Chapter 567 Faith and Business
Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.
Franz was very satisfied with the battle in Alsace-Lorraine. After all, the French were much weaker than he thought. As for rifled weapons such as hot air balloons, it was only a matter of time before they were discovered once they were put into use.
After the war, the French may carry out a wave of military reforms if they learn their lessons.
It is a bit magical. Prussia intended to pull Alsace-Lorraine (the French) into the German Customs Union, but was vetoed by Hanover (the British).
Although the Austrian Empire did not stop throughout 1844 and was constantly involved in disputes, its economic growth did not slow down, but instead showed a leapfrog growth. Industry finally surpassed agriculture, and the annual fiscal revenue is expected to exceed 500 million florins.
It is hard to imagine that just ten years ago, the industrial output value of this country was only one-tenth of that of agriculture, but now the industrial industry has overwhelmed the agricultural output value and the momentum is unabated.
Ten years ago, the country's fiscal revenue barely exceeded 100 million florins, and the income of civil servants had not increased for more than 30 years, but in the past ten years, their wages have risen twelve times, 2.25 times the past.
Soldiers used to have the lowest jobs and no guarantee of life. No matter how brave they were, the final outcome was only bloodshed and tears. Now these people are regarded as heroes and get the treatment they deserve. Even after leaving the army, they can still support themselves.
(The treatment of soldiers at that time was very low. Even if Franz improved it a lot, most of them could hardly be related to being rich.
You can refer to the current situation of veterans who have served in the US military for less than 20 years in later generations. These people have no pensions, no medical insurance, and can only receive an allowance that is about enough for 2-5 years of expenses.
A considerable number of them cannot support themselves. They were the main source of vagrants and gangs in society at that time.)
It used to take a hundred days to travel from the northernmost tip of Bohemia to Dalmatia, but now it only takes one day by train.
It took half a year to travel from the northernmost tip of the Po Plain to the deep mountains of Transylvania, but now it only takes 40 hours.
In October, Heine finally published the famous long poem "Song of the Silesian Weavers":
"There are no tears in the melancholy eyes,
They sit at the loom and gnash their teeth:
Germany, we weave your shroud,
We weave in the triple curse-
We weave, we weave!
One curse curses God,
We asked him when we were hungry and cold;
Hope and expectation are in vain,
But he mocked, teased, and deceived us-
We weave, we weave!
One curse is for the rich king,
He doesn't care about our pain,
He scrapes off our only penny,
I They were shot like dogs——
We weave, we weave!
A curse on the hypocritical motherland Germany,
There is shamelessness and depravity everywhere,
The good flowers have been picked long ago,
The rotten garbage feeds the maggots——
We weave, we weave!
The shuttle seems to be flying, the loom creaks,
We weave non-stop, how nervous day and night——
Old Germany, weave your shroud,
We weave into the triple curse,
We weave, we weave! "
Although "insiders" knew that Heine was cursing Prussia, the German Confederation received an additional 100 points of critical hits.
Then, under the promotion of Prussia, this famous long poem was cold in the German region, but on the contrary, it began to prevail in the defeated France.
Although Heine himself was extremely reluctant, Louis Philippe still cordially received this "Paris citizen" and called him "a model for French artists."
Franz could not help but start to worry about the intelligence of His Majesty the King, who had an additional identity at this time due to the Alsace-Lorraine incident, that is, the Duke of Alsace-Lorraine in Germany.
The refugees from Silesia had a new home in Austria. Most of them found new jobs and started a new life. Of course, some of them were buried in this new land, or became the people who buried them (priests).
Some of these people were indeed not qualified for most jobs in the Austrian Empire due to their physical condition and learning ability. But it is still possible to become low-level missionaries to "save" more people like them.
In short, the work of these people is sales and intermediary. The reason why Franz can control the church so firmly is not just as simple as the archbishop's personal recognition of a natural saint.
Relationships always need to be maintained by interests. For example, the church's main "Holy Glory" company and "Purified Water" company are industries that cooperate with Franz. (Written in the previous article, I won't go into details here.)
In fact, one of these two companies sells bleaching powder, and the other sells medical alcohol.
Although they seem to be two low-end industries, in fact, these two companies have contributed more to Austria's public health and medical care than all the doctors in Austria, and the income they have created is self-evident.
The new habit of using bleach and drinking hot water reduced 95% of waterborne infectious diseases, including cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, hepatitis E, guinea worm, typhoid fever, acute diarrhea, and tapeworm cysticercosis.
These infectious diseases that often broke out in major European cities at this time were extremely rare in major cities of the Austrian Empire.
London and Paris experienced many large-scale plague outbreaks during the same period, especially the former in 1844, when there were several cholera outbreaks.
As for why there was no Berlin? Because Berlin was not a big city at that time. In 1844, Berlin's population was only more than 200,000, not even a fraction of London's population.
At the same time, due to the mandatory promotion of medical alcohol hand washing, the surgical mortality rate in the Austrian Empire dropped sharply, and the number of patients who had to amputate due to postoperative infection was greatly reduced. At the same time, the mortality rate of newborns and mothers was also much lower than that of other European countries.
Moreover, with the application of sanitary conditions and anesthetic gases, the medicine of the Austrian Empire has also made great strides, especially in the field of surgery, which has completely reached a height that other countries cannot reach at this time.
These achievements are precisely derived from those inconspicuous gadgets and the efforts of inconspicuous little people.
However, these achievements are not enough. The remote cities of the Austrian Empire are still backward and need someone to promote these things and popularize these knowledge.
And no one is more suitable than these priests with firm beliefs. As long as they believe that what they are doing is right and let them see their achievements, after all, nothing is more convincing than believing that what they are doing is right.
These people will not be afraid of any risks, obstacles, or even the cold eyes of the world, and can even motivate themselves, indulge themselves, and evolve themselves.
Of course, in addition to bleaching powder and medical alcohol, Franz also has a lot of new things, such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap in the modern sense, as well as modern hygiene knowledge and anti-fraud knowledge
As long as these people's stubbornness is used in the right place, it can also play a role in promoting history.
In addition to selling goods, promoting common sense, and spreading the idea of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, these people can also shoulder the responsibilities of neighborhood committee aunties, such as supervision, reporting, preaching, collecting intelligence, coordinating neighborhood relations, etc.
The most important thing should be to help new immigrants better adapt to the life of the Austrian Empire, and at the same time help them find their correct position and completely integrate into the Austrian Empire.
At the same time, the organization of the church is also expanding, such as the charity hall at the train station, and mission stations abroad, etc.
In particular, it will be more convincing to let these once most useless people receive those desperate new immigrants.