War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

The North American version of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms that was being staged at this time made Franz very satisfied, but everything could not go according to Franz's expectations.

For example, now the United States has actually contacted Mexico, and the two sides have reached a secret agreement to jointly fight France.

That is, no matter whether France attacks either side, the other side needs to launch an attack on Texas within a month.

After defeating France, the United States and Mexico will use Austin as the boundary, and the United States will pay a redemption fee of US$10 million to Mexico.

Of course, what the Mexicans didn't know was that Martin Van Buren had signed a similar agreement with the French.

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

"What? Those two women didn't leave Franz's room all night?" Mrs. Sophie looked very angry.

The already muggy weather only added fuel to Mrs. Sophie's fire.

"Xussel! Prepare the carriage!"

Count Xussel was the only person in the room who didn't look tired. However, it still took a certain amount of courage to go out at noon.

He grabbed a glass of ice water from the table and drank it in one gulp, the ice cubes crunching in his mouth.

When they arrived at the downstairs of Franz's palace, Mrs. Sophie did not use the help of the maid, but rushed up the stairs by herself, holding up the hem of her skirt.

In the room, Thalia and Adjani were helping Franz handle the files. Franz's layout was too large, and there was no network, so it was impossible for one person to handle it.

Franz was still drawing around on a map, occasionally asking Adjani and Thalia to help find some information.

The moment the angry Mrs. Sophie opened the door, a gust of cool breeze hit her, which made her so comfortable that she couldn't help but let out a cry. Her whole body softened, and her words were not very violent.

"What did you do in Franz's room? Why didn't you leave during the night?"

Adjani also wanted to say that she was Franz's bedroom maid, and it was her duty to stand by her master's side at night...

But Thalia pointed directly to a machine on the wall that was blowing out cold air, and Mrs. Sophie understood immediately.

"Franz, did you do this?"

"Mother, this is Mr. Doubler and I, and"

Before Franz finished speaking, he was interrupted by Mrs. Sophie.

"Have you applied for a patent?"

"Well not yet." Franz replied.

"Then why don't you apply quickly?"

Mrs. Sophie glanced at Adjani, who immediately reacted and left with a pile of documents and design drawings.

Madame Sophie wanted to take out her fan to fan herself, but found that it was totally unnecessary.

"Franz, how much did this machine cost?"

"Seventy thousand florins, mother," Franz answered.

Franz's words directly choked back Mrs. Sophie's words.

Madame Sophie originally wanted to install one in her room, but now it seems she might as well forget it. Seventy thousand florins is too expensive, but she is not an ignorant woman. She knows Franz’s machine, and it doesn’t matter. I know it's much better than Queen Anna's 50,000 florin ice machine.

Thalia made a cup of tea and brought it to Mrs. Sophie with her head lowered. Although the rude behavior just now was an unintentional mistake on her part, if Mrs. Sophie were held accountable, she would definitely be severely punished.

"Grand Princess, please have tea."

Mrs. Sophie picked up the tea cup and found it was a little hot, so she poured it directly on Thalia's chest. Then she took out a handkerchief and wiped it for Thalia. While wiping it, she said in a very gentle tone.

"Really, why are you so careless? This time it was tea, next time it might be boiling oil. As someone close to Franz, you should be more careful. Go to my room, there is new tea that just arrived this year. , let Archduke Franz have a taste."

Thalia ignored the tea leaves still hanging on her chest and immediately stood up and bowed to go to Mrs. Sophie's room to get the tea leaves.

After Thalia left, Count Xussel closed the door outside.

Franz was about to speak when he was interrupted by Mrs. Sophie.

"If you don't want me to discipline your people, you'd better discipline them. Otherwise I'll use boiling oil next time. I mean what I say."

"Mother, you are too strict. It's so tiring to do this. Why bother?" Franz rubbed against Mrs. Sophie like a baby.

"Silly boy, I do it for their own good. By your side, any shortcomings in their bodies will be magnified infinitely. You are destined to become the emperor. If they are not qualified for their jobs, they'd better replace them in advance. , rather than being the scapegoat when the situation gets out of hand.”

Mrs. Sophie pinched Franz's cheek and said dotingly.

"What did you do last night? Why are the dark circles under your eyes so serious?"

What else could he do, squeezed between the two of them, used as a pillow when it was cold in the second half of the night, and the temperature rose in the morning, so Franz was pushed away in disgust. After a night of tossing, Franz Of course I didn't sleep well.

“Lately, I’ve been thinking about investing.”

"Speaking of investment, Franz, I have good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?" asked Mrs. Sophie.

"The good and bad news all stem from the same thing. I know that the weather this year is too hot."

"Yes, the good news is that food prices have risen, and the bad news is that Austria is experiencing a rare drought. Franz, is there anything you can do?"

Franz shook his head and sighed.

"No, even if there were, the price would be too high. All we can do is try to stabilize food prices and help the poor when necessary."

Madame Sophie also sighed.

"May God bless them, Amen."

"Mother, with the money from selling the grain, I hope to buy some wasteland in Hungary to resettle the poor."

"Why in Hungary? There is still a lot of wasteland in Neletania, so why buy land in Hungary?"

“Now that land in Hungary is cheap, and the wasteland in Netalegna will be developed sooner or later, where will we have the land to continue to house refugees?”

"Refugees?" Mrs. Sophie was a little confused. In fact, European countries were very repulsive to refugees at this time, because they were always the source of turmoil. The usual way that big countries solve the refugee problem is to throw them into colonies to fend for themselves.

Austria obviously does not have this condition. Of course, if Hungary can be regarded as a colony, then the problem will be much easier to solve.

Placing the refugees on the wasteland purchased by Franz will not only allow them to reclaim the wasteland, but also solve the problem of the livelihood of these refugees. This will alleviate the social unrest caused by the refugees. After all, who has enough to eat? You have to want to rebel.

As for the conflict between refugees and Hungarians, Franz is happy to see it end, because both parties can ultimately only rely on the Austrian government to resolve it. In this way, Austria can take the initiative on the Hungarian issue. When the railway is built to Hungary, maybe the Hungarian issue can be resolved peacefully.

"Yes, due to the influence of the German Customs Union, our country's ties with the German states have been greatly strengthened. At the same time, our country has no reason to prevent subjects from the German states from entering Austria. As for this disaster and the possibility of a refugee flow, we You have to be prepared for this.”

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