These people exploited Franz's trust in them, fabricating countless "facts." Based on this false information, Franz made the wrong judgments, and could only arrive at the wrong conclusions.
While causing the Austrian Empire to misjudge the entire region of West Bosnia, they also took the opportunity to eliminate many competitors. Officials who refused to cooperate or join them in the mire were saddled with all manner of charges—either transferred elsewhere or demoted.
Before long, these people had seized control of the three richest cities in West Bosnia. Working together, they exploited loopholes in the Austrian Empire's oversight mechanisms and began forming alliances and crushing dissidents with even greater impunity.
These men had successfully created a state within a state inside the Austrian Empire. They called it the "New Human Republic."
Yet this country still flew the Austrian Empire's banner as it levied crushing taxes upon the locals. Whenever it encountered resistance, it simply reported it as rebellion and used the Austrian Empire's army to suppress it.
Even though the Austrian Empire had road-building crews, they still forcibly conscripted locals into mountain-blasting teams. Since railways were one of Franz's most prized achievements, these men catered precisely to his tastes.
The overseers of the road-building crews were merely minor officials or low-ranking officers. How could they dare interfere in the affairs of local grandees? Besides, the crews gained more workers and the roads progressed faster—they were delighted beyond measure.
But building roads was not the sole purpose of those corrupt officials. Their true aim was to raise taxes. Anyone wishing to avoid joining a road-building crew had to pay a hefty exemption fee, or else be seized and sent into hard labor.
On top of that, these people invented more than a dozen special taxes, which together amounted to twice the Austrian