Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 1: Reincarnation

It was late at night.

Li Mu was uncomfortable with the ice-cold iron bed, which stood out prominently against such a classically luxurious room.

"It's already been two years!" sighed Li Mu, who couldn't help it.

Yes. Li Mu had been reincarnated as Franz Josef, known by those throughout history as the old ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as well as the great love of Empress Elisabeth of Austria.

He was the grandson of Francis II, the Holy Roman Emperor, and the firstborn of Archduke Franz Karl and Princess Sophie Frederica, the daughter of Maximilian I, King of Bavaria.

(Franz Joseph I, the founder of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the last emperor of the Hapsburg dynasty, was born on August 18, 1830, crowned on December 2, 1848, and died on November 21, 1916.)

Franz's life was like a joke between him and God: in his early years, he not only lived a fairy-tale life with a stunning queen and lovely children, but he also ruled a mighty empire.

In those early days, Franz was worthy of the title of the emperor, as he made his subjects, his nation, and his people, as well as his beloved, feel secure and proud.

However, this dream would come to an end in his later years, as the situation took a sharp turn against him and rapidly deteriorated.

He suffered one disaster after another. His brother was struck down by a bullet in Mexico, his wife was stabbed to death in Geneva by an Italian anarchist, and his son took his own life at a young age.

To add to his suffering, the successor he had chosen was assassinated by the Serbian Mafia, and then the war he began in the name of revenge saw tens of millions of people die in a sea of blood. The empire, the one he had fought for his entire life, was destroyed.

Franz's uncle, the Austrian emperor Ferdinand I, had problems conceiving an heir, so Franz was raised as heir to the throne from a very young age. Because of who he would grow up to be, Franz had to say goodbye to happiness early in his childhood--to say nothing of the intoxicating pleasures enjoyed by most aristocrats, which had absolutely nothing to do with him. Instead, his life was one of studying! Franz was raised from birth to withstand the most arduous training.

After getting up at four o'clock every morning from his frozen camp bed, washing up with icy water, and praying at the stand beside his bed—for he was a devout Catholic-- he began his twelve hours of study.

This daily routine continued through many bitter winters and intense summers, without so much as an iota of change.

Right after Li Mu's reincarnation, the heavy snow covered Vienna. He thought cold showers in such frigid temperatures would be the end of him; he was utterly surprised to find, however, that he was too strong to even catch a cold.

Seven hundred days and nights were enough to change a lot of things, including Li Mu--or Franz, as he was now known. Reality brought out new strengths in people, even though Li Mu never thought he had such strong willpower before.

During those two years, Li Mu retained most of Franz's habits. Most of the time, he wondered if the memories of his previous life were even real.

After comparing the developments in history, Li Mu found, to his disappointment, that this world and the world he knew before were exactly the same—down to even small historical incidents, such as the potato shortage in the German region.

As an amateur historian, he had devoted himself to the study of Austrian history in his previous life, so he had known all too well that the appearance of a harmonious and prosperous Austria was far from a solid reality. Like a house of cards, it would all fall apart from a slight touch.

At the time, it appeared that the Austrian Empire was still in full swing: it was the leader of the Vienna Conference, the rule-maker in Europe after the war against France, the military might of Europe.

No one, except Li Mu, knew that the leading empire in Europe would crash down in the Great Revolution two years later, or that it would have been erased in 1849 had it not been needed by the other European powers.

Though it survived, the Austrian Empire saw its power wane.

Diplomatic failures led to a series of military failures. First came defeat in the Austrian-French war, followed by defeat in the Austro-Prussian War; finally, even the Italians took advantage of Austria in its weak and war-torn condition.

All those failures took a toll on the authority of the central government, and the Austrian Empire was forced to compromise and decentralize, becoming the dualistic Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Historically, the process of establishing the Austro-Hungarian Empire was full of contingencies, and Li Mu did not dare think he could handle things better than the original Franz. As a result, it became his goal to save the Austrian Empire.

Of course, he could abandon the claim to the throne and choose to be a happy rich man somewhere safe, as if he were a nobody. The problem was that after two years as an aristocrat, the spark of ambition had found its way into his heart.

Life was bitterly short, lasting mere decades at most. Why would he back down after having been reincarnated here as a leader of the era, standing on top of the world?

It was already late at night, but Franz was absorbed in the plan of saving his country, which he had revised countless times.

....

"Archduke, it is time for your class!" the maid reminded him. Her whisper woke Franz from his dream.

"I hear you!" Franz replied reluctantly.

As Li Mu was such a good student of the period's history, Franz could pass the exams in all his dozens of subjects—politics, history, philosophy, languages, religion, among others—with average scores.

"Average" meant he could achieve the passing mark on all the scores. If not, rounding up would be the answer.

Compared to his two younger brothers with whom he studied, though, Franz was definitely a good student, even a top one.

Really, the difference between them was the result of different standards: his mother, Princess Sophie, demanded the best from him, while from his two younger brothers, she demanded only average work.

In Franz's opinion, the kind of education he was given was essentially a failure. Too much content to memorize and too little time to think.

Nothing could be done about that, however, considering the family misfortune at that very moment: both his father and uncle were lacking in brains, so the inheritance of the art of imperialism handed down from generation to generation was interrupted.

All Franz's studies were arranged by Sophie, a faithful Catholic. She was exceptionally strict with Franz because of her belief that an heir to the throne must be emotionally strong and that showing emotion could prove disastrous.

In addition to his mother tongue, Franz, who could write in French at the age of 8, learned Hungarian, Czech, and Italian at 11, and dabbled in Latin and Greek at the age of 13.

Unfortunately, Li Mu didn't get the learning capability from Franz; his performance got worse and worse as he tried to live off his past knowledge.

Franz—who, as we knew from history, was proficient in eight languages and could speak almost all the national languages of the Austro-Hungarian Empire—had gone far, while now we only had this "Franz," who was struggling to keep up.