18th century total war

Chapter 287 Poverty is the hotbed of revolution
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!

Open the door quickly, something is wrong! "

Franz I, who was sleeping with his queen in his arms, was drowsily awakened by the knocking on the door outside, and then heard random gunshots in the distance!

Franz I looked shocked and quickly got up and put on his casual clothes.

After opening the door, Franz I's attendant reported to him anxiously: "Your Majesty, there are mobs everywhere in the city of Vienna. They have broken through the police headquarters and obtained a large number of weapons. They are currently attacking the ordnance stationed by the City Guards. library.

Vienna's city guard is too scattered, and the garrison of the armory can't hold back for long!
Now apart from the palace, the city of Vienna is full of mobs! "

Franz I looked shocked and asked in disbelief: "Mob?
Where did the mob come from?
Why are there mobs? ! "

"Your Majesty, for your safety, I have prepared a carriage for you, your guards are ready, and we can leave Vienna before dawn!"

"what?
You let the emperor of the Austrian Empire escape from the palace where he lives? !
Hundreds of thousands of Austrian soldiers on the front line are fighting against the tyrant Li Wei. Now that I am fleeing Vienna, what will the Austrian soldiers on the front line think? ! "

Franz I's political wisdom is still good, and he instantly figured out the key point, he can't escape Vienna!
Otherwise, if the news reaches the front line, it will be a military disaster!
Anyone who understands politics knows what the capital of a country means in this era.

"Your Majesty, there is no more delay. This time the mob has tens of thousands of people, and the organization is very good. They did not take the lead in attacking the palace. Instead, they first abolished the police stations in Vienna, captured the police headquarters and seized a large amount of arms.

Now they stormed the city guard camp. This was obviously intended to defeat the armed forces in Vienna first, seize enough muskets and ammunition to arm the mob, and then attack the palace to catch turtles in the jar! "

After hearing this, Franz I was silent for a while: "Where's my guard?"

"Your Majesty, in order to prevent the French army from breaking through to the outskirts of Vienna, the main force of the Guards has been deployed in fortresses and villages outside Vienna.

In the palace, there were only a few hundred Guards soldiers, which were not enough to resist tens of thousands of armed mobs.

No, those mobs have a clear military organization and a unified leader, the gang boss in the slums, Alleyn, known as the executioner! "

Obviously, the Vienna government is also very powerful in the capital, and it didn't take long for the riot to figure out who was behind the riot.

Of course, this also has a lot to do with the fact that after the riot started, Alleyne, who was the direct person in charge of the Lindenwan Brotherhood, personally took command.

After all, not every mass riot was successful.

"Hundreds of elite guard soldiers should be able to guard the palace until dawn. I believe that by tomorrow, the main force of the guard army in the suburbs should be able to return to help. What kind of.

What's more, there are still city defense forces in the city to resist the mob, so the pressure on the palace should not be too great. "

Franz I said confidently.

I don't know if it was an illusion, but the gunshots heard by Franz I became more and more sparse.

Seeing that Franz I was resolute, the attendant did not try to persuade him anymore. He found Franz I's military uniform and helped Franz I put it on.

The most important function of this emperor's military uniform is that it is gorgeous and bright enough, so that soldiers in the distance can recognize at a glance that this is his own emperor. Once he appears on the battlefield, it can greatly improve the morale of his own army.

Franz I still understood this truth.

However, when he put on his military uniform, hung a decorative saber, and inserted a flintlock pistol into the holster around his waist, a guard officer who was full of travel and dust suddenly walked in quickly.

"Your Majesty, the city guards in the city surrendered. The leader of the rebel army, Allen, claimed to be the leader of the Lindenwan Brotherhood. The Austrian Freedom Party is a subordinate organization of the Lindenwan Brotherhood. They claimed to be an international organization and tried to establish free and equal country.

Elaine's people demanded that His Majesty abdicate, otherwise an attack will be launched on the palace in half an hour, and if His Majesty is caught, it may be a disaster..."

At this time, Franz I's queen also got dressed and walked out of the bedroom, looking at everyone anxiously.

