Chapter 878 Hungary

In fact, theoretically speaking, there should not be a food crisis in the Hungarian Great Plain, a land with abundant grass and water.

However, the three consecutive years of natural disasters and the accompanying food shortages since 1845 have made the situation in Hungary unprecedentedly worse.

In addition, the economic crisis in Britain has plunged Hungary's industry and agriculture into the Great Depression.

Whether it is the conservative aristocrats or the liberal capitalists, the first thing they think of is to pass the crisis on to the civilians.

In this food crisis and economic crisis, Hungary's grain prices reached an unprecedented high, while the purchase price of grain hit a historical low.

Under this weird operation, a large number of farmers went bankrupt, and bankrupt farmers are theoretically conducive to the development of industry.

But the reality is that the economic crisis and Hungary's own high tariff barriers have made their goods impossible to sell.

And the domestic civilians have no consumption power, so their goods are very unsalable, and naturally they don't need those extra laborers.

A woodcutter's three days of work can only be exchanged for one meal, and the situation in the factory is similar.

The desperate farmers and workers launched some riots, but they did not have a unified command, let alone coordination with each other.

Therefore, small-scale riots were quickly suppressed, and large-scale riots were soon aborted due to lack of organization.

Compared with the tragic experience of the Hungarians, the royal estates were thriving, not because disasters did not visit them.

Whether it was floods or droughts, the royal estates had to face the same, but at this time, the importance of leadership was reflected.

Under the unified coordination of the royal stewards and appointed officials, the royal estates' ability to resist natural risks was greatly enhanced, as the saying goes.

Dams were built in the face of floods, and water diversion channels were built in the face of droughts. With the financial and technical support given by Franz, it was naturally a new and thriving scene.

At the same time, the quality of German immigrants was generally higher than that of serfs in Hungary, and they had a stronger ability to accept and transform natural things.

Moreover, most of them had lost their original social relations, which made management easier.

In summary, the gap between the Hungarian villages and the royal estates was very obvious.

However, since there were also a large number of Hungarian refugees who were mixed in by Franz in the royal estates, he did not have to worry about no one to promote him.

In fact, those Hungarians who were almost sold to North America only had admiration and gratitude for Franz and the Habsburg royal family at this time.

Life in the royal manor was unimaginable for them in the past. Affluent and well-fed, living and working in peace and contentment was a life that even the lower-class nobles of Hungary could not enjoy.

Of course, some extreme nationalists with ulterior motives would not miss the opportunity to discredit Austria. They took advantage of people's jealousy and claimed that it was the Austrians who took away the pastoral idyll that should have belonged to them.

This kind of smear and rumor-mongering was quite effective. Soon a large number of people began to hate Austria and the Habsburg family, but most people just wanted to join the royal manor.

On the other hand, the Hungarians living in the royal manor were desperately defending Austria and the royal family. After all, they were a vested interest group in a sense.

Whether out of justice or for their own interests, they had to defend the Austrian side.

So this contradiction easily tore the crowd apart, and the Hungarians quickly divided into two factions and began to distinguish between each other, while also exacerbating the contradiction.

The anti-Austrians believed that the Austrians had taken away their land, their good life, and Hungary's fortune for development.

As long as the Austrians were driven out of Hungary, they could have a good life.

The pro-Austrians were confronting them head-on. They felt that the Hungarian nobles did not care about the lives of the lower classes, and that the royal estates should be the final destination of the Hungarians.

As long as the entire Hungary was turned into a royal territory, the contradictions would naturally disappear, and everyone could live a happy life.

Count Széchenyi, who was at the top, was still making his last efforts. He hoped to stop the war and use his unrealistic plans to resolve the contradictions between the two sides.

Because from a capitalist's point of view, the Austrian behemoth was simply unshakable, and Hungary's pitiful industrial output was a joke to the former.

The most terrible thing was that Austria itself had a huge market and source of raw materials, while Hungarian industry had to rely on smuggling and blood transfusions from the great nobles to feed itself. The potential of both sides was simply incomparable.

Prince Erthazy and some traditional nobles have already started to stockpile food, train soldiers, move out of big cities and start living in seclusion to build their manors into solid fortresses.

These people have a very keen sense of smell and are very experienced. They know that it is time to reshuffle. This is their chance. At least they have to keep their family's property.

Of course, there are some fools who add fuel to the fire. Some people want to turn a blind eye to the facts. They are not necessarily playing the role of the opposite sex.

In short, their deliberate whitewashing of the situation has aroused the disgust of the people and student groups, and angered some people who should not be offended the most.

With the outbreak of the Sicily uprising, the Hungarian region entered a turbulent period, and all kinds of monsters and demons competed to perform.

However, most things can not surprise Franz, only Petofi may be a mistake, or he may be the son of a farmer.

This genius poet proposed to unite the serfs, not only to give them freedom, but also to give them land and rights, and then unite to fight against Austria.

However, this genius idea was quickly rejected by the leader Kossuth, because the general concept at that time was that serfs were representatives of ignorance, stupidity, laziness and greed.

Not to mention serfs, anyone who was associated with the countryside would be looked down upon, country people, country nobles, and country merchants.

On the one hand, Kossuth felt very embarrassed to unite with serfs or peasants. On the other hand, liberating serfs was indeed their slogan, but letting peasants share land and rights was another matter.

In fact, the purpose of the Hungarians liberating serfs was to provide more labor for handicraft workshops, and the cost of hiring farm workers was lower than that of serfs, not to do any charity.

Dividing the land would kill the nobles, so Kossuth naturally did not dare to do so, and his supporters would not allow him to do so.

So Petofi's plan was stillborn, but Petofi hated the nobles very much, because his experience in Vienna made him feel that the nobles were the parasites of this country.

It was disgusting to Petofi to join forces, but Kossuth was the leader, and he knew very well that those nobles had money, guns, and soldiers, and they were the main force against Austria.

But it was also fortunate that he did not continue, because the assassins sent by Franz to Hungary were ready to take action.

In fact, at this time, most Hungarian landlords met the stereotypes in people's minds: selfish, reckless, lazy like pigs, and terribly stupid.