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

Chapter 1452 No loss
In fact, the exterior design of the Crystal Palace was definitely trendy at the time, but unfortunately it was very similar to the greenhouses of the time. Even the designer Joseph Paxton's inspiration came from the greenhouse garden.

To ordinary people, the Crystal Palace is a stroke of genius, but to someone like Olga, who comes from a royal family, it is just ordinary.

After all, greenhouse gardens were nothing special in high society, especially in the Austrian Empire. There was more than one greenhouse garden in Schönbrunn Palace, and even in the courtyards of many nobles in the Austrian Empire.

This was mainly due to the fact that Franz lowered the price of glass. Historically, the emergence of the Crystal Palace was also due to the fact that Britain became the world's largest glass producer at that time.

However, at this time Britain could only rank second. Coupled with the scale effect of the glass industry, the British even had to use tariff barriers to prevent the entry of Austrian Imperial glass.

As for geniuses and artists, the Austrian Empire had no shortage of them.

Olga had seen many exquisite glass buildings, but in the Austrian Empire, square buildings were usually only seen in agricultural laboratories on campus, so she called the Crystal Palace a greenhouse.

Olga also realized that she had spoken out of turn.

"I'm sorry, this is a really nice greenhouse. Is this an agricultural expo? It's really cool."

After hearing this, Prince Albert's face turned blue and red, and he even began to suspect that Franz and his wife did it on purpose.

In fact, it was a low probability event that Franz and Olga would accept the invitation and attend the exhibition held in London, but why did Prince Albert come in person?
This certainly couldn't be a whim, or an attempt to humiliate oneself.

This was actually a diplomatic test. Britain needed to ease relations with the Austrian Empire, and the invitation was a show of goodwill.

Although Britain still held the world's maritime hegemony and hegemony over East-West trade at this time, its dominance had declined.

Coupled with various negative news at home and abroad, as well as the rise of the Holy Alliance, the British realized the importance of reconsidering their strategic layout.

Unlike Russia, the Austrian Empire posed no direct threat to Britain, and in terms of geopolitical threat alone was even less than that of the United States.

Therefore, winning over Austria and dividing the Holy Alliance is still the best solution for Britain at this time. It is obviously easier to defeat the Russians alone than to defeat the Holy Alliance.

Such an invitation could not only enhance Britain's positive image, but also divide the hardliners and peace advocates within the Austrian Empire, while also making Russia suspicious of Austria.

These benefits may not be reflected immediately, but as the saying goes, cast a long line to catch a big fish, as long as the seeds are planted, all that remains is to wait for the opportunity to break through the ground.

Time will change everything. When rifts and conflicts appear between Russia and Austria, the Austrians will remember this line.

In addition to the above, Prince Albert also had a little selfish motive. He had read many magazines imported from the Austrian Empire, and he was very dissatisfied with many of the things in them.

So I wanted to give Franz a little British shock.
But Prince Albert obviously miscalculated. Instead of being shocked by the gift he brought, the other party was shocked by the gift in return.

In fact, Albert had been to Vienna more than a decade ago. Vienna was also very beautiful at that time, but it was not fundamentally different from other major cities in Europe.

Even when sitting in a carriage, one could clearly smell the stench from the street through the thick curtains. Groups of beggars were affecting the cityscape.

But what impressed him most was the flying German cockroaches, which have a fast reproduction rate and strong adaptability, combining the strengths of almost all pests, and are still one of the most famous pests in the world today.

However, when Prince Albert came to Vienna this time, he found that cockroaches were almost gone, along with the garbage dumps and beggars on the street.

It was understandable that he was a beggar, after all, he was a big shot, and it was understandable that the Austrian Empire cleaned up the streets to welcome him. And I heard that the colonies of the Austrian Empire were short of labor, but the garbage on the streets and people's living habits were not so easy to change.

It is true that Prince Albert is a big shot, but there is no need for Franz to reach that level.

The real reason for the disappearance of beggars was first of all the improvement of the economic situation of the Austrian Empire. A large number of government projects drove employment. As the capital of the Austrian Empire, Vienna provided great relief, and many people who were unable to work were sent to welfare homes.

Of course, this measure cannot solve the problem of those who want to get something for nothing, and even improved economic conditions will increase their income.

But the Austrian Empire also had the Labor Law. On the one hand, the Labor Law of the Austrian Empire protected the interests of workers from infringement, and on the other hand, it also stipulated that citizens had the obligation to work.

Beggars with healthy limbs are regularly sent to perform high-intensity forced labor, and those who perform well can find a job and get rid of their beggar status.

Those who perform poorly will be sent to the colonies with the prisoners for further reform. The overseers in the Austrian Empire's colonies are not easy to deal with, and it is not easy to sneak around among them.

Prince Albert stayed in Vienna for a while and visited some of the poorer areas. Only then did he confirm that Vienna was really different from before.

But still the same sentence.

"It's not a loss."

Franz was not the only foreign monarch to receive an invitation. Historically, the British sent out invitations to almost all European monarchs.

However, in reality, almost no monarchs were present (except Belgium, when Leopold I wanted to use Britain as a banner), but almost every country sent its own delegation, which earned enough face for the British Empire.

Neither refused nor agreed.

Everyone thought that the visit had ended uneventfully, but Franz had already thought of a solution.

He would certainly not allow the British to do a business that would only make money and not lose money.

Franz certainly had the courage to "go there even though he knew there was a tiger there", but compared to taking risks, he had a better strategy.

At that time, Franz could let Olga represent the Austrian Empire. On the one hand, this would demonstrate the Austrian Empire's courage, and on the other hand, it would pose a difficult problem for the British.

In addition to being the Empress of the Austrian Empire, Olga was also the daughter of Tsar Nicholas I. Such an identity could maximize the losses of the British, and Nicholas I would not be suspicious of the Austrian Empire because of this.

If something really happened to Olga, all the British plans would be ruined.

By then, the popularity of Olga's visit to London may very likely overwhelm the popularity of the World Expo, which is called "shooting oneself in the foot."

Moreover, according to Franz's estimation, it would not be long before British newspapers would publish comments such as the Austrian Emperor was too cowardly to accept the invitation.

So Franz prepared to take the initiative and let French newspapers publish news that Britain was showing weakness to the Austrian Empire.

Don’t ask why Franz was so powerful. On the one hand, money was everything in that era. On the other hand, there were many French-speaking people in the Swiss mountainous areas and Alsace-Lorraine.

French was not unfamiliar to the Austrian imperial nobility at that time, so it was easy for Franz to set up a French newspaper in France.