"Is it just Moldova?"

In the box of the Vienna Opera House, Princess Sisi sat with the king of the Urals, the Russian Grand Duke Zhou Chun.

"Just Moldova!"

Zhou Dagong confessed, but his eyes did not take away from the dancing ballet dancers, the troupe of the Bolshoi Theater Ballet with him on a tour of Austria.

Dagong Zhou likes ballet, mainly the girls who like to dance, and he loves these girls.

As for whether Sankovskaya, who played the Cherkosky girl, played it well, he didn't care.

For the actor who played the Russian aristocrat in the captive of "The Captive of the Caucasus", he was not even half impressed, and he had not seen each other a few times.

"We can return Bessarabia."

Princess Sisi said solemnly, in the current state of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it is impossible to defend Russia alone. Having just fought a war with Prussia, Austria-Hungary did not have the cheekiness to ask Prussia for protection.

With the exception of Hungary, which occupies the central plain, the vast majority of the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is now vested in the Austrian royal family, of course, in the same state of royal power. The current empire nominally consists of two separate parts, the Kingdom of Hungary, ruled by the crown territory known as St. Stephen. The crown was still on the head of the Habsburgs, and the Hungarians were willing to recognize the Habsburgs' royal power, but they needed to be independent and exercise power under a constitutional monarchy.

The rest of the territories became kingdoms and territories represented by the Imperial Diet, including three kingdoms, the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Dalmatia (roughly equivalent to Croatia), and the Kingdom of Galicia-Lodomeria (Galicia and Western Ukraine); including nine principalities, the Duchy of Austria, the Duchy of Bukovina, the Duchy of Carinthia, the Duchy of Carniola, the Duchy of Salzburg, the Duchy of Silesia, the Duchy of Styria, the Duchy of Moravia, the Duchy of Wallachia and the Duchy of Moldova; an empire-governed region, Tyrol and the former Alps; There was also an imperial province, the Maritime Department, located at the mouth of the Adriatic Sea, which included the seaports of Trieste and Fum (Rijeka).

Now the trouble of the empire is Hungary, and Princess Sisi herself is very fond of the Hungarian countryside, although she is a Bavarian princess, she genuinely sympathizes with the Hungarians, or just a political gesture, but she has won the love of the Hungarians, and she has also played a great role in the process of Hungarian independence, and has more influence in Hungary than the king.

In fact, as long as the affairs of the empire do not involve Hungary, everything is easy to do. Hungary now had its own parliament, which was equal to the power of the other realms represented by the Austrian crown in the Imperial Parliament, equivalent to half the power of Hungary in the empire. When it comes to the question of Hungary, Hungary will definitely oppose it.

But ceding the territories represented by the empire, Hungary would not care, especially when they were required to shed their blood for these territories, it was better to cede them.

But it would be better not to cede all of Moldova, and Princess Sisi wanted to give over to Russia Bessarabia, which the Russians had occupied in the early days, so that Russian power could only advance to Transnistria and could not pose a threat to the Danube.

Zhou Dagong didn't care: "This is your problem with Russia, I'm just a messenger." You can think about it first, discuss it first. ”

The Grand Duke's eyes never left the actress's movements.

In the next few days, the Grand Duke traveled all over Vienna, the Imperial Palace, the old bridges, the churches, the museums, he was all interested.

Princess Sissi naturally can't accompany her, because she has only been married for less than a year, and her biggest figure now is to give birth to an heir to the emperor, rather than accompanying a strange man to play in the mountains and rivers. Originally, she would not have married so early, he was only 15 years old this year, but because of the sudden outbreak of the Prussian-Austrian war, Austria urgently needed the support of Bavaria, so she married Joseph, and he was not the princess of Bavaria, but the Austrian prince valued her, not her sister.

However, Princess Sissi has always paid attention to the itinerary of the Grand Duke of Zhou, and she sent someone to accompany her throughout the whole process, and everything the Grand Duke said and did had to report to her, or to her husband, the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Joseph.

Because the status of the Grand Duke of Russia is too special, he is the king of the Urals and Assam, a very rich and militarized confederation of states, and he is also the second grandson of the emperor of China, and the husband of the Russian tsaress, such a person, when he tells Austria that he is here for fun, no one will believe it.

He said that Austria was a failure as a country, but it was a success as a city Vienna. The splendor of Vienna overshadowed the entire empire. ”

Princess Sissi listened to the report of her subordinates, she pondered for a while, and found that there was nothing special in this sentence, it was nothing more than the sour sighs of the literati, and Vienna did not lack these sighs and praises.

"Didn't he see anyone, or go somewhere special?"

Princess Sissi asked.

"He went to the cemetery and said that the most sincere and hypocritical place for a country and a nation is not to see how he treats the living, but how he treats the dead!"

"What else?"

"He invites you to the Chinese Merchant House."

"Didn't you invite Your Majesty?"

"No, he said he was allergic to the military!"

Princess Sissi frowned, she was still very young, with a baby face, and she was not as amazing as she was later.

But aristocratic education has already made her very knowledgeable.

She went to meet Emperor Joseph, an equally young handsome monarch.

"He's rude!"

The emperor frowned after hearing this, he was already self-contained if he didn't scold, although the European nobles did not exclude his wife's communication, but his wife had just gotten married and had no heirs, and the other party only invited his wife, which was still very uncomfortable.

