What Franz least wanted to see had happened after all. Most economic crises throughout the nineteenth century stemmed from overproduction.
The supply of goods had exploded, yet the people's corresponding purchasing power and demand had not increased.
The outcome was almost inevitable, but the market could not adjust that quickly. Vast quantities of goods were still being poured into the market, at a pace far faster than Franz had anticipated.
The facts proved that human greed knew no end. Fortunately, Franz had stopped acquisitions in advance, and Austrian Empire factories received no subsidies, so they had not joined in and were only minimally affected.
Yet the warehouses of factories across the various states were still piled high with goods. It was not that those people had been slow to react; rather, in that atmosphere, turning back was extraordinarily difficult.
Factory orders seemed to vanish overnight, and the roar of machinery had no choice but to fall silent. Once factories shut down, wages naturally could not be paid.
Some factory owners simply hardened their hearts and dismissed all their workers outright. On one hand, it was a response to Franz; on the other, it saved expenses.
After all, workers in this era were a dime a dozen. Factories never had to worry about being unable to hire people.
Franz might not have cared about such behavior, but in Austrian eyes, it was naked provocation.
Austrians might not have cared much about the Zollverein, nor about the so-called Labor Protection Act, since they already had such things in Austria.
Yet such open defiance of the emperor and the state was utterly outrageous in Austrian eyes. To them, it was the conduct of rebels, and the provocateurs ought to pay the price.
In fact, after so many years of development, Austrians had developed