St. Petersburg, Hermitage.

The secret agreement on the annexation of the Free City of Krakow by the Austrian Empire was reconfirmed by the Tsar, and Nicholas I learned that Russian refugees were fleeing to Galicia.

After the departure of the Austrian imperial envoys, the Tsar issued an order to block the Russian-Austrian border, adhering to the principle of "I don't want it, and no one else wants."

In fact, the former Polish governor Paskeewicz knew the tsar very well and did everything in accordance with the tsar's ideas.

It's just that as soon as the former governor left, his policies were thrown away like toilet paper. And it will probably be summer to bring the news from St. Petersburg back to Warsaw.

During this period, something happened that made Nicholas I happy, that is, he finally mortgaged his "freezer" (Alaska) to the French, obtaining a loan of 200 million francs.

This greatly surprised the Tsar himself, after all, two hundred million francs or something, he was just bluffing.

However, the Russian officials did not think it was a bluff, they only knew that if they did not do well, they would be punished.

Under the coercion and lure of the Russians, Pierre Giscard knew very well that if he did not sign, he would most likely not be able to leave St. Petersburg alive.

He is a French official and a businessman, and the lesser of two evils is still understood.

So Pierre Giscard chose to protect himself, and as for the rest, leave it to the wisdom of future generations.

In the end, a new agreement was signed between Russia and France:

Russia mortgaged Alaska to France for a loan of 200 million francs, which France paid 100 million francs upfront and then paid the remaining 100 million francs over three years for eight years at an interest rate of 7 per annum.

At the same time, from the time the first tranche was made, France was granted the right to exploit all resources in the Alaska region.

On the date of maturity of the loan, Russia was required to redeem all the buildings of the French merchants at the cost of the loan.

——

This is a dividing line that is not ready to pay back -

Because news of St. Petersburg during the Icefall was unusually slow, the new Polish governor Venbertrovsky was a romantic poet-general, so it was inevitable that there would be stops and stops along the way.

It so happened that Poland was a particularly romantic land, and he was particularly lucky.

So by the time Venbetrovsky arrived in Warsaw, most of the refugees had already crossed the Russian-Austrian border, which was also suffering from a severe cholera epidemic.

There was a sad look everywhere, people dressed in black tried to avoid contact with each other, and no one even wanted to stop and say "hello".

The only lively place in the city is the coffin shop, which is needed not only by the families of the dead, but also by many living people.

The coffin shop owner's dead face had heavier bags under his eyes, as if he had never slept before, except for the occasional giggle after the sale.

Venbetrowski's first impression of the city was not very good, and the good mood on the road was swept away.

Many big nobles sent him invitations to various balls and salons, and some small nobles, merchants, and officers waited outside to ask for an audience.

Vinbetrovsky decided to do what the Tsar had told him to do first, that is, to close the Russian-Austrian border and stop the outflow of Russian property.

However, the officials of Russian Poland were not very efficient, and it took more than 20 days to reach the border, and another month to completely seal the border.

By this time, the Austrian side had received more than 700,000 refugees, of whom more than 650,000 had survived.

Although the refugees spoke a variety of languages, there were always one or two of the Austrian officials who could understand them.

In six months, the first phase of the Dniester River remediation project has been almost completed, and 180,000 hectares of the 2 million hectares have been developed, of which about 100,000 hectares have already been cultivated.

Franz also planned to build a railway, but nominally it was still a military need, and there happened to be a small fortress in Transnistria.

In fact, the location of this fortress was on the verge of being abandoned due to its awkward position, and the garrison had long been reduced from 5,000 to 200 at its peak.

However, Franz certainly could not blatantly build a railroad for his family's estate, after all, he still had to save face.

As for the veins of the mine, people have already been sent to find them, but it will take time to build them before they can be put into production.

Of course, Franz could have started production without hesitation, and the problem he faced was just a few more miners and a few more accidents.

Even if the construction process is completely followed, the mine cannot guarantee 100% safety, and those new equipment may not be able to save a few more people.

But Franz doesn't use this reason to comfort himself and deceive others.

In fact, thanks to the introduction of new mines and new safety lights, helmets, and more reliable machinery, mining accidents in Bohemia and Northern Italy have been reduced by 72 per cent and fatalities by 93 per cent.

But hundreds of people still die every year from mining accidents, and many more die indirectly from mines, including fatigue, hunger, and related diseases such as silicosis, heat stroke, and various accidental poisonings.

Silicosis was a dust-inhalation disease that was almost insolable at the time, and it was impossible to stop for a moment in order to develop industrial mines.

Franz could only give them more protection, wearing masks, masks, and splashing water to absorb dust in the air.

However, this kind of measure is really not practical in the underground mining area at this time, and it will cause more heat stroke.

The underground mine is small and difficult to dissipate heat, a large number of people and machinery are constantly emitting heat, and the humid air makes the whole mine like a steamer.

Therefore, heat stroke is not uncommon in mines, and although the use of exogenous anti-heatstroke drugs such as Huoxiang Zhengqi Water has greatly reduced the mortality rate, it is still a very dangerous situation, and the slightest carelessness can cause irreversible consequences.

Historically, European miners did not have any good measures to prevent heatstroke, and doctors did not care about the life and death of mud legs.

The only way the miners could think of was to go bare-chested and drink water, and some old miners would carry a mint leaf or two with them and put it in the water if they felt unwell.

However, with the introduction of traditional Chinese medicine and the intervention of the medical community, a large number of heatstroke prevention products have been developed, such as Huoxiang Zhengqi water, banlan root, peppermint water, lemonade and other products are widely sold in the mining area.

Among them, Huoxiang Zhengqi Water has the best sales due to its alcoholic taste, and even evolved some special mine culture.

There is no sunlight under the mine all year round, coupled with a variety of chaotic toxic substances, air circulation is difficult, germs multiply wildly, and some people with weak constitutions will even have a variety of poisoning symptoms.

At this time, there is no way to do this, so I can only accumulate little by little and slowly study prevention and treatment measures.

Although there were many problems in the mines of the Austrian Empire, the world should be considered the safest and most healthy at this time.

(End of chapter)