Ever since Franz Joseph I decided to choose his successor by royal and parliamentary votes, there has been a lot of talk throughout the empire from top to bottom. Some questioned this approach, more speculated about who would win the support of the majority, and at the same time, the connections between families and principalities and principalities became more frequent than ever.

On the day of the end of the Imperial Council, you can already see many gorgeous horse-drawn carriages on the roads that travel to and from various cities. Under the rule of Emperor Franz, the railway network of the Austro-Hungarian Empire has been greatly developed, so far the whole country has nearly 40,000 kilometers of railways, and there are basically railways between important cities, and after entering the 20th century, telephones have become more and more common, and even some small towns have telephones.

The Kingdom of Hungary, the Duchy of Bohemia, the Kingdom of Dalmatia, the Kingdom of Galicia-Lodomeri, 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 Marquis of Moravia, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, each of which elects a candidate, plus the Kaiser of Germany and the Emperor of Russia, the heirs of Austria-Hungary will be chosen from among these 14 persons.

No one knows who will be the ultimate victor, but what is certain is that people can do whatever it takes to induce, co-opt, and trade for the sake of huge benefits, and political dramas are being staged everywhere.

The capital of the Principality of Prague and Bohemia, on the morning of the second day of the Emperor's Imperial Council, a total of thirteen envoys set off from Prague Palace, and the brown carriages drove in different directions.

In the eyes of many, making Prince Kalini of Bohemia a candidate for crown prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was already a great gift from Emperor Franz Joseph, because the Bohemians, who were predominantly Czech, were not qualified to rule over the Austrians and Hungarians. Even if the Gypsies were able to foresee the future, they would not be able to put Carini on the throne of Austria-Hungary.

But look at the Grand Duke of Bohemia, his face is full of confidence. It was as if he had received an oracle from God beforehand.

"Father, I hear that you have sent envoys to the kingdoms, as well as to Germany and Russia?" Carini, who had just returned from Vienna, asked his father, now the Grand Duke of Bohemia, as soon as they met.

The Grand Duke is now 56 years old, but he does not look old, which may have something to do with his daily hot springs, and he told his son unhurriedly:

"That's right, the envoys have already set off with my own letter! I wrote all night yesterday and my hands are still sore! That's right. Why don't you stay in Vienna? Even if you can't find favorable news, you can still have a long insight! ”

"Although I telegraphed you yesterday, I still didn't feel at ease, so I rushed back to discuss with you non-stop! I think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, if I become the crown prince of Austria-Hungary, then no one will dare to underestimate our family in the future! Carini looked eager to try. Indeed, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has always had bad luck since its merger, and the Austrian emperor had no choice but to come up with such an opportunity to elect a crown prince, which naturally gave the Habsburg side royal family a rare opportunity.

"This is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but I did not ask the royal families of the other principalities to support us in my letter!" Let's talk about it. The Grand Duke of Bohemia waited silently for the Carinidian reaction.

Just as he expected. Carini almost jumped, "Father, I heard you right! Are you going to pass up this opportunity? Or do you think that I am simply not capable of ruling Austria-Hungary? ”

"Young people. You are always so impatient, if you don't get rid of this problem, you will suffer sooner or later in the future! The Grand Duke said earnestly, but there was no way, although he had two sons under his knees, the youngest son was not yet fifteen years old, and at least so far he had not shown anything extraordinary. Carini, his eldest son and heir, will be thirty years old in two months, and the studies and exercises arranged for him by the Grand Duke have been successfully completed. He also went to the front during the Great War, and in terms of conditions and qualifications, although he was not a genius once in a few years, and there was nothing wrong with inheriting Bohemia in the future, the only thing the Grand Duke was worried about was the urgency he showed whenever he encountered major events.

At this time, Carini also realized that he had made another mistake with his old mistakes, so he bowed his head respectfully, "Yes, father! ”

"Come, sit down!" The big man asked Carini to sit down on the couch next to him. Then, still unhurriedly, he told him his considerations: "With the influence of our Duchy of Bohemia in the Empire, it is almost hopeless to gain sufficient support for the question of the heir to the Empire!" If you think about it, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dominated by Germans and Hungarians, and our Czechs in Bohemia were only the third in numbers, and had very little say in the internal and foreign affairs of the empire! Ever since I succeeded my father in the kingdom, I have worked to increase the influence of the Czechs within the empire, but to this day this effort has had little effect, and I am deeply disappointed! ”

Carini knew these things, too, but when the Emperor announced that he would determine the heir to the empire by a vote, he caught a glimpse of the tempting power and fell into a state of oblivion.

"I have great respect for His Majesty Emperor Franz, and I think only a man as great as him could command such a huge multi-ethnic country! It's a pity that the fate of His Majesty the Emperor is really unfortunate, he has lost his wife and children in old age, and his health is getting worse and worse, alas, we have to think about our own future! ”

The phrase "...... back" made Carini feel sad, but it was also true that he and his father were the rulers of the Duchy of Bohemia, but Bohemia was an independent state hundreds of years ago, and Bohemia is now just a province in the northwestern corner of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

"Under the rule of His Majesty the Emperor Franz, the entire empire maintained a high rate of development for nearly two decades, and the per capita production increased by about 1.45% per year, exceeding the 1% and 1.06% of Britain and France before the Great War, and second only to Germany's 1.51% in Europe! However, due to its low base and late start, the overall economic strength of the Reich was currently less than half that of Germany. Although he had some feelings for the cow playing the harp, the Grand Duke patiently explained these boring but very important things to Carini, and according to his idea, to become a comprehensive ruler. It's not enough to be as passionate about the military as Kalini is.

