Holy Roman Empire

The actions were not only taken by the Austrian Government, and governments across Europe joined in this feast.

Jewish capital did incite hatred, but this was a secondary factor, after all, capitalists of that era were all cut from the same cloth, none significantly nobler than the others.

The essence of the anti-Semitic movements has always been a few constant factors:

One was the intensification of social conflicts, where the rulers, in order to consolidate their power, adopted methods to shift these conflicts;

The second was being out of money and unable to repay the high-interest loans from Jewish capital, rulers who did not want to carry the bad reputation of defaulting on their debts then used the banner of anti-Semitism as an excuse to default, incidentally making a profit in the process.

Religious factors and the hatred incited by Jewish capitalists were also among the reasons for the outbreaks of anti-Semitic movements, but these had become secondary factors in more modern times.

Of course, there were exceptions. Sometimes Jewish capital truly invited trouble, often having no bottom line when it came to profits, and this did trigger numerous anti-Semitic movements, though these were mostly local.

The essence of this anti-Semitic movement was very simple, the French government was out of money, other European countries simply followed suit.

Taking the Tsarist Government as an example, after the outbreak of the anti-Semitic movement in Europe, Alexander III confiscated a great deal of property from Jewish capitalists, especially in the banking sector, where any institution with Jewish capital backgrounds were nationalized.

Well, the latter part was added by the bureaucrats.

Mainly, just over a decade ago, the Russian Empire had undergone a massive anti-Semitic movement, and now the Jewish capitalists within Russia had not yet had a chance to recover their vitality, their families simply didn't have enough assets for everyone to share.

With no other choice, everyone had just opted to escalate the issue.

Other industries were difficult to target, as they involved workers' employment issues and managing them poorly could easily cause major disturbances, the bureaucrats were greedy but also loathed complications.

The banks were an exception, as they inherently held large quantities of cash. Using the opportunity of nationalization, everyone perfectly embezzled a portion of the cash, then shifted the blame onto the Jewish capitalists.

If performed more skillfully, after a while, another excuse could be found to sell off the nationalized banks at a low price to private capital, thus skimming extra benefits from the transaction.

As for the other capitalists who were drawn into this, it all depended on whether they had strong enough support.

Those with powerful backers naturally had their properties returned; after bribing their way out, they might even join the group divvying up the spoils, seizing the opportunity to incorporate the shares left by the Jews.

Those without powerful backers, well, it was unfortunate for them; managing to preserve their own interests was considered lucky, and the unlucky ones had their assets confiscated outright.

The Tsarist Government was utterly shameless in its greed, not only did the national capitalists inside the country suffer heavy losses, but even foreign capital from England and France was not spared.

This feast continued until Austrian capital suffered losses and the Vienna Government protested to the Tsarist Government, which led Alexander III to finally intervene.

However, that was a matter of six months later. By that stage, many of the initial victims' graves were already overgrown with grass.

By comparison, Austria was still somewhat decorous. The unfortunate ones were all Jewish capitalists who had broken the law; those who abided by the law managed to escape the calamity.

Although there were very few who obeyed the laws, it didn't matter. The fact that they didn't indiscriminately eliminate everyone, or deliberately escalate matters to involve more innocent people was already quite commendable.

...

Winter had passed and spring had arrived, with the earth beginning to revive and the trees starting to sprout.

In the Vienna Palace, rows of camellia trees had already sprouted new branches, grown tender green leaves, and exuded fragrant red buds, heralding the prosperity of Austria's national fortunes.

This wonderful time was just like Franz's mood at the moment.

Looking at the revenue report passed by the Prime Minister, Franz finally understood why European countries hated the Jews and why they didn't just eliminate them all.

It's not that everyone didn't want to, they simply couldn't bear to do so. These were prime "leeks" to be harvested every few decades, each time yielding substantial profits.

If they were all eradicated in one go, what would their descendants do when they were short of money? In a way, this was a sustainable model of pig farming.

The confiscated cash wasn't too much, only less than two billion Gods Shield, but the real estate, bonds, stocks, and a series of assets such as the seized businesses and properties amounted to an astronomical figure.

According to the preliminary estimates of the Vienna Government, the value of these assets accumulated to over 3.5 billion Gods Shield.

Of course, many of these were theoretically virtual assets.

For example, if a public company's market value was 30 million Gods Shield, its actual assets might only be 10 million Gods Shield, or even just a few million.

How much these figures were inflated, no one could really tell. How the Vienna Government calculated these values was also unclear to Franz.

If they really were put up for sale, there was no way they could sell for that much money in a short period of time, they might not even reach half the estimated value.

No consortium in the world could come up with that much money, not even the Royal Consortium that Franz had created himself.

After all, wealth and cash were two different concepts. If theoretical assets were to be considered, Franz, Queen Victoria, and Alexander III would definitely rank among the top three in the world, each possessing assets worth over 10 billion Gods Shield.

However, this wealth was only nominal. Theoretically, Franz's greatest wealth was a batch of territories directly belonging to the royal family, covering tens of millions of square kilometers, which, compared to the wealth of the Royal Consortium, was really not much.

All those colonies in Britannia were theoretically the Queen's properties, and their value couldn't be estimated at all.

The same was true for Alexander III. The Russian Empire was vast enough, and the Tsarist's nominal lands spanned tens of millions of square kilometers, and even though much of this land was permafrost, it was still of great value.

If these theoretical assets could be liquidated, all the consortia in the world combined would still look weak.

Altogether, more than five thousand Jewish capitalists were involved in the case, accounting for 68.5 percent of all Jewish capitalists.

Undoubtedly, most of these five thousand people were small or medium-sized capitalists, and the real top tier of the capitalistic world was still just a minority, yet it was precisely these few who controlled the most wealth.

