War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

After dinner, Franz had to run to the toilet.

This wasn't because he wanted to lick his throat, but because he wanted to let go. After all, he drank too many drinks in one night.

Afterwards, he returned to his room under the protection of the guards. As soon as he entered the room, he found that Friedrich was indeed boiling barnacles.

Of course, it’s better to look at the rawness than the rawness. Just use tweezers to pick out the barnacle meat, pour it in water, dip it in mustard, and eat it raw!

"Mustard! Where did you get such a thing!"

Franz asked very curiously. After all, he and his party had not encountered a store selling mustard during this trip to South Asia. Of course he didn't know that this was his misunderstanding.

In ordinary people's perception, only the Chinese and Japanese are fond of this condiment, but in fact, green mustard originally originated in Europe and is an ordinary condiment.

"The kitchen," Oshiosugin replied.

"Why is there such a thing on the ship?" Franz asked with some confusion.

"Every ship will bring some of this stuff and add it to the dishes to prevent the crew from having diarrhea. This is just an ordinary condiment, what's the fuss about?" Friedrich said casually.

"oh"

"Are there any business opportunities?" Friedrich felt that Franz always had some weird ideas.

"No."

"Archduke Franz, do you want to taste it?" Da Yanshanyin asked expectantly.

Franz made an embarrassed expression. After all, in his impression, mustard seemed to be only used when treating people.

"That's such a pity." Oshiosugin put a piece of barnacle meat covered with mustard into his mouth, and after savoring it carefully, he showed a very intoxicated expression.

But Franz still thought this thing was scary, so he turned to Friedrich and asked.

"Do you want to eat too?"

Friedrich glanced at Franz, then took a spoonful of mustard and put it on his plate.

Just when Franz was curious about what the other party was going to do next, Friedrich picked up the plate and wiped off the mustard with his tongue, showing a fierce look that reminded Franz of the man who died by licking a poison dart. assassin.

“It tastes pretty good!”

Franz felt numb all over, so he took the opportunity to find a corner and sit down.

"Why do you want to invite those British guys with their noses in the air to dinner? Have you forgotten how arrogant they were towards us before?"

Friedrich was still full of confusion and disapproval of Franz's banquet with the British. After all, these Anglo-Saxons, who started as pirates, made things difficult for their own fleet on the way here. This was why the imperial soldiers shot each other later. The military affairs foreshadowed the situation.

During the previous trip to Southeast Asia, the Royal Navy even dispatched a fleet to follow them all the way to monitor every move of their Austrian counterparts, and even played deliberately provocative tricks, such as opening gun doors to show off force.

This approach certainly caused great dissatisfaction on the part of the Austrian Empire. After all, this behavior was almost the same as declaring war.

But facing the British Indian Ocean Fleet, even Friedrich, who was full of energy and confidence, did not think he was sure of victory.

Even if they are lucky enough to defeat the opponent, they will still have to face the pursuit and interception of their African fleet and Mediterranean fleet on the way back. This is simply an endless and impossible task.

It's just that times have changed. A sudden tsunami a few days ago completely overturned the British's extremely firm self-confidence. Two of the eight battleships anchored in Calcutta were directly scrapped, and the remaining six became a pile at this time. "Landlubber".

As for the local East India Company employees in India, they have even changed their faces to please their new masters, and their pious expressions are like pilgrims.

In fact, these "chameleons" cannot be blamed. Although the Austrians arrived here for only more than a day, they seem to be more terrifying than the British.

Whether in terms of the size of the ships or the appearance and quality of the officers and soldiers, this Austrian ocean-going fleet is far stronger than the British colonial army in India.

The Indian compradors, who are accustomed to adapting to the wind, naturally saw this. Tonight, many Kshatriya girls boarded the Austrian warships and prepared to fight against the officers and sailors. Of course, other interested parties also intentionally or unintentionally From them and other channels, a lot of information was obtained about the number of British troops garrisoned in Calcutta and their defense configuration.

However, Franz, who got this valuable information, was not crazy enough to plan to take over India. He just derived from this intelligence the primary reason why the British suddenly became so cowardly.

There are still more than 3,000 British troops stationed in Calcutta, but more than half of them belong to the navy. The number of Indian soldiers is more than 10,000, but the equipment and morale of those people alone are not enough to support them from rashly starting a war with the real army.

"As the proverb goes, how arrogant they were before, they are now so mean." Franz replied with a smile.

"Don't be easily fooled by their appearance. Those unruly guys will not give in. What you see now is just the superficial obedience. In fact, when we come to visit next time, they will still be the same as before. A bad face."

As a soldier, Friedrich had his own pride, so he did not agree with his nephew's conclusion.

"This may be what Mencius said, that the mighty cannot be surrendered." Franz sighed in his heart, and then changed the subject,

"Uncle Friedrich, actually my purpose just now was to make those British people miserable."

"Really? Then why is a different scene shown in front of me? They gobbled like beggars who haven't eaten for three days, wasting a lot of precious supplies on our ship." Friedrich said with a hint of irony. .

"Uncle Friedrich, you are wrong. Those are their own supplies, I just redistributed them for them."

Franz explained slowly that a day's search had yielded rich fruits for the Imperial Voyage Fleet. And having the right to allocate resources directly makes oneself the "big boss" here.

Several German businessmen and Italian workers were also discovered during the disaster relief process. Not only did they receive better care, they also recovered their losses.

These businessmen and workers have been living and sleeping overseas for many years, and this experience can be said to have completely changed them. For the first time in their lives they were glad to be German/Italian.

They are proud of who they are at the moment, but that will turn into a true sense of honor in the near future.

"No wonder that fat bastard brags every day that you are a great man descended from heaven..." Friedrich didn't know what to say for a moment. He thought Franz's "saint" disease was causing another headache, so he went to save him. people.

"It doesn't matter if you are generous to others, as long as the result is good, it can't be considered a mistake. If we didn't maintain order and effectively organize disaster relief, God knows how many people would lose their lives."

Franz's righteous words spoke so confidently, as if everything was how it should be. Oshiosugine, who had not interrupted, felt more and more that he was right. After all, in her life experience, order would collapse after every tsunami, and a series of human tragedies would occur.

"Sometimes I really think you should be a philosopher. Well, what are you going to do next?"

"The Indians sitting at the table just now are rich and powerful local nobles. They are obviously not favored by the British, because those British guys covet their land and wealth. And what we can do is Provide them with protection.”

As soon as he said this, he was interrupted by Friedrich.

"Do you want to establish a protectorate and collect protection fees from it?"

Franz was speechless for a while. It seemed that this guy who was immersed in the navy really knew nothing about politics, or perhaps the political methods of this era were too simple.

"No! That will anger the British, not to mention that we don't have the strength to confront them head-on."

"Is there any other way?"

"free trade!"

"speak English!"

"We sell guns, cannons, whatever they want to buy. We can also provide mercenaries and commanders when necessary."

Friedrich asked in confusion, "But this is the territory of the British. They will not allow those goods to enter India."

"Why do you think I entertained those pugs?" Franz asked.

Friedrich couldn't help but take a breath, and then looked at Oshiosugiyin.

"Miss, I'm afraid you will be tricked into bed by this boy one day, and you will have to wash his quilt."

Oshio Shanyin responded with a smile.

"It was an honor."