Holy Roman Empire-Chapter 1065 - 79: The Grand Dream of Spring and Autumn

Chapter 1065 -79: The Grand Dream of Spring and Autumn

In the eyes of the outside world, all focused on the election period, Franz had sent his two sons to serve as governors in the overseas colonies.

Frankly speaking, changing personnel at this time also carried certain political risks. The struggle for dominance between Anglo-Austria had not yet ended, and overseas colonization was not as stable as Mount Tai.

Once the colonies fell in future power games, the Governors would be the first to be held accountable. However, there was no alternative, as wealth always comes from risks.

Even the royal family did not have unlimited political resources. To ensure a smooth transition of power, political resources were definitely prioritized for the Crown Prince.

In a nation where military deeds led to nobility, without sufficient achievements and reputation, even if Franz placed them in power, it would be challenging to win people over.

For long-term considerations, sending them early to the colonies was very necessary. Even if they couldn’t accumulate enough merits, at least they could cultivate a group of loyal followers.

...

European royal authority was not as strong as that in the East, even for a dominant Emperor like Franz, who often had to go with the flow.

Although, from a long-term perspective, the “Overseas Sub-State Plan” was more beneficial for the Empire, it did, in the short term, damage the Central Government’s authority.

Not everyone had such a far-reaching vision, nor was everyone selflessly impartial, so Franz did not think such a plan would gain the support of the majority.

As an Emperor, he could forcibly suppress opposing voices, but Franz was not capable of making the people of the overseas colonies pledge loyalty to his sons.

If he could not win people’s hearts, even if they reluctantly accepted under the Emperor’s commands, the future would still be fraught with issues.

Securing the government more solidly still required personal effort. Now, taking up the role of governor early to control local power was a good transitional move.

The change in tenure was the best moment to finalize things, as everyone’s attention was drawn elsewhere, and they hardly had time to care about the trivial matter of appointing colonial governors.

Even if politicians noticed, they could only pretend not to see. Otherwise, they would lose their positions during the upcoming personnel adjustments.

Political struggles are brutal; however, the political strife within the Vienna Government was relatively harmonious.

As long as one did not make fatal mistakes, even if one lost in the political fray, the worst outcome was merely going home to babysit.

Internal stability in Shinra did not mean there were no changes outside. Successive changes in colonial governor personnel still caught the attention of the watchful.

…

St. Petersburg

Holding the intelligence report in his hand, Nicholas II involuntarily rubbed his forehead. Perhaps as a consequence of the assassination attempt, every time he overthought, he would feel a headache.

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“Recently, the Holy Roman Empire keeps changing its overseas governors, and the new governors are all Princes. What is Emperor Franz trying to do?”

Thanks to his role as a Mentor of Soul Soup, Franz’s prestige among monarchs was exceptionally high. Young successors like Nicholas II were not spared his generous servings of “chicken soup.”

As a principled mentor, despite his oft-deceptive words, they were not entirely without substance.

He never provided specific plans, but broad advice was available. Using himself as a case study, Franz even had a biography compiled about his struggles.

Although the narrative was artistically embellished, it still held referential value and was highly attractive to young monarchs.

Reforms couldn’t be achieved in one leap; they had to be dealt with in fine detail; national development must be step by step without shortcuts…

The central idea was classic; the only issue was that broad principles were easy to understand, but implementing them was the challenge.

If one were to follow Emperor Franz’s struggle story, a small country working hard to farm might achieve initial industrialization in forty or fifty years, and a major country would need twenty to thirty years.

“Industrialization” here was based on current industrial standards. Considering the evolving era, the time needed might even be longer.

Of course, countries with an industrial base could significantly shorten this timeframe. However, this was still far from any quick fix.

The reality was as such, but not everyone could see it. Most only saw Austria’s rapid revival and the reconstruction of Shinra, completely overlooking the assets Austria had before the revival and neglecting the opportunities of a significant era.

It was like entrepreneurs sharing their success stories; the premise was that they had already “succeeded.” Emulation might be possible, but replication was dreaming.

