Chapter 1010 Mission

London, England.

The British were both surprised and not surprised by the visit of the Austrian delegation.

What was surprising was that the Austrians came so quickly. After all, the Austrian Empire had won victory after victory and successfully broke through the British Navy's naval blockade.

The most important thing was that sending a delegation to the enemy country for negotiations was usually considered a sign of weakness. The party hosting the peace conference was usually considered the winner and the leader, just like Austria at the Vienna Conference.

But the Austrians' low profile did not surprise the British. After all, the former was just a land power, and their resources were ultimately limited.

The British Empire was a maritime power. It could mobilize almost unlimited resources and use the City of London to finance it and inject a steady stream of power into the war.

Even the former France would collapse under the offensive of the British Empire. The British have always believed that they will definitely be the final winner, and this time is no exception.

However, the British government was also very uncomfortable at this time. The failure of the war magnified the crises at home and abroad infinitely, including the Irish, the Scots, the Chartists, the Jacobites, and those hateful ghosts.

The Tories were even more shameless in their pursuit of power and profit. They even told the truth to the people and the royal family under the banner of upholding justice.

In addition, due to the superposition of many factors, the economic crisis not only did not improve, but worsened.

Especially after the failure of the Mediterranean naval battle, the Austrian Navy began to learn from the British Navy to intercept British merchant ships.

The cargo on the ship was actually not valuable, but the ocean-going ships were very valuable, so many British insurance companies had to pay out their fortunes.

Once these insurance companies paid, the banking industry behind them would also suffer.

So at this time, the big British bankers and consortiums united to ask the British government to reconcile with Austria and release British merchant ships.

And there was an urgent report from Gibraltar that the Austrian Navy had bombarded Gibraltar twice. Fortunately, the casualties were not large, but all the ships in the port were destroyed.

The Austrians' goal was obviously to trap the Gibraltar defenders, but it seemed unlikely, after all, the defenders had enough supplies to last for more than half a year.

Although Britain was under great pressure at this time, there was a bottom line within the Whig Party, which was that the status of the Austrian Empire must be weakened, and the Habsburg family must not be allowed to be crowned as the crown of the German Empire.

Otherwise, if the Holy Roman Empire came again, Britain's efforts to balance the power of European countries in the past few decades would be in vain.

Only a weak France, a chaotic Central Europe, and an Eastern Europe as an imaginary enemy would be most in line with Britain's interests.

As soon as the Austrian Empire's delegation arrived in London, it caused quite a stir, because the delegation directly bought the most luxurious and expensive Claridge's Hotel in London at that time as its place of stay.

Claridge's Hotel was built in 1812 and once had a very glorious history. It even hosted the Queen's family. Even at this time, it was unparalleled.

But behind the apparent prosperity was a heavy debt crisis. 1848 was the most difficult time for the hotel, and their days became even more difficult due to the appearance of Franz.

So when the Habsburg family proposed to buy the hotel, the shareholders of the hotel agreed without even thinking about it.

Although Baron Brucke thought that this behavior was a completely meaningless waste, he did not say anything when he remembered the miracle of Archduke Franz's investment in North America.

Other bankers and economists who accompanied him saw that Baron Brucke did not say anything, but naturally chose to keep silent, but they would inevitably record it in their diaries or manuscripts.

"In July 1848, Archduke Franz spent a lot of money to buy a meaningless asset"

In fact, before the arrival of the Austrian Empire's delegation, the business tycoons in the City of London had already taken action.

Almost all bankers wanted to take the Austrian delegation to their residences. After all, the delegation included big figures such as Baron Brucke, the Minister of Finance of the Austrian Empire and the President of the Imperial Central Bank, and Lusen Siner, the Chairman of the Austrian Imperial Chamber of Commerce.

There are also business legends like Arties, whose assets appreciated 150 times in ten years, and famous economists like Böhm-Bawerk.

The Rothschild family was the most active, although Lionel Rothschild's uncle Solomon Rothschild was most likely involved in the internal struggle of the Austrian Empire and his whereabouts are still unknown.

But this did not dampen Lionel's enthusiasm at all. He could not refuse an opportunity to dominate the City of London in this era of economic crisis.

Even George Peabody, who has always been stingy, was willing to provide free accommodation for the Austrian Empire delegation, but not meals.

The name George Peabody may be unfamiliar to everyone, but everyone will be familiar with the Morgan Consortium he founded.

However, Franz had no interest in this financial robber on Wall Street, and he also conducted an investigation on George Peabody.

The result of the investigation was that this miser was even more stingy than the rumors said. He never paid tips, would not give any charity, and his food and clothing were all the lowest standards. He was even unwilling to spend money to treat the rheumatism that tortured him.

He only gave a pair of shoelaces as a gift to the illegitimate son born to his favorite mistress. In comparison, Old Gao did not seem to be particularly stingy.

Franz hated his character, but more importantly, he was not optimistic about the future of the United States. He would rather have a dog of his own or send his own people to infiltrate the enemy than to choose such a stingy partner.

Franz's identity, status, and the national strength of the Austrian Empire at that time made it unnecessary for him to flatter a capitalist or a consortium, and it was completely unnecessary to pin his future on these people.

In fact, Franz had already planted the seeds in the north and south of the United States. Someone would definitely ask where Franz got so much energy to carry out micro-manipulation.

This underestimated the Austrian Empire. After all, as a big country with a population of nearly 50 million, even a rotten ship has three pounds of nails, not to mention that Austria at that time was far from hopeless, and it was not difficult to find a few available people.

In addition, in this barbaric era, as long as there is enough financial support, there will naturally be countless capable people to provide projects that can make money.

At this time, the advantage of Franz as a time traveler can be brought into play. After all, he knows the future trend. As long as he approves, he will make a steady profit even if he cannot make a lot of money.

London, Claridge's Hotel.

Although most of the members of the Austrian delegation were visiting Britain for the first time as diplomatic envoys, there was no sign of nervousness on their faces. After all, when it came to negotiation and bargaining, no one was better than them.