Vienna
Prime Minister Felix said with a furrowed brow, "Your Highness, the Hungarian rebellion has now ended. However, some nobles did not participate in the rebellion, yet their lands were redistributed during the war.
According to the Land Redemption Act we issued earlier, the Austrian government must now pay a total of 2.37 billion guilders in land redemption compensation."
(1 guilder = 11.69 grams of silver)
"How can it be so much?" Franz asked in surprise.
After all, following this rebellion, nearly seventy percent of Hungary's nobility had been finished off, including those who had already kicked the bucket and those implicated in the rebellion and stripped of their titles.
Felix explained, "Your Highness, several of Hungary's great noble houses did not participate in the rebellion, and nearly half of this redemption money is to be paid to them.
Besides that, some enlightened nobles within the country are willing to relinquish their land, and we must also pay them redemption compensation.
Furthermore, there are nobles in Italy who remained loyal to us and also had their lands redistributed during the war.
Adding all these bits and pieces together, preliminary estimates put the land redemption compensation at 2.37 billion guilders. If more people continue to relinquish their land, this figure will rise further."
Franz rubbed his forehead. To encourage nobles to relinquish their land, the redemption compensation had been assessed according to market prices. Converted over, that was equivalent to 550 million taels of silver.
Clearly, the Austrian government could not produce such a vast sum all at once. Although confiscations had left the Austrian government holding a great deal of assets, those properties were not cash and could not be liquidated in the short term. The Austrian government was still poor.
Under the Land Redemption Act, the land redemption payments