The weather in Venice in December is a bit cold, and in the early morning, the banks are sparsely populated with people, the water is shrouded in steaming mist, and the Gothic buildings on both sides of the river are picturesque in the mist, as if entering a dreamlike world.

Ernst was most interested in the arched bridges that occasionally appeared on the water to connect the two banks, which reminded him of the small bridges and flowing water in the Jiangnan region in the literature of his previous life.

Sitting on a gondola in a Venetian boat, Ernst admired the old city with a strong medieval style, with buildings on both sides of the river moving rapidly backwards as the ships moved.

These beautiful houses are nestled against each other and arranged in an orderly order, together with elegant and magnificent churches, towering bell towers, and splendid palaces...... All tell about her former glory.

Medieval Venice has an incomparably glorious history in Europe, and its unique geographical location and natural excellent harbor have shaped the character of the city of Venice. The Venetians of that time were as hungry for wealth as the Dutch are today.

By monopolizing the sea trade routes between the East and the West, along the Adriatic Sea, the Venetians established a prosperous commercial republic, goods from the East were transshipped in Venice, the footprints of Venetian merchants traveled all over Europe, and wealth flowed into the pockets of Venetian merchants.

The development of commerce and trade led to the prosperity of the city of Venice, and the Venetian merchants who became wealthy first built churches and palaces, and many of the buildings that Ernst saw can be traced back to that period.

Economic prosperity led to cultural prosperity, the rise of citizens, and the gathering of writers and artists, making Venice one of the most important cultural centers in Europe.

A large number of literati and painters used words and paintings to record the wealth and freedom of Venice, and the British contemporary, William Shakespeare, also used Venice as a background to create such a popular classic as The Merchant of Venice.

However, since the beginning of the Age of Discovery, Venice was no exception, as new shipping routes were opened up and changes in the world's main trade routes accelerated the decline of port cities along the entire Mediterranean coast.

The emaciated camel was bigger than the horse, and the declining Venice could not escape the covetousness of careerists, and fell into the hands of the French and Austrian empires.

At present, as one of the many regions under the rule of the Austrian Empire, Venice is obviously not given enough attention, and the European hegemony is the main direction of the Austrian Empire, and Venice is more like being used by Austria as a buffer to bring in business.

In fact, Ernst also regretted the history of the Austrian Empire, all the efforts of the Habsburg family in Europe for hundreds of years, produced endless heroes and heroes, and gave birth to countless cultures and arts, after all, could not withstand the progress of the times, did not change direction in time when the wave of nationalism came, and finally fell apart, and the success or failure turned into nothing.

Ernst believed that Austria had paid too much ineffective cost for the hegemony of the European continent, as a typical sandwich biscuit, Austria was feared by Britain, France and Russia, and although Prussia was ambitious, Prussia could not restore the glory of the HRE, because Austria was too large to kick Austria out, and Germany without Austria was not complete.

If Austria had completed the unification of Germany, it would have created a terrorist state that would stretch from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean, across the entire middle of Europe, and the whole of Europe would tremble.

So Britain, France and Russia preferred the Prussians to realize the Little German plan than to make half a concession to Austria.

Austria, on the other hand, would have been much more comfortable if it had joined the colonial cause with the goal of maintaining the balance of the European continent, and Venice would have benefited from it.

It is also Austria's bad luck, if the Suez Canal is opened ten years ahead of schedule, with the help of Austria's volume and the geographical location of Venice, Venice can at least develop into Austria's largest port city, not to mention the restoration of its ancestral foundation.

But history does not tolerate ifs, Venice will return to Italy in the future, and the Austrian Empire will become Austria-Hungary until its fall.

Compared with Venice returning to Italy, Ernst is more optimistic about Venice staying in the territory of Austria-Hungary, you must know that Italy is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and there are more than 100 ports, while Austria-Hungary will only have an outlet to the Adriatic Sea in the future.

It was also the good time for Italy to catch up, and only a few years after the recapture of Venice, the Suez Canal was opened to traffic, and the Mediterranean status became important again.

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The Venetian Martin shipyard, now taken over by Ernst, a long-established family shipyard that has been running poorly in recent years and is losing money, is being bought by the heir Fortest Martin in the face of a buyer.

As for Fortes Martin, he wanted to use the money obtained from the sale of the shipyard to devote himself to the textile industry, and Martin had made a lot of money in the textile industry over the years, and was about to increase his investment, but the shipyard in his hand had been in a state of loss, and the proper negative equity was sold to Ernst for cash.

Ernst planned to upgrade the dockyard and form its own ocean-going caravans when the Suez Canal opened.

This family-owned shipyard has no particular advantages, but it is old, has a group of experienced shipbuilders, and occupies a fairly large area, which is above average in the Venetian area.

This made it easier for Ernst to upgrade the shipyard, and Ernst intended to recruit some Austrian workers to work in the shipyard to buffer the number of Italians.

Of course, it is also intended to train a group of German workers to make technical and employee reserves for the Hamburg branch in the future, and it is impossible for Ernst to fool a group of Italians to work in North Germany, and the Austrians themselves are German nations, and there is not much psychological pressure on personnel transfer in the future, which is handy.

Now that the shipyard has been acquired, it is naturally impossible to use the original name, the old rules, the Heixingen shipyard is baked, and Ernst does not like to use the name of people as the name of the factory and the company, so he often uses the name of the place Heixingen.

As for the management of the shipyard, in addition to the continuation of the previous management, Ernst will send a number of personnel from Berlin to assist in management and supervision.

Tiny Heishingen, a rural region deep in the interior of Europe, unexpectedly owns a seaside shipyard, a bank, a company and an R&D center in Berlin.

Heixingen's is his own, and this concept has been fixed in Ernst's mind, and under the influence of Prince Constantine, Ernst has become the spokesperson of Heixingen on his own.