Holy Roman Empire
Chapter 25: The First Step to Save Austria

January of 1848 in Vienna was extraordinarily cold, and the ice and snow had not melted.

The cold wind blew on Franz's face, which made him shiver, and was even more unbearable to the noble officers behind him, many of whom were already shivering with cold.

If Franz hadn't been on the training ground with them, they would have run back into the house to warm up.

There were no other options for them because the glory of the nobles did not allow them to retreat at a time like this.

Lieutenant General Albrecht, who was in charge of the training, wore a satisfied smile: he hadn't expected that Franz would use this method to force the noble soldiers to participate in training.

The best time to develop a person's willpower was when the world was covered in ice and snow. Franz knew that the peaceful days in Austria were coming to an end. Once the March Revolution broke out, where would the safest place be?

There was no doubt that it would be the military camp!

Whether he would choose to suppress the rebellion, or to run away, it would always be safer to stay with the Army than in the palace.

The noble officers behind him were Franz's bottom line. Although they were seemingly not reliable at all, he had to give it a try, didn't he?

When you replace your teammates are weak, don't panic or be afraid, because, in fact, your enemies are even weaker!

This was where Franz's confidence came from: no matter how weak the City Defense Army was, it was still an army, wasn't it?

The enemy he had to face was not a world power, not even an army. They could not even equip every person with a gun!

"Stand at attention!"

"Everyone runs one lap around the training ground, and those who can't finish the task get no food this morning!"

Albrecht issued the order icily, and in the cold wind, many people were shocked to the core.

The training ground was not small, more than ten kilometers around, which meant the lap was not an easy task for these well-fed nobles.

Before anyone could say anything, Franz had taken the lead, so there was no option for the others but to keep up.

No one could be blamed but themselves. Franz had hosted these officers long before the training began.

After a few glasses of wine, they forgot completely themselves. Without thinking about it, they agreed to all Franz's requests.

That meant they had to train with the crown prince. For the glory of the nobility and all their big talk, they had to hold on.

Anyone who could not keep his promises would be the joke of the aristocratic circle! It might be okay to break promises to others, but not to the crown prince.

Many people were waiting for Franz to back down, so they could take the opportunity to ask that the training be less intense. That way, they could keep the good opinion of the crown prince without having to suffer with him.

Obviously, the final result disappointed everyone: Franz had exercised from childhood to adulthood, and he was strong enough to run far more than ten kilometers.

After breakfast began, Franz and the noble officers who had finished the race were eating bread and drinking milk, quietly looking at the large number of troops that were still marching slowly.

When someone fainted onto the ground and was carried out for treatment, everyone pointed at him, as if he was the shame of the nobles. Because of that, the rest did not dare to fake faint.

In the public eye, no one was willing to admit that he was a waste, because of the ego of nobles.

Besides, these weren't some random soldiers. Most of the people who were involved in this training were teenagers or in their twenties. Surely, the older, more cunning ones were not among them.

In Franz's view, these naive teenagers could still be trained, and they might be able to become the backbone of the Austrian Empire.

But not those older cunning soldiers: no matter how they were trained, they could not possibly change their nature. The stronger the ability, the greater the harm.

Watching the last officer finish running, Franz did not laugh, but clapped.

"Archduke, they performed so badly; why do you applaud?" An officer next to him asked Franz with feigned interest.

Against his conscience, Franz said, "No, their performance was not bad. Although the process took too long, they still insisted on completing the task, which is the quality of a true soldier. Of course, personal physical quality still needs to be strengthened!"

After listening to this, the faces around him suddenly turned from cloudy to sunny. Yes, they completed the task and kept their reputation as nobles.

To console themselves, everyone thought then that it was the core quality of a soldier to complete the order, so just forget about the overlong process.

Franz was not stupid enough to deliberately demoralize the troop. No one should look down on this group of nobles, because, in fact, their quality was not bad at all.

They, better than most of the civilian officers, had been receiving military education since their childhood. However, because there was no supervisor around, they had gradually become a bunch of slugs.

To save the Austrian Empire, he first had to save the next generation of Austrian nobles. Only when these people were strong could the Empire really become strong.

In fact, Franz had wanted to join the Army long ago. Unfortunately, he couldn't because he was too young. Even now, he was less than 18 years old. If it weren't for the outbreak of the January revolution, he would have no excuses to persuade his family.

Looking at this group of teenagers who were so easy to fool, he knew that the process of training had a long way to go.

At that moment, the time was too short already for training, or maybe adequate; however, was it enough to train a troop to deal with a mob?

Considering the fact that the government had issued the "Labor Protection Act," the majority of the public would probably not fight with the government too aggressively.

The March Revolution in Vienna in history was defused by political means. Later, the May Revolution broke out, and the government could not control the situation and made a strategic shift.

"Collection!"

Albrecht's serious voice sounded, and the officers who were resting, dragging their tired bodies, slowly lined up in order.

Looking at Albrecht's angry face, Franz knew that the general felt that his men had humiliated him.

The queue was neat, but not the mental attitude. Because of that, Franz recalled the military training at the university, when everyone had been as miserable as sin.

Suddenly Albrecht smiled, and Franz knew that someone was going to suffer.

Albrecht, holding the baton, walked down from above, and then a scream came from the queue behind. Franz took a look back and saw a fat man lying on the ground in a funny way. If you looked carefully, you would replace a footprint on his ass.

"Stop looking around!"

Albrecht's cold voice rung out, and everyone quickly withdrew their eyes. After that, everyone was more energetic. From that taste of what might happen, no one wanted to be next.

Even so, there were screams from time to time: Albrecht, waving the baton, looking for the nonstandard ones, was helping them to correct their postures.

There was no other way to choose. All the officers here were nobles. Except for Albrecht who had a high position as a commander, other instructors did not have the courage to punish them.

This moment was a rare opportunity to train them well. If he missed this chance, it would be hard even to replace them, much less train them.