Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz was a little angry, and a little depressed. He just wants to engage in basic education, and tens of millions of florins have been smashed in six years, so why are there so many problems.

What's worse is that it has not yet reached the real promotion stage, but it is only in the large-scale pilot stage

Pilot education cannot be generalized in rural and mountainous areas of Austria. In particular, with regard to the issue of free meals, the previous reports led Franz to believe that this was a wasted effort and a hotbed of corruption.

However, the reality is that since the school stopped providing free meals, there has been a wave of dropouts in the mountainous areas. The reason for this is that it is too difficult for students in the mountainous areas to eat.

Franz's imaginary mountain school, a village just a few hundred meters away. In fact, there are only a few or a dozen children in a village, and in order to save costs, it is common for several, or even a dozen children, in a village to share a primary school.

Then the problem comes, these children need to walk more than ten miles, or even dozens of miles of mountain roads every day. This exaggerated distance is very terrifying for ordinary people.

And at that time, there were wolves in many mountainous areas of Austria, and the wolves in the Tyrolean region were actually about the size of coyotes and foxes, and their combat effectiveness could not beat a small child alone, so as long as they were equipped with a wooden stick or a hiking pole, it was enough to deal with it, and they could also have dinner at night, but the gray wolves in the Balkans were not something that children could deal with by themselves.

Eating is a big problem for these children, who need to bring their own food and fuel. The main one is corn, which Europe has been able to achieve by leaps and bounds in population thanks to two crops: potatoes and corn.

However, at that time, people in the mountains did not eat corn, and now the kind of muscular hunk who is advertised on the Internet every day holds a pot and eats corn salad, in fact, there is not much difference between the way Europeans and Orientals eat corn at that time, eating cakes made of cornmeal or paste.

Cornmeal or a mixture of wheat bran and wheat is the staple food of children in the mountains, and the so-called vegetables are some unknown wild vegetables with some fern roots and beans, and some of the more wealthy families may bring some raw pickled lard.

Raw pickled lard is actually very popular in Central and Eastern Europe now, and it is roughly made from the fat of the pig, and the paste from the pig's skin, which is frighteningly greasy, usually in jars or sealed leather bags.

As for the offal, that's what only the rich can afford.

When eating, make a little lard and spread it on the tortillas, or mix it in the paste, and those children enjoy it.

In fact, not all vegetation is suitable for firewood, but the most suitable for it is actually those dead branches and fallen leaves, because there is less water and it is easy to burn, and it is not easy to smoke and choke people.

The brain circuits of the church are always relatively new, and they also understand that it is not easy for children to go to school, it is difficult to eat, and it is very hard and dangerous to walk all day in the mountains.

So they began to build monasteries, especially in this kind of mountain, far away from the mundane world, theoretically more suitable for pure cultivation.

The problem is that it is also used as a school, and the school is a window to the outside world.

In fact, Franz did not care about the affairs of the monks and priests, and for the time being, this method was feasible, because the monastery was large enough and was undertaken by the church, and the Austrian government would not obstruct it.

At the same time, the monastery can also solve the problem of food and housing for children, and there is no need to worry about the problem of declining birthrate or population explosion in the future, after all, bigger means more flexibility.

However, more monasteries, and allowing children to experience too much of a religious atmosphere, may lead to an increase in Catholic influence, and some priests themselves are a threat to children.

Franz had more than once demanded the "purity" of the clergy from Archbishop Rauscher, who became the first Austrian archbishop to wage an all-out war against corruption, abuse of power, and private morality.

In fact, it is somewhat inaccurate to say that not all clergy in history have turned a blind eye to the problems of the Church, but Rauscher is the one with the highest position and the longest life.

Moreover, it is said that there is an all-out war, but in fact, there are few high-level church leaders who have been dealt with, and the punishment is very light. However, the punishment below is even greater, punishing, scalping, and even direct burning at the stake, just like the style of a medieval court.

