Frederick VII was furious at this moment. He wanted nothing more than to tear Franz to pieces at once.
Yet Frederick VII had no choice but to cooperate with the Austrians and keep up the act, because Copenhagen was already under Austrian control in practice.
In truth, he did not care in the least whether those civilians lived or died. But Frederick VII feared that the Austrians might dispose of him as well.
The destruction of the Royal Guard dealt Frederick VII a severe blow. But everything had happened too quickly; he had not had time to stop it. He simply had not wanted to get involved in this mess.
Why had it come to this?
In Frederick VII's eyes, Jacob Biyuen and his Youth Progressive Party were nothing but a pack of useless fools who knew only how to boast. The Austrians had sent only a small force, yet they had taken Denmark's capital.
What had they been doing? It was a humiliation beyond all humiliation!
And those members of the Pro-German Faction, with the Austrian army's support, had seized power at a speed beyond imagination. Baron Kromotor had waited a long time for this day. He knew exactly where the sore spots and vital joints lay—after all, the native faction had done the same before.
They swiftly shut down several of Copenhagen's largest Danish-language newspapers. Several editors-in-chief were replaced in succession, while German-language newspapers were approved for publication again.
They took over the police system and the navy, then began purging native-faction bureaucrats and military officers. Officials and officers arrested by the Austrian army were screened, and could return to their posts only after swearing allegiance to the Confederation and the king.
Naturally, this group also knew how to soothe the people's hearts. The Pro-German Faction directly reorganized