Chapter 1860: A New Page in History

February 3, 1914. When the gunfire and gunpowder smoke of the World War still shrouded most of Europe, the eyes of the world once again focused on Austria, a European power that has lasted for hundreds of years. On this day, the ancient empire once again confirmed it. Under the auspices of the Austrian Emperor, Princess Mary finally completed the transformation from a princess to the heir to the throne at the Hoffmann Palace in Vienna. The whole process took only 2 hours, but behind these two hours, Lu The efforts of the Prechts and their subordinates for more than ten years! And immediately, history turned a new page!

"Rupprecht, I really didn't expect that being the heir to an empire would be so tiring. Back then, you were also very relaxed when you were governing Bavaria and Bohemia." A pile of documents ready for approval, Crown Prince Mary said to the Crown Prince.

"After all, what you are going to take over is an empire that is several times larger than the area we controlled before, and it is more complicated than what we have dealt with before." Ruprecht said to his wife with a smile.

"Well then, tell me your suggestion, my Prince Regent." Crown Prince Mary stood up and returned her husband's neck with both hands and said affectionately.

"The war is coming to an end, and as the ruler of an empire, you need to do two things well. The first thing is how to divide the cake of victory and quickly resume production. The second thing is to deal with ethnic issues."

"My opinion on the first thing is that land can be used to meet the needs of nobles and commoners. The Austria-Hungary Empire is different from Germany. Germany has too many people, while the Austria-Hungary Empire only has a population of more than 40 million, but it has an area of ​​650,000 square meters. kilometers of land, and now, we have acquired half of Ukraine and part of Belarus, as well as territories acquired from the Balkans and Poland. Our current area exceeds 1.1 million square kilometers. Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire will also inherit about With a population of 20 million, there is still enough arable land, and it is the cheapest way to use agriculture to meet the needs of nobles and commoners," said the prince.

In fact, during the war, in order to prevent the Allied Powers from acquiring the population on Russian land, with the defeat of the Russian army, a large number of people were forcibly relocated, especially on the southern front to Ukraine, so the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not There are not many foreign populations, and compared to the Poles, the Ukrainians have a very poor tendency to be independent. As long as their lives and land are guaranteed, it is not difficult for them to settle down. If you look at the opposite side In the case of chaotic Russia, maybe they should be glad that they are ruled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire?

"What about industry?" Crown Prince Mary asked.

"In terms of industry, Bavaria and the Austro-Hungarian Empire need to establish their own systems. We now have no shortage of markets, and Bavaria does not lack technology. As long as we follow the steps and build an efficient management team, our future industry will not be weak. Domestic private companies Capital can also develop, and can provide support. The industrial monopoly of Austria-Hungary is far less deadly than Germany, so there is no need to worry about some people doing too much.”

"In terms of finance, we also don't have a big problem, because after all, only our government can obtain a large amount of financial loans from Americans, and private hot money is very little." Ruprecht said. Sometimes, backwardness has the advantage of backwardness. For example, like the current Austro-Hungarian Empire, it can be said that there are not so many oligarchs in the country, which makes Ruprecht want to promote his own policies. easy.

Of course, there are still some serious problems in Austria-Hungary, that is, the long-standing problems of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ethnic problems...  With the influx of 20 million people from other nationalities, the proportion of the German population within the empire was further reduced....

Moreover, there are many of these ethnic groups like the Romanians, who fought to the death on the battlefield before the empire! Not so honest like Romanians and some Russians! As for the Hungarians? Some of them are also unstable factors.

"For the Ukrainians, as long as they don't do anything, we can give them some support and help. What the Russians can do, we can do better. If the Russians can't give them treatment, we can also provide help. Earl Norman's proposal to establish a collective farm to strengthen management and restore production is very good. At least in the initial stage after the war, the efficiency of this collective farm is higher than that of family farming. Of course, for the collective Farm, we must implement supervision to prevent illegal things from happening." Ruprecht said.

"As for the residents in cities and towns, my solution is to build a large-scale urban base to absorb these excess productivity, and at the same time change the situation of Ukraine's backward transportation and people's livelihood facilities. As for the development of heavy industry and chemical industry with relatively high technology content , I’m afraid it won’t work in a short time.”

"And what about the Romanians and the Hungarians?" asked Princess Marie.

"The Romanians want to implement a high-pressure situation. We used to be enemies. If they are still unwilling to obey the government's orders and choose to fight, then we will not be soft because they have changed their nationality."

"As for the Hungarians? The main thing is to win them over. After all, the Hungarian nation has more than 10 million people. They have already suffered catastrophe. At this time, a little more relaxation will satisfy them. After the war, Austria's labor force may be reduced. There are some shortages, and the rest can be recruited by Hungarians. Of course, in terms of culture, we must step up the pace of assimilation, at least, German must become a compulsory subject in every Hungarian school!" said the prince. "By the way, not only Hungary, but also ethnic autonomous regions such as Slovakia have to promote German teaching. Their own language can exist, but German must become one of the official languages!"

"Well, let's talk about the Austrian matter first, and the German matter is coming to an end, right? If everything goes according to your plan, then that's great, but if the Kaiser and the Social Democrats reach an agreement to share power, and If Prussia is not divided, then they are likely to turn around and deal with Bavaria. After all, in a group, the boss and the second child are inherently hostile." Princess Mary said.

"Don't worry, it's not just us who want to divide Prussia, but also others." Ruprecht said.

"But very few people can participate in this gamble." Princess Mary said.

"And the Americans happen to have the qualifications and willingness to participate in this gamble. Remember one sentence, we are friends with the Americans now, but one day in the future, we will become enemies!" Ruprecht said.

The second one is here~~~! Ask for a subscription and a reward~~~! !