Princess Sissi laughed, "He is very rude. ”

The Emperor asked, "Is he rude?" ”

The princess shook her head: "No, he is not rude. But it's really rude! ”

The emperor said: "It is rumored that he has a problem with his brain? ”

The princess smiled: "It's a little strange, but there should be no mental problems, just a little sentimental." ”

The emperor nodded, there was no shortage of such people in Vienna. The aristocratic tradition is too old, so that this place is full of glitz, decay and depravity, the nobles do not think about the battlefield, they think more about the wind and snow, they don't like the sound of guns, only the symphony in their minds. Painters all over Europe thought they could find soulmates on the streets of Vienna; All the musicians thought it would be their paradise; Young artists fantasize that the beautiful countess of Vienna will sponsor their artistic life; Most of the people who froze to death on the streets of Vienna and jumped the Seine were like this.

"Then you go."

The China Commercial Hall was built by a group of Chinese businessmen, and the Austrians thought it was the office of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, but in fact it was not.

It's just a place for businessmen to meet, and no one works here on a daily basis. Since the Black Sea became a prosperous trading hub, Chinese merchants began to look for business around the Black Sea, and since the Danube was opened to steamships, Chinese merchants came to Vienna.

Austria's trade in the Black Sea grew, and so did the number of Chinese merchants who came to trade here. Formerly they specialized in bohemian crystals, but now they are trading heavily in Hungarian flour. The agricultural conditions of that plain were so good that although the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not export the largest grain in Europe, it did the largest export of flour. Because his agro-processing industry is more developed than in Russia.

Chinese businessmen like to act, or if someone makes a big business, or if they celebrate their birthday in a foreign land, or sometimes on the birthday of an emperor or empress, these foreign businessmen will also donate a play as a tribute. The final and more important building in the merchant hall is the big stage.

Donating plays is not cheap, because there is no opera troupe in Europe, and if you are particular about people and invite some famous actors from China, the cost is very high. However, the main operas are self-entertaining troupes invited from Chinese immigrants in the Black Sea region, a group of peasants or citizens spontaneously formed a folk troupe, which toured around during the off-season, not trying to make money, it was just a hobby.

But today is different, all the famous actors invited today were set, and it was decided a few months ago, and it was not a folk opera troupe that was invited, but a famous Kunqu opera class. is playing "The Legend of the Hung Heroes, Poetry, Take Off Your Boots", and it is the story of Li Bai giving a banquet, getting drunk, and letting Gao Lishi take off his boots.

Grand Duke Zhou and Princess Sissi sat in the box, a semi-open room, with refreshments in front of him, he drank a little wine, and did not speak, sometimes shaking his head when he listened, sometimes closing his eyes and nodding his head. It's as if I've forgotten the beautiful woman next to me.

The big drama has to be sung for ten days, and it is not easy to invite the opera troupe, so it is to be lively. The reason for inviting the troupe is not to visit Austria for Zhou Dagong, but to celebrate the year's big sell, and invite it to be lively before the end of the year, first performing in Silla Port, and then being invited by merchants in various places, and performing in Odessa, Batumi, and Athens, and Vienna is already the last stop.

When I was in Batumi, it was actually the most lively, every day was unprecedented, after a scene, the stage was covered with silver, and the princes and magnates of the Manchu Qing Dynasty were very good.

Vienna was much colder, with more than 20 merchants, as well as some European men and women, apparently business partners of Chinese merchants, and the fact that Zhou Dagong was able to attend made the scene of the Chinese Merchant Hall seem not in vain.

"Do you know Li Bai?"

After a play, Zhou Dagong slowly opened his mouth and asked Princess Sissi.

Princess Sissi shook her head.

Zhou Dagong was disappointed: "You should know something. ”

Princess Sissi said, "I'm sorry, I don't know much about Chinese culture. ”

Zhou Dagong smiled: "You'd better understand something, and you will definitely use it in the future." ”

With this in mind, Princess Sissi went back and spoke to the Emperor, who was more nervous than she was, anxious for the Prime Minister to counsel, and at the same time began to pay attention to the recent movements of China in the Black Sea.

After watching the play, Zhou Dagong suddenly became honest and did not leave Schönbrunn Palace for several days. However, the Austrians were more concerned about his news, because in the past few days, Grand Duke Zhou has received intensive visits from Prussian and French consuls.

Especially after a long talk with the Prussian consul, no one knew whether it was just a courtesy visit or if it had any political purpose.

After that, Zhou Dagong did not engage in diplomatic activities, but continued to travel the mountains and rivers, and he visited the cities and villages of Hungary intensively.

He was very concerned about everything, talking to old farmers in the countryside, watching the mills by the river, and being very interested in Hungarian suona, and getting rid of the Hungarian local nobles who accompanied him with Princess Sisi to ride horses and hunt and visit the village castles.

After a month of amusement, he left Hungary and then moved to Bohemia, where he met again with the Prussian consul.

Then he went around mainly at several universities, but the Grand Duke never went to a political place like parliament all the time.

After leaving Bohemia, the Grand Duke returned to Vienna, where he attended a grand ball at the Viennese court before going to Switzerland.

When the Grand Duke arrived in Switzerland, he seemed to be quiet, and there was less news about him.

He rented a Jewish mansion.

The Grand Duke left a lot of lace news in Europe, because the Grand Duke traveled quite pompously, and there were always four things around him, delicious food, fine wine and beautiful people.

These are all news that tabloids like to chase.

After a brief stay in Switzerland, the Grand Duke diverted to France, where his actions received more attention.