In Vienna, unlike the gloom-shrouded Paris, the people of Austria were celebrating the arrival of the New Year.
The final grand market before the New Year had lasted for three whole weeks.
Every day, one could see grain from Hungary, fabrics from Florence, luxury goods from Venice, and various commodities from across the Empire converging here from all directions.
Vienna's municipal officials had designated areas for the vendors and dispatched city guards for frequent patrols to reduce crime and unrest.
Expansion work on the city was still ongoing; according to incomplete statistics, Vienna's population had more than quadrupled since the Emperor's accession.
Convenient transportation, coupled with the many privileges granted by the Emperor, had infinitely magnified the city's appeal.
Not just Austrians or subjects of the Empire, but many Bohemians and Hungarians had also come to settle here, injecting more vitality into the Austrian capital.
This scene of prosperity offered some comfort to Joanna, who had just returned from Tyrol, though her heart remained heavy.
On her journey, she often recalled the question Princess Helena had asked her in a town nestled within the Tyrolean valleys.
At that time, as the carriage slowly passed a dilapidated house, an old woman sat on a stone by the roadside, her face buried deep in her palms.
Such sights could be seen in many parts of Tyrol, so the innocent Helena had curiously asked her, "Your Majesty the Empress, why are they crying?"
How could she answer?
Should she tell this lovely girl that it was because her father first attacked Switzerland and then conquered France, calling for Tyrolean military service twice in five years, placing a heavy burden on these mothers and wives?
Moreover, after every major battle, the Austrian army needed to recruit reinforcements; besides Swabian soldiers, the Emperor's favorites were the Tyrolean mountain folk, so he sent people to recruit there every year.
Although many immigrants had settled there over the past decade or so to work in mines, agriculture, and animal husbandry, Tyrol's population had not shown significant growth; only the Schwyz Silver Mine settlement saw an explosion in numbers each year, while other areas experienced varying degrees of decline.
The Styrian aristocratic faction, which had prompted her early return to Vienna, was not the first group to protest to the Emperor.
She clearly remembered her husband complaining to her before his departure that the Tyrolean Estates had repeatedly resisted the war and the conscription orders, which was a major headache.
This constant sound of resentment made her realize she had to do something to put her pious and benevolent heart at ease.
To resolve her husband's worries, she already had some plans, but this was not something she could achieve alone; she needed Laszlo's permission and help.
But that was for later; for now, the most important thing was to soothe the anti-war sentiment within Austria.
She only hoped this war would not last too long, otherwise, she didn't know how she, as Empress, would face Austria's angry subjects.
The royal carriage passed through the streets, drawing many curious gazes.
When people learned the Empress had returned, they all lined the streets to welcome her.
More than a year had passed since the Emperor and Empress left Vienna, but their benevolence had never been far from the city.
Before personally leading the campaign against France, the Emperor had confirmed many of Vienna's city privileges and ordered the establishment of a specialized commercial court to handle disputes arising in guilds and markets.
Combined with the previously built Royal Road connecting Vienna and Trieste, as well as various policies to develop Vienna, the city had now replaced Prague as the second most prosperous metropolis under the Habsburg Family's rule.
As for Milan, which ranked first... it would likely take some time for the others to catch up.
Regardless of what people in other regions thought of the Emperor, Lower Austria, under the governance of the Privy Council, had undoubtedly become the Emperor's most solid power base.
After all, Styria, Outer Austria, and other places were not territories originally inherited by the Albrecht line, but the fertile land around Vienna had been passed down through Laszlo's ancestors for generations, and their sense of identification with the Emperor was significantly higher than that of people in other regions.
Amidst the cheers of the people, Joanna returned to the long-absent Hofburg Palace with more than half of the Emperor's court.
Not long after the party arrived, she met Archbishop Georg, who had hurried over upon hearing the news.
"Your Majesty the Empress, you are finally back." Seeing the Empress return safely, the Archbishop couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Although he had been ordered by the Emperor to lead the Privy Council and govern all of Austria, his authority was ultimately subject to many restrictions, and many things were not easy to handle.
For instance, this wave of anti-war sentiment stirred up by the Styrian nobles in the local Estates.
If the Emperor were in Austria now, such voices of opposition could be wiped away with a wave of his hand, without needing any effort.
