Collusion

Among the series of cooperation agreements reached between France and Austria, the largest investment was in the plan to build a railway from Lubin to the Oder River. Once this railway was in place, copper produced in Lubin could be transported to the docks on the Oder River, loaded onto barges, and then, towed by tugboats, traveled along the Oder River to the Baltic Sea, from where it would be distributed to various parts of Europe.

This railway will allow for more efficient use of the Lubin copper mines, making it easier to transport copper ore into the smelters and other raw materials needed for smelting. Furthermore, state-of-the-art refineries and supporting power plants will be built in the area. According to the plans of both parties, the Lubin region will soon become one of the most important copper production centers in Europe, generating substantial revenue for Austria annually.

However, this plan has met with considerable opposition. This is normal, because such actions are always accompanied by changes in the distribution of benefits. And once the distribution of benefits changes, there will naturally be those who suffer losses, and naturally, there will be dissatisfaction and anger.

It is said that if the cake can be made bigger, theoretically everyone can get a much larger share than before. In this way, even if the distribution ratio changes, those whose share decreases will generally not have much of an opinion because they will receive more.

However, this is only an ideal situation, because even if the pie is made bigger, it doesn't necessarily mean that everyone will get a larger share during distribution. The Gospel of Matthew says, "For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away." And in the distant East, a great philosopher also said, "One of the most fundamental laws of humanity is to take away what the poor already have, and give it to the rich."

Therefore, when dividing the cake, although theoretically the cake is much larger, many people end up getting nothing.

Not only did they get nothing, but they also had to bear the losses incurred while making the cake.

The first thing to do when building a railway is naturally to acquire land.

Lubin was originally part of the Kingdom of Poland. After Poland's fall, it became part of Austria. However, the land ownership largely remained with the Poland nobles.

In France, most land is already state-owned; the original owners are either on the guillotine or hung from lampposts, making land acquisition easy. In the heart of Austria, the land belongs to the nobility, and profits are distributed fairly and honestly. But in Lubin, can Poland nobles be considered nobles? Do they expect to receive the same fair share of money as proper German-speaking nobles? That's impossible.

Generally speaking, while bullying others may not be considered a source of happiness, it must be acknowledged that bullying itself, even without involving any profit, can bring genuine pleasure. If one can gain something while bullying others, then not taking advantage of the weak would be practically against "human nature." In contrast, while the Poland nobles were undoubtedly powerful when dealing with Poland serfs, they immediately became weak, pitiful, and helpless in front of those who could participate in such transactions.

This helplessness can be understood in two ways: firstly, that no one will help them; and secondly, that their land has been expropriated with little to no compensation. Indeed, there's little compensation; the land was expropriated at a very low price, the reason being that crops didn't grow well on it, yielding limited harvests and therefore it was worthless. As for why the land didn't grow well, that's a question. Before the copper mines were discovered and the mines and smelters were built, the land here actually yielded decent harvests. But since the mines and factories appeared, the land has gradually become unsuitable for growing crops. And it's not just crops; even the nearby rivers are experiencing strange phenomena—mysterious deaths of creatures in the river, strange illnesses affecting downstream residents, and continuous mutations in the riverside plants. Is it a witch's curse, or the Chinese national football team washing their feet across time?

In short, the land there was no longer worth anything. Of course, the price offered by the Austria nobles involved in the railway project was even less than worthless, which finally angered the Poland nobles.

However, the Habsburg nobles didn't care about the anger of these Poland barbarians. In their eyes, the anger of the Poland nobles was nothing more than stripping off their hats and shoes and banging their heads on the ground.

Generally speaking, the Habsburg nobles' judgment was not wrong; the Poland nobles were, in fact, a cowardly and useless bunch. No regime in the world could better protect their interests than the regime of the Kingdom of Poland, yet during Poland's demise, most of the nobles didn't dare stand up to fight for their true homeland. Such a cowardly bunch, even if they were angry, what could they do? Most likely, as Master Lu said, they would "draw their swords against the weaker," taking their anger out on the Poland tenant farmers.

