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

Chapter 1927 In Full Swing
"Ron, that blind king is brilliant! He actually came up with this idea. This time, the Austrians are doomed."

Albrecht von Rohn, standing to the side, did not share Bismarck's excitement.

"This will also result in significant losses for us. The factory owners are also complaining, fearing retaliation from the Austrians."

Bismarck said with a hint of disdain.

"If they can make money, why would they care about anything else? Those greedy guys just want an even higher price."

Bismarck snorted coldly.

"Hmph, trying to take advantage of our misfortune? Impossible!"

Tell them they have to listen to us if they want subsidies!

Ron nodded helplessly, but still said something.

“I understand. However, our funds are not as abundant as those of the Austrian Empire. If this continues, we will be the ones who suffer losses.”

Bismarck didn't seem to care, since he didn't intend to drag this out indefinitely.

"Don't worry, the Austrians are larger than us, and they will have to pay a higher price. I'll go see His Majesty now."

William I was somewhat troubled. To be honest, the Prussian royal family was not wealthy, and he was even less willing to share his money with others.

"Shouldn't we save our money to fight the Austrians?"

Bismarck instantly understood William I's dilemma.

"Your Majesty, please rest assured. The subsidies are provided by the government."

With this somewhat reassured William I, Bismarck once again made a startling statement.

"Moreover, we need to provide subsidies to the entire industry."

"How much will it cost?"

Bismarck did not answer the question, but instead said...

"That is the only path to our victory. All the problems will be solved after we defeat the Austrian Empire."

William I was still somewhat worried. In fact, he knew nothing about economic issues, but he was well aware that doing so would offend all the countries.

"Aren't we making too many enemies like this?"

Bismarck's response, however, was very firm.

"Your Majesty, do you think they will help us if we don't do this?"

William I was speechless, because after the merger of the two kin, Prussia had lost its relative advantage and thus its value as a dependent state.

The unification of Germany by Prussia was now only a theoretical possibility. However, Wilhelm I was faced with only two paths: either unify Germany or be unified by the Austrian Empire.

The Austrian Empire's penetration into the German Confederation was already very significant, an influence that even King Wilhelm I could feel.

As the Austrian Empire's possessions increased at Sanssouci Palace—clothing, tools, artwork, books, and even the ministers of the Kingdom of Prussia—they began to lose faith in what they called a secret weapon.

It should be noted that those officers had assured Wilhelm I that soldiers who picked up breech-loading rifles could take on ten men on the battlefield, but this had to exclude the army of the Austrian Empire.

William I was quite familiar with the military developments at the time. Rifle development had now taken two directions: one was the longer-range, more accurate muzzle-loading guns represented by Britain and France, and the other was the firepower suppression approach represented by the Austrian Empire.

The lever-action rifles of the Austrian Empire had countless flaws, but their firepower was impeccable.

During the previous Near East War, the Prussian military observer group witnessed firsthand a regiment of Ottomans launching a surprise attack on an Austrian military camp defended by only one company.

As a result, an entire regiment of Ottomans, even with all their officers dead, failed to storm the camp.

Those Ottomans were neither cowards nor completely ignorant barbarians as rumored. They had tactics, discipline, and formations, but they were unable to advance under the firepower of lever-action rifles.

The fate of that valiant Ottoman infantry regiment was even more tragic; Austrian reinforcements forced them into a cave using rockets and mountain guns.

Since the Ottomans refused to surrender, the ensuing battle could no longer be classified as a battle; it was merely a one-sided massacre.

Prussian breech-loading rifles undoubtedly followed the same path; in terms of firepower alone, lever-action rifles were undoubtedly superior to breech-loading rifles.

What's even more terrifying is that lever-action rifles are incredibly easy to operate; even a farmer could use one to kill someone after just one glance.

Skilled soldiers could even operate the equipment with one hand, completing a series of actions such as reloading and firing. This was something Prussian officers could not even imagine, as it completely defied conventional wisdom.

What does such a simple and easy-to-use rifle mean? It means that its usage threshold is extremely low, and the training costs and training time of the army will be greatly reduced.