"Honey, what happened?"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

Franz I said without looking back that he was a very traditional and powerful emperor in his family, and the empress had no sense of presence in the original Holy Roman Empire or the current Austrian Empire.

After blocking his wife's question with one sentence, Franz I asked the guard officer, "Have you had contact with the mob?"

Franz I emphasized the word mob, which shows that he did not believe that there was a rebellion in Vienna, it was just an ordinary popular riot.

If it could be calmed down, Franz I would even downplay the impact of this riot and suppress all public opinion for the sake of domestic stability.

The Austrian Empire cannot be in chaos now, and it does not have the capital to cause chaos, otherwise the already powerful French Defense Forces will unstoppably enter Vienna!
This is intolerable to Franz I!

It is already embarrassing for him to lose the crown of the Holy Roman Empire. If the capital is occupied by the French army again, whether it can be recovered or not, it will leave a stain on his political career.

It even affected the foundation of Franz I’s rule!

The officer of the imperial guards naturally understood the meaning of the emperor's words, and he quickly changed his words: "Yes, just now, a commoner suddenly represented the leader of the mob, and conveyed their intentions to me, and the mob outside the palace was coming from all directions. gather.

It will be very difficult for us to leave the palace before long.

Your Majesty, for God's sake, let's evacuate!
When the main force of the Guards from the suburbs comes in, we can re-stabilize the situation in Vienna. "

"What if you can't get in?"

Franz I asked back.

This was not because he was deliberately embarrassing the guard officer in front of him, but because of his innermost worries.

This organized revolution made Franz I see a strong smell of conspiracy. Even if Franz I was killed, he would not believe it. This Lindenvan Brotherhood, which suddenly appeared and held high the banner of the French Revolution, had nothing to do with France. The tyrant of the empire has nothing to do with it!
Without the support of manpower and material resources from abroad, it is impossible for such a large revolutionary force to appear in Vienna!
And the organization of the Lindenwan Brotherhood has been lurking for so long, it is obviously a very mature rebel organization, and it was not born in Vienna.

"Your Majesty is worrying too much, how could the thousands of guards fail to defeat the mob of more than ten thousand people?

The most important thing now is to ensure the safety of His Majesty and Her Royal Highness the Queen.

Once we reject the Lindenwan Brotherhood's request, they probably won't have any scruples.

After all, a king has been killed by the mob in France! "

After hearing this, Franz I sighed helplessly.

With the lessons learned from Louis XVI, Franz I finally let go of his inner persistence.

Better to be alive than dead!
There is only hope in life!
After Franz I agreed, the attendants and the imperial guards breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, and then there was a frenzy in the palace. The guards and the servants of the royal family sent all Franz I's family members to the carriage. Surrounded by hundreds of guard soldiers, they drove out of the city.

As soon as they left the palace, a fierce battle broke out between the Guards soldiers and a group of armed mobs that had just arrived. From the carriage, Franz I saw the women, old people and even teenagers in the mob on the battlefield in the distance, and fell into self-doubt for the first time.

How failed was his rule that women and children, old and young, took up arms against his rule?
Could it be said that freedom and equality are so deceptive?

Is the conservative policy of the Austrian Empire really a mistake?

Ordinary people are qualified to sit on an equal footing with nobles?
Soon, Franz I threw out the messy thoughts in his mind.

How can the glory of nobles be the same as that of humble commoners? !

All the privileges of the nobles were bought with the blood of their ancestors, and the country is part of them. How can the common people be on an equal footing with the glorious nobles? !

This is impossible!
What's more, in the opposite French Empire, don't the powerful class under Li Wei step on the heads of the people to do their best?

In the eyes of Franz I, Li Wei was not only a cruel and heartless warmonger, but also a hypocritical fraudster.

Livi's government preached that everyone is equal before the law, but it opened the back door to those powerful and high-ranking officials. As an emperor, Livi could not be tried!
Li Wei made full reference to the political games in his previous life. The constitution stipulates that state leaders commit the same crime as ordinary people, and then make it public.

