Venice, Austria.

The deal with Villawise Adani was a success, and Franz succeeded in cleaning up a large number of old equipment for the Imperial Austrian Army.

Although Villawise was a careerist, the princes and nobles of Thiruvantrand were indeed not human, and they even instituted a dress tax to make up for the shortfall.

That's right! Local law stipulates that all untouchables, both men and women, must pay a dress tax, otherwise they are required to be topless. This ridiculous-sounding law was enforced until before World War II.

Others are even more outrageous, such as the nose tax. The name is weird, so it's going to be explained.

Indians worship cows, and when they marry wives, they wear rings around their noses to show that they are their own women.

However, the Tu King of Trevantrand felt that this violated the rights of the nobility, so he ordered all non-noble women to pay a nose tax, or else they would have their nose rings cut off and their noses cut off.

So Franz showed no remorse that his actions might kill such a person, and even prepared to eat an extra bowl of rice at dinner to celebrate.

It's not that there is no rice in Europe, it's just that the chefs here treat it as a dish.

That's right! It's a dish!

Cooks usually pour plenty of olive oil and butter into the pot, then sauté with onions, potatoes, truffles until fragrant, and then remove the rice from the pan.

At the same time, add the butter and continue to stir-fry until golden brown, then add the chicken stock or other stock to simmer, and then add Italian celery, thyme, rosemary, cinnamon, longan, clove buds and other spices.

Drizzle with cream, cheese, or ketchup or something like that.

In response to Archduke Franz's hobby of eating rice (weird behavior), the chefs developed a variety of dishes based on rice.

Of course, in Franz's eyes, these things are rice bowls, but the taste is a little weird.

1842, Christmas.

The Austrian Empire announced a revenue of 350 million florins, which was more than double the amount of the same period in history. At the same time, railroads, colonies, and all walks of life are moving in a better direction.

In the eight years following joining the German Customs Union, the national income of the Austrian Empire had risen by 100 per cent, and even the soldiers were paid 200 florins a year.

During the same period, prices rose by only 25%, and the prices of some commodities even fell, but there were more and more types of commodities and more demand.

After being fed and clothed, sewing machines have become a goal pursued by many people, and this is not an unattainable goal. Although 400 florin is still a lot of money in the eyes of ordinary people, with new financial means such as installment payment, the pressure is far less great.

In fact, not only Austria, but also the German states are experiencing rapid economic growth, such as Luxembourg, which has grown by 400% in eight years, thanks of course to their national steel production and abundant local resources.

However, the political situation faced by Luxembourg was not rosy compared to its rapid economic growth, as half of the country was occupied by Belgium, and the two sides even fought for it in 1839, ending the war after France and Prussia intervened after 139 casualties.

Historically, the British-led London Conference directly allocated the western part of Luxembourg to Belgium, but the London Parliament was never successfully convened in this lifetime, and the agreements it formulated were naturally not recognized by the Great Powers.

The Luxembourgers were actually very uninterested in the "military occupation" of Prussia, but it seemed quite good to be a German compared to the extravagant kings and neighbors who were not good at them.

(The military occupation refers to the determination of Prussia to protect Luxembourg after the Congress of Vienna.) ）

(The arrogant and lascivious king who took them unscrupulously refers to the king of the Netherlands at the time, William Frederick, who was also the Grand Duke of Luxembourg at the time, but did not care about the life or death of the Luxembourgs, was indifferent to the Belgian invasion of Luxembourg, and he also ceded Limburg from Luxembourg, causing Luxembourg to lose 75% of its territory at one time.) ）

(The neighbor was Leopold I, the founder of Belgium, a lord who dismembered the Netherlands with the support of England and France.) Later, it also made a lot of achievements in domestic affairs and economic development, and made Belgium one of the few countries that escaped the storm of 1848. ）

Under the leadership of the British, the Netherlands recognized defeat in the war and Belgium became independent.

But the Luxembourg parliament refused to sign the peace agreement, which is half of the country and 40% of the population. Due to the Prussian protection of Luxembourg, Dutch troops could not enter Luxembourg to suppress it, which dragged on from 1839 until Christmas 1842.

Over the years, Luxembourgers have worked hard to make money, and just a week before Christmas, the 83-year-old Kurdray MP spoke on behalf of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

"I would like to complain, Austria and Prussia, that they could fight the slave trade all over the world, and even go to Africa and Asia to liberate the barbarian peoples, but they turned a blind eye to the tragedy of their compatriots at their doorstep!

Just in 1839 two robbers broke into our home. One kills and sets fires, the other enslaves us. Two robbers are fighting on our land, but we are the last victims!

They divided our territory and plundered our families, but our brothers, our fathers, Prussia, Austria did nothing about it!

Why?! Because we are too weak to be insignificant!

But the biggest kidnapping of the century took place right before your eyes, with 380,000 Luxembourgers kidnapped by Belgium and 150,000 kidnapped by the Netherlands.

You all advertise that you will ban the slave trade and fight the slave trade, but at this time 420,000 Germans were enslaved by the Dutch king and did not have to pay a penny, are you blind?!

I accuse! This incompetent father and brother, this useless confederacy, this unjust world! ”

The accusations of the Kurdray parliamentarians were not very pleasant to the delegates of the German Confederation, especially the representatives of Austria and Prussia, who also felt that they had come to a regular meeting in the first place, and who knew that such a thing would happen.

In fact, the situation in Luxembourg is well known to all countries, but theoretically the Netherlands is its suzerainty, and the king of the Netherlands is also the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

If other countries want to help, they must first obtain the consent of the Netherlands, and the partition of Luxembourg is obviously acquiesced by the Netherlands, which is no problem in legal theory, and the whole thing is dominated by Britain and France, and no one dares to point fingers.

The whole room fell silent, because the statement of the Luxembourg delegates was "unreasonable", but a national feeling was brewing, and fellow Germans could not turn a blind eye to their suffering.

However, the final voting power was still in the hands of the two powers, Austria and Prussia, and the other states were unable to do so even if they wanted to.

After all, Belgium and the Netherlands had the backing of Britain and France, and if they wanted to fight against the great powers, Austria and Prussia, which were also great powers, needed to come forward.

But in any case, all of Germany, and even Europe, will have an unquiet Christmas.

(End of chapter)