It's just that he doesn't want to choose these two paths in front of Franz.

Franz first tried to use the desulfurization method to reheat the leftovers of those shoes, but due to the limited level of technology at this time, the result of this would only cost more money, and he had to give up.

Later, Franz tried to make a fuss from the source, using special molds to make the most efficient use of rubber, but of course it failed again, it was still an old problem, and there was a lack of pre-technology.

Just when Franz was at a loss, Adjani's side negotiated a result, and the Brazilians decided to back down, and they were willing to sell 1,000 tons of rubber for 500 florins per tonne.

This hurt Franz, who now wants the Brazilians to raise the price of rubber as high as possible. Because at this time, the Austrian rubber industry has occupied a first-mover advantage.

If the cost is increased at this point, the entry threshold will undoubtedly be greatly raised, so that the number of competitors can be reduced, and Austria will maintain its leading position.

At the same time, it can also slow down the modernization of industries in other countries, and the increase in rubber prices will also help Brazilians to expand their production capacity.

Historically, Brazilians were too lazy to produce 18,000 tons of rubber until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

At the same time, just in time for the great development of the automobile industry, a rubber crisis occurred. At the height of the crisis, the price of rubber was $6,600 a tonne, and even after the crisis it remained above £1,000 ($5,000).

Even forced the Europeans to find their own place to grow rubber.

In the end, it was with the support of our people that the rubber crisis was completely resolved. At that time, the United States, Spain and other countries defrauded a large amount of money from a large eastern country to invest in rubber production.

It was not until a large number of rubber plantations were established in Southeast Asia that the worldwide problem of rubber shortage was solved.

If Brazil's rubber production is still as low as it has historically, it will not be enough to supply the whole world, let alone the Austrian Empire.

Franz had just returned to his study when Talia followed him, and Adjani quietly closed the door.

As soon as Franz sat down, Talia and Adjani burst into laughter, apparently laughing at the conversation between Franz and Da Shiran.

"Don't laugh." Franz said.

"Why? Are you going to brainwash us too? Ha ha! Talia and Adjani spread their arms together, and Franz had no choice but to turn away and ignore them.

It's just that they don't want to let Franz go.

Talia and Adjani hugged each other and said in a deliberately raised voice.

"Oh dear, let the world feel your pain!"

"I will give you the power you want! Come and drink to this cup of hatred! ”

"Have you had enough, don't roll around on my bed." Franz said with a little helplessness.

Talia said as she regained her color.

"Why didn't you bring Miss Shanyin with you, she looks like she adores you."

"Why should I take her with me? And seeing that her grades are not bad, I wonder where she can go? In case she really has any scientific and technological talents, I would prefer her to stay in Austria. Franz explained.

"And what do you think of Miss Aliana? She was also very smart and beautiful, and although she was a Jew, she was loyal to the royal family no one. Talia said.

"Miss Talia, you are the headmaster of the Royal Women's Academy in Vienna. You should be a gardener, not one. Even the stupidest farmer would not pull out the seedlings to help such a thing. Franz said.

"Those children are still young, and so is Franz, and they are still in the learning stage, and we have to see how they develop, and it's not too late to make a decision in the future." Adjani cleared the siege.

Beirut, Syria.

As soon as the Austrian reinforcements arrived at the port, they were warmly welcomed by the British.

General Gabrinz even wondered if this was the city that needed to be rescued.

Looking at the British Navy's spotless uniforms and imposing military band, General Gabrinz once felt like he was just attending a party, not a military rescue operation.

Fortunately, General Gabrienc was accustomed to absurdities in the Mexican War.

General Gabrinz had previously been sent to Mexico with Count Stadion as a military adviser to Tassan Anna, and even served as a Mexican general for a time.

But with the end of the Mexican Civil War, they were also given the opportunity to return home. General Gabriencz did not have the strong background of Count Stadion, and could not directly become the governor of a province, so he could only cross the ocean to Beirut with his troops to gain a future for himself.

At this time, Gabrinz had 3,000 soldiers of the Austrian Expeditionary Force in his hands, and his mission was to fight with the British in Egypt.

However, Gabrinz soon received a desperate news from the British, Egypt had 130,000 troops in Syria, and the difference in strength between the two could no longer be described by the word "disparity".

