War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

"Adjani, do you have a larger shop in my name on a busier street?"

"No." Adjani answered simply. "Didn't you sell all the shops in the city last year and replace them with ones outside the city?"

Franz then remembered that after Vienna suffered floods in history, the Austrian government carried out large-scale urban reconstruction.

Franz originally wanted to take advantage of this urban expansion opportunity to make a lot of money. At that time, the price difference between the land prices in the inner city and the outer city was nearly seven times.

However, due to the cash-for-work program implemented by Franz, the embankments throughout Vienna were reinforced and many roads were rebuilt, so everyone was living well and forgot about the renovation.

"." Franz scratched his head. It seems that he really can't flap his wings randomly, otherwise he really doesn't know what direction the world will develop in.

"Kerntenstrasse, Grabenstrasse, Meishistrasse, Hilferstrasse. These four streets are very good, especially Hilferstrasse. As you said, with the development of the railway, it changed from a slum to a phoenix nest. .”

Looking at Adjani's expression, you can tell that she must have been prepared.

"How many shops do I have on these four streets?" Franz asked.

Adjani raised her chin in a pretentious manner.

"How much, tell me."

This time it was Franz's turn to hug someone's arms and act coquettishly, but he still felt that he had earned a lot.

"Except Graben Street, I bought all the other three streets. You can buy as much as you want, so I just bought them all."

Adjani was able to buy these three streets not only because she had the money, but also because of Mrs. Sophie's face.

The only way to purchase these lands is Mrs. Sophie. If it were Adjani who went there, there is a high probability that she would not succeed. Instead, she would be questioned, and some opponents would even shoot her.

"Awesome, you have such a keen eye." Franz pointed at the map and said, now he has three of the four most profitable streets in Vienna.

Once Vienna starts to renovate, the price of these lands can definitely double.

"You haven't said what you want to do yet? Archduke Franz, do you want to open a general store?" Adjani has roughly guessed what Franz wants to do.

"You're right, but it's not just a general store, it's a department store."

"Department store?"

"That's right, it's not a large grocery store like those opened by Jews. Our shopping mall needs to be luxurious, stylish, and all-inclusive!" Franz explained.

"A very large luxury grocery store?" Adjani smiled.

Although Franz was not satisfied with this explanation, it was actually the case.

“The area near the train station has developed extremely rapidly in recent years, and people from out of town have more money in their pockets and more desire to shop.”

"That makes sense," Franz said.

"How about driving on Silver Street?" Adjani gave her suggestion without any trace, and at the same time conducted a wave of rational analysis.

"Yeah, okay." Franz then realized that he had fallen into passivity again without knowing it. Adjani's own language, movements, and ability to do things are impeccable. When people feel comfortable with her, they always can't help but think about other things.

"Well, I will go find Mr. Cina tomorrow. He is a very talented businessman, and I think he will be able to give some useful advice." Adjani said.

(Mr. Siener, the former president of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce and Industry who was promoted by Franz, is the sworn enemy of the Rothschild family.)

"Well, if he can't solve it. If you have any problems, go to me. If you have trouble, go to my mother. Do you understand?" Franz said.

"Yes." Adjani nodded.

"Then you haven't said the good news yet?" Franz asked.

"The sales of rubber shoes are very good! The military plans to purchase one million pairs at a time, and the imperial government also plans to purchase two million pairs."

Because Franz preemptively registered vulcanized rubber technology, he set up a shoe factory by the way.

A pair of qualified leather shoes in this era cost 11 florins, and even inferior grain shoes with cork soles wrapped in linen cost 5 florins.

Thanks to the advent of the sewing machine, Franz's rubber shoes cost only two florins.

Even when sold for three florins, the price was far lower than that of contemporaries' handmade shoes.

Strictly speaking, there were no shoemaking factories in this era, and shoes were usually custom-made by shoemakers. Dozens of processes for a pair of shoes are all completed by the same person, so the efficiency is naturally much lower.

Not only the price, but also the performance and practicality of rubber shoes completely surpassed the shoes of the same period.

Rubber soles have good wear resistance, non-slip, elasticity, not easy to break, good softness, good extensibility, stable shrinkage, good bending, and waterproof.

"So many?" This really shocked Franz.

"Yes, there will be more in the future! Because many soldiers said that these are the best shoes they have ever worn, and the price is more acceptable to ordinary people. I believe that in the near future, everyone in Austria will be able to wear shoes. ." Adjani said.

In this era, there are many people who cannot afford to wear shoes. Many people don't wear shoes when working or even climbing mountains. They only wear shoes when they go to the city.

In the rural areas of Austria, homemade straw sandals are the mainstream. However, although straw sandals are cheap, they are not wear-resistant and easy to break. What’s worse is that they rub the feet and can easily cause a lot of wounds on the feet, often causing bloody wounds. , very scary.

Generally speaking, wearing straw sandals requires a pair of thick socks. However, thick socks are not cheap and can be easily worn by the straw sandals.

In this era, there is still a lack of anti-inflammatory drugs. Once infection occurs at the breach, tragedy can easily occur.

"How many pairs of shoes can we make every day now?" Franz felt that the quantity was too large and he was afraid that production capacity would be insufficient.

"Before, there were less than 1,000 pairs per day. After purchasing 1,000 sewing machines, we can now make 20,000 pairs per day." Adjani answered.

"Great! This is really good news! I think we can continue to expand production capacity. After all, there are still many people in the Austrian Empire who cannot afford to wear shoes. We can also open up overseas markets." Franz was thinking about his wonderful future. plan.

However, Adjani poured cold water on him.

"Archduke Franz, now we have a problem."

"What's the problem?" Franz had a bad feeling.

"Our rubber inventory is insufficient. Counting this year's imports, we still have a gap of 1,000 tons. Brazil said that if they still want rubber, they have to send people to the depths of the rainforest, and then they cannot pay the price of 450 florins. "Calculate" Adjani hesitated.

"How much do they want?" Franz knew that he would be choked by the damn Brazilian guy.

“One thousand florins per ton, otherwise they wouldn’t risk their lives tapping rubber,” Adjani said.

"The premium is 120%! Why don't they grab it! The rubber tappers are obviously slaves, but they are said to be risking their lives." Franz was angry, but he was powerless because at this time, only Brazil produced natural rubber in the world.

Historically, in 1839, the sales volume of natural rubber in the world was only 200 tons. Franz has been hoarding rubber, so now Brazil's rubber production has more than doubled to 500 tons.

But Franz suddenly received a huge order, directly exceeding the Brazilian production limit. At this time, Franz had only two choices: either pay the money honestly and complete the order, or postpone the order to next year and wait for the price of rubber to drop before buying.