War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Vienna, Old Town Opera House.

Since this place is one of Solomon Rothschild's underground industries, any manager will not give face to ordinary officials.

Not to mention that the person in charge, Chio Rom, was different from everyone else in the theater. He was from a true noble family and even had the title of earl.

However, during the Napoleonic Wars, his family fortune was wiped out and even his family members were killed or injured. However, his family did not receive compensation after the war.

Chio Rom enjoyed prosperity and wealth in his early years, but fell into poverty in his youth. In his middle age, he met the most important "nobleman" in his life, Solomon Rothschild.

Although Solomon Rothschild's business has been poor in recent years and his reputation has plummeted, as a white glove, his business has been good.

Austria's economy has developed rapidly in recent years, and the entertainment industry has naturally made great progress. Especially the upper-class nobles and businessmen are having more and more fun.

People say that there were two emperors in Vienna, one was Emperor Ferdinand who sat in the palace, and the other was King Solomon who lived in the Caesar Hotel (now moved to the Lion's Pride Hotel).

In fact, there is another one, and that is him, Chio Rom, the King of the Night in Vienna.

But today he encountered some difficult problems. Someone wanted to buy a canary. This is not a problem, after all, performances are held every day, and guests can choose slowly.

After all, such elegant things should be done slowly...

However, this time the guest was very rude, demanding immediate service and the best products in the city.

Usually when encountering this kind of situation, Chio Rom would not be alarmed, and his subordinates would just drive the person away. If the other party dares to make a mistake, they will be arrested directly by the gendarmerie, or they will be blocked in an alley and beaten.

However, this time the person who made the request, Chio Rom, could not afford to offend him. Not only could he not afford to offend him, but Solomon might not be able to offend him at this time either.

The young man in front of him who looked to be 17 or 18 years old was the eldest grandson of Count Korolaf and the future Count Lebsteinsky.

This kind of person cannot afford to be offended. Not to mention that his family is already rich and powerful, but his personal future is also unlimited.

As a businessman, naturally he would not do this kind of thing, especially when it is too late for such a young man to curry favor, so how dare he offend him?

It’s just that Kio Rom, the King of the Night, still needs face.

"Lord Akadov, please rest assured that our products are the best in Vienna." Chio Rom gave a rare smile.

But the young man opposite didn't buy it.

"You don't understand what I'm saying, do you? I want the best in this city, everything. I'll give you a week. If you can't do it, I'll demolish this shabby house."

Although Chio Rom wanted to strangle the guy in front of him immediately, he still said with a smile on his face.

“We are not the only ones you know about Vienna.”

"Don't worry, someone has already informed you. You just need to leave the venue." Akadov said casually, but Chio Rom was not an ignorant person. He knew that this would be a huge event. business.

Soon the news spread in Vienna, and the entire aristocratic circle knew that a grand "banquet" was about to be held.

Vienna, Lion's Pride Hotel.

The news spread quickly, and Solomon thought this might be an opportunity because the buyer this time was very potential.

Solomon now likes young people with potential. Perhaps he feels increasingly powerless and always wants to pin his hopes on the future.

However, there seems to be a lack of people among his nephews who can do great things. Lionel (son of Nathan Meyer Rothschild and nephew of Solomon) may be one, but he is still too young and always seems hesitant. resolution and getting too close to the British government.

There is no doubt that this is playing with fire, Lionel's ambition is obviously not as small as he himself portrays, the young man intends to surpass his father.

Not only does he want to become the master of the British financial world, but he also wants to enter the political world and move from behind the scenes to the front.

This ambition was too ambitious, but what really made Solomon feel uneasy was whether Britain, which seemed to be at its peak at this time, would collapse in an instant like the Napoleonic empire.

At this time, Russia dominated the East, France dominated Western Europe, and had global colonial plans like Britain, and Austria, the ancient empire, was also recovering. Lionel made his bet too early.

