Chapter 1042 The Shadow of Transylvania

Duke Banjat died suddenly, and when the nobles were leaderless, Kossuth suddenly launched a new draft and a new round of offensive plans against the royal territory.

This time, Major General János Damojanic will be in charge, and he is one of the three giants of the historical Hungarian military.

János Damojanic was born in a low-ranking noble family. Even if he made many military achievements, he could only sit at the bottom, so he was naturally closer to Kossuth, who might change his fate.

In his personal memoirs after the war, János Damojanic mentioned that the war was just a step for him to be promoted. It didn't matter who was right or wrong, or whether it was just or not.

But János Damojanic was much luckier than his colleague Gergely Artur. The former was called a hero by Kossuth, while the latter was called a traitor.

Later, Janos Damojanic not only escaped liquidation, but was also pardoned by the Austrian Empire after two years in prison. He then became a marshal. He lived a life of honor and luxury in the second half of his life, and even lived to the age of 83.

This guy once became a hero in Romania because he planned to massacre the Saxons (a branch of the Germans) in Transylvania.

However, a hundred years later, the Romanians discovered that this hero not only planned to massacre the local Saxons, but also the Wallachians and Moldavia, so they kicked him out of the textbooks.

Some people in later generations said that Janos Damojanic had a modernist spirit, but Franz, a modern man, did not think so.

However, it was not a bad thing for Janos Damojanic to be the commander of Hungary responsible for attacking the royal territory. After all, it was not a big problem for such a person to sell out his country as long as the benefits were enough.

At this time, it was the turn of the spies arranged by Franz in Hungary to appear. The Austrian and Hungarian upper classes had close contacts. If the Hungarians could put spies in the Austrian government, Franz could naturally put spies in Hungary.

And János Damojanic was indeed a "talented man" who knew the times, just like in history. He naturally knew that Hungary could not confront Austria.

Especially after receiving the news that Austria had won consecutive victories on the battlefields with Britain and France, János Damojanic had a deeper consideration. Maybe he could be a hero of the Austrians.

However, Franz did not like this kind of speculator, and would not completely trust him, so the necessary precautions could not be relaxed for a moment.

Due to the changes in history, Franz actually had an extra card in his hand. The original Lamberg Ferenc was not stabbed to death by Hungarian extreme nationalists on the way to Hungary.

So the 69-year-old veteran was secretly sent by Franz to the royal territory of Hungary as the nominal supreme commander.

Historically, Ferenc Lamberg was sent to solve the Hungarian problem. He had enough knowledge of the situation in Hungary and enough prestige to intimidate those nobles who were not upright.

However, the Hungarians chose to overturn the table. The Imperial Marshal and the Commander-in-Chief of the Hungarian Military District were beaten to death on the road.

Although many historical books say that this was a feat made by the Hungarian people out of indignation, Franz felt that this was a naked conspiracy.

If there was no big enough force behind the scenes, could a state official like Ferenc Lamberg be easily intercepted and tortured to death by a few people?

Let alone the consequences of killing such a high-ranking official, ordinary people could not bear it at all. Ordinary people could not know his route of action, let alone defeat his guards and torture him.

Although Ferenc Lamberg was Baugani's old superior and had commanded troops in Hungary for many years, he was also a veteran who had experienced the anti-French war. He hated the word "revolution".

Franz used Ferenc Lamberg more as a symbolic meaning, on the one hand to give people confidence, on the other hand to deter Hungarians.

As for whether Ferenc Lamberg could perform beyond expectations, Franz had no expectations.

In fact, Franz had been preparing for this day for many years, and every manor was prepared for this day from the beginning of its construction.

In the past ten years, most of the veterans of the Austrian Empire, the frustrated low-level officers, and the veterans and wounded soldiers who shed blood for the German Confederation (the Confederation Soldiers Pension Regulations after the Luxembourg Crisis in 1842) were sent to the Hungarian royal territory by Franz.

These people together numbered nearly 100,000, not to mention that there were not many elderly people in the million people in the entire royal territory, and their real combat power was far beyond the imagination of the Hungarians.

Hungary's attack on the royal territory was not a unilateral massacre from the beginning, but a real war.

The situation in Transylvania was more chaotic. Franz had planned an attack in 1839, and several secret society leaders were killed in a small village in Banat.

There were countless secret societies like this in Transylvania. Not only did the government often suppress them, but Hungarian and German organizations would also attack them, and even they often fought and killed each other.