Whether to learn from it was one thing, but it didn’t affect Franz’s respect. With these chicken soups, Franz was likely to leave a profound mark in the history of various countries around the world.

Foreign Minister Mikhailovich: “We have too little information in our hands, and we can’t confirm yet. However, considering the special system of the Holy Roman Empire, the foreign department speculates that Emperor Franz might be planning to partition again.

In the history of the Habsburg dynasty, similar events have occurred. The current Holy Roman Empire is already too large, so it’s not surprising if Emperor Franz wants to split it.”

Indeed, it was not the first time. The First Empire Where the Sun Never Sets, which once suffocated the European world, was split by the Habsburg dynasty like this.

“Right or wrong,” it’s hard to tell just from the few lines in history books anymore. However, after the division, the number of times the Habsburg dynasty was targeted by other countries significantly decreased.

The current Holy Roman Empire was even more formidable than the Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets. The absence of the Anti-Holy Roman Empire Alliance was only a testament to Franz’s skillful handling.

The Russian Empire was not panicked, besides the Russian-Austrian Alliance, it mainly believed that the dominance of Shinra could not last.

Franz had the skills to make Shinra the leading power in the European world, and he hadn’t been jointly targeted by everyone. This didn’t mean his successors would necessarily have the same capability.

Looking at the territory of the Holy Roman Empire, once diplomacy failed, and it fell into a predicament, it would mean having enemies everywhere.

Of course, this presupposed that problems first emerged within the Holy Roman Empire itself; otherwise, the opportunists wouldn’t dare to intervene.

Prime Minister Sergei Witte: “If it’s just about worrying about falling into a predicament, such a partition makes no sense.

The core areas of the Holy Roman Empire are primarily in mainland Europe, the Near East, and the African Continent. The rest of the overseas colonies are just extras.

The governors being replaced are all from overseas colonies and haven’t touched the core areas. Even without these regions, the strength of the Holy Roman Empire wouldn’t be greatly affected.

In Emperor Franz’s style, even if he really feared falling into a predicament, he wouldn’t cripple himself; more likely, he’d take the initiative to strike.

Looking around the world, the countries that can pose a threat to the Holy Roman Empire are few. As long as these countries are suppressed, all problems will no longer be issues.”

Obviously, the Russian Empire was also included among these countable threat nations, not because of diplomatic relations, but primarily due to its strength.

The Russian Empire had strength, and it was thus a potential threat. Once the Vienna Government decided to eliminate threats preemptively, the Russian Empire could not avoid it.

Economic ties and the existence of the Russian-Austrian Alliance could merely ensure that the two countries did not turn against each other openly, but that did not mean underhanded tactics were off the table.

In the recent decades, in the covert games, the Tsarist Government had not suffered less. The tragedy lay in the fact that despite being at a disadvantage, they were often morally wrong and too embarrassed to admit it openly.

A profound “sense of dread” was evident in their expressions. It was clear that Sergei Witte’s vigilance towards Shinra had never truly been dispelled.

Interior Minister Vyacheslav: “Perhaps Emperor Franz didn’t think too much, merely acting out of pure love for his sons, wanting to secure a fief for them.

As you know, the African Continent is now swarming with nobility. The remaining lands are either strategic locations or valueless deserts and sandy areas.

By contrast, the overseas colonies are still relatively more fertile. There are also comparatively fewer fief aristocrats, making it not so difficult to carve out a piece for one’s own son.”

Creating fiefs for sons in the European world is nothing new. In recent times, it’s less common due to the centralization pursued by all the states.

Difficult to achieve domestically, overseas colonies face no such constraints. For someone like Franz, who had distributed fiefs to tens of thousands of nobility, securing a piece of land for his own son wasn’t a significant issue.

The Habsburg dynasty itself had this tradition, but in recent times, the grand dukes within the homeland were mostly just titular.

Army Minister Yevgeny: “The probability is not high. If it is merely out of fatherly love, then the Near East could have been considered, despite its less fertile land but more strategic location.

