Although there were constant frictions between France and the German Confederation, and even a few saber-rattling battles, the French border was still a non-existent for South German merchants.

As well as the goods of Austria could enter France without hindrance, the raw materials of the latter could also enter the countries of the former.

Paul Stinkel is a Bavarian smuggler who has been on this line for many years. But it wasn't until the formation of the German Customs Union that he really got out of the poverty line.

At that time, Bavaria was not the heart of Germany as we know it now, but a completely rotten land, also nicknamed the "German appendix".

That's right, it's the kind of thing that is dispensable, but it kills people when they get sick. As an agricultural country through and through, it is bound to fall behind in this era of rapid industrial development.

Even more unfortunate were the Wirtbach family, who ruled Bavaria, and successive generations of monarchs had little interest in economic development and hegemony.

Therefore, the poverty of Bavarians can be said to be the worst in Germany, especially after the establishment of the German Customs Union, a large number of Prussian agricultural products crowded out the already precarious Bavarian agriculture.

Although Austria is constantly absorbing German refugees and providing jobs for Germans.

But there are still many people who are reluctant to leave the land where they were born, but when agriculture cannot support them, they have no choice but to smuggle this route.

In fact, they were not the only ones who smuggled them, and the governments of the three South German countries were even involved in the smuggling.

In the past, French goods were popular, so they could only tolerate the other side to lower the price of their goods, and at the same time try to get the French to bring more goods, so that they can earn enough money to cope with the layers of exploitation.

However, after the establishment of the German Customs Union, Austrian goods were far more cost-effective than French smuggled goods.

So soon the relationship between supply and demand was inverted, and French goods were no longer popular in Germany, and some French people even began to buy goods from Germany in turn.

This was the first time that German smugglers had seized the initiative in the transaction, and they naturally had to take advantage of it.

At this time, Paul Stenker took out a box of delicate matches and said.

"Sir, this is specially made according to your requirements. All the handles are made of aged maple wood, which when burned with an aroma reminiscent of the romantic streets of Paris, and can burn for up to 20 seconds.

The outer packaging is also marked with the words "Romantic Paris" in French according to your requirements. ”

"Sweetgum? It seems that you Bavarians are very knowledgeable! ”

(The sweetgum tree is one of the iconic trees of Paris.) ）

Several French smugglers on the opposite side repeatedly checked the appearance, then lit a few matches to test, sucked a few times with their noses, and then snorted a few times before finally nodding in satisfaction.

In fact, in addition to matches, there were also farm machinery and goods such as clocks, rubber shoes, pearls, and precious stones, and the goods brought by the French were also varied, in addition to all kinds of food, drink, and even ore and cotton

The match was naturally made in Austria, because the printing techniques used for the colourful patterns and words on the outer packaging were not available in France.

Even if it were to be replicated with a similar technique, the cost would be much higher than that of Austrian smuggling.

The best goods sold in Austria besides matches were sewing machines, which were copied by the French, but in a similar way to the British.

It's obviously made from the same parts, but French products are easy to break, and problems are always emerging.

Therefore, the original and genuine have become the pursuit of the rich in France, although these people may not necessarily use this kind of thing, but they can show their financial resources and identity at home.

In fact, even musical instruments such as pianos were involved in the smuggling of goods, and the Baden government even built a railway to stimulate the development of the local economy (border trade).

There are other things that don't sell well in Austria and are very popular in France, including toothpaste, soap and cosmetics.

At this time, France is not the old-fashioned country that did not popularize the 3G network in 2021, on the contrary, the French people at this time are very open to new things.

Of course, it is also easier to deceive to a certain extent, and to deal with romantic French people, you only need to draw them a big pie, such as toothpaste, soap and cosmetics, which can add personal charm and make them more attractive.

However, Franz did not lie, these personal items can indeed add to the appearance and personal charm to a certain extent.

It's just that the price is a bit outrageous, but the more expensive it is, the more appetite it has for the French high society.

In addition, there were paper cigarettes, on which Franz had high hopes, which became popular among the French upper class.

However, since the French did not have such a thing as a cigarette machine, not only was the production low, but also the price was expensive, so they could not compete with the smuggled cigarettes from Austria.

But in this day and age, paper cigarettes are still not mainstream, and people still prefer to use pipes and snuff.

In the Austrian Empire, only the army and dock workers were the audience for paper cigarettes, especially in Vienna, not to mention any paper cigarettes, no one even dared to smoke cigarettes.

In the whole of Austria, only northern Italy and Hungary had a satisfactory record of tobacco sales, and in Bohemia, because of nationalism, these spiritual opiums completely squeezed out the status of tobacco.

In short, Franz's dream of feeding Austria with tobacco taxes was shattered, even though Muhammad Ali of Egypt used tobacco and alcohol to feed his army.

According to the experience of later generations, pipes, cigars, snuff, or direct chewing tobacco intake of nicotine is slow and small, so these traditional smoking methods are not easy to addictive.

Therefore, if you want to increase the number of smokers, you must vigorously develop paper cigarettes, so as to increase the income brought by tobacco.

In addition, at this time, European cigarettes were also associated with the revolution to a certain extent, because the revolutionary parties were the champions of cigarettes, and the royalists generally preferred traditional pipes and snuff.

However, Franz really didn't have much interest in the road of rejuvenating the country with addiction, but tobacco and alcohol were indeed an important source of national income in this era.

Therefore, it is necessary to form a monopoly in these two industries, although tobacco can be directly monopolized by issuing an executive order, but it is impossible to monopolize the brewing industry in this way.

The former is just an emerging field, while the latter involves the interests of too many people. The stake is even large enough to make some people choose to take risks, and the tobacco industry at this time obviously does not have such energy.

Franz did make his mark in the beer industry, but Austrians were more fond of wine than beer.

Sales of Plzeň have been doubling in recent years, and it has to be said that this thing is frighteningly profitable in this era.

Civilians may not smoke, but there are few people who don't drink beer. So as long as people in this era have a little money, the sales of beer will skyrocket.

As for wine, there was really nothing to be done, after all, Franz did not want to be the enemy of the entire aristocracy.

(End of chapter)