The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 782 Restoring Rome's Glory: Our Duty Is Inescapable

According to tradition, Grand Duchess Maria Elisabeth, the mother of Mogölze, was buried in the Habsburg Royal Cemetery in Vienna.

The cemetery is located in the heart of Vienna, just a few kilometers from the Hofburg Palace.

Therefore, Archduke Karl did not need to go to Sibiu in Transylvania, but left Schönbrunn Palace in the morning and found Mogonze in the afternoon.

Unlike their Eastern counterparts who typically built mausoleums, European royalty were usually placed in sarcophagi after death and buried in dark chambers built beneath monasteries or churches.

According to Christians, churches are the closest places to heaven, and being buried in monasteries makes it easier to go to heaven.

Because of this situation, Mo Gongze said he wanted to build a hut to guard his mother's grave, but in reality, he couldn't do so. He couldn't very well live in the basement of the church.

So the place where Archduke Karl found Mogongze was a hill not far from the church.

Mo Gongze had Chinese craftsmen build an oriental-style thatched hut here, while he himself wore a plain white Taoist robe and only had a simple white cloth tied around his head.

However, his previous hairstyle was always a slightly longer European-style 4/6 parted haircut, so his hair was too thin and it looked a bit unstable when tied up.

Fortunately, it has been almost a month since the mourning period began, and Mo Gongze has not cut his hair. His hair is a bit longer than before, but it still looks quite nice and doesn't seem out of place.

“Ferdinand, you look exactly like a Seresian now,” Archduke Karl said with some emotion, looking at his cousin, whom he called Little Karl.

When Mo Gongze saw Grand Duke Karl coming over, he reached out and grabbed his head twice, easily removing the soft towel that was already loose due to his thin hair.

"This is a new era. Both the East and the West have entered a new era."

According to the tradition of the Seres, one's body and hair are given to one's parents and one should not damage them, as this is the beginning of filial piety. But actually, I have always been very concerned about my hairstyle, and I get a haircut at least once a month.

In Seris, my compatriots from my father's country are the same. When I went back last time, my uncle, the Great Emperor, had a buzz cut.

He told me that as this new era of industrialization arrives, many old ideas and customs that should be discarded should be discarded without hesitation.

All aspects of human production and daily life, even moral standards, must adapt to the current level of productive forces.

“Productive forces and relations of production—I’ve read that book.” Archduke Karl nodded, his eyes filled with admiration.

"His Majesty the Great Emperor of the East is truly a wise ruler. He is a true philosopher and thinker emperor. I think he should not be called the Emperor of Wealth and Power, but rather the Emperor of Wisdom!"

“I agree with your assessment, cousin.” Mo Gongze invited Grand Duke Karl to sit down at his simple table, personally fetched a pot of water and put it on the honeycomb briquette stove to boil. After wiping his hands, he began to deftly arrange the tea set to brew tea for Grand Duke Karl.

"When the new era arrived, the long hair of the Seres became a burden on the battlefield, as it was easily ignited. In factories, long hair was also easily caught in machines, causing accidents. Therefore, short hair quickly became the mainstream in society."

As for those who can style their hair beautifully, spending forty minutes to an hour each day to maintain it, they don't need to go to the battlefield or work in a factory, so they can naturally follow tradition.

For us Europeans, the invention of the steam engine brought steam locomotives and steam-powered sailing ships. If we make further progress, I think that fifty years from now, it wouldn't be difficult for a railway to stretch across Asia and Europe, connecting East and West.

Grand Duke Karl understood the unspoken meaning in Mo Gongze's words. He took the teacup filled with black tea and quickly and naturally added sugar, milk, lemon juice, and other things to himself.

"Ferdinand, are you suggesting that the boundaries between East and West will become blurred, or even disappear, due to convenient transportation, and that East and West will become a unified whole?"

“No, not necessarily.” Mo Gongze shook his head. “East and West are too far apart to become a whole. In fact, even the Europeans themselves will not become a whole.”

However, the Seres Empire in the east will certainly become a participant in European affairs, and the Europeans will also board the train of the Seres Empire's great development.

For example, in the Seres South Seas Mission, the English, the Portuguese, the Transylvanians under my father's rule, and even people from the United Provinces Republic—everyone had large estates and various companies in Southeast Asia, and many people made a fortune.”

Dayu is generally open, and Mo Zibu is only very wary of Indians.