But now that the Emperor was far away in Paris, more and more petitions were piling up on the Privy Council's desks, and even Baron Grafenegg, serving as the Minister of War, seemed to be affected.
This had forced Archbishop Georg to ask the Empress to return and take charge.
"Is the current situation very severe?" Joanna looked at the Chief Minister with some concern.
Although she already had experience presiding over Austrian state affairs, she was, after all, only a young woman not yet twenty; she still felt somewhat apprehensive about the opposition nobles she was about to face.
"It's not quite that bad. After all, despite the constant warfare over the years, His Majesty has never mistreated the Austrian people; at least in Upper and Lower Austria, His Majesty has undoubtedly gained the unanimous support of all Estates."
As the Court Chancellor, the Archbishop was very familiar with the public sentiment in Vienna and its surrounding direct territories.
"In recent years, His Majesty has actively encouraged land reclamation and immigration in Lower Austria, promoting the spread of iron plows and new fertilizers, allowing the tenant farmers in the royal lands to obtain more land output. Furthermore, the taxes and tributes specified in the 'Recess Agreement' have not been increased for ten years, so the people's livelihood has not been overly affected by the war.
After all, the Emperor always has other means to fill the treasury's deficits, thereby avoiding breaking his agreement with his subjects."
Speaking of this, Archbishop Georg's tone was full of admiration; he knew all too well how greedy those representatives of the Estates, who loved to take advantage of others' misfortunes, could be when a monarch was short of money.
The greatest functions of the Estates were nothing more than two: approving taxes and military service, and providing land loans to the monarch—the primitive form of what is called "national debt."
In years of continuous war, the flow of money was as important as the movement of armies; once money was lacking, even the most powerful monarch had to sit down and talk politely with those potential creditors.
For the various Estates, the 'Recess Agreement' had already forced them to give up the right to approve taxes.
However, if the Emperor ran out of money, they would have the right to approve tax increases, and the Emperor, to avoid breaking his agreement with his subjects, would certainly choose another path—loans.
As long as the Emperor borrowed money from the Estates, he would inevitably have to grant them more privileges; this was almost the underlying logic of the monarch-Estates dual system for the past century or more.
However, Emperor Laszlo had not given them this opportunity.
Although the Emperor did not directly levy taxes at will using his army like tyrannical monarchs such as Charles VII and Louis XI of France, he did his best to find new sources of revenue and ultimately filled the deficit, further weakening the role of the Estates and causing them to gradually become appendages of the royal government.
The conquest of Switzerland consumed the surplus wealth accumulated during several years of peace, including the proceeds from selling Elector seats and imperial interests, as well as tributes from various vassal states and various royal revenues.
The Crusade relied on the dowry provided by Portugal, the economic and military aid from the Holy League, the cooperation of the Imperial Princes, and extensive looting in the East; in the end, the Emperor even made a small profit.
For this campaign against France, there was the base of Burgundy's 400,000 florin dowry, followed by successive military and economic aid from the Empire and the Holy See, as well as the coordination and support provided by the Augsburg merchant guilds, allowing the Emperor to once again avoid the interference of the Estates.
Now, the various Estates of Austria couldn't even lend money to the Emperor if they wanted to. The most miserable was the Clergy Estate, which was even asked to make "donations" for the campaign against the heretical Papacy, though this was all within reason.
Even if the Emperor's cash flow were to falter one day, Austria still had plenty of royal lands that could be sold; not to mention selling local real estate, even the value of those exclaves was quite considerable.
If this continued, the role of the Estates would be further weakened, eventually succumbing completely to the power of the royal government.
To this end, the unwilling Styrian nobles decided to launch one last counterattack.
"He is indeed very good at amassing wealth," Joanna thought, feeling a bit sullen that her own dowry had been turned over by her husband for military expenses. "But since the economic burden on the subjects has not increased, what is going on with the nobles who have jumped out to oppose the war this time?"
"I think they mostly hope to gain more privileges, or at least want to reduce the tax obligations they themselves bear."
Hearing the Archbishop's answer, Joanna breathed a sigh of relief.
It was much as she had expected; these nobles never considered anyone else, and their concern from beginning to end was their own interests.
"What are the respective attitudes of the four Estates of Styria toward their claims?"
