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

Chapter 1849 It’s not that simple

The other person just smiled and asked in return.

"Where is Freigliova?"

Franz frowned and said with a helpless tone.

"Theft by the insider."

Adjani's expression remained unchanged.

"Am I walking right into a trap?"

Adjani was testing the waters, after all, she had personally trained Freigliova, and now that problems had arisen, she could not shirk her responsibility, and her own identity and position were also very sensitive.

However, Franz did not think that Freigliova's situation had anything to do with Adjani, after all, she had been gone for many years.

Moreover, the person cooperating with Freiglova was Kurt, the former Chief of Police of the Austrian Empire. Without Freiglova as an inside agent providing cover, Kurt would not have been able to act so arrogantly.

However, Franz did not answer Adjani's question, but instead said...

"Someone like you who walks into a trap must have other motives."

Adjani smiled charmingly.

"Men who are too smart can be scary."

"Are you afraid of me?"

Franz deliberately pulled her forward a little.

Adjani simply rolled her eyes at Franz and snorted coldly.

"brutal."

This assessment made Franz somewhat embarrassed, and as he recalled some past events, he felt even more awkward.

So he decided to change the subject, even with the music as cover, it wouldn't last long.

"what is your purpose?"

"I'm bankrupt."

Adjani's answer was very straightforward, even a little self-righteous.

"I'm telling you, don't invest!"

Franz couldn't hold back either; a million dollars would be more than enough for her to live a life of extravagance as long as she didn't invest it.

Adjani avoided Franz's gaze and spoke softly.

"Wasn't it you who suddenly started the war?"

Franz slapped her hand away.

“Don’t steal anything. I’ve prepared a hundred checks for ten thousand dollars each for you, in the steel pipes of room A-13 in Golden Time.”

"It's really bad fun."

"Aren't you going to stay?"

Franz had to admit that Adjani was far more capable of intelligence work than her successors; a group of people, each assigned a task, couldn't even do it well.

Moreover, Adjani's philosophy aligned with Franz's. In fact, Franz didn't care that much about his subordinates making money, nor did he mind others enjoying themselves. He was even willing to get involved in making money and help develop new entertainment projects.

But Franz couldn't accept his subordinates' misconduct, much less the creation of an alliance to make dirty money. He wasn't stingy; the treatment of high-ranking officials was absolutely commensurate with their status.

"Do not."

Adjani's answer was so decisive that Franz was not prepared.

In fact, Adjani didn't want to touch this hot potato at all. She had national and personal grievances in the past, but now she realized that it was good to have a monarch like Franz.

He was at least better than those Polish leaders who were in exile, who were a joke in the face of this truly brilliant monarch.

In fact, those people weren't really that bad; many of them could even be considered outstanding individuals, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to maintain the organization for so long.

However, Franz's personal brilliance was so strong that it easily made others appear like idiots in comparison.

Adjani then turned around very naturally, released Franz's hand, and gracefully stepped back, ending this brief reunion.

Franz returned to Olga's side, who seemed a little confused.

Where is that lady?

"left already."

"What a pity, I wanted to talk to her."

Olga was telling the truth; she was very curious about Adjani. After all, there weren't many women who could interest Franz, let alone a "mature woman."

From Olga's perspective, Franz's aesthetic preferences leaned towards fair-skinned, thin, and young girls. In reality, this was somewhat of a misconception about Franz; he always preferred young and beautiful girls.

Although Isabelle Adjani tried her best to hide it, the marks of time are hard to conceal, especially in front of another woman.

On the other hand, Adjani had already changed her clothes and was ready to leave, but she was blocked from her way.

Looking at the young face in front of her, she was momentarily dazed, but then she teased him.

"A cat that runs around will not be liked by its owner."

Celestina stared intently at the person in front of her. She hadn't received any orders, but she was very curious about who this person was.

"who are you?"

"I am your mother."

"you wanna die!"

The two then began to fight. Before leaving the palace, Adjani had to fix her hair and adjust her shoulder straps, completely ignoring the stares of the guests as she walked out of Schönbrunn Palace.

