Chapter 665: Outrageous

The reason why Brazilians were able to stop the joint attack of the three countries in the south was not only due to the complex terrain and bad weather, but also closely related to the support of the Austrian Empire.

Although Pedro II is known as the greatest Brazilian in history, as an emperor who reigned for 59 years, his deeds are really not good enough.

Whether it is Kangxi, Louis XIV (the Sun King), Victoria, or Shapur II (a famous king of the revival in Persian history) and Basil II (the last glory of the Byzantine Empire), who reigned for a similar period of time.

Of course, there is also a ruler who lived longer than Pedro II in history and was also a ruler of a great country, and then ended up worse than him, that is, Franz Joseph I (the founder of the First World War).

At this time, Pedro II was still very young. After taking office, a series of policies directly offended all the landlords and nobles who supported him, especially the abolition of slavery, which simply pushed himself to the opposite side of the country.

In 1844, he rejected the British "Treaty of Commerce and Navigation", which allowed British goods to be exported to Brazil with only a 25% ad valorem tax.

The reason why Pedro II did this may be different from the modern mainstream analysis of protecting domestic industry and commerce, because Brazil at that time had almost no industry, and it was completely a large plantation.

But the Brazilian treasury was empty at that time, and the reserves of precious metals were seriously insufficient. The reason why he wanted to raise import tariffs was largely to prevent the outflow of silver and alleviate the financial crisis caused by the war.

The book before the Brazilian Civil War mentioned it, so I won’t go into details here. In short, the war lasted for several years, and the cost was naturally borne by the country.

It is understandable that Pedro II wanted to make money. After all, the power in his hands as an emperor was pitifully small, and there was nothing else valuable enough to make people work for him.

Although Franz had been importing a large amount of rubber from Brazil, the Brazilian plantation owners were really not motivated. Even after so many years, the output of rubber was still hovering between six and seven hundred tons.

Moreover, the money from the rubber transaction would not go directly to the Brazilian government. They could only make profits by taxing, and the actual income was even less.

In fact, it was precisely because the Brazilian government taxed too much in the rubber transaction that the estate owners were not interested in expanding the planting.

Of course, the characteristics of rubber trees themselves are also an important reason, because the planting cycle is too long, which means that it takes a lot to get back the investment.

During this period, no one can guarantee that the market will remain stable. It is well known that farmers hate risks the most.

So compared to these strange things (rubber and quinine), Brazil prefers to grow wheat, coffee and sugar. After all, these are the things that people cannot live without.

However, under Franz's strong request, Brazilians also began to grow cotton, although the output is still terrible.

The Austrian Empire's support for Brazil is to pay to monopolize Brazil's cotton and rubber, as well as the development rights of some wasteland. In this way, it can not only ensure that Brazil will not be defeated by the British, but also to a certain extent ensure the safety of its own strategic resources.

In fact, this money will sooner or later return to the Austrian Empire. After all, Franz is just borrowing money, and Pedro II of Brazil naturally cannot buy weapons and supplies from the enemy.

So it is good to have strong industrial capacity. You can spiral up by stepping on your left foot and plundering other countries' resources. The other party still has to say thank you.

In fact, Pedro II still looked down on Franz a little bit. After all, the former was a young emperor at the age of fourteen, while the latter was still making money like a Jew at the age of fifteen.

Pedro II even wrote a letter to Franz, inviting the latter to be his finance minister.

But the letter was torn to pieces by Mrs. Sophie. In fact, Franz still wanted to keep it. After all, if there was any accident, it would be a way out, right? If it really didn't work, he could let others take the blame.

But Pedro II's behavior was no different from provocation in the eyes of the Austrians, but they would just laugh it off because the former was a "country bumpkin".

Maximilian, who heard about this, rarely found Franz, his elder brother, to talk to him. The former expressed his envy of the latter for having such a confidant.

Then he started to talk to Franz.

"A true man should start from scratch, make a name for himself overseas, and never let down the friendship of his friends.

This opportunity is rare. You can prove yourself. Only after hard work and effort can you feel fulfilled.

In fact, being an emperor is not necessarily happy. Look at your grandfather who worked so hard, but what did he get in his life?

It's better to be like Prime Minister Metternich. Although he is a minister, he has power and reputation."

Maximilian almost said to Franz directly, "Brave boy, go and create miracles! I will be the emperor of Austria for you."

Franz just looked at his "competitive" brother silently and said.

"You have grown up, but I told you before that you should keep your eyes and ears open. If you only focus on me, you will easily ignore others..."

Then the second child (Maximilian) was taken away by the ear by Mrs. Sophie who was listening on the side.

Back to the point, Franz actually carried a lot of private goods in the gifts he gave to his employees. For example: toothpaste and soap.

In fact, these two things are not new, but the popularity rate is still pitifully low. Even with the endorsement of the royal family and the church's promotion all day long, many people are reluctant to buy them.

Compared with these cleaning products, red phosphorus matches, a new type of fire-making tool, are popular throughout Europe. The advantage of red phosphorus matches is that they are more stable and non-toxic than yellow phosphorus matches.

Before the Austrians invented red phosphorus matches (historically, red phosphorus matches were also invented by Austrians), the yellow phosphorus matches of the French Soria and the German Camelot were still commonly used in countries around the world.

Yellow phosphorus matches are easy to use, but they are too sensitive to ignite and can easily cause fires. Moreover, during the manufacturing and use process, because yellow phosphorus is highly toxic, this leads to a very high labor cost, and it makes the rich and nobles at the time feel very disgusted.

However, Austrian red phosphorus matches are different. They are not only non-toxic, but also more stable. You can smell the aroma of burning firewood and are called "matches that nobles should use."

However, this thing does not have much technological content, and it is not difficult for the powerful countries to imitate it, so Franz did not make much extra money from it.

In fact, except for the German Customs Union, the Apennine Customs Union, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and Austrian colonies, Austrian matches were not allowed to enter (heavy taxes were imposed).

What's more, the French church openly declared that the unpleasant gas of matches was God's punishment for human original sin, and the fragrance of Austrian matches was the temptation of the devil.

Then the original fire-making tools became luxury goods in the fashion capital of Paris, and a group of celebrities and gentlemen from the upper class even gathered to strike matches to show off their wealth.