I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 918: Benefits Without Cost

Franz II frowned immediately: "Where are the troops to be transferred from? The front line?"

After capturing the fortress of Mantua, Napoleon allowed his army to rest for half a month and has now marched north again.

After Alvinzi's defeat, there was no force in the entire Venice that could stop the French army.

Napoleon was marching through Venice, his vanguard approaching the southwestern border province of Götz in Austria.

This is also the reason why Francis II mobilized the whole country again at all costs.

The troops that Archduke Karl brought back only numbered 3 men, with at most 3 local garrisons. It was impossible for them to stop Napoleon.

Well, Francis II was just bluffing when he told the British that he still had 5 soldiers.

According to Archduke Karl's report, he had to recruit at least 3 new soldiers within a month and a half to barely hold the Klagenfurt Fortress, the southern gateway to Vienna.

In this situation, it would be better to let Napoleon solve these troubles directly than to transfer troops from the front line to Vienna to suppress the riots.

Kobzl paused. With the current scale of protesters, the two thousand guards of Schönbrunn Palace would definitely not be enough.

The Chairman of the Military Committee, Hohendorf, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the Debrecen Corps still has several thousand soldiers, plus the Prague Guards, which should be enough to deal with the riot."

Franz II's expression became even uglier.

The Debrecen Legion was the "private army" of the Hungarian Parliament. He could already imagine how much benefit he would have to give up to the Hungarian nobles in order to mobilize this army.

He sighed and gestured to Kobzl: "Go to Pest as soon as possible."

Turgut said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, it will take ten days for the Debrecen army to reach Vienna. During this time, the riots may get out of control."

Kobzl suggested: “Nearly half of these protesters are family members of soldiers who are not receiving pensions.

"As long as the pensions can be paid, they will go home immediately. This will greatly reduce the scale of the riots."

Francis II was silent again.

Seventy percent of the 120 million pounds loan provided by the British last time was spent on the battlefield in northern Italy, and now there is only less than 400 million florins left.

Tens of thousands of soldiers died in northern Italy this time. According to the pension standard, ordinary soldiers received 380 florins, and officers received 2 to 1 florins, which means a total of nearly 700 million florins of pensions were needed.

In other words, even if all the military expenditure was put in, it would still be far from enough, so the only option was to drag it out.

Seeing the emperor's embarrassment, Togut said, "Your Majesty, I know a banker named Salomon Rothschild who can provide a loan of 500 million florins. However, the interest rate will be higher."

Franz II waved his hand irritably: "Don't worry about the interest, just contact him."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

……

Vienna.

inner city.

In the middle of Pratt Street, the luxurious light gray three-story building was surrounded by thousands of citizens. People shouted and threw stones into the fence and burned scarecrows with the name "Rosenthal" written on them.

Soon, the iron fences as thick as fingers began to tilt under the pressure of the crowd.

A young guard in front of the gray building was already sweating with fear. Seeing that the fence was about to collapse, he panicked and put his finger on the trigger of the flintlock.

"boom--"

The surroundings instantly became quiet.

The protesters were running around to see if anyone was injured.

But the bullet only shot into the air.

Someone pointed at the guards who fired the shots and yelled, "These damn tax farmers want to kill us!"

"They are no longer satisfied with just sucking our blood, they want us to die!"

"Don't be afraid! Everyone rush in and beat them up!" "Kill these vampires!"

The iron fence could no longer hold on and collapsed.

Crowds immediately flooded into the Vienna tax farm.

More than 20 guards of the tax office were knocked down by stones and sticks before they could react.

The demonstrators grabbed their guns and continued to rush to the second and third floors.

Soon, all the documents and materials in the tax office were searched out, piled up in the yard and burned.

The big tax farmer Rosenthal was also unlucky. Seeing that the city was in chaos recently, he wanted to move all the cash in the tax farm away, but he was blocked by the demonstrators.

The lives of the citizens of Vienna were already extremely difficult due to years of war, and the special war taxes took away their last bit of bread money.

So the tax farmers who actually collected the taxes became the focus of people's anger.

Rosenthal was dragged out of the closet and was covered in blood before he even made it downstairs.

An enraged man stepped forward and cut off his head with a few strokes. He held it high in the air and screamed, "My John is dead. He starved to death! Now, I have avenged him!"

Someone put Rosenthal's head on a long wooden stick and began to display it around the streets.

Sparks from the burning tax documents floated into the tax office, igniting tables and chairs, and the fire quickly spread to the second floor.

The man holding Rosenthal's head shouted, "Let's go to City Hall. Those corrupt officials deserve to die too!"

"Yes! Kill those corrupt officials!"

"No one has the right to take our bread away!"

Several people who grabbed flintlock rifles fired into the air, and the loud noise attracted more citizens.

In less than an hour, the number of demonstrators heading to the City Hall had expanded to as many as three or four thousand people...

A slight "click" sound was heard in the basement of a house in the northern suburbs of Vienna.

Here, several men skillfully pulled the handle of the printing press, and sheets of paper fell into the collection basket.

The partition of the basement was opened, and a tall middle-aged man came down the ladder and whispered in French: "The news from Schönbrunn Palace is that Franz II's army will soon enter Vienna. We should leave."

The person operating the printing press tilted his head and asked, "What about this?"

"Leave it all to the Austrians." The middle-aged man said, "This is their own 'business'."

Another person asked: "Hand it over to the 'Illuminati'?"

"No, it's an organization run by a group of Viennese nobles." The middle-aged man shook his head. "The Illuminati no longer needs our help."

The man at the printing press asked, "Should the Emperor's mobilization of troops be printed in a pamphlet?"

"Okay, tomorrow morning's edition."

Yes, they are all agents of the French Intelligence Service.

After the chaos broke out in Vienna, they immediately fanned the flames at the instruction of their director.

As for the action plan, just copy the one that the Duke of Orleans used back then.

Well, they copied the saying "If there is no bread, eat cake" from them.

In fact, more than half of the pamphlets currently popular in Vienna originate from here.

The activity budget for their mission was less than 4 francs, but it increased the "anger value" of the citizens of Vienna several times. It is definitely an example of gaining benefits without spending any money.

But I don’t know if there is a crown prince in Vienna who can save the situation.

(End of this chapter)