The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1378: Journey to Constantinople (Part )
Maximilian rolled his eyes at Ludwig. Sometimes he really couldn't tell whether his brother was really stupid or just pretending to be stupid.

He clearly didn't understand anything, but he always remembered Franz's words and then got mad at himself at critical moments. Maximilian was really drunk, but his pride prevented him from competing with a fool.

In fact, if they really got into it, Maximilian, who was less than 1.6 meters tall, could not beat the tall and strong Ludwig, so the former decided to focus on a battle of wits.

The two of them spent a lot of money along the way, but no one cared about this kind of thing. After all, these several thousand florins might be the expenses of half a year or even a year for those collateral dukes who had no property under their names.

But for Maximilian and Ludwig, daily expenses were more than a few thousand florins a month.

And from the time they set out until now, except for the two archdukes, the primary goal of everyone else has always been to get him back to Naples safely.

If something really happened to the two archdukes, they didn't know whether the Austrian Empire would fight the Ottoman Empire, but they and their families would definitely be doomed.

No one would doubt that Franz would attack the nobles. In fact, for the nobles of the Austrian Empire, Franz's cruelty was unprecedented. In two years, he wiped out more nobles than all the emperors of the Habsburg family combined.

As for the so-called mercy, it was nothing more than the propaganda of the church and the feelings of the people. In fact, after Franz ascended the throne, the intensity of the execution of punishment was stricter than before except during the reign of Joseph II.

But the result was not only to scare the nobles and villains, but also to greatly reduce lynchings and stubborn local harsh policies and bad customs.

On the other hand, people's lives have become much better due to a series of measures including large subsidies and relief, massive government projects and relatively low tax policies.

For example, when being sent to a colony, the nobles basically assumed that the family member was dead, while the common people would comfort themselves by thinking that they were just living in a different place.

The Grand Bazaar is indeed the oldest market in the Ottoman Empire, and there are always goods that surprise Maximilian and Ludwig.

So they went shopping along the way, and there were so many goods that their followers had to buy several small trucks to load them.

Seeing the two fat sheep buying so many things, the merchants all used their best skills and tried their best to sell their goods at a good price.

However, some people still think that making money this way is too slow.
Maximilian and Ludwig had just bought two tapestries in a woolen shop when suddenly a large, flat-faced man, as big as a baked naan, appeared in front of them.

"My dear guests, I can tell you are not ordinary people. My shop, Djemal Parayev, is the best shop in the entire Grand Bazaar. Come and take a look."

The man wearing a maroon turban and a red vest was the owner of the jewelry store next door. He was rubbing his hands and looking at Maximilian and Ludwig.

The man smiled, revealing three large, uneven gold teeth. If it were someone else, they would definitely choose to stay away from him, and his followers were ready to expel the person in front of them.

But Maximilian felt that as a king who was courteous to the wise and humble, he was not like Franz, who only looked at the appearance. He would not look down on the other person because of his appearance. He waved his hand to dismiss the entourage who were about to drive him away.

"Okay, let me see what good stuff you have!"

In fact, it is very rare to be able to do this. Most people in this world know that you should not judge a book by its cover. Many people will even publicly claim that they will never judge a book by its cover. However, it is no exaggeration to say that there are actually very few people who can do this.

The owner of the woolen textile shop nearby was hesitant to speak because the man with gold teeth and a round face secretly glared at him. It was obvious that the man in front of him was the local tyrant in this area and other merchants were afraid of him.

Maximilian was in high spirits before entering Jemal's shop, but he was immediately disappointed after just a casual glance.

Although the luster of the gold and silver jewelry was extremely bright and Jemal himself was eloquent, Maximilian was not interested.

He may not understand other things, but he is definitely an expert when it comes to gold, silver and jewelry.

Maximilian knew at a glance that these were all garbage, but Ludwig found it amusing.

"Why is his gold different from ours? It's so light!"

"Stop playing, let's go to the next one."

Maximilian pulled Ludwig and was about to leave, and Jemal stood in front of them with a smile.

"Gentlemen, are you dissatisfied? The things I have here are famous for their high quality and low prices!"

"I'm not satisfied with anything."

Maximilian said bluntly.

The smile on Jemal's face froze, but then he smiled mysteriously and took out a piece of white jade from an exquisite wooden box.

"This is what we brought back from the Far East - the Heshi Bi! This is a gem that the Qing people dug out from Li Shimin's tomb. Legend has it that Genghis Khan used this to mend the sky!
It is said that it has the same miraculous effect as black truffles. In order to release his energy, the emperor of the East would marry 3,000 wives every night! "Maximilian was not prepared to believe such an outrageous statement. Instead, Ludwig stared at the jade for a long time before revealing a puzzled expression.

“Is this food?”

The people around were speechless for a moment, but Jamal was the first to react and spoke.

"Grinding it into powder and adding it to naan can also be used as medicine."

"What to eat? Don't listen to his nonsense! It will upset your stomach!"

Maximilian said impatiently.

"How can you say that? Try it and see if it works. It's free."

Jemal deliberately emphasized the word "money". According to his experience, such people would most likely buy it if provoked.

However, as a member of the royal family, Maximilian still had some manners and did not take the bait. Although he was a little excited at first, he quickly returned to normal.

Ludwig was not very interested in the jade. After all, it didn't taste good and sounded like medicine, and he didn't like taking medicine.

Seeing that the two were about to leave, Jemal became anxious this time. He walked around to the two of them again, holding the box and speaking.

"You are not useless, are you?"

This time Maximilian was angry. As soon as he reached out his hand and touched the jade, the whole piece of jade broke into several pieces.

Jemal immediately shouted when he saw this.

"My Heshi Bi! Return the Heshi Bi to me!"

Jemal wanted to rush forward, but was stopped by his followers, so he sat on the ground and cried bitterly. The followers planned to take the two archdukes away first, and then deal with the merchant in front of them.

However, Maximilian had never been wronged before, especially since he had previously been trying to be courteous to others. In an instant, a mixture of grievance, anger and shame immediately surged into his heart.

"What does it have to do with me! Your jade broke by itself!"

"What do you mean my jade broke by itself?"

"There's something wrong with your jade, otherwise how could it break just by my light touch?"

"How could my jade break if you didn't touch it?"

"You let me touch it."

"I asked you to break my jade? You pay for it!"

Several followers wanted to separate Maximilian from the merchant, but Maximilian felt depressed for a moment. He felt that he could refute this profiteer with his own intelligence and continued speaking.

"Back off! I'll just touch it lightly. If it's good, how could it break?"

"You said you just touched it lightly, so it was just a light touch? How do you prove it?"

"I just touched it with my fingertips. How much force can it have?"

"How should I know? Maybe you know witchcraft?"

"How can I do witchcraft?"

"Can you prove that you are not a wizard?"

Maximilian was so angry that he almost died. At this time, Ludwig said with some confusion.

"Don't our ancestors teach us not to prove ourselves?"