According to the compiled data, the top ten richest had assets exceeding 100 million Gods Shield, and the wealthiest 100 controlled wealth exceeding 2.5 billion Gods Shield, with the least wealthy still surpassing a million.

There's no denying it, those singled out were doomed. Though legally processed, their substantial wealth was the motivation for the Vienna Government to dig into their dark histories.

This much money was legally obtained, and whether others believed it or not, Franz certainly did not.

One could refer to the Habsburg Family, a royal lineage that has lasted for centuries; before Franz took over, all their combined assets didn't even reach one billion of today's Gods Shield currency.

This has nothing to do with effort, it's more about the limitations of the productive forces of the era. There's only so much total wealth in society, and no matter how successful your business is, there is a cap.

There were just too many files piled up behind, and Franz couldn't be bothered to flip through them anymore, after all, he wasn't a judge, and it wasn't his job to try criminals.

Putting down the file he was holding, Franz asked curiously, "According to the current laws and regulations, how would these people be sentenced?"

Prime Minister Carl replied with a bitter smile, "In fact, there are far more people suspected of crimes than this list suggests, and this list is already a result of the government going easy on them.

For those with minor involvement, we just fined them without including them in this list.

According to the current law, everyone on this list is looking at a minimum of ten years. Over half of them could be sentenced to hanging."

This is only based on investigations following reports from whistleblowers without delving too deeply into other criminal activities. Otherwise, I seriously doubt any of them would survive."

Hearing this answer, Franz was also stunned. Isn't this the real-life version of the adage 'kill nine out of ten capitalists, and one escapes'?

Franz had reason to believe that those who escaped did not do so because of their clean backgrounds or because they were lucky, but rather because too many people were involved.

In order to minimize political fallout, the Vienna Government could not execute thousands at once and can only target the "fat sheep" and those "guilty of the most heinous crimes."

The reason for this situation has to do with the laws of Austria. Compared to later times, the legal penalties in those days were much more severe.

After all, it was the nobility in power, and they were naturally unforgiving toward the bourgeoisie who could threaten their status.

A simple example, in Austria, egregious hoarding could result in the confiscation of all property and even decapitation.

Bribing government officials, regardless of the severity, means both the bribe taker and the briber are equally guilty, receiving the same prison sentence.

Bribing multiple officials is tragic, as the prison terms are cumulative and have no upper limit.

If unlucky, and a bribed official is later sentenced to death, then without question, you directly receive a prison term of one hundred years.

Is this fair?

Definitely not, but this world is inherently unfair.

Concerning power struggles and in order to curb the spread of corruption, Franz still opted to turn a blind eye.

Moreover, there was a loophole; to escape punishment, one had to turn informant.

Reporting the officials you have bribed could reduce your sentence. In theory, reporting several could offset the crime, and after paying a fine, you could be released from prison.

This led to every major anti-corruption case involving a significant number of people.

In Austria, whether bribing or being bribed, it was a high-risk activity. To date, the record for the longest prison sentence issued is three thousand four hundred sixteen years,

Franz asked nervously, "How many officials are involved?"

Now he was genuinely scared, fearing another bombshell might explode that would make this year's record high.

There was no choice, the dignity of the law had to be upheld. Once discovered, it must be dealt with, and Franz would not use pardons for these scum.

Prime Minister Carl answered with his head down, "Up to now, a total of four thousand eight hundred sixty-four civil servants have surrendered to the Anti-Corruption Bureau, submitting dirty money totaling thirteen million four hundred seventy thousand Gods Shield.

How many officials are involved is still under investigation. There have been many criminals reporting to the government, but due to a lack of evidence, cases cannot be directly initiated."

Hearing this answer, Franz breathed a sigh of relief.

With a large number of people involved and significant amounts involved, but the average bribe per person not being substantial, plus the reduction for turning themselves in, most of these culprits could be dealt with internally.

Confiscating the dirty money, dismissing them from public office, and assigning varying lengths of mandatory labor, the issue would pass, thankfully avoiding a massive bloodshed.

As for the stubborn culprits uncovered, they would just have to be made examples of.

Franz had a premonition that these unrepentant criminals were mostly those guilty of the most egregious crimes, as ordinary people caught would not resist to the bitter end.

"Investigate! No matter who is involved, investigate thoroughly. This time, no criminal is to be treated with leniency."

Capturing so many Jewish capitalists without government officials being affected would hardly be believable to anyone.

The minor fish who turned themselves in do not count, the big fish have yet to surface. Franz did not believe that Jewish capital in Austria had no foundations whatsoever.

The success of this action by the Vienna Government was because they caught them unprepared, and nobody knew the government would wield the law as a weapon.

After all, Austria lacks both of the core elements of an anti-Jewish movement; the Vienna Government neither needs to divert social conflicts nor is it experiencing fiscal difficulties.

Based on past experiences, European anti-Jewish movements begin with violence, and the Vienna Government had shown no signs before acting.

Especially since the government had bolstered the police force to prevent public extremists from anti-Jewish actions, many people felt reassured.

This illusion of experience misled the judgment of Jewish capitalists. The Vienna Government made no prior announcements and suddenly issued arrest orders, leaving no time for them to react.

The power of money is substantial, but no amount of money holds significant value in the face of state machinery.

The networks of relationships and connections built over the days now crumbled to nothing; at least until now, Franz had not encountered anyone pleading on behalf of Jewish capitalists.

Not initiating does not mean it doesn't exist. Those lightly involved could seize the chance to dissociate themselves from Jewish capitalists, but those already bound together would find it difficult to leave now.

If he couldn't remove these Jewish capitalist moles buried in the government, Franz would not be able to sleep.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

...