Chapter 842 Just in Case

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz knew exactly what was going to happen. Over the years, the number of guards in the palace increased from 800 to 2,000, and then to 8,000 at this time. The defense force was ten times that of history.

The old city walls of Vienna were demolished and replaced by Franz's shops and factories.

The advantage of doing this is that it can prevent the rebels from building barricades with them, and when necessary, it can be blown up to form a barrier near the palace and the noble district as the last line of defense.

The number of city defense troops at this time has not changed much from that in history, but after eliminating the old, weak and young, they have become a complete combat force under Albrecht's training.

This is an army composed of 20,000 nobles, holding the most expensive equipment in the entire Austrian Empire, especially after experiencing the Winster incident and the anti-drug operation, the fighting will of the personnel has been greatly improved.

In addition, the Austrian army has deployed a garrison of 100,000 near Vienna, which is much larger than the same period in history.

The most important thing is that in the context of the economic crisis, the economy of the Austrian Empire is still improving, and the farmers have not suffered from poor harvests and there has been no large-scale peasant escape.

There were no large numbers of refugees or unemployed workers in Vienna. The people were generally in a relatively good state, at least no one could not survive.

Due to the impact of the economy, a small number of factories and merchants did go bankrupt, but on a small scale. Compared with the thousands of companies that went bankrupt in Britain and France in a year, hundreds of companies went bankrupt on average every month.

In December 1847, only 7 companies went bankrupt in Austria, two of which were raided by Franz for falsifying accounts.

In December of the same year, there were 104 companies in Paris, 97 in London, 61 in Prussia, and 28 in Russia, but the reason why there were few companies in Russia and Prussia was mainly because there were few companies.

The development of railway transportation made the entire Austrian Empire more closely connected. In fact, if a rebellion occurred in Vienna, the garrisons from all over the country could arrive in one to two days, which greatly reduced the success rate and feasibility of the rebellion.

In theory, the uprising in Vienna at this time lacked the necessary sunlight, soil and water, but for safety reasons Franz still made a second plan, which was the refuge of Tyrol.

The North Tyrol region is surrounded by mountains and is undoubtedly easy to defend but difficult to attack. Moreover, although it is small, it has all the necessary facilities. The Tyrol region has basic agriculture and industry.

In addition, under Franz's special care in recent years, the industrial and agricultural foundation is much stronger than in history, and there is also the largest arsenal and weapons development department in Austria.

Historically, Tyrol is also one of the only two regions in the Austrian Empire that did not rebel during the storm year, the other being Galicia.

There are many reasons for sending people to Tyrol. After all, this place is beautiful and close to the Alps, which is very suitable for retirement, vacation, and leisure.

Those literati, artists, and royal family members have no objection to this place. Franz can come here with just an invitation.

The difficult ones are the scientists in Austria. Except for some biology and geography, most of them have no interest in mountains and rivers.

At this time, they are still in the stage of man conquering nature, and they have no mood to stop and appreciate the beautiful scenery.

In addition, the laboratories in Tyrol are not up to the level of the Vienna laboratories, which makes those engaged in scientific research even more disgusted.

Especially Babbage's design, all precision parts, weighing dozens of tons, the Trinity Analyzer can be transported separately by train.

But assembly is a big problem, and what's more terrible is that those precision instruments can't stand the bumps, and the slightest deviation will make the experimental data far from the truth.

Babbage and his team must not leave Vienna, so Franz also respected the wishes of this computer pioneer.

But for safety reasons, the latter reinforced the walls around the laboratory and built a doomsday fortress for them in the basement of the laboratory.

Franz didn't want these scientists who made great contributions to human history to have any mistakes, and the rest of them could only coax and deceive.

For example, the legendary prophecy, people in this era still believe in religion.

As for Prince Metternich, he still suggested that Franz should go to Tyrol for some experience, of course, there is no lack of protection.

Because of the precedent of the French Revolution, it is difficult to guarantee that Vienna will be safe.

Of course, from the bottom of his heart, he still believes that the Austrian Empire will survive this crisis safely, but he also has a backup plan and doesn't want to take any risks.

The old prime minister looked very bad, obviously he had not rested well recently. After the routine greetings and instructions, Franz spoke first.

"Prime Minister, you seem to be troubled. Is it because of Italy?"

Metternich nodded, and now it was Franz's turn to be depressed, because they had discussed the matter of Italy before, and the former had adopted the latter's opinion to send 50,000 troops to Italy.

At this time, there were already 150,000 troops in northern Italy, among which the old marshal Radetzky had 100,000 troops, which was much stronger than the 15,000 troops in history.

"Prime Minister, do you think Marshal Radetzky is not worth using?"

"Radetzky is 82 years old. I am really worried about letting such an old man lead the troops.

But Count Latour said he was the best, and other generals had no experience in leading more than 50,000 troops."

"If you are worried, you can transfer Archduke Karl to the Italian battlefield."

Historically, Archduke Karl caught a cold after attending Archduke Frederick's funeral and fell ill when he returned home.

However, Frederick was not dead at this time, so Archduke Karl was naturally alive and well.

Metternich frowned. It was the first time he realized that this country was so old. In addition to the 82-year-old marshal, there was the 77-year-old archduke.

"Archduke Franz, I hope you understand that letting Archduke Karl guard the ancestral land was a decision made by the Habsburg family, not my administrative order."

Metternich's meaning was very clear. He didn't want to get involved in the affairs of the royal family.

"Prince Schwarzenberg is still in charge in Italy, and the situation should not be out of control."

Felix Schwarzenberg was actually Metternich's confidant. He was more at ease with this person, but the same problem was not young anymore.

Moreover, Prince Felix Schwarzenberg was better at strategizing than marching and fighting. His ability to adapt to changes on the battlefield, experience, and prestige were far inferior to those of Marshal Radetzky and Archduke Karl.

But the affairs of northern Italy were not what Metternich was worried about. In fact, he still had "talents" such as Fernand Lizzie, Alois Palffi, and Archduke Rainer in his heart.

"Archduke Franz, I'm worried about what's happening in Sicily."

At this time, Sicily was already full of flames, but Franz was still confused.

"Prime Minister, I'm sorry about what happened in Sicily, but I don't think there's anything to worry about."

Franz suddenly thought of something halfway through his speech.