Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 539: Playing Dumb

The turbulence in the Balkans did not affect Franz’s mood. Even the news of a rebel group being wiped out failed to capture his attention.

After so many years as emperor, Franz had seen his share of storms. If someone tried to rebel, weren’t they suppressed before they could even start?

Franz had grown used to such occurrences—every few years, there would be a few misguided souls seeking their own demise. Usually, they were swiftly suppressed by the police. Even in cases where rebels managed to raise a flag, local feudal forces would quickly stamp them out.

Nearly all remaining feudal elements were highly vigilant against revolutions. Since the gunshots of 1848, the situation in Austria had changed.

Anyone could suppress a rebellion, and no matter the timing or cause, crushing a rebellion was considered just. Even in cases of collateral damage, no one had to worry about being held accountable.

A general known as “the Butcher” was even promoted to marshal and given a state funeral after his death. Public opinion in Austria had been completely reshaped.

This shift naturally boosted enthusiasm at lower levels of government. Suppressing a rebellion was a great achievement, and there was no fear of retribution or accountability. There was no concern of retaliation either—under a feudal emperor, a single act of rebellion would spell disaster for an entire family.

Influenced by this environment, Austria’s revolutionary groups shifted their activities abroad, cutting almost all ties with the domestic scene.

As for the brave ones who dared return to stir up trouble, they likely ended up contributing to national development in some remote corner, perhaps even dying without the Austrian government ever recording their fate.

While the government might not keep records, intelligence agencies surely did. As an emperor mindful of his legacy, Franz didn’t want history books to record that he had executed a million rebels.

This wasn’t an exaggeration—throughout his reign, the number of rebels Franz had eliminated might not have reached one million, but it was certainly close. Otherwise, how else could Austria have achieved its stability?

The Balkans, often called the powder keg, hadn’t exploded. The long-aspiring-for-independence regions of Lombardy and Venetia had gone quiet, and even the once rebellious and turbulent Hungary had become one of the most stable parts of the empire.

Behind this stability was, of course, a great deal of bloodshed. These dangerous areas had been purged repeatedly, and every ambitious rebel or fool with thoughts of rebellion had been eliminated. A new ruling class had been put in place, allowing the country to truly stabilize.

In a way, the 1848 revolution had provided Austria with a chance for rebirth through fire. It was during the suppression of these uprisings that Franz was able to thoroughly replace the ruling class.

While the turmoil in the Balkans hadn’t spread to Austria, allowing Franz to enjoy his leisure of reading books and newspapers, far away in Saint Petersburg, Alexander II could no longer sit still.

The Greek coup didn’t concern Alexander II much, as it was within Austria’s sphere of influence. But the Bulgarian rebellion was a different matter.

From a geographical standpoint, Bulgaria was far from the empire’s heartland and was of little consequence—except for its proximity to Constantinople, which suddenly elevated Bulgaria’s importance.

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The Russian government had a special attachment to Constantinople. Over the years, Alexander II had invested a lot in this city, and by now, Constantinople had risen from the ashes of war.

Thanks to its strategic location, the city had once again become the largest and most prosperous in the Near East, and it was also a major source of revenue for the Russian government.

The Bulgarian uprising would undoubtedly affect the stability of Constantinople, and if it wasn’t put down quickly, the flames of war might spread to the city.

Throwing the battle report onto the table, Alexander II roared, “They’re all a bunch of useless fools! An entire division can’t even defeat a ragtag group of rebels? It’s absolutely disgraceful…”

Clearly, the situation at the front was far from favorable. A Russian infantry division sent to suppress the rebellion had been soundly humiliated by the rebels.

Minister of War Kafkovsky kept his head down and waited for Alexander II to finish his tirade before explaining, “Your Majesty, this Bulgarian rebel force is no simple group.

Based on the intelligence we’ve received from the front, the enemy operates like a regular army. Although they’re still inexperienced, they are well-organized and show none of the typical chaos of ordinary rebel forces.

