With the cooperation of Pius IX, the Austrian government succeeded in convincing the bishops, and the next step was naturally one layer at a time.

Does the law not hold the public accountable?

There are many clergy who want to be bishops.

Even with the loss of most of its property, the church was still a wealthy unit, with a large amount of public money for them to spend and no overseers.

Franz has always been convinced by reason, and this deal with the Church was also a fair deal, which was confirmed by Pope Pius IX himself.

Naturally, the clergy who do not understand should be persuaded with good words, and if they do not work, they will continue to do ideological work, and the diehards will criticize and educate them, and finally help them get rid of their bad problems.

After the dismissal of an archbishop, 18 local bishops, auxiliary bishops, and more than 100 priests, everyone actively cooperated with the government to complete the handover work.

Under normal circumstances, when a clergyman is found to be unreligious, the fate must be tragic.

This time, however, Franz interceded on their behalf. All they had to do was prove that they were devout believers in the battle to regain the Papal States.

To be able to solve the problems of the church without bloodshed. This made the Austrian government aware of the importance of the Papal States, and the presence of a pro-Austrian pope would help the Austrian government to manage the clergy well.

To put it simply, it is to see if a bishop is unhappy and leave him in the Papal States to serve God, for example, guarding the Holy Land is a very promising job.

After taking the benefits, it is natural to do things, and Pope Pius IX has done everything that should be done, and now it is the turn of the Austrian government to pay the payment.

Franz hated unpaid wages, so naturally he would not become the person he hated the most.

"What happened to Marshal Radetzky, do you need to redeploy troops from the country?" Franz asked

"Your Majesty, the withdrawal of troops from the Kingdom of Sardinia is about to be completed, and the morale of the troops at the front is very high, and they can continue to participate in this operation.

Marshal Radesky, however, suggested that the soldiers should be allowed to return home and that some of the soldiers be redeployed to intervene in the Papal States. War Secretary Prince Wendy Schretz replied

Obviously, he was somewhat dissatisfied with Marshal Radetzky's advice, and it would be troublesome to say it back and forth.

It is natural that morale is high, and the Sardinian army can only be regarded as soft persimmons, they have hardly fought any hard battles, and they have pushed them all the way.

The casualties of the troops are not large, but the loot is very rich, even if it is sold at a discount, at least each soldier can be divided into a few hundred guilders, which is equivalent to the income of ordinary people for several years.

(1 guilder is about 11.69 grams of silver)

In addition to this windfall, Franz's promise of land is also about to be fulfilled, and the soldiers are naturally willing to fight such a good fight.

Thinking about Marshal Radesky's suggestion, Franz felt that it was very necessary to let the country's recruits go to the battlefield, anyway, there was no danger, so it was considered training.

It was mainly the city defense corps of Vienna, who were prepared with the best weapons, and because of their lack of combat experience, they were probably the lowest in combat effectiveness in the Austrian army.

Franz made an excuse and said: "The soldiers at the front have been fighting continuously for almost half a year, and it's time for them to trim up."

In accordance with the advice of Marshal Radetzky, a part of the recruits from the rear were sent to replace them, and the Vienna City Defense Army was also sent out for actual combat training. ”

Purely from a military point of view, if a unit fights continuously for half a year, then no matter how elite the troops are, they will feel tired.

The Austro-Saxon War was nominally fought for four or five months, but in fact the two sides actually fought each other for less than a month, and the Austrian army pushed back from Venice to Turin.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Prince Wendy Schretz replied

These are minor issues, and naturally no one will refute Franz's face.

Interfering in the Papal States is more by force of deterrence, and the chances of a real war breaking out are very small.

Although the revolutionary government is now in control, there is still a part of the army in the country that supports the pope, and the indecisive bourgeois regime, fearing a civil war, has not yet carried out a purge of the army.

Prime Minister Felix said: "Your Majesty, the situation in the country has stabilized, and the international environment is also very favorable to us.

The government's financial pressure to continue to maintain such a large army was somewhat great, and the cabinet suggested that some officers and soldiers should be demobilized and the saved expenses should be invested in the resumption of production and construction. ”

Expansion of the armed forces during wartime and disarmament at the end of the war were the norm.

Although the current situation in Europe is not very peaceful, it is all caused by revolution, and the contradictions between countries have not yet broken out, and in this context, the possibility of war between major powers is almost zero.

