St. Petersburg, the second largest city in the Russian Empire and the capital of Russia for more than 200 years, is a city of historical and political significance. St. Petersburg is Russia's window to Europe and the most westernized city, it is the political and economic center of Russia, and the Winter Palace, the imperial palace of Nicholas II, is located here.

Russia is a rough country, but it's hard to think of the word rough in St. Petersburg, because the whole city of St. Petersburg is very beautiful, unrefined, and living here makes you completely forget that you are in Russia.

There are many beautiful women and they are very welcoming, which is the first impression of Ernst when he comes here.

There were already a large number of royal guards waiting at the railway station in St. Petersburg, and it was only natural that Ernst, a distinguished guest and the future son-in-law of the Russian Empire, had such a grand reception.

"Your Royal Highness Prince Ernst, I am Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry of the Imperial Royal Guard, and I will be responsible for your safety and life."

It was a very serious military salute, and Ernst sensed the smell of nobility in him, which should have been an officer whom Nicholas II trusted more, although he was only a lieutenant colonel now, but he was only in his twenties.

Smiling and saluting the young lieutenant colonel, seeing that Ernst was a little tired, the young lieutenant colonel did not say much, and bent down to lead Ernst to a black car.

Since the first automobile was born in Germany in 1886, the automotive industry in 1910 had reached a considerable level, and the aristocracy began to gradually abandon horse-drawn carriages in favor of new means of transportation, and the Russian Empire was no exception.

"Butler Bert mentioned the last time about changing the car, remember to remind me when I get back."

Bert once talked about replacing the carriage with a car, but Ernst always felt that the car was not perfect at this time, but today when he sees the Russian royal family using it, Ernst naturally will not be an old antique in the eyes of others.

When Ernst went to the resting place, the whole East Palace was busy.

Although Archduchess Maria was not Nicholas II's favorite child, she was particularly important to Nicholas II, after all, his eldest daughter and second daughter did not have a son-in-law like Ernst.

"The second son of Archduke Ferdinand, a prince with no right of inheritance, let alone just an earl now, why does His Majesty Nicholas II value him so much?"

A noble lady looked at the busy servants of the Winter Palace with a jealous face, she and Archduchess Maria were born in childhood, and the relationship between the two has not been very good since childhood, but who let Archduchess Maria have an emperor father and her father is only a duke, she has been the one who has been bullied for more than ten years.

A few months ago, the young lady of the duke's family had just gotten engaged, and the object of engagement was a duke in England, a young and promising duke, which made her very proud and proud, because although the fiancé of the Grand Duchess of Mary was a prince, but in fact the title was only an earl and a prince with no inheritance rights.

She came to the Winter Palace with the intention of showing off, but everything in front of her was beyond her imagination, and the birthday banquet of the Grand Duchess of Mary was so grand, and she asked the servants with doubts, to which the servants replied that Nicholas II valued Ernst, a prince and count who had no inheritance, and everything today was because of him.

Is he destined to be oppressed by Mary all the time? No, it can't be like this, but I want to see how a prince and count who has no right of inheritance can be so valued by Nicholas II.

In fact, not to mention this noble lady at this time, even the family of Nicholas II is very incomprehensible, even including the Archduchess Maria.

"Isn't it a little ...... for Dad to do this?"

"It's an exaggeration, Ernst is just a prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, why is Dad so important?"

This is a conversation between Archduchess Tatyana and Archduchess Maria, the second daughter of Nicholas II, and a distant cousin who is already married hesitates to say what she knows.

"Ernst is not just the second son of Archduke Ferdinand, it is said that Emperor Franz intended to let Ernst inherit the throne, but because of the original forced Archduke Ferdinand to give up the inheritance of his children, Emperor Franz has not expressed his intentions, and then the Austro-Hungarian royal family seems to have internal strife, so Ernst left Vienna ......"

"Cousin, are you saying that it is possible for Ernst to become Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire?"

Grand Duchess Tatyana asked very unexpectedly, if that is really the case, then it is reasonable that Nicholas II values Ernst so much, and now everyone in Europe sees the situation very clearly, Russia cannot be on the side of Germany and Austria, because they are the ones who block Russia's expansion.

If the Austro-Hungarian emperor is replaced by Ernst, then maybe there will be stability between the two countries in the future, after all, Ernst can't attack his father-in-law!

Not only Archduchess Tatyana thought so, but also Archduchess Maria, but Archduchess Maria looked very entangled, and she didn't want to see Ernst embarrassed by this. Although they did not love Ernst, the two were now good friends, and the kind-hearted Archduchess Maria did not want to embarrass either of them.

But at this time, the distant cousin shook her head: "Now it is impossible for Ernst to become the emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the only future emperor is Archduke Karl and Ernst's elder brother Mesimilian, after all, Archduke Ferdinand is not Emperor Franz." ”

Oh, yes! If the future court struggle fails, Archduke Ferdinand can only compromise to make Archduke Karl, who has the first right to succeed, the emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and if he wins, then it will be Meisimilian instead of Ernst, but in this case, why does Nicholas II still value Ernst so much?

"I have heard some people in Germany say that Moravia is a very wealthy place and Prince Ernst ...... It seems to have a lot of wealth. ”

A large sum of money, such a thing came from the mouth of a cousin who married into a very wealthy Junker aristocratic family in Germany, and the meaning of it was naturally extraordinary.

"A lot of money, does Ernst have a million-dollar fortune?"

Too much to think about, after all, Ernst is the fiancé of the Archduchess Maria, and the two sisters of the Archduchess Maria know very well about him, how rich can they be in a few years?

"What about a million? It has been said that His Royal Highness Prince Ernst is second only to the Rothschilds in wealth, and many businesses in Europe are closely related to him. ”

The Rothschilds, a business legend, an insurmountable family in European commerce, are now being compared to Ernst, even if there is moisture in it, it is enough to make people shocked.

Compared with the Rothschild family, Ernst is naturally much worse, and his current comprehensive wealth is only hundreds of millions of pounds, which also needs to be counted as fixed wealth, and the real liquidity is only a few million pounds.

"It doesn't make Dad think so highly of Ernst, is there another reason?"

Archduchess Oggar, the eldest daughter of Nicholas II, a year younger than Ernst, was very popular in Europe, including Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, Carol II of Romania, Crown Prince Edward of Great Britain (eldest son of King George V) and Archduke Alexander of Serbia.

It's funny that the children of fifteen or sixteen pursue a fourteen-year-old aristocratic lady? But in fact, this is very normal, although Europe does not have the 14th Five-Year Marriage as in the East, but at this time the little ones already have their own aesthetics, they know what is called liking and what is pursuing. The same is true of the Grand Duchess of Ogala, who famously said that she likes to stay in Russia, and she hopes to lend it to a young man of Russian origin in the future.

The distant cousins of several archduchesses did not expect that the Archduchess Oujia still had such insight, she nodded and said: "It is true that wealth alone cannot be so valued by His Majesty Nicholas II, but what if Ernst has a firm grip on Moravia and has an army of his own?" ”

Your own army!

Archduchess Maria didn't notice anything at this point, but Archduchess Oga and Archduchess Tatyana were very shocked, what should be the size of the private army that could make Nicholas II pay attention?

"The Moravian Army of more than 5,000 men, the Balkans have a share of their credit, they are the absolute first-class army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the actual control of this army is the fiancé of Ernst and Maria."