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

Chapter 1879 After the gloom finally cleared, a few drops of rain fell.

Vienna, Hofburg Palace.

"Your Majesty, the situation is not right. More and more people are being arrested. Even if all the prisons in Prague are full, they can only hold one-tenth of the capacity."

They're still frantically reporting; these people are insane.
If this continues, the whole of Bohemia will be paralyzed.

Prince Schwarzenberg was now at a loss. He had transferred a group of officials from Vienna and promoted a group of candidates.

Prince Schwarzenberg believed that these people were enough to stabilize the situation, given the experience in Vienna.

However, when he actually put it into practice, he realized that this number of people was just a drop in the ocean.

Before the Ministry of the Interior could even allocate personnel, good news kept pouring in from the front lines, and the shortage of manpower was growing exponentially. The entire Bohemian bureaucracy was in disarray.

There wasn't a single person in the entire Bohemian police system who could even be considered mediocre; they were all rotten to the core.

The crackdown has been completed, but small-scale riots have continued.

Because Franz had killed so many people in Vienna, these guys in Bohemia were not going to sit idly by and wait to die.

Initially, it was just academic cliques and charlatans creating momentum to gain sympathy for those scumbags.

A theology professor said to his students with great sorrow.

"Students! Our great principal has been arrested, and our beloved patron, Mr. Ger, has been murdered in the wilderness!"

Why did they suffer this fate? It's not because they are guilty! It's because they represent tradition and order, they represent us, and all of Bohemia!
This is murder! This is a crime! Those Viennese lackeys, under the direction of a monarch swayed by radical ideology, want to forcibly change our traditions! They want to destroy everything we have created!
Can we agree to that?

The professor raised his arm and gave a shout, and his bribed insider and his students immediately responded.

"cannot!"

Encouraged by this enthusiastic atmosphere, some students who were unaware of the truth also joined in the shouting.

Clearly, the situation was not what the professor had expected. Just as he was about to say something, he saw a student excitedly raise his hand.

"Student, you speak!"

At the professor's call, everyone turned to look at the student, who seemed a little shy, his cheeks flushed red, and he was breathing heavily.

"Those bastards should have died long ago! The government allocated hundreds of thousands of yuan to us to renovate the school building. Look at the principal's building, look at the leaders' villas, and then look at our doghouse where sixteen of us are crammed together and the school building that shakes when you stomp your feet!"
And those student grants are only in single digits, is he giving them to beggars?
They even made us sign blank checks!

In fact, 100,000 florins were not a small amount at the time; they were basically equivalent to a worker's salary for a thousand years.

As for the so-called student grants, they are a trick that the West often uses; to put it bluntly, they are a way to launder money.

Some illicit funds can be laundered this way, and it can also be used to legally evade taxes. But in reality, Franz had already established specific laws to prevent this more than a decade ago.

However, for those who wield local power, there are plenty of ways to circumvent the law, and they can even reinterpret it.

Unless they are discovered by the oversight body or reported to Vienna, they can do whatever they want.

In the 19th century, communication and transportation were very backward, and certain ideas were deeply ingrained in people's minds. Few people could muster the will to resist, and even fewer dared to resist.

The reason why the Brahmins in these places dare to act so recklessly is that they have united to create an impenetrable network, just like dark clouds in the sky.

However, the dark cloud that had sheltered these demons had been torn apart, and the school was no longer full of sponsors' lackeys; there were plenty of students receiving national scholarships.

They came from humble backgrounds and had witnessed true darkness, so they yearned for light even more.

Of course, if those dark clouds were still there, they would most likely choose to transform into demons and do their utmost to seek the opportunity to ascend to become dark clouds or be chosen by dark clouds.

But things are different now. Those dark roads are no longer passable, or rather, even if they become dark clouds, they cannot fight against Franz.

At this time, those who can get into university are at least one in a hundred smart people, and they wouldn't do anything foolish.

"That's right! What gives those scoundrels the right to represent us?"

"I don't think you're any better!"

"He took 300 florins and slept with my wife!"

"Take him to a public trial!"

Once something starts, it's hard to turn back. Students who were easy to fool in the past suddenly unleashed amazing fighting power.

