1853.
Vienna, Hofburg Palace.
At the long-awaited imperial council, someone had finally raised an objection to Franz's orders after so long.
"Your Majesty, your grand ambition is admirable. But we are spending far too much! Prussia's annual education budget stands at 3.5 million Thalers—roughly 4.2168 million Florins—which already ranks fourth in Europe.
"Yet last year, our spending on education and educational infrastructure was fifteen times that of Prussia.
"And our population is only three times Prussia's. In other words, our citizens are receiving five times the education funding of Prussia's citizens."
Prince Schwarzenberg wiped away his sweat and continued.
"Your Majesty, there are too many things that require investment: too many railways, roads, and rivers that need repairing, as well as far too many colonies and wars that never cease even for a moment.
"Forgive my bluntness, but even our national strength cannot withstand such consumption."
Baron Bruck, the Minister of Finance, nodded as well.
"Our fiscal deficit is steadily increasing. Even though the imperial household injects funds into the government every year, this situation cannot be sustained for more than a few years.
"Unless another country is willing to lend us money, our domestic financial system is far too depressed to shoulder such a burden."
In fact, Baron Bruck had also laid out the specific figures Prince Schwarzenberg had mentioned. The Austrian Empire's railway mileage had surpassed Britain's 15,000 kilometers, reaching 16,000 kilometers and rising to second place in the world.
Although there was still some gap between it and the United States, which possessed 20,000 kilometers of railway, that gap would only grow larger in the foreseeable future.
The United States' land area and geographical advantages were utterly beyond comparison with those of the Austrian Empire. Yet within Europe alone, the Austrian Empire's railway mileage now amounted to