Chapter 938 Ideals and Reality

Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

Ottoman Sultan Mejid once again confirmed to his Grand Vizier that Britain and France would send troops to Austria at the same time.

"The British have announced that they will temporarily suspend the peace agreement with the Austrians for the sake of peace in Europe and the world.

The invincible British Empire fleet will return to the Mediterranean and join forces with the French to besiege Austria.

The British government expressed its willingness to support us in recovering Belgrade and Western Bosnia and is very happy to see us complete the unfinished mission of our ancestors."

The price offered by the British was very high, not only Belgrade and Western Bosnia, but even all the way to Vienna, as long as the Ottomans could eat it, it would be theirs.

But Mejid was not an idiot, he knew very well that he and his Ottoman Empire could not eat this big pie.

So he united the Obrenovic family of Serbia and the Hungarians, and the three parties got what they needed.

The Ottoman Empire recaptured Belgrade, while Serbia took back Western Bosnia, and the Hungarians would get other heritage of the Crown of St. Stephen.

The Obrenovic family was very willing to cooperate, and even provided a map of Belgrade's military deployment that they had collected.

The Obrenovic family had been operating in Belgrade for many years, and Belgrade itself was a traditional settlement of the Serbian people, so this intelligence was quite credible.

However, the Hungarians were relatively indifferent, and the Hungarian government did not give Magid a clear answer.

This was not because Kossuth felt that the Ottoman Empire was an ally that was dispensable, but on the contrary, Hungary was in urgent need of allies at this time.

The great victory of Pressburg was enough to deceive the fools in the country, but no politician or soldier would believe the nonsense of "annihilating 80,000 enemies and not breaking through the enemy's walls."

Bajany now controlled nearly half of Hungary's troops, but he could not even break through a small Pressburg.

Kossuth wanted to change his general, but Bajany was the hero of Hungary at this time, and he had pushed this hero to the altar with his own hands.

If he could not change his general, he could only continue to increase his troops or increase his allies. First of all, increasing troops was not reliable.

The first is that there are no more soldiers to be added. Hungary has a lot of troops on paper, but due to the long-term existence of a large number of empty salaries, there are no soldiers to be sent when the war really comes.

As for these new recruits who signed up enthusiastically, their combat effectiveness is extremely limited before they complete the most basic training.

The attack on Pressburg with more than 10,000 casualties is the best proof. Generally speaking, a unit may collapse if it loses more than 20%~30%.

The casualty rate of the new troops sent before was as high as 40%. This is not because they are brave, but because they have exceeded the critical value before they have time to react.

Annihilate 80,000 enemies? Kossuth would be very lucky to be able to annihilate 10,000 enemies.

However, the reality is that the total casualties of the defenders in Pressburg are less than 200. The time, place and people are all on the side of Austria, and it is difficult to win a big victory if they defend the city.

Kossuth knows very well that it is better not to fight than to continue to send new soldiers to die.

Secondly, he cannot afford to send troops.

Hungary's financial situation is very poor, especially after the establishment of the new Hungarian government, its fiscal revenue has dropped to a historical low.

Theoretically, according to the twelve principles proposed by the Hungarians, fiscal revenue should have increased at this time.

After all, the Hungarian Parliament has completely controlled the tax power at this time, and can set taxes and adjust tax rates according to its own situation. Everyone must pay taxes, including the estates and royal territories of Austrian nobles.

However, the reality is that after the Hungarian Parliament broke away from the Austrian system, those areas that originally belonged to the Crown of St. Stephen began to refuse to pay taxes to the Hungarian government.

As for the Austrian nobles and royal territories, it is even more impossible to pay taxes to the rebels, and the original tolls and tariffs are out of the question.

The two that everyone must pay taxes and can set taxes and adjust tax rates according to their own situation cannot be said to be completely contradictory, but can only be said to be played by the Hungarians.

There is no saying how much to pay taxes? Everyone can pay taxes according to their own situation, which gives everyone considerable room for operation.

Big businessmen and big factory owners, that is the future of the country, how can it develop with more taxes? So let's take a symbolic 1%.

Bankers? That is the best group of people in Hungary, the foundation of the economy! It is the confidence of the country! It must be strongly supported!

The great nobles? They cannot destroy the unity. The army is still in their hands. Besides, who among the members present here does not have a supporter behind him?

Citizens? The general public is a staunch supporter of the new Kingdom of Hungary, and is Mr. Kossuth's most important supporter.

Single-clothed nobles? They are so poor that they only have one piece of clothing left. How can they pay taxes?

So all the burdens will fall on the serfs again, but Petofi is very clear about the current situation in Hungary, and he also sympathizes with the peasants, so he has formulated a land reform plan early.

Kossuth also understands what Petofi means. Only by winning more people to fight against Austria together can Hungary increase its chances of winning.

So Kossuth once carried out the serfdom reform under great pressure, but it was not enough to just liberate the serfs. Not only were the small landlords dissatisfied, but even the serfs would rebel because they lost their source of livelihood.

At this time, Hungary's industry was too backward to feed these millions of serfs. After being liberated, the serfs were displaced, and they became the most unstable factor in Hungary.

In just a few months, the number of liberated serfs who revolted was greater than the total number of rebellions of other ethnic groups in the Crown of St. Stephen.

In order to appease the serfs, land reform had to be implemented. The serfs were satisfied, but the landlords and nobles were dissatisfied.

Especially those land capitalists who pursued efficiency and profit, they felt that it was a waste of resources to divide the land into small pieces and distribute it to the serfs.

So in order to appease the land nobles and capitalists, the Hungarian government had to adopt a redemption policy.

Then these burdens were imposed on the serfs again.

However, this could not calm the anger of the nobles and capitalists, and the new Hungarian government had no choice but to assume part of the debt.

In the face of some powerful nobles and capitalists, it was even necessary to advance the redemption money.

And the government had no money, so it could only borrow high-interest loans from bankers. Even so, not many bankers were willing to lend money to the new Hungarian government.

In addition, operations such as turning the country into a home were common. With all these things, it would be strange if the fiscal revenue of the new Kingdom of Hungary could be high.

At this time, the army of the Kingdom of Hungary was completely on loan to pay its soldiers. If it continued to increase its troops for such a large-scale war, the salaries of government officials would become a problem.

So Kossuth was in urgent need of allies, especially after the Italians and Czechs were eliminated, he felt tremendous pressure.

Kossuth believed that Hungary would be the next, so he had to unite all the forces that could be united as much as possible.