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

Chapter 1370: Breaking the Thief in the Heart
In Europe in 1850, the main use of petroleum was to refine kerosene and asphalt. Gasoline and diesel were completely by-products. Diesel could still be used as fuel, but gasoline could only be sold to the military.

The Austrian Imperial Army did not waste it, and developed a variety of explosives based on gasoline. Since gasoline was in short supply, the Imperial Army also developed a variety of incendiary bombs, the main function of which was to destroy enemy fortifications and kill targets in fortifications and trenches.

However, due to technical problems during this period, the effect of incendiary bombs was very unsatisfactory. Franz felt that it would be more appropriate to call them incendiary bombs rather than incendiary bombs.

In fact, at this time in the war, the purpose of incendiary bombs was also arson, and almost no commander would use incendiary bombs to kill the enemy's manpower.

This is not out of humanitarian considerations, but simply because incendiary bombs are too unstable and can easily hurt one's own people.

Incendiary bombs are not only extremely effective in undermining one's own morale, they can often even take out artillery as well.

Relatively speaking, gasoline performs better in terms of arson. It burns violently and can start a large fire in a short period of time, which is difficult to extinguish. Conventional fire-fighting methods cannot cope with gasoline combustion. It has strong energy and can burn alone without other combustibles.

The most important thing is that it is very cheap, but it is about to go bankrupt due to too few application scenarios.

The battlefield in Transylvania was the place where the Austrian Empire had the greatest demand for gasoline incendiary bombs. Julius von Heinau was a man with no taboos and was not averse to the use of gasoline incendiary bombs.

By this time, the larger and more famous bandits in Transylvania had already been wiped out. The remaining ones were small bandits and mountain bandits who acted in secret and usually made a living by kidnapping, extortion and highway robbery.

Most of these people are both bandits and civilians. They usually farm or work in shops. Only when they have scouted the area and found no danger will they turn into thieves to rob the fat sheep.

Only a small number of reckless, bloodthirsty and brutal people would stay in the mountains to avoid any trouble.

Because of their small size, small number, strong concealment and high vigilance, these people were able to repeatedly evade the Austrian Imperial Army's crackdown.

In a remote village in Transylvania, a tiny fire was burning.

"What a fucking son of a bitch! The Yellow Fang Gang is completely finished! The Austrians are so cruel! Not a single body of the more than 200 Yellow Fang Gang members is intact."

Everyone in the room gasped, and after a long while someone finally sighed.

"Yellowfang Ancott was one of the princes who went to Brazhi. He was a great thief! He is finished, so let's go our separate ways."

"Bullshit! Don't you know who you are? You want to stop now? What were you doing when you were sharing the money and playing with the girl?"

A rough voice slammed the table and cursed, and another somewhat obscene voice on the side quickly advised.

"Don't be angry, Chief. We are just doing a minor fight. Yellowfang Ancott's gang dared to enter the city to kill officials and rob arms. How could the Austrians not deal with them?
Aren't we just kidnapping, robbing, and having sex with women?"

"What if those people report us to the Austrians?"

"They dare!? I will kill them before I die!"

The rough voice grinned.

"Chief, don't get excited! The Austrians will have to leave sooner or later, and by then, won't the world be ours? Don't they want to live? Besides, we are all from the same village. If they report us, who will support them when the Austrian officials raise taxes in the future?

I think it's a good thing that Yellowfang Ancot and his people are finished."

"How to say?"

"Chief, do you think that now that the Yellow Fang Gang is finished, their territory will be vacant?"

"Yes! Should we take this opportunity to recruit soldiers?"

The rough voice slammed the table again. "Chief, the Austrians haven't left yet. Be patient, the future belongs to us."

Suddenly, the sound of a dog barking outside broke the atmosphere in the room.

"Go out and see!"

One gang member stepped out only to shrink back in fear.

“So many torches!”

"waste!"

Before the gang leader had time to reprimand his men, a voice was heard outside.

"Listen up, gangsters inside. You have been surrounded. Crawl out of the house. The Empire will give you a fair trial."

"Sentence your grandma!"

The rough voice raised the gun and shot in the direction of the fire. The army of the Austrian Empire did not slack off and immediately entered combat status.

Countless grenades and incendiary bombs were thrown into the house.

Following a series of explosions, a fireman ran out of the house, shouting something in a hoarse voice that was unclear.

The Austrian soldiers raised their rifles and gave the man a final mercy. The battle lasted less than ten minutes and it took two hours to put out the fire.

These bandits never knew who betrayed them until they died. After all, in their hearts, no one had the courage to do so. Those villagers were obviously timid, and there had never been an informer. So who gave them the courage?

Franz knew that it was not enough to rely on the army alone to eradicate the bandits. As the old saying goes, it is easy to defeat the bandits in the mountains, but it is difficult to defeat the bandits in the hearts.

The bandits obviously did not understand the principle of "the death of a rabbit brings grief to the fox". After those once invincible bandits were destroyed, the unshakable mountain in the hearts of the people had been shaken.

At this time, as long as we provide a little material stimulation and set up a few examples, those stubborn problems will collapse.

Eliminating these local tyrants is a great thing for the people, at least for law-abiding people.

After these local tyrants were eliminated, the power vacuum at the grassroots level could be filled by the imperial government, which on the one hand cleared the obstacles for development and on the other hand strengthened the empire's rule.

Soon Transylvania would become a true imperial territory rather than a puzzle piece that was ruled but not governed.

At this time in the Austrian Empire, the prices of kerosene and asphalt plummeted due to oil extraction.

This facilitated municipal engineering projects, and a large number of kerosene lamps and asphalt roads appeared in small and medium-sized cities.

Although cities such as Vienna, Prague and Venice had already adopted more advanced gas lamps, the plummeting price of kerosene led many small and medium-sized cities and towns to choose kerosene lamps.

The initial construction of the gas pipeline requires a large amount of capital and the project also requires a large amount of land, so it has been opposed by many local governments and residents.

The profession of lamplighter, which had long disappeared in Vienna, was fully revived throughout the Austrian Empire.

Although this still seemed like a great feat to people in other European countries at that time, after all, lighting up the entire city was once such an unattainable dream.

However, this was a headache for Franz because his gas company needed to expand, develop and make a profit.