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

Chapter 597

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz quite liked this situation. Although it looked tense, it was actually a temptation and bluff.

But he was not going to play games of hypocrisy with these people, and Franz was going to do some real things.

He prepared a big gift for Mejid and Nicholas I each, while Canning, who was in London, shouted "stupid"!
Canning had been the British ambassador to Ottoman before becoming the undersecretary of foreign affairs, and even McGidd had a nominal "teacher-student" relationship.

But the former never expected that the "sultan" he had carefully selected would actually contact the Austrian Empire and do such a stupid thing.

In fact, the reason why the Ottomans sent envoys to contact the Austrian Empire was, on the one hand, that Britain had not done a good job in intelligence exchange with its "allies", and on the other hand, the things that the world's number one shit-stirring stick would do would always give people a hard time. a sense of distrust.

At this time, the Ottoman Empire was suffering from internal and external troubles, but it was changed but not completely changed, so that Mejid, the leader of the reform, was incompetent inside and out.

In addition, the religious order often leads the congregation to make troubles, dealing with the Jews today, Armenia tomorrow, and heretic sects the day after tomorrow.

Almost all the powers in the world want to cut a piece of meat from the Ottoman Empire. The French took Algeria and Morocco, the Austrians took Tripoli, the British took Egypt, and the land taken by Russia is too numerous to list.

Tripoli is still Ottoman territory in name, but the governor appointed by Mejid has been expelled. The actual ruler is the Karamanli family, and the boss behind them is Austria.

The worse news at this time is that Britain and Russia may join forces, for which Mejid had to prepare an alternative.

And there is another thing that gives him a headache in the country, and that is the local uprisings, especially in Albania.

The reform carried out by Mejid is also known as the "Tanzimat Reform", and many principles are very good.Such as the establishment of centralized power to replace the feudal system, and the establishment of national financial institutions to replace the decadent Ilticham system.

Abolish the feudal military armed forces in the past, establish a universal compulsory military service system, train new troops, and so on.

But these reforms completely changed when they reached the local level, and became a tool for the pashas and bureaucrats to collect money, and did not touch the source of corruption.

While feudal ownership was abolished, the Albanian landowners expanded rapidly, and after local disarmament was disarmed, they became real "toubob", fully controlling taxation, law and security.

These landowners, both bureaucrats and capitalists, drove the abolished peasants from their lands with complete freedom.

The fate of the mountain people is also miserable. Although their land officials look down on them, there is always a way to make money.

The officials cleverly set the name that the mountain people not only have to pay the "blood tax", but also have to bear the taxes that they did not have to bear before, such as the animal tax.
Animal tax is a poll tax imposed on Christians in the Ottoman Empire, but traditionally, mountain people can be exempted from other taxes as long as they pay the blood tax.

However, after the reform, the mountain people can't get money from paying the blood tax, and various other heavy burdens make them overwhelmed.

Unlike those peasants who just cry and grab the land and starve to death, many mountain people are "military households" for generations. They do not lack fighting skills or courage.

At the same time, due to the backwardness of many areas in mountainous areas, patriarchal or patriarchal systems are still practiced. These patriarchs and patriarchs have very exaggerated influence, and they can even call on the people to rise up and directly confront the country.

In Kosovo in 1843, in Gegeria in 1844, and in Tuskeria in 1845, there were three armed uprisings involving tens of thousands of people.

The mountain people and the peasants who lost their land joined forces to plunder and kill the big landowners who were officials. At first, under the leadership of the patriarchs and priests, the uprising troops attacked the local officials.

However, as the scale of the uprising expanded and casualties continued to increase, after all, those big landlords had private armed forces, the former's targets were no longer limited to those landlords and officials with bad reputations.

Rebel armies would storm into anyone's home, lynch the men, take the women, and loot their belongings.

Another version of what happened in the local area reached McGidd's ears, that is, some people opposed the reform and massacred progressives who supported the reform, and even massacred innocent people.

What is even more irritating is that those who convert to the "Tianfang Sect" are actually in cahoots with those Christians. It is really despicable to the extreme, which is unbearable!

Mejid also sent people to suppress it at first, but the combat effectiveness of the new Ottoman army is really limited, and it needs tax and manpower support to project force to the local area.

At this time, the Ottoman Empire was full of public dissatisfaction because of reforms, and there were uprisings everywhere, and it was completely unable to pay for an expedition.

As a result, Mejid could only order local officials and landlords to raise their own military salaries, organize and train village bravery to fight against the rebels.

This method actually acquiesces to the feudal power of those big landlords once again, and even makes it possible to go further, that is, to become a separatist vassal.

This dose of strong medicine really worked, and many armed forces were mobilized in the local area to defeat the rebel army. Mejid even ordered a reward for it.

But soon he discovered that something was wrong, that is, it seemed that these rebels could never be wiped out.

Seeing that the local forces are growing day by day, Mejid realized that he was drinking poison to quench his thirst.

It's just that it's too late to think about the strong man breaking his wrist at this time, and the whole of Albania has become a sore on the body of the Ottoman Empire.

In fact, it can also be described as a corrupted tentacle that cannot be cut off. It will only continue to erode the soul of the Ottoman Empire.

But Franz is going to give Mejid a gift, which is a sword that can cut off this tentacle.

Austria can help deal with the rebellious mountain people in the north, and at the same time eliminate those separatists who may be disloyal to the Sudan.

When Mejid heard the proposal of the Austrian envoy, he was extremely excited. Although Albania is not a rich place, it is still an important grain-producing area of ​​the Ottoman Empire, and it can contribute at least to the country every year before the rebellion. 200 million lire.

(The Ottoman lira was a very volatile currency, pegged at roughly 30 to 1 against the British pound, though it quickly fell in value with the Mejid reforms.)
At this time, the annual income of the Ottoman Empire was only 1.5 million Ottoman liras, which was not as much as a coastal province of the Austrian Empire.

"Then what's the price?"

McGidd knew very well that such generous conditions would inevitably be accompanied by huge benefits, otherwise no one would take the initiative to take over this mess.

In fact, McGidd even considered selling this province to Austria. After all, it is better to sell it to save worry and stop losses than to disgust yourself with rotten hands.

(End of this chapter)