Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 463: Inverting Right and Wrong

Hearing the president’s question, Caren was startled but quickly concealed her nervousness, replying, “We’ve reached a general consensus, but some details are yet to be settled.”

Pretorius, maintaining his composure, said, “I see. You may go now.”

His voice carried a hint of worry, clearly indicating his inner turmoil. Pretorius was no saint; he couldn’t remain completely detached in the face of personal interests.

Caren’s expression hadn’t escaped his notice. If his suspicions were correct, this confidant of his had likely been in contact with the Austrians, possibly even betraying him.

Being intelligent enough to reach his current position, Pretorius naturally wouldn’t try to verify whether Caren had betrayed him or not.

At this point, it didn’t matter anymore. Even if she had remained loyal to him, refusing the Austrians’ bribes and confessing everything to him, what difference would it make?

Pretorius couldn’t do anything against the Austrians and he couldn’t even protest to the Austrian government. He would lose even the last of his preferential treatment if they openly fell out.

If the negotiations between the domestic power players and the Austrians weren’t going smoothly, he as president might still have a role to play. But now that everything was proceeding smoothly, he was no longer needed.

Initially, Pretorius had planned to negotiate with the Austrians in the name of the government, to secure more favorable political positions for everyone.

Reality was a harsh slap in the face. After the Austrian government began to divide and win people over, they changed their stance one by one. How could the benefits gained by the country compare to personal gains?

Merging the two Boer republics and joining the Holy Roman Empire as a state would indeed secure better political status.

However, this way, their personal gains would be minimal. Without making significant contributions, dreaming of becoming nobility was futile!

Although privileges were restricted, noble titles were still very tempting in this era. After Franz made his offer, many people’s attitudes changed.

Since the Austrian government insisted on removing the republics, and resistance was futile, why not sell out the Boer republics in exchange for a noble title and become a lord in the Holy Roman Empire?

As for the future of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State, what did that matter to them?

They were either Dutch or German, once members of the Holy Roman Empire, and now they were simply returning to their ancestral country.

Even President Pretorius wasn’t prepared to fight Austria to the bitter end, so how could he expect others to do so?

Not long ago, the British had contacted anti-Austrian forces, which were then seized upon by pro-Austrian factions as an opportunity to launch a political offensive, completely driving them out of the center of power.

If Pretorius hadn’t been smart enough to decisively reject the British, the presidency would have changed hands by now.

At present, what Pretorius most hoped for was British intervention. Only if the situation spiraled out of control would there be room for him as president to play a role, and incidentally, to sell himself at a good price.

There was no choice; now anyone could sell out the country, except for him as the president. Otherwise, even if he became a noble, he wouldn’t be able to fit into the aristocratic circle.

Nobles also needed a reputation, especially new nobles. The first step to integrate into the circle was to cleanse their image and establish legitimacy.

Pretorius didn’t want to exit the political stage just yet, so naturally, he couldn’t actively approach them. Apart from privately indicating his stance to the Austrian government, he couldn’t do anything publicly.

Under normal circumstances, after joining Austria, he would become the Governor-General of Austrian South Africa. Once the power transition was complete, he could retire to the homeland with a noble title.

To become a governor with real power, the British would have to invade, and Austria would then need him to stabilize the situation.

For his own interests, Pretorius had made preparations. Since defeating the Zulus, he had intentionally neglected military readiness.

On one hand, this was to show the Austrian government his lack of ambition; on the other hand, it exposed a weakness to the British, attempting to lure them into action.

The South African strategy proposed by Governor Delf to the British government was based on this premise.

It’s worth noting that due to Austria’s influx of immigrants to the Boer republics, the current strength of the two Boer republics far exceeded their counterparts in the original timeline at this time.

If fully armed, combined with Austria’s power in South Africa, the British, even allied with the Portuguese, wouldn’t have much chance of victory.

…

In an estate in Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal Republic, former president Schoeman was hosting Viscount Falkner, the Austrian representative.

No one would turn down more merits. Since the Austrian government decided to annex the two Boer republics, the nobles on the African continent had sprung into action.

