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

Chapter 1577 Playing with Fire and Getting Burned (Part 1)

At this time, the church was not an abstract concept, but a real social group encompassing all walks of life.

At that time, the church was definitely one of the most useful intelligence organizations. Looking back at modern international history, in which Western foreign wars did missionaries go first?

Franz simply shifted his focus from external affairs to internal affairs. The church had been deeply rooted in this land for a thousand years, even longer than the history of the Austrian Empire, and its parish system was almost ubiquitous.

The efficiency and coverage were unmatched by any secular oversight body at the time, and the priests could use their positions to collect intelligence naturally and discreetly, thus fulfilling their oversight duties.

However, this requires the state to have very strong control over the church, and also requires the clergy to have a high degree of purity and self-purification ability.

Otherwise, the church could easily become too powerful and uncontrollable, with clergy using their power to make false accusations, abuse their power for personal gain, and even become a tool for power struggles, eventually leading to the development of institutions like the Inquisition.

Normally, no country would dare to play with fire and get burned like this, but Austria at this time was different. After several generations of efforts, the Habsburg family had long since subdued the Austrian church, and Franz was a rare strong monarch.

More importantly, Austria was in actual control of the Papal States at this time, and Pope Pius IX had, to some extent, relinquished his power.

Before leaving, Pius IX appointed Franz as the honorary mayor of Rome and left behind a letter that could be interpreted in various ways.

Will the cardinals continue to uphold the supremacy of divine authority, or will they grovel before the imperial power?

The answer speaks for itself.

Furthermore, after so many years of taming by Franz, the clergy of the Austrian Empire could be considered a breath of fresh air in the religious world at that time.

After all, the practice of punishing priests for two crimes together greatly reduced the evil practices within the church. At the same time, many of the things Franz did through the church were, to some extent, a practice of their faith.

At least Franz opened a door for those who wanted to be good people, allowing them to avoid being so corrupt.

Furthermore, in a sense, the church itself was bound to imperial power, and those who wanted to overthrow Franz also wanted to overthrow the church.

Since it involves the interests of the church itself, it can be considered as giving full play to their initiative.

The instigators of a rebellion may be nobles, scholars, or capitalists, but the main force participating in the rebellion will invariably be the common people. Those leaders may use their status and position to discreetly avoid the church, but it is much more difficult for the common people to do so.

After all, such a large group of people suddenly changed their behavior; even the most dull-witted person could sense something was amiss.

This made it almost impossible for the rebels to avoid revealing themselves when vying for influence at the grassroots level. However, without the participation of the grassroots population, it would be extremely difficult for the Magyars who were in exile at this time to cause any major trouble.

Even if Kossuth were to rise from the dead, it wouldn't cause much of a stir in the Austrian Empire. In fact, even if Kossuth were truly alive now, he wouldn't be able to instigate a large-scale rebellion in Hungary.

Given the size of the Austrian Empire, a small-scale rebellion would not only fail to shake its foundations, but its very existence is uncertain.

After all, the Austrian Empire had experienced far too many rebellions, both large and small, over the years, and with the deliberate propaganda from enemy countries, the Austrians had become numb to it all.

The British, however, seemed to attach great importance to the spirit of Kossuth, especially after the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. The new Mr. Kossuth attended many important occasions and gave several speeches.

There was no uprising launched by the Magyars within the Austrian Empire, nor was there any intelligence indicating that the Magyars were making connections.

Franz was actually somewhat disappointed by this, and hoped that the remaining Magyarists in Austria would launch an uprising regardless of the consequences, which would save a lot of trouble.

However, these people weren't stupid; they were determined to be cowards, which actually made Franz look at them with new respect.

After all, this was not a very good time, mainly because the domestic and international situation of the Austrian Empire was relatively stable, and at the same time, it lacked an organization that could cooperate with it.

However, the Austrian Empire's high command was not so calm about the possibility that Kossuth might still be alive. Many high-ranking officials felt that, regardless of whether it was true or not, someone should be sent to assassinate him.

Foreign Minister Habescu even proposed negotiating directly with Britain to extradite Kossuth. "Lord Habescu, what are you trying to do?"

"Your Majesty, I will do my duty to eliminate any potential threats to the Empire."

Lord Habescu replied, somewhat puzzled.

"Kossuth is already dead. We all know that."

Lord Habescu hesitated at Franz's statement.

"But Your Majesty, there are now people calling themselves Kossuth and expanding their influence in Britain. If nothing is done, where is the dignity of the Empire?"
We must let the British know our stance. Would they really break with us for a liar?

Franz was somewhat helpless.

"Lord Habescu, it is indeed necessary for us to let the British know our stance, but there is no need for us to act overly aggressively."

You need to understand that this scam was orchestrated by the British. If we meet their demands, it will be exactly what they want.

The next one to be resurrected might be Mazzini, or even Suleiman.

Upon hearing Franz's words, Lord Haberscu understood what he meant.

"You mean to fight poison with poison?"

Franz finally nodded with satisfaction.

"That's right. It's easy to spread rumors, but it's incredibly difficult to refute them. Instead of continuing to get entangled in this mess, we might as well give the British something to do."

Let them know what it means to reap what you sow.

In reality, there's really no good way to deal with the kind of fabrication that Britain uses to back its national credibility; debate and even evidence are meaningless.

Because the other party insists on ignoring the facts and only talking about their stance.

Britain would not consider stopping this lie unless the Austrian Empire became stronger, or unless the British government could no longer maintain the facade.

Soon after, some rumors began to circulate:
"Kossuth is in contact with the Irish."

"Kossuth is in contact with the Chartists."

"Kossuth is in contact with the Scots."

"Kossuth is a homosexual."

"Kossuth is preparing to establish a nation on the island of Ireland."

"Kossuth intended to overthrow British rule and establish an independent state."

(This, coupled with previous rumors of Kossuth's contact with Prime Minister John Russell and various other high-ranking officials, quickly created a storm in London.)
Faced with these rumors, both true and false, the British royal family is starting to get restless.

In fact, some of the British government's previous actions had made Victoria and her husband feel very uncomfortable, or even offended.

Besides their clashes over political power, the two sides have also been arguing over the issue of royal stipends.