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

Chapter 1968 Seeing is Believing
"20 florins per person? There are sixteen people in my family, does that mean everyone gets one?"

Someone asked timidly. The man was somewhat fearful, but there was still a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

People around looked over. In this era, it is not uncommon for a family to have ten or so members, but a family with sixteen members is extremely rare.

An imperial official walked over and said.

"Yes. Everyone who was born with witnesses has them."

"Really?"

Not only the man, but also the people around him showed surprise.

"Of course it's true. Childbearing is your duty, but it's also a contribution. And the Empire's responsibility is to do its best to improve your lives."

If you have preschool children, you can apply for subsidies at your local church, school, or government office.

Seeing that the official seemed easy to talk to, someone immediately followed up with another question.

"What will happen when you start school?"

The people in line laughed, and someone couldn't help but say something.

"You're so greedy! You think the empire will always take care of you after you were born?"

"Whose child is this? Don't you know?"

"Ha ha!"

"roll!"

This vulgar and offensive joke caused the Austrian imperial official standing nearby to frown, while the local Hanoverian official standing next to him immediately shouted.

"Shut up! You bunch of ill-mannered bastards! Guards!"

When the local official uttered the word "guards," the surrounding crowd took a step back; clearly, it was a very frightening term.

The Austrian imperial official in charge of such a crucial area was no mediocre person. He immediately realized that things couldn't be handled this way and raised his hand to stop him.

"It's alright. I'll answer your question. According to the laws of the Empire, subsidies for school-age children are received at school, so please don't worry about that."

If your child gets into secondary school, the subsidy will continue, and the same goes for university.

The official recounted the empire's regulations, eliciting gasps of amazement from the surrounding crowd, who were somewhat surprised that the empire would actually be involved in so many matters.

Of course, there are also many empty promises, such as scholarships for middle school and university, which are beyond the reach of ordinary people.

In this era, it is already extremely difficult to get into secondary school. In the UK, less than one in thirty children from ordinary families go on to secondary school, and of these children, less than one percent go on to university.

In other words, the probability of a child from an ordinary family going all the way from elementary school to university is less than three in ten thousand.

The situation was slightly better in the Austrian Empire, where the rate of students progressing from primary to junior high school was about one in twenty, and the university admission rate was barely 2%, but even so it was still one in a thousand.

While nobles can attend secondary school, the probability of them getting into university is still less than 1%, and even including those who pay aid, the proportion is still less than 10%.

That's why Franz cherished those university students so much, making repeated use of them. He wouldn't even send them to Africa to scrap them.

Of course, graduating from high school smoothly in this era is already quite an achievement; in fact, the vast majority of officials have this level of education.

In fact, apart from the Austrian Empire, most European countries allowed people to become officials after graduating from primary school. As for police officers, prison officials, and minor town officials, all they needed was to be literate and know basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

In the Austrian Empire, it was considered extremely unusual for university graduates to work as police officers; in a sense, it was a waste of talent.

However, Franz wouldn't waste talent; in fact, having those college students fill the positions of police officers was indeed a stopgap measure.

But it also gave them a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There are now many vacancies in high-level positions in the police and prison systems. As long as they are willing to work hard, they have a real chance to climb to the top, much faster than other ways.

Moreover, Franz has already established a police academy, so it is unlikely that future imperial police officers will be able to work simply by being literate, even if they are not university students.

The formalization and professionalization of the police and prison systems are an inevitable trend in the future.

At this point, the official from the Austrian Empire changed the subject.

"Such a joke is excessive and definitely inappropriate for public occasions. Please don't do it again next time."

The people around immediately shut up, and those who received the vouchers rushed to the shops and roadside stalls.

This was actually to benefit as many people as possible, since Franz's goal was to save the market, not to create a monopoly.

At the same time, collaborating with those small businesses can greatly win their favor.

After all, in the past, those rulers were considered benevolent rulers if they didn't even cook them, let alone let them sit at the table for a meal.

