War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Vienna, Schonbrunn Palace

Franz didn't know about the earth-shattering events happening in the distant east. He picked up a newspaper and read it carefully.

Soon I found today's "fun". The plague broke out in London, and France promulgated an African version of the "Homestead Law". I don't know if it was stimulated by Austria.

The plague in London did not attract his attention at the time. In his subconscious, the plague was a medieval disease; after all, this disease had long since disappeared from people in the era he lived in.

Moreover, the population of London at that time exceeded one million, and all kinds of terrible industrial wastewater, permeated chemical gases, and various unknown germs and microorganisms adulterated in food could be seen everywhere.

And of course there are curses from all over the world, like the Tasmanians, the Irish, and the indigenous peoples of Africa and Asia and Oceania

Franz's table would be filled with various outbreaks of epidemics in London every year, such as typhoid, cholera, plague, dysentery, etc., so he was already used to it.

Europeans at the time even generally believed that if the Arctic melted and the ancient virus inside spread to the civilized world, it would not be surprising that only the British would survive in the end.

As for the French "Homestead Law", I had long expected it, because France had gone to any lengths to conquer Algeria.

Since the invasion of Algeria in 1830, they have never shown mercy. Not to mention all-out war and conventional means of creating no-man's land, the French's brutal policy towards Algerian civilians is appalling.

They also established a local management system similar to the Baojia system, to the effect that if one person makes a mistake, the whole village will rise to heaven. Rebels and agitators were regularly executed in markets and town centres, not by hanging, as was common in Europe, but by decapitation.

Bougueaud, the French governor in Algeria, described this behavior as "doing as the Romans do."

Since Algeria is relatively close to the French mainland, the Paris authorities have always wanted to immigrate from the mainland rather than assimilate and absorb. Algerians suffer greatly from this line of thinking.

But at that time, the French did not like to leave their homes, even if they were only separated by a sea.

Then the "smart" Bugeaud thought of a new way to close the brothels and encourage French soldiers to rape local women to increase the population.

The brutal behavior of the French shocked the journalists sent from the European continent. Franz's newspaper "Good Night, Vienna" also sent reporters.

Of course, since the relationship between the two countries is not so harmonious, most of the reporters sent there are employed French or Austrians of French descent. This will help you avoid accidents as much as possible

Although these reporters were surprised and angry, most of the reports they wrote were about how many people the French had killed today or recently, how many villages they had destroyed, how many women they had insulted, and they even invited civilized people like them to participate in this beastly act. hunting feast.

But this description is not shocking enough.

One set of data shows that since France invaded Algeria, the local population has dropped from more than 4 million to 2.3 million. The population has been almost halved in less than 20 years.

At this time, the French colonists instituted the "Homestead Law" not only to attract immigrants and increase government revenue, but also to eliminate the Algerian people's will to resist.

Paris stipulated that Algeria's wasteland would be regarded as unclaimed land, and French settlers could purchase large tracts of land here at very low prices.

In fact, due to geographical climate, technological limitations, coupled with wars and massacres, much of Algeria's land remains fallow and undeveloped.

This wave of operations directly allowed the French government to obtain 70% of Algeria's land. At the same time, local Algerians who owned their own land had to report their names, property, family information, and attitudes towards the rebels.

The French colonial authorities registered them and then announced their attitude towards the rebels outside each village. They even issued so-called "good citizen certificates", so that these people had to become lackeys of the French.

The Governor of Algeria, Bougueaud, dedicated so much land to his monarch, Louis Philippe, that the latter was so happy that he couldn't help but praise his love for the future, but the former only said it modestly.

"Algerians are too lazy. They don't deserve these lands. The glory belongs to France!"

Although the French have insufficient food production, they still choose to use high-quality farmland to continue growing grapes. After all, the returns from growing grapes are much higher than growing food.

In fact, because Europe as a whole is in a relatively peaceful rising period, people's consumption levels have actually increased, and France's high-quality red wine has always been in short supply.

But the high profits only belong to the French, and it is a disaster for the Algerians. A large number of grapes have been planted, causing local food prices to skyrocket.

This has produced a strange phenomenon, that is, the better the wine business, the harder the life of Algerians.

In other aspects, the French colonial authorities were also very inappropriate. For example, when a European reporter asked about the atrocities committed by the French army against local women in Algeria, French officials shamelessly publicly condemned the Algerian women for being too "loose", especially the black veils on their faces. , is completely a "hint".

So Governor Bugaoud asked local women to ban covering their faces with black gauze to avoid unnecessary body friction.

At the same time, the French also sold low-quality alcoholic drinks to Algeria, claiming that they were drinks and not wine. This behavior greatly damages the local social atmosphere and increases the crime rate.

But this group of French pioneers didn't care about this. They only knew that their wallets were bulging. In front of wealth, everything else is just a cloud.

In addition to Algeria, Morocco next door is not much better.

The French army adopted equally extreme measures when attacking Morocco. In fact, the King of Morocco took in Algerian refugees, which greatly aroused Bougueaud's anger.

This "loving father" of the Algerian people intends to let the Moroccans also feel his "love".

So he ordered the massacre of "Tlemcen". This city is an important border town between Morocco and Algeria and is also the base camp of the Algerian rebels.

In fact, the war between Morocco and France had been on and off before this, because the former had mastered the latter's "Achilles' heel", which was the British.

Abd al-Rahman (the Sultan of Morocco) bribed the British again and again to mediate between Morocco and France.

Before, the French were still busy with matters in Central America and Algeria. Now that they have finally freed up their hands, they will not let go of Morocco, the piece of fat that is brought to their lips.

At this time, the British Consul Lamond was also a real person. Seeing the resolute attitude of the French side, he rushed to the Moroccan Palace overnight to inform the French of their intentions and returned the bribe.

This greatly moved Abd Rahman, and what moved him even more was that the British consul planned to sell arms to him, and the price was naturally very touching.