Solomon's sons were even more useless. Not only did they have no ability, they even had no ambition. He knew very well that it would be very difficult for his descendants to maintain the family business, let alone make progress.

He might be swallowed up by his own relatives. For this reason, he must start to make arrangements for his descendants, and winning over some of the country's future nobles is a good choice.

"Grandpa!" A little girl suddenly threw herself into Solomon's arms. Hearing this sweet call made his brows relax slightly.

"Scarlett, why are you here?" The little girl snuggled into her grandfather's arms, blinking playfully.

"I came with my father." The little girl's voice was clear and crisp.

Solomon looked up at the awkward man at the door. He was Solomon's eldest son, Anselm Solomon von Rothschild, and the little girl beside him was Anselm's youngest daughter, Scarlett Rose. Childe.

Solomon did not like his eldest son, Anselm, who was a professor but not a good businessman.

Anselm started asking his father to manage the business very early. He was not useless in the original world line. On the contrary, he was Solomon's most valued child because he managed the Rothschild family's business in an orderly manner.

But due to the arrival of Franz in this life, the entire Austrian business landscape has completely changed. Anselm was completely powerless against Franz's dimensionality reduction attack, and even made mistakes in several key decisions.

Anselm lost not only money, but also confidence and self-esteem. At this time, he saw his father filled with fear.

"Father.."

"What are you doing here?" Solomon asked.

"Father, today is Scarlett's birthday, and she wants to spend it with you."

Solomon pinched his granddaughter's cute little nose and said dotingly.

"Happy birthday to you, little clever guy."

"Thank you, Grandpa." Scarlett hugged Grandpa's neck and kissed him.

"Grandpa, I got first place in the exam again."

"Really? My little Scarlett is really amazing, but don't be like your father. It will be bad if you become a fool." Anselm lowered his head lower.

Scarlett went to the Rothschild Family Genealogy School. Although there were only a few students, all of them were outstanding in Solomon's eyes, so it was not easy for her granddaughter to get the first place.

"What do you want? As long as you ask, grandpa can satisfy you."

Another side of the city.

A man wearing a black trench coat and a peaked cap was looking at the girls in the troupe with a very critical eye. It seemed that he was not selecting actors, but selecting products.

This man is not the final buyer, but the one who decides which products go on display.

Their industry also has industry standards, so-called slender legs, swan neck, and open, stretched, straight, and erect. In addition, the appearance should not be too bad.

"Open" means that the dancer opens symmetrically from the shoulders, chest, hips, knees and ankles, especially the feet should be opened 180 degrees outward.

Various foot positions and any movement require the legs to be opened outward from the hip joints. At the same time, you must have a cheerful personality, an open character, and be willing to accept new things.

"Stretching" means that the instep of any extended foot must be straight and the top of the foot should be prominent. Even if the foot shape is beautiful, it also increases the expressiveness of the foot.

You must be able to hold up your clothes when wearing them, otherwise points will be deducted.

Most of these girls have been practicing ballet since they were eight years old, or even younger. They torture their bodies to the limit every day, just so that one day they can emerge from their cocoons and become butterflies and perform on stage.

Most of them came from poor backgrounds, and women at the time were generally not considered a labor force. The only contribution they could make to the family was to "sell" themselves to the troupe.

Families who sell their daughters receive a small sum of money, usually 100 francs.

The parents of these girls will tell them to work hard before they leave and they will meet again when they can perform on stage.

In fact, this is usually a lie. Of course, there are also unscrupulous parents who wait until their children can finally perform on stage and come back to ask for money.

A small number of chosen girls were herded into carriages like ducks, and their destination was the Old Town Opera House.

A grand ballet will be held here soon, and they are told that many dignitaries will come to watch it, and the remuneration will be ten times the usual amount.

These selected girls naturally cheered for joy, and of course some interested people have already begun to compete for the position of lead dancer. Because they know very well how much gain this can bring them

Abdouniya Gifford is one of these girls. She was sent to the theater troupe at the age of six and endured almost inhuman torture for eight years before she emerged as the leader of the troupe.

