Chapter 604 Competitor?

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz was in a bad mood and had just left Mrs. Sophie's bedroom. The former had just learned from the latter that the so-called competitor was not his two brothers, but his father, Archduke Franz Karl.

In fact, due to the ancient Salic law, Archduke Franz Karl was the first heir to the throne of the Austrian Empire, and very few people knew the late emperor's will.

In addition, it was still unknown how much effect a dead person's edict would have, and those who knew the late emperor's will and had the ability to fulfill its content were all older. Archduke Karl, Archduke Louis, and Prince Metternich were all in their twilight years.

At this time, most people in Vienna would not think that Franz would succeed to the throne soon, because although Ferdinand I was suffering from many diseases, he did not have a fatal disease, so it would not be a problem to live for another ten or twenty years.

Historically, Ferdinand I lived for 27 years after abdication, and died on June 29, 1875.

Franz's father, Archduke Franz Karl, was in good health, loved nature, was good at hunting, and could climb stairs with a seal weighing 60-70 kilograms. His physical fitness was completely better than his peers.

It would take at least 30 years for these two to die. It was not certain whether Franz Joseph would still be alive by then. After all, there were no shortage of surprises in this era.

And the old guys in Vienna knew that people would change. Even Emperor Joseph II, who was the least flexible, eventually destroyed his own reforms.

Thirty years is enough to corrupt anyone, even the "natural saint" in the words of Archbishop Rauscher.

In fact, if he was born in a peaceful and prosperous era, Franz might really choose to go along with the crowd. After all, any change is a challenge for vested interests.

And even if he was a spendthrift and indulged in luxury, the lucky sign of this reincarnation was enough to deal with it. Even if he played a little more and went a little too far, someone would clean up for him. Unless he was asking for death, no one could do anything to him.

But the reality is that in 1848, the entire Austrian Empire would fall into a great crisis of extinction. If he made a mistake, he would be sent to the guillotine like Louis XVI, and would be nailed to the pillar of shame forever.

So Franz would become the emperor of the Austrian Empire in 1848, and would also declare war on the old era. Anyone who stood in his way would be swept into the garbage dump of history.

In fact, in addition to Archduke Franz Karl, those people also vaguely revealed to Madame Sophie.

"We don't want to see what happened in Russia happen in Austria."

What those people meant was that they could also choose to help Queen Anna take the throne, and the Habsburg family was not the only choice.

Fortunately, Madame Sophie was not a person who would be easily threatened. The gentleman who said this had been punished to reflect on his mistakes at the bottom of the Danube.

The subsequent investigation results showed that only 252 of the 261 people on the list were punished, and 9 people were missing, or they committed suicide inexplicably and their bodies could not be identified.

It just so happened that Franz was not a person who liked to be threatened, let alone a person who liked to be deceived.

As a result, several gangs of thugs broke into the homes of several officials at night and committed crimes. A family that had been in business for hundreds of years was blown up along with its mansion.

In addition, several "accidents" occurred in the Austrian Empire. Some people were killed by carriages, some were drowned in pig styes, and some were ground to pieces by another oncoming train when they stuck their heads out of the window while riding a train.

Another person unfortunately fell into the water on a ship heading to the United States, and was caught by the propeller at the stern and died.

The people who had the accident happened to be those who were missing or dead on the list. Even the police and judges could only sigh that "the world is so big that there are no wonders" (God has eyes).

Although Vienna has not been peaceful recently, there have been no civilian casualties. However, the Vienna police chief is to blame anyway, and the old chief had to retire early.

It's just that when the old chief was about to leave the city in a carriage, he collided with a carriage full of logs, and a large amount of logs buried the former inside.

The bizarre incidents did not subside until a month later, and the six culprits who participated in a series of terrorist incidents in Vienna were also executed on that day.

Strangely enough, Vienna returned to its former tranquility after that day.

In Schönbrunn Palace, seals were boredly basking in the sun, occasionally patting their round bellies, and the great auks made unpleasant noises.

As for Queen Anna, she was shivering in the house of Hofburg Palace at this time. She didn't know why those people wanted to find her, but she knew that as long as she had any behavior that crossed the line, she might be blown to pieces or die in some accident.

In addition, about 150 policemen, 50 gendarmes, and 150 central bank guards were sent to serve in the mines in California for dereliction of duty.

Franz sympathized with these people, but he would not let them go. When soldiers and police helped the evil, they were no different from murderers.

The German region was very sensitive to the wind direction in Vienna, and they knew that a strong monarch would appear in Austria in the future.

But that will have to wait at least twenty years, so their generation doesn’t have to worry at all.

Due to its direct border with the Austrian Empire, the German Customs Union has greatly promoted the economic development of Saxony.

Although they knew very well that they could not defeat the powerful Austria and Prussia, this did not hinder these man-made wonders.

In addition to planning to build a new spire cathedral, the wealthy Saxons also planned to renovate the Dresden Palace.

In addition, King Frederick August II also found another way to make himself immortal, which is to create great music.

However, he soon discovered that the attraction of Dresden could not be compared with Vienna, and it was simply impossible to suppress Austria in this regard.

As for the artistic desert of Berlin, there was no need to suppress it at all, and then Frederick August II found a new goal.

That is to create the best musical instrument in the world, and he believed that the piano was the most important one.

However, many people in the German region had similar ideas to Frederick August II. In fact, because the German Customs Union promoted the economic development of the German region, people began to pursue spiritual enjoyment more and more.

In history, around 1850, a large number of piano factories appeared in Germany, and they established the status of the world's first high-end piano producer in one fell swoop.

However, facing the vigorous piano-making movement in Germany, Franz seemed a little overwhelmed. After all, he had only touched the piano in school and knew nothing about its structure and tricks.

However, Austria is quite rich in pianists.