What's even more terrifying is that the British admiral in front of him is going to pull him to drink as soon as they meet. The heartless British, who is almost going to blow up General Gabrentz, wants to have a drink to suppress the shock.

As the cup was being replaced, William Symond revealed to Gabrinz that the situation in Beirut at this time was far less critical than the war report said.

Although the total strength of the Egyptians was 130,000, only about 70,000 were actually able to fight, of which 50,000 were facing the Ottoman army on the northern front, the remaining 20,000 were besieging Beirut, and about 60,000 auxiliaries were transporting supplies and maintaining law and order.

General Gabrinz took advantage of the strength of his wine and rested in the city of Beirut for the night. The next day, he arrived at the fortress outside the city, where he found British Army soldiers munching on potatoes.

Colonel Carter Wynne of the British Army received him very warmly, but he really had nothing to do, so he had to peel a potato for him himself, sprinkle a little cumin and salt.

Gabrinz remembered the "stargazing" he had eaten last night, and although the dish was a little scary, it was not as shabby as the British Army.

In addition to this, he also found a very peculiar scene, the British had only one regiment of troops, but they had nearly 50 cannons, which was really unusual. You must know that at this time, the firepower of one army in European countries was generally 50-70 guns.

Later, Gabrinz figured out that the guns had been loaned to the Army by the Royal Navy. Of course, these guns were not borrowed for nothing, and the army had to exchange their supplies, so now Colonel Carter could only eat potatoes.

The 3,000 men brought by Gabrinz, plus Colonel Carter's 2,000 men, added up to only 5,000 men in the coalition forces. Seeing the corpses on the battlefield in front of him, he couldn't help but start worrying about his future.

He even doubted that his men would be able to survive the fierce battles in the future.

"Colonel Carter, what a brave man you are. It is really admirable that you have held out for twenty days in such a lonely city and such a tragic battle. ”

"You are mistaken, the Egyptians are not in the habit of collecting the corpses of their companions, and the corpses will be buried by the wind and sand sooner or later. As for the fighting, there has never been a real battle here. Colonel Carter replied.

"What do you mean by that?" Gabrinz was a little confused.

"The morale and discipline of the Egyptians was so poor that as soon as the cannon was fired, there would be a mass rout, followed by a one-sided massacre. I have been stationed here for more than half a month, and only 160 soldiers have been killed and captured, while the total number of Egyptian troops killed and captured has long exceeded 10,000. Colonel Carter said with some smugness.

Colonel Carter's words, if they were to other European generals, would have been angrily accused of Carter's bragging. But during the Mexican Civil War, Gabrinz had seen even more outrageous battles than here.

If the army of the Americans, a rabble, then the army of the Mexicans is simply a bunch of street thugs. And the Egyptian army, which was excluded from Western civilization, was certainly not as good as the Mexicans.

As a matter of fact, Ibrahim returned to the aid as soon as he learned of the loss of Beirut. He personally led an army of 20,000 to face Beirut, which had only 2,000 lobster soldiers, and wanted to fight a quick battle.

But what Ibrahim didn't expect was that here he suffered an unimaginable setback.

He originally wanted to lead the opponent to a decisive battle, and took the opportunity to send the Reaper Army (a barbarian army that claims to be not afraid of death) to outflank the opponent's rear road, and then completely annihilate it.

Due to the lack of sufficient mobile forces on the Syrian battlefield, he had to replace the cavalry with infantry.

However, the result was that their elite troops were suppressed by the fire of the lobster soldiers in the front and suffered heavy losses, and the Reaper army, which was responsible for the rear, suffered a heavy defeat to the bayonets of the lobster soldiers, and fled after leaving more than a hundred corpses.

The Reaper Army had 3,000 men, and with a casualty rate of less than 5%, morale completely collapsed.

Later, Ibrahim also tried to attack Beirut directly, but the volunteers of the Royal Navy and Beirut City were not vegetarians. Not only did it not achieve any effect, but because the forces were too dispersed, many of the living forces were annihilated by the British, and he could only temporarily recruit auxiliaries to continue the siege of Beirut.

After Ibrahim learned that the Egyptian navy had been wiped out in the naval battle of Beirut, he even used wine every day to drown his sorrows.

He had pleaded for peace with his father, Muhammad Ali, but was reprimanded. Ali blamed Ibrahim for not taking Istanbul, giving the Ottomans a respite and bringing in foreign aid to destroy Egypt's maritime power.

