In fact, excluding the nobility was not a cost-effective choice for Franz. Moreover, the boundary between nobles and commoners in the Austrian Empire was not absolute; outstanding individuals could be fully absorbed into the ranks of the nobility.
Another more widespread and traditional approach was the staff system. Great nobles served as commanding officers, holding power and controlling the army, while commoner elites acted as staff officers, providing the actual plans.
At the same time, to prevent great nobles from monopolizing power, kings often required both sides to report directly to themselves. Then, every order had to be jointly signed by the two before it could take effect.
With the slightest provocation, the two sides would be swept into a whirlpool of infighting. After all, one side saw the other as incompetent deadweight, while the other saw its counterpart as an insolent bookworm.
As the two sides despised and monitored each other, the king's power became secure.
But one could tell at a glance that this model would not last in the long run. It worked well enough internally, but once it encountered a powerful enemy or a chaotic melee, it would most likely play itself to death.
It could neither make swift decisions nor clearly assign responsibility. Aside from internal attrition, it offered no benefits at all.
Unless there was an emperor with a God's-eye view, capable of carrying out precise micro-management at every moment, who would never tire and never slacken.
Of course, politicians and advisers throughout history had also recognized its flaws, so they divided it into peacetime and wartime systems.
Yet the Austro-Hungarian Empire in history told them that patches were useless. This system might have been an excellent political solution, but militarily, it was poison through and through.
Besides, noble officers were not necessarily inferior