Chapter 705 Adriatic Sea Tsunami

On June 16, 1846, Pius IX became the new Pope.

On the same day, Austrian Empire, Venice Harbor.

Benito Adams is a boatman, and today he is particularly irritable because the boat parked on the shore is always shaking.

The good mood of last night's harvest has disappeared, replaced by the rage caused by lack of sleep.

"Acelli! Damn it, don't let those little things jump around on the boat! Go sell things for me! It's rare to harvest so much! If you rot in your hands, I will beat your ass!"

No one answered, but the boat was still shaking.

Benito finally couldn't stand it anymore and stood up, ready to deal with the ungrateful woman.

But when he got up, he found that his wife and children had dragged the catch to the pier to set up a stall.

With nowhere to vent, Benito had to drink another sip of "yellow soup" and go back to sleep.

With the arrival of Sicilians, the lives of northern Italians were seriously affected. Fishermen like Benito who had boats were considered petty bourgeoisie.

He usually fished and occasionally took a few guests to visit the water town. His wife and children worked as beggars next to the monastery. He could get drunk with friends in the tavern every day.

(The Sicilians here refer to Italians outside northern Italy. At that time, many people had never left their hometowns, let alone been to other countries.)

However, with the opening of trade by the Austrian Empire, a large amount of capital and immigrants poured in, and the establishment of several large shipyards increased the population of Venice by seven times.

This was still a registered legal citizen. In fact, the customs at that time had no problem checking goods, but the officials who checked people were really not interested. What's more, the people above didn't want to check, so the officials below would naturally not make trouble.

A large number of Sicilians made the whole of Venice very excited. The technological innovation of the national shipyard led to a sharp drop in the prices of various civilian ships, including ultra-small fishing boats.

As a result, Benito could catch fewer and fewer fish in the near sea, and later it was difficult to catch too many fish even in the farther sea. Later, he could only go to the distant sea to fish when it was dark.

Last night, his luck was unusually good, and fish and shrimp jumped into his net desperately. Thinking that he would have money soon and could go to the tavern to have fun, he couldn't help but chuckle.

What Benito didn't know was that the sea water was turning white, and there was so much foam that people suspected that the washerwoman was deliberately wasting soap.

At this time, the Port of Venice had undergone two small-scale expansions. In fact, it was not that it did not want to expand on a large scale, but the upper limit of the port itself was too low to expand.

This is also one of the important reasons why Franz had to let Friedrich move the headquarters of the Austrian Imperial Navy to Trieste.

However, the port of Venice was still hot at this time. Due to a series of economic and political reforms, the port has a second spring.

Hundreds of boats competed in the crowded waterway, and the porters on the docks were as dense as ants, loading and unloading goods from all over the world every day. The mountains of goods on the pier made people sweat.

Merchants and tourists came to the port's trading area in batches, and the shopkeepers worked hard to sell their goods.

In the port authority, some distinguished gentlemen finalized some large trades while chatting and laughing. The tavern was filled with the stench of blood, urine, and sweat, and the laborers and sailors boasted about their experiences to each other.

In the invisible corners, the dirty and terrible transactions have never been interrupted.

Even eight years after the Austrian Empire and the German principalities signed the "New Anti-Slave Trade Act", some people were still full of fantasies about Britain and the New World, and the human traffickers from Britain, France, the United States, and Brazil never gave up coming to dig the foundation of the Austrian Empire.

In this era, Italy and Germany have always been the major population exporters. In addition to immigrants to the colonies, most immigrants are indentured servants. Of course, there are exceptions such as wealthy craftsmen and scholars.

People in the cafe could see the news of Louis Bonaparte's escape from prison by picking up the newspaper. The Orleans Dynasty tried hard to cover up this disastrous news, but reporters from other countries always got the information they wanted.

One day in May, Louis Bonaparte escaped from prison, but countries followed up on the incident to disgust the French. Even at this time, the popularity of this news has not diminished.

What's more, Franz also hired a bunch of novelists to serialize in newspapers, ranging from detective, suspense, love, fantasy epics.

Franz also used his spare time to write a 19th century version of the Holy Grail War, and the location was naturally Paris.

"The evil Napoleon family, even those warriors have to be pulled up to work by them after they die!"

While reading the serialized article, Mr. Bryan smashed the cup against the table fiercely, and the coffee in the cup splashed everywhere, which attracted a burst of laughter from the people around him.

"But Paris is so scary, there are monsters fighting everywhere. I wonder if Bluebeard succeeded in sacrificing 999 children? And those ogres, werewolves, masked clowns... It's great to be born in a peaceful country."

People around him were also talking about it, but he didn't think of himself as a hero, but felt that the people of Paris were so scared that they were so scary.

In fact, just a few years ago, gangs were rampant in northern Italy, and nobles, priests, and merchants joined forces to bully the people.

However, with the development of the times, the arrival of officials and troops from the Austrian Empire made the law effective again. Although it was another code, there was finally someone who could restrain those unscrupulous guys.

"The French are so inhumane!" Mr. Bryan, a port civil servant, smashed the table with his cup again.

As a result, the whole cafe shook, and Mr. Bryan himself felt it and looked at his hands.

"Am I also a hero?"

But then a more violent vibration began, and then screams sounded outside.

There was also a sharp whistle from the port. Ordinary people may not understand that this long whistle will only be issued when a disaster of the level of a foreign warship attack occurs. Mr. Bryan has been a port attendant for 20 years and has never heard it.

When the gentlemen in the cafe ran to the street, they found that some people were running away, some were kneeling and praying, reciting incomprehensible scriptures, and some tried to run to the seaside to drive away their boats.

But most people, like Mr. Bryan, stared blankly at the approaching black giant wall. The black seawater overflowed the dam, and the huge ships rose and fell like little yellow ducks in a bathtub.

The strong current swept the goods on the dock into the city like a flood, and the people who did not have time to escape were swallowed by the torrent. People shouted and struggled.

But these seemed so small and ridiculous in front of the impending wall of water.