Viscount Falkner, who had made his fortune by establishing colonies, naturally didn’t want to be left behind. Although he had recently advanced from hereditary baron to hereditary viscount, further advancement seemed almost impossible.

Living off past accomplishments wasn’t a problem, but he had too many sons!

The eldest would naturally inherit the title and most of the estate, while the two younger sons would only get a portion of the property, becoming branches of nobility dependent on their elder brother. Their next generation would then be commoners.

The doting former Baron naturally didn’t want to see this happen. The great and merciful Emperor Franz had considered this problem for them in advance.

He allowed them to earn merits and acquire more noble titles, while also permitting them to apply for these titles to be inherited separately by multiple heirs.

Of course, the inheritors must be in a parent-child relationship. For other inheritance situations, they could only follow the original title inheritance laws.

The main purpose was to curb the buying and selling of titles. According to the new nobility law, nobles could only sell their titles to the Austrian government, and private transactions of titles were prohibited.

There was no choice; the world never lacks prodigal sons. If a title auction were to emerge, the impact on the noble system would be unimaginable.

To avoid this worst-case scenario, Franz directly cut off hereditary title transactions at the source. There was no need to worry about non-hereditary noble titles, as they couldn’t be inherited anyway.

If a prodigal son really wanted to sell, the Austrian government was open to buying back, offering very high prices.

The lowest rank of hereditary knight was worth 50,000 guilders while the highest rank of kingship was priced at an astronomical 10 million guilders.

Of course, this only applied to titles bestowed by Franz, and they had to be reclaimed along with the fiefs. Empty titles would certainly be discounted.

For titles granted before this, pricing would be based on actual circumstances. Basically, Franz recognized all titles granted by the Habsburg dynasty, while those bestowed by others were bought back at bargain prices. Foreign titles were not included in the buyback scheme.

With the value established, everyone became even more enthusiastic about noble titles. The powers of great nobles were restricted, and the vassal nobles they appointed were no longer recognized by the state.

This included several state kings; they too could no longer arbitrarily grant nobility. The empire would not recognize those ennobled without sufficient merit.

From the initial quota restrictions to the current merit assessment, Franz successfully took away the right to grant titles from the state kings.

Selling a title wasn’t a simple matter either. It required the agreement of all legal heirs, which was almost impossible.

Nobles had a large group of relatives. No matter how far down the line of succession, as long as they had inheritance rights, even indirect ones, they were heirs. It wasn’t impossible for a single title to have over a thousand heirs.

This inheritance relationship was probably enough to drive people crazy. Expecting everyone to agree was as likely as expecting them all to drop dead at once.

Viscount Falkner said elegantly, “Mr. Schoeman, we must accelerate our pace. From what I know, our neighbors, the British, are training native troops and might cause trouble.

His Majesty doesn’t want to see a chaotic South Africa, so we must act preemptively. Once the merger is complete, the British won’t dare to make any small moves.”

This was the hidden rule among the great powers; in colonial activities, everyone was intentionally controlling the scope of conflicts.

Before a colony was actually controlled, it was considered no man’s land, and everyone could use their own methods. Once it came under another’s actual control, any action would be considered an invasion.

Generally, this situation wouldn’t occur, and if it did, it meant war.

If they didn’t want to confront directly, even if they wanted to grab territory, they would usually only act covertly to squeeze the other party out.

If everyone hadn’t been exercising restraint in colonial activities, with so many conflicts occurring between countries, the major colonial empires would have long been fighting a devastating war.

Schoeman had been the acting president of the Transvaal Republic for a while. Although his personal reputation wasn’t great, he wielded considerable power.

Due to a business encounter, he had met Viscount Falkner by chance, with the two merely being acquaintances. Under normal circumstances, this level of relationship was barely different from being strangers.

However, as the situation changed, the two were brought together again.

Viscount Falkner needed to win over the power players in the Transvaal Republic to join the Austrian colonial system. Meanwhile, Schoeman needed to establish connections with Austria to protect his own interests in the new era.

The two hit it off immediately, instantly becoming “good” friends.

Having decided to side with Austria, Schoeman naturally didn’t hesitate. After some thought, he replied, “Your Lordship, I will expedite the process. However, this still requires some time. Public opinion is just beginning to be shaped, and we need to accumulate momentum for a while before reaching its peak.

