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

Chapter 1576 The Great Hungarian Plain
On the other hand, Hungarians also share the common problem of nomadic peoples: they despise work other than herding and warfare. At the same time, because their own resources are not abundant, they need to exchange their cattle, sheep, horses, and grain for the materials they need.

Hungary's neighboring mountainous and food-scarce Austria happened to be its trading partner. In order to maintain the scarcity of food, the Hungarian nobles suppressed the expansion of production, since the higher the price of food and livestock, the more they would earn.

Furthermore, and most importantly, from a military perspective, although Hungary was sandwiched between the two great powers of Austria and the Ottoman Empire, it was also a powerful nation in history.

However, after losing control of the two most important natural barriers in the east and west, the flat land of Hungary could only serve as a scapegoat.

To avoid being attacked, or at least not to be suddenly attacked, the Hungarians began to build cities and left large areas of wasteland as military buffer zones.

However, Franz didn't need to worry about these things; the Austrian Empire's recapture of Belgrade had essentially eliminated the Ottoman threat.

Even if Belgrade fell, there was still Nordsáwi, so the Austrian Empire didn't need to worry about its borders. In fact, the Hungarian Plain could also serve as a buffer zone for the Austrian Empire, especially since Austria also had Pressburg.

Of course, it's highly unlikely that such a situation would occur in the Austrian Empire at that time.

Serfdom was utterly meaningless to the Austrian Empire. Not to mention that in the industrial age, serfdom itself would have hindered progress.

These few million Hungarian serfs alone were hardly a major threat to the Austrian Empire, given the numerous hidden dangers lurking both within and outside the empire.

For the Hungarian nobility, whose numbers were only a few hundred thousand, millions of serfs might have been a devastating disaster if not handled carefully, but for the Austrian Empire, they were at most a small puddle.

The Austrian Empire had long since abolished serfdom in the Inner Leitania region because it was inefficient and also empowered local separatist forces.

The famous saying, "My lord's lord is not my lord," refers to the power structure of serfdom, which is clearly contrary to Franz's approach.

As for whether agriculture was profitable, Franz's primary concern was whether the Austrians could have enough to eat. Moreover, the Austrian Empire had a far broader market and vision than Hungary; what the Hungarians considered an insurmountable production capacity was nothing to the Austrian Empire.

Furthermore, with the development of the times, the population will inevitably increase, and with the popularization of writing and knowledge, people's demands for living standards will also rise.

The end of agriculture? Agriculture has no end. After all, even today, there are still people in the world who go hungry.

Food has always been the foundation of a powerful nation and the fundamental basis for maintaining human survival and social stability. Especially as a time traveler, Franz was well aware of the terrifying advantages that a great power could gain if its agriculture was strong.

In the trade wars of the 19th century, competition in industrial products usually only determined the outcome between large countries, but when it came to agricultural products, it could be a matter of life and death for some small countries.

Franz believed that war never takes only one form, and that in the future, with the continuous expansion of international trade, agriculture could very well become a trump card.

The reason why agriculture in Hungary developed so rapidly—four to five times faster than the pace of North American pioneering during the same period in history—is due not only to the massive investment of human and material resources, but also to advancements in technology and convenient transportation.

The Hungarian region is home to the Danube River, the longest river in Europe, making water transportation convenient. To consolidate his rule, Franz built railways in Hungary, making the region's transportation network extremely extensive.

At least there was no need to worry about Hungary's grain rotting in the fields, as the Austrian Empire's convenient transportation and developed commercial network could effectively absorb the grain produced in Hungary.

The advent of tractors greatly accelerated the land reclamation process, and the widespread use of agricultural machinery would significantly reduce the demand for manpower in agriculture, especially in regions like the Hungarian Plain where machinery was readily available. Therefore, Franz did not need to worry about labor shortages; his primary concern was how to encourage farmers to willingly migrate to the cities.

Franz's plan for Hungary was to use the land for agriculture. The steel mills, chemical plants, and paper mills originally built by the Hungarians were all demolished under the pretext of environmental pollution. Instead, he built textile factories in several major cities to increase the urban population.

As for the arsenals left behind by the Hungarians, Franz looked down on them even more and sold them directly as scrap metal.

At this time, Hungary's industrial manufacturing capacity was almost zero. If the Hungarians still wanted to rebel, they would have to buy weapons from abroad or carry out airdrops.

Of course, it's uncertain whether the concept of Hungarians will even exist in the future. After all, at the end of 1848, there were 187 million Hungarians, but by 1851, only about 1.5 million remained.

At this rate, it is believed that the Hungarian ethnic group will soon disappear completely from the Austrian Empire, or perhaps become another ethnic group.

In fact, the practice of changing one's ethnicity was not uncommon in the Austrian Empire. In the early censuses of the Austrian Empire, people could fill in whatever they wanted, so even at that time, it was not impossible to spend some money to change one's ethnicity.

For those who don't know their ethnicity or don't want others to know their ethnicity, they can fill in "Austrian" in the ethnicity column.

Indeed, Franz allowed the concept of a nation-state, and for this purpose he directly created the Austrian nation.

This is definitely good news for some minority groups who are easily marginalized. Franz is not the first, nor will he be the last, to invent a nation.

In fact, the concept of the Hungarian nation was invented in modern times. If we have to trace its origins, the Germans are the real Hungarians, while the Magyars are the real outsiders.

Contrary to what modern Hungarians often portray, most Hungarians at the time had no real connection to the Magyar people.

However, the silent majority is always easily represented. In fact, most Hungarians did not benefit from the concept of the Magyar nation. On the contrary, they first became cannon fodder for the lords to realize their ideals because of the actions of the Magyar nobles, and then became the target of the Austrian Empire's purge.

It would be strange if anyone actually fell in love with this identity and this lifestyle.

At this time, the Austrian Empire's purge was more thorough than in history, and the vast majority of Hungarian prisoners of war were never able to return to Hungary for the rest of their lives.

The Austrian Empire showed no leniency towards any hidden Magyarists once they were discovered.

As for any uprisings organized by the remnants of the Magyars, they will be treated as rebellions as soon as they are discovered.

Hainau and his hundreds of thousands of Austrian troops were no pushovers.

Of course, Franz wouldn't forget education either; after all, to eradicate Magyarism at its root, one must start with children. Even if they cause a ruckus now, they will eventually vanish if there's no one to carry them on.

The basic education system in the Austrian Empire was always linked to the church; if the Magyars wanted to oppose Austria, they would need to overthrow the church together.

However, over thousands of years, the church has already penetrated into all aspects of grassroots life in Europe, and at this time, the church's influence at the grassroots level is even stronger than that of the state and government.