Austria, Venice.

The deal with Villawais Adani was very successful, and Franz managed to clear a batch of old equipment for the Austrian Imperial Army.

Although Vera Wise is an ambitious man, the princes and nobles of Trivantrum are indeed not considered human beings. They even established a clothing tax to fill the shortfall.

That's right! The local law stipulates that all untouchables, regardless of gender, must pay a clothing tax, otherwise they need to be topless. This law, which sounds absurd, was enforced until just before World War II.

Others are even more outrageous, such as the nose piercing tax. The name is rather weird, so a bit of an explanation.

Indians worship cows, and when they marry wives, they will wear rings on their noses to show that they are their own women.

However, the earth king of Trivantrum felt that this violated the rights of the nobility, so he almost asked all non-noble women to pay nose piercing tax, otherwise they would have their nose rings taken off and their noses cut off.

So Franz has no regrets about his actions that may have killed such a person, and even plans to eat an extra bowl of rice at dinner to celebrate.

In fact, it is not that there is no rice in Europe, but the chefs here regard it as a dish.

That's right! This is a dish!

Chefs usually pour a lot of olive oil and butter into the pot, then add onions, potatoes, and truffles to saute until fragrant, and then add rice to the pot.

Add butter at the same time, continue to stir-fry until golden, then add chicken broth or other high-quality broth to simmer, then add Italian celery, thyme, rosemary, cinnamon, longan, clove buds and other spices.

After the pan is poured with cream, cheese, or tomato sauce, it is considered complete.

In response to Archduke Franz's strange hobby of eating rice, the chefs developed various rice-based dishes.

Of course, in Franz's eyes, these things are rice bowls, but the taste is a bit strange.

1842, Christmas.

The announced fiscal revenue of the Austrian Empire was 350 million florins, which is already more than double that of the same period in history. At the same time, railways, colonies, and all walks of life are developing in a better direction.

In the eight years after joining the German Customs Union, the national income of the Austrian Empire rose by 100%, and even soldiers could receive a military salary of 200 florins per year.

During the same period, the price of goods only increased by 25%, and the prices of some commodities even fell. However, the types of commodities are also increasing, and people's demand is also increasing.

After having enough food and clothing, the sewing machine has become the goal pursued by many people, and this is not an unattainable goal. Although 400 florins is still a lot of money in the eyes of ordinary people, with new financial means such as installment payment, the pressure is far less than before.

In fact, not only Austria, but also the economies of the German states are developing rapidly. For example, the economy of Luxembourg has increased by 400% in eight years. This is of course due to their large-scale steelmaking and rich local resources.

However, compared with the rapidly growing economy, the political situation facing Luxembourg is not optimistic. Half of their land is occupied by Belgium. In 1839, the two sides even fought for this. After 139 casualties, France and Prussia announced their intervention. this war.

Historically, the London Conference led by the United Kingdom directly allocated the western land of Luxembourg to Belgium, but this London Parliament was not successfully held at all, and the agreement it made was naturally not recognized by the big powers.

Luxembourgers are actually very unimpressed with the "military occupation" of Prussia, but compared to the extravagant and lustful king and neighbors who treat them as inappropriate, being a German seems to be pretty good.

The military occupation refers to the protection of Luxembourg by Prussia after the Congress of Vienna.

The extravagant and extravagant king who took them as inappropriate people refers to William Frederick, King of the Netherlands at that time. He was also the Grand Duke of Luxembourg at the time, but he didn't care about the life and death of the Luxembourgers at all. He was indifferent to the Belgian invasion of Luxembourg. , causing Luxembourg to lose 75% of its land at one time.

The eye-catching neighbor refers to Leopold I, the founding king of Belgium, a hero who dismembered the Netherlands with the support of Britain and France. After that, it also made a lot of achievements in internal affairs and economic development, which also made Belgium one of the few countries that escaped the storm of 1848.

Under the leadership of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands admitted defeat in the war and Belgium became independent.

But the Luxembourg Parliament refused to sign the peace agreement. After all, it is half of the country and 40% of the population. Since Luxembourg was protected by Prussia, the Dutch army could not enter Luxembourg to suppress it, which dragged on from 1839 until Christmas 1842.

Over the years, Luxembourgers have been desperately earning money and saving money. Just one week before Christmas, the 83-year-old Courdrey MP spoke on behalf of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg at the regular meeting of the German Confederation.

"I want to accuse Austria and Prussia, they can fight the slave trade all over the world, and even go to Africa and Asia to liberate those barbaric peoples, but they turn a blind eye to the misery of their compatriots at their doorstep!

Just in 1839 there were two robbers, and they broke into our house. One kills and sets fire, the other enslaves us. Two robbers fought on our land, and we were the victims in the end!

They carve up our territory and plunder our family ~lightnovelpub.net~ But our elder brother, our father, Prussia, Austria did nothing about it!

why? ! Because we are too weak and insignificant!

But the biggest kidnapping event of this century happened right before your eyes. 380,000 Luxembourgers were kidnapped by Belgium, and 150,000 were kidnapped by the Netherlands.

You all advertise that you will ban the slave trade and crack down on slave trade, but at this time, 420,000 Germans are enslaved by the King of the Netherlands without paying a penny. Are your eyes blind? !

I sue! This impotent father and brother, this useless confederacy, this unfair world! …”

Representative Courdrey's accusation made the representatives of the German Confederation feel uncomfortable, especially the representatives of Austria and Prussia. to this kind of thing.

In fact, the situation in Luxembourg is very clear to all countries, but in theory the Netherlands is its suzerain, and the king of the Netherlands is also the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

If other countries want to help, they must first obtain the consent of the Netherlands, and the partition of Luxembourg is obviously acquiesced by the Netherlands. up.

The entire venue fell into silence, because the Luxembourg representative's statement was "unreasonable", but a kind of national sentiment was brewing, and the fellow Germans could not ignore their experience.

However, the final voting rights are still in the hands of the two powers of Austria and Prussia, and the other states are willing but unable to do so.

After all, Belgium and the Netherlands are backed by Britain and France. If you want to fight against the great powers, you need Austria and Prussia, which are also great powers, to come forward.

But in any case, the whole of Germany and even Europe will have a restless Christmas.