If we act prematurely, unexpected issues might arise. After all, there are still some ‘flies’ that haven’t been cleaned up, and their existence poses a potential threat.”

Political struggles rarely involve complete elimination, but this time was clearly an exception. To create the grand spectacle of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State’s people unanimously demanding to return to the Holy Roman Empire, it was necessary to remove all potential threats.

This concerned Emperor Franz’s reputation. Directly annexing two independent countries would create a terrible impression. Using the pretext of the Holy Roman Empire’s subjects requesting to return to their motherland would make the whole affair look much better.

After all, tracing back their ancestry, the Boers were originally from the Holy Roman Empire, and their cultural traditions were in line with it. There was no fear of anyone picking holes in this narrative. As long as they themselves insisted on returning to their motherland, the legal issues would be perfectly resolved.

If it weren’t for concerns about appearances, the Austrian government wouldn’t need to go to such lengths as a direct military takeover would have been more convenient.

Even if the current Boer republics wanted to resist militarily, they would first have to consider whether their German-descended soldiers might suddenly switch sides.

Viscount Falkner said sternly, “These flies must be swatted to death. Since they dare to collude with the British and betray the empire, they must pay a bloody price.”

On the issue of protecting imperial interests, Viscount Falkner’s stance was very firm. In his view, any traitor deserved death.

Although these people weren’t actually Austrians and there was no so-called betrayal, standing in opposition to the empire meant they had to die.

Austria now needed to kill the chicken to scare the monkey. Otherwise, how could they intimidate these newly-allied fence-sitters?

Falkner didn’t believe these people, who could sell out their own country, would have much loyalty to Austria. The best method, naturally, was to make them too afraid to betray.

Making them personally eliminate the anti-Austrian faction would both serve as a pledge of allegiance and make them understand the price of opposing Austria.

Smart people always make choices that benefit themselves most, and Schoeman was a smart person. Even knowing this was Viscount Falkner’s scheme, he decided to play dumb.

He immediately guaranteed, “Your Lordship, please rest assured. We will root out all these spies lurking within the empire and bring them to justice!”

Heaven knows when the anti-Austrian faction within the Boer republics had suddenly become British spies, or how they had infiltrated the Holy Roman Empire.

If they were to discuss traitors, it seemed they themselves were more fitting of the description. They directly handed over the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State to Austria in exchange for personal benefits.

Viscount Falkner smiled slightly, raising his wine glass and saying, “Then I shall congratulate you in advance, future Baron Schoeman.”

After speaking, he clinked glasses with Schoeman and drank it all in one gulp, as if truly happy for his friend’s acquisition of a title.

The cunning Schoeman could no longer maintain his composure, instantly breaking into a smile. In this era, crossing from commoner to nobility was no easy feat, let alone becoming a hereditary noble.

Previously, both parties had agreed on terms: as long as a smooth transition was completed, Schoeman would become a Baron with a fief.

Schoeman replied with a slightly trembling voice, “Thank you, Your Lordship!”

There was no choice; they weren’t true friends before, so formality was necessary.

However, the future might be different. Viscount Falkner wouldn’t befriend a commoner, but he wouldn’t reject friendship with a noble.

Status determined their mode of interaction. Since Schoeman was willing to cooperate, he was now one of their own.

In high spirits, Falkner, considering their slight acquaintance, advised, “Old friend, you now need an etiquette teacher. After matters here are settled, you’ll need to go to Vienna to receive His Majesty’s investiture to become a true noble.

There can’t be the slightest mistake during the noble investiture ceremony, otherwise, you’ll become a laughingstock among the nobility, never able to hold your head high again.

Although the government will arrange an etiquette teacher, the learning time will be too short. To ensure everything goes smoothly, you’d better start learning in advance.”

This was true. Committing a faux pas during the noble investiture ceremony had severe consequences and would be seen as a sign of poor breeding.

At best, it would lead to public embarrassment and becoming the butt of jokes in noble circles; at worst, it could result in directly losing the title.

Schoeman’s face changed dramatically as he hurriedly thanked Viscount Falkner.