The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven Chapter 25

Schönbrunn Palace, banquet hall.

Today is the day of the royal family dinner, and Franz II is sitting at the main seat. The past year has given him a feeling of spring breeze.

The whole country is booming, and even more people are bribing him.

Seeing the eldest son Ferdinand who had to leave the venue due to a sudden epilepsy and foaming at the mouth, he couldn't help frowning.

Such an emperor seems unable to rule well, and it seems that the imperial power is about to enter a period of decline.

He looked at the second son who was playing a drunken maniac beside him, and his brows furrowed even tighter.

Archduke Franz Karl is not yelling when he is drunk. On the contrary, he is crying alone on the plate.

His gaffe annoyed Mrs. Sophie, but she couldn't do it in front of Franz II, and could only shake her husband's body lightly.

Archduke Franz Karl seemed to feel very comfortable, but instead of getting up, he made an embarrassing sound.

"Take him out, Grand Duke Franz Karl is drunk." Franz II waved his hand impatiently, signaling the attendants to hurry up.

Franz Karl's attendants sprang into action immediately and together with them carried the Grand Duke out.

Lady Sophie got up, wanting to apologize for her husband's faux pas.

But Franz II just waved her away too.

"Grandpa, I'm full." Franz also took a chance to escape.

At this time, the rules of French dinner are very troublesome, there are a lot of dishes, and the serving is slow, and you have to listen to the explanation of the chef next to you. The fat chef who is splashing with saliva really turns off Franz.

Moreover, French food is not to Franz's appetite, only rice is familiar to Franz.

Rice is served as a vegetable in French cuisine.

The steak was unknowingly cooked, and Franz couldn't bite at all. In the end, he could only cut it into small pieces with a knife and swallowed it. He almost choked, grabbed the glass next to him, and took a sip, only to find out that it was red wine.

Now Franz already feels dizzy.

Franz II wanted to keep his grandson, the only person in the family who could make him feel at ease.

It's just that he has a good face, so he has to indulge his grandson's rudeness.

All the family members left, and Franz II sat on the throne feeling lost.

The royal butler Sanborn on the side approached Franz II and said in the ear.

"Prince Metternich has sent the final payment of 1,000 gold bars to the palace. I counted the number and it is correct, but Prince Metternich said that the Bavarians want us to build a railway from Prague to Bayreuth."

Bayreuth was the economic center of Bavaria at this time, but it was more difficult to build a railway on the hilly land between the Fichtel Mountains and the Frank Jura Mountains in Bayreuth, and the cost would naturally increase a lot.

When it comes to Bavaria now, everyone always thinks of BMW, football, beer, pork knuckle, a developed economy and beautiful scenery.

However, at this time, Bavaria was notoriously a bad place in the German region. It was obviously an agricultural country, but it was importing food crazily, and it couldn't even be self-sufficient.

At the same time, it is a desert of knowledge and industry, with few factories and universities.

The people at the bottom live in poverty, but the high-level people are dissolute, and two artist kings have emerged successively.

The current King Ludwig I was a romantic man. The 36 beauties in the Beauty Gallery in Nymphenburg Palace witnessed this history, and the scandal with his mistress Lola Montes made him lose the throne.

The Bavarian government hopes that Austria will build another railway to Bayreuth, one is to promote trade and increase tax revenue, and the other is to allow Bavarians to work in Austria to increase Bavaria's wealth.

For Bavarians, Austria is the first choice when looking for a job abroad.

After all, Austria is big enough and has enough opportunities.

And in Bavaria everyone speaks German, which in Austria is a huge advantage.

Especially those young people who aspire to be officials can earn several times more wages for the same official position, and the identity of the Germans and the German language are advantages that other ethnic groups in Austria do not have.

There are also religious factors. There are many opportunities in the North German region, but the religious beliefs are different from those in the South German countries.

The shadow of the Thirty Years' War has always hung over Germany. They don't want to get up one day and be burned to ashes on the stake.

In fact, not only Bavaria, but the entire South German region has become closer to Austria since learning the news that Austria joined the German Customs Union.

However, the Bavarians proposed to build another railway to Bavaria, which made Franz II very angry.

No one is optimistic about the trade between Austria and Bavaria, and the construction of the railway to Bavaria is entirely for the purpose of doing business with the North German countries.

In the eyes of Franz II, building another railway to Bavaria was a complete waste.

From Prague to Bayreuth, there are rivers and mountains in the middle, the total length is nearly 250 kilometers, and the cost of the railway at this time is 60,000 to 70,000 florins per kilometer.

That is to say, this railway will cost more than 10 million florins, but Franz II thought again.

"Anyway, it's not me who pays for it. If you want to repair it, let those Jews repair it."

So tell Sanborn.

"Tell Metternich to let Solomon Rothschild repair it. Doesn't he like repairing railways? Let him repair enough. UUReading www.uukanshu.com"

Sanborn wisely turned and left. Franz II looked at the schedule, and tomorrow he would go to meet those relatives in Italy.

The frenzy of building railways soon spread to Austria's back garden, Central Italy.

In addition to the Papal States, the four duchies of Tuscany, Parma, Lucca, and Modena all hope to strengthen trade with Austria.

The Italian countries that started with commercial trade inevitably declined during this period of decline in Mediterranean trade.

At this time, the states of Central Italy have long since lost their former glory. The people's lives are difficult, the handicraft industry is backward, and the country lacks resources, so it is impossible to compete with the industries of the surrounding powers.

All the countries in China and Italy are facing serious fiscal deficits and continuous people's uprisings.

If Austria hadn't often sent troops to help suppress them, these small states would have been finished long ago.

These small states hope to build railways to strengthen trade with Austria, but domestic businessmen are unwilling to pay the money.

After all, the rich have distant relatives in the mountains, and the poor have no one to ask in the downtown.

Investors with real strength are unwilling to waste money on these small countries that are a thing of the past.

They are unwilling to pay for it themselves, after all, they just want to collect more taxes.

As for the so-called credit, it has long been used by them to buy luxury goods.

Now we can only pin our hopes on the emperor of Austria. After all, Franz II personally said "My Italian countries." After the Vienna Conference, it was also confirmed that Italy is the sphere of influence of Austria.

However, at this time, Franz II was having a headache because of lack of money. After all, the decline of Central Italy is now a fact.

To continue investing, or to maintain the status quo, that is the question.

Chapter end