All the professors who stood up for those local tyrants and bullies were overthrown, and the newspapers that sang tragic heroic epics were burned down and their editors were dragged out.

However, Franz only allowed this emotion to last for a short period of time before extinguishing it before it became more extreme.

Franz understood that indulging such sentiments would benefit his reforms, but how could a government that could not tolerate dissent possibly contain the entire Austrian Empire?

It's good to let these young people make a fuss; it can prevent those "rational and objective" people from taking sides and spreading misinformation.

Then there was the system of false accusations and retribution. Franz knew many years ago that there would be people who would take advantage of this and waste the empire's administrative power.

Some people make false accusations out of hatred, some out of self-interest, some out of psychological distortion, and some even want to frame others for their own mistakes.

In addition, there were a lot of smokescreens to confuse the public. Franz didn't care that there weren't enough court officials, so the colonial ministry stepped in directly.

If a false accusation is confirmed, the accused will be sent directly to a labor camp in the colony for re-education and reflection, since the colony is short-handed anyway.

When conventional propaganda tactics failed, they resorted to metaphysics, with various prophets and charlatans jumping out to say that the Austrian Empire would be punished by heaven for doing this, and even creating many miracles.

However, this curse had absolutely no effect on Franz, and the so-called miracles and prophecies shattered at the slightest touch.

After all, Franz was a better representative of divine authority than those guys, and he also had the support of the Church and the Purity Law.

Not many truly influential metaphysicians dared to confront Franz; in fact, many more chose to change their stance based on the prevailing winds.

After a debate, they actually proved that Franz was the chosen one.

As for those who refuse to repent, Franz will not help them break free from feudal superstitions, but he can help them return to the "right path".

In fact, those people had already begun to save themselves when they were imprisoned, and bribing prison guards was a very common practice in that era.

A gold bar or a ring for the opportunity to send out intelligence—those jailers who only earn a dozen or so florins a month certainly wouldn't refuse.

Prisons in every European country throughout history have been hotbeds of corruption. These people are capable of anything, let alone passing on a message, as long as the money is right.

It is said that the practice of finding someone to die in one's place was invented by the prison guards; this is roughly what is meant by "the guards stealing from the prisoners."

Baron Eisenheim's party intercepted a small group carrying corpses. The stretchers reeked of blood, and layers of cotton cloth were seeping through them.

"Sir, these bodies couldn't withstand the torture. We'll clean them up now," the lead corpse handler said indistinctly through a heavy veil.

"Tortured? Why are you being tortured?"

"Isn't this the old rule? Twenty lashes are given as soon as you come in."

Baron Eisenheim sneered.

"Who made the rule?"

The lead corpse carrier chuckled obsequiously.

Isn't that how it is?

Baron Eisenheim had seen this kind of thing many times, and even the Emperor himself had specifically mentioned this kind of trick.

"Lift the cloth, let me see what's going on."

"No, sir. This person has a fever."

"Oh? Isn't it leprosy?"

The lead corpse carrier was stunned, but the other corpse carriers and jailers were not so calm and their hands and feet began to tremble.

Baron Eisenheim waved his hand, and two soldiers stepped forward and lifted the blood-stained white sheet. Sure enough, there lay a person with closed eyes, covered in blood, and with some stinking flesh on his body.

"Stop pretending, don't you find it smelly?"

It was obvious that the flesh and blood did not belong to the man lying on the stretcher; it was merely a cover-up.

"Take them all."

"No! I have money."

"take away!"

In fact, these people are not smart. If they were really smart, they would have brought a real corpse and mixed people into the procession carrying the corpse.

However, Franz already knew that prisons were a major disaster area and had a complete set of countermeasures, which is why he adopted a two-pronged approach.

In very unfortunate news, following the complete collapse of the police system, Bohemia's prison system also collapsed, and several riots even broke out.

Some black jails, knowing they can't escape the law, choose to simply open the prison gates and distribute weapons to the prisoners in a desperate attempt to destroy the prison.

Unfortunately, the prisoners' primary targets are usually the guards. They've had enough of being oppressed, and if they're going to do something big, they'll do something big.

