Chapter 838 The Last Audience

At this time, Hungary occupied four of the ten largest steel mills in the Austrian Empire.

However, they occupied the last four places, and the total output of these four steel mills was still not comparable to that of the Bohemian Steel Mill, which ranked sixth.

And the total output of the other nine in this list was still not as good as that of a blast furnace in the Franz Steel Mill. This was the absolute gap in technology.

——

This is the dividing line that people don’t want to show off——

Outside a checkpoint on the Prussian-Austrian border, two soldiers, one tall and one short, both carrying guns, stopped a family. They looked like refugees fleeing, but this was obviously not a checkpoint for refugees.

The young man was used to being extorted, and he directly took out a stack of banknotes and handed it to the leading soldier.

The two young soldiers were a little confused. To be honest, they had only heard of such things, but had never encountered such a thing.

The tall and thin soldier was moved and stretched out his hand, but the other short and fat soldier quickly knocked the former's hand away.

"What are you doing!"

The tall and thin soldier cried out in pain, but soon realized that something was wrong and winked at his brother. The short and fat soldier came over and said.

"Look at this guy, although he is dusty, you can tell at a glance that he is a nobleman. Look at his wife."

The tall and thin soldier looked over and saw a dignified and beautiful woman, smiling at him politely.

"Pretty good-looking."

"What good-looking! You can tell at a glance that they are not refugees, okay? Do you think they are poor people who can't afford to eat?

I heard that last time Archduke Albrecht personally visited the border post incognito, a blind man was hit by fifty big slaps and all his teeth were knocked out."

"I heard that Archduke Albrecht is a giant and as strong as a brown bear. The man in front of me looks gentle..."

"Idiot, can't it be some other archduke? A group of great nobles are full and have nothing to do. Who knows what they are going to do."

"I don't think he can slap my teeth out because he is so thin."

The tall and thin soldier's thinking is obviously not on the same channel as the short and fat soldier, and the latter is furious.

"Are you sure he won't use any props? For example, the marble fan."

The tall and thin soldier immediately covered his mouth.

Note: The marble fan mentioned by the short and fat soldier is actually the ivory folding fan in the lady's hand, but few ordinary people have seen ivory.

"What should we do?"

"Let old Bart deal with it, we don't want to get involved in this muddy water."

Then the short and fat soldier shouted "Sergeant Bart! Sergeant Bart! Come here! We found a group of suspicious people!"

The young lady was a little nervous. After all, suspicious people are a very scary term in their country. The young man was helpless and had to comfort his wife while waiting for Sergeant Bart to arrive.

This reminded him of his experience when he first arrived in Prussia, and he was also regarded as a spy or some other suspicious person by a team of soldiers.

Finally, he called an old soldier who had been marinated in a wine jar. He asked while burping and almost breaking his eardrums.

"Who are you! Where are you from!"

The young man was a very cultured gentleman, and he didn't want to cause trouble, let alone waste time talking to this rude gentleman, so he answered.

"It's written on my pass."

"I'm too lazy to read!"

The young couple was speechless for a while. They found that compulsory education in Prussia was not as good as they said, at least the man in front of them was probably illiterate.

Fortunately, the young man had studied Prussian law and had come into contact with Russian soldiers who were more brutal than Prussian soldiers.

"According to Prussian law"

However, before the young man finished speaking, the old soldier was half sober. He knew that the guy in front of him was difficult to deal with and immediately said impatiently.

"Let's go! Let's go!"

The young man still politely took off his hat and saluted, but without a smile, fearing that the other party would think it was a provocation.

Soon, a sergeant Bart carrying a grilled fish appeared. Austrians and Prussians look similar, at least the officials are similar.

Sergeant Bart used the hand that was not holding the grilled fish to casually open the young man's pass, and his eyes immediately became round.

His action did not scare the young couple, but it frightened the two soldiers next to them. They felt like they had offended a big shot.

Sergeant Bart stuck the wooden skewer of the grilled fish into a tree stump beside him, then wiped his hand hard on his clothes, and then carefully picked up the pass.

"Hereby, by order of His Majesty Emperor Nicholas I... the military police in Greece will check and release... issued by Minister of the Interior Perovsky, a senior court attendant, privy councilor, winner of the Order of St. Vladimir, and a golden sword inscribed by the emperor for his bravery..."

The two soldiers did not understand, but they thought it was very powerful.

The young couple was amused by the sergeant who liked to read aloud in front of them. It seemed that the Austrians were not so barbaric and ignorant, but they read very slowly and with a strange accent, which made them look a little funny.

Russians learn German mainly from teachers in Prussia, and most of their marriage partners are also North Germans, so they think the North German accent is the authentic German.

Actually, their destination for this trip was Paris, France, but at the strong suggestion of their friends, they decided to go to Vienna first.

Actually, my friend said that the whole of Austria is worth visiting, because the tour guides in Austria are really enthusiastic and knowledgeable. It is hard to imagine why such women go out to work.

My friend concluded that Austrian men like to eat gigolos, just like their royal family.

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Maria, who lost her friend, seemed a little lonely, and recently she started to learn to paint.

Her three noisy brothers didn't think it was strange, and Mrs. Sophie was very happy because her daughter finally did something like a girl.

As for Archduke Franz Karl, he thought he should have a drink with Maria and have a good talk.

Franz had to pat his father and tell him "next time", and then called the guards to carry him away.

Franz felt that he had to do this himself, so he approached the little girl who was painting seriously.

Then Franz found a painting in a very modern style, which was probably a broken ship carrying various strange creatures or things in the sea, and a very ugly captain with a crooked mouth and squinting eyes and drooling was at the helm.

At this time, Maria also noticed Franz coming, and the little girl began to introduce her paintings enthusiastically.

The three unhealthy-looking mice with one ear, one eye, and half a head are Maximilian, Ludwig, and Victor.

The old monster holding a knife and fork and spewing fire from his mouth is Madame Sophie, and the seal drinking and patting his belly is Archduke Franz Karl.

"Then I am this." Franz pointed to the creature that looked like a captain.

"No, you are the ship."