Chapter 417 Brothers in Distress

At this time, Austria's influence in Central Europe was expanding. Although its rise did not involve much use of force, it was not appropriate to say that it was a rise. It should be called a recovery.

However, Britain and France still regarded it as a thorn in their eyes. In fact, any country that wanted to dominate would not allow a force that spanned Central Europe to emerge.

However, Britain and France did not seem to have much energy to deal with Austria at this time.

The chaos created by the Chartists in Britain made Robert Peel very anxious, but there was something more troublesome at this time.

From the intelligence, someone wanted to harm Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and it was not just one force. Now no one knew how many assassins had infiltrated Britain.

The Secret Service had invested all its manpower, but the situation still did not improve.

At this time, the European continent was also not peaceful. France had been fighting against foreign countries for years, and the huge investment in developing colonies had made the people miserable.

At this time, the French court was famous for its conservatism, dullness, simplicity, and middle-class values. This was mainly because King Louis Philippe had never walked out of the shadow of the French Revolution and Napoleon.

He was afraid of enjoyment and waste. In order to create a simple and down-to-earth image, Louis Philippe did not even allow servants to hold an umbrella for him.

The queen and his children were not allowed to wear jewels and must wear casual clothes and simple clothing.

As a king, Louis Philippe would even bow 90 degrees before every speech, just like Japanese bowsmiths.

But in fact, this practice did not win him a good reputation or have any positive effect on the rule of the July Monarchy.

Politicians regarded him as a puppet, businessmen regarded him as a plaything, and civilians thought Louis Philippe was a weak idiot. There were endless satirical works such as "The King of Duck Li".

Nine years after the Lyon tragedy, French workers took to the streets again. In fact, in terms of misery, French workers are much more miserable than British workers. The latter are just underpaid and low-status, while the former can hardly eat.

On average, French workers need to work more than fourteen hours a day to barely fill their stomachs.

However, due to the extremely backward agriculture in France at that time, the price of grain was unstable. However, with the increase in the number of overseas colonies, the grain that was not enough to eat had to be transported to the colonies.

This made it even more unbearable for French workers, and at the same time, French farmers were also having a bad life.

Due to the high proportion of land rent, farmers had no motivation to improve agricultural production.

Similarly, landlords and capitalists were not interested in such high-investment and low-return projects. They preferred Texas's cattle farming and manor planting, which were truly low-investment and high-return.

The return rate of the excluded industry was also very touching (mainly because the cycle was too long). In comparison, investing in finance and overseas colonization seemed so beautiful and correct.

As a result, France's agriculture did not make significant progress compared to the French Revolution. Taking wheat as an example, the per-acre yield in Austria, the German states, and Italy was about 130 kilograms at this time.

The per-acre yield in most areas of France was only 70-80 kilograms, which was nearly double the difference. The high-quality wheat used in the Austrian royal estate can reach 150 kilograms. In the future, as long as a few key points are broken, the yield per mu will soon exceed 200 kilograms.

(The agricultural technology at that time was still very backward, and the output of modern agriculture seemed to be astronomical at that time.)

The two most common problems encountered by French farmers at this time were no work to do and not enough food to eat.

Historically, due to Guizot's conciliatory policy, the contradictions between workers, farmers and the French government were not so intense. But at this time, Louis Philippe had actually dismissed Guizot, and most of the policies he formulated could not be implemented.

So these contradictions once again surged to the surface

France, Tuileries Palace.

"Your Majesty, order the suppression! Let those mud legs and coal blacks figure out what they are!" To the surprise of many people, it was the leader of the Bonapartist faction who strongly advocated the suppression.

(Mud legs refer to those who farm, and coal blacks refer to those who work in factories.)

In fact, at this time, the Bonapartist faction had united with the emerging industrial and commercial bourgeoisie, and the buttocks determined the head. At this time, the workers' strike affected their interests, so the Bonapartists naturally had to step forward.

In fact, whether it was the Bonapartists, the Legitimists, or the Orleansists, those mud-legged people and coal-black people were all targets that had to be suppressed.

However, all three parties had ulterior motives and wanted to take the opportunity to expand their political influence while striking at the other side's power.

The Bonapartists certainly wanted to protect their own interests, while the Legitimists hoped to use this to attack Louis Philippe and find a way to restore orthodoxy to France.

The Orleansists behind Louis Philippe could not be called a political party in the strict sense. They were more like a loose club of the elite.

These people did not care about politics, or even King Louis Philippe. All they wanted was money.

So, in order to coordinate the interests of the three parties, the Bonapartists finally only got "permission to dispatch local police forces to suppress it."

In fact, the scale of this strike was no smaller than that of the Lyon workers' strike in 1834, but there were no casualties at this time.

The reason given by the Legitimists was that "unnecessary casualties should not be created."

This reason is very attractive to the Orleans faction, because this group of people who claim to be social elites like this kind of high-sounding reason, because it is worthy of their status.

The orthodox who oppose direct military action are naturally not pitying the civilians nor suddenly showing kindness. What they need is to embarrass the July Monarchy and then turn the tide to gain support at home and abroad.

In fact, the orthodox are not monolithic. Some people support Charles X's son Angoulême (known as Louis XIX in history), but more people are willing to support Charles X's grandson Count Chambord.

In particular, Count Chambord's mother sneaked back to France many times to create rebellions, including the Duchess of Bailey who was also planning a famous rebellion at this time.

So the orthodox naturally hope that France will be as chaotic as possible. Of course, the reason why France can be so chaotic at this time is also due to its good neighbors.

Franz has always been the biggest sponsor of the French workers' movement. Of course, in addition to Austria, the British have also been giving them blood transfusions.

At this time, in order to undermine the relationship between Britain and France, Franz increased his investment and was ready to reveal this information to both Britain and France at an appropriate time.

He didn't believe that Britain and France could still join forces by then, and even if they restored their relationship, it would be a pretense.

Assassinations were actually very common in this era, but even so. Franz didn't think the success rate of assassinations would be very high, and the cost of being discovered was too high.

In comparison, it would be safer to let both Britain and France fall into civil strife and let them be suspicious of each other.

As for supporting the workers' movement, this cost can be ignored. In addition, businessmen in this era dared to do anything, buying guns from France and giving them to the Chartists, and buying guns from Britain and giving them to the French Workers' Party.

This operation is not difficult, and the risk is not high, but the benefits are extraordinary. Even if it is discovered, it can be covered up in the name of charity, which is really low risk and high return.