CHAPTER 594: CHAPTER 585: INDUSTRIAL NATIONALIZATION AND REGIONALIZATION OF INDUSTRIAL AREAS

Richard Metternich and Prince Metternich, in their conversation, thoroughly reviewed all the advantages possessed by the Austrian Empire.

"The Kingdom of Bohemia has abundant iron and coal, which can serve as the industrial heart of the Austrian Empire!"

"The Hungarian Region and Galicia Region possess rich agricultural resources. If properly organized, they can undoubtedly become the Empire’s most important granaries."

"The Lombardy-Venice Kingdom is the Empire’s most important textile industry base and can also provide substantial revenue for the Empire."

...

Thus, under the guidance of Prince Metternich and Richard Metternich, the entire Austrian Empire was divided into several major regions.

Among them, the Lombardy-Venice Kingdom, supported by Slovenia and Croatia (whose independence was vastly greater during the 1848 Great Revolution due to Josip Jelačić’s decisive actions than in the Austria-Hungary Compromise period), became a light industry and tourism major region.

Bohemia, with Vienna, Buda, and Pest (these three major cities were established to prevent Bohemia’s heavy industry from becoming overly dominant) as supplementary, formed the heavy industry region.

There was also an agricultural concentration area and food processing industry region led by the Hungarian Plain and Galicia.

Moreover, Austria’s newly annexed Danube Duchy (which the Metternich duo already considered inherent territory of the Austrian Empire) and Transylvania lacked the distinctive features of regions like Bohemia, Hungary, and Lombardy-Venice, nor did they possess the political significance of Vienna and Buda, Pest. Therefore, the Metternich duo planned to develop Transylvania and the Danube Duchy into a Black Sea commercial free trade zone, with Bucharest also being strategically developed by Prince Metternich into an "advanced industrial demonstration area."

(The main reason is that Romania’s most essential strategic materials are located in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania. The cost of transporting coal resources from the Carpathian Mountains far exceeds the mining costs of Bohemia. Before oil is thoroughly utilized for industrialization, the Danube Duchy’s role primarily fulfills the Monarch’s territorial ambitions and serves as a buffer zone.

Just that Prince Metternich forgot one thing, the labor cost in the Carpathian region is far lower than in Bohemia and Hungary. The area that French capital is unwilling to venture into does not mean the local Austrian capital is unwilling to pursue it. More stringent sweatshops than those in Bohemia will be established in the Carpathian Mountains.)

Metternich’s approach of assigning heavy industry, light industry, tourism, and agriculture to different regions is effectively a way of economically binding nationalists across various regions.

Apart from the Lombardy-Venice Kingdom, all other regions cannot survive independently without the Austrian Empire’s Vienna Government, while it also accelerates the trend of industrialization among various nationalities.

Take the Kingdom of Bohemia as an example. If, in the future, the Kingdom of Bohemia breaks away from the Austrian Empire, it would lose the vast market of the entire Austrian Empire and face competition from the German Region.

After the disintegration of Austria-Hungary, post-World War I Czechoslovakia faced the predicament of market loss, leading to wage cuts for domestic workers to combat foreign capital invasion.

Once the industrialization of various nationalities is complete, the relationship between upstream and downstream industrial chains needs to be regulated by the Imperial Government, and the Kingdom of Hungary can no longer influence regions it does not overwhelmingly occupy.

In such circumstances, the resistance among various nationalities will be weaker, and the Imperial Government will fully utilize economic means to isolate a small number of rebellious forces.

After Metternich finished explaining the responsibilities of each region in the future industrialization and the means of preventing future rebellions by various nationalities to Richard Metternich.

Richard Metternich also recalled the words Jerome Bonaparte had said to him at the train station.

Who is our enemy, who is our friend, is the foremost task in maintaining an imperial regime.

Who is the enemy of the Austrian Empire? The Hungarians? Richard Metternich began using dialectical analysis to assess the problems faced by the Empire.

No! Incorrect! The Hungarian peasants are not the Empire’s enemies! The true enemies of the Empire are those entrenched powerful nobles in Hungarian lands, they are the genuine scourge of the Empire!

After understanding the internal enemies within the Empire, Richard Metternich said to Prince Metternich: "Father, I believe the Empire should redistribute the lands previously confiscated from the Hungarian nobility to the Hungarians and also end the military governance of the Hungarian Region."

Prince Metternich looked at his son with a face of astonishment; he did not know whether this statement was his son’s own realization or if it was the thoughts of Jerome Bonaparte conveyed through his son.

