Archduke Karl’s special trip to see Nikola Tesla seemed utterly incomprehensible to Tressler.
After all, the current situation was that a film they had poured their hearts and souls into had been snatched away, their market invaded,
and with Edison’s side closing in step by step, Tressler was burning with anxiety.
Anyone would feel stifled and furious.
Yet his little Highness had run off to see some seemingly unrelated, eccentric scientist.
Tesla spent the golden years of his life mostly in America.
Karl’s fixation on him did indeed seem hard to understand from an outsider’s perspective.
Nikola Tesla was a figure later rediscovered and highly praised by posterity.
In the present year of 1899, he was merely a scientist who was a bit too clever for his own good.
“Your Highness, I have never once doubted any decision made by Your Grace!
Not once!”
Perhaps Karl had inadvertently let a trace of contemplation or annoyance show on his face in the carriage on the return journey.
Tressler, ever sensitive, immediately caught it and defended himself with a look of grievance.
Tsk.
Karl clicked his tongue.
Even without doubt, having a man much older than himself standing there pouting was something Karl couldn’t possibly ignore completely.
Thinking back to his own state in his twenties in his previous life, he could understand the pressure and anxiety Tressler was feeling now.
“Tressler, one cannot achieve success through a single action alone.
Often, laying the groundwork is more important than immediate victory or defeat.”
Come, let me impart some ‘extraordinary’ wisdom to you, the kind those mediocre folks outside wouldn’t get to hear.
“I…
Is that so?”
“The net we cast today may seem insignificant, but one day it will firmly ensnare Tesla.”
Karl said meaningfully.
Tesla’s life would not be smooth sailing.
On the contrary, his later years were spent in considerable poverty and solitude.
When he grew old, his ambitions thwarted, his patronage cut off, as his body and spirit declined, he would naturally come to understand who truly understood him and had once extended goodwill towards him.
Karl would support him bit by bit in the future through embassy and consular channels, maintaining this connection.
Then, one day when the man set foot on imperial territory, he would immediately have him confined somewhere, put on the royal payroll, and left to focus solely on research.
Tesla might even be happy about it.
For that near-obsessive Tesla, this was entirely possible.
“So, Your Highness, what shall we do next specifically?”
“Now it’s time to turn back and deal with the serious business concerning Edison.”
“Yes!” Tressler’s spirits lifted.
“To involve His Majesty the Emperor is our final trump card, not to be played lightly.
Before that, we must try everything possible, mustn’t we?”
“Your Highness is most wise!”
Tressler nodded vigorously.
The Emperor was indeed the true ace in the hole, but also a double-edged sword.
“Use the media.” Karl revealed his plan.
“The media?” Tressler was taken aback.
“Yes, the media.
Newspapers.”
Karl intended to try that phrase from later eras—”According to reliable sources…”
No matter how the times change, the media has always been a synonym that those in power both love and hate.
But the American media at this turn of the century was even more crazy and less principled than the 21st-century media Karl knew from his previous life.
The two newspaper magnates, Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, were in an era competing to see who could be more unscrupulous and more Inflammatory.
One would later establish one of journalism’s highest honors, the Pulitzer Prize.
The other, with his sensationalism, would unleash the world-shaking wave of ‘yellow journalism.’
They didn’t need truth; they only needed exaggerated headlines, Inflammatory stories, and half-true reports to gather crowds, earning circulation and advertising revenue.
Even a figure like Thomas Edison steered clear of such people, unwilling to provoke them lightly.
Yet in current American society, this approach was But extremely effective.
After all, even people from the information explosion era could easily be swayed by public opinion.
In this era of uneven education levels and relatively single information channels, how much better could the general public be?
Even if it was fake, the power of the public opinion they controlled was real.
Pulitzer had even once, through a public fundraising campaign launched by his New York World, successfully raised the funds to complete the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty gifted by France, allowing the statue to stand in New York Harbor.
But crazy media couldn’t have only a good side; of course, there were also ugly examples.
Not long after, America would go to war with Spain.
The reasons for the war were complex, but one of the main Public opinion promoters was precisely the irresponsible ‘yellow journalism’ of Hearst’s newspapers.
They fabricated facts, portraying Spain as the cruel oppressor of Cuba and the instigator of war, inciteing American national sentiment and clamoring for war.
Truly Terrible guy.
When Karl became Emperor in the future, he did not intend to allow such Unscrupulous instigators to gain a foothold within Austria.
In the future order he envisioned, there was no so-called absolute, unrestricted freedom of the press, especially the kind that harmed social stability. Get faster updates on g.com.
Moreover, interestingly, Joseph Pulitzer was originally a Hungarian Jew from the Austro-Hungarian Empire who later immigrated to America.
Tsk, come to think of it, whether it’s Tesla or Pulitzer, why is it that each one of them is a bit…
not quite normal?
Even that future ‘Little Mustache’ who would bring great disaster to the world was also from the Empire…
Could it be that the Empire itself is abnormal?
Regardless, Karl wide awakely recognized that the American media at this time already possessed the status and influence sufficient to sway public opinion.
Once such ‘mad dogs’ became allies, they could instead become exceptionally reliable weapons.
In the eyes of Europe’s old aristocracy and politicians, present-day America was merely an upstart, a third-rate power.
Its economic strength, in the view of the old European continent that valued pedigree and history, was Not recognized at all.
A nation without roots, born from colonial rebellion—On what grounds?
did it deserve recognition from ancient Europe?
The centers of human civilization were still London, Paris, Vienna.
Moreover, although America was growing rapidly, even many Americans themselves had not fully realized the amazing power this country was about to unleash.
They would become Blood boiling over Damn it yellow journalism, go to war with Spain, and win easyly, until the whole world suddenly discovered that the ‘country bumpkin’ squeezed into a corner actually hideed amazing potential.
So before that, Karl intended to first gently scratch where Americans itched most—their national pride and their eager to be recognized.
The image and status of the nation ‘America’ needed to be elevated a few more notches.
Of course, through the personally ‘endorsement’ of the imperial family of the great Habsburg Family.
Anyone who didn’t like this wasn’t a true American.
A young nation without roots, born from colonies, yet actually the strongest nation hideing its strength?
Any American of the time, hearing such evaluate from a top European noble, would inevitably go crazy over it.
What nation’s people lack national pride?
Especially America—this was precisely what they subconsciously eagered most.
Karl planned, in an interview, to first ‘praise’ them, By the way boosting his own popularity with the American public.
Then, follow it up with a Tragic Accusation: ‘That Thomas Edison stole this Pitiful child’s movie!’
Using public opinion to counterattack.
“Hello, Your Noble Grace, Archduke Karl!
This is the New York World!
It is truly our honor to interview you!”
Ah, just thinking about it sent a shiver of vindictive pleasure through him.