These kinds of gossip didn't cause much of a stir in Vienna; in fact, people's focus at the time was on the Giro d'Or.

The first stop was Denmark, which excited Denmark, but Frederick VII looked as if he had lost his parents.

Amalienborg Palace, Copenhagen.

"Damn it! Those debt collectors! Why should we Danes play house with those Germans?"

The new Prime Minister, Baron Kermotor, had no interest in paying attention to Frederick VII's complaints, so he assigned the task to Krimett.

Klimt, as the former leader of the German faction in Denmark, should have taken his place after the local faction lost power. However, due to his hesitation at the crucial moment, Baron Klimt became the true leader instead.

So at this point, Krimett could only take on this kind of shitty task, but even so, he still had to hurry.

Because Denmark is so small, even something as small as dog poop isn't something everyone can get their hands on.

"Your Majesty, are you still pretending to be sick?" Klimt's words made Frederick VII want to hit him, after all, it was a blatant mockery of him.

"Road construction again! And setting up a circus! Can't you just leave me alone?"

Faced with Frederick VII's hysterical questioning, Klimt simply sneered.

"Do you have any other options?"

In fact, Klimt would have preferred to beat up Frederick VII. The so-called factional strife was just a business deal. Although the two sides had their disagreements, they were generally on par.

However, Frederick VII's series of bizarre actions overturned the table. Although he wasn't the one who overturned the table, the Austrian Empire wouldn't have intervened in this crisis without his involvement.

Especially after learning that Frederick VII had feigned illness to refuse mediation from the Confederate monarchical assembly, no politician would still consider him innocent.

“I am ashamed of you. You do not deserve to be a Dane.”

Frederick VII's words were very weighty. If a monarch from another country had said such a thing, even the smallest state would have made his ministers feel terrified and even ashamed.

Frederick VII, however, was an exception. His prestige among the people had plummeted, and more importantly, he had no heir, not even a single illegitimate child.

As a monarch, Frederick VII was undoubtedly a complete failure. Such a person would naturally find it difficult to gain the loyalty of officials, let alone a Great Germanist like Klimt.

Klimt wouldn't deliberately provoke Frederick VII, but he didn't show him much respect either, only asking a question.

How should I convey your message?

At this moment, Frederick VII's eyes were practically spitting fire, but he still managed to utter those words.

"I'll be there."

Although Frederick VII was extremely reluctant, the Danish side had already repaired the roads and prepared a very grand opening ceremony in Holstein.

However, most countries strongly opposed holding the opening ceremony in Denmark, for a very simple and direct reason: the Kingdom of Denmark simply did not deserve it.

In fact, if this were held in a major city like Frankfurt, Vienna, Berlin, or Dresden, the opposition would be much smaller.

To put it bluntly, the poor quality of the food is the root of the problem, and Denmark was the worst of them all. Such a grand event shouldn't have such a poor starting point; it makes a significant number of people feel it's not dignified.

Furthermore, security is also a major concern, especially since the crisis has only just been resolved. In fact, it's more accurate to say it was forcefully suppressed; trust between the two sides is far from being restored. Some Germans are filled with suspicion towards the Danes, while some Danes are filled with fear towards the Germans.

The most contentious issue was whether Denmark was part of the German Confederation, a point of contention between the Greater German faction and the Lesser German faction, who both found the other unreasonable.

However, at this time, the Greater German faction far outnumbered the Lesser German faction, and in fact, the monarchs of the various states of the Confederation had already effectively endorsed the great unity of the German Confederation. Therefore, it would not be so easy to change their stance now.

But expecting politicians to have any sense of shame is less reliable than expecting gangsters to engage in charity.

A new round of incitement and debate has begun, but this is not surprising, since Franz did not expect to resolve all the conflicts without bloodshed.

However, no matter what they did, they still arrived in Holstein. This time, no one was absent, and no one dared to be absent.

The reason for choosing Holstein over Copenhagen was largely due to security concerns.

The reason given to the various states was climate considerations, since Denmark is at a high latitude, its winters are very cold, and there is a possibility of roads being covered in ice and snow.

Therefore, the competition will first be held in high-latitude regions, and then in low-latitude regions such as Switzerland and the Austrian Empire when the weather turns cooler.