"How many troops is the government ready to withdraw?" Franz asked with concern

Felix said confidently: "Considering that we will soon send troops to intervene in the Papal States, the government proposes to reduce 100,000 troops within this year, and then 130,000 troops next year, and our final total strength will remain at about 350,000." ”

This disarmament was mainly carried out by the regular army, and the troops recruited on the local improvisation were repatriated one after another after the end of the war.

At present, many places are still doing resettlement work, which is also the first of Franz's initiative, and there was no talk of resettlement in Austria before that.

Now that the government has a large number of industries in its hands, under the planned economic system, there are naturally enough jobs to accommodate these people.

It is worth noting that almost all the soldiers who received a large amount of land rewards chose to go home and farm.

Factories are not a good place to go in this era, and most people would not want to become a worker if they had a choice.

The same is true for state-owned factories, but slightly more popular than private factories, where there is no need to worry about unpaid wages from their bosses.

After all, from the very beginning, these state-owned factories were all piecework, and there was no room for chaos at all, so they were naturally just as tired.

At this time, Franz had to be glad that his mind was clear and he did not blindly annex the Kingdom of Sardinia, otherwise he would have to continue to expand the army if he cut Mao's army now.

A hundred thousand Austrian troops could destroy the Kingdom of Sardinia, but if you want to rule the Kingdom of Sardinia, two or three hundred thousand troops may not be enough.

This is the after-effect of the nationalist awakening, and it is difficult to rule the localities without a great purge. The best thing to do is to pack up all the locals and send them away, and the place will be stable.

If it is in the 21st century, the relocation of five or six million people at a time is nothing, as long as you are willing to spend money, it can be done.

But it was still the middle of the nineteenth century, and the Austrian government did not even do anything, and organized ships to transport people out of the country every day, and it was not possible to complete this task in five or six years.

Everyone was sent away, and in the end, there was a blank land left with no resources and no industry, what did Franz do with it?

If you have that effort, it is better to open up the colonies, and even if you invest only one percent of your financial resources, you can harvest N times the size of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Prince Wendy Schretz objected: "Prime Minister, we are negotiating with the Russians, and it won't be long before an agreement can be reached."

At that time, we will inevitably send troops to the Balkans, and this time will not be too long.

If we fail to achieve a quick victory, a stalemate with the Ottoman Empire, and Britain and France intervene, it will be difficult for our interests to be safeguarded. ”

For Austria, the expansion into the Balkans is now an opportunity.

The Austrian government had recently made concessions to the British on the question of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and had gained British support for Austrian expansion in the Balkans.

In order to provoke the Russian-Austrian contradiction, the British were rare in their generosity, and they all agreed to Austria's interests in the Balkans, and the two countries also reached a memorandum.

Palmerston never dreamed that the Austrian government would make a deal with the Russians, after all, if the Russians occupied the Black Sea straits, Austrian interests in the Mediterranean would also be affected.

If the Russians had grown larger in the Mediterranean, Austria would have been trapped in the Adriatic Sea and would have lost the strategic initiative.

These problems were worried about the top level of the Austrian government, but in the end they were persuaded by Franz.

The reason is very simple, the Russians cannot win against the British at sea, and the British Mediterranean fleet can block the Russians in the Black Sea.

Prime Minister Felix shook his head and said, "Who said we were going to join forces with the Russians to start a war now?"

Austria had just experienced a civil strife, and the most important thing at the moment was to restore production, and the partition of the Balkans with the Russians was only a strategic necessity, and the interests of the two sides were delineated in advance, just to avoid conflict.

Turning what was on the treaty into reality was a matter for the future, and the Austrian government had no intention of provoking war in the short term.

We have made it clear to the Russians that Austria needs to recuperate and will not expand in Europe for at least ten years.

If they can't help it, they can do it in advance, Austria can support them materially, but it will not personally participate in the war.

This is a prerequisite for our Covenant, so you can rest assured that war will not break out in the short term. ”

This explanation hurt Prince Wendy Schretz very much. As the leader of the Near Eastern faction, he had already begun to prepare for war, only to suddenly tell him that the war was no longer fought.

There is no way, the military has to serve politics.

Because of the Franz butterfly effect, the power of the Austrian military did not swell, and although it had a great say in domestic and foreign affairs, it did not have the right to decide.

Franz supported the government on this issue, and the most important thing for Austria now was to recuperate and develop its national strength. The problem of expansion, it is not too late to do it when the strength comes up.