Kossuth's heart sank halfway. He had thought he could pull off a spectacular flood that would drown seven armies, but now it seemed—
Kossuth briefly composed himself, then asked,
"What about the Austrian casualties?"
"Two thousand seven hundred and twelve killed, nineteen thousand and thirty-three wounded, and four thousand one hundred missing."
"How can they be so few?"
Kossuth quickly realized something else.
"How do you know that so clearly?"
"The Austrians published all of it in the newspapers."
Luo Jia explained helplessly. Kossuth's heart sank even further. This time, there was no chance to make up for it. He had thought it would be easy to block the public's access to information. At least, that was what Kossuth had believed.
But the Hungarian surrenderists and fence-sitters were another matter. If this report had reached him, that meant they had received it too.
If those people sided with Austria, the Hunnic Empire's government would be paralyzed.
In reality, Kossuth was worrying too much. Because of Franz's policy of retribution, Hungary's upper class didn't dare surrender. Even if they did, they couldn't avoid being punished.
After all, as the old saying went, "Blocking someone's path to wealth is like killing their parents." Another saying went, "Touch the interests of entrenched groups, and it's as good as robbing and murdering them."
Franz had taken both of these principles to their absolute extreme. He would confiscate most of their property and make them shoulder the debts incurred by freeing the serfs. He might even send them to Africa to work off what they owed.
Surrender could mean more than having their property seized. They might also face physical retribution. Chutkalai and a host of Budapest's upper-class figures, for example, had nearly all been executed.
So all the Hunnic Empire's upper-class figures, along with