Chapter 77: Hungarian Liberators

The fellow Hungarian patriotic poet Sándor Petőfi, one of the leaders of this Hungarian revolution, couldn't stand it anymore.

"Your Excellency Count, are you just going to watch Hungary fall into ruin? Even if the chance of success is low, you will do nothing? For God's sake, you have to do something for this country at this time too!"

István shook his head with a wry smile and said, "My only regret is that I didn't stop you, if I had been tougher, maybe this situation would not have happened. Yes, I do need to do something right now, but not in government, don't be too quick to say no until I'm done. In terms of military command ability, I'm just subpar. Both Duke Leopold and Marquis of Roche have a much higher understand of military tactics and army command than me. For military problems, I suggest you ask them for help. In terms of propaganda ability, Kossuth, has much better ability in this regard than me, and so you don't need my help in this area either. As a person, the only advantage is that I have self-knowledge, and I will not interfere in the affairs of the government. I'm only responsible for coordinating ethnic relations. At this point, Kossuth should put away your damn nationalist theory!"

Kossuth was half-dead from anger. If it wasn't for the support of István at this time, he was afraid that he would rush to beat him up.

This guy is really annoying, he is unrelenting exposing and criticizing everyone no matter the situation.

If there is a choice, Kossuth does not want to engage in nationalism, but the supporters do not agree!

Capitalists need cheap labor, and most people who are excluded from the gate of power are the cheap labor left to the capitalists.

That's right, Kossuth's nationalism excludes not minorities, but all the people at the bottom. Except for the 500,000 or 600,000 capitalists, aristocrats, and the middle class, the rest are the targets of oppression.

Of course, on the surface, this line only includes ethnic minorities, while Hungarians are excluded by external factors such as property, title, and cultural level.

In theory, it is possible for these people to gain suffrage, provided that you have to get rich first, and then you will have political rights.

Other than that, don't even think about it. They are doomed from the moment they are born; cultural knowledge is not accessible to those in poverty, and there is no compulsory education in Hungary so if they have no money they can't buy and read books.

There are no real poor people at the top of the revolutionary party, including Sándor Petőfi, who was born with the lowest background.

His mother was a serf, but she had also been a maid to the nobles. She is considered to be a knowledgeable handmaiden. His father was a butcher, and he was also a small time capitalist with economic knowledge.

He Jin was still a butcher in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, why didn't anyone mention that their family monopolized most of the meat supply in Nanyang County?

Their ass determines their position. They may sympathize with the plight of the people at the bottom, but their class position determines that they cannot sacrifice their own interests for the people at the bottom.

On one side István was a noble. At this time, it was very natural for him to seek help from Duke Leopold and Marquis of Roche, both of whom were also nobles.

But in Kossuth's view, this is courting death. Now that the situation is so bad, who can guarantee that these powerful nobles will not defect?

Even if the Vienna government moved their fiefs, in fact there is still a possibility of compromise between the two sides. It is nothing more than a question of price. The nobles naturally tend to want a monarchical countries, and there is no way to change this class position.

The goal has been achieved, and Kossuth will naturally not stay and get angry. He didn't even take a sip of water, and he didn't expect István to prepare a meal.

"Sir Kossuth, what should we do now?" Mr. Petőfi asked expectantly

There is no other way, Kossuth, himself, is unreliable, and Mr. Petőfi is even worse. His talent is to write poetry, and his representative works include "Song of the Nation" and "Against the King".

"Life is precious, and love is more valuable; if it's for freedom, both can be thrown away!"

He is the originator of this sentence, and is very popular among intellectuals. However, he also has the characteristics of literary youth, typically lacking practical experience.

There was simply no way around that. Sándor Petőfi, who was born in 1823, is only 25 years old now. It is too embarrassing for him to worry about the fate of a country.

"I have already sent people to contact the Kingdom of Sardinia, and now I can only hope that they will defeat the Austrian army in Venice as soon as possible and force the Austrians to divide their troops and return to help us."

Kossuth did not mention the matter of asking the Ottomans for help. It is not yet clear, especially in front of Mr. Petőfi. If he said it, he would definitely object.

...

Bohemian Legion

After receiving the order from Vienna, Julius fell into confusion, Budapest was right at their doorstep, but the cabinet did not let him attack, which was very unreasonable.

A young staff officer asked dissatisfiedly: "Your Excellency Commander, what does the government mean by not allowing us to attack Budapest, are they going to solve the problem by negotiation this time?"

"This question, you can only ask the Vienna government, or maybe the War Department may know, we just need to execute the order!" Julius thought for a while and said.

This is his greatest advantage, being able to complete the tasks assigned by his superiors.

"Your Excellency Commander, doesn't that mean we have nothing to do now?" Another young officer complained

If there is no battle, it means that there is no military merit. Now the four-way army in Austria, the Bohemian Legion has the best geographical location. Budapest is close at hand. As long as they conquer this place, they will be the first to gain merit.

Chief of Staff Jelačić[1] said slowly: "Do you feel that there is no battle and you are bored?

Then go and brush up propaganda slogans for me, first put them in the surrounding areas under military control, and liberate all the serfs. This is also our mission this time! "

That's right, the task of freeing the serfs was handed over to the army by Franz. The nobles are not easy to mess with these days, especially the Hungarian nobles who are used to being the king of the mountain. They don't use force, and they can't speak well.

"Let me take care of my subordinates. This time we are here to liberate Hungary and bring a happy life to the Hungarian people. Anyone who dares to violate military discipline will be shot!" Julius said sternly.

Loyal dogs, of course, must be loyal to the emperor. This time they came as "liberators" to buy the Hungarian people's hearts for the emperor. Good military discipline is a good start.

[1] The translation was Yelacic and I am not sure if he is the same governor or someone different. Maybe in the future I'll look to the raw and compare.