Ibrahim, on the other hand, felt that Ali should have sent all his fleets to Istanbul in the first place, instead of fantasizing about defeating Britain and Russia as the world hegemon.

Since the Egyptian offensive was thwarted, the Ottomans organized a counterattack.

Letters for help filled Ibrahim's desk like snowflakes.

At the moment, he could not do anything, because the coast of Egypt was plundered by the Austrian navy, and Ali refused to support the Syrian battlefield.

In addition, the effect of the Imperial Edict of the Flower Hall was very significant, just like Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation", the Ottoman army recruited a large number of minority soldiers in a short period of time.

The most terrible thing is the rebellion of the lower classes, Ali's brutal rule has long caused the common people to complain, they constantly organize guerrillas to harass the supply lines of the Egyptian army, and even pass information to the British and Ottoman troops.

Just when Ibrahim was at a loss, suddenly his adjutant came in and reported that "the British and Austrian forces have moved!" ”

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Just when the war on the Beirut side was on the verge of breaking out, Franz received a letter from Friedrich. Friedrich frantically complained in the letter, Franz's Congreve rocket.

In the previous sneak attack on the Egyptian Navy, this thing caused more damage to the Austrian army than the Egyptian Navy. The maximum range can reach 4 km, but the radius of the error range can reach as much as 2 km.

And even worse, the flames and scorching gases emitted by rocket launches often burn soldiers and even ignite ships.

Franz rubbed his forehead, rockets could not be used for precision strikes even in World War II. Continuing to improve the accuracy, Franz came up with a rodless spin design.

It's just that this kind of rocket has higher technical requirements, and it must use a launch frame, and at the same time, it also needs the help of a hydraulic press when making it, otherwise it cannot be mass-produced.

After some investigation, it was found that there were hydraulic presses in Austria, but most of them were used to extract vegetable oil, and the power was too low.

What surprised Franz even more was that the Austrian industry still used hydraulic forging hammers, and it was clear that steam hammers should be used in the steam era.

In fact, the reason is very simple, that is, Austria has a dense network of rivers, large cutting drops, and abundant hydraulic resources, which makes it more popular to buy simple, cheap and easily available hydraulic hammers than to spend money on expensive steam forging hammers.

As for the hydraulic press, it is believed that it can extract oil, and it is not used in industrial production at all. Franz didn't know anything about these construction machinery, he only knew that the role of hydraulic presses in industry and military was very huge in the future.

So he could only throw out a general topic and leave it to Austrian scientists to solve. But what Franz knows is that the real development of the hydraulic press was due to an engineer who mistakenly added oil as water to the hydraulic press, which greatly improved the efficiency, which made it really take seriously.

Soon the first oil-water mixing hydraulic press was born, and what Franz never imagined was that the first experiment of this hydraulic press was actually used by Doppler's daughter to press coffee beans, which indirectly led to the birth of instant coffee.

At night, it was pitch black over the Mediterranean, and only the sea breeze blew violently.

Friedrich sat on his flagship, the 3rd class battleship "Venice", looking out in the distance at Alexandria, Egypt's richest city.

Alexander was a fortified city, but because it was a fortified city, it was easier for his defenders to slack off.

To be honest, the Venetians are really professional counterparts when they become pirates. Coupled with the instigation of the Karamanli family, many clan elders who had long been very dissatisfied with Ali's brutal rule took the opportunity to cooperate with the actions of the Austrian navy, and for a time Egypt itself was in mourning.

Muhammad Ali's excessive consumption of opium wine, coupled with a series of blows, made his temper more and more violent, and he executed two governors of Alexandria in succession.

Ali thought that today's situation was entirely caused by the dereliction of duty of the Governor of Alexandria, so he took his anger out on the two unlucky ones.

The change of four governors in a row made the defenders of Alexandria panic, and the new governor, Al Said, did not want to die in vain, so he searched for money as soon as he took office.

Friedrich Liszt, then US Secretary of State, promised Al Said that if he was willing to pay $10,000, he would send a ship to pick him up and admit him as a U.S. citizen.

Friedrich Liszt also assured Al Saeed that as long as he became a U.S. citizen, he was protected by U.S. law, and that Muhammad Ali could no longer sanction him.

In fact, in order to generate income, Friedrich Liszt also extended the same invitation to many high-ranking Egyptian officials.

(End of chapter)