War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

The reason why the Brazilians were able to block the joint attack of the three countries in the south was not only due to the complex terrain and bad weather, but also inseparable from the support of the Austrian Empire.

Although Pedro II is known as the greatest Brazilian in history, as an emperor who reigned for fifty-nine years, what he did is really not enough.

Those who reigned for about the same length of time were Kangxi, Louis XIV (the Sun King), Victoria, Shapur II (the famous resurgence king in Persian history) and Basil II (the last glory of the Byzantine Empire). .

Of course, there was someone in history who lived longer than Pedro II and was also the ruler of a great country, but his ending was worse than him, that is Franz Joseph I (the founder of World War I).

Pedro II was still very young at this time. After coming to power, his series of policies directly offended all the landowners and nobles who supported him, especially the abolition of slavery, which simply pushed him to the opposite side of the country.

In 1844, it even rejected the British "Trade and Navigation Agreement", which allowed British goods exported to Brazil to only pay an ad valorem tax of 25%.

The reason why Pedro II did this may be different from the modern mainstream analysis of protecting domestic industry and commerce, because Brazil at that time had almost no industry and was completely a large plantation.

But at that time, Brazil's national treasury was empty and its precious metal reserves were seriously insufficient. The reason why he wanted to raise import tariffs was largely to prevent the outflow of silver and ease the financial crisis caused by the war.

The Brazilian Civil War has been discussed in previous books, so I won’t go into details here. In short, the war lasted for several years, and the cost was naturally borne by the country.

It is understandable that Pedro II wanted to make money. After all, the power in his emperor's hands was pitiful, and there was nothing else valuable enough to make people work for him.

Although Franz has been importing large amounts of rubber from Brazil, Brazilian planters are really unmotivated. Even after so many years, the output of rubber is still hovering between six and seven hundred tons.

Moreover, the money from rubber transactions will not go directly to the Brazilian government. They can only make profits through tax collection, and the actual income will be even less.

In fact, it is precisely because the Brazilian government imposes too many taxes on rubber transactions that the estate owners lack interest in expanding planting.

Of course, the characteristics of the rubber tree itself are also an important reason, because the planting cycle is too long, which means it takes a lot to get back the cost.

During this period, no one can guarantee that the market will remain stable. As we all know, what farmers hate most is risk.

So compared to these weird things (rubber and quinine), Brazil prefers to grow wheat, coffee and sugar. After all, these are the things that people can't live without.

However, at Franz's strong request, Brazilians also began to grow cotton, although the yield was still appalling.

The Austrian Empire's support for Brazil is to pay to monopolize Brazil's cotton and rubber, as well as the development rights of part of the wasteland. This can not only ensure that Brazil will not be defeated by the British, but also ensure its own strategic resources to a certain extent. Safety.

In fact, the money will return to the Austrian Empire sooner or later. After all, Franz is just borrowing money, and Pedro II of Brazil naturally cannot buy weapons or supplies with the enemy.

Therefore, it is good to have strong industrial capabilities. If you step on the left foot and the right foot, you can spiral into the sky. It is obviously to plunder other countries' resources, but the other country still has to say thank you.

In fact, Pedro II still somewhat despised Franz. After all, the former was a young emperor at the age of fourteen, while the latter was fifteen years old and still making money everywhere like a Jew.

Pedro II even wrote a letter to Franz, inviting the latter to be the former's finance minister.

It’s just that the letter was torn into pieces by Mrs. Sophie. In fact, Franz still wanted to keep it. After all, if something unexpected happened, it would be a way out, right? If it doesn't work, you can ask someone else to top the tank.

It's just that this behavior of Pedro II was no different from provocation in the eyes of the Austrians, but they would just laugh at it because the former was a "bumpkin".

After hearing about this, Maximilian had a rare chance to talk to Franz, his eldest brother, and the former expressed his envy to the latter for having such a confidant.

Then he started having Chicken Soup for the Soul and talking to Franz.

“A real man should start from scratch and make his own way overseas, and he should not let down the friendship of his friends.

This kind of opportunity is rare. You can prove yourself. Only after hard work and hard work can you gain a sense of fulfillment.

In fact, being an emperor is not necessarily very happy. You see grandpa worked so hard, but what did he get in exchange for his life?

It is better to be like Prime Minister Metternich, although he is a minister, he has all the power and reputation."

Maximilian almost said directly to Franz, "Brave young man, go and create a miracle! I will be the emperor of Austria for you."

Franz just looked at his "competitive" brother silently and said.

"You have made progress, but as I told you before, you should keep your eyes open and your ears open to all directions. It's easy for you to ignore other people when you just stare at me..."

Then the second child (Maximilian) was taken away by the ears by Madame Sophie who was listening.

Closer to home, the gifts Franz gave to his employees actually contained quite a lot of private goods. For example: toothpaste and soap.

In fact, these two things are nothing new, but the popularity rate is still pitifully low. Even if they are endorsed by the royal family and allowed to be promoted by the church all day long, many people are reluctant to buy them.

Compared with these cleaning supplies, red phosphorus matches, a new fire-making tool, are very popular across Europe. The advantage of red phosphorus matches is that they are more stable in performance and non-toxic than yellow phosphorus matches.

Before the Austrians invented the red phosphorus match (historically the Austrians also invented the red phosphorus match), the yellow phosphorus matches commonly used in countries around the world were the French Solia and the German Camelot.

Yellow phosphorus matches are easy to use, but they are too sensitive to fire and can easily cause fires. Moreover, during the manufacturing and use process, yellow phosphorus was highly toxic, which resulted in high labor costs and disgusted the rich and nobles at the time.

Austrian red phosphorus matches are different. Not only are they non-toxic, they are more stable, and you can smell the aroma of burning wood. They are called "matches for nobles."

It's just that this thing doesn't have much technological content, and it's not difficult for powerful countries to imitate it, so Franz didn't make much extra money from it.

In fact, except for the German Customs Union, the Apennine Customs Union, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and Austrian colonies, Austrian matches are not allowed to enter at all (heavy taxes are imposed).

What's more, the French church openly declares that the unpleasant gas of matches is God's punishment for human original sin, while the aroma of Austrian matches is the temptation of the devil.

Then the original fire starter became a luxury item in Paris, the fashion capital. A group of upper-class celebrities and gentlemen even gathered to strike matches to show off their wealth.