Chapter 101 Shopping

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Adjani is reporting to Madame Sophie what Archduke Franz did during the day.

Madame Sophie frowned as she listened. This long-renowned Violet seemed to be nothing special. She couldn't even handle a child. It was a waste of her time to train her.

In fact, Adjani felt very wronged. She thought she was very good at tracking and searching, but the little Archduke seemed to know that he was being followed and actually called a horse.

No matter how good she was at tracking, she only had two legs. How could she keep up with the horse? She had to give up.

In desperation, Adjani had to try her luck in Franz's bedroom. She successfully found three secret passages and a storage room that had been sealed for at least decades, but these were not what Madame Sophie wanted.

Madame Sophie just wanted to know what Franz had done recently. If she thought there was something wrong, she could intervene in time. She also wanted to know where the money Adjani mentioned was.

If such a large sum of money is not kept well, it will be coveted by others sooner or later. Rather than letting others get it cheap, it is better to give it to her as a mother for safekeeping.

Franz was actually very interested in this beautiful female attendant, but he also knew that this was sent by Madame Sophie to keep an eye on him. After all, it is difficult to stop a mother's desire for control.

Historically, Madame Sophie intervened in national politics several times due to her excessive desire for control.

Even after Franz ascended the throne, he still influenced the political situation. Due to the limitations of political vision, the Austrian Empire made several wrong decisions.

Eventually, Austria was isolated in the Austro-Prussian War, and the second son Maximilian died in Mexico. She herself also passed away in extreme pain and self-blame.

In this life, Franz told Madame Sophie many bedtime stories. Although it broadened her horizons, it was difficult to change one's nature. She still wanted to hold Franz firmly in her hands.

Franz was not a real child, so how could he accept the control of others? At the same time, under strict control, Franz could do very little.

If Franz was really satisfied with being a bystander of history, then he would wait for the arrival of the Spring of Nations, but that would be too unfair to his identity as a time traveler.

And who can guarantee that the rioters in this life will not rush into the palace and exterminate the Habsburg family?

Franz often listened to Talia reading newspapers, and the most common thing he heard was the assassination of big figures.

In the Austrian Empire, there were several very bad assassinations every month. Some were because of money, some were because of hatred, some were because of lovers, separatists, anarchists, and even some people just wanted to prove that there was no one else in the world but himself..

There were even more celebrities who were assassinated in this era, including but not limited to Lincoln with a big brain, Princess Sissi with a heart, Okubo Toshimichi whose head was mistaken for a football, and Tsar Alexander II, the first roller coaster passenger in human history.

Franz didn't want to add his name to it, so he chose to be the master of his fate instead of leaving it to fate.

Vienna, National Trading Center.

Baron Brooke made a high-profile appearance at the Vienna Trading Center, which attracted the attention of many bankers and speculators.

After all, he was the investment consultant of the royal family. His choice was very likely the choice of the royal family, and his operations in the two transactions of American land and Austrian railways were enough to make him famous in history.

Although it was Archduke Franz Karl who bought the goods that day, no smart person would believe that a fool could play the entire Austrian financial world in his hands.

As for the speculation of American land, it was naturally impossible to hide it. You know, he made fifty times the profit in Chicago alone. Although it was not sold at the highest point, it was a miracle in the eyes of investors in the industry.

Baron Brooke appeared with a large number of well-known wealthy and upper-class people in Vienna, as well as bankers and famous speculators.

Baron Brooke invited almost all potential investors in Vienna. He publicly announced that he would stockpile food, because both the people and the country could not do without food, and it was impossible for the European continent to have a bumper harvest every year. Now is a good time to purchase food.

However, this idea is not new at all. Countless people have tried it before, and they all lost everything and left the market with hatred.

And due to the opening of the German Customs Union, Prussia's grain actually went back to Austria. Now there is so much grain in the Austrian market that it cannot be bought out. Some grain-producing areas have begun to control prices and costs by reducing production.

The crowd of onlookers suddenly shrank by half. Most of the remaining people were just giving Baron Brooke face, and their minds had already flown elsewhere.

Baron Brooke spent one million florins on wheat on the spot. One million florins is not a small amount, but in the entire market, it did not make any waves. Except for a very small number of people, no one followed suit.

After that, Baron Brooke would go to the trading center every day and place an order for one million florins. This order is usually enough for only a big businessman, so someone would be willing to offer Baron Brooke a discount.

This situation continued until the seventh day, when Baron Brooke had no money, but fortunately, Mrs. Sophie entered the market in time.

In fact, Madame Sophie was very puzzled by this crazy behavior, but her husband Franz had never let her down, and she believed in Baron Brook's professional level and would never be swayed by a child.

However, Mrs. Sophie and Archduke Franz Karl did not have much liquidity, and they managed to scrape together one million florins.

On the eighth day, the Moravian Taffi family entered the market. As a wealthy Moravian family, the financial resources of the Taffi family should not be underestimated.

Edward Taffi's father, Thomas Taffi, came to Vienna with three million. He received the news a month ago. At first, he was a little unbelievable, but he decided to take a gamble.

At this time, the price of grain in Austria finally began to rise, because the spot had been bought up almost, and the inventory had dropped to a dangerous value.

The abnormal fluctuation of grain prices attracted the attention of Solomon Rothschild, who felt that this was a good opportunity for revenge, because the grain mortgages he had received due to debt problems over the years had piled up like a mountain.

As long as he took action now, he could immediately suppress the grain price to the previous price, or even lower than before.

In this way, Solomon not only solved the backlog of inventory, but also allowed funds to flow back. There was no reason for him to refuse after suffering heavy losses in the railway transaction.

So Solomon Rothschild sold the spot goods in his hands twice, and once again brought the grain price of the Austrian Empire back to its original position.

Just as Solomon was celebrating his successful revenge, a heavyweight player from the royal family appeared. As the richest noble in Austria, Archduke Karl's every move received extra attention.

In the end, Archduke Karl's huge order of 15 million florins directly ignited the grain trading market. For a time, a large number of speculators poured in and almost swept away all the grain spot goods in Austria.

The Austrian grain trade was hot, and as Austria's good neighbors, how could the Prussians miss this good opportunity to pour cold water?