family on the fire. This is to ensure that the royal family will stand on a united front with them.

They have no burden for this. After all, they have been doing this for thousands of years, allowing the royal family to trample on the law and public opinion, so they can only rely on them.

But Franz was not prepared to accompany them in playing this little game that had lasted for thousands of years, and of course he had no such idea in the whole old era.