Chapter 418 The worst era? The best of times?

Chapter 418 The worst era? The best of times?

Prussia, Silesia.

In fact, compared to the weavers in Silesia, the workers in Lyon and the British Chartists lived a fairy-like life.

The weavers here are not only exploited by factory owners, but also exploited by subcontractors (a remnant of the guild era) and landowning aristocrats.

Weavers who want to work in factories even have to pay a special "textile tax."

Layers of oppression have turned what was once Austria's wealthiest region into a hell on earth, but it's not just exploitation that makes it a real hell.

Rather, the government ignored the life and death of the local people and allowed factory owners to continue to significantly reduce workers' wages, while also allowing businessmen to increase the prices of food and materials.

The Silesian textile industry had more than 100,000 workers at its peak, but by 1843 there were only 38,000 workers left.

In history, tens of thousands of weavers starved to death in 1842 alone, and countless others were imprisoned or died due to theft, robbery, etc.

However, in this generation Austria joined the German Customs Union and also provided very generous immigration and labor policies.

Therefore, most of the weavers who were supposed to starve to death in 1842 chose to go to Austria to survive, and the historical tragedy did not happen.

However, the increase in exchanges with Austria has intensified the dissatisfaction of this group of people. They felt that the Prussian government did not regard them as one of its own.

However, what is even more embarrassing is that the Austrians in the Lower Silesia region, which is only separated by a river, will often patrol the riverside with guns to prevent the Prussians from Upper Silesia from sneaking across.

Silesia was once a dependency of the Austrian Empire, but Upper Silesia was lost to Prussia during the War of Austrian Succession.

Coupled with the experience of the Thirty Years' War, Upper and Lower Silesians were very hostile to each other. Although only separated by the Oder River, the two sides have never been in contact with each other.

Especially when the people of Upper Silesia have been having a hard time in recent years, as a former compatriot, they are the ones who are the most ruthless.

Of course, when Austria was in decline in the past, Upper Silesians behaved in the same way.

So when Silesians prepare to go to Austria to seek life, they have to go in a big circle.

Since they could only go to Austria to work, the historical tragedy did not happen, but the tax reduction in Silesia was real.

This made the Prussian high-level officials very dissatisfied, and they threatened local buyers and Junker nobles. If taxes continue to be reduced, their privileges will be revoked.

In fact, local package buyers and Junker nobles are also worried about reduced income.

As a result, this group of people expressed their dissatisfaction to the Prussian government, that is, the weavers in Silesia had gone to Austria.

In fact, this is nothing in itself, but it depends on how you understand it.

For example, it can be understood that these Silesians are disloyal to Prussia. They would rather build Austria than work seriously on Prussian soil.

Although it was an extremely crooked understanding, it struck a chord in the hearts of William IV and the Prussian senior officials.

At this time, Prussia was obviously weaker than Austria in all aspects, especially during the Luxembourg crisis, and its chairmanship was almost unshakable.

Now even the headquarters of the German Zolls Union has moved to Vienna, and it seems that sooner or later they will also move the headquarters of the German Confederation there.

In fact, this was a complete coincidence. The headquarters of the German Zollverein and the German Confederation were temporarily rotated. It just happened to be Vienna's turn when Prussia and other countries were forcing the palace.

Of course, it is not ruled out that he would force the palace after Vienna's turn. After all, this way there would be more articles to do, and it would make Austria appear more arrogant.

The complaints of the local Junker nobles in Silesia just hit the fragile self-esteem of the Prussian top brass.

The Prussian government immediately banned unemployed workers from Silesia from traveling to Austria, and violators were subject to heavy fines.

The Prussian government's original intention was to keep people here to keep Silesia's local textile industry alive, while preventing Austria from taking advantage of its cheap labor.

Then the livelihood of these poor weavers was completely cut off. The local factory owners received government support and tried their best to squeeze out the last value of these people.

In fact, no one among the top Prussian officials saw the possible disadvantages of doing so, but at this time, Friedrich List was no longer the poor boy he had been.

He is a mature politician and naturally understands that if you want to take something, you must give it first. Only if he helps others first can others help him.

This is the price that must be paid to integrate into a new group.

Officials protect each other, this has always been the case.

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz gathered his friends together for no other reason than to spend money.

In fact, there is nothing that can be done about it, because Franz discovered a problem: the poor in Austria always spend more money than the rich.

Whether it is installment payments or dividends, the result is that the poor buy and buy like crazy, and then the rich deposit the money in the bank or continue to invest.

Compound interest is really scary. Even an interest rate of 5% can make many people invincible.

This is how the gap between rich and poor widens unintentionally, and when you come back to your senses and want to solve it, it is already an insurmountable gap.

Some people think that the country must be governed according to law. Wouldn’t it be solved by setting up a tax? Do you have the nerve to call yourself a time traveler?

In fact, Franz wanted to explain something that almost all time-travelers have done throughout the ages, but don't know why.

That's why you must do everything yourself and run your own business and enterprise instead of letting others do it to collect taxes.

Because in fact, establishing taxes has never been a problem. The difficulty is collecting taxes and how to raise them.

There are many laws in this world that have good intentions and are excellent in their formulation, but they are counterproductive when it comes to implementation.

For example, Western inheritance taxes, personal income taxes, inheritance laws, etc. have actually become laws that restrict the transformation of the middle class into large assets.

Montesquieu said, "If the rich do not live in luxury, the poor will starve to death."

Although this sentence is vulgar, it is not wrong under the monarchy.

Because money does make money, and the result of allowing capital and wealth to continue to accumulate will either be the destruction of the country or the destruction of the family. Nobles annexing land and businessmen joining forces to monopolize the market will ultimately have the same result.

Franz does not want to create a world similar to those millions of reincarnations, so for the time being he can only use hedonism and consumerism to help the development of the country's tertiary industry.

Speaking of playing, Franz decided to start a football league first. After all, it is considered a relatively mature sport, which can not only strengthen the body but also enhance national cohesion.

And history has proven that Europe prefers football relatively speaking, and other supporting facilities and publicity can be solved slowly.

As for other entertainment items, we have to rely on Franz’s friends.

After all, Franz does not belong to this era in a strict sense. Even though he was born in this era, he lives in seclusion, and the things he studies may be somewhat out of touch with the times.

I drank some wine in the evening and felt a bit uncomfortable, and what I wrote may have been a bit erratic. Just take a look.