Doesn't this kind of law seem very friendly to the people?
However, this constitution will not tell the people that no one in the country is qualified to judge the leader of the country!
This creates a subtle logical problem. After the national leader violated the constitution, he should have been tried in court, but no one is qualified to try the national leader, so the national leader cannot be found guilty from beginning to end!
Of course, national leaders can take the initiative to admit crimes and then remove themselves from office, but even illiterate civilians know that this is impossible!

Therefore, in the eyes of Franz I, the equal constitution of the French Empire is actually deceiving the ignorant and ignorant French civilians!

Does a constitution without justice make sense?
From a political point of view, it is very meaningful, because this equal constitution will give ordinary people an illusion of 'self-equality' and will increase their support for the country.

No matter how much the improvement is, if you can fool someone, you still make money, right?

What's more, due to the public opinion propaganda of unequal information, the people who have been fooled have never been a minority, but the majority!
Only a few smart people can see through the key points, but they dare not say it!

Not to mention this backward era, in the 21st century, anyone who dares to clamor for trial of national leaders on the Internet will soon end up staying in a free 'hotel' at the police station.

The charges are all ready-made, including insulting the national leader, etc. In short, the charges are all legal!
This is the case with Li Wei's current French Empire.

Anyone who dares to publicly slander him will immediately enter the labor office for labor reform, so that he can understand what he can't say!
Of course, all countries in the world at this time have similar restrictions on speech, but in order to win over public opinion, Li Wei's French Empire made a small circle to promote the political thought that everyone is equal.

In fact, this is to eliminate the influence of the French Revolutionary Party.

The concept of equality can be brought up by the revolutionary party, and naturally the national government can also bring it up. Anyway, most ordinary people don’t understand how to be equal.

The street fighting in Vienna is still going on, and the armed mob is a mob after all. Although they have an advantage in numbers, they seriously lack military training.

And the palace guards around Franz I are all the most loyal soldiers of nobles.

The Imperial Palace Guard is a prestigious and well-paid profession, and because it stays with the emperor for a long time, the security is the highest among the soldiers!

Therefore, in the Austrian Empire, where the traditional aristocracy was strong, the quota of the Royal Guards had long been divided among the aristocratic children.

A small soldier from the Royal Palace Guards went to the regular army outside, at least a second lieutenant started!
These traditional aristocratic children are natural opponents of the slogan of freedom and equality!
Even if there are a few strange things in it, if they are seduced by free thoughts, it will not affect the overall situation.

Therefore, these palace guards are really willing to work hard for Franz I!
The same goes for the main guards outside, they are the staunchest supporters of Franz I!
The combat capabilities and combat willpower of the Royal Palace Guards completely overwhelmed the armed mobs. Even though the armed mobs grabbed enough muskets to arm themselves, they were still beaten to pieces by hundreds of Royal Palace Guards!

Before being surrounded by other armed mobs, Franz I's carriage convoy successfully left the undefended city gate of Vienna!
When Franz I passed through the street fighting battlefield, he kept the windows of the carriage open. The queen of Franz I hugged her children tightly and covered their eyes, but Franz I watched the death situation calmly. Various corpses.

Among them were many wounded lying on the ground howling, and the imperial guards who were in charge of cleaning up the battlefield gave them the final blow with bayonets.

When Franz I's carriage passed by, the soldiers of the Palace Guard who were massacring the wounded of the mob got up and turned to the carriage one after another, stood at attention and saluted their loyal emperor.

But Franz I's eyes never fell on the soldiers of the Palace Guards who were saluting from the beginning to the end, but stayed on the corpses of those women and teenagers with wide-eyed eyes and unrepentant death!
In the concept of Franz I, war does not belong to women, let alone children!

Even the kids from the slums!

What Franz I didn't know was that these children were all orphans recruited from the slums with a small amount of money by the gang controlled by the Lindenwan Brotherhood!
Poverty is the breeding ground of revolution!

Thanks to Emperor Luo Feng for rewarding 1500 starting coins.

Thanks to Taiyi Sanqing for the reward of 500 starting coins.

(End of this chapter)