"Speak! What are your thoughts?" Prince Metternich did not refute his son but patiently asked Richard Metternich.

"Father, I thought of this through your earlier industrial regional division!" Richard Metternich responded to Prince Metternich, then added, "Of course, also due to the words His Majesty Jerome Bonaparte said to me at the train station!"

"What words?" Prince Metternich asked curiously.

Richard Metternich repeated Jerome Bonaparte’s words to Prince Metternich.

Prince Metternich’s face showed a trace of solemnity, and after a while, he relaxed his eyebrows again and exclaimed: "Worthy of being a descendant of the Bonaparte Clan, his achievements might very well surpass his uncle’s!"

"Impossible!" Richard Metternich found it hard to believe his old father’s assessment: "His Majesty Napoleon almost defeated the entire Europe!"

"Indeed, His Majesty Napoleon almost defeated the entire Europe, but he also almost destroyed the entire Europe!" Prince Metternich shook his head and said: "If a monarch knows only destruction and cannot build, he and his Empire will inevitably face ruin. Destroying something is easy, but rebuilding is terribly hard.

This Napoleon, although far inferior to his uncle in military affairs, will greatly surpass his uncle in achievements in diplomacy and domestic affairs."

At this moment, Prince Metternich had basically stopped considering that the French Empire would one day pose a threat to the Austrian Empire. He believed that someone who could say these words would make every step with utmost caution.

The Habsburgs no longer had to face a monarch like Napoleon, who was unpredictable. As long as the Austrian Empire did not have the ability to pose a threat to the French Empire, then the Habsburgs would forever be the French Empire’s most loyal ally.

If the Austrian Empire posed a threat to the French Empire... what a joke, unless the Austrian Empire could defeat the Kingdom of Prussia to the north and the Russian Empire to the east.

After a brief assessment, Prince Metternich once again steered the conversation towards Hungary: "You’re right! The Kingdom of Hungary indeed cannot be ruled with crude military control, as this will only deepen the resentment of the Hungarian Region towards the Habsburgs, but..."

Prince Metternich paused, spread his hands and replied to Richard Metternich: "But do you think a monarch with a personality like His Majesty’s is willing to listen to you and end the military control over Hungary?"

Richard Metternich instinctively shook his head. He knew his own monarch too well. Call him pedantic or inflexible, he is, in short, a difficult monarch to deal with.

Although his will is weak and can be swayed by external affairs (Jerome Bonaparte shows a bit of dissatisfaction with the Austrian Empire, and Franz Joseph comes over with his fiancée), he often maintains a ruthless style towards the ministers he appoints.

An Emperor like this will absolutely not allow the destruction of the current political environment without setbacks.

Not to mention, by proposing the seizure of the great nobles’ land to distribute to the peasants and ending the rule over Hungary, Richard Metternich had unknowingly offended some of the Hungarian aristocracy and the Bohemian officials led by Bach.

Their interests in the Hungarian Region ran counter to the policies proposed by Richard Metternich.

"Father, what do you think we should do?" Richard Metternich felt somewhat unwilling. He clearly saw the issues Hungary was facing, yet could not reform them.

"Richard, strive to become Prime Minister!" Prince Metternich responded to Richard Metternich: "Only by becoming an Empire’s Prime Minister with more power than I, can you change the entire Empire with your own hands! The past belongs to us, the future is yours!"

"But, I..." Richard Metternich hesitated for a few seconds, then said to Prince Metternich: "Can I really do it?"

"Of course!" Prince Metternich nodded, reassuring Richard Metternich with a firm tone: "You are my son!"

Hearing Prince Metternich’s affirmation, Richard Metternich nodded firmly.

"Alright! Hungary’s problems are not something we can solve right now!" Prince Metternich said to Richard Metternich: "Let’s organize the Empire’s industrialization measures, father and son!"

Richard Metternich and Prince Metternich began organizing the Empire’s industrialization into written documents.

The content included: 1. Completely liberate some serfs in the Galicia and Hungarian Regions (serfdom has already been abolished in the vast majority of the Empire) to allow them to participate in social production activities.

2. Establish a credit mortgage bank modeled after France, to stimulate investment from domestic private entrepreneurs in the Empire.

3. Introduce technology of blast furnaces, steam engines, and textile machinery from Britain and France, to improve production efficiency in factories and textile mills.

4. Establish a Ministry of Public Works and a Ministry of Railways within the government (with a subordinate Railway Bureau), adopting a public-private partnership approach to raise funds and attract foreign capital to build railways and highways.

5. Vigorously develop the tourism and grain industries, to make them high value-added sectors. (such as Chanel and Hermès)