She once dreamed that after dancing, there would be waves of applause and a sea of ​​flowers.

However, after Abdouniya's first performance, she understood that that was not reality at all. The reality was that if you wanted to become a principal dancer, you had to either please the fat and wretched troupe leader, or find a powerful golden man. The Lord is the backer.

Otherwise, even if he became a formal actor, he would still have to endure the torture of being hungry and having a full meal.

In front of Schönbrunn Palace, Franz dressed in civilian clothes and got into a luxury carriage.

To be honest, Franz felt stupid for doing this, but his friends all wanted him to keep a low profile.

Originally, Taffy said that he wanted to take Franz to see the goods, but the latter wanted to refuse because he thought it was a complete waste of time. However, under the strong request of the former, Franz reluctantly agreed.

However, Franz had done some research before. This opera house was the property of Solomon Rothschild. On the surface it was a theater, but in fact it was the largest black market in Vienna.

But Franz didn’t think that his friends would be related to the black market. Maybe they were just looking for “goods”.

And the destination was just an opera house in Vienna, so Franz just deployed a guard team of 500 people nearby in advance.

Franz's friends have already booked a private room on the third floor, and with a group of twenty guards, he thinks it should be foolproof.

It's just that Franz's friends don't feel so good. They feel uncomfortable all over, every hair on their body is uncomfortable.

Because Colonel Bordeaux was watching them, although Franz did not think that his friends would be detrimental to him, Colonel Bordeaux would definitely not be detrimental to him, so he still chose to believe the former.

Colonel Bordeaux was surprisingly not angry. On the contrary, he felt that this was a normal social interaction for the Grand Duke. As for disguise, it was a very wise approach, because doing so could avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble.

So Colonel Bordeaux and his men also disguised themselves, but their aesthetics still stayed in the last century. After disguise, they looked like a group of theater actors.

Although it seemed outrageous and embarrassing, there was no obstruction when entering. This was of course what Chio Rom ordered. His original words were "No matter how outrageous you see, don't stop it. Even if they come with an elephant, you must carry that elephant in with a smile." .”

Franz and his party arrived at the reserved private room smoothly, and the entire journey was so uneventful that he even felt a little bored.

Actually, come to think of it, a group of well-dressed teenagers, surrounded by a large group of guards, must be so blind that they dare to come and cause trouble.

The performance soon began, and the song "Giselle" was based on "The Story of a German Winter" by the German poet Heine.

The performance was wonderful, but Franz looked confused.

"Is this a warm-up?"

Everyone looked at each other and nodded in agreement, but Franz felt even more strange. Could it be that canaries have become a rare species that can only be purchased on the black market?

Generally speaking, coal miners like to keep this kind of bird because it may save your life at critical moments.

Toxic gases such as carbon monoxide and methane are often present under mines. These deadly gases are colorless, odorless and difficult for humans to detect, but birds have fast metabolisms, and a small amount of poisonous gas can make them comatose.

Mine workers take the canary down to the mine. As long as there is something abnormal about it, the workers can immediately detect it.

But this thing should have nothing to do with being expensive, otherwise the miners wouldn't be able to afford it.

At this time, Franz found that his group of friends who usually sneered at art were staring at the stage intently. He followed everyone's gaze and looked over, but he didn't find anything special.

In fact, Franz lacked talent for art appreciation and had no interest in things like ballet.

Soon he fell asleep, and Colonel Bordeaux kindly helped Franz put on his cloak.

After an unknown amount of time, the actors all began to take their curtain call, and Franz woke up and clapped to himself.

"Wonderful, wonderful!"

Everyone looked at each other and had no choice but to applaud too.

When Franz thought everything was over, the evil had just begun.

The glamorous dancers on the stage are indeed goods waiting to be sold off the stage.

The pure white girl on the stage and the dark gentlemen below formed a sharp contrast.

The so-called "canaries" are these young and beautiful girls.