India is too close to Southeast Asia and has historically had a great influence on Southeast Asian culture. If we don't control it, there could be tens of millions of Indians in Southeast Asia in the future.

However, Mozibu was not wary of Europeans at all; on the contrary, he welcomed them.

Firstly, Europe is too far away to settle down here; it's just about making money.

Secondly, Europeans are accustomed to temperate maritime climates, and for them, Southeast Asia is practically hell unless they can make a lot of money there.

Let alone them, even the people from Hebei, Shanxi, and southern Mongolia in Dayu would suffer greatly if they went to Southeast Asia.

Third, Europe has a small population and many good places to colonize. Even if you send them to Southeast Asia, not many will come. A few hundred thousand people would be washed away by tens of millions of Han Chinese, and their bloodline would become extremely diluted.

"Yes, rubber plantations in Southeast Asia are really profitable, and what's even more remarkable is that the situation is so stable."

"Ferdinand, I'll give you 20,000 rhein guilders to buy me a rubber plantation. Once the Empire's problems are resolved, I can use that income to support my medical treatment."

As Archduke Karl spoke, he made a gesture of reaching into his purse. The Rhine Shield was the currency that the Habsburgs were pushing throughout the Holy Roman Empire at the time, with the intention of controlling the economies of the various Holy Roman Empire states.

Therefore, after the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire quickly changed its currency to the Austrian crown.

Twenty thousand Rhine guilders was roughly equivalent to five thousand pounds, or about sixteen thousand silver dollars. In Southeast Asia, that would be enough to buy a small to medium-sized rubber plantation.

“Sure, but rubber workers in Southeast Asia are hard to find. The island’s natives have almost all been captured,” Mo Gongze said with a smile.

He wasn't exaggerating. These natives of Southeast Asia might not be good at farming or construction, but they were quite competent as sailors and rubber tappers.

As a result, with the imperial court turning a blind eye, there were many slave-hunting teams in Southeast Asia capturing natives.

The indigenous people of the central and eastern parts of the Greater Spice Islands (Sulawesi), the Lesser Spice Islands (Maluku Islands), and Kalimantan Island (Kalimantan) have, if not completely wiped out, at least nearly half of them have been lost.

“Some people are being quite unreasonable. Once the Second Anti-French Coalition is established, they will certainly be punished.” Grand Duke Karl did not respond to Mo Gongze, but instead spoke of another matter in a low voice.

During this Jacobin uprising in Hungary, many Hungarian nobles not only failed to offer any assistance but also secretly fueled the flames.

Although Francis II was not determined to abolish a group of nobles and change the landscape of Hungary, he was certain that he would confiscate a number of serfs from these nobles.

"I'll trade two white slaves for one," Grand Duke Karl said, and then said nothing more. Mo Gongze understood.

Mo Gongze didn't respond. At a time when Enlightenment ideas were sweeping across Europe, parliaments were being established everywhere, and monarchs were vying to associate with writers and scientists to demonstrate their enlightenment and progress, the slave trade was indeed something that couldn't be discussed openly, so it was best to say as little as possible about it.

The two fell silent for a moment before Grand Duke Karl spoke first, "I heard that the Prince wants to return to Seres, and he also wants to take Aunt Elizabeth with him?"

Mo Gongze nodded. "Father, you did all this for me. You are thousands of miles away from our country. I need someone to stand by my uncle, the Great Emperor, and fight for my interests."

As for his mother, according to the Seres people, she should be buried for peace, and the distance is too far and inconvenient, so he will be taken to Seres with her; it's just some things she left for his father.

"Please accept my condolences, my brother." Archduke Karl's eyes welled up with tears as he spoke of his aunt.

He understood that the death of his aunt, Grand Duchess Mary Elizabeth, had actually freed Mo Gongze from the constraints imposed upon him, as well as the Prince of Belgium.

From then on, the father and son would likely continue to help maintain the empire, but they would probably have little respect for Emperor Franz II.

"So, my brother, what kind of future do you want? Do you really want to be the King of the Greater Netherlands?"

After thinking for a while, the Grand Duchy of Karl said to Mo Gongze bluntly, "If it were me, I wouldn't want to be king in the Upper and Lower Netherlands, which is deeply influenced by the French regicides and is at the crossroads of Europe."