In this way, the athletes can always maintain a high level of performance, and the audience can enjoy more exciting matches.

Of course, this is only the first step. In fact, doing this mainly saves the organizers a lot of trouble.

In any case, they had gained both substance and face, and the other states had no reason to oppose them to the end.

However, Denmark's accommodation capacity was indeed a black hole, and Baron Kermotor's understanding was even more disastrous; he actually booked a hotel for each of the royal families of the various states.

Baron Kermotor found this move incredibly extravagant, given that the hotels the Danish government had booked were roughly the same size as the Danish King's palace, and some had even been specially expanded.

However, putting members of the royal family and the national team together was considered offensive at the time.

Fortunately, Franz funded a project called Solidarity Village in Brunsbüttelcog, which, despite being called a "village," is actually more like a new town.

At this time, Brunsbüttelcog was more like a fishing village built by dike keepers; although it connected to the Eide River, it did not develop into a true port.

But Franz knew that Brunsbüttelcog would become the western entrance to the Kiel Canal and would be one of the most active ports in northern Germany before World War I.

Because land, goods, and labor were all very cheap at that time, the Austrian Empire did not spend much money to build a city.

Frederick VII was not without merits; his short-sightedness led him to even consider selling the Brunsbüttelkog region, along with its inhabitants, to the Austrian Empire for one million florins.

Actually, this price was a bit high at the time, but in retrospect, it was definitely a steal.

However, the impact of such territorial transactions was far too negative, and Franz did not want the public to think that he was someone who could be traded at will (in reality, the local population was mainly Danish).

Although Brunsbüttelkog is located in the Schleswig region, there is a canal that leads directly to Lenzburg.

Lenzburg is located in the heart of Schleswig-Holstein, making it the perfect starting point for this major competition.

In fact, the Austrian Empire preferred to set the starting point directly at Brunsbüttelkog, but the place was so little known that it was not even clearly marked on maps of many countries.

Having resolved their accommodation and transportation issues, Franz and Olga decided to inspect the national team.

In fact, the Royal Academy of Sciences of the Austrian Empire had been advising Franz to use a flame-breathing tricycle.

This move would not only make the Austrian national team a sensation, but also serve as the perfect stage to promote new products.

The general meaning can be summarized as "Promoting my country's national prestige and boosting Chinese products".

Franz never expected that there were so many marketing geniuses in the Royal Society of Science. It was almost a waste of their talents to have them doing research. If they were born in later generations, they would definitely be the founders of a technology company.

In reality, research at this time required money, and unless they encountered a super patron like Franz, they had to find their own way to make a living.

For example, Babbage sold models, the great philosopher Spinoza polished a mercury mirror, which led to mercury poisoning that affected his life, Kepler worked as a fortune teller, Tesla dug trenches, and there was a group of people who infiltrated enemy ranks to become theologians in order to conduct scientific research.
Ferdinand von Richthofen almost recognized Li Hongzhang as his godfather. Although this is an unofficial historical account, Richthofen's research would have been impossible without Li Hongzhang's approval.

The name Ferdinand von Richthofen may be unfamiliar to many, but the Silk Road is something most people have heard of.

This guy is the one who named the Silk Road; he also named kaolin and located the correct location of Lop Nur.
However, Franz considered technological innovation in cycling competitions to be too radical and unacceptable.

Then, when Franz inspected the national team, he was still surprised. The people in front of him were all big and burly, with muscles all over their bodies.

This is not entirely unrelated to the cyclists Franz remembered, but rather they are completely different species.

"Long live His Majesty the Emperor! Long live Her Majesty the Empress!"

Suddenly a wrench appeared on the ground, and Franz felt that things might not be as simple as he had imagined.

Joseph Zerell, who was standing nearby, quickly ran over and said.

"A bicycle is, after all, a tool. If it breaks down along the way, having the tools with you means you can fix it. That makes perfect sense."

Joseph Zeller quickly glared at the athlete beside him.

"Pick it up now."

The burly man had just picked up the wrench when a hammer fell to the ground.
(End of this chapter)