War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

As time went by, the gold mines in California were no longer a secret. Although no country still knew how much gold the Austrian Empire had dug in California, just a colony with a population of millions was attractive enough.

The new territories gained in the war against France in 1848 had long been divided up by these big families, but these lands were almost all undeveloped wasteland, and it would require manpower, material resources, and time to turn them into wealth.

This book was first published on the Internet by 𝕥𝕨𝕜𝕒𝕟.𝕔𝕠𝕞

But California is obviously different. Under the long-term management of the Austrian Empire, it has become more prosperous and wealthy than Mexico itself.

If they could put California on the table, they would be in for a treat.

Of course, there are some other countries involved, otherwise Mexicans would not have such a big appetite.

The most suspicious ones are the United States and Britain. After all, there are not many countries that have the ability to swallow a colony with a population of over one million at that time.

Franz was still very confident about the California colony itself. Metternich might not be able to control Europe at this time, but there would be no problem in controlling lightning in California. After all, not everyone was as unreasonable as the Mexicans.

After all, the Governor of California at that time, Karl Ferdinand, was a member of the royal family, and even if someone really wanted to incite rebellion, they had to take this into consideration.

The Americans never gave up on infiltrating California, but the Austrian Empire never gave up on clearing it out.

In addition, the threats from the United States and Mexico themselves strengthened the cohesion and centripetal force of Californians, and this "heart" was naturally the Austrian Empire itself.

If the Austrian Empire were gone, California would have been on the table and eaten up, just like the French colony of New France.

In addition to harassing California, the Americans have also set their sights on Cuba.

Although small, Cuba is the world's sugar bowl, with an annual output of 225,000 tons, accounting for 30% of the world's total sugar production.

As long as Franz wanted, he could create an artificial sugar crisis. But if the Americans got it, they could also manipulate the international sugar price.

As for why Spain didn't do this before, the answer is that Spain was too poor and couldn't even afford the entry fee to play the financial game.

In fact, Franz had already set up a game in the previous War for the Spanish Succession, and he was still setting up a game at this time.

In addition to sugar, Cuba also produces a lot of coffee and tobacco, as well as copper, which Austria desperately needs. In particular, cigars have long become one of the most luxurious things in high society.

In addition to its economic value, its strategic value cannot be ignored. After all, it is the gateway to the Caribbean Sea and no country can give it up easily.

During the previous War of the Spanish Succession, the United States had thought about taking advantage of the situation, but even if Spain was weak, it could not lose its dignity as a veteran power and decisively rejected the U.S. government's request to purchase the island of Cuba for $100 million.

In fact, the Americans are just talking nicely. If Cuba really falls into their hands, it is not certain whether it will be 100 million US dollars or 5 million US dollars. They are all thousand-year-old foxes, what is the point of playing Liao Zhai?

The United States was also preparing to send someone to ask the Austrian Empire to buy Cuba.

But this was just a deception. At this time, the Americans were promoting democracy and independence on the island of Cuba, while at the same time sending out the Freedom Army led by Narciso Lopez.

Judging from historical experience, everything the Americans do is in vain. In the eyes of Cubans, Americans are worse than the Spaniards.

Cuba has a long history of trade relations with the United States, and the United States even monopolized the supply of Cubans for quite a long time.

From barrels, hoops, nails, to tar, leather, textiles, to salt fish, flour, and butter, everything was controlled by Americans.

Initially, the Americans squeezed out other suppliers with their low prices, then took advantage of the Mexican War of Independence to raise prices, and at the same time sold inferior products as good ones, causing great harm to the Cubans.

On the other hand, the so-called "Indomitable Warrior" Narciso Lopez had serious problems in both fighting and judging people.

The three expeditions were each defeated by the Spanish militia, and the last one even fell into a trap designed by the Cubans.

However, history was very different at this time. The Austrian Empire became the master of Cuba. It is hard to say whether everything will continue to develop according to history.

Moreover, compared with the threat from the United States, Franz was more concerned about Cuba's population problem. As a mature colony, Cuba has a population of more than one million, including more than 400,000 blacks and more than 300,000 native whites (more than 99% of whom are mixed-race black and white).

If Franz recognized these people as citizens of the empire, then the issue of blacks would sooner or later be put on the table. If these blacks were given citizenship, what about the African colonies? In the long run, the black population in the Austrian Empire would inevitably overflow.

Those black slaves are easy to deal with, but hundreds of thousands of native-born white people cannot be expelled by force.

Moreover, once these people are expelled, there will be a huge chain reaction, and even lead to the collapse of the entire colonial social structure.

However, the Americans' disruption did provide Franz with a new idea.

In fact, they, who were still shouting democracy, anti-imperialism and anti-authoritarianism a few months ago, were now launching an attack to the north in the name of Franz.

Franz didn't know how they managed to travel more than 1,400 kilometers to reach the Pampas in less than half a year.

In short, the Jewish army has now crossed the Colorado River and engaged in a fierce battle with the Argentine outposts.

The letter of complaint from Rosas, Governor of the Viceroyalty of La Plata, was already on Franz's desk.

At first, Franz was wondering when he had sent an army to Argentina, but these Jews were flying the double eagle flag.

The most outrageous thing is that the jailers who were supposed to be responsible for guarding the Jews also joined the expedition and even asked for people and supplies from the local area.

In addition to the colonies that were on fire everywhere, there was also unrest in Austria. A conflict broke out between Bohemians and Moravians, and all the victims were Germans.

This result directly confused the judges and the gendarmerie, who even suspected that the Bohemians and Moravians had joined forces to murder the Germans in a planned manner.

But in reality, it was a fight between a group of spiritual Bohemians and a group of spiritual Moravians. This is an old tradition of Austrians who often pretend to be other nationalities to cause trouble.

In addition, there were strikes among miners in many mines in the Austrian Empire because the Hungarian prisoners of war were too capable and took their jobs.

There is only one chapter today.