Bavaria, close to the Alps.

Madame Sophie took Maria to Posenhofen, a castle away from the hustle and bustle. But it's more like a farm than a castle.

Mrs. Sophie's sister, Ludovica, lives here, and at first she hated the backcountry and the incompetent brother-in-law.

Of course, Mrs. Sophie did not come here to find a future wife for Franz, after all, in her eyes, Ludovica's girls were as stupid as her, and they did not help Franz at all, and the most important thing was that their status was too low, and they were completely unequal to Franz.

But Madame Sophie came more often than in history, mainly because Franz did a lot of what she was supposed to do, and did it better.

Mrs. Sophie has nothing to do, so naturally there are only two ways to show the baby and string relatives. Although Franz also found some things for her to do, such as makeup and fashion design, it was still not enough to kill her time and energy.

Madame Sophie preferred her daughter, Maria, to her four sons.

So poor Mary had to go on a journey with Madame Sophie all day long.

Of course, little Maria actually loves to be with girls her age, and although Nana (Princess Helen) is only a year older than her, she is like an older sister and always takes care of her.

As for Sissi, although she is two years younger than her, she is even more naughty than her.

This was the first time Maria knew what it meant to be naughty, after all, it was her prerogative to be naughty in Schönbrunn Palace.

However, Maria was still very fond of her cousin, and she would share anything good with the two sisters.

For example, toothpaste, lollipops, small dresses, small toys, jewelry. Among them, the toothpaste was told by Franz to bring it over, after all, he didn't want to see Princess Sissi with two rows of small yellow teeth as she did in history.

In fact, as early as the eighteenth century, the British industrialized the production of tooth powder, but the market response was not good. People still don't like this kind of dental care products that are cumbersome to use and inconvenient to carry.

Historically, the French invented the metal hose in 1840, but in fact, it was not until 1893 that the Austrians put toothpaste into the hose to make the first toothpaste in the modern sense.

In order to improve the steam turbine, Franz tinkered out the metal hose in 1837.

Making modern toothpaste from metal hoses is just a by-product, but it's from then that toothpaste really began to come into the public eye, and gradually changed to everyday products.

From the invention of metal hoses, to the discovery of toothpastes with chalky soil as a friction agent, soap as a detergent, and glycerin as a humectant, and finally into metal hoses. Franz simply advanced this process by fifty years.

Ludovica still admired her sister, after all, although she was the king's daughter, she was married to a member of the side family.

Madame Sophie was married to the Habsburgs, the second in line to the throne of the Austrian Empire, and even her son might inherit the ancient and vast empire in the future.

Although in the early years there were rumors that Archduke Franz Karl was an idiot, over the years the Grand Duke not only won the park debate against Vienna's smartest doctor, but also proposed many major events that would change the fate of the country. People like to call him "The Silent Franz Karl." ”

(Doctors were often considered the smartest people in this era, because doctor's licenses were very difficult to obtain and it was a highly respected job, although most of them only bled and fed opium.)

Ludovica's own husband, though he has the title of commoner duke, is not a compliment, but a sarcasm. As a duke, he has no position in the court, does not follow the rules and etiquette, and mixes with commoners all day long and calls him brothers, which is simply a shame for the family.

The mountains on the shores of Lake Starnberg are beautiful, but Ludovica would prefer to live in the city.

Many people have commented that Ludovica is a peasant woman type woman without any ambitions, but in reality this is not the case. The mere fact that she did not hand over her children to the servants according to the custom of the aristocracy of this era, but educated herself, shows that she was very dissatisfied with the status quo.

But meeting a husband like Duke Maxi is enough to make any housewife despair. Duke Maxi, the father of Nana and Sissi, is an all-rounder, climbing, horseback riding, fishing, playing music, and reciting limerick poems.

But Duke Maxi was not a good nobleman, his accounts were in shambles, he was only interested in pleasure and criticism every day without any responsibility, and he had children with many lovers, and often brought them into the house.

This made Ludovica and her husband very bad, and certainly no woman would want to accept such an embarrassing situation.

So Ludovica pinned her hopes on the next generation, hoping that her daughters could marry into good families.

Nana is okay, Sissi is too naughty, I'm afraid it will be difficult to marry into a good family, Mary (born in 1841) is still too young.

Of course, Ludovica is actually very self-aware, she doesn't think that her daughters have any hope of marrying her sister Sophie's eldest son, but fortunately, her sister has many sons, Maximilian, Ludwig, and little Victor They are the targets of her daughters.

Although Mrs. Sophie understood the intentions of her poor sister, her children were the political assets of the family, and their marriage was bound to be a political transaction.

But perhaps out of sympathy for her sister's misfortune, she promised Ludvika that she would marry one of her sons.

Every time Madame Sophie visited Posenhofen, she brought something to eat and wear for the Ludovica family, not only Maria's toys, of course, but also some dresses and clothes designed by the former.

As well as Franz's design of lingerie and things like cosmetics and perfumes, these things made Ludovica fall in love.

Because she has been married for so many years, her husband has never bought her a dress.

It's just that she can't accept Franz's ability to design underwear and cosmetics. It was hard for Ludovica to imagine that a boy would be interested in such a thing, but when she thought about the history of her family and the Habsburgs, it seemed that nothing impossible

On the other side of the European continent, a major event took place, when the Netherlands announced its accession to the German Customs Union.

Although this incident had long been expected by all parties, it still caused an uproar when the news came out.

After all, this means that the German Customs Union will become the largest economic entity after Britain and France, and it will grow much faster than Britain and France.

This was strongly opposed by Britain and France, but King Wilhelm II of the Netherlands was adamant this time, and he joined only the German Customs Union, not the German Confederation.

So the French made concessions, and the British, who saw that the situation was not good, did not want to be isolated anymore and chose to make concessions, and what is surprising is that the biggest obstacle to the Netherlands' entry into the German Customs Union is Prussia.

(End of chapter)