Holy Roman Empire - Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Chapter 41, Handling Prisoners of War

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Who brought this up? Everyone tacitly refrained from asking. Franz was unwilling to admit that he had proposed the “piece-rate system,” and the others thought of him as principled, unwilling to take credit for someone else’s idea.

In this era, the “piece-rate system” was undoubtedly progressive, capable of unleashing greater productivity and breaking the tradition of “Sloppy Joes.”

Keep in mind, in this era, the capitalists’ approach to combatting “Sloppy Joes” was extremely brutal; docking pay was the least of it.

Quite often, in addition to having wages docked, one would also receive a vicious beating, and every year, numerous workers died as a result.

This was particularly true in the mines where, to stimulate everyone’s motivation, capitalists would often “kill the chicken to scare the monkey,” using this to deter others and make them work harder.

Such cruel measures were obviously not something the government could adopt, and Finance Minister Karl worried that direct government management of enterprises would lead to losses, particularly fearing the widespread occurrence of “Sloppy Joes.”

There are not a few cases of this in later generations, where a highly loss-making state-owned enterprise became private, cut half of its employees, doubled its productivity, and turned losses into profits in an instant.

“Regarding the sentencing of the prisoners, do you have any plans?” Franz asked.

He decisively ignored the nobility and capitalists involved in the rebellion, as most of these individuals had already managed to escape, and those captured were simply the dim-witted ones.

As the leaders of this rebellion, there was no need for a trial—at the time of suppressing the rebellion, they had already been dealt with.

One could say that for the rebel army, Franz ensured that any mid-level or higher officers got swiftly cut down like a messy heap of hemp—he killed them first and asked questions later.

Aside from those who didn’t fire a single shot and led their troops to surrender proactively, other rebel leaders ranked platoon leader and above all “got their lunchbox.”

In suppressing the rebellion, a little over three thousand rebels were killed, and following this, more than two thousand rebel leaders were executed. There was no helping it; insurgents had no human rights, and those implicated were executed quickly, the higher their status, the faster they died, whereas ordinary civilians were not pursued too vigorously.

Even the artillery members of Vienna University who advocated for revolution received their “lunchbox”; the army took over the campus, and anyone who joined the Revolutionary Party and preached revolutionary ideas had only one outcome.

These orders were issued under Franz’s authority, but he certainly would not be the one to take the blame. The Cabinet had not yet been formed, and he had already been issuing orders in the name of the Cabinet.

If historians were interested, they would find that the signatory of these orders was the Prime Minister, and Franz, the Crown Prince, was totally unaware.

All these were minor issues, as the citizens of Vienna had greatly suffered, everyone hated the Revolutionary Party, and no one would sympathize with them.

“Your Highness, this rebellion has involved too many, and these prisoners must be severely punished as a warning to others and to deter the entire nation!”

Archduke Louis’s eyes were red, his demeanor fierce as he spoke as if he had an irreconcilable hatred with these people, wishing he could execute them all.

Not just him, but the other Cabinet members also displayed a united front of shared enmity.

It went without saying that Franz knew that the old aristocrats had many relatives, and among those who died during this rebellion, there were surely friends and family of theirs.

If it were just that, it might be bearable, but the key issue is that the rebel army also plundered their homes, stole their wealth, and killed their loyal servants.

Even the youngest son of Archduke Louis, due to bad luck and being a step too slow when fleeing, was snapped up by the rebel army, which is also the main reason for his immense anger.

Before this, he had advocated for mitigating the penalties for the rebels and soothing the public’s heart, in order to quickly stabilize the domestic situation.

But now, with the pain of losing a son, everything changed. Initially, at the Noble Assembly, he advocated for the execution of all nobility involved in the rebellion, and at that point, he did not even want to spare the prisoners.

Franz was very clear about the causes and consequences of this rebellion, and even clearer about his own class stance, so after capturing the nobility involved in the uprising, he didn’t execute them immediately but left them to the Noble Assembly.

The nobility participated in the rebellion mostly out of self-interest, and in an effort to recover their losses, their primary task was essentially to burn the banking data.

Not only were local Austrian financial institutions severely damaged, but even the international banks’ branches in Vienna did not escape the disaster.

The shadowy backers of these financial institutions were also among those advocating for the severe punishment of the insurgents, including the Vienna Court.

With the profits of the financial sector being so vast, the Habsburg Family, as the local strongman, could not possibly abstain from participation; in fact, the Habsburg Family had shares in many of Austria’s financial institutions.

At that moment, recovering the losses was clearly impossible. This is why Franz was eager to form a Cabinet; his main purpose was to have the Cabinet withstand pressure to prevent the nobility from recouping their losses.

After all, these assets were confiscated from the rebel army, so the true owner of the property was no longer clear; aside from immovable property with a clear owner on record, Franz was prepared to allocate all other movable properties to the national treasury.

If they were to be returned to their original owners, he could guarantee that all the spoils of war would soon be divided up by the nobility; Franz did not want to test human greed.

Franz thought for a moment and said, “Severely punishing the rebels is a must, but most of these prisoners are workers; it might be best to have them return to the factories and continue to create value for us.

Depending on the severity of the offence, they should be fined, and have them work off the fines with their factory wages until they have paid in full to earn their freedom.’

This was the lightest penalty he could argue for; no one would say no to free labor, and the Cabinet wouldn’t refuse such a large supply of free labor force.

“It’s a good idea; we can’t possibly kill all of them. It’s better to put them to use instead!” Finance Minister Karl was the first to agree.

With the Vienna rebellion underway, the need for funds had increased; he supported any suggestions that could boost fiscal revenue.

“That can work, but what about the die-hards among them? What if they cause trouble in the factories?” Archduke Louis said reluctantly.

“That’s easy; we can employ a system of collective responsibility. Divide them into small groups, and have the workers supervise and inform on each other; those who report contributions can have their sentences reduced.

No reports and if caught, everyone will bear the responsibility together; they’ll all be sent to the mines.” Finance Minister Karl said with a cold laugh.

Franz could not help but want to approve that idea; if it weren’t for Austria facing a series of rebellions to come, he would have already been ready to send these prisoners to mine or build railroads.

Considering there may be more prisoners in the future, none of whom were die-hards and who had surrendered swiftly at his call, he had argued for the lightest penalty for them.

“If no one has better suggestions, then let’s settle on this!” Franz said calmly..