Chapter 156 Punishment for Incompetence

This is exactly what the saying goes.

If it were just an ordinary kidnapping case or a human trafficking case, it would not shock the entire top level of the Austrian Empire.

But when these cases involve nobles and the royal family, their nature is completely different.

Count Korolaf and Prince Metternich took it together and decided to hand over these cases to Archduke Karl.

Although Archduke John was more famous than Archduke Karl, the former had given up his royal status at this time and was more like a peacemaker in personality.

This matter involves the royal family, and two of the Grand Dukes are the sons of Archduke Karl. By handing this matter over to Archduke Karl, one is to satisfy the nobles of Vienna, the other is to give an explanation to the subjects of the Austrian Empire, and the third is to force the Hungarian government to hand over the matter quickly. people.

Regarding this matter, Prince Metternich originally planned to strictly block the news. However, what was helpless was that this mighty team had already spread the news after landing in Venice and all the way to Vienna.

Everyone from Italy to Moravia is talking about this matter. Even the imperialists in Croatia are shouting to seek justice for the royal family. Transylvania is even more worried about the chaos in the world. The serfs of Galicia even wanted to raise troops to serve the king immediately.

When the news reached Hungary, the nobles and officials involved in the slave trade felt as if the sky was falling and the earth was falling.

Originally, if the Hungarians signed a slave agreement with the Texas slave traders, the matter could be passed off in the name of labor export.

The problem is that the Hungarian government and nobles also want to save face. They are clearly said to be immigrants, but they become indentured slaves. This will definitely attract a lot of criticism.

So the Hungarian nobles, who wanted both face and money, chose to take a desperate risk and transported the refugees directly to Texas, handing this hot potato to the slave traders.

But before those slave traders could threaten or induce them, they were caught off guard by the royal guards and noble bodyguards mixed among the refugees.

This matter involved both people and the Austrian imperial family, and even the French were unwilling to wade into this muddy water, claiming that the person who did it was an American from Texas and a Protestant.

The trafficking of Christians also caused an uproar in France. People, churches and even nobles protested, forcing the French government to reiterate that "France will always be a filial son of the Catholic Church and will never engage in slave trading."

What the Hungarian nobles want to do most now is to find the Jew who has been giving them bad ideas, but the cunning Jewish businessman has long since disappeared, and a group of noble bodyguards can only be furious.

In fact, Franz also wanted to meet someone who could come up with such a vicious plan and bring together this group of arrogant nobles in Hungary.

It was a pity that the Jewish businessman had friendship with the Rothschild family, and the news of Solomon Rothschild was faster than the courier of the Austrian Empire.

This Jewish businessman was a descendant that Solomon admired very much. Solomon even predicted that he would achieve great success, but at this time he had to choose to flee.

The young man fled to the Ottoman Empire under the pseudonym Soros. This was also his first encounter with Franz and the Austrian Empire.

The Hungarian side originally wanted to find a few people to take over, but this was what Franz had expected, and the interrogation of the slave traders and the Hungarian government commissioner was completed on the road.

The secret police also visited Hungary, and batches of seemingly insignificant people were secretly arrested and interrogated.

Many nobles observed the interrogation, and the results of the interrogation made people angry. This transaction did not just start today, but has been ongoing.

In the past ten years, at least 50,000 Hungarians have been trafficked. This time the planners originally planned to play a big game, so they roped in many nobles as their protective umbrella.

However, this plan was disrupted by the sudden appearance of the royal family. In the end, the plan had to be temporarily changed. In order to have enough money and avoid the refugees' regret, they did not sign a slave agreement before boarding the ship, but chose to transfer the white slaves directly. Sold to Texans.

The sudden decrease in profits caused dissatisfaction among the Hungarian nobles, and the planners had to find ways to increase profits.

There are only two ways to increase profits. One is to raise prices. At this time, no one around the world is interested in the white slave trade. The main reason is that the profits are not high and the goods are in trouble.

The second is to reduce costs. The price of indentured slaves is obviously not worth that of white slaves without freedom. Moreover, once the indentured slaves accidentally gain freedom and return to the Austrian Empire, it will be a devastating blow to the reputation of the Hungarian government and nobles.

The entire layout is almost seamless. It allows those Hungarians who were sold out to be grateful to their government. Not only that, it can also solve the refugee crisis and prevent the Austrian army from taking the opportunity to enter Hungary. It can be said that it kills three birds with one stone. Bird, and this planner can make a lot of money.

But now the Hungarian nobles have to face the wrath of the entire Austrian Empire, including even their own compatriots

The Hungarian government's subcontracting behavior made the Austrian Imperial Government even more outraged.

The entire case involved 570 members of 136 Hungarian families. The Habsburg royal family had always been benevolent and naturally would not go on a killing spree. However, the five principal culprits had to be exiled and the remaining 565 people paid a fine of 10,000 florins each.

This punishment can be said to be very light, but it still makes many Hungarian nobles hold a grudge.

Kossuth in prison even shouted that this was a violation of Hungarian law, and the Austrian Empire must pay the price for its stupid behavior. The future of the Hungarians is just around the corner.

There are many people who share the same idea as Kossuth, and they even organized demonstrations to protest the Austrians' atrocities.

At this time in Hungary, no matter what the Austrian Empire does or how it does it, it will be regarded by the other side as interfering in internal affairs and undermining its independence.

However, this time the great nobles of Hungary did not participate in it, because they knew that the punishment this time was already very light, and at the same time, the entire aristocratic circle of the Austrian Empire had some opinions about Hungary.

If it were in the past, at least the nobles of Bohemia would stand on the side of Hungary, but this time the Hungarians obviously went too far, and even the nobles of Bohemia disdained to stand on their side. What is needed at this time is forbearance, not jumping out and continuing to fight the empire.

Franz had long anticipated the weakness of the Austrian imperial government, but he did not expect it to be so decadent.

Fortunately, Franz had already prepared generous gifts for the extreme democrats in Hungary, and the clergy on the ship were not there to watch the show.

The news soon reached Rome, and Pope Gregory XVI immediately announced the excommunication of 570 Hungarians who participated in the slave trade. At the same time, he reiterated the church's attitude towards the trafficking of Christians, which would never be tolerated or condoned, and suggested that the Austrian government should fairly judge those who deserved the punishment.

As a result, some extreme religious people launched assassination operations against slave traders, and the streets almost turned into battlefields. The killing of both sides soon broke the bottom line.

Count Széchenyi looked at the killing on the streets with worry. He didn't understand why Hungary had become like this.

Franz had no interest in this low-level killing. What he wanted was the Austrian Empire to redefine and legislate the slave trade.

The Austrian Empire announced a new anti-slave trade bill, which classified the illegal export of laborers as slave trafficking. At the same time, it made some regulations on the wages and treatment of dispatched laborers. Anyone who failed to meet the requirements would be regarded as human trafficking.

In the end, Hungary had to accept the new bill, but it did not satisfy everyone.