Chapter 373: Chapter 60, Kill Two Birds with One Stone
While the rebellions in Milan and Venice were being suppressed, the Austrian Empire began a severe crackdown on internal security. First, numerous members of the Hungarian Independence Organization were arrested in the Hungarian Region, followed by the destruction of many cult organizations.

In just one month, over 150,000 people were apprehended, which alarmed Franz so greatly that he hastily ordered a halt. Continuing this expansion would affect the economy back home.

However, individuals and social groups suspected of involvement in the rebellion or inclined towards independence were still not spared.

Originally having an unsavory background, if the government wished to find a charge, there would be no difficulty in doing so. As prime targets, these people were not even eligible for deportation to the colonies; they had to join the Road Repair Army.

The plan for more than 90,000 kilometers of railways was not just a concept. The era was progressing, and plans that seemed impossible years ago were now feasible.

With the rapid development of the economy, many railways that previously had no economic value became profitable. After suffering losses for over a decade, the Austrian railway companies finally turned things around.

However, by this time, the biggest shareholder had become the Vienna Government. Naturally, the original contracts signed with the government needed to be honored; the nature of tied-up business had never changed.

By the end of 1865, the total railway mileage of the entire New Holy Roman Empire had reached 58,000 kilometers, and the price was the fall of free laborers, one batch after another.

Under normal circumstances, there simply wouldn’t be so many criminals; the annual recruitment into the Road Repair Army could not keep up with the consumption.

After the 1848 revolution, the number of people in the penal labor force momentarily peaked over 450,000, but then it gradually declined year by year, now barely reaching 100,000.

After all, not every criminal would be sent there; usually, those not involved in rebellion and sentenced to less than five years were deported to colonies.

Mainly, those who joined the Road Repair Army were recidivists who posed a greater societal risk; sending them to colonies would be a hidden danger, so centralized management was preferable.

Franz certainly wouldn’t toss political prisoners and nationalists into colonies; who knows if they’d stir up trouble there?

If these messy ideas were brought into the colonies, wouldn’t that just increase the cost of governance? Franz never engaged in such masochistic actions.

However, apart from the 1848 revolution, there were fewer of these dangerous individuals. Those entering the Road Repair Army were no longer rebels, but ordinary felons, significantly reducing their numbers.

Each year only 10,000 to 18,000 people were replenished, nowhere near enough to keep up with attrition. This wasn’t the contractors abusing labor and being indifferent to casualties; in reality, everyone liked this free labor.

Mainly because medical technology at the time was limited, one shouldn’t expect the Vienna Government to be extravagant enough to provide doctors for criminals. If sick, one endured if possible; if not, they’d meet God ahead of schedule.

The average life expectancy in Austria had just crossed the age of 40, and most entered prison as adults; after a decade or so of prison life, how many could survive?

To resolve the shortage of cheap labor and reduce the cost of railway construction, last year the Railway Department proposed to the government to bring in indentured laborers from Africa, but Franz put a stop to it.

To avoid shooting himself in the foot with potential endless trouble, Franz never engaged in such actions.

Somehow, this rebellion not only addressed internal risks, contributing to Austria’s long-term stability and security, it also resolved the problem of a lack of cheap labor in railway construction.

Compared to this, the wealth seized from the confiscations was not even worth mentioning. Austria was no longer the poor country of the past; a little money was nothing at all.

The scrutiny continued; in regions like Lombardy and the Veneto region, as the epicenters of rebellion, handling was somewhat simpler, but elsewhere, those implicated needed concrete evidence for prosecution.

As a rule maker, Franz was also a rule follower. With the situation firmly under control, he naturally acted in accordance with the rules.

However, for members of the Hungarian Independence Organization and the Italian Revolutionary Party—these outright rebels—there was no need for an in-depth investigation.

They were either executed or thrown into the Road Repair Army for life-long penal labor. Without a doubt, as the railway construction currently needed workers, they got to avoid the firing squad this time.

The main conspirators who led the rebellion have fled, leaving the rest as coerced participants. In light of our past pleasant cooperation, there is naturally no need for thorough slaughter.

If needed in the future, we can do this again. Politics is all about using every trick in the book. Entrapment is a much more sophisticated method than framing and entrapment.

Prime Minister Felix said, “Your Majesty, in the Milan rebellion, we killed 461 rebels and arrested 2986; in the Venice rebellion, we killed 296 rebels and arrested 3128. We can say the battle achievements were brilliant.

Regrettably, the ringleaders have all escaped. We only caught a few minor characters and failed to completely eradicate the Hungarian Independence Organization.

Most of these arrested rebels were Italian mercenaries, about 2518 of whom were cross-border offenders, and another 864 were local mercenaries.

The remaining two thousand some rebels were mostly those providing funding and intelligence support to the Revolutionary Party. The flow of so many mercenaries into the area was also thanks to their cover.”

Without a doubt, this was a final verdict. All blame was thrown to the rebels, and the Vienna Government’s acts of killing through a borrowed knife will forever be buried in history.

After this battle, no one in the Austrian Italian Region dared to oppose the Vienna Government anymore. A few that slipped through the net appeared in the newspapers as heroes for reporting the rebels.

Even for the sake of their own lives, they had to uphold Austria’s rule. Should the Austrian Italian Region truly gain independence, how could these traitors possibly have good days ahead?

Traitors are always more despicable than enemies, a truth that transcends cultures. Any organization of the Italian Revolutionary Party stood opposite to them.

This was the price of becoming informers; doing the wrong thing always comes with consequences. Since they had made a misstep before, now they must pay the price.

A mere denunciation letter cannot prove their loyalty. Only by becoming traitors within the Revolutionary Party and tying themselves to the chariot of the Vienna Government can they be truly finished.

Franz calmly said, “Have the judicial authorities convict them quickly and then send them to the Road Repair Army. The Railway Department has complained more than once about the shortage of manpower; don’t let them get anxious.

What about the other regions? I remember we arrested more than a hundred thousand suspects this time, and this is just a fraction. How were the other hundred thousand captured?”

Prime Minister Felix explained, “Your Majesty, arresting over a hundred thousand suspects doesn’t mean they all are suspected rebels.

They are still under investigation. A large number of these people were arrested by the police due to other problems, not because of rebellion.

Apart from this severely affected Italian Area, we also arrested more than two hundred core members of the Independence Organization and over five hundred suspected of rebellion in the Hungarian Region.

Since the Hungarian rebellion was suppressed before it could be launched, it will take some time to review their sentences.

In other domestic regions, a total of 183 people suspected of rebellion were arrested, and as the evidence is not very strong, the charges have not been formally determined yet.”

This explanation eased Franz a bit. If that many people wanted to rebel, his reign would be unstable.

The facts prove that the rebels are only a minority. This is the result of entrapment; otherwise, the numbers could be even lower.

Upon a careful review, excluding the coerced mercenaries, the actual number of those who are dangerous and inclined towards the rebels is only around two to three thousand, which is not at all on the same scale as the total number of arrests.

These people might not even want to rebel; most likely, they were forced to. They merely had their political ideologies swayed and thus stood on the opposite side of the Vienna Government.

After thinking for a while, Franz said, “Then follow the original plan and continue to investigate these suspects. Proceed in accordance with the law.”

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