In fact, the Austrian Church did exactly what the Holy See did not dare to do at this time, because the rule of the Papal States itself was not stable, and the Inquisition was naturally not bold.

Franz knows very well how good the church is in the front and how painful it is in the back when it is peeled away. It is not possible to do it with the phrase "science to get rid of superstition", it will take decades and the blood of thousands of people to do it.

As for rural areas, it is usually not the local aristocracy that is the most difficult to deal with, but the so-called "village tyrants". When the nobles heard the words government, royalty, and church put together, they didn't have time to say no, and how could they dare to refuse.

But these aristocrats also have their own selfish intentions, that is, they will give up some uncontrollable land to the school. Theoretically, these lands belonged to the aristocracy, but in practice they were cultivated by a group of farmers, and were also called public land.

Theoretically, the crops in this part of the land did not need to be taxed for burning, pasture, so the nobility did not have much income.

At the same time, serfdom had changed over the centuries and had collapsed in parts of Austria, and these so-called communal lands had been occupied by some powerful peasants.

Coupled with the French Revolution, the power of the Austrian aristocracy was greatly weakened. In fact, when Napoleon attacked Austria, he also used the trick of beating local tyrants and dividing the land, and the effect was very significant.

At this time, some of these public lands are occupied by one family, and some are occupied by several families, and these people are usually the most "powerful" people in the village, or the kind of "tyrant" that no one dares to provoke.

Although the declining aristocracy could not do anything to these people, these people did not dare to really do anything to the local nobility.

As for facing the imperial power, the imperial government, and the church, they don't have so many scruples, after all, the sky is high and the emperor is far away.

Although they dare not be tough, it is easy for them to keep all the children in the village from going to school. The Austrian Church was still very influential in this era, and a large number of similar events were reported to Vienna.

Franz was upset, but he allocated a sum of money to compensate those who were using the public land.

But this has not had any effect, on the contrary, the situation has become more and more serious, with some demanding more compensation, some demanding the demolition of schools, and even leading people to besiege schools and beat students and teachers.

Franz was even more unhappy at this time, and he was going to let the Astartes, who had just returned from Chenla, go to various places to become headmasters, and assign a few veterans to the school as janitors and miscellaneous servants.

Although they are janitors and handymen, their income is actually much higher than the local average, after all, there is no pension at this time.

In the years when there was no war, the Austrian military would ask them to be discharged from the army after the age of 30, even if they performed very well, they would not exceed the age of 35, so Austria could have a large number of excellent veterans to be drafted.

The veterans who could be hired again by the royal family were naturally the best in the Austrian army, some of them did not want to fight, some did not want to go to other countries to carry out missions, and some people simply looked down on the mercenary profession, so they gave up the opportunity to join Ambrera as a mercenary.

These people usually have excellent military skills, but they don't know anything else, so putting these people in society is both a waste and a destabilizing factor.

Franz simply arranged some work for them, as a reward for these veterans for their service to the country over the years. And it was also to leave a way back for the Austrian Empire, after all, these people could be called up again at any time.

Soon it was discovered that there was an extra black-robed macho man with a meaty face and a raw snake eater, as well as a group of handyman guards who didn't look easy to mess with.

To be honest, Franz was very disliked by the Austrian land system at this time, and the cost of infrastructure construction was too high. But this can't be rushed, after all, the meal has to be eaten one bite at a time, and the road has to be walked step by step.

In addition, those who dare to attack the school directly, no matter what the reason, will be arrested first, and then interrogated in detail.

In addition, although basic education is not yet fully developed in Austria, some businessmen with a keen sense of smell are already seeing the business opportunities.

For example, the price of pencils and paper has increased, but it has quickly recovered, after all, it is easy to expand the production capacity of this kind of thing.

Although Franz wanted education to become the cause of the Austrian Empire, history so far has proved that only "profitable" can be more "motivating".

At least at this time, Austria is not in a position to choose its own model, after all, there is still a blank space in many areas when it comes to education.

