Chapter 360 A Friend Comes From Afar

October 20, 1842, Venice.

A low-caste merchant from India visited here. He brought a lot of spices and jewelry to sell at the port, which soon attracted the covetousness of gangsters and local gentry.

Then the unfortunate merchant was imprisoned for disrupting the market and disrespecting local traditions under the joint accusation of local gangsters and gentry.

Although the merchant brought hundreds of followers, it was still useless for Venice, where the navy and army were stationed.

Originally, everything would be settled, but Baron Brooke happened to come back from California and found out the trick after flipping through the files.

Of course, the experience in the United States in the past few years has also taught this upright official a lot of things. This time, he did not angrily find the local court to argue, but found the commander-in-chief of the navy, Archduke Friedrich, and the Governor of Venice, Prince Eltres.

Archduke Friedrich and Prince Eltres, the Governor of Venice, were also willing to give the president of the Central Bank a face. Two super heavyweights were involved in the same case.

This case naturally had to be retried. Even Franz, who was far away in Vienna, heard about it. He was very dissatisfied with the local officials. After all, Austria was going to open its doors to do business, not to do such a thing of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Franz was very interested in a man who came to Austria from India to do business. After all, more friends mean more ways in business, especially in a region as rich in resources as India, where Austria can always find what it wants.

However, as the case was heard, some other things were soon involved.

The Indian businessman was named Veraweiss Adani, a Shudra. This was very rare, because Shudra was a low caste in India.

At this time, whether it was his ship, the spices and jewelry loaded on it, or the 500 elite sailors under him, none of them looked like the property of a low-caste businessman.

But in fact, the Adani family made its fortune in the Age of Exploration and was once the agent of the Dutch in India. Veraweiss Adani was the kind of rich second generation who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but what Franz saw was an Indian man who was as strong as the guards.

Although his speech frequently caused laughter in the court, it was not because his language was not standard, but because he spoke Dutch as German, which naturally made a lot of jokes.

Veraweiss Adani had a firm look and a steady tone, and his strong figure made him look like Khal Drogo in A Song of Ice and Fire.

When the local gentry accused Veraweiss Adani of being an Indian Ocean pirate, he took out the recommendation letters from Tanzania Governor Benny Erbin and Oman King Said.

This made Franz very interested, after all, these two recommendation letters were much more difficult to deal with than the big ship and hundreds of Indian sailors.

In fact, this Veraweiss Adani was one of the Indian businessmen who sponsored Benny Erbin. He also had trade relations with the Kingdom of Oman for many years, so he was able to get a letter of recommendation.

The purpose of Veraweiss's visit was actually to ask Franz for advice. The latter once hosted a banquet for heroes from various Indian states in Calcutta during the Indian Ocean Strait.

These "heroes" had a higher opinion of Franz than any white man who had been to India, because Franz knew what they wanted, pointed out several ways, and was willing to help.

One of the ways was to study in Austria. As for whether they wanted to learn organizational structure or science and technology, Franz would not interfere too much. He would only help those people enter Austrian universities to study.

However, Veraweiss's trip was not to study, but to ask how the subjects of Kerala could be equal?

After the trial, Veraweiss met Franz as he wished.

"Respected Archduke Franz, you are younger than I thought, although my friend Benny Erbin has reminded me more than once."

"You are also whiter than I thought." Franz joked.

Veraweiss Adani made a move that he had never made even when facing the Prince of Trivantran. He knelt down on his knees with his hands clasped together and bowed down in front of Franz.

Franz was somewhat accustomed to it, because there were many people outside Europe who worshipped him as a god, and even in Vienna there were old charlatans who worshipped him as a god.

"Mr. Veraweiss, your courage is admirable. But regarding your question, it is impossible to achieve absolute equality. However, it is still possible to have a relatively equal country where people respect each other."

"What should I do?" Veraweiss asked.

"It's not what you should do, but what your country should do. A rich people, a strong country, and a clean ruler. This is the solution." Franz replied.

"A rich people and a strong country? A clean ruler?"

"Yes, a philosopher in ancient times in the East once said that when the granaries are full, people will know etiquette. If people cannot even meet the most basic needs such as food and clothing, then what they want to know is how to make money and how to have enough food, rather than abide by the so-called social rules.

Weak countries have no diplomacy, let alone dignity. Everything you have in a weak country can be taken away by a strong country, including your life.

Rulers need to know their position and understand who is a friend and who is an enemy."

In fact, this set of statements was only said by Franz to Veraweiss, because he could see that the other party actually wanted to be king. If Veraweiss just wanted relative equality, Franz would tell him the shortcut of ruling the country by law.

But an ambitious person would obviously prefer Franz's current statement. After all, India or Kerala at this time is in a situation of internal and external troubles. Internally stupid princes and nobles are rampant in the countryside, and the common people are colluding with the British.

The outside British stepped up their plunder and controlled customs. If you want to make money, you must feed British officials, otherwise you will not be able to sell your goods no matter how good they are.

Especially for ocean-going merchants like Vera Wise, once the ship and cargo are impounded, bankruptcy is almost an inevitable outcome.

Fortunately, the Adani family's centuries of management allowed him to connect with the Omanis and the Dutch. Otherwise, no matter how capable and courageous Verawise was, he would inevitably end up with a tragic ending of ruined family and death.

So Verawise came not only for herself this time, but also for the future of the Adani family.

"Archduke Franz, what should I do?"

This time Verawise asked more directly, and Franz naturally did not shy away.

"You have many followers, and you are also very smart and know how to hedge your bets. You can choose to sell half of the cargo on the ship for weapons, and exchange the other half for Austrian Empire goods and sell them to the Indian princes and nobles, or to local people. Pay bribes to do what you want."

Verawise felt a little incredible that the other party could see through her mind so easily. In fact, this is not difficult to analyze, because he had previously placed bets on both Benny Erbin and King Said of Oman.

This time should be no exception. Although trade with Villawise was dispensable to the Austrian Empire, Franz was still happy to see the destruction of the British backyard by this careerist.