The Cheapest Intelligence Network

It was not Franz's intention to show his face so early; if he could, he would not mind pulling the strings from behind the scenes indefinitely.

Unfortunately, that was impossible. As the Crown Prince of the Austrian Empire, his every move was under the watchful eyes of those with ulterior motives.

Recently, Franz had been frequently engaging with the military. Had he not been so young and devoid of real power, one could only imagine the stir it would have caused.

Whether to distract from his true intentions or to build public momentum, Franz had to step into the spotlight. The difference lay in whether he was pushed onto the stage by others or stepped onto it of his own volition.

Franz did not want to be a pawn, so he chose to take the initiative at this juncture. If history remained unchanged, a revolution would erupt in Vienna in March 1848, and he would ascend the throne in December.

To avoid being smeared by the insurgents and inheriting the crown with the reputation of a butcher, Franz had to act first to shape the narrative.

Everyone held preconceived notions; once an image of a benevolent ruler was established, any attacks or smears would be in vain. At this time, the prestige of the Habsburg Family among the common people had not yet collapsed.

"Raul, how is the secret recruitment I tasked you with coming along?" Franz asked with concern.

"Your Highness, it is not going very smoothly. There are too few people who meet your requirements. So far, I have only managed to poach two individuals from the secret police, and their abilities barely meet your minimum standards!" Raul replied, looking troubled.

Franz was slightly taken aback. He had not expected recruiting intelligence personnel to be so difficult. Was his standard really too high?

He had only proposed the most basic requirements: loyalty to the imperial family, no political bias, a certain degree of intelligence, courage, alertness, and patience, as well as keen judgment—preferably with some professional skills.

He hadn't even mentioned the standard hallmarks of intelligence agents, such as personal charisma, profound knowledge, a sharp political sense, or powerful analytical capabilities.

"What exactly is it that they fail to meet?" Franz asked concernedly.

"Your Highness, there are many who meet one or a few of the criteria, but when combined, very few people can reach your requirements!" Raul thought for a moment before saying.

Franz was dumbfounded. Thinking about it, it was indeed the case; professional intelligence personnel in this era were extremely rare, and most were mere amateurs.

Building an intelligence organization was an incredibly difficult task. Even if he, as the Crown Prince, could poach talent from the government, could the loyalty of these people be guaranteed?

What if they were spies sent by others?

There was no need for doubt; even in later generations, let alone this era, professional intelligence agents had masters. If Franz wanted to build an intelligence organization, he either had to train them himself or poach them from the government.

"Do you have any suggestions? Don't hold back!"

Seeing Raul hesitate, Franz frowned and asked.

"Your Highness, actually, there is no need for you to build a separate intelligence organization. The imperial family already has one, it's just that over these years..."

Raul's words trailed off abruptly.

Franz nodded. He was aware of the imperial intelligence organization. Under normal circumstances, this organization was only responsible to the Emperor.

The scale of this intelligence organization was very small, and its scope of operations was quite narrow—mostly monitoring the domestic situation and a few neighboring countries.

After his uncle took the throne, this organization had been almost completely abandoned, and many of its intelligence agents had been poached by Prime Minister Metternich.

The loyalty of the remaining personnel was another issue worth considering.

When the Emperor was weak, if the nobles didn't take the opportunity to reach into these departments, Franz would have despised them.

This meant that the intelligence organization currently under the imperial family was, in reality, a sieve controlled by an unknown number of factions.

This was the very reason Franz had wanted to start from scratch; he wanted to build an intelligence organization that was completely loyal to himself.

Now it seemed there was no time left. The Vienna Revolution was set to erupt in a year; by the time he trained his own intelligence agents, he wouldn't even have a hair to show for it.

"Hmm, Raul, first send people to investigate which major factions have infiltrated this organization. Keep it secret. I believe there must still be people loyal to the imperial family within it!" Franz said decisively.

If all the personnel had been bought off, then the Habsburg Family might as well give up. Having been passed down since the 11th century and standing at the pinnacle of Europe, the Habsburg Family was definitely not as simple as it appeared on the surface.

Franz could infer this much from the situation in Austria. Currently, 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 surprisingly disciplined. Not to mention oppressing the imperial family, his policies were often influenced by the Vienna court.

One had to know that the most prominent representative of this generation of the imperial family, Archduke Charles, also suffered from congenital defects, with his political IQ being effectively zero.

Franz could easily obtain the support of the military, but his greatest reliance was his background: the heir of the Habsburg Family and the Crown Prince of the Austrian Empire.

Otherwise, no matter how hard he tried, it would be useless. Hadn't history shown that after the Vienna Revolution broke out, Prime Minister Metternich failed to gain the support of the military and was forced to step down?

So, the situation was not as bad as he had imagined. Perhaps these noble factions had reached into the intelligence organization, but that did not mean they had betrayed the imperial family. As long as their interests were not involved, this intelligence organization could still be used normally.

Thinking of this, Franz breathed a sigh of relief. They might have conflicts of interest on other issues, but when it came to suppressing rebellions, the great nobles of Vienna would definitely stand with the Emperor.

As for the bourgeoisie, it wasn't that Franz looked down on them, but in this era, they were not yet qualified to infiltrate this circle. One had to know that most of the members of the current intelligence organization were nobles.

Otherwise, if they hadn't received funding for over a decade, they would have disbanded long ago—what would be left?

These nobles were scattered all over the country, and through them, the imperial family could easily collect domestic intelligence; in fact, most of these personnel didn't even need to be paid.

The Habsburg Family's intelligence organization was not the Jinyiwei; aside from gathering general intelligence, it had no law enforcement power.

European nobility operated under a feudal system; the Emperor had no right to interfere in the affairs of their fiefs. Moreover, since these materials were provided by the nobles themselves, they would naturally withhold any information they didn't want the Emperor to know.

After much hesitation, Franz decided to take control of this organization first. Even a rotten intelligence organization was better than none at all; at the very least, if a rebellion broke out in the provinces, he would be the first to receive the news.

Besides, as a "poor" man like him, this was the only kind of intelligence organization he could afford to maintain.