Franz naturally knew what was happening in Silesia, but there was not much he could do, and it can be said that the causes of poverty in Silesia include, but are not limited to, the results of backward production methods and systems, traditional concepts, technology, state policies, and natural and man-made disasters.

First of all, there is the tax collector system that has continued from the time of Frederick the Great to the present day, and secondly, the impact of cottage industry on modern industry is unavoidable, and technological innovation and the invention of machinery have exacerbated today's predicament.

At the same time, Berlin demanded too much from Silesia, and subsidized too little, and even deliberately restricted its development.

This was not only because the land was taken from Austria, but also because of the large number of Poles living on it.

According to estimates at the time, in the first fifty years of the nineteenth century, the Prussian government took more than one billion francs of money and goods from Silesia alone.

This is a terrible figure, which is equivalent to half of Hungary in taxes paid by this tiny province every year.

Then there was the natural disaster that caused a poor harvest in parts of Prussia, but only Silesia had the largest number of starvation deaths. Of these, 2,000 in 1841, 3,000 in 1842, 6,000 in 1843, and again failed in 1844.

The Prussian government and the local aristocracy have also been playing the role of villains; The old men concealed the actual situation on the ground, and the inspectors sent by the Berlin top brass were negligent in their duties and hastily submitted a report to the higher authorities without investigation.

The relief work was also ridiculous, and the famine in Silesia from 1838 onwards could not be concealed. The government allocated money to the local aristocracy, who directly used it to regrow feed, leading to a further increase in food prices.

Seeds, clothing and paper were then delivered to the affected people. You must know that almost all the weavers at that time had no culture, and there were no pens in their hands, and the paper could only be used to wipe their buttocks, and they were disliked for being too hard.

Incidentally, toilet paper in the true modern sense of the word only became widespread in 1857. At this time, the tools used in Europe after going to the toilet can be described as strange, and one of the most outrageous should be the gooseneck.

That's right, those kings would wipe their butts with the neck of a swan, which was said to give the ass an extraordinary pleasure.

"The softness of the fluff and the warmth of a goose make toilet paper, and this warmth will pass through the large intestine and small intestine to the brain and heart." —Elizabeth I minister John Harrington.

Franz has been unable to look directly at the word swanneck since he learned this story.

Back to the point, in 1843, tens of thousands of weavers were affected, and the local government only sent 146 kilograms of rotten potatoes that had been frozen and rotten, leaving thousands to starve to death.

The better thing about Silesia at this time than in history is that Austria was in the German Customs Union, and Franz was a strong advocate of emigration, so more than half of the people who should have starved to death went to Austria.

More concerned than the future prince was the British Prime Minister Robert Peel and the current head of the Polish Restoration Army, Landre Promi.

The reason why the former is concerned about this is simple, that is, to avenge the attack of the miners.

After all, Europa at this time is still in a "time of peace", and before everyone tears their faces, they can only make small moves behind their backs.

However, now that he has the experience of dealing with the French, he is already familiar with dealing with the Prussians; This, coupled with the ambiguous attitude of Hanover, made the British more effective with half the effort, and soon a large amount of weapons and ammunition flowed into the Silesian region.

At the same time, the spies they sent began to incite the weavers to revolt, but it soon became clear that the crowd on the verge of bankruptcy did not need even a spark.

The weavers, who could not afford to feed and survive, were already a volcano ready to erupt, and the local Prussian government was clearly not prepared to deal with it.

But there was only a small problem, that is, the number of weavers was too small, and it was declining, at this time there were only about 30,000 people, and even if they could be all organized, they would not necessarily have much impact on the Kingdom of Prussia.

Moreover, most of these people are children, women, and the elderly, and two-thirds of them have different degrees of physical deformity; Almost all of them have lung disease, and their combat and destructive power are very limited.

At the same time, because they belong to many lords and are far away from each other, it is difficult to organize.

The Polish Restoration Army will focus on Silesia, of course, it is thanks to London, although the Anglo-French alliance was not formed, but Poland successfully caught the British line.

On the British side, Europe naturally became happier the more chaotic, and Poland was undoubtedly the most suitable-stirring stick at this time.

However, in the eyes of Landre Promi, the weavers of Silesia were of limited value, they could not donate money and materials to the Polish Restoration Army, and at the same time they lacked the lofty ideal of reviving Poland.

Moreover, at this time, the Polish restoration movement was at a low ebb, and it was obviously not a very wise choice to offend Prussia, and he could not see any sincerity in the promises of Britain and France.

So Landrey Promi did not plan to wade into the troubled waters of the weavers' uprising, and he devoted more of his energy to supporting the local pro-Polish forces.

At this time, the Berlin court had no idea of what was brewing in Silesia, and Wilhelm IV was still waiting for news of the triumphant return of his chancellor, Friedrich Liszt.

After all, monopolizing the distribution of British goods, the road to saving the country is not bad. At that time, the German region had a cult of English goods, and French goods were synonymous with luxury.

Austrian goods are cheap industrial goods, while local goods are synonymous with counterfeiting. Historically, German industry started by imitation, but it soon developed its own characteristics.

But at this point the process is obviously much slower, because the market is full of Austrian industrial goods.

The Austrian goods are good and cheap, so that the profit of counterfeiting is not high, and the difficulty of imitation is also very great, and what is more afraid is that this country has the ability to enforce the law across borders.

But it was a good thing for the aristocracy and the common people, after all, who wouldn't want to buy the best goods for the least amount of money?

But from a country's point of view, it is not beneficial; Because it meant that they had to rely on Austrian production capacity.

If there is a contradiction between the two countries, they will be in a very disadvantageous position.

However, the game and competition in trade do not have much impact on small countries, after all, they themselves are congenitally deficient, and they have long been accustomed to this kind of life based on people's faces.

But for Prussia, Bavaria .. This kind of powerful state is very painful and dangerous.

However, most of the German princes did not have much of a problem with the possibility that Austria might take control of the German Customs Union or the entire German Confederation, since the Holy Roman Empire was only fifty years away from its death.

Prussia, on the other hand, was too big, and its historical feuds with Austria forced it to find ways to balance its southern neighbor.

At this time, Friedrich Liszt was given a cold reception in London, which made him puzzled. Because no matter how you look at the alliance, it is a more favorable situation for the former.

(End of chapter)