Because to truly secure the throne, one could only become a symbol with far less power than the English monarchy, much like the King of Poland. Ferdinand, are you truly willing? "Karl, my brother, if anyone else had asked me, I certainly wouldn't have told the truth, but since you've asked me, I can answer you: the King of the Greater Netherlands is indeed not a good choice." Mogongze also considered for a moment before giving Archduke Karl a fairly truthful answer.

In Mo Gongze's view, there were not many intelligent people in the Holy Roman Empire, and even fewer whom he could confide in with a sense of security. His cousin, Archduke Karl, was one of those rare individuals.

Mogongze needed a very cautious person who was closely related to both him and Franz II by blood to act as a bridge between the two.

Grand Duke Karl probably didn't expect Mo Gongze to confide in him so directly, and after a slight pause, he said:

"But Hungary is not a good choice either. The nobles are greedy and only think about seizing benefits, while the people below complain because the benefits are taken by the nobles above, and they are even ready to rebel at any time."

Furthermore, if one were to aspire to be the King of Hungary, regardless of which side one favors, it would inevitably lead to discontent among the other side and would certainly steer Hungary towards separation from Vienna.

As he spoke, Archduke Karl couldn't help but gasp, "Ferdinand, you're also a member of the Habsburg family. You wouldn't be thinking of tearing the empire apart, would you?"

In Grand Duke Karl's view, Mogongze indeed had the ability to dismantle the empire, and would soon have that ability as well.

Since his marriage to Princess Mary of England is basically settled, and given Mo Gongze's background with Seres, it's uncertain whether it will actually happen, but if he tries to sabotage it, the consequences will be truly astonishing.

"Relax, relax, my brother, I have no intention of breaking up the empire." Seeing that his cousin, Grand Duke Karl, was so nervous that he was sweating profusely, Mo Gongze quickly reassured him.

Then, looking at the distant Royal Chapel of the Capuchin in Vienna, the site of the Habsburg family's imperial tombs, Mo Gongze softly said:
"As long as my mother and my grandmother are still lying in the sarcophagus under the church, I will not come to tear down the empire, because that is their home, the home they protected their whole lives."

“Ferdinand!” Archduke Karl was moved to tears upon hearing this; he truly empathized with the situation.

The empire was at its most dangerous moment. It turned out that Ferdinand, like him, was trying his best to maintain the empire, while only his brother, that fool who could not see the threat, was squandering the empire's last vitality.

“But Ferdinand, I must say, you seem unable to solve Hungary’s problem,” Archduke Karl said after discovering that Mogonze shared the same idea.

"How could we not be able to handle it?" Mo Gongze wiped his moist eyes, burying his longing for his mother deep in his heart, and then said to Grand Duke Karl:

"The problem with Hungary is that His Majesty the Emperor is not determined to use the most resolute means to cut away the rotten flesh that has already festered within the Empire."

"You mean those Hungarian nobles?" Archduke Karl asked in a low voice.

“It is them!” Mo Gongze stood up and answered, waving his hand with a resolute expression on his face.

"These nobles occupied vast tracts of land, but never paid a single Rhine guilder in taxes. The expenses of the Kingdom of Hungary were entirely borne by merchants, citizens, workers, and poor peasants who were not nobles."

But that's not the worst part. The worst part is that they enjoyed so many benefits, yet they were powerless to suppress the resistance from the lowest levels of the empire.

I don't understand, what's the point of having nobles who have neither the ability to control public opinion nor the ability to take up arms and fight?
I have made my decision to separate Transylvania from the Kingdom of Hungary, and at the same time take with me a group of Hungarians who are willing to follow me.

In order to complete this separation, I will take the initiative to strike at those corrupt Hungarian nobles, distribute their benefits to the common people, and then use these people to form a new, vibrant, and infinitely promising Hungarian noble family.

The reason why the lower classes in the Kingdom of Hungary are constantly rebelling is simply because they have suffered too much oppression without any power or benefit. I think if I can give them a future, they will support us.

At this moment, the Mo family's attitude towards the Hungarian nobles finally changed from one of courting and relying on them to one of eliminating them!
Grand Duke Karl looked at Mo Gongze strangely, shaking his head vigorously, because although the problem was indeed as Mo Gongze described, however...

However, what the lower and middle classes of Hungary wanted was not simply a matter of the nobles having their power taken away.

If it were that simple, even if his brother, Franz II, was an incompetent man who didn't see it or dared not do it, his grandmother, Queen Theresa, who was also Mogongze's maternal grandmother, would certainly have done it.