There’s definitely someone supporting them from behind the scenes. Otherwise, their weapons, equipment, and trained officers wouldn’t have just fallen from the sky.”

Kafkovsky wasn’t lying—the Bulgarian rebels were indeed behaving like a regular army. However, it wasn’t foreign aid that made them so. It was their own doing.

In fact, Russia itself had a hand in their formation. During the Near East War, a large number of Bulgarian guerrillas were recruited as cannon fodder. While the unlucky ones had perished, the survivors became seasoned veterans, and many high-ranking guerrilla leaders had transformed into competent officers.

Once the war was over, these men naturally returned to civilian life. The Russian government was impoverished and couldn’t even properly care for its own soldiers, let alone these second-class troops. Most were given token rewards, and that was it.

Aside from a few high-ranking officers who received benefits, most guerrillas gained little, leaving them with a sour taste toward the Russian government.

The promised land reforms had largely failed, with most of the land ending up in the hands of the Russian nobles stationed in Constantinople, leaving many Bulgarian peasants once again as serfs.

After the reforms of Alexander II, the land problem was resolved by opening up new land for cultivation. As long as no one stirred up trouble, the people’s sentiments could be stabilized.

Unfortunately, nationalist ideas had already spread throughout Bulgaria, and revolutionaries managed to incite dissatisfaction among these veteran guerrillas. Many of them were drawn into the revolution without fully realizing it.

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The Near East War had only ended a little over ten years ago, so most of these men were still in their 30s or 40s, capable of wielding guns and fighting. With these veterans as the backbone and a new group of young recruits, the Bulgarian uprising army was swiftly formed.

Their weapons and equipment were partly leftover from the Russian military and partly sponsored by Bulgarian “patriotic merchants”.

Although the rebels might not be stronger than the Russian army, their morale was undoubtedly higher. The Russian forces sent to suppress the rebellion had the bad luck of facing the uprising army at the peak of its morale.

If they fought a few battles or dragged things out, the initial surge of enthusiasm, fueled by dissatisfaction with the Russian government, would start to dissipate. At that point, the rebels would be much easier to deal with.

Of course, this was contingent on preventing the rebels from winning more victories. If they started to believe that victory was within reach and that an independent Bulgaria was just around the corner, their resolve would grow even stronger.

Alexander II glared at him harshly, “I don’t want to hear excuses. No matter what you need, you must immediately put down the rebellion.

If there’s someone behind this, find the mastermind instead of coming to me with complaints. Do you expect me to personally hunt down the instigator?”

Minister of War Kafkovsky looked helpless. Investigating masterminds wasn’t his area of expertise—that was the job of the intelligence services!

However, the Russian government didn’t prioritize intelligence work and hadn’t invested heavily in building up its capabilities. The intelligence network was scattered and consisted of many part-time agents.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had its own intelligence team, as did the Ministry of Police and the Ministry of War. Their jurisdictions were often unclear, and much depended on the will of their superiors.

“Your Majesty, the intelligence we’ve received is very vague, and there are too many nations that could be suspects.

The merchants who supplied the Bulgarians with weapons came from the Ottoman Empire, so logically, the Ottoman government seems highly suspicious. However, the Bulgarians harbor a deep hatred for the Ottomans, making cooperation between the two unlikely.

We examined the weaponry, which is all standard Ottoman equipment. Currently, besides us, the countries using these weapons include Austria, Greece, Montenegro, and parts of the German Federal Empire.

We can rule out the smaller nations—they wouldn’t have the capacity to plan such a conspiracy. Austria remains a major suspect. But given that we’ve just joined forces with the Austrian government to attack the Ottoman Empire, they wouldn’t likely stab us in the back at this moment.

Then we investigated the source of the merchants’ funding and found it came from a French bank. But the French have no reason to stir up trouble—without sufficient benefit, they have no motive to support the Bulgarian revolutionaries.”

