Chapter 123 Passing by
A man named Gushan Casse wrote an anonymous letter reporting Archduke Franz's misdeeds.
This letter actually got into the hands of Mrs. Sophie, which shocked her. She was shocked that she had such stupid people under her command.
"Who brought this letter?"
A maid she had brought from Bavaria stood up.
"Grand Princess, this letter is entrusted to me by my uncle."
"You can go back to Bavaria." Madam Sophie turned to Count Hussel and said, "Find the person who wrote the letter and break his legs."
Gushan Casse was the former wine cellar steward who neglected his duties. After being fired by Franz, he held a grudge and wanted to teach Franz a lesson and get his own position back.
Mrs. Sophie gave him a severe punishment, but Gushan Kasai did not back down. Instead, he later became a liberal fighter and even became friends with Alexander Bach.
Note: Alexander Bach, a famous liberal fighter in Austria, firmly opposed all policies of Prince Metternich and advocated a constitutional monarchy.
Franz watched Szechenyi leave from the window, and did not come into contact with this pioneer who once campaigned for the rise of the Hungarian nation, because it was he who opened Pandora's box and led Hungary into the abyss of civil war.
Hungary’s agricultural problems are more complex than Széchenyi thought. With the deepening specialization and commercialization of modern agriculture, its reliance on capital has also become stronger.
The big nobles and big landowners established agricultural associations, but kept farmers out because they did not want the poor to master these technologies. This should be regarded as an early technical barrier.
The land of ordinary farmers is too small and too scattered. They have no time to improve seeds, and no money to buy new technologies and agricultural machinery. They even have no channels to buy chemical fertilizers. The money they earn is just enough to survive. Life.
As for borrowing money, there were no specialized bank loans at this time, only Jewish usury.
Everyone must understand what loan sharking is, and everyone knows the risks involved, and farmers are the most risk-averse group of people in the world.
If it was just a matter of money, wouldn't Franz just gather a group of wealthy people to set up a specialized Agricultural Bank?
However, relying solely on capital cannot solve Hungary's problems, because the big nobles and big landowners not only control capital, but also control huge rights and social resources, and can even influence laws and taxes. The nobles in some areas have territorial jurisdiction.
A century-old poison cannot be eliminated overnight.
As for Kossuth, he is just a clown who emerged at the right time. He can neither solve the land problem in Hungary nor unite the ethnic minorities in Hungary.
There is absolutely no point in assassinating him. He was supported by the big nobles and big landowners, so he would naturally not take action on the land issue in Hungary, and the extreme nationalism for which he was famous made it impossible for him to treat the ethnic minorities in the country equally.
It is much better to keep the "greatest" Hungarian than to kill him and usher in an uncertain future.
Royal Academy for Women in Vienna.
Doppler and a group of physicists are debugging air conditioners with better performance. This is certainly not Franz’s plan to make a living selling air conditioners from now on. After all, this kind of extreme weather does not happen every year. What Franz values is the future of air conditioners. important role in industry.
These include making explosives and industrial printing to ensure the normal operation of precision instruments. Of course, the main function at present is just to make yourself more comfortable.
Another good news is that the high-yielding wheat hybrid experiment was finally successful. What made Franz even more excited was that the man who successfully cultivated hybrid wheat was named Mendel.
I have heard of Franz, the famous name of "Peashooter" Mendel. Although his theories were a bit advanced, Franz never felt that these advanced theories were useless. At least they laid the foundation for the advancement of agriculture and medicine. Theoretical basis.
But what disappointed Franz was that what he saw was not a fat priest, but a standard Austrian farmer, thin, somewhat hunched, and always with a flattering smile.
"Are you Father Mendel?"
"No, Grand Duke. As you can see, I am a gardener, Heinzedorff Mendel." The farmer smiled honestly.
"Mr. Mendel, would you consider staying as a gardener in my manor? You should have already received the bonus of 20,000 florins. I believe you should know that I am not a stingy person."
After Franz finished speaking, old Mendel was stunned. What he got was obviously 4,000 florins. The deacon clearly said that the Grand Duke had reduced the bonus, but 4,000 florins was still important to old Mendel, a gardener. It was a huge sum of money, but he didn't take it too seriously.
Now why does the Grand Council say it is twenty thousand florins? Old Mendel was not a fool, and he quickly understood the key.
Franz also knew how bad the officials, housekeepers and the like in this era were, but it was very disgusting that they had to rely on these people many times.
Now that Franz has figured out the details of this manor and found a replacement, he now wants to see if he needs to give the former deacon some dignity.
"Archduke Franz, your generosity is surprising, but your deacon is not generous. I only received 4,000 florins. It was originally agreed to be 5,000 florins, but before the bonus was distributed, your deacon said that you had cut the budget. , there’s only so much left.”
Old Mendel spoke frankly, but out of a bonus of 20,000 florins, he actually embezzled 16,000 florins. This deacon was really a hopeless scumbag.
"Mr. Mendel, do you have any evidence?" Franz asked pretending to be casual.
"Archduke Franz, here is the receipt for the bonus, please take a look." Old Mendel said.
This scumbag is still so careless despite having both stolen goods and stolen goods. I really don’t know how he survived all these years.
Franz turned to look at the deacon.
"Do you have anything else to say?"
".No"
"Give Mr. Mendel his money back, and then leave. Or I'll have Mr. Parrish send you to the gendarmerie and do a good inventory of your property."
The deacon was still not convinced that he had stolen the stolen goods and was caught, but he was not as persistent as Gushan Casse because Franz's punishment was already very light, so he happily returned the 16,000 florins. Mendel then quietly left.
In fact, Franz did not want to be punished so lightly, but as long as he had some relationship with the royal family, the interest relationship was so complicated that Franz was disgusted by it. For example, the deacon's uncle was the butler of Prime Minister Metternich. His grandfather was once the royal steward
"Mr. Mendel, won't you consider my proposal?"
"Archduke Franz, I am very grateful for your generosity, but my wife was ill before and I owed a large sum of money for this. Now I want to pay back the money to those kind people first."
"What happens after that?"
"I want to build a house, buy some land, hire two servants, and let my wife live a good life for a few days. She gave birth to five children for me, but she never had a good life. Then I will give my wife a good life." My younger sons are all sent to school, and my eldest son wants to learn a craft from me so that he can inherit the family business and prepare a good dowry for his daughter.”
This is the dream of a simple farmer. Franz is unwilling to break his peaceful life, and he is not the Mendel he is looking for, so he might as well bless him.