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

Chapter 1275 Real Madrid vs Barcelona (Part )
Deutsche Bundesstock, Vienna.

Ever since the German Confederation Stock Exchange moved from Frankfurt to Vienna, countries within the German Confederation have never stopped criticizing it.

Especially regarding the obvious decline in trading volume, many people say that Vienna is not suitable as a financial center because they are not devout enough about money.

Some people also say that this is retribution for the Austrian Empire manipulating the stock market behind the scenes and leaving no way for others to survive.

But in fact, we had just experienced war, and all states were busy investing in industry, and civilians were busy stockpiling goods. Consumption habits could not be changed in a short time, so how could they have the energy to invest?

Even though the economy has been recovering, there are still people criticizing and questioning Vienna.

In addition, these brothers of the German Confederation really needed a helping hand. Due to the previous turmoil in 1848, many governments fell into a crisis of confidence, and their national debts were almost deserted.

If Franz doesn't want to be isolated and helpless in the future, he must consider helping these little brothers.

However, it would be better for the Austrian Empire to use its own funds. After all, the development within the Austrian Empire was extremely uneven, and the colonies really had no surplus money to support brother countries.

But the British money was different. Franz didn't mind if the British were willing to lend more. But the British were still very cautious, and they thought 100 million pounds was still within a safe range.

If they borrowed too much and the Austrian Empire refused to pay them back, they would suffer a huge loss.

The purpose of the British lending money to the Austrian Empire was not to help the Austrian Empire develop or to support the Austrian Empire's war against Spain.

Their essential purpose is to make money and avoid the risk of a downturn in the UK domestic economy.

It would be too unrealistic to expect to empty the UK's coffers by borrowing money.

Of course, Franz will not lose money by helping the German region develop.

In fact, at this time, the interest rates of bonds issued by most countries were around 10%. Spain even issued government bonds with an interest rate as high as 15% last year.

But whether you can buy it is one thing, whether you can get the money, or even get the money back is another thing.

At that time, except for Britain and France, the creditworthiness of national debts of various countries was generally very low. The Austrian Empire owed the British money for decades. Some countries and governments even declared bankruptcy directly.

It was not difficult for the Austrian Empire to get money from the German Confederation and Italy.

Moreover, from a historical perspective, Europe will soon enter a period of rapid development, and at least repaying the interest should not be a difficult task for all countries.

At the same time, this is also to strengthen the control within the Confederacy
Catalonia, Spain.

As an outstanding graduate of the Royal Madrid Military Academy, it is natural that Gordon must have real talents and knowledge, but his so-called real talents and knowledge are still in books.

The complex terrain of the Iberian Peninsula is enough to drive military scientists crazy. Building roads through mountains and bridges across rivers? Impossible! There is no other way but to take a detour.

Originally thought to be a five-day journey from Salt to Barcelona, ​​Gordon even thought it would take a week to go back and forth.

However, the reality is that five days have passed and Gordon's troops are still wandering in the mountains. An army of 20,000 people is really troublesome. It seems that these people are either eating or sleeping every day and can't walk much in a day.

Gordon had also tried a forced march before, but the problem was that a large number of soldiers fell behind after not going far. These newly recruited soldiers were simply not able to adapt to the high-intensity march and were completely incomparable to the elite troops in Madrid that he had led before.

The intelligence was even more of a mess. Since leaving Salt, he had been wandering around with his army like a blind man. If it weren't for the guide, let alone a surprise attack on Barcelona, ​​he probably wouldn't even be able to get out of the mountains and hills.

Often only half of the scouts he sent out returned. He knew that they must have deserted.
But Gordon was not afraid, because he knew very well that the Austrians must be facing the same situation as himself.

In addition, there were rebels everywhere, so it didn't matter how slowly he walked. He could easily go around the Pyrenees Mountains and launch a surprise attack from behind the Austrian army.

Austrians would never have thought
The Austrian Empire's Barcelona Legion was incredibly efficient in suppressing the rebellion, and in less than a week it had completely eliminated the rebels in the southeastern coastal area of ​​Catalonia.

Yes, completely clear it.

After all, no one knew the possible hiding places better than these Catalan locals. They had been waiting there even before the armed forces of the landlords and nobles were defeated.

This was puzzling to the Austrian officers. After all, it was easy for the Austrian Empire to win on the front battlefield, but it was extremely difficult to eradicate the internal enemies.

There are still hundreds of thousands of troops fighting bandits in Transylvania. The Austrian Empire has consumed incalculable amounts of manpower and material resources for this purpose, but the results have been minimal.

Spain was a notoriously bad place. When they were chosen to go to Spain, most of them had already written their wills and were prepared to die in battle in Spain.

However, the battle seemed much easier than expected, and the Austrian soldiers who served as the support and commanders suffered few casualties.

The Spanish soldiers didn't seem to have any objection to being cannon fodder on the front line. Instead, their morale was boosted as they continued to win battles.

Of course, in addition to victory, the post-war trial is also a highlight.

The main source of Barcelona Legion soldiers were vagrants and farmers, most of whom had irreconcilable blood feuds with local nobles and landlords.

Therefore, these soldiers regarded the actions of the Austrian Empire as justice for them. Coupled with the deception of local priests, the Austrians were no longer the invaders as the Spanish government had portrayed them.

In addition, because of the French, the Spanish are quite hostile to so-called democratic countries, and they don’t know what democracy is.

Normally they associate democracy with rebellion and war, so it's no surprise that they hate it.

Compared to democracy, the Spaniards are more familiar with the imperial system. After all, it is simple and easy to understand. Whoever is the emperor has the final say.

Moreover, Franz was obviously a good emperor in the eyes of these Spaniards. As for what is a good emperor? If he can give them food to eat and farm, he is a good emperor.

There is another one, and that is what the priests said.

The Spanish church's control over the grassroots is extremely terrifying. Now that they and Austria are tied to the same rope, they will naturally spare no effort to speak well of Franz.

As for the Habsburg family, the Spanish are more familiar with it. The Invincible Armada, the expansion of America, and the conquest of the oceans, that was a glorious era that belonged uniquely to Spain.

In terms of culture, the nationalists of the 19th century were all inventors. Spanish nationalists even invented a series of diverse languages, including Catalan, Valencian, Aragonese, Asturian, Basque, etc.

Therefore, they did not have much sense of belonging to the Kingdom of Spain. On the contrary, most of the elites felt that it was also good to be an overseas territory of the Austrian Empire.