In truth, Franz did not need to do anything. Within a few years, the market's big stick would teach these people how to behave again.
The growing pains of transforming from an agricultural nation into an industrial one were something every country had to endure. Franz, however, did not see it that way. The Austrian Empire could not withstand such upheaval, and at the very least, the House of Habsburg should not be the villain of the piece.
Franz's solution was to establish the Royal Agricultural Machinery Leasing Company and the Agricultural Bank. The Austrian Empire had actually had similar institutions before, but they provided improved seeds and cultivation techniques.
The Royal Agricultural Machinery Leasing Company could lease agricultural machinery to farmers at low prices, but lease periods had to be set according to local conditions to ensure every household could benefit.
Franz knew that some people would certainly have other ideas, so he had left himself a back door in advance: leasing rights could be transferred.
This allowed ordinary farming households with more land to exchange money or goods with households that had little land but many hands, in return for the right to lease machinery.
Meanwhile, the Agricultural Bank's loans for farmers also gave them a chance to leap like carp over the Dragon Gate. Some would inevitably borrow money to expand production, then purchase more land and become true land capitalists or farm owners.
Of course, some would also misjudge the situation and lose their land, forcing them to enter the cities or seek a living in overseas colonies.
The land they lost would be sold by the bank to those who needed it, and for those farm owners, using agricultural machinery was almost an inevitable choice. After all, if they did not, they too could not