Chapter 594: Do Something Practical

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz still likes this situation. Although it seems tense, it is actually a test and bluff.

However, he is not going to play the game of feigning compromise with these people. Franz is going to do something practical.

He prepared a big gift for Magid and Nicholas I, while Canning in London shouted "stupid"!

Before becoming the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Canning had been the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, and even Magid was nominally a "master and apprentice" relationship.

But the former never expected that the "Sultan" he carefully selected would take the initiative to contact the Austrian Empire and do such a stupid thing.

In fact, the reason why the Ottomans sent envoys to contact the Austrian Empire was, on the one hand, because Britain did not do a good job of exchanging intelligence with its "allies", and on the other hand, the things done by the world's number one troublemaker always give people a sense of distrust.

At this time, the Ottoman Empire was in constant internal and external troubles. The reforms were not completely changed, which made Mejid, the leader of the reform, a nobody. The reformers thought he was cowardly and incompetent, and the conservatives thought he betrayed his class.

In addition, the sect often led the believers to make trouble, dealing with Jews today, Armenians tomorrow, and heretics the day after tomorrow.

Almost all the powers in the world wanted to cut a piece of meat from the Ottoman Empire. The French took Algeria and Morocco, the Austrians took Tripoli, the British took Egypt, and the land taken by Russia was simply too numerous to mention.

Tripoli was still Ottoman territory in name, but the governor appointed by Mejid had been expelled, and the actual ruler was the Karamanli family, and the boss behind them was Austria.

The worse news at this time was that Britain and Russia might join forces, so Mejid had to prepare an alternative plan.

There was another thing that gave him a headache at home, that is, local uprisings, especially in Albania.

The reforms carried out by Mejid were also called "Tanchimat Reforms", and many principles were very good. For example, the establishment of a centralized system to replace the feudal system, the establishment of a national financial institution to replace the corrupt Ilticham system.

The abolition of the feudal military forces of the past, the establishment of a universal compulsory military service system, the training of new troops, etc.

However, these reforms were completely changed when they were implemented locally, becoming a tool for the Pashas and bureaucrats to make money, and did not touch the source of corruption.

While abolishing feudal ownership, the number of Albanian landlords expanded rapidly, and after the local armed forces were disarmed, they became real "local tyrants" and completely controlled taxation, law and public security.

These landlords were both bureaucrats and capitalists, and drove the peasants who had abolished their feudal obligations out of their land without any constraints.

The fate of the mountain people was also miserable. Although their land officials looked down on them, they always had ways to make money.

Officials made up all sorts of excuses. The mountain people not only had to pay the "blood tax", but also had to bear taxes that they didn't have to bear before, such as the livestock tax.

The livestock tax was a head tax imposed on Christians by the Ottoman Empire, but in the traditional sense, the mountain people could be exempted from other taxes as long as they paid the blood tax.

However, after the reform, the mountain people could not get any money for paying the blood tax, and other heavy burdens made them overwhelmed.

Unlike the peasants in the plains who only cried and starved to death, many mountain people were "military households" for generations. They did not lack fighting skills or courage.

At the same time, due to the backwardness of the mountainous areas, many areas still implemented the patriarchal system or the patriarchal system. These patriarchs and patriarchs had a very exaggerated influence, and they could even call on the people to rise up and directly confront the country.

In Kosovo in 1843, in Gegeria in 1844, and in Toskeria in 1845, three armed uprisings of more than 10,000 people took place successively.

The mountain people and the peasants who lost their land united to rob and kill the big landlords who were officials. At first, under the leadership of the patriarchs and the chiefs, the rebels attacked the local officials.

But as the scale of the uprising expanded and the casualties continued to increase, after all, the big landlords had private armed forces, and the former's targets were no longer limited to those landlords and officials with bad reputations.

The rebel army would rush into the homes of anyone who lived in a house, lynched the men, took away the women, and looted all the property.

The local events reached Mejid's ears and there was another version, that is, some people opposed the reform and slaughtered the progressive people who supported the reform, and even slaughtered innocent people.

What's more infuriating is that the people who converted to "Tianfangjiao" actually colluded with those Christians. It was really despicable to the extreme, and it was simply intolerable!

Mejid also sent people to suppress it at first, but the combat effectiveness of the new Ottoman army was really limited, and if he wanted to project force to the local area, he needed taxes and manpower support.

At this time, the Ottoman Empire was full of resentment due to the reforms, and there were uprisings everywhere. It could not afford the cost of an expedition.

So Mejid could only order local officials and landlords to raise their own military pay, train local militia and fight against the rebels.

This method actually once again acquiesced to the feudal power of those big landlords, and even made it possible for them to go further, that is, to become separatist vassal states.

This drastic medicine really worked. Many armed forces were raised in the local area in an instant to beat the rebels back step by step. Mejid even ordered rewards for this.

But soon he found something wrong, that is, these rebels seemed to be endless.

Seeing the local forces growing bigger day by day, Magid realized that he was drinking poison to quench thirst.

But it was too late to cut off the arm of a hero at this time. The whole of Albania had become a rotten sore on the body of the Ottoman Empire.

In fact, it can also be described as a corrupt tentacle that cannot be cut off, which will only continue to erode the soul of the Ottoman Empire.

However, Franz is going to give Magid a gift, that is, a sword that can cut off this tentacle.

Austria can help deal with the rebellious mountain people in the north, and at the same time eliminate those separatist forces that may be disloyal to the Sultan.

When Magid heard the proposal of the Austrian envoy, he was extremely excited. Although Albania is not a rich place, it is still an important grain producing area of ​​the Ottoman Empire, and before the rebellion, it can contribute at least 2 million liras to the country every year.

(The Ottoman lira is a very unstable currency, with an exchange rate of about 30 to 1 with the British pound, but it depreciated rapidly with Magid's reforms.)

At this time, the Ottoman Empire's annual income was only 150 million Ottoman liras, which was not as much as a coastal province of the Austrian Empire.

"So what is the price?"

Magid knew very well that such favorable conditions must be accompanied by huge benefits, otherwise no one would take the initiative to take over this mess.

In fact, Magid even considered selling this province to Austria. After all, it is better to sell it and stop the loss than to let it rot in his hands.