On the island of Ireland in 1845 there were already a number of organisations trying to fight for the rights of the Irish, in addition to the two more radical organisations of Young Ireland and the Irish Liberators:

For example, the "Order of Oranch" formed by Protestants in Ireland was supported by the French as a "League of Defenders", mainly Catholic.

And, of course, Daniel O'Connell's Catholic Society, an equally radical but extraordinary leader who accomplished many things that the Irish would have dared not think of for hundreds of years in the Emancipation of Catholics Act.

O'Connell was a political skill, always finding a balance between unrest and protest, and liked to use large gatherings to put pressure on the government, and in 1843 alone he staged more than 30 large rallies of more than 100,000 people, but there were no violent incidents.

At the same time, O'Connell formed an alliance with the Whigs, as they shared a common enemy, the Tories.

In addition, he seeks supporters overseas, but this man is very clever and does not leave any promises when he asks for help, let alone contact any politicians, giving others the stalk of treason.

The first thing Robert Peele's government did when it came to power was to take him to jail and try to coerce him with his entire family fortune and as a member of the House of Lords.

But Daniel O'Connell did not give in, but was actively rescued by his allies, the Whigs.

Robert Peale then tried to break up O'Connell's organization by raising the subsidy allocated to Maynooth Theological Seminary and creating three universities open to some Catholics, but failed.

O'Connell's belief that Ireland could only be self-governing through parliamentary reform was clearly historical, as both the Tories and the Whigs saw it as a mere tool for political struggle.

Franz also disagreed with O'Connell, and Ireland's "peaceful self-government" did not correspond to the interests of the Austrian Empire, but this did not affect the cooperation between the two.

Moreover, it was reasonable for the Austrian Imperial Church to send "doctrinal mastery" priests to the island of Ireland, who made the Irish low literacy rate.

By this time there were more than 3,000 Austrian priests stationed on the island of Ireland, and nearly 500 officers in other fields.

This was very incomprehensible to Archbishop Rauscher, who did not know what would happen in the land and what was worth it.

After all, from the information gathered, there was only one word of poverty in this place, the people were horribly poor, the clergy could only survive on the handouts of their own country, and the tithes paid by the Irish were almost negligible.

Even if you try to use it to contain the British, they have neither weapons nor training. And historically, Spain, the Netherlands, and France have all supported the Irish, but the results have all been defeated.

This is proof enough of the solidity of British rule in Ireland and the fact that O'Connell was not very fond of the church as a person.

Because there are many indications that the latter has been selling lists of his supporters and Austrian missionaries to the British government.

Franz didn't expect this at first, he always felt that this Irish national hero should not do such a dirty thing, but after thinking about it, it was actually very normal, after all, the reality is that betraying allies and his desire to save Ireland do not conflict.

Fortunately, Franz had already prepared that the officers had entered through other channels, and it didn't matter if the identities of the priests were exposed, it was better to say that the exposure was more conducive to the next plan.

In Belgium (then the Flemish region of the Netherlands), 900 kilometres away from Ireland, potato late blight has already begun to rage.

The German Customs Union immediately issued an emergency decree banning the import of Dutch potatoes on the grounds that potato late blight could be contagious.

This proposal was made by a small state that could not be beaten by eight strokes, and it was Prussia that first responded, after all, they were in competition with Dutch agricultural products, and Dutch potatoes were forbidden to enter the German market, Frederick Wilhelm IV was going to die of joy, and the Junker nobles were going to set off guns to celebrate.

The Austrian Empire, on the other hand, urgently issued an order to reduce the proportion of potatoes planted, after all, Franz was not absolutely sure that the disaster would not affect Austria.

Although this virus is powerful, as long as you don't grow potatoes, you won't have this problem. However, this does not apply on the island of Ireland, not because potatoes can only be grown locally, but because potatoes can only be grown to feed so many people.

Only a handful of Irishmen, like the Jennings, can rent five acres of land, usually no more than three acres, and in some areas less than one.

In fact, Franz has tried other high-yielding crops, but the year-round temperatures on the island of Ireland are too low and the hours of sunshine are too short, so they are only suitable for those crops that like coolers, such as cassava and sweet potatoes, which need to be grown in greenhouses.

Most of the cool-loving crops are vegetables, and the only ones that can be used as staple foods are wheat, potatoes, barley (barley), and sugar beets.

Franz was the first to look at sugar beets, after all, Austria has advanced sugar extraction technology, so it seemed reasonable for these Irish people to grow sugar beets and use the money they earned to buy food.

However, the reality is that there is not much market for sugar beet in the UK because of the cheap sugar from the Americas, and the reason why the Scots and Welsh people grow sugar beets is because of state subsidies.

The Irish, on the other hand, are not subsidized for growing sugar beets, and as second-class citizens, they are only entitled to grow food crops.

So all that was left was wheat and barley, and at this time, the yield of wheat per mu was really miserable, coupled with the lack of fertilizer and scientific farming methods on the island of Ireland, it was really impossible to feed the whole family by growing wheat on a dozen acres of land.

In addition, the land of Irish farmers is generally relatively poor, and these lands are not suitable for wheat growth.

(1 acre = 6.07 acres)

The yield of barley is much higher than that of wheat at this time, and the adaptability is also strong, but the taste is very poor, and the nutrients are not easily absorbed by the human body, and it is easy to get sick after long-term consumption, and it is usually used to feed livestock or brew beer.

And according to tradition, the local landlords were allowed to let their animals eat the barley grown by the farmers, which made many farmers afraid of planting this crop.

Imagine that the food you have worked so hard to grow is eaten directly by those animals, and you are desperate when you can't do anything about it.

And because of the restrictions of the Corn Laws, the price of livestock sold to the UK has been rising. The great nobles and large landowners had been thinking about resuming grazing.

But the peasants and small farmers who had experienced the tragedy of sheep cannibalism resolutely resisted it, and the big landowners had to slow down their actions.

But between 1820 and 1845, the amount of land used for animal husbandry quadrupled, accounting for 85 percent of the total agricultural land.

(End of chapter)