However, the Empire's accounting is very strict. Once it is discovered that they are transferring money from one pocket to another, not only will they have to give back what they have taken in, but they will also be implicated.

With the price cap in place, they could make a fortune as long as they didn't do anything reckless. But if they did choose to do something reckless, Franz could recoup some of his losses and also increase the colony's population.

Franz partnered with those small business owners for another reason: to allow them to distribute some of their goods and alleviate their financial burden.

As for the big merchants, Franz didn't need to say much; they came because they sensed the opportunity. If they didn't have that kind of keen sense, they wouldn't have been able to grow so big.

Because they are directly related to these merchants, these merchants are very attentive to them, and the designated products that can bring in substantial profits are naturally their focus.

With the merchants' deliberate guidance, a large amount of stockpiled inventory was sold out. New clothes, new shoes, and new furniture also added new vitality to the city, but the most bustling places were still the bars and restaurants.

To modern people who are extremely wealthy, eating and drinking may seem unattractive, but it was a completely different story in the nineteenth century.

Confucius said, "Food and sex are human nature."

The ancients placed "eating and drinking" first in the phrase "eating, drinking, whoring, gambling, and prostitution," which shows its allure.

For ordinary people who have never even eaten white bread and meat on a regular basis, a small snack is enough to comfort their souls.

A bottle of wine is a rare luxury for them; normally, they wouldn't even be willing to drink sugar water, let alone wine.

Let me tell you about another incredibly popular profession from the past: the dessert vendor was basically equivalent to a modern bubble tea shop owner, even selling similar items. Besides the finished products, many people also bought semi-finished products to save money. Fabric and leather sales were also booming, making leatherworkers and tailors very happy, as their business was about to pick up.

Toothpaste, soap, and "divine radiance" (bleach) were also mixed in and successfully entered thousands of households. The habits of brushing teeth, washing hands with soap, and drinking clean water also spread successfully in the German region.

This time, the spread of these habits is happening much faster than the previous infiltration of the Austrian Empire into its surrounding areas. These small habits can actually change a lot of things, especially in terms of hygiene and disease prevention.

However, it is difficult to change people's ingrained ideas, after all, that's how their ancestors have lived for generations.

Besides, many people can't even afford to eat their fill or keep warm, let alone spend money to buy these things that are considered luxuries by them.

Therefore, even with repeated price reductions, these items could only circulate slowly among the upper class and elites.

However, things were different at this time. Due to the existence of consumption vouchers, coupled with the misleading of the public about consumption, many people unknowingly bought some strange and unusual things.

However, the benefits of these strange things are obvious; firsthand experience is more effective than lengthy explanations of science.

Old Hansen has only experienced his shelves being emptied twice in his life at a small grocery store with a decent reputation.

The last time was in 1848, except that no one paid for it that time.

This time, no one paid for anything; everyone used vouchers, but the new empire would cover all the expenses.

However, he was not worried about the credibility of the Imperial Government at all, because the Imperial Government had already provided a large quantity of goods to fill the gaps on the shelves.

This may sound absurd, but it is not unacceptable. In fact, it saves a lot of trouble and is a win-win deal.

The Hanoverians readily accepted their new status as citizens of the Empire, or rather, they felt they should have been citizens of the Empire long ago.

The situation in Hanover was similar to that in Prussia, where the people drove out a large number of capitalists and landowners.

However, there were some differences. In Prussia, those capitalists who were not killed on the spot, who did not resolutely oppose the Austrian Empire and the Imperial Labor Protection Act, and who did not usually commit many evil deeds, were mostly returned their property by the Empire, although it may have been in a different form.

However, Hanover was too close to Britain, and the two countries had a very close relationship, so many people actually fled the Kingdom of Hanover.

Given the conditions at the time, the Austrian Empire couldn't verify the identity of each item individually. If the original owner couldn't be found, the items would be directly reclaimed or auctioned off publicly.

This portion of the profits can also help this nascent empire recover.

As for those factories, or the so-called means of production, Franz didn't actually mind them flowing into the hands of the people.

