The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1350 A Brand New Day

December 1849, 12, Christmas.

As one of the most important traditional festivals in the West, it has always been valued by governments and royal families. Franz also took a rare day off for himself.

Although it is a holiday, the office location has simply been moved from Hofburg Palace to Schönbrunn Palace.

This grand festival is also a huge mirror that exposes evil, such as the Christmas petitions Franz received.

“I hope that if working hours are increased a little, rest is reduced a little, and wages are reduced a little, the world will be a better place.

We are petitioning to abolish Sundays, minimum wage limits, and maximum working hours. We want a workplace where we can use our full talents and compete fairly.

May your majesty be like the fire of the sun, which will never be extinguished."

Signed: Austrian Imperial Workers' Progressive Association.

Franz scratched his head. Shouldn't the trade unions of the Austrian Empire have already accepted the incorporation? And why did these words sound so strange?

Olga, who was standing by, also came over and said.

"Austrians are so weird. If they are so against the death penalty, wouldn't it be better if they just don't break the law themselves?"

Franz took the letter, which was a joint petition from professors of the Faculty of Political Science and Law of the University of Vienna. After reading it, Franz just smiled and said nothing.

"The general idea is that the laws of the Austrian Empire were too harsh, so criminals would rather continue to commit crimes than repent.

For example, the Austrian Empire's punishment for rapists was that if the criminal could not obtain the woman's forgiveness, he would be sentenced to more than 20 years of hard labor, and in serious cases he could be sentenced to exile.

Anyone who causes death shall be sentenced to death.

If the man obtains the woman's forgiveness and is willing and meets the conditions for marriage, he can be acquitted. Otherwise, he will still be sentenced to imprisonment of not less than five years and not more than twenty years or a fine of the same amount.

Due to fear of punishment under the laws of the Austrian Empire, many rapists chose to kill their victims or even openly rebel against the country during the war of 1848-1849.

The root cause of this evil is the harsh laws of the Austrian Empire. "

The general logic of these people is that in order to avoid more serious consequences, the punishment of criminals should be lenient. The experts cited many examples, ostensibly advising Franz Minde to be cautious in sentencing.

The implication is good, and this is not uncommon in any era. They did not require immediate implementation in all areas, but only suggested trying it in the economic field first.

After all, crimes in the economic field usually do not cause serious consequences, and light sentences will help recover the stolen money.

At the same time, experts unanimously believe that economic crimes are high-IQ crimes. Although such criminals may be afraid of the death penalty, they often have rich knowledge and many years of work experience.

Criminals with high IQs have careful and detailed plans, and their methods are superb and sophisticated, so even if they commit crimes, it is difficult to detect them. Therefore, the death penalty has no deterrent effect, and it is impossible to prevent crime, let alone protect society.
Franz sighed. So this was the point.

There were many such constructive remarks in the hundreds of petitions he received, and Franz knew very well that the people who could send these letters to him were not ordinary people.

Less than a year after Franz ascended the throne, how could the country be like this? Was it because he was too kind?

This can't help but remind Franz of an assassination incident not long ago:

A tailor's son was able to bypass Franz's guards, hide from all the intelligence agencies of the Austrian Empire, and accurately intercept Franz himself from dozens of possible routes. What's more surprising is that the assassin was even able to lead away the captain of the royal guard, the personal guards, and even the coachman, and finally arrived in front of Franz's carriage.

If the assassin had a bundle of high-powered explosives instead of a pair of scissors, Franz would probably be dead.

(Franz's carriage was specially built to withstand direct artillery fire, but Franz was not made of iron.)
It's a pity that the assassin's skills were not up to the task of this sophisticated assassination, and he was easily subdued by a maid beside Franz, with his hands broken.

After 72 hours of rigorous interrogation, it was finally concluded that the assassin acted alone, with no instructions, no accomplices, no plans, and acted completely on impulse. He had even just finished sewing before assassinating Franz.

As for the reason, Franz had no interest in knowing.

This assassin was obviously being used, and he didn't even know it.

However, Franz did not believe that there was any natural assassin who could silently bypass the nearly two hundred royal guards, the imperial intelligence agencies, and all of Franz's minions in Vienna.

Franz was very clear about his security measures, even if the entire Brotherhood of Assassins came, it would be useless. He was often assassinated by various organizations, but no assassin had ever come to him alive.

The first assassin who walked up to Franz alive was actually a tailor. This was simply a joke, but it was not funny to Franz, so he could only eliminate them one by one.

Soon, more than thirty related persons committed suicide or disappeared mysteriously, so Franz naturally had no way to track them down. After all, those people did not really want to kill him, they just wanted to give him a warning.

Franz had to admit that the mastermind behind this incident was hiding very deeply. All the people he could think of who had the ability or motive were dead, and he couldn't find any clues.

Franz announced that the assassination of the royal family was a high-IQ crime, the assassin would be hanged, and the assassin's family would be expelled from Vienna.

This is Franz's attitude. He just wants people to see his attitude and tell those fence-sitters not to be complacent.

As for the so-called Workers' Progress Association, it itself had violated the laws of the Austrian Empire. After all, the Austrian Empire did not allow the existence of unofficial workers' associations.

In order to counter the influence of the German National Assembly at that time, Franz did use "magic". In the end, in that democratic showdown, he successfully forced the German National Assembly to use force first.

(For details, see Volume 11, Chapter 40, Magic Duel.)
Even though the war was over, some of its provisions remained.

For example, take the restrictions on female and child workers. Why is equal pay for equal work a restriction on female and child workers?

Because in the 19th century, except for some special industries such as textiles, sewing, and secretarial work, no one was willing to spend the same money to hire female and child workers.

Rather than completely banning child labor, it is better to directly increase labor costs. Historically, even during World War II, laws prohibiting child labor were not fully enforced.

However, under Franz's operation, almost no factories in the Austrian Empire employed child laborers. Only the richest factories would hire child laborers to guard the gates to show off their wealth.

Franz accidentally opened up a new industry - doorman.

Even being a doorman was better than surviving the most dangerous tasks in factories and mines.

However, the equal pay for equal work law has received mixed reviews. In addition to factory owners, most families who rely on women and children to supplement their household income are also opposed to it, and some single women are also beginning to worry about their livelihoods.

But these people were actually a minority at the time, and coupled with the wage system reform in the Austrian Empire, almost all male workers supported it.

There was no need for Franz to arrange people to enforce the law. These workers shouted "Long live the emperor" while consciously upholding the laws of the empire.