After hearing this explanation, Alexander II also felt dizzy. Everyone was a suspect, yet each suspect could also be ruled out. Who could know the true mastermind behind it all?

Foreign Minister Chris Basham asked in surprise, “Why not the British?”

It was understandable for Basham to be surprised. In situations like this, usually, all the major powers would be implicated, so how could the British be left out?

Kafkovsky explained, “It’s not that they’re uninvolved, it’s just that their suspicion is relatively minor. The ships responsible for transporting the weapons were British. The ships departed from the Ottoman port of Karasu and delivered the cargo directly to the rebels at Burgas.

The British, French, and Austrians were all entangled in this, and the merchant supplying the Bulgarians with weapons had already disappeared. Our Ministry of War can’t make a definitive judgment.”

It was a confusing situation, with suspicion everywhere and smoke screens all around. However, compared to the first round of aid, more information was revealed this time from the weaponry aid.

Alexander II slammed the table and made a decision, “Continue to investigate in secret, but publicly declare that this Bulgarian rebellion was orchestrated by the Ottoman Empire. Have the Foreign Ministry send a formal note to the Ottoman government, holding them responsible.”

You have to pick the soft persimmon to squeeze. Now the Russian Empire no longer had the dominance it had in the past. When it was time to play dumb, they had to play dumb.

Now, the best outcome would be to pin the blame on the Ottoman Empire. If the investigation led to Britain, France, or Austria, what would the Russian government do then?

Of course, it was equally important to continue the secret investigation and find out who the true enemy was, but without exposing the findings publicly to avoid creating a situation that could spiral out of control.

It wasn’t just the Russians investigating. The Austrian intelligence service was also on the case. Since the second round of support for the Bulgarian rebels, many things couldn’t be hidden anymore.

First, such large-scale arms shipments couldn’t go unnoticed. It was soon confirmed that the weapons originated from the Field Arsenal.

Initially, they were used by the Austrian army, but they were retired a little over a month ago and sold to a German arms dealer, who then funneled them through the Ottoman Empire into Bulgaria.

In this era, arms exports weren’t strictly regulated, especially when it came to second-hand rifles, which didn’t require thorough scrutiny.

However, the speed at which this series of transactions was completed clearly indicated the use of certain resources. Once investigated, many things came to light.

Looking at the intelligence report in his hands, Franz couldn’t help but silently pity the Russians. If they couldn’t uncover the true culprits, the Russian government might still be able to rest easy. But if they did, it was likely the Russian regime would lose sleep over it.

The British led the effort and were responsible for organizing transportation, the French provided the funding, and Austrian capitalists supplied the arms.

In reality, the British were the main force behind this operation. The total value of the arms shipment was less than 100,000 guilders—a trivial amount for financial giants.

This incident illustrated that money knows no borders, and Franz, realizing this, quietly decided to increase surveillance over private capital.

Although Austrian capitalists played a relatively small role in this operation—simply facilitating the arms deal and pushing a scapegoat arms dealer into the spotlight—a deeper investigation revealed that some had already formed connections with British and French capital. While Franz had anticipated this to some extent, it still left him uncomfortable.

Austria’s capital was insufficient, so it used British and French investment for development, making links between financial interests inevitable.

Now, for the sake of profit, Austrian capitalists were silently cooperating with the British. In the future, if an even greater profit were at stake, it was likely that they would betray Austria as well.

Of course, this dynamic worked both ways. If the British could buy off Austrian capitalists, Franz could just as easily buy off British capitalists. After all, this group had always had the lowest loyalty.

Despite his wariness, Franz didn’t take any drastic actions against them, aside from increasing surveillance of the major capitalists.

After all, this was still within the bounds of the rules. The best arms dealers are those who sell weapons to their enemies, and the fact that these capitalists didn’t directly deliver weapons to the Bulgarian rebels showed that they could still be saved.