The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1247 Sunday

A group of soldiers surrounded a hotel. A civilian official and two officers walked in, and came out angrily shortly afterwards.

Then a large group of soldiers began to conduct a carpet search of every room and every corner, and some soldiers even climbed onto the roof to check if there was anyone hiding in the chimney.

In a noisy cafe less than 30 meters away across from the hotel, two people were watching everything that was happening through the window with interest.

"What a bunch of fools! They would never have thought that we were watching this show right under their noses."

"Asim, you are worthy of being like this. You dare to think and do it."

"Of course! Who am I!"

The young man couldn't help feeling proud.

Just at this moment, a faint applause came from behind.

"Very good. Our Austrian Empire needs such smart and courageous officials."

It was only then that the two young men noticed that the street cafe, which should have been extremely noisy, had become silent, and a team of special police officers in black uniforms were standing behind them.

Asim Stahl, born in Hanover, is a mathematician and economist who loved adventure when he was young.

The two young men laughed awkwardly.

The leading special police officer said.

"Don't feel ashamed. His Majesty the Emperor said that only those who are absolutely confident in their talents and abilities will see their masterpieces up close."

"."

"take away."

The two young men were taken away from the cafe like two elementary school students who had made mistakes.

"Senior, it seems we are not safe either."

"Hmph. It all depends on your ability."

The bearded man with a scar on his face sneered.

"But we are all disguised like this, how can they find us?"

Suddenly, a dog barked from downstairs.
Hofburg Palace.

"My Lord, the workers of our country need a Sunday to strengthen their faith."

"Your Majesty, you are absolutely right! You and God both need pious people. I will arrange a grand mass right away."

Franz was somewhat helpless. Although he had been on the throne for almost a year, Archbishop Rauscher's thinking was still stuck in the old times.

In the past, a grand mass was often an important way for an emperor or a family to show their wealth, strength and piety.

However, this method is also called waste.

And Archbishop Rauscher didn't understand what Franz meant at all.

"How can one day be enough?"

"Will it take a week?"

Franz was very upset.

"I mean it should become a custom." Archbishop Rauscher immediately reacted.

"Are you saying that you want to make Sunday a day of rest, like Constantine the Great did, and require all business activities to stop and participate in worship?"

In the 4th century AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great designated this day as a holiday when he formulated the calendar, and it was later widely adopted by countries around the world.

"That's true."

"You are truly great! The people will surely be grateful for your gift. I will spread the news right away."

"stop."

Franz quickly stopped the extremely excited Archbishop Rauscher.

"It's not appropriate for me to bring this up. I hope the church can come forward and petition."

"Okay! We are willing. Thank you, Your Majesty, for entrusting us with this glorious task. The church will definitely do this according to your wishes!"

Archbishop Rauscher was deeply moved. He felt that Franz was giving him an opportunity to go down in history.

After all, if workers don’t have days off, who will go to church?

This is a major issue concerning the long-term development of the church. Maybe the government doesn’t care, but the church itself cannot help but care.

It’s just that they couldn’t think of a way to remedy the situation, and over time they could only blame themselves and think that people were becoming less and less pious.

Franz's advice directly solved a problem that almost all churches in history had been unable to solve. Archbishop Rauscher was naturally grateful, and the church of the Austrian Empire had no reason not to do this matter with all its heart. After all, in their eyes, this matter had only benefits and no disadvantages.

However, with Franz's vision spanning a century, what he can see is naturally more than just this. When labor-capital conflicts break out in the future, he will suffer.

In addition, Franz also needed the church to give full play to its community attributes as soon as possible, which would help the Austrian Empire better control the grassroots and at the same time curb the development of trade unions.

It was not enough to simply turn the managers of the trade unions into officials and create class divisions. Austria was an empire after all, and it needed the support of the people, so the two sides could not be in opposition, or even indifferent or ignoring each other. Franz needed the support of the people.

Then the church as a lubricant becomes particularly important. As long as there is the support of the grassroots people and an efficient and rational government, the empire will not collapse easily.

In fact, the treatment of workers in the Austrian Empire was not bad, at least much better than that of British workers in the same period. However, these are all based on technological advantages. Competition will become more and more fierce in the future, and internal circulation is inevitable.

Unless the Austrian Empire can maintain its dominant position in the market, Franz has been working tirelessly to develop technology while also building his own small circle.

Free trade? Don't be ridiculous! Why would Austria use its own disadvantages to compete with others' advantages? Franz only knew that throughout history, powerful countries have always adopted trade protectionism when they were poor and free trade when they were rich.

If a country cannot gain an advantage in the market and take away other countries' market share, then what is the meaning of free trade for a powerful country?
Especially for the people of powerful countries, if their jobs are taken away by people from weak countries, wouldn’t that be a loss?

However, at this time, the workers of the Austrian Empire were very satisfied with their current situation. They looked at the priests who were talking, and at the police who were arresting people in the chaotic streets, and they all buried their heads.

In fact, Franz himself was not aware of how high his prestige had reached at this time.

As another normal monarch of the Austrian Empire, Franz had unparalleled legitimacy. In addition, his family, government, and church had been building momentum since he was a child, and he defeated countless powerful enemies at the beginning of his accession to the throne in 1848 and received the endorsement of Pope Pius IX of the Roman Catholic Church.

At this time, Franz was already regarded as a true holy king by ordinary people of the Austrian Empire, and it would undoubtedly be a foolish act to confront the holy king.

In addition, the six million coffins sold in the Austrian Empire in 1848 also foreshadowed the consequences of opposing the Holy King.

Especially the citizens of Vienna, they saw groups of usually arrogant gentlemen being driven to the execution ground like poultry and then hung on the gallows.

No one was willing to go against such a "holy king" for such "insignificant" rights. Franz didn't want to hire an actor to do it for him, so the Austrians' statutory holiday would have to wait for some time.

(Thanks to the efforts of the British Workers' Association in 1879, British workers finally had the right to a day off. This was the first time in modern times that the right of workers to a day off was recognized by law.)