Chapter 1038 Royal Territory
In fact, moving the Serbs to Vojvodina was a helpless move. For the long-term stability of Belgrade, Franz could not allow a large number of Serbs to stay there.
In order to minimize resistance to migration and even allow local Serbs to migrate voluntarily, Franz could only set the fertile land of Vojvodina as a target.
This was the most effective plan that Austria, which had insufficient national power at the time, could come up with. Although the relocation distance was less than a hundred kilometers, there were still hundreds of thousands of people. Once something went wrong, it would be easy to become extremely happy and sad.
After all, no country really wants Austria to get the Key to the Balkans. A small spark may cause a big riot.
The situation at this time was similar. The Serbs had a thin presence in the Austrian Empire. It was not that they had no national concept at all like the Slovenes, but that their power was too dispersed.
The Serbs already have their own country, so it's definitely not a good thing for the Serbs to pool their forces together and keep growing.
It was impossible for Franz to satisfy the demands of the Serbs. He would not allow Vojvodina autonomy, let alone hand over the southern gate of the Austrian Empire to a nation that might rebel at any time.
I have to say that the Hungarians are very talented at causing trouble for Austria. The latter always needs to be held responsible for the troubles the former creates.
The royal territory government has no choice but to accept the refugees who have fled to Vojvodina from all directions, otherwise it will push those people to the Hungarian side.
Rather than having multiple enemies, multiple refugees in need of assistance are more in line with the current interests of the Austrian Empire.
However, between accepting and not accepting, Franz felt that there should be a third way. That is to send refugees out of the country as gifts so that they can return home with honor.
That's right, Franz is going to open a green channel specifically for these Serbs to send them back to the place where their ancestors lived.
Although the governors of Vojvodina and Belgrade were a little confused. After all, in their eyes, population and land were as important as resources for the empire, but they still faithfully implemented Franz's plan. Order.
The one who was confused was Miloš Obrenović. The Balkan hero broke his head and couldn't figure out why the Austrian would do this.
But this helped him a lot. After all, population is a precious asset to the country in any era, especially for the Principality of Serbia, which is in desperate need of development.
It was only the Bosnians in the Principality of Serbia who suffered at this time. In the past, when Serbia was underpopulated, they were still allies of Miloš Obrenovic.
After receiving information that Austria would send a large number of Serbs to Serbia, Milos Obrenovic directly tore off his mask. He wanted to fight for more living space for the Serbs.
As a result, the chicken-eating competition in Bosnia was staged again, and the once first-class people were reduced to livestock to be slaughtered wantonly.
Don't doubt the coldness and ruthlessness of Miloš Obrenović, let alone this kind of temporary ally, even the people he once followed, the hero of the Serbian people, will kill anyone who blocks his way.
Karadjordje Petrovich, the hero who led the Serbian War of Independence, had his head cut off by Milos and gave it to the Ottoman Sultan.
In fact, the Austrian side specifically charged an extradition fee in order to convince Miloš Obrenovic that the Austrian Empire sincerely wanted to send the Serbs back to Serbia, and the relocation costs of the Serbs had to be borne by the Principality of Serbia.
In order to meet these expenses, Miloš Obrenovich had to borrow a lot of money, and even directly embezzled military salaries. Compared with the illusory Belgrade, the real population was more attractive.
This is why Miloš Obrenović took the lead in proposing a plan to attack Belgrade, but was slow to take action.
High risk and high return are definitely not as tempting as zero risk and high return. Miloš Obrenovich is not stupid, and neither is Ottoman Sultan Mejid. The former does not move, and the latter does not move either.
Therefore, the imagined war in the southeast did not happen. Count Latour, who was based in Belgrade, was a little depressed. He wanted to fight, but he ended up becoming the captain of the transportation brigade.
At first Count Latour thought this was an opportunity, and the Serbs would take advantage of the opportunity to accept refugees to launch an attack on Belgrade.
However, he soon discovered that he was overthinking it, because neither the refugees nor the recipients sent by Milosh carried weapons or anything similar to weapons.
However, routine inspections are still necessary, and Count Latour firmly believes that Milos will reveal his flaws.
As for whether ordinary soldiers will slack off? Will they not be willing to check the Serbian people coming and going?
The answer is impossible! A bandit's fault is like a comb, a soldier's fault is like a grate, and an official's fault is like a shave. It's no joke.
