Rome.

At noon, the sun was scorching, and both the soldiers and civilians on the construction site were already sweating, sweat soaked their skin, and the mud stained their clothes, but they were still enthusiastic.

Both the soldiers of Austria and the citizens of Rome were well aware of the importance of rebuilding Rome.

For the Roman citizens it was their homeland, and for the Austrian soldiers it meant double pay.

Although Franz has always attached great importance to the education of the army, he feels that it is better not to believe in the spiritual atomic bomb here and now.

After all, Franz was surrounded by veterans, and because of his meritocracy, the sources of soldiers and officers in the entire army were very complicated.

These people have experienced a lot, seen too much of the world, and are deeply influenced by the style of the army at that time, in short, they are not simple.

For this kind of lord who does not see rabbits and does not scatter eagles, Franz feels that simple material stimulation is more effective.

Some of the young, strong lads even went shirtless, which attracted appreciative glances from the women who came to help.

Cash-for-work is also applicable to women, who have a hard time participating in the heavy physical work of reconstruction, but women have areas in which they excel, such as laundry, cooking, sewing and mending, and caring for the wounded.

Since Franz often engaged in cash-for-work, he had a group of people under him, and they had a whole system of theories responsible for evaluating the contribution of workers in the project.

There is no distinction between men and women in this system, so it is entirely possible for women to earn more than men as long as they do enough work.

This situation is almost impossible to happen in any country in the world at this time, and male workers are often paid twice or even three times as much as female workers.

But no one in the city of Rome dared to protest, and those who were disgruntled did not dare to cheat, because the overseers kept a record of their performance.

It's okay to have your wages withheld, but it would be a bad deal if the black-clad priests of the Papal States were considered villains plotting to destroy Rome.

At this time, the Papal States had an Inquisition, which was closed by Pius IX, but was revived during the Fourth Roman Republic to maintain stability.

It was only reformed to the name "Free Inquisition", which Pius IX changed back to the Inquisition at the strong request of the entire College of Cardinals.

Franz didn't want to say anything else about this, except to say that history always repeats itself.

In fact, Franz's acquiescence to Pius IX's retention of the Inquisition was not so much to weaken his influence, but to establish a rule for the Romans.

It is difficult to say whether this rule is the rule of Franz or the rule of Pius IX.

In the wake of the Roman rebellion, the Papal States had reached a level of rumour, and their fears gave Franz a chance.

Franz made minor changes to the Austrian law and prepared to hand it over to Pius IX.

However, at this time, Pius IX was still repenting in his bedchamber, and Franz could only wait in the living room.

The frescoes on the ceiling of the living room are solemn and sacred, and at first glance you can see that they were the work of famous artists, and are surrounded by delicate tapestries and gilded wood carvings.

The fly in the ointment is that some of the wood carvings have been mutilated, and the jewels set on them are gone. The carpet also showed signs of burning, and it seems that even this place was not spared.

Soon after the acolyte, Pius IX appeared in the drawing-room, still with gray hair and a somewhat staggering pace, but in much better spirits.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty."

"I'm also glad to meet our Roman king."

Pius IX always liked to emphasize the title of King of Rome in front of Franz, who was well aware of the former's careful thinking, Pius IX was afraid of being pitted, and he was afraid that Franz was also the kind of person who did not know how to be grateful.

However, Franz did not take this title seriously, after all, he did not get actual power.

Without further ado, Franz quickly got to the point.

"Your Majesty, Rome needs order now, and it can't always rely on the Austrian army, otherwise once the army leaves, then there will be chaos here.

This will not only be detrimental to your rule, but will even affect your reputation. ”

In fact, this was exactly what Pius IX feared, he was afraid that the Austrian army would not leave the city of Rome, and that he would not be able to clean up the mess in front of him after Franz left.

In fact, the Pope's worries were somewhat unnecessary, and according to Franz's original plan, he should have gone to Vienna by this time to clean up the mess and inherit the throne with a great victory.

But this group of guys in the Frankfurt parliament is really too bad, and they are forcing Franz to make a choice.

But it was far from time to make a choice, and the historical hopes of the founding of Germany were completely shattered.

However, this does not mean that the Little Deutschland Plan alone is the only option, especially since the course of history has been greatly changed by this time.

No one can say for sure that the Greater German Project will fail, and the fanaticism of the German nation has surpassed that of any previous era.

But this is not the best time, and their fanaticism has not come at the right time.

And now, if Franz rashly rejects the title of German emperor, then it is very likely that the Greater German Project will go bankrupt as it has historically been, and people will turn to the Little German Project.

But what if it's accepted? Franz was confident that he could empty the so-called parliament and turn the constitution into a blank slate.

But what about the Great Powers? Will they sit idly by and watch the rise of the Greater German Empire? No way! When pigs fly!

Even Russia, which was most supportive of itself at this time, would jump out against it, and some people said that the victory of the anti-French alliance was due to the fact that France was in a bad position.

But Franz wanted to say that the geography of the so-called Greater German Empire was much worse than that of France.

If you look at Austria alone, it is simply impregnable, surrounded by mountains or rivers, almost all key positions are in Austria's own hands, and the coastline is so narrow that the British want to smash the wall.

But in the case of the entire German Confederation, the situation is completely different.

The whole thing is a dilapidated house leaking everywhere, whether it is the Pomeranian plain in the east or the Black Forest in the west, and the mobilization and defense capabilities at this time are simply like a colander.

The long coastline in the north would be a hunting ground for the British, and the Kingdom of Denmark was the best place to land.

Italy in the south will rebel again, and the kingdom of Sardinia will once again carry the banner of unifying Italy.

Franz's continental system will also fall apart, and Britain will once again be invincible in the diplomatic arena.

Even if Franz had won the war against Austria, the colonies he had planned would have become spoils of war for Britain and France.

In this era of colonization, it won't take long for them to complete the bloodsucking of the colony and make a comeback.

And Franz's technological and information superiority will become smaller and smaller, until one day it will be completely filled by them with a sea of people and materials.