War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

On Emerald Island at this moment, a homeless family who had lost their land and home were huddled in the corner of a fence post outside the village. The woman held the two children in her arms and cried non-stop. Her husband held her tightly in his arms, kissed her forehead and whispered comfort.

"Don't worry, honey. It's okay. We'll be fine. Everything will be fine. I promise."

But everyone knew what happened next. Scathach Jennings picked up a piece of dirt from the ground, but was knocked away by her eldest brother Patrit.

The former bit his lip and looked at the latter. Patrit picked up a stick from the ground, and then smiled at his sister.

"Little fool, you have never done anything like fighting since you were a child. Listen to my elder brother and go home and close the door."

After saying that, he walked straight to the entrance of the village with his stick. In fact, Patrit's true identity was a member of the Irish National Liberation Organization, and he happened to belong to the more radical faction.

The "drinking parties" he usually attends are actually regular gatherings of the organization; there are many passionate young people like Patrit in the organization, and these members naturally can't help but want to make big news when they get together.

They usually like to study some methods specially used to deal with the British and some stories about personal heroism. Of course, they also want to think about how to avoid harming their families.

In fact, these young people also know that it is almost impossible for them to defeat the British. But the reason why young people are young people is because they do it even when they know it’s not possible.

That's why there is the saying "Since ancient times, heroes have emerged from youth".

As Patrit walked, he took out a green handkerchief from his pocket and covered his face. The handkerchief was a birthday gift from his mother.

Thinking of his dear relative Patrit, he hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and clenched the stick in his hand again.

He hid behind a house and saw that the patrolman had taken out a thick hemp rope and was preparing to tie up the poor couple and then drag them to the town like livestock, where they would then be beaten by the law by those well-dressed beasts. Nominal sentence.

Patrit's eyes widened at the thought that sooner or later his family might suffer the same fate.

Suddenly he heard footsteps behind him, so he turned back suddenly and raised his stick to hit it down.

But the person who came was actually his father, and Patrit was a little at a loss.

The man snatched the stick from the boy's hand and ripped off his mask.

Patrit quickly covered his face, and the man angrily gave the boy another slap on the head.

"Do you think being a hero is fun? Do you know that you will harm our family? Go back!"

"I"

When the man saw that the boy was still hesitating, he slapped him hard from behind, and Patrit had no choice but to run back home angrily.

The man looked at the stick in his hand, and then at Simone's family who was about to be in trouble. He could only sigh.

The common man became angry and blood spattered five steps forward. But as a middle-aged man, he has a wife, six children, and an uncle who has no one to support him.

He could only choose to break the stick in his hand into two pieces and go home to use it as firewood.

A patrolman at the entrance of the village pressed his baton against the man's chin, and the latter leaned weakly against the fence.

"Why wander?"

“I have no money and can’t pay my debts.”

"How many days have you been homeless?"

"I don't know, maybe a month."

"A month?" The patrolman pushed the baton forward with force, and the man suddenly had difficulty breathing and coughed repeatedly.

The woman on the side quickly came forward and begged.

"Please don't do this, he can't breathe. Please have mercy!"

"Wouldn't it be better if he died? You don't have to continue wandering with this useless guy. You can find a job in the town and support yourself no matter what. Isn't that good?"

After getting closer, the patrolman discovered that this woman who was troubled by poverty and hunger was actually not bad looking. There was no concealed greed in his eyes, and his hand was placed directly on the woman's chest.

The men on the side were furious and wanted to rush forward and fight, but these patrol officers were too experienced in dealing with such poor people and homeless people, and they could beat them with a few sticks until they could not get up.

"Please, can you lend me some money? I can go to the city to work, anything, and I will definitely pay you back double the amount."

The two patrolmen looked at each other and smiled, thinking that this woman was pretty good at it. She had done this kind of thing of forcing girls into prostitution a lot, so naturally she was familiar with it.

"Of course. We are patrol officers and it is our duty to catch homeless people, but outside of this duty we are also willing to help others."

As he spoke, he took out an IOU.

"Sign it, and you come with us. We will help you. As for your fine for wandering, we will pay it for you. Of course, it will be deducted from the loan."

