Chapter 56: Useless Land

Central Italy, the residence of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Archduke Leopold II looked at the Austrian officials who swore allegiance to him with some surprise.

"Mr. Mauna, are you kidding? Tuscany is just a small state under the rule of Austria, and Tuscany must also be loyal to Austria."

Mauna was an Austrian special envoy who came to Tuscany two years ago. Although Archduke Leopold II was a little unambitious, he was very kind and loved by the people. At the same time, he could listen to advice and follow good advice.

For people like Mauna who were frustrated in the Austrian officialdom, he was simply the best boss.

Of course, such people usually did not rule strictly and their subordinates were corrupt. This was also an important reason why the economy of Tuscany did not improve. These special envoys from Austria could eliminate these stubborn problems for Tuscany.

In two years, Tuscany not only built railways to Modena and Lucca, but also expanded the small steel plant in Tuscany into the largest steel plant in Central Italy.

Central Italy lacks coal and iron resources, but it is not completely lacking.

The cancellation of the exorbitant taxes collected privately by officials and nobles has brought new vitality to the port of Vorina.

Tuscany has one of the largest mercury mines in Italy and even in the world. During the sweep by Austrian officials, 15 million florins of stolen money were directly recovered. In the next two years, the output tripled.

Tuscany's fiscal revenue jumped from less than 3 million florins in 1834 to 10 million florins.

With money, Tuscany expanded its original 2,000-man army to 10,000 people, and built its own factory. Not only can it be self-sufficient in weapons, but it can also sell them to other countries.

Leopold II of Tuscany was not addicted to pleasure, but used money for education and building public facilities.

This touched the Austrian officials who suffered from wrangling and corruption, and they were willing to stay and serve this "wise" archduke.

"Your Majesty, we swore allegiance to the Habsburg family, and you are also a member of the Habsburg family, so this is not a betrayal."

Leopold II of Tuscany didn't care much, anyway, someone was in charge of the country for him.

And these people seemed to be much more useful than those local Tuscans.

This Leopold II was completely different from Franz II. He never considered himself an Italian or an Austrian.

In his heart, he had always been just a member of the Habsburg family, and those "wise" actions were just a family tradition.

Even though Ferdinand I was unable to rule the country, causing chaos in Austria, Leopold II of Tuscany did not think that Ferdinand I was wrong, because Ferdinand I inherited the throne just following tradition.

Such scenes are frequently staged in the states of Central Italy.

Of course, there are those who are frustrated and want to find a stage to show their talents, and there are also those who are corrupt and want to find a place to scrape the land.

For example, in Parma now, Archduchess Marie Louise squandered her life more unscrupulously after learning that her only son with Napoleon had died.

As a special official of Austria, Ocker not only did not help the local area restore order, but instead catered to Archduchess Marie Louise's preferences, looking for handsome boys for her and buying luxury goods, and soon he gained the trust of the Archduchess.

And Ocker's economic sources are, first, exploiting the people of Parma, and second, defrauding loans from Austria.

As a supervisor, Ockel embezzled money from Austria's railway construction to provide the Archduchess and himself with pleasure. At the same time, he bought real estate in the United States so that he could immigrate to the United States when necessary.

Ockel colluded with local corrupt officials and imposed heavy taxes and levies one after another, making the people of Parma miserable.

Those who could not survive gathered together and tried to march to the Duchess's mansion to protest so that the Duchess could reduce taxes.

But Ockel directly reported that the nearby Austrian garrison said that there were mobs intending to harm the Archduchess.

The Austrian garrison became a knife in Ockel's hand, and the resentment of the slaughtered citizens towards Austria increased, which also laid the groundwork for the future outbreak.

Francesco IV of Modena was a member of the Habsburg family, but he was a mediocre among mediocre people, and could be said to be the Zhang Zongchang of the West.

Francesco IV had three things he didn't know: one, he didn't know how much money he had, two, he didn't know how many people he had, and three, he didn't know how many lovers he had.

He once assigned his lover's husband to recruit an army with his money to attack Napoleon.

As a result, the man did not recruit troops, but ran away with Francesco IV's money.

And Napoleon did not know until his death that there was such a person who was ready to send troops to attack him.

Francesco IV's rule was in chaos. He preferred to call on the Austrian army rather than maintaining an expensive army.

And the Austrian special officials were helpless in the face of this situation, and they all joined the archduke in the mess.

In the Papal States, the people still maintained a life that was almost medieval.

There is such a joke: If you want to say who is most opposed to the church in this era, it must be the Romans.

The southernmost Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ushered in the most free king in the history of this country, unlike his father who never cared about politics.

Ferdinando II took some measures from the Napoleonic era, reorganized administration, cared about national welfare, reduced taxes, encouraged industry, promoted trade, allowed exiles to return, and even used some officials from the Murat era in his government.

Ferdinando II established Italy's first railway (Naples-Portici Railway), Italy's first navigation company, and Italy's first telegraph company. Then his people opposed his rule and even fired cannonballs at his bedroom, but his liberal reforms continued.

Franz knew very well that to integrate Central Italy, a strong country was needed to establish a long-term stable order.

At this time, Austria was suffering from serious internal friction and was indeed unable to continue to protect the legacy left by Franz II. It might be wise to temporarily give up the integration of Central Italy.

Compared with Central Italy, which was tasteless and a pity to abandon, Franz was more interested in what happened in another place.

Carlos, who was defeated in the Spanish Civil War, first fled to Britain, but he did not get the support he wanted in Britain.

The British government even thought that Carlos was a scourge that destroyed European peace, and said that as long as Carlos was willing to give up the throne and never return to Spain, the British government was willing to pay Carlos a pension of 30,000 pounds a year.

At that time, 30,000 pounds was already a very large number. The annual pension of male members of the Austrian royal family was usually 10,000 to 20,000 florins, and 30,000 pounds was about 300,000 florins. Of course, this pension would not be taken for nothing.

Carlos left Britain and went to France for help.

Franz felt that Carlos did not let the French see his sincerity, so Franz decided to help him.