Chapter 567 Faith and Business
Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.
Franz was still very satisfied with the battle in Alsace-Lorraine. After all, the French were much weaker than he thought. As for rifled weapons such as hot air balloons, it was only a matter of time before they were discovered as long as they were put into use.
After this war is over, I'm afraid the French will carry out a wave of military reforms, if they learn their lessons.
It sounds a bit magical. Prussia planned to bring Alsace-Lorraine (the French) to join the German Customs Union, but it was vetoed by Hanover (the British).
Although the Austrian Empire did not calm down throughout 1844 and was constantly involved in disputes, its economic growth did not slow down, but showed leapfrog growth. Industry finally surpassed agriculture, and the annual fiscal revenue is expected to exceed The half-billion-florin mark.
It’s hard to imagine that just ten years ago this country’s industrial output was only one-tenth that of agriculture, but now industry has overwhelmed agricultural output and continues to do so.
Ten years ago, the country's fiscal revenue exceeded 100 million florins. The income of state civil servants has not increased in more than 30 years, but in the past ten years, their wages have increased twelve times, which is 2.25 times the previous level.
In the past, soldiers not only had the lowest job, but also had no guarantee of life. No matter how brave they were, the final outcome was just blood and tears. Now these people are regarded as heroes and receive the treatment they deserve, even after leaving the army. It is also possible to support oneself.
(The salary of soldiers at that time was very low. Even if Franz improved a lot, it was difficult for most of them to be associated with wealth.
You can refer to the current situation of future generations of veterans who have served less than 20 years in the US military. These people have no pensions, no medical insurance, and can only receive a subsidy that is enough for 2-5 years of expenses.
A significant number of them are unable to support themselves. They were the main source of vagrants and gangsters in society at that time. )
The journey from the northernmost tip of Bohemia to Dalmatia, which once took a hundred days, can now be completed in just one day by train.
It takes half a year to get from the northernmost tip of the Po River plain to the mountains of Transylvania, but only 40 hours at this time.
In October Heine finally published the famous long poem "The Weaver's Song of Silesia":
"There are no tears in melancholy eyes,
They sat at the loom and gritted their teeth:
Germany, we weave your shroud,
We weave in a triple curse—
We weave, we weave!
One curse curses God,
We prayed to Him when we were hungry and cold;
Hope and expectation are in vain,
But was teased, teased, and deceived by him——
We weave, we weave!
A curse for the rich king,
He cares nothing for our pain,
He scratched off our few cents,
Shoot us like dogs—
We weave, we weave!
A curse to the hypocritical motherland Germany,
There is shamelessness and depravity everywhere,
The good flowers are picked early,
The moldy garbage is full of maggots——
We weave, we weave!
The shuttle seems to be flying, the loom creaks,
We weave non-stop, and we are so nervous day and night——
Old Germany, weave your shroud,
We have woven in a triple curse,
We weave, we weave! "
Although "informed people" knew that Heine was criticizing Prussia, the German Confederation received an additional 100 critical hits.
Then, driven by Prussia, this famous long poem fell out of favor in Germany, but became popular in the defeated France.
Although Heine himself was extremely reluctant, Louis Philippe cordially received this "citizen of Paris" and called him "a model of French artists."
Franz couldn't help but began to worry about the IQ of His Majesty the King, who had an additional identity due to the Alsace-Lorraine incident, that is, the German Duke of Alsace-Lorraine.
The refugees from Silesia had a new home in Austria. Most of them found new jobs and started a new life. Of course, some of them were buried in this new land, or became their burial grounds. People (priests).
Some of these people were indeed not qualified for most jobs in the Austrian Empire due to their physical condition and learning abilities. But it is still possible to become a low-level missionary to "save" more people like them.
In short, the work of these people is promotion and intermediary. The reason why Franz is able to control the church so firmly is not just as simple as the archbishop's personal recognition of being a born saint.
Relationships always require the maintenance of interests. For example, the church's most important "Holy Glory" company and "Purified Water" company are industries that cooperate with Franz. (I’ve written about it before, so I won’t go into details here.)
In fact, one of the two companies sells bleaching powder, while the other sells medical alcohol.
Although they appear to be two low-end industries, in fact these two companies have contributed more to Austria's public health and medical services than all doctors in Austria, and the income they create is self-evident.
Bleaching powder and the new habit of drinking hot water reduced waterborne infectious diseases by 95%, cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, hepatitis E, dracunculiasis, typhoid, acute diarrhea, tapeworm cysticercosis
These infectious diseases that frequently broke out in European large cities at this time were extremely rare in the large cities of the Austrian Empire.
During the same period, there were many large-scale plague outbreaks in London and Paris, especially the former which had multiple cholera outbreaks in 1844.
As for why there is no Berlin? Because Berlin was not a big city at that time. In 1844, Berlin's population was only over 200,000, which was less than a fraction of London's population.
At the same time, due to the compulsory promotion of medical alcohol handwashing, the surgical mortality rate in the Austrian Empire dropped off a cliff. The number of patients who had to have their limbs amputated due to postoperative infection was greatly reduced. At the same time, the neonatal and maternal mortality rates were also much lower than in other European countries.
Moreover, with the application of sanitary conditions and anesthetic gases, medicine in the Austrian Empire has also developed by leaps and bounds, especially in the field of surgery, which has completely reached a height that other countries cannot reach at this time.
These achievements come from those inconspicuous gadgets and the efforts of inconspicuous little people.
However, these achievements are not enough. The remote cities of the Austrian Empire are still so backward that they need someone to promote these things and popularize this knowledge.
And no one is more suitable than these priests with firm beliefs. As long as they believe that they are doing the right thing and let them see the achievements they have made, after all, there is nothing more powerful than believing that what they are doing is right. Convincing.
These people are not afraid of any risks, obstacles, or even the cold eyes of the world, and can even be self-motivated, self-enchanted, and self-evolved.
Of course, in addition to bleaching powder and medical alcohol, Franz also has a lot of new gadgets, such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap in the modern sense, as well as modern hygiene knowledge and anti-fraud knowledge.
As long as the stubbornness of these people is used in the right place, it can also play a role in promoting history.
In addition to selling products, promoting common sense, and spreading the idea of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, these people can also shoulder the responsibilities of neighborhood committee aunts, such as supervision, reporting, preaching, collecting intelligence, coordinating neighbor relations, etc.
The most important thing should be to help new immigrants better adapt to life in the Austrian Empire, and at the same time help them find their right place and completely integrate into the Austrian Empire.
At the same time, church organizations are also expanding, such as alms halls at train stations, missionary stations abroad, etc.
In particular, it would be more convincing to let these once most useless people receive the desperate new immigrants.