But this time was a little different, because in addition to the local Transylvanians, there were also some people from Wallachia and Moldavia.

This meeting was the first recorded proposal of the concept of Romania in modern history. These organizations planned to merge Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania into a new country.

Naturally, Franz would not let them do what they wanted. Franz's goal was to strangle them in the cradle.

Although assassination and attack were only a temporary solution, what the Austrian Empire needed most was time.

As long as there was enough time, Franz could counter the situation, and he didn't even need to do anything. After all, time itself was the best medicine.

Due to a series of changes brought about by Franz, the connection between Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia was not as close as in history.

So the three regions could only fight on their own. After the Hungarian government's "Twelve Points" were announced, the Transylvanian Romanian leader O. T. Ularian immediately issued his "Sixteen Points", and the Romanian National Committee was established.

The "Sixteen Points" were more radical than the Hungarians' "Twelve Points", so Austria didn't need to do anything at all, and Hungary couldn't tolerate it.

However, in order to win over and appease the Romanians in Transylvania, Franz announced the abolition of serfdom as soon as possible.

The Austrian government did the same thing in history, and it worked well, successfully making the Transylvanians point their spearheads at Hungary.

In fact, there is another reason why the Austrian government did this, that is, the highest administrative chief of the Austrian Empire in Transylvania chose to defect and leave the country at the first opportunity.

Kolosberg (today's Cluj-Napoca, the second largest city in Romania) as the core of Austria's rule in Transylvania was in chaos.

In the end, it was the Transylvanian garrison commander Puchner who came forward to quell the riots. This General Puchner played a stabilizing role in Transylvania in 1848.

The highest Hungarian official in Transylvania, Teleki Joseph, opposed the Romanians' assemblies from the beginning, and he had been trying his best to suppress them.

Later, O.T. Ularian raised the banner of supporting Hungary, and Teleki Joseph restrained himself.

However, as mentioned above, the Romanians soon pointed their spearheads at the Hungarians, and Teleki Joseph took the opportunity to forcibly dissolve the Romanian National Committee.

The Austrians were far away, and those so-called Saxons actually lived in cities or independent villages, and they usually did not have direct conflicts with Romanians.

Therefore, hundreds of years of oppression and slavery have made the contradictions between Romanians and Hungarians irreversible and almost impossible to reconcile.

Unless the Hungarian government can redistribute the land, which is almost impossible to happen, because it is equivalent to asking Hungarian parliamentarians to cut their own flesh.

In addition, Hungary's ethnic policy is too extreme, which directly detonated the emotions of Romanians in Transylvania.

The relationship between the two sides quickly transitioned from the honeymoon period to mutual hostility and mutual hatred. In history, Gergely Artur and Heinrich Deme emerged in the battle with the Transylvanians.

In order to satisfy the emotions of domestic nationalists, the Hungarian government directly passed the so-called Romanian representatives on May 29, 1848 to directly pass the motion of Transylvania's annexation to Hungary.

However, this time the Austrian government did not become an accomplice of the Hungarians, because the March Decree that should have appeared in history was not passed at all.

This is why Franz allowed Vienna to continue to be in chaos. The incapable government could not pass any legal decree.

Large-scale riots made people dare not easily set foot, especially some noble "Austrian traitors", after all, these people's lives are very precious.

Without these noble "Austrian traitors", it would be impossible for anyone to bypass the government and directly let the emperor sign the decree.

In short, the Hungarians' demand for annexation at this time had no legal basis, so when General Anton von Puchner stood up against the Hungarians, he received more support.

Kolosburg.

"Subjects of the Austrian Empire! Free citizens of Transylvania! People who don't want to endure the oppression of the Magyars anymore!

The Hungarians betrayed our motherland! They want to deprive you of your land! Deprive you of your property! Send your children to fight against the great army of the empire!

This is simply courting death! The imperial government has declared the Hungarian government illegal, and I will take over Transylvania in the name of His Majesty the Emperor.

In order to protect our land, our homes, and our rights, we will fight to the last moment!"

"Long live!"

"Long live!"

Compared with the enthusiasm of the farmers near Klosberg, the response from other parts of Transylvania was relatively cold.

In fact, the situation of fighting each other in Transylvania is very serious. Almost every county belongs to different forces, and there are even shadows of Russians and Ottomans behind it.