"A portion of the town representatives chose to support the aristocratic faction, the Clergy Estate approves of the war launched by the Emperor, and the nobles favored by the Emperor are fighting the opposition in the local assembly.
The Knightly Estate is quite chaotic internally, with both supporters and opponents, but overall they tend to support the Emperor."
"It doesn't sound too bad; the situation in Tyrol might be even more serious than this."
Joanna thought of the public sentiment in the Tyrolean valleys and suddenly felt that these Styrian opponents were nothing much.
On one side, local powerhouses were rising in opposition with much noise but little action; on the other, popular resentment was building up, about which Vienna knew very little, but she had seen those sorrowful women with her own eyes.
"Tyrol... did something similar happen there?"
"No, it's just that on my way back to Vienna, I witnessed the population decline and the destitute livelihoods in the state of Tyrol. If this continues, problems will surely arise.
So, I intend to use the power of the Church and the government to help those who have suffered due to the war."
"This..." Archbishop Georg was somewhat dumbfounded. He had sought the Empress to help solve the Styrian trouble, but the Empress had turned around and asked for his help instead.
Although he now headed both the government and the Church in Austria, the person who could ultimately decide everything was not him.
"This matter will likely require His Majesty the Emperor to make a decision. Let us first discuss the problem of Styria."
"Very well. Their demand is to stop the war or exempt them from the tributes they bear, which is undoubtedly unacceptable. But how should I persuade them?"
Joanna frowned in thought. These nobles were jumping out now, claiming that the war against France was of no benefit to Austria, thereby questioning the rationality and legality of the tribute as a regular military tax.
If not handled carefully, it might affect future tax policies.
"No, no, Your Majesty, you do not need to persuade them."
Joanna looked at the Archbishop with some confusion, and the latter immediately explained: "You only need to stall them. Convene a court meeting and arrange for more pro-war councilors to debate with those dissatisfied nobles, without having to respond directly to their claims."
"Stalling indefinitely isn't a solution either, is it?"
"Once His Majesty returns to the country with the grand army, all problems will be resolved smoothly."
Resolved smoothly in the literal sense—the blades of the Imperial Army do not have eyes.
"Perhaps there are some other ways..."
Joanna tried to recall what her father would do in such a situation, and what her husband would do.
"What if we send people to spread rumors, claiming these opposing nobles are colluding with the French, while threatening to sue them in the Imperial Court for violating feudal contracts? We could even charge them with defying Imperial resolutions and obstructing the war against heresy, and have you, as the Archbishop of Vienna, issue a religious decree defining this war as a pious act—how about that to make them back down?"
Archbishop Georg's expression changed slightly, staring at the pious-faced Empress in disbelief.
He found it hard to imagine that this young Empress, who was always praised by the people for her gentleness and benevolence, actually knew such tactics.
"But I fear this will only further escalate the conflict..."
"I will explain the situation to the governments of Bohemia and Hungary. The Privy Council should also strengthen the defenses of Lower Austria during this time. This way, even if the situation changes, we will not be completely defenseless."
"I understand. We shall act according to Your Majesty's plan."
"I leave these matters to you. I will inform you later when to summon those dissatisfied nobles."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
After seeing off the Chief Minister, Joanna quickly summoned the many court advisors Laszlo had left for her and arranged for them to complete their respective tasks.
With the Imperial war resolution and the Papal decree as guarantees, the legitimacy of this war was beyond reproach. Joanna decided to seize upon this point and transform those nobles who attacked the tribute into enemies of the faith and the Empire.
Considering that a purge of nobles had previously occurred in Styria, she did not believe these fellows had the courage to stir up another rebellion.
However, it was necessary to make more preparations. Now, Bohemia and Hungary each had a legion that could be deployed; although they were not the main legions, they were more than enough to quell a local rebel force.
Although before marrying the Emperor, Joanna's dream was to become a pious nun, this did not mean she would bestow her gentleness and kindness upon everyone, especially those ambitious nobles who often stirred up unrest.
Whether in Portugal, Austria, or elsewhere, nobles always brought all sorts of trouble.
Thinking this way, Joanna felt more and more that she must not be soft-hearted when facing these fellows, otherwise, that man might feel disappointed, wouldn't he?