At this time, a villager saw the contents of the IOU and shouted loudly.

"Simona, don't sign, they say you borrowed a hundred pounds!"

One hundred pounds, which was indeed too scary for a farmer in the Irish countryside.

The patrolman on the side asked calmly.

"They violated the Anti-Vagrant Law, and the fine alone is fifty pounds. Doesn't it cost nothing to eat, drink, and defecate in the city?"

There were still a few villagers who were aggrieved, the patrolman said immediately.

"Otherwise, you paid the fine for them? We can go back to pay the errand earlier."

Fifty pounds, this number is really too huge. The average annual income of Irish people is less than eight pounds, and some areas don't even have two pounds.

Fifty pounds was almost an Irishman's lifetime savings, and the villagers fell silent.

The patrolman glanced at the circle of speechless poor peasants around him and said sarcastically.

"Are you all dumb? If you have strength, you can do whatever you want. That's called ability. If you don't have strength, you still want to stand up to others. That's called idiot!"

Simone reached out her hand. She knew what she was going to face, and the people around her knew it too, but they were powerless.

At this time, Father Cloven finally ran to Queen Village out of breath, led by several children.

The eyes of several young people showed nervousness, and they couldn't explain clearly in their chatter. It happened that the priest was a fat man, and he sat down on the ground as soon as he arrived at the entrance of the village, panting.

No one knew what happened, but the two patrolmen realized that according to past experience, a few children should have stolen something from the church, and the fat priest chased them into the village.

You must know that no matter which country it was at that time, the clergy were from the wealthy class, especially this guy with "abnormally outstanding figure", who looked like he had eaten a lot of people's fat.

Thinking of this, the two patrol officers immediately stopped caring about the homeless man and started patting Cloven on the back.

"Father, why are you so tired? Did these little guys steal the treasure in the church? Do you need our help?"

The two patrol policemen who were bossing around in front of the villagers now started fawning over the fat priest like two lap dogs.

"They...them" the fat priest was still panting, he seemed really exhausted.

"Why don't you get a bowl of water for the priest?" A patrolman glared, and someone immediately went home to get a wooden bowl.

Father Cloven drank a large bowl of water in one gulp and finally spoke slowly.

"These two are workers in my church and I'm taking them back."

The two patrolmen looked at each other. Although they didn't believe it at all, they didn't dare to say that the priest had lied. Because if one person says that the priest lied, it will almost be a fight to the death.

Because the priest cannot lie, but they don't want the cooked duck to fly away like this.

So the two said.

"Father, do you have the credentials?"

Father Cloven took out a deed from his arms. The ink on it was still fresh and the handwriting was crooked, but it was indeed stamped with the church's seal.

The two patrolmen's faces twitched twice, then turned to look at Simone and her husband.

"Are you workers hired by the church?"

Simone and her husband were still confused, but Scathach Jennings emerged from the crowd at some point.

"Yes, Aunt Simone and the others are church workers. They can live in the church and they are not homeless. They did not break the law, but you hurt them. What laws did you break?"

The two patrolmen looked at Scathach fiercely and were about to scold him, but Father Cloven spoke later.

"You still dare to beat my workers? I will ask Congressman Walls face to face when I go to see him tomorrow!"

As soon as they heard the name of Congressman Walls, the two patrol officers were immediately frightened and their legs trembled. That was something their immediate superiors would not mess with.

But Councilor Walls was rarely at home and spent most of his time in London, but they didn't dare to bet. If what this fat bastard said was true, they would become homeless.

They didn't want to be sent to Australia or Canada, so they had no choice but to escape in despair.

The two patrolmen glared at the little girl as they passed the village entrance, while Scathach puffed up his chest proudly.

Even a flat plain has the momentum of a tall building, but Scathach was severely punished by her mother at night and was not allowed to eat.

The same goes for Patritt on the side, and his face is still swollen. There is no doubt that he was beaten by his father.

"Hehe." Scathach giggled.

"Can't you eat and laugh at the same time?" Patrit said.

"At least I didn't get beaten." Scathach continued to laugh.

