In the gap between two rows of luxurious buildings, in a corner where the sun could not shine in, Hugo struck a second match.

The aroma of fried carp broke into his nostrils, and the French rarely eat carp, preferring oysters at Christmas.

The French eat oysters really raw, with a few drops of lemon juice or ginger ale at most. Hugo now remembered the days when he was in Paris with wine and oysters

At the time, oysters in France were very cheap and used to be called the food of the poor, but when people began to associate oysters, truffles and certain aspects of ability, wild oysters in France were almost extinct.

There is a poem that praises the four seasons of spring in the Louvre, and the frog in Europe is the newest." He ate 300 oysters a day, and he was a Gaul. ”

(The French are also called European frogs because they eat everything like snails, rabbits, and frogs, which Europeans don't usually eat.) ）

In fact, Franz's carp farming plan was ultimately successful, but instead of the famous Asian carp, it was used in Europe, which is often referred to as the "three scales" in the East.

Compared to the slow-moving Asian carp, the mirror carp is more alert, faster, and reproduces much faster than its Asian counterpart (20% higher), so it can live in European rivers where there are large numbers of predatory fish.

To say that carp farming really has no technical content, this kind of fish has no dreams, as long as there is food and drink, it will breed wildly, the yield is large, and the ability to resist diseases is strong.

How could such an excellent ingredient not attract the attention of Europeans? In fact, during the Middle Ages, Europeans raised carp in large quantities, and at the peak of France alone, there were nearly 80,000 hectares of fish ponds.

However, with the advent of the Age of Discovery, it became easy to obtain marine fish, especially the herring fishing industry in the Netherlands, which directly crossed the carp farming industry in Europe.

Marine fish had a greater advantage than freshwater fish, not only because it had less earthy smell and fewer spines, but also because it was very cheap, and the catch was more stable than farming at the time.

This was mainly due to the fact that the population of Europe was too small at that time and the cost of carp farming was too high at that time. This, combined with the effects of a series of wars such as the Thirty Years' War, led to a depression in the carp farming industry.

So when Franz proposed the carp farming plan, the most opposed was the church that was most supportive of him.

In the past, the carp farming industry was dominated by the Church, but because of this, they know better than anyone how low the profits and risks of this industry are, after all, there are many floods in Austria, and several large rivers are often overflowing.

At this time, the carp farming industry was still facing a very embarrassing situation, that is, those who could afford it did not eat it, and those who ate it could not afford it.

In the past, the price of one kilogram of carp was equivalent to more than 8 kilograms of beef or 20 loaves of bread, but due to the introduction of a large number of marine fish to the tables of Europeans in the era of sea navigation, the price of carp was pushed down to a very low level.

After the 16th century, the aristocracy and merchants found better tasting and simpler fish, and the poor who could not even eat meat were less likely to waste their hard-earned savings to consume carp.

But now it is different, that is, with the development of the times, the burgher class has stepped onto the stage of history, these people do not have the spending power of the aristocracy, and at the same time are unwilling to be with the peasants.

Coupled with Austrian culture and historical traditions, Franz felt that carp farming was completely dramatic. As for the water quality problem that plagued the church, Franz didn't think it would be difficult to solve.

Carp is actually a demersal fish, and the water can be purified by adding grass carp and silver carp, and some shellfish can be perfectly self-circulating.

It's just that three-dimensional breeding and the like were simply crazy in the eyes of people at the time, and even a group of zoologists stood up to refute Franz as complete nonsense.

"Grand Duke Franz! How can there be three families living in a small house? ”

"They can live in the attic, the ground floor and the basement."

"How is that possible, they're just a bunch of animals. Even if it's the same thing I told you, there is no way to avoid friction between the three. ”

"Sir, but they are not human. Animals are sometimes more well-behaved than humans. ”

Franz's words left a group of zoologists speechless, but they were all waiting to see a good show.

However, the reality is that the fish are actually living together peacefully, which directly triples the production per unit of fish pond.

As for the reproduction of grass carp and silver carp, it is known as the top ten impossible problems in the history of human agriculture, but in the eyes of Franz, it is really nothing.

After all, the problems that have plagued mankind for thousands of years can be easily solved by even a rural aunt in later generations. The "pituitary suspension" is the key, and although it is very noble, it is actually the brain of a fish that has entered the mating period.

Anyway, the Austrians did not have an obsession with eating fish heads, so Franz simply left the fish heads to remove the brains to stimulate the reproduction of grass carp and silver carp.

After several years of experimentation, these technologies have basically matured. Therefore, in 1845, the Austrian Empire's farmed freshwater fish production directly reached 1,000 tons, which is equivalent to the whole of Austria, and each person could get 20 grams.

However, this is only in the experimental stage, and there is definitely hope that this number will be increased by a hundredfold in the future. Although Franz's fish pond had not yet been dug up, he decided to put out the advertisement first.

1,000 tons of freshwater fish may have been a joke for the Austrian Empire, but it was a saturation blow for the citizens of Vienna.

At this time, carp was cooked in almost every household in Vienna, but the Austrians had only two ways to cook fish, either fried or charcoal-grilled.

In short, Vienna at Christmas was full of carp smells, and Franz also took advantage of this "carp disaster" to change people's preconceived perceptions of carp prices.

Incidentally, the Austrian Empire's marine fisheries at this time were only slightly larger than those of the Kingdom of Sardinia, with a total of about 18,000 tons, but 90% of these fish were eaten by the Italians.

The Kingdom of Sardinia is slightly weaker than the Austrian Empire, with an annual catch of about 16,000 tons, France at about 40,000 tons, and the British Empire at about 100,000 tons.

Later, a certain country in the East produced 32 million tons of freshwater fish, so Franz's freshwater fish farming plan is still very promising.

Getting back to business, a hungry Hugo struck a third match, and a seemingly familiar and unfamiliar figure appeared in front of him.

"Adele?" Hugo felt hallucinating and patted his forehead to see that it was Miss Tina in front of him.

(Adele Hugo, Victor Hugo's youngest daughter.) ）

"Mr. Hugo, I can't find you at the inn, the innkeeper said you checked out, what are you doing here?"

Tina asked with concern, in fact, she had known about Hugo's movements, after all, Franz could not really let a generation of writers freeze to death in Vienna.

"Makes you laugh, Miss Tina. I didn't have the money to pay the rent and I didn't want to be kicked out, so I left on my own. Hugo said apologetically.

"Mr. Hugo, I said you have to do what you can."

"I just think you deserve to succeed." Hugo said very sincerely.

"But you are not the sun after all, you can't just give without taking!"

"That's what you said." Hugo smiled miserably, but was in a much better mood and turned away.

Then Tina grabbed Hugo's sleeve.

"Why are you going?"

"I don't know."

"Why don't you go to my house and sit down?"

Hugo had an unforgettable Christmas Eve, but when he woke up again, he was already sitting in the first-class carriage to Venice.

The pocket watch and ring that I had gone out of the house had been lost, and the suitcase that had been left at the hotel was at my feet, and even my beard was clean-shaven.

A lot seems to have happened in the past few months, but nothing seems to have happened.

(End of chapter)