It hadn't been Franz's intention to step into the limelight so early. If he could, he wouldn't have minded staying behind the scenes and pulling the strings.
Unfortunately, that was impossible. As the crown prince of the Austrian Empire, every move he made was watched by people with an interest in him.
Recently, Franz had been in frequent contact with the military. If he hadn't still been so young and lacking in power, who knew what a storm he might have caused by now?
Whether to divert attention or build public support, Franz had to step into the spotlight. The difference was whether someone pushed him into it or he chose to step forward himself.
Franz didn't want to be a pawn, so he chose to strike first at this time. If history hadn't changed, Vienna would erupt in revolution in March 1848, and he would ascend the throne that December.
To avoid being branded a butcher by the rebels and ascending the throne under that stain, Franz had no choice but to build public support in advance.
Everyone was swayed by first impressions. As long as he cultivated the image of a benevolent ruler, any attack or smear campaign would be futile. At this point, the Austrian royal family still enjoyed a good reputation among the people.
"Raul, how is the secret recruitment I asked you to handle going?" Franz asked with concern.
"Your Highness, it hasn't gone very smoothly. Very few people meet your requirements. So far, I've only managed to poach two people from the secret police, and they barely meet your minimum standards!" Raul replied awkwardly.
Franz was taken aback. He hadn't expected recruiting intelligence agents to be so difficult. Had he really set the bar too high?
He had only laid out the most basic requirements: loyalty to the royal family, no political leanings, some intelligence, courage, alertness, and patience, along with sound judgment. Preferably, they should also have some professional expertise.
He hadn't even asked for the standard qualities of intelligence agents: a certain personal bearing, extensive knowledge, a keen political sense, and strong analytical skills.
"What requirements are they failing to meet most often?" Franz asked with concern.
"Your Highness, plenty of people meet one or even several of those requirements. But put them all together, and hardly anyone can meet your standards," Raul said after a moment's thought.
Franz was dumbfounded. Thinking it over, he realized that was indeed the case. Professional intelligence agents were exceedingly rare in this era; most were amateurs.
Building an intelligence organization was an extremely difficult undertaking. Even if he, as crown prince, could poach people from the government, could he be sure of their loyalty?
What if they were spies sent by someone else?
There was no doubt about it. Not only in this era, but even in later times, professional intelligence agents were already in someone's employ. If Franz wanted to establish an intelligence organization, he would have to either train his own people or poach them from the government.
"What do you suggest? Don't hold back!"
Seeing Raul hesitate to speak, Franz frowned and asked.
"Your Highness, you don't actually need to set up an intelligence organization of your own. The royal family already has one. It's just that over the past few years..."
Raul's voice trailed off.
Franz nodded. He knew about the royal family's intelligence organization. Under normal circumstances, it answered only to the emperor.
The organization was small, and its remit was limited. It mainly monitored the situation at home, along with a few neighboring countries.
After his uncle ascended the throne, the organization had fallen into disuse. Prime Minister Metternich had poached many of its agents.
How many of those who remained were still loyal? That was a question worth considering.
When the emperor was timid, Franz would have looked down on the nobles if they hadn't taken the opportunity to reach into these departments.
That meant the intelligence organization under the royal family had, in reality, become a sieve, with an unknown number of factions having their hands in it.
Franz had wanted to build a new organization from scratch from the very beginning for exactly this reason. He wanted to create one that was completely loyal to him.
It seemed there was no time left. The Vienna Revolution would break out in another year. By the time he had trained his agents, there wouldn't be so much as a hair left for him to find.
"Fine. Raul, have someone investigate which powerful factions have infiltrated this organization. Do it in secret. I'm sure there are still people in there who are loyal to the royal family!" Franz said firmly.
If every last agent had been bought off, then the Habsburg Family might as well pack it in. Having endured from the eleventh century to the present and stood at the pinnacle of Europe all this time, the Habsburg Family was certainly more than it seemed.
Franz could infer as much from the situation in Austria. His uncle, Ferdinand I, was unable to handle state affairs, and power had fallen into the hands of Prime Minister Metternich.
Yet this powerful minister was almost unnaturally well behaved. He not only refrained from oppressing the royal family, but his policies were often influenced by the Vienna Court.
It was worth remembering that the most prominent member of the royal family in this generation, Archduke Charles, also had congenital defects and virtually no political intelligence.
Franz's ability to win the military's support so easily rested above all on his birth: he was the Habsburg heir and crown prince of the Austrian Empire.
Otherwise, no matter how hard he tried, it would have been useless. Hadn't history shown that after the Vienna Revolution broke out, Prime Minister Metternich failed to win the military's support and was forced to step down?
So the situation wasn't as bad as he had imagined. The nobles might have reached into the intelligence organization, but that didn't mean they had betrayed the royal family. As long as their interests weren't involved, the organization could still function normally.
Thinking of that, Franz let out a sigh of relief. They might have conflicting interests on other matters, but when it came to suppressing a rebellion, Vienna's great nobles would absolutely stand with the emperor.
As for the bourgeoisie, Franz wasn't looking down on them. In this era, they weren't yet in a position to infiltrate the organization. Most of its members were nobles, after all.
Otherwise, if it had gone without funding for more than a decade, it would have disbanded long ago. What would have been left?
These nobles were scattered throughout the country. Through them, the royal family could easily gather intelligence from across the country, and most of them didn't even need to be paid.
The Habsburg Family's intelligence organization wasn't the Imperial Guards. Aside from gathering ordinary intelligence, it had no law-enforcement powers at all.
European nobles held their lands as fiefs. The emperor couldn't even interfere in what went on inside their territories. Besides, they were the ones providing this information. Of course, they would simply conceal anything they didn't want the emperor to know.
After much deliberation, Franz decided to take control of the organization first and worry about the rest later. Even a poor intelligence organization was better than none at all. At least if a rebellion broke out somewhere, he would hear about it right away.
Besides, a pauper like him could only afford to maintain an organization like this.
Before you continue