If everything went smoothly, this should have been the final outcome. However, the sudden involvement of certain forces has changed the situation.

First, the Pope's announcement of an investigation into Emperor Franz II, in a sense, severely undermined the emperor's authority. As a result, some Hungary nobles couldn't help but want to take action.

During the reign of Joseph II, the Holy Roman Empire Emperor, reforms were vigorously promoted. He established Germany settlements in Galicia, Bukovina, Hungary, and Transylvania, encouraging the development of Germany noble estates and Germany in these areas, and giving priority to Germany in the recruitment of civil and military officials. He also implemented a protective tariff policy, encouraged the development of industry and commerce, and increased fiscal revenue. In 1781, he issued the Edict of Toleration on Religious Policy, and in 1781-1782, he issued an edict abolishing the personal dependency of peasants in hereditary lands, effectively abolishing serfdom.

However, Joseph II's reforms infringed upon the interests of many nobles. In particular, Austria was a multi-ethnic country, and in the Austrian Netherlands, Hungary, and Bohemia, there were many who were not particularly fond of the Habsburg and were always thinking about splitting up and becoming kings themselves.

So when Joseph II led his army on a campaign against Turkey, his own people rebelled one after another. Joseph II was deserted by his supporters and was forced to cancel most of his reforms.

Emperor Franz II now seems to be facing some kind of predicament. Clearly, the Pope wouldn't target an emperor without reason, especially not with such a pretext. Besides, homosexuality is a characteristic of Catholicism, isn't it? There are plenty of gay priests within the Holy See. Obviously, someone wants to use the Pope to attack Emperor Franz II. Considering who in Europe today can manipulate His Holiness the Pope in this way, the identity of this person is almost self-evident.

Since the France wanted to deal with Emperor Franz II, they would have been doing themselves a disservice if they hadn't seized the opportunity to cause trouble. At the time, they didn't know that the major shareholders in this project included France, specifically members of the Bonaparte Family. Of course, this wasn't their fault; who knew that Joseph, that old silver coin, would be so fond of investing through multiple controlling stakes? So you see, the companies investing in this project are all Austria companies. Then look at the shareholder structure of these companies, and you'll see some France companies. Then check the shareholder structure of these France companies, and you'll find some other lesser-known France companies. And then check the shareholder structure of these France companies, and you'll see the surname "Bonaparte."

This practice was common in later generations, but it was still rare in this era. In addition, there was no such thing as a surveillance system in this era, so how could those Hungary bumpkins have known?

Because those Hungary bumpkins were unaware of these things and didn't understand that such a strange phenomenon could exist—cooperating to make money while simultaneously sabotaging each other—some Hungary began to stir. With these people backing them up, the Poland nobles grew bolder and actually jumped up, declaring their intention to rebel against tyranny.

And yet, they did indeed rebel. Of course, not in a direct uprising—because the Poland nobles dared not. Emperor Franz II's judgment of them was entirely correct: they were a bunch of cowards! So, their resistance consisted of refusing to transfer land, resolutely becoming holdouts, and incidentally causing trouble for the Lubin Railway in various ways.

Since these Poland were so uncooperative, His Majesty the Emperor naturally had to teach them a lesson. So His Majesty's police department quickly attributed some long-standing unsolved cases, such as someone being robbed on a country road or someone being murdered by bandits in a certain place, to those holdouts.

Of course, His Majesty's police station doesn't have any evidence. But what's so difficult about evidence? Once someone's in custody, are we afraid of not having evidence? What, you say we tortured them to extract confessions? That's a shameless rumor. Otherwise, we'll strip the suspect naked and let you see if there's a single new injury on his body. Which one? That one's hemorrhoids, it has nothing to do with us. Or should I get a doctor to give you a diagnosis?

His Majesty's methods naturally caused... well, some holdouts to soften their stance and consider surrendering. This, however, alarmed the Hungary nobles standing behind them, so they quickly jumped up as well.