Schönbrunn Palace, banquet hall.

Today is the day of the royal dinner, and Franz II sits on the throne, and the days of the past year have made him feel like a spring breeze.

The whole country is thriving, and even the number of bribes has increased.

I just saw my eldest son Ferdinand, who had to leave the scene due to sudden epilepsy and foaming at the mouth, and couldn't help frowning.

Such an emperor does not seem to be able to rule well, and it seems that the imperial power is about to enter a period of decline.

looked at the second son who was playing drunk on the side, and his brows tightened.

Archduke Franz Karl was drunk and did not yell, but was crying on his plate alone.

His gaffe annoyed Madame Sophie, but she couldn't attack in front of Franz II, so she could only shake her husband's body gently.

Archduke Franz Karl seemed to feel comfortable, but instead of getting up, he made an embarrassing noise.

"Take him out, Grand Duke Franz Karl is drunk." Franz II waved impatiently and motioned to his attendants to hurry up.

Franz Karl's attendants sprang into action and carried the Grand Duke out with the attendants.

Mrs. Sophie got up and wanted to apologize for her husband's faux pas.

But Franz II simply waved his hand and asked her to leave as well.

"Grandpa, I'm full." Franz also found an opportunity to slip away.

At this time, the rules of French cuisine were very troublesome, there were many dishes, they were served slowly, and they had to listen to the chef next to him.

And the French meal did not have Franz's appetite, only the rice was familiar to Franz.

Rice is served as a vegetable in French cuisine.

I don't know how cooked the steak is, Franz couldn't bite it at all, so he could only cut it into small pieces with a knife and swallow it, and almost choked again, grabbed the glass next to him, and poured it violently, only to find that it was red wine.

Now Franz already has a dizzy feeling.

Franz II wanted to leave his grandson behind, and this was the only one in the family who could comfort him.

It's just that he has a good face, so he has to indulge his grandson's rudeness.

The family was gone, and Franz II sat on the throne in a state of amazement.

Sanborn, the royal housekeeper on the side, leaned close to Franz II's ear and said.

"Prince Metternich has sent the final payment of a thousand gold bars to the palace. I counted the numbers correctly, but Prince Metternich said that the Bavarians wanted us to build a railway from Prague to Bayreuth. ”

Bayreuth was the economic center of Bavaria at this time, but Bayreuth was located on the hilly ground between the Fichtel and Frank Juras, which made it difficult and expensive to build.

Nowadays, when you think of Bavaria, you always think of BMW, football, beer, pork knuckle, developed economy and beautiful scenery.

However, at this time, Bavaria was notoriously rotten in Germany, and it was obviously an agricultural country, but it was frantic in importing food, and it could not even be self-sufficient.

At the same time, it is a desert of knowledge and industry, with few factories and universities.

The people at the bottom lived in poverty, but the people at the top were extravagant, and there were two artist kings.

The current King Ludwig I was romantic, and the 36 beauties of the Belle Gallery in the Nymphenburg Palace witnessed this history, and the affair with his mistress Laura Montes caused him to lose his throne.

The Bavarian government wanted Austria to build another railway to Bayreuth, firstly to promote trade and increase tax revenue, and secondly, to allow Bavarians to work in Austria and increase Bavaria's wealth.

For Bavarians looking for work abroad, Austria is the first choice.

After all, Austria is big enough and there are plenty of opportunities.

In Bavaria, everyone speaks German, but in Austria it is a huge advantage.

Especially for young people who aspire to become officials, they can earn several times more for the same official position, and the German identity and the German language are advantages that other ethnic groups in Austria do not have.

There is also a religious factor, and there are many opportunities in the North German region, but it is different from the religious beliefs of the South German countries.

The shadow of the Thirty Years' War always hung over Germany, and they didn't want to get up and be burned at the stake one day.

In fact, not only Bavaria, but the entire South German region has become much closer to Austria since learning the news of Austria's accession to the German Customs Union.

However, the Bavarians' proposal to build another railway to Bavaria angered Franz II.

No one was optimistic about trade between Austria and Bavaria, and the railway to Bavaria was built solely for the purpose of trade with the North German states.

In the eyes of Franz II, it was a complete waste to build another railway to Bavaria.

The distance from Prague to Bayreuth, with rivers and mountains in between, is almost 250 kilometers long, and the cost of the railway at this time was between 6 and 70,000 florins per kilometer.

That is, the railway will cost more than 10 million florins, but Franz II thought again.

"Anyway, it's not me who pays for it, so if you want to fix it, you can fix it for those Jews."

So he told Sanborne.

"Tell Metternich to let Solomon Rothschild fix it. Doesn't he like to build railroads? Let him fix enough. ”

Samborn turned to leave, and Franz II looked at the schedule, and tomorrow he was going to meet the Italian relatives.

The frenzy of railroad construction soon spread to the back garden of Austria, Central Italy.

In addition to the Papal States, the four principalities of Tuscany, Parma, Lucca, and Modena all wanted to strengthen trade with Austria.

The Italian states, which began as commercial traders, inevitably went into decline during this period of decline in Mediterranean trade.

At this time, the state of Central Italy had long since lost its former glory, the people lived in poverty, the backward handicraft industry, and the lack of resources in the country, so it was impossible to compete with the industry of the surrounding powers.

The countries of Central Italy are facing serious fiscal deficits and continuous popular uprisings.

If Austria hadn't regularly sent troops to help suppress them, these small states would have been doomed long ago.

These small states wanted to build railroads to strengthen trade with Austria, but domestic merchants were reluctant to pay the money.

After all, the rich have distant relatives in the mountains, and the poor in the downtown no one asks.

Truly powerful investors are reluctant to waste their money on these small states that have become yesterday's last thing.

They don't want to pay for it themselves, after all, they just want to collect more taxes.

As for the so-called credit, it has long been used by them to buy luxury goods.

Now we can only hope for the Emperor of Austria, after all, Franz II himself said "I am the Italian kingdom." This sentence, and after the Congress of Vienna, Italy was also established as Austria's sphere of influence.

However, at this time, Franz II was very troubled by the lack of money, after all, the decline of Central Italy was now a fact.

It is a question of whether to continue to invest or to maintain the status quo.