And if there had been any leaps and bounds in the development of the paper and printing industries in Austria by this time, I am afraid that by 1848 there would have been more pamphlets advocating the overthrow of the Habsburg imperial family and the dissolution of the Austrian Empire.

It is much easier to promote education in "backwood" cities, where citizens are more willing to educate their offspring.

As long as it is free, more than 80 per cent of urban children choose to go to school, and the rest are too poor to have children work to support their families.

In fact, Austria's education in Germany is relatively backward, not because Austria does not pay attention to it, but because the volume is too large, the infrastructure is relatively backward, the cost is high and there is no strong executor.

For basic education in the cities, Franz plans to reopen the public schools of the Empress Teresa, which will not solve the problem of all school-age children, but will reduce the illiteracy rate in Austria to a certain extent.

Compared with Austria, education in the overseas colonies was less of a concern for Franz.

Although the assimilation education was carried out, the local nobles and merchants broke their heads and squeezed in. The children of chiefs and priests in Africa were even proud to be enrolled, and only a very small number of natives who were close to the Austrian colonizers had the opportunity to go to school.

In the Chenla region, it was even more exaggerated, because it was a clerical state, Franz adopted a selection system in order to check and balance, but also to stabilize the rule.

Thousands of people gather on the square, the elite selected from all over Chenla, after which they undergo days of rigorous tests to check whether they are loyal and talented.

In the end, only 100 people will be eligible to vote and be re-educated.

The main reason is that the territory of the church is getting bigger and bigger, the number of "electorate" is insufficient, and the room for ordinary people to rise is also insufficient, and the class solidification is very fatal even for the clerical state.

After all, when people do not see hope, they are inclined to destroy, either to destroy themselves or to destroy the world. But neither is what Franz wants to see, what he needs is living blood, a beating heart.

Central America was a sparsely populated region and inaccessible and had a luxury in education, but fortunately the immigrants here were mainly German-speaking and Dutch people in Austria, and Franz did not have to worry about assimilation.

As for the indigenous people, Franz adopted a policy of vacating cages for birds and relocated them to Mexico. On the one hand, Mexico is open to it, and on the other hand, it is because it is the most radical way to localize.

The terrain of Central America was too suitable for guerrilla warfare, and with its abundance of prowess, Franz did not want to get bogged down in an endless war of law and order.

As for the indigenous people who are unwilling to leave Central America, they will either move to the seashore to dilute the population for control, or send them into the mountains to make them truly marginalized.

Of course, those churches could not be deceived and the Austrian government could not get rid of them, so they could only rely on the army to let them move their nests. It's just that before all this happens, the local elite will drive the people away and then carry out Franz's plan.

In fact, the region itself is a contradiction between pure-blood, mixed-race whites, and indigenous peoples, and the former two take it for granted that Austria is on their side.

Therefore, indigenous peoples will inevitably be the target of all sides, and they will inevitably be the first to come out.

Then there are the self-righteous and entrenched Hispanic pure-blood whites, whom Franz did not want to compete with the Austrian Empire for influence, and are therefore bound to be suppressed.

Finally, there were the half-breed whites, who felt inferior and had little power, but were not numerous, and who had to rely on the new ruler of the Austrian Empire after both the natives and pure-blood whites were out.

Moreover, the position of these people is not too firm, and there is no so-called national consciousness, so it is easiest to assimilate.

Of course, since most of these people were fluent in Spanish, they would also be selected and sent to the Austrian Empire to study, and they would eventually be sent to other countries in Latin America to gather intelligence for the Austrian Empire.

Franz needed this system of study abroad because he had his eyes on the world and the future. It was necessary to be able to train a steady stream of talents and select spies for the Austrian Empire.

Of course, objectively speaking, this practice also promotes the spread of civilization and technology, which is a good thing for all mankind.

As for the problem that some people think that Austria may be dyed black, in fact, there is no need to worry too much. At this time, Europeans look at Africans in the same way that they look at gorillas.

(End of chapter)