In the eyes of these military strategists, this meant that the Austrian Empire had an almost unlimited mobilization capacity; it could even be said that the Austrian Empire could have as many soldiers as it had guns.

Bulk-loading rifles are not suitable for this; extensive training is required to develop combat effectiveness.

The Austrian Empire had a population of over fifty million, while Prussia had a population of less than eighteen million. No matter how many Prussian reserves there were, they could never match the number of civilians in the Austrian Empire. How could they possibly fight a war?
The Prussian Junker aristocracy was very proud, but they couldn't be truly proud in front of the Austrians at this time, because their pride was based on strength and tradition, not blind arrogance.

The gap in reality led them to decide to catch up, but from Wilhelm I's perspective, his officers were learning Austrian tactics and becoming Austrianized.

The Prussians were becoming less like Prussians, which was a huge blow to William I.

He could accept the corruption of civilians and merchants, but he could not accept his army becoming like someone else's.

Like Nicholas I, William I was not groomed as an heir and both had an extraordinary passion for military affairs.

That's why we are so sensitive to this kind of change, and why we find it so unbearable.

For William I, this was even more painful than a defeat, as if the flower he had carefully nurtured had unknowingly been transformed into someone else's shape.

This feeling disgusted him more than others whispering the ideas of the Austrian Empire in his ear, but the scholars' betrayal did not surprise William I.

In his eyes, those so-called scholars should naturally be opportunistic and follow the crowd.

Austrian clothing, language, jokes, food, and tools appeared more and more frequently, and even his wife changed to Austrian-style underwear.

I heard that this thing was designed by the emperor of the Austrian Empire himself. I really don't know what that guy was thinking.

However, even William I had to admit that this kind of underwear was indeed much easier to remove than a corset.

The younger generation in Prussia was more influenced by the Austrian Empire than by Britain. What was even more frightening was that Britain was too far away, while the Austrian Empire was just a train ticket away.

Even if a Prussian can speak English, he will encounter many inconveniences in England, but if a Prussian goes to Austria, he will have no obstacles, at most he will look a bit strange.

Some young nobles, after having conflicts with their families and running away to England, either returned in disgrace or returned with only an urn containing their ashes.

Back then, unless it was an extremely important person, they wouldn't use a ship to transport corpses. However, even Lord Nelson was stuffed into a wine barrel, so what returned was mostly boxes.

However, things would be a different story in Austria, where there would be more opportunities. Their German identity and ability to speak German were an advantage, and the Austrian Empire was in dire need of manpower, so it would be easy for them to stand out.

Moreover, once this group of people made a name for themselves, they would also bring their relatives and friends with them to flee to the Austrian Empire.

Although both were autocratic empires, Austria had a more relaxed atmosphere than Prussia. It was also more vibrant, and young people were naturally more willing to choose Austria.

Even in large families, it was common for unfilial sons or daughters to flee to Austria; this was no longer news in the noble circles of the Kingdom of Prussia.

Not to mention those small and medium-sized families, many of whom are not ashamed but rather proud.

What's most terrifying is that Prussian noble status can be perfectly inherited in Austria, especially titles from the Holy Roman Empire, which were recognized by the Austrian Empire.

This is why the heirs of those impoverished families flocked to the Austrian Empire, risking their lives.

If the nobles were like this, then in William I’s eyes the common people were even more shameless, showing absolutely no sense of self-awareness as Prussians.

Every year, large numbers of Prussians went to work in the Austrian Empire and never returned.

Of course, things would often be worse if those people came back, because most of them were out there to pick up their families.

However, in Wilhelm I's eyes, the most shameless were those so-called scholars who, under the banner of knowledge having no borders, collectively migrated to the Austrian Empire. Wilhelm I felt ashamed of them.

In fact, these despicable immigrants were one thing, but they also went around smearing Prussia and praising the Austrian Empire. This combination of praise and denigration only made Wilhelm I angrier.

But it's no use getting angry; there are too many people like that, and he simply can't handle them all.

