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

Chapter 1574 Shoes
Apart from great nobles like Archduke Karl who had a particular fondness for the military, the guards of other great nobles were reduced to less than one hundred men. Smaller nobles even abolished their guards altogether to save money, or only retained a symbolic single-digit number of guards.

Therefore, during the Vienna Rebellion, although the nobles were able to organize a rebellion of tens of thousands, only a few thousand private guards and noble sons were truly capable of fighting. These people were also scheming against each other because they were not under one command, so they would naturally collapse at the first sign of a real army.

Moreover, Franz never intended to give them a chance for a direct confrontation; it would be too easy to plant a few spies in such a chaotic and massive organization.

Therefore, the rebels' forces always fell into the traps that Franz had set up in advance. It wasn't that he was a genius and could always anticipate the enemy's moves; it was simply that the enemy's information and actions were all out in the open. If they still couldn't deal with it, then they would be truly outmatched.

However, this did solidify Franz's reputation as a war god; at least those who wanted to rebel afterward would regard him as a tyrant skilled in military strategy and intrigue.

The bureaucratic system was also impacted in 1848. Metternich, once the highest-ranking official in the Austrian Empire, was sent to North America by Franz. In addition, the successive changes of prime ministers and interest groups meant that by the time Franz came to power, the power of officials had been divided and disintegrated into dozens of parts.

From the outset of his reign, Franz began to infiltrate the bureaucracy, creating new interest groups that made it difficult for them to unite as one.

Even if someone wanted to do this, they would face fierce resistance from other factions, since no one is willing to give up their interests and be swallowed up.

Moreover, with Emperor Franz in power, he wouldn't allow any one faction to become dominant.

Furthermore, due to the Austrian Empire's ancient system of bestowing official titles, any faction and anyone who wanted to become an official had to maintain good relations with Franz.

Therefore, when Franz announced that he would tax the powerful and wealthy, few people chose to resist, and most people behaved quite obediently.

Of course, the opposition to Franz never stopped, and assassination attempts were meticulously planned.

In the first half of 1851 alone, Franz survived more than thirty assassination attempts and four organized attacks. This was under the condition that the political situation had stabilized; one can only imagine what would have happened if large-scale turmoil had occurred.

At this time, the Austrian Empire's fiscal revenue finally broke through the billion mark, but Franz began to worry.

According to the Austrian Empire's Ministry of Finance, this round of economic expansion in the Austrian Empire had reached its limit, and the market for a large number of goods in the Austrian Empire was nearing saturation.

In other words, the market didn't have enough money to buy goods from the Austrian Empire. Franz came up with an installment payment plan, but even so, the increase in purchasing power was still limited.

After all, due to technological limitations at that time, fiat currency could not be overly developed.

Continuing to expand production capacity will not increase profits; on the contrary, insufficient effective demand may lead to inventory backlog. If prices are lowered to reduce inventory, profits will actually decrease.

It's quite ridiculous to talk about overcapacity in a country where people still go hungry.

Taking the Austrian Empire's shoe production as an example, in 1850, the Austrian Empire's production of rubber shoes exceeded 5000 million pairs, successfully surpassing that of Britain.

(The UK produces approximately 5600 million pairs of leather shoes.)
In theory, the Austrian Empire produced enough rubber shoes to give every Austrian a pair, but in reality, more than one-sixth of these shoes came from military orders, and about 30 million pairs were sold abroad.

There were still six million pairs left to supply the colonies, but the actual consumption of rubber shoes by the nearly fifty million people in the entire Austrian Empire was only about ten million pairs.

At this time, nearly ten million people in the Austrian Empire still wore shoes made of tree bark and grass stems, and some even wrapped their feet in linen or went barefoot.

This situation wasn't limited to the Austrian Empire; millions in Britain also couldn't afford shoes. Olga found it adorable to see a group of barefoot children running around while traveling, but she later learned that the real reason those children weren't wearing shoes was because they couldn't afford them, or their parents felt that their children were growing too fast and there was no need to waste money on shoes.

These children who can play freely are not from the poor; the fact that they don't have to work hard is the best proof of that.

Even so, they still didn't have shoes.

Franz personally had great faith in the professional competence of Finance Minister Baron Bruck and the economists of the Austrian Empire.

However, they were still using the British approach: "Production activities not aimed at profit are meaningless," "The lack of self-interest inevitably leads to decadence and laziness," and "Actions that violate the law of value are bound to fail."

These people naturally assume that monopolies are for profit and that monopolies should raise prices. They believe that people are absolutely rational, somewhat reminiscent of the early Vienna Circle.

The problem is that humans are not absolutely rational, and capitalism is not the only logic of social development.

According to their theory, it is easy to deduce that the Austrian Empire should have used its military advantage to expand its market and sign unequal treaties with other countries to facilitate dumping.

In fact, this idea was very popular in the Austrian Empire, and the military and the people supported it. They all felt that it was an absolutely correct and sacred mission.

However, Franz had to pour cold water on their hopes. At this time, the Austrian Empire did have some military advantages, but expansion at this point would probably not bring any benefits.

Even if Austria were to trigger a major war and defeat Britain and France, how much benefit would it gain?

The answer is almost none. Most colonies cannot be directly converted into production capacity and profits, and semi-colonial countries may not recognize the Austrian brand and launch transoceanic expeditions.

The risks far outweigh the benefits, but if you don't do it, there will be no benefits. In addition, the huge sunk costs force you to do it, which is simply driving yourself into a dead end.

Continue eastward?

Break with Russia and then go to the Balkans to alleviate poverty? Or cross the strait and trigger another world war?
Head west? Does that mean we're going to occupy mainland France?
Do they really think all the French are dead?
North? South?
He sought only empty fame and suffered real misfortune in the process.

A massive takeover would inevitably provoke attacks from other powers, and even the United States and Brazil, as far away as the Americas, would get involved.

Encroaching?

If those poor and dilapidated countries were truly incorporated into the Austrian Empire, Franz would have to consider a new round of poverty alleviation programs. Moreover, it would break the established rules and affect the very foundation of the Habsburg family.

Franz couldn't say whether the Austrian Empire's economic expansion had reached its limit, but its military expansion certainly had.

Therefore, Franz was quite satisfied with the situation of being governed but not unified at this time.
Therefore, Franz did not directly address the Treasury's concerns; instead, he asked a question in return.

"When will the Austrian Empire be able to solve the basic food and clothing problem for its people?"