Chapter 738 What Do You Want?
Seeing the serfs lying on the ground and the army surrounding them, the nobles who had been timid before suddenly became heroic and made gestures as if they were ready to fight the serfs on the ground.
Franz still took a last look at these poor guys with some pity. They were the worst of them to let their own serfs be beaten so badly with external support.
Franz urged his horse forward and shouted.
"Stand up! Austrian people!"
Franz deliberately did not speak German, but said it twice in Polish and Ruthenian. Because the local population of Galicia is mainly composed of Poles and Ruthenians.
However, the serfs were still lying on the ground, as if they didn't hear it. This made Franz very strange, so he asked someone to come forward to ask.
(Franz was already very against the rules when he came to the front line, because this behavior was very dangerous and irresponsible. If he really dismounted and ran into the crowd to ask questions, many people around him would be in trouble.)
This kind of thing naturally had to be done by Colonel Bordeaux, and he was also happy to do it. Although his attitude was still bad, he had to admit that he was efficient.
The result was somewhat surprising. According to Colonel Bordeaux's report, the serfs were reluctant to get up because they saw the double eagle flag of the Habsburg family.
At this time, Franz realized how arrogant and ignorant these Galician nobles were. The serfs could recognize such a large double eagle flag, but these nobles did not recognize it.
Or these nobles in the border areas did not care at all. After all, the last time a royal family member visited Galicia was 70 years ago, that is, the famous Joseph II.
"I am the eldest son of Archduke Franz Karl of the Habsburg family and Archduchess Sophie of the Wiltbach family, grandson of Holy Roman Emperor Franz II, Archduke Franz Joseph of the Austrian Empire.
The recent massacre in Galicia has been found by the Empire to be a powerful counterattack against the rebels. The royal family and the government thank you for your bloodshed and sacrifice.
Now stand up! Tell me what you want?!"
Franz's shouting only changed their state of lying on the ground. The serfs still looked at each other in bewilderment.
Seeing Franz's behavior, how could those nobles not know what he was going to do? Some were hysterical, but their throats were injured and they couldn't shout at all.
The royal guards are all professionals in this, but they usually don't show it to outsiders.
Some people are almost crazy and want to rush to Franz, but this is unlikely. Those who run slowly may be caught, and those who run fast will be knocked down by the butt of the gun. If they run faster, they will be greeted by sabers and pistols.
Some people knelt down to pray and confess, which also failed to arouse Franz's sympathy. Perhaps someone had done the same thing in front of them.
If they really let each other go, the serfs should not be so angry at this time. If there is a choice, no one will use their bodies to fight against the nobles and landlords with guns.
Although the performance of firearms in this era is very poor, as serfs with only simple farm tools and sticks want to avoid bullets and rush into the dock, and then kill the landlords, it is not enough without the courage to die.
Even if there is a determination to die, it takes a very painful price.
Because guns are not only weapons, but also represent power, every landlord and noble will win over a small group of people as their own power, let them form a guard to protect themselves, and even deliberately create confrontations between serfs, so that the lives of the masters can be stable.
Therefore, the success of the serf uprising in this era often has two points at the same time, unparalleled courage, and the local nobles are not human enough.
Finally, a young man came out of the crowd with an old man. The young man looked very tall, but under his ragged clothes, his abdominal cavity could be seen with the outline of bones. The two boots on his feet were obviously different. One of them should be worn in winter, while the other was a common riding boot.
Although the old man was supported by someone, he was in good spirits. His inconvenience in his legs and feet was probably caused by gunshot wounds.
"I am the head of the village of Wierzyca. We are not rebelling. We are helping our motherland to suppress the rebellion."
At this time, a noble cursed hoarsely.
"You are a traitor! You are a Pole! Poland is your motherland!"
Immediately, two guards restrained the man, and then put something similar to a horse bit on his mouth, and the man could no longer speak.
The old serf didn't care at all. After all, serfs had no nationality. He just continued.
"We hope that His Highness the Grand Duke will fulfill the promise of Emperor Joseph II after he ascends the throne."
The so-called promise of Joseph II was to liberate the serfs, and the old man said it neither humbly nor arrogantly. But this sentence was like thunder in everyone's ears.
The reason why Joseph II died young was because of his radical political strategy. And those serfs were the property of the nobles. In Austria at that time, it was not uncommon for nobles to rebel, and usually they would not harm their families.
Even if they were caught, at most they would be imprisoned, and their family's property would not be lost, nor would they be punished. In fact, in many cases, they would not be punished at all.
Once the rebellion succeeded, the benefits would be huge. So who wouldn't love this kind of profitable business?
The root cause is that the Austrian Empire has a system problem. The centralization is not strong enough, and it has to maintain a rule similar to an aristocratic republic.
"Mercy" is largely due to lack of strength, but Franz really has no way to betray his class.
Franz would like to be like other time travelers, to directly fight the local tyrants and divide the land, and then wave his hand to directly bring the world together, and even take an unimagined path.
However, the reality is that the Habsburg family is the largest landowner in the Austrian Empire, and the emperor himself is the chief noble of the empire. The foundation of the dynasty's rule lies in the support of the nobles and priests.
Moreover, the trick of fighting the local tyrants and dividing the land was used by Huss in the past, the Protestants during the Thirty Years' War, and Napoleon in the recent French Revolution.
Most of Franz's team are soldiers, so there are many people from the Joseph faction, and most people support the liberation of serfs.
It's just that the civil servants and clerks are a little nervous. They are not necessarily afraid of endangering their own interests, but they are afraid that Franz will repeat the same mistakes.
In fact, the serfs didn't really expect Franz to do anything. After all, the nobles had made trouble more than once or twice, and each time they raised it high and then let it go gently.
The usual practice of the dynasty was to give the serfs some rewards and then promise a lot of empty words that could not be realized.
But there was once an emperor who really wanted to liberate them, and the so-called freedom was really only one step away from them.
The things that they never had were what the serfs wanted most. But they had been deceived many times, and the old man said to wait until Archduke Franz ascended the throne in order to give the young people some hope.