Armed prisoners were no different from desperados; they were nothing more than pathetic clowns to the Austrian Empire's army.

The widespread chaos that the rebels had envisioned did not materialize, even though they simultaneously mobilized their remaining forces and offered bounties on Austrian officials and soldiers.

But the battle went smoothly; the monsters and demons that jumped out were all killed, and those who tried to hide were also reported by the public and arrested.

There were so many corpses that all the medical schools and research institutions in the Austrian Empire stopped collecting bodies, since corpses also take up space.

The counterattack continues, and some idea-makers, realizing that the propaganda war isn't working, are turning to an economic war.

As the largest capitalist in the entire Austrian Empire, Franz was not short of money and even spent his days figuring out how to spend it, but he would not refuse money from people.

The Bohemian geniuses used every means at their disposal and successfully bankrupted themselves, losing all market share and having no chance to recover.

Actually, Franz was quite perceptive; if he were confused, he might not even know what had happened.

The final counterattack came down to assassinations and terrorist attacks; it's not easy to carry out an assassination at such a sensitive time.

Most assassins are captured or killed before they even get close to their targets, but attacks on civilians are much harder to prevent.

It wasn't that the officials and troops sent by Franz ignored the civilians, but rather that the number of civilians was too large and their distribution too wide, making it almost impossible to implement comprehensive protection.

However, the indiscriminate attacks also eroded the last bit of goodwill in the hearts of the people, and the previously silent majority began to erupt.

Despite the fierce fighting outside, most people just want to live their own peaceful lives.

They don't care about politics or the future, and they are suspicious of everyone.

But as I said before, they'll help whoever wins.

Countless battles have shown that the rebels are no match for the enemy and that the rebels want to take them hostage.

Whether it's to divide the spoils or to save themselves, they will choose to stand with the Austrian Empire government.

Returning to the original question, the systemic corruption in Bohemia was extremely terrifying, with every link in the chain being intricately connected.

Every time one person is arrested, a whole group of people are implicated, and the massive amount of whistleblowing from the public exposes their true colors.

The scope expanded, and some old grievances were dredged up. Prague began to spread, first to the big cities, then to the towns, and then to the countryside, and so on.
This is one of the reasons why Franz insisted on cutting things out piecemeal; the scale was too large to be easily controlled.

Another consequence was that one of the most prosperous cities in the former Austrian Empire was now desolate.

The strict curfew wiped out the nighttime economy, the large numbers of soldiers made people uneasy, and the occasional gunshots and explosions indicated that the chaos had not completely subsided.

Most of the shops lining the streets were shut down, a large number of middlemen were arrested, and many shops had to buy livestock directly from farmers, which were then slaughtered by the chefs and waiters themselves.

These unprofessional butchers often leave blood everywhere, and there are even cases where livestock escape halfway through slaughter.

The closure of shops led to mass unemployment. Although the imperial government had prepared temporary relief food, the idle people still caused panic.

Some even reminisced about the past. Julia, a maid, stood at the gate of the sealed-off mansion. As a widow, she had three children to support, but Lord Hašek, who worked for her, had fled after committing hundreds of crimes.

Julia gets up at five o'clock every day to start her work and can only rest after serving Lord Hašek's dinner in the evening.

Although Hašek often made her work overtime without pay, and was mean, arrogant, stingy, and moody, at least he gave her an income.

Now that Lord Hašek is gone, should she be happy? Julia remembered that Lord Hašek often raped her colleagues when he was drunk, and several of them with poor mental fortitude committed suicide by drowning.

Julia remembered that her husband died of depression after being favored by Lord Hašek.

But Lord Hašek gave jobs to hundreds of servants like her, promising to find them new work, while her children still needed to eat.
Julia undoubtedly hated Hašek, but she also depended on him because he could give her a stable job, which was the most important thing to Julia, and she didn't care about right or wrong.

However, they didn't have to wait long. The sealed-off shops soon reopened, and merchants from other places began to enter Bohemia to compete for this newly emerging blue ocean.

Julia also found a new job, this time taking care of orphans who had lost their families due to the turmoil, instead of adults.

(Julia's autobiography is based on a maid's diary from the French Revolution era.)