Chapter 138: Night Talk in Heaven (Part 1)
Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.
Franz successfully obtained 10.98 million florins from the Austrian Imperial Government. Of course, it was the old rule and it was still expected money.
Adjani couldn't believe her eyes. The young man in front of her had been spending money, but the money in his hands was getting more and more.
The purpose of this money is to allow more people to live a better life. Even the Austrian Imperial Government that was cheated did not suffer any actual losses. It only paid for the expected banknotes that could not be exchanged.
Solomon Rothschild's counterattack was actually defused so lightly, and his plan was completely disintegrated before it even took shape, so that most people had no way of knowing that it had ever happened.
You must know that the Rothschild family at this time can be called the sixth great power in the world, and Solomon is the head of the Rothschild family in Austria. He is such a big shot. In front of Franz, he seems to have just met. Being played with like a walking baby.
A price limit order not only shattered Solomon's dream of counterattack, but also completely collapsed the Vienna Business Alliance with a history of decades.
Every time a price limit order appeared in history, it would be accompanied by an uproar. Merchants would try their best to ship the price-limited goods abroad in order to obtain high profits.
However, this price limit order has increased the price limit to 170% of the original price, leaving a huge profit margin for merchants without starving ordinary people. However, for those merchants who want to hoard It's the end of the world, because the price limit means that all their previous efforts have been in vain.
A large number of government projects have provided new sources of income for farmers who have nothing to do, which can just fill the vacancy caused by the food crisis.
In this way, it not only solved the social problems that may be caused by too many refugees, but also solved the government projects that had been unable to be completed for many years for the Austrian Empire. The dredged rivers, re-paved roads, newly dug water conservancy and irrigation systems and other infrastructure improvements were all improved. It will ultimately better promote the economic development of the Austrian Empire.
There was just one thing that Adjani couldn't understand, and that was why Franz had to let German immigrants reclaim the wasteland of Hungary.
Doesn't he know that this will cause dissatisfaction in Hungary? Moreover, conflicts were prone to break out between German immigrants and local Hungarians, and it was difficult for the Austrian army to provide timely protection to those royal estates on Hungarian soil.
Due to strong opposition from Hungary, only the Austrian section of the Danube Dam was built. The right to build the Hungarian section of the dam was in Hungary's hands, and of course the Hungarians had to pay for it themselves.
These clamoring Hungarians, Hungarians doing things themselves, disappeared without a trace in an instant.
And someone like Széchenyi who sincerely wants good things for Hungary does not have enough strength and funds, so he is destined to build only shoddy projects.
The solution Széchenyi could think of was to let the Hungarian nobles sell the unoccupied land to the Austrian royal family, and use the unclaimed land in exchange for construction funds.
And this is what Franz hopes to see, because according to Franz's estimation, there will be more and more immigrants in Germany.
Because with the development of the German Customs Union, the contacts between German states and the Austrian Empire were also increasing, which made the Germans realize the power of the Austrian Empire.
The country they used to live in was just a city or a province in the Austrian Empire.
The fertile land in Hungary is not comparable to the barren soil in Germany.
They had only heard of this kind of fertile land in legends on the other side of the ocean. Going to the United States would cost the whole family's savings, and they were more likely to encounter storms and pirates and die at sea. Of course, they might also be deceived and become indentured slaves every day. Working in the cotton fields.
But the Austrian Empire is right in front of you. German immigrants can easily reach it by boat or train. Even if they want to regret it, they can only spend an extra train or boat ticket.
Rather than abandoning everything, risking your life, and going to the New World to gamble on an invisible future, it is better to stay in Europe and try your luck in the Austrian Empire. After all, there is nothing to lose.
Some of the Germans who came to the Austrian Empire to work hard returned to their home country after making money, perhaps to show off or to build their motherland.
After some people made money, they settled in the Austrian Empire and tried hard to bring their families to Austria.
Of course, more people are unable to integrate into Austrian society after making money. After spending all their money, they choose to go to Hungary to open up wasteland and farm.
During the same period, if the Germans who chose to immigrate to the United States were unable to integrate into local life, they would have no choice but to die.
It is not only the poor who like to work in the Austrian Empire, but also those scholars and artists who feel that their talents are underappreciated or no one cares about them. They also choose the Austrian Empire.
After all, speaking German was a big advantage in the Austrian Empire, but it was nothing at all in their own country.
At this time, the Austrian Empire, the Vienna-Prague-Dresden Railway, the Vienna-Linz-Salzburg-Munich Railway, the Vienna-Graz-Udine-Venice Railway, and the Vienna-Brno Railway had been completed.
Those under construction include Graz-Ljubljana-Trieste, Venice-Lombardy, Venice-Parma, Brno-Cracow, and Brno-Lviv.
The total length of the Austrian Empire's railways has exceeded 1,400 kilometers, which is more than twice that of France, six times that of Prussia, and nearly half of the British railways. At this time, Britain has the most railways in the world at 3,100 kilometers.
However, the railway mileage owned by Britain will soon soar to 12,000 kilometers in 1850. Instead of adding another zero, British railways will enter an explosive period in the future.
The railway construction in the United States is even more exaggerated. They will surpass the United Kingdom in 1850 and become the country with the longest railway mileage in the world, with a total length of 14,000 kilometers.
All these laid the social foundation for the future economic development of Britain and the United States.
Franz does not have such ambitious goals for the time being. He just wants to complete the railway network in the Neletania region before the arrival of 1848. The total length is about 5,000 kilometers. However, due to the numerous mountains and rivers, the amount of work is larger than it seems. Much bigger.
Franz sketched on the map for a while, then finally stopped and stared at Adjani thoughtfully.
This made Adjani feel anxious for no reason. She always felt that the child in front of her seemed to have the ability to see through everything.
Franz wished he had this ability so that he would have a lot of entertainment when he had nothing to do, but it was a pity that he didn't have it.
Franz suddenly spoke.
"Miss Adjani, Namibia, Zulu, Congo, Ethiopia, you choose one."
Adjani is a little confused. These are all African countries. What are Archduke Franz’s plans? Could it be that he plans to colonize Africa, but the Austrian Imperial Navy may not be able to support his ambitions. Neither the Regency Council nor the military will support such a proposal.
"Archduke Franz, I don't know what to choose, but I want to remind you that with the current strength of the Austrian Empire, it may be difficult to support such ambitions. Maybe Namibia can, but what's the point of that rotten land abandoned by Britain and France? What’s the value?”
"Okay, next question. If Egypt and the Ottoman Empire fought, who do you think would win?"