"In the last ten years, the vicinity of Vienna, the Austrian hinterland, the foothills of the Alps and our Bohemia have been the centres of the economic development of the Empire, as has the central plain of Hungary and the region of the Erba Mountains developed rapidly. However, this originally optimistic situation began to change in 1914, and once the huge war machine was activated, the consumption of manpower, material resources, funds, resources, and other aspects was astonishing! In the 50 years before 1914, Austria-Hungary's military spending increased by only 155%. And in 1914 alone, this number increased more than tenfold!

"For this empire, the war should have ended with the surrender of Italy in January 1915, but to this day, after a certain year, we maintain a large army and navy! As far as I know, the number of the army is only thirty percent smaller than it was during the war, but the size of the navy has increased by a full eighty percent, and even after the signing of the Washington Treaty, which was intended to limit the naval arms race, the Imperial Navy is still preparing to complete the unfinished warships Andreidoria and Durio and the four Tegerhoff-class battleships that have already been keeled! The navy has invested 700 million kroner in this alone, which is equivalent to two years of military spending for the entire empire! That's nearly $100 million. O my God! ”

Speaking of which. The Grand Duke seemed both incomprehensible and helpless, and the huge amount of military spending by the state also meant a decrease in investment in domestic affairs projects, inflation, an increase in internal and external debts, and an increase in financial pressure, over time. The purchasing power of the population has declined, the non-defence industry is facing closure due to financial and marketing problems, and there is a gradual shortage of food. These conditions were worrisome in Bohemia, and even worse in other poor parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

However, since the day of the Austro-Hungarian Empire there had been an Austrian, a Hungarian and central government, with the Austrian and Hungarian governments having their own parliaments and prime ministers, the central government responsible for the army, navy, foreign affairs, and foreign trade, and the fiscal plan being voted on by the Council of Ministers of the three governments, a structure that inevitably led to friction and inefficiencies. In the end, the emperor himself had been unable to take charge of political affairs for nearly a year due to health reasons, and the Austro-Hungarian giant ship had considerable problems in its direction.

After listening carefully to a large part of the words of the Grand Duke of Bohemia. Carini still didn't seem to be very enlightened, he looked up, "Father, what the hell are you trying to tell me?" ”

"The thirteen envoys I sent went to thirteen different places, eleven of them were to show favor to each other, and only the other two were my true intentions!" The Grand Duke said very secretly.

"So, you want something very special and important from the Germans and Russians?" Carini muttered.

The Grand Duke finally looked at his son with satisfaction, "That's right, Kaiser. Russian Emperor, I'm sure some of them will understand what I mean! Otherwise, I'm really looking at the wrong person! ”

Carini nodded understandingly, and he vaguely saw a different path.

On the same day, a splendid palace in Budapest, the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary, gathered more than a dozen of Hungary's most prominent nobles. It was here that their parents agreed with Emperor Franz Joseph to create a dualistic empire that led to the current Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the coronation of Emperor Franz Joseph as King of Hungary took place in the Buda Palace, not far away.

Among this group of people who appeared to be quite noble in terms of clothing and temperament, an old man with two big beards seemed to be of the highest status, and as soon as he spoke, everyone around him listened quietly.

"The three Austrian heirs have suffered one after another, and I think it is a divine arrangement so that our Hungarian heirs will be in charge of the country!"

Noble men and women whispered in favor of this view.

At this time, a smug smile appeared on the corner of the mouth of a young man standing on the balcony, he was Kosbafe Lenz, the grandson of the Hungarian aristocratic leader Damen Ferenc, the candidate for crown prince elected by the Hungarian aristocracy.

The man who had been in his sixties was Gtafer Lenz, who led the Hungarian aristocracy to reconciliation with Emperor Franz Joseph. Forty-nine years have passed, and the witnesses to the Austro-Hungarian Empire have long since passed away, and the only surviving person is probably Franz Joseph himself.

"As long as Cosbah can become the heir to the empire, even if I spend all my wealth!" Damen said and looked around at the people around him, and soon, these people actively expressed their attitude:

"I'm willing to donate 2 million kroner for free!"

"I'll donate 3 million!"

"I'll donate 2 million!"

"I'll donate 5 million!"

……

Everyone present reported their willingness to donate 1 million crowns, and the largest was the Gyura family, who were ready to contribute 10 million crowns, which was equivalent to more than 5 million marks, equivalent to nearly 1.5 million dollars, which was quite a huge amount of money in this era.

Damen seemed to be very satisfied, and at a cursory calculation knew that he had received a huge amount of more than 30 million crowns from these nobles, and that, together with his considerable financial resources, the total amount of money that could be invested in this battle for the crown prince would be staggering, and from the current situation, the only thing that was in short supply was probably only time.

"A week, only a week!" The old man's right hand gently stroked his beard, and the years left deep marks on his face, and also accumulated a lot of experience in his mind, and this experience told him that Emperor Franz was not old and confused in making this decision, on the contrary, it was a very powerful method.

"Whoever gets the most support, the fewer opponents and the more likely they are to sit on the throne! In such a short period of time, what you can see is the usual influence and prestige of each family! Only a stupid family will be desperate to join the battle for the crown prince, and a smart family will consider their own strength, and then decide whether to compete for the crown prince throne or profit from it! Gitta, can you tell me which family will be our opponent, and which family can be used by us? The old man said and set his eyes on the young man, and on such occasions, the funders wanted to see themselves invested in an idealist.

A very friendly smile suddenly appeared on the young man's face, and he walked steadily to the old man's side, bowed slightly, and said in a very magnetic and comfortable-sounding voice: "Yes, grandfather! ”