Even if these assets were multiplied several times over, they would not pose a threat to the current industrial system of the Austrian Empire.

Rather, Franz was really looking forward to someone actually making some revolutionary changes, since theoretically, as long as there was a market and a unified framework, no one could threaten Franz's position.

Franz needs competition and benchmarks because excessive monopoly can easily lead to inertia.

How could his plan possibly be completed if science and technology stagnate?
However, Franz doesn't need to worry too much about those people being overwhelmed by the market. After all, the entire empire is on the rise in this era, and money is relatively easy to make.

Moreover, Franz left room for survival for those who came after him, and was even willing to provide certain policy and loan support.

However, it will also ensure that their development does not affect the dominant position of the Imperial Factory, or the overall economic situation of the Empire.

On the Jutland Peninsula, people were equally surprised by the consumption vouchers and those caravans.

The villagers, as was their custom, gathered together with hoes, ready to drive away the outsiders. But upon seeing the flag of the Holy Roman Empire and the row of heavily armed soldiers, their expressions softened instantly.

However, the real benefits brought them smiles more genuinely than those of the Germans in the two duchies. Frederick VII was a harsh and conflicted monarch.

He was not a tyrant or a foolish ruler in the traditional sense, but people felt both stifled and helpless under his rule.

The Danish government and Danish nationalists are also too short-sighted; they lack foresight, and even more so, long-term planning and skills.

A small country with grand ambitions may not necessarily invite disaster, but ignoring reality, lacking foresight, and engaging in chaotic command will certainly.

The entire Danish leadership severely overestimated the strength of Danish nationalism. They thought they could sweep across Europe like France had in the past, but in reality, their strength was pitifully weak, and they never even had a chance of winning.

Furthermore, Frederick VII and his ministers, despite their lack of power, were very fond of forcibly interfering in various ways, including language bans, control over the populace, and even requirements for priests' sermons.

Frederick VII and his ministers felt they were doing their utmost, but the public perceived them as having no respect for Danish law and culture.

Ordinary Danes generally carry a strong sense of anxiety about reality because they live in poverty, do not want to pay war taxes, and do not want to be sent to the battlefield.

But each time, the Danish king and government chose the opposite of what the people wanted, and the people always felt that they were the ones being sacrificed.

Denmark has a severe internal hierarchy of contempt, with the Danes in various island regions looking down on the Danes on the Jutland Peninsula, even believing that they are not worth saving.

The islands also despise each other, localism is rampant, and many local officials will actively cover for the locals, either refusing to conscript soldiers or providing support at an extremely slow pace.

Such localism may make them heroes in their region, but it is a disaster for the entire Kingdom of Denmark.

The Danish government's incompetence and failures have further convinced people that this was the right choice.

Even so, Denmark's top leadership was only slightly below the average level in continental Europe. What truly brought Frederick VII and those Danish nationalists to their doom was that their king, their leader, colluded with their mortal enemy, Sweden, and aided the enemy.

They colluded with the Swedes, suppressed the people, called pure-blooded Danes traitors, and used Danish blood to feed Prussia and those capitalists.

This is unacceptable to Danish nationalists, but in this era of nationalism, the appeal of a nation is always ebb and flow.

For the elites who already had German nationalist tendencies, they had no resistance to becoming German.

The lower classes are even less able to process the label of ethnic identity. They only know that they are not Swedes or British, and that whoever beats a Swede or a British person is a good person.

Now we need to add another point: whoever can bring them tangible benefits is one of our own.

However, most of them were still incredulous. After receiving the goods with a sense of doubt, they would carefully hide them in their clothes and look back from time to time in case the other party changed their mind.

These ordinary Danes have been tricked by those rich young men far too many times. They are afraid that this is just a game, or a dream, and that those men will be chasing them on horseback.

But there was no mockery or ridicule; everything was real.

Then those who had once championed Danish nationalism for them arrived, and they were just as excited and thrilled as ever.

This time, however, they were not carrying the red and white cross flag, but the black, red and gold tricolor flag of the German Empire and the eagle flag of the Holy Roman Empire.