Religious wars have never ceased. The Rhine region was originally predominantly Catholic, but over the years, Prussia itself has also been eroded by Roman Catholicism.

Although they were Roman Catholic, William I knew perfectly well who was directing those charlatans.

The Prussian government can only rely on administrative means to expel these scourges. In fact, as early as the reign of Frederick William IV, the Kingdom of Prussia had tried to support domestic Protestants to counter the Catholic Church in southern Austria.

After all, this has always been the practice throughout history; however, the church in Prussia can only be described as utterly incapable of being edified.

The Prussian government invested a lot of money, but the Prussian church's control over the grassroots was always in a Schrödinger's cat state.

They seemed to do nothing, yet they also seemed to do a lot. They seemed to be in control of everything, yet they also seemed to be incapable of doing anything.

When the Prussian government finally lost patience and wanted to check the results, the main leaders of the Prussian church had all fled to Britain and the United States.

The reasons for this are naturally beyond the purview of outsiders, but the fact remains that money was spent and nothing was accomplished.

What infuriated William I most was that those who took his money could still enjoy a privileged status as honored guests in America and Britain.

In fact, Protestantism has very poor control over the grassroots, or rather, this religion, which is highly adapted to capitalism, is not meant to be subordinate. In fact, in many Protestant branches, pastors regard poverty and disaster as their own sins.

Those who succeed are the voters; those who fail, are poor, or suffer from disasters are all because they did not work hard enough and gave up on themselves.

These words may not seem like religious pronouncements to later generations, but newspapers in various countries during the 19th century proved their authenticity.

However, these cannot be generalized. In fact, there are tens of thousands of branches of Protestantism, and it is not surprising that some outrageous statements are made given such a large number of people.

As for the people who use it, they have no psychological burden whatsoever.

But precisely because of this, the Prussian government's attempt to control the nation through Protestantism in order to counter the religious influence of the Austrian Empire was absurd.

Without comparison, things would have been fine, but with comparison, those capitalist Confucian scholars are truly a bunch of insects in front of the clergy transformed by Franz.

However, this was not Franz's intention; he had no intention whatsoever of waging a religious war.

It was entirely a spontaneous action by both parties; if Franz had really been involved, the situation would never be in this stalemate today.

Moreover, religion is fine to use occasionally, but relying on it excessively can lead to endless troubles.

Furthermore, the religious forces within the Austrian Empire were already quite strong at this time, and he would not provide further support, as that would only disrupt the balance between factions.

In Wilhelm I’s eyes, if he didn’t do something, Prussia would slowly turn into Austria, which is why he placed a heavy bet on Bismarck’s plans.

What started as a low-price competition within the textile industry was relatively manageable. Government subsidies, however, escalated the situation.

But starting with the industry-wide subsidies in Prussia, the whole thing started moving rapidly in an uncontrollable direction.

The textile industry is a large market, but not all countries have the appetite for it.

Even if the textile industry is fiercely competitive, some countries can remain neutral and observe from the sidelines.

However, with the arrival of the era of massive subsidies, no country could escape it, and the entire German Confederation had to participate in this chaotic war.

In fact, even neighboring Britain, France, and Russia sensed something unusual. French smugglers lost everything and exclaimed, "The Germans have gone mad!"

The Russians and British took the opportunity to fleece the people, and Nicholas I's telegrams were even sent to Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz simply handed the purchase details to Olga and told her to handle it herself.

It's not good to refuse your father-in-law's face, but Franz doesn't care about the British guy's face at all.

Franz directly convened the Confederation Congress, demanding that tariffs be increased by 30%-50% on 127 items of British exports.

The German states all agreed with this, since no one wanted to be taken advantage of by the British.

At this point, the Kingdom of Prussia could not object, since these state subsidies were not intended for the British.

If the Prussian government dared to oppose Franz's proposal, they would become the target of public criticism in no time.

In reality, the chaos at this time was caused by the Prussian government, but since everyone was involved, no one had the right to blame others.

The atmosphere inside the meeting room was still tense, and Franz didn't want this situation to continue.