Vienna, Royal Gardens.

Franz felt his forehead wet, as if someone was licking him, and the warm breath all around him, the feeling of hair running across his cheeks.

Franz closed his eyes and pondered what had happened.

Just as Franz was thinking with his heart, he suddenly heard Mrs. Sophie's voice.

"Franz don't lick it, he's going to be stupid."

At this time, Franz opened his eyes and saw that the Bernese Mountain Dog raised by Mrs. Sophie was licking himself.

Seeing that Franz was awake, "Franz" screamed twice excitedly and ran back to Mrs. Sophie's side.

"Mother, can you not give the dog and me a name?"

"Okay, the next one is called Maximilian." Mrs. Sophie replied.

Franz was speechless for a while, seeing that it was already dark, and there was no trace of Talia everywhere.

"Are you looking for Talia?"

"Yes, I went out for a walk with her today."

"The poor girl"

Franz frowned, could something bad happen in this palace?

"What's wrong with her? Mother. ”

"She's hungry and has gone to eat."

“.” Franz was even more speechless: "Can you finish what you say in one breath?" ”

Mrs. Sophie walked up to Franz, opened her fan to cover her mouth, and said.

"Are you talking to me like that?"

Then he grabbed Franz by the ear and walked towards his carriage.

Inside the carriage, Madame Sophie tossed Franz a list.

"Franz, you are very filial, you know that your mother's garment factory products are unsalable, and the hoarded flour is about to rot in the warehouse, tell me what else do you know?"

"Mother, garment factories can't sell military uniforms, and in peacetime, no one can sell military uniforms, and things that can't be sold can't make money.

The whole of Europe is experiencing a bumper harvest, and you are hoarding flour, and I think you must have heard the story that drought is a boat and water is a car, and you think that it is right to hoard food during the harvest.

But you have to do what you can, you have mortgaged all your and my father's property, and if I don't help you sell it, I think you will go bankrupt.

Strictly speaking, I don't think you have the talent to do business. ”

Franz said solemnly, deftly dodging the question of what else he knew.

Mrs. Sophie was a little annoyed, but what Franz said was true, and if it wasn't for Franz helping her deal with this crisis, I am afraid that the family would have been discredited.

But Mrs. Sophie had already laid out a large game of chess, and when she finished the game, she found that she had no money, so she had to rack her brains to make money, but she really did not have this talent.

But being ridiculed by his son was still very faceless, anyway, there was no one else in the carriage, so he simply grabbed Franz's face and pulled it to both sides.

"So, should I thank you? Franz! ”

"I don't think it's a lady's job to bully a child with violence."

"So what should you do if your child doesn't listen to discipline?"

"Then you should enlighten him with reason."

Mrs. Sophie and Franz had a good exchange of "physics".

"Franz, did you really come up with the idea of selling those goods to the Mexicans?"

"Yes." Franz had no intention of lying, because Mrs. Sophie seemed to have known about it a long time ago.

"You must think."

Franz could finish his sentence when he was interrupted by Mrs. Sophie.

"I'm glad to be, Franz, that you are my finest son. Maybe your father's IQ has been transferred to you, but in any case, you will definitely revitalize the family in the future. ”

Mrs. Sophie touched Franz's head and continued.

"Do you know what they call Mother?"

"The only man in the House of Habsburg." Franz replied.

"I don't like this title, it should belong to you and your father. What I want to say is, if you have anything to talk to me about, I can help you. ”

Franz narrowed his eyes, sensing something unusual.

"Mother, what did you mess up again?"

"Well, the grapes on your estate have all been used by me to make wine." Mrs. Sophie said.

"It's just some grapes."

"Well, the grapes on your estate are not in good condition, and the wine is spoiled." Mrs. Sophie said again.

Franz frowned.

"Mother, did you steal the grapes from my estate and let me pay you if you didn't make them?"

"No, I actually sent all that wine into your cellar."

“.” Franz was speechless for a moment.

"You"

"And then all the wine in your cellar is spoiled." Mrs. Sophie said apologetically.

"You're such a good mother, do you know the value of those wines?"

Franz's wine cellar actually belonged to Prince Elthazy, and Franz II left a will after his death, and gave Franz his treasured wine for many years, many of which are worth more than 1.5 million florins.

"Franz, you see you've read so many books, is there a way to save those spoiled wines."

"Nope! I can't save it, just wait and throw it! ”

Osaka, February 1, 1837.

In the Osaka area, food prices have skyrocketed due to successive poor harvests, and hunger is rampant.

Out of sympathy for the people at the bottom and for the future of the Edo shogunate, the Confucian scholar Daishio Heihachiro asked the town to open a warehouse and release grain for relief to the victims.

However, the town commissioner ignored this and even took advantage of the famine to collude with merchants to raise the price of grain for huge profits and embezzle the peasants' land.

As a Japanese fan of Yang Ming Xinxue, he has well practiced Yang Minggong's "unity of knowledge and action".

After several requests for help were rejected, Daishio Heihachiro gathered his comrades and protégés and decided to take the next step.

However, due to being denounced by traitors, the uprising had to be forced to raise its rebellion in advance.

Heihachiro's uprising was quickly suppressed, but then another uprising was launched under his name, on an unprecedented scale, with countless hungry and poor people pouring into the rural cities to grab food and kill officials.

The town commissioner, who had repeatedly refused Daishio Heihachiro's pleas, was hanged in the square in the center of the city, along with several hoarders.

The uprising soon alarmed the shogunate, which sent a large army to suppress it.

The rebel army, which had only simple farm tools, was vulnerable to the shogunate army, which was supported by iron artillery.

Although the uprising was suppressed, it also served as a wake-up call for the shogunate.

At that time, Osaka was the center of the Japanese economy and was known as the "kitchen of the world", but the fact that there was a hunger riot proved that the shogunate's exploitation of the common people had reached an intolerable level.

Some people have begun to reform the tax system, hoping to abolish the unreasonable pre-taxation and reduce the burden on the peasants, so as to alleviate domestic contradictions.

Some people saw the power of mind, and a frenzy of learning mindfulness began throughout Japan, and a large number of people who would leave a mark on Japanese history were born.

Among them was the later Japanese Navy Admiral Heihachiro Togo, who only had seven words on his waist card, "Bow your head and worship Yangming all your life".

Some of the rebels used the looted money to buy off Dutch merchants and send them to Europe.

At that time, Japan only allowed merchants from the Dutch, Qing Dynasty, and Portugal to trade in Japan.

(End of chapter)