Rather, I think Emperor Franz is enhancing control over the regions. Being a colonial governor is a high-power, long-duration role; it’s better to place someone trustworthy in such positions.

Considering the upcoming supremacy contest between Shinra and Britain, should he succeed, the Holy Roman Empire’s colonies will expand further. Advanced preparations are indeed necessary.

If Emperor Franz’s plans do succeed, it obviously wouldn’t bode well for the Empire.

The Holy Roman Empire is simply too powerful; even if we were to enact the ‘Russian Russification plan’ and take over India, we could only hope to match them.”

…

All kinds of speculations seemed reasonable, making the indecisive Nicholas II even more confused. Ultimately, they all shared the same conclusion, that continuing this way was very detrimental to the Russian Empire.

Since it was disadvantageous for them, there was no argument; they had to think of ways to sabotage.

As for “realizing the Russian Russification plan and taking over India”, that could be considered a dream for now. Even though Nicholas II had great ambitions, he didn’t believe they could achieve both grand plans in a short span.

Of course, dreams are essential. If you don’t even dream, what’s the difference between you and a salted fish?

With dreams in mind, Nicholas II frowned and asked, “How do we stop it? The appointment of colonial governors is the internal affairs of the Holy Roman Empire; we have no grounds to object.”

Interfering in another nation’s domestic affairs has always been taboo. Even though the Russian-Austrian relationship is an alliance, the Tsarist Government still had no room to intervene in this matter.

Blindly interfering would not only be ineffective but could worsen the bilateral relations.

Prime Minister Sergei Witte: “We obviously can’t interfere directly, but we can create trouble for them elsewhere.

Your Majesty, France has completely rotted away. Hoping to receive war reparations from the French is out of the question.

At this stage, continuing to station troops in France is meaningless for the Empire; we should withdraw.”

Clearly, it wasn’t as simple as “withdrawing troops.” To create problems for the Holy Roman Empire, we couldn’t leave a stable France behind.

In fact, France had never been stable. Now, with just a little instigation, we could turn France into a quagmire.

The Russian Army excelled at sabotage. Once constraints were lifted, they could ensure France was immediately engulfed in chaos.

Foreign Minister Mihailovich objected: “Prime Minister, it is not yet time to withdraw the troops. Although France no longer holds value, don’t forget the international implications.

As a member of the Anti-French Alliance, if we withdrew without cause, it would surely provoke dissatisfaction among other nations against the Empire.

Unless there’s an acceptable excuse for all parties, our hasty withdrawal and deliberate troublemaking in France could ruin the diplomatic efforts we’ve cultivated for decades, and recovery would be difficult.”

Politics has always been complex; viewing problems from only one angle is clearly not viable.

Although the Tsarist Government’s “diplomatic achievements” were not significant, having some was better than none. The difficulty of starting from scratch was much greater than building on what already existed.

Letting go at this time would be considered betrayal by the Anti-French Alliance.

Traitors are always the most despicable. They wouldn’t just be ostracized in the European world; even the Russian-Austrian Alliance would face issues.

An “excuse” is easy to find, but an excuse acceptable to all parties is not so easy.

Since it participated in the international community, it inevitably had to abide by the rules of international society, and the Russian Empire was no exception.

Scanning the crowd and seeing no objections, Nicholas II secretly sighed.

Diplomacy had always been a weak point for the Tsarist Government. All the past Tsars had tried to change this pattern, but for various reasons, each attempt ended in failure.

Relatively speaking, Alexander III had been the most successful. His diplomatic strategies continued until now.

The youthful and impetuous Nicholas II was naturally unwilling to remain in his father’s shadow, always wanting to go further based on this foundation.

However, plans always failed to keep up with changes. Previously, the atrocities of the Russian Army in France had caused an uproar; fortunately, there were more people from the Anti-French Alliance, holding the situation.

Now, if they were to sever ties with the Anti-French Alliance, the Russian Empire might as well not bother with the international community. A tarnished reputation was one thing, but losing out on international trade was critical.

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