Robbery is the consensus of almost all European armies, unless the royal family personally takes charge and promises enough benefits to restrain them.
Although card checking is not as direct as robbery and the benefits are not as great, the risks are relatively small. It is too late for soldiers to be happy about such a good thing. How can they slack off? It is too late to rob such a good thing!
Franz actually considered the possibility of the Ottomans and Serbia taking the opportunity to launch a sneak attack, but the fortress city of Belgrade had been built for so many years and had nearly 100,000 defenders.
If Belgrade is really conquered by the Ottoman and Serbian armies, then it can only be said that the arrangements made over the years were too light on the enemy.
However, this is not a big deal, after all, there is Nordsavi behind, which is the real gateway of the Austrian Empire.
With the opening of the Great Illyrian Railway, it only takes two to three weeks to deliver 50,000 to 100,000 weapons and equipment from the Italian battlefield to Nordsavi.
Before the opening of the railway, even the best soldiers among the best soldiers needed forty days, and it was normal to walk for two or three months.
In the final analysis, the Russians were Franz's ultimate weapon against the Ottoman Empire. He did not think that the Russians could resist the temptation to go south.
What Franz was really worried about were the royal estates on the Great Hungarian Plain. These estates not only had food and supplies, but also the results of the immigration development plan: land and German population.
In the eyes of Hungarians, royal estates are like blood-recovering packages. Looting royal estates will greatly ease the Hungarian government's precarious financial situation, improve morale, and cut off the idea of fence-sitters.
Although the main force of the Hungarian rebellion was the single-clothed nobles, the attitudes of most of the wealthy nobles were still ambiguous. They would even celebrate the Austrians' defense of Pressburg.
After more than a decade of development since 1836, there have been dozens of royal estates on the Hungarian Plain, and the total number of immigrants has exceeded one million. They can provide hundreds of millions of florins to the royal family every year.
For the sake of money, naturally no one would say anything more, and Franz's operating space was much larger accordingly.
A Hungarian army of about 10,000 people came to the outskirts of "New Silesia", the largest royal estate on the entire Hungarian Plain, looking at the endless fields in the estate and the simple fences outside.
The soldiers couldn't help laughing, as if they had found a naked beauty on a deserted island with no one around, greed and cruelty were fully revealed.
The fat general on horseback was in a dilemma. To be honest, he was able to sit in the position of lieutenant general entirely because of the protection of his ancestors. He just wanted to live a happy life and did not want to get involved in this war.
Moreover, General Itamar's uncle was inexplicably involved in the battle between horse bandits and royal estates a few years ago, and his body has not been found so far.
However, the situation was stronger than the person, and he had to attack the royal estate and kill those foreign Germans to prove his loyalty to the Hungarian Parliament.
This made General Itamar very unhappy. You know, no one dared to force him in the first forty years of his life.
"General Itamar, we are here. You can see that the soldiers are in high spirits and are waiting for your order.
Why do I see that you are a little worried? Are you sympathizing with those invaders?"
A sinister voice sounded, and the cold eyes like a venomous snake were looking up and down at General Itamar, which made his throat tight and his back cold.
General Itamar swore that he disliked this military supervisor very much, but now he had to defend his behavior.
"Mr. Qiutkalai, you know that these lands are private property purchased by the Habsburg royal family from the Hungarian government through legal means."
Before Itamar finished speaking, he was interrupted by the bravest man in Hungary.
"Legal? How ridiculous!"
Qiutkalai sneered.
"Mr. Qiutkalai, you may not know that every purchase agreement has been approved by the Hungarian Grand Council, and there is a contract."
Itamar was interrupted again.
"General, we are no longer slaves of the Austrians! Why should the new Hungary recognize the contracts of the old kingdom era?"
"But isn't the first article of our country's law that private property is sacred and inviolable? Isn't it contrary to the law for us to do this?"
"General, execute the order!"
General Itamar was a little helpless, but still issued the order to attack.
Fortunately, the peasants had already hidden as soon as they saw the army, and he thought it should be an easy battle.
However, the leading soldiers were attacked just after they crossed the wooden fence. Intensive gunfire sounded from all directions, and the first company to enter the manor was almost wiped out.
No one expected this to happen. After all, the people in the manor were just a group of German farmers, not barbaric people like Croatians and Serbs, who should not resist.
Just when the Hungarian army was a little confused, a voice brought them back to reality.
"This is the royal territory, and those who trespass will be killed!"