Venice, 20 October 1842.

A low-caste merchant from India visited the area, bringing with him a large amount of spices and jewelry to sell at the port, which soon attracted the covetousness of the gangsters and the local gentry.

The hapless businessman was then framed by a coalition of local gangsters and gentry and imprisoned for disrupting the market and disrespecting local traditions.

Although the merchant had hundreds of retinues, this was still not a good thing for Venice, which was garrisoned by the navy and army.

Everything would have been settled, but Baron Brooke had just returned from California, and after a casual look at the file, he found that it was boring.

Of course, the experience of these years in the United States has also taught this upright official a lot, and this time he did not angrily go to the local court to reason, but to the commander-in-chief of the navy, Archduke Friedrich, and the governor of Venexia, Prince Eltres.

Archduke Friedrich and Prince Eltres, the governor of Venexia, were also willing to sell the central banker a face, and the two super-heavyweights were involved in the same case.

Naturally, this case had to be pulled out for retrial, and even Franz, who was far away in Vienna, heard about it, and he was very dissatisfied with the local officials, after all, Austria intended to open its doors to do business, not to engage in this kind of killing of chickens and eggs.

Franz was interested in a man who came to Austria from India to do business, after all, there are many friends and many ways to do business, especially in a region like India, where Austria can always find what Austria wants.

However, as the case progressed, something else soon came to mind.

The Indian businessman, named Villawise Adani, was a Shudra. This is very rare because the Shudras are a low caste in India.

At this time, neither his ship, nor the full load of spices and jewels, nor the five hundred skilled sailors under his command did not look like the property of a low-caste merchant.

But in fact, the Adani family originated in the Age of Discovery, and was once the agent of the Dutch in India. Villawise Adani was the kind of rich N generation who was born with a golden spoon in his mouth, but what Franz saw was an Indian man with a strong body that was not inferior to the Praetorian Guard.

Although his remarks drew frequent laughter in the courtroom, it was not that his language was substandard, but that his use of Dutch as German naturally led to a lot of jokes.

Villawaith Adani's eyes are firm and his tone is calm, and his powerful form is like Drogo Kao in A Song of Ice and Fire.

When the local gentry accused Villawise Adani of being an Indian Ocean pirate, he brought out letters of recommendation from the Governor of Tanzania, Benny Erbin, and King Said, of Oman.

This intrigued Franz, for these two letters of recommendation were much more difficult to obtain than the big ship and hundreds of Indian sailors.

In fact, this Villawise Adani was one of the wealthy Indian businessmen who funded Benny Erbin in the first place, and this person also had many years of trade with the Kingdom of Oman, so he was able to get a letter of recommendation.

The purpose of Villawise was to consult Franz, who had hosted a banquet in Calcutta during his time in the Indian Ocean Strait.

These "heroes" have a higher opinion of Franz than any white man who has been to India, because Franz knows what they want, shows them the way, and is willing to help.

One way to do this is to study in Austria, and as for whether they want to learn about organizational structure or science and technology, Franz will not interfere too much, he will only help those people to get into Austrian universities.

However, Villawise did not go to school, but to teach his subjects how to be equal.

After the trial, Villawise met Franz as he wished.

"Dear Grand Duke Franz, you are younger than I thought, though my friend Benny Earbin has reminded me more than once."

"You're whiter than I thought you would." Franz quipped.

Villawise Adani made a move that he didn't even do in the face of Prince Thivantrand, and he fell to Franz with his hands folded and his knees on his knees.

Franz was a little accustomed to it, because there were many people outside Europe who worshipped him as a god, and even in Vienna there were people like the old god stick who worshipped him as a god.

"Your courage, Mr. Villawise, is admirable. But with regard to your question, it is impossible to achieve absolute equality. However, a country that is relatively equal and respects each other is still possible. ”

"What should I do?" Villawise asked.

"It's not what you do, it's what your country does. The people are rich and the country is strong, and the monarch is clear. That's the solution. Franz replied.

"The people are rich and the country is strong? Junqing? ”

"Yes, there was an ancient philosopher in the East who once said that if a person can't even meet the most basic needs of food and clothing, then what he wants to know must be how to make money and how to eat well, rather than obeying the so-called social rules.

Weak countries have no diplomacy, let alone dignity. Everything you have in a weak country can be taken away by a strong country, including your life.

Rulers need to know where they are and who are friends and who are enemies. ”

In fact, this statement was only said by Franz to Villawise, because he could see that the other party actually wanted to be king. If Villawise just wanted relative equality, Franz would have told him the shortcut to rule by law.

But an ambitious person would obviously prefer Franz's current statement. After all, at this time, India or Kerala was in a difficult situation both internally and externally, with stupid princes and nobles running rampant in the countryside, and the common people colluding with the British.

The outside British stepped up their plunder, controlled the customs, and if they wanted to make money, they had to feed the British officials, otherwise they would not be able to sell your goods, no matter how good they were.

Especially for an ocean-going merchant like Villawise, once the ship and cargo were seized, bankruptcy was almost inevitable.

Fortunately, the Adani family's centuries of operation allowed him to connect with the Omanis and the Dutch, otherwise even if Villawise had the ability and courage, he would inevitably have a tragic end of breaking his family.

So Villawise is here this time not only for himself, but also for the future of the Adani family.

"Grand Duke Franz, what should I do then?"

This time Villawise asked more directly, and Franz naturally did not shy away from it.

"You have a lot of followers, and you're smart enough to bet on both ends. You can choose to sell half of the ship's cargo for weapons, and the other half for Austrian goods to the Indian princes and nobles, or as a bribe to do what you want. ”

Villawise felt a little incredulous that the other party could see through his mind so easily. In fact, this is not difficult to analyze, because he has previously bet on both Benny Erbin and King Saeed of Oman.

This time should be no exception, although for the Austrian Empire, trade with Villawise was dispensable, but the careerist's destruction of the British backyard, Franz was still happy to see it.

(End of chapter)