Patrit went to pluck his sister's hair, and the two made a fuss, and Scathach began to cry.

"Sister, why are you crying? Did I hurt you?"

"without"

"Then why?"

"I made Father Cloven lie. He will never go to heaven in this life, right?"

At this time, the atmosphere in the room fell into silence, because at that time, both Protestants and Catholics required priests not to lie, just as it was an iron rule that monks were not allowed to kill animals and eat meat.

(The monks here refer to Mahayana Buddhism, not Theravada Buddhism or Japanese Buddhism.)

Patrit hugged his sister and comforted her.

"Fool, God will forgive him."

At this time two bitten potatoes were thrown in.

"It's Mickey and Tommy." Scathach judged from the bite marks on the potatoes, because the two guys were losing their teeth, one was missing his upper front teeth, and the other was missing his lower front teeth.

The villagers were very grateful to Father Cloven, but they always felt that this was not the solution.

Because the landlord is still there, the fact that Simone's family is a church employee will be exposed sooner or later.

"I do plan to renovate the church, and I have already raised the cost for the renovation." Father Cloven said seriously.

"Thank you so much." Simone and her husband knelt on the ground with their hands clasped together.

"No need to thank me, just thank the merciful Lord." Father Cloven is not a good person. He is greedy for money and lust, but he only wants to be a good person at this time.

The priests of the church hung a cross-shaped scraping board on the back of the sick child while reciting scriptures to ward off evil spirits.

This makes the Irish islanders lament that they have been isolated from the world for too long.

Of course, some people thought that the priests were doing unspeakable things to the little boy, but he was beaten up by a few devout believers and senior officials in the village.

This is not an isolated incident, but is a common occurrence across the island of Ireland.

Franz knew very well that adding icing on the cake was not as good as providing help when needed. It is true that some Irish nobles wanted to pursue independence, but their so-called independence was nothing more than becoming a dominion under the British Empire.

At the same time, after a period of contact, Austrian spies reported back to the country that the prices charged by the nobles were too high and beyond their control.

In addition, Bordeaux liquid has been sent to the island of Ireland and has been tried to be sprayed in some areas, but it will take several months to see whether it has any effect.

Ireland has been isolated from civilized society for so long that it has almost zero experience in struggle. This is also an important reason why almost all the top leaders of the Irish rebels in later generations were occupied by British spies.

So Franz decided to help them cultivate talents and provide them with some leaders. After all, if you want to rely on those naive teenagers who are ready to resist the British government with Robin Hood-style thieves, I am afraid it will still be more than a hundred years before success.

Vienna.

Chio Rom's death did not cause much trouble.

Speaking of which, this person is really unlucky, because Carmela Sittles knows very well that her former boss is a character who will seek revenge.

So from the first day, he told Franz everything about the tricks that Chio Rohm might play.

Franz naturally understood the chief's worries, so he had been sending people to secretly protect Carmela Sittles.

This iceberg beauty is indeed very charming. Although there is no direct contact with her, the men sent by Franz to protect her are very willing to serve her.

Perhaps for such true fans, guarding in secret is also a kind of love.

But they didn't have much love for Chio Rom and the gangsters. Under the meticulous care of the West Icehouse Hotel in Vienna, the gangsters quickly told everything they knew about what they saw and heard. , even including the relationship between Chio Rom and the Rothschild family.

In fact, this is not unexpected. There have been similar rumors among the people for a long time, but rumors are just rumors after all, and solid evidence is still needed to convict.

As for Chio Rom's own willpower, he is not as good as those of his men, who can strike before a branding iron turns dark.

The news was sent to Franz, but it was not his business, so it was passed to Metternich. Prince Metternich was an old fox. He knew what this evidence could do, so he brought some of his personal bills to the Lion King's Pride Hotel.

Solomon Rothschild was also a man of understanding and immediately drew a clear line between himself and the Old Town Opera House. As for the outrageous things that Chio Rom did, the victims should be compensated with the proceeds from the auction of the property in his name.

As a result, the Old Town Opera House was also bought by Mr. K and renamed "Sunlight Theater".