"Why is things always so bad in Brazil?" Franz wondered. He was really puzzled by the Brazilian's ability to do things.

In the case of trade, Austria imports large quantities of natural rubber to Brazil every year, but their production capacity has barely increased, and the outbreak of the civil war has caused its production to fall sharply.

It seems that Austria's rubber industry has a long road to block, and relying on unstable import channels alone is not a long-term solution.

At this time, Franz supported the development of hundreds of scientific research projects, but not many of them made a profit in a short period of time.

For example, the instant coffee, on which he had high hopes, was not treated well by the Viennese high society, which was known for its extravagant enjoyment, but was given the "honor" of "the worst drink of the nineteenth century".

The only people who showed interest in this invention were the military.

The military hierarchy called it "black gold" because the bitterness of the drink had a strong impact on the human palate, so there was no need to worry about being stolen by a soldier or greedy for a glass.

Although the taste may be unacceptable for a while, some people of insight are pleasantly surprised to find that coffee has the same refreshing effect as alcohol, and it is not easy to get drunk, which is not easy to have a negative impact on the soldiers' ability to perform their tasks.

It's also worth noting that several other advantages of instant coffee are also a big factor in purchasing. First of all, it costs much less than fresh coffee beans and lasts longer, usually one to two times as long as the beans.

At the same time, on the battlefield, wanting to use a coffee machine to grind coffee and then consume precious fuel to cook it slowly is a luxury even for officers, let alone ordinary soldiers.

But if you want to drink instant coffee, it is much easier, just a cup of hot water, and wait another 1 minute to enjoy a cup of fragrant coffee.

This instant coffee would also solve the problem of a surplus of coffee beans, but Franz's coffee trees in Africa were still fresh and the problem would not be until five years later.

With the opening of the first department store near the Vienna train station, "United Forces", Franz's new foot-operated sewing machine finally opened up on the market.

The number of sales of pedal sewing machines has increased exponentially, and large orders have come like snowflakes, and the sales of pedal sewing machines, which used to sell only 1,000 units a year, have increased tenfold in one month.

Admittedly, the foot-operated sewing machine is indeed a big step forward in the history of sewing machines, but this increase is also due to the addition of the royal star effect, which has given the department store unprecedented attention.

Of course, it is inseparable from Adjani, this capable planner.

She came up with a creative suggestion to make the foot-operated sewing machine compete against the hand-cranked sewing machine, and if the challenger using the latter succeeded, he could receive a prize of 10,000 florins.

This proposal really caused a lot of sensation among the people, not only those textile experts who wanted to get bonuses, but also many ambitious merchants who wanted to take advantage of it to become famous.

Soon the news spread throughout Austria along the railways and newspapers, and even in Germany and Italy.

However, the result of the whole competition was a big surprise, and it can be said that it was completely a one-sided hanging of the hand-crank sewing machine by the foot-operated sewing machine, and no matter how skilled and skillful the user of the latter was, it would be ruthlessly crushed in the end.

Although there were many accidents in the competition, such as the failure of a certain machine, even if it was faster than the repair, it was a foot-operated sewing machine that was far ahead, and the completion of the work could not be compared.

In fact, the real value of this competition is not to prove that the foot-operated sewing machine is better than the hand-cranked, but to open people's eyes and let them know this new tool for the first time.

Most of the people who threw orders to Franz were factory owners, and they were keenly aware that this new machine could greatly improve the efficiency of the textile mill.

The owners of garment factories and tailor shops are also full of praise for the great potential of this product and consider it to be an indispensable tool for the eventual improvement of the efficiency of the entire Austrian garment industry.

It's just that the problem comes again, this time it's not that the sewing machine can't be made, because of the help of the hydraulic press, at this time Austria's precision parts manufacturing industry can be said to be the absolute world's first, not one.

The efficiency of the garment industry has been improved more than ten times, but the weaving industry is still producing according to the previous market demand, and the sudden surge in orders has forced the weaving industry to expand its production capacity.

However, they soon encountered an awkward problem: Austria did not have enough cotton.

Therefore, the dividends of this industrial revolution did not benefit ordinary people, but caused a wave of unemployment to a certain extent.

But all of this was part of Franz's plan, and instead of downsizing the industry, he took the opportunity to expand it and buy up a lot of rival factories and their downstream industries.

The behavior of the Grand Duke of the Royal Family was very abnormal, which made many people smell a little different, but no one dared to bet on it.

Because they don't have the sheer size of the royal family, they can't afford such an exaggerated risk.

Moreover, the clothing industry in this era was just beginning, and both the rich and the poor were more inclined to go to the tailor shop to sew clothes, and only the clerks and some relatively wealthy craftsmen liked ready-to-wear.

But it was only a matter of price and style, and the world of the future must belong to the garment factory, and Franz was convinced of this.

Adjani was puzzled by Franz's move, and although the latter had become the dominant player in the entire garment industry in a short period of time, profits had plummeted due to overcapacity and the hiring of a large number of skilled workers who did not work.

Adjani was not one of those uninformed businessmen, and she knew that Franz had established many plantations in Africa, but they were not large enough to support the raw materials needed for the entire garment industry in Austria today.

For this reason she even went to Mr. Sina (Honorary President of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, de facto principal). The other party also thought that if this continued, Archduke Franz's garment factory would lose money.

"Archduke Franz, are you considering pausing your acquisition plans?"

"Why?" Franz said.

"If you look at the performance report, the profits of garment factories across the country are already very thin, and if this continues, I am afraid that they will fall into a comprehensive loss, and if the cotton crisis happens again, it will be a disaster for you."

Adjani reiterated her concerns, but Franz remained unconcerned.

"It's not something to worry about, and the sales of sewing machines are booming right now, and the profit can be used to expand the garment industry. And I told you before about the monopoly advantage, as long as we occupy the whole market, everything will be fine. ”

"How is that possible! How could the aristocracy buy those cheap ready-to-wear clothes, let alone the farmers who lived in the countryside would not take the initiative to buy those expensive clothes, you know the living habits of those people, it is not uncommon for them to wear a piece of clothing even for more than ten years"

"A piece of clothing has been worn for more than ten years, do you know why? That's because of the price, they can't afford it, as long as we lower the price. ”

Adjani shook her head, she thought Franz was a little too whimsical.

"If we lower prices, what's the point of our monopoly? Where do the profits come from? Archduke Franz, from ancient times to the present, no matter what country, in any era, there have always been people who can't afford to wear clothes.

You are so naïve! Just like you wanted everyone in this country to wear shoes, you only managed to get the soldiers of this country to wear shoes in the end.

You've done a good enough job, a feat that Queen Theresa couldn't have accomplished. ”

"Then let's make a bet!" Franz said with interest.

(End of chapter)