The reason Queen Theresa couldn't do that was because satisfying the lower and middle classes of Hungary and ensuring everyone benefited was simply impossible for the Kingdom of Hungary, given its size.

Unless someone can lead them to expand their territory and seize enough benefits elsewhere.

Use forces outside the Kingdom of Hungary to rebuild the Kingdom of Hungary and create a new noble family with great power surrounding the king.

and many more!

Archduke Karl was startled. He stood up with a hint of fear, looking at Mo Gongze in disbelief. "Ferdinand, what are you thinking? You want to be Attila? Do you want to be the Scourge of God?!"

Well, a pothos is still a pothos. If we consider the Ottoman Turks, who controlled the Balkans and Asia Minor, as the Eastern Roman Empire, then all of this makes sense.

What Mo Gongze wanted to do was exactly what Attila the Hun wanted to do: unite the various Hunnic tribes, invade Constantinople, and establish a new empire.

Mo Gongze suddenly realized that he seemed to have really obtained the script of Attila the Hun, but it was a simplified version.

After all, the Scourge of God did not have the support of the two great powers of China and England, and the Byzantine Empire did not decline to the state of the Ottoman Empire as it is today.

Mo Gongze smiled, looked firmly at his cousin, Grand Duke Karl, clenched his fist, and spoke his true feelings.

“Karl, I have made my decision. After assisting the Empire in defeating France, I will annex the Principality of Modavia, then attack the Ottoman Empire to the south, reclaim Croatia from the rule of the Ottoman infidels, recover Constantinople, and restore the glory of the Roman Empire.”

"My God, my God, what am I seeing? I am seeing a Roman emperor standing before me!"

Archduke Charles was utterly shocked. As a Grand Duke of the Holy Roman Empire, he naturally had a deep affection for the name "Roman Empire."

In that instant, it felt as if the blood in Archduke Karl's body was boiling.

“Cousin, I am not Attila the Hun, the Scourge of God, but Augustus of the Roman Empire, and Basilius of all Basilius.”

I will not divide the empire. The Emperor of Vienna can remain as Caesar forever, while I will raise the banner of Augustus or Basilius in Constantinople!

“It’s truly intoxicating, it inspires endless longing, my brother! Your ambition has set the blood of every man in the Roman Empire on the brink of madness!” Archduke Charles murmured dreamily, but then he suddenly snapped back to reality.

“Ferdinand, France will not allow a true Roman Empire to emerge,” Archduke Charles warned.

"Therefore, I will use the power of the anti-French alliance to completely defeat France!"

"The Tsarist Rus' Empire considers itself the successor to the Eastern Roman Empire, and they have already fought six Russo-Turkish Wars in an effort to restore the Eastern Roman Empire."

"Then let's take down Peter I and the Rus'!" Mo Gongze said with great confidence. "My elder brother, His Highness the Crown Prince of the Seris Empire, has been in Central Asia for three years. He knows what I'm going to do and will support me in doing so."

His Highness the Crown Prince has left the center of power for the distant frontier; he must be determined to accomplish something great.

I think that once the problem of the French is solved, the Seres Empire's Imperial Guard will cross the Ural Mountains, cross the Caspian Sea, and traverse the Caucasus region to appear on the eastern shore of the Black Sea.

They will thoroughly defeat the Tsarist Russian Empire, forcing the Tsar to return to his original place, to be their Grand Duke of Moscow, their Grand Duke of Kiev!

"God, this is insane! This is so infuriating, it makes you want to go crazy with us!" Archduke Karl blushed, his steps faltering as if he had just drunk fine wine.

"Ferdinand, this is extremely dangerous. If you don't handle it properly, you could lose your family's crown, or even your life!"

Mo Gongze chuckled and said to Grand Duke Karl in Chinese, "A true man, if he cannot live a life of luxury, then he shall die a life of luxury!"

Grand Duke Karl, of course, did not understand, but he saw the answer in Mo Gongze's face: "Madman, you really are a madman, but the greatest monarchs often need this kind of madness."

I don't know if you will succeed, but Ferdinand, I will keep this secret for you and do my best to ease your relationship with Emperor Franz.

If that day ever comes, I think I'll still support you. I imagine it would be wonderful to be buried beneath the Hagia Sophia after I die!

(End of this chapter)