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

Chapter 629 Winter in Switzerland

1845 was a terrible year for Switzerland. There was no snow in winter, floods continued throughout the year, and crops failed. Imported grain from Belgium brought potato late blight, and the price of bread in winter rose by 1844% compared with 1000.

People had to scavenge in rubbish for everything edible, many were on welfare, and there were more than twice as many deaths as births throughout the year.

Switzerland used to be the center of the textile industry in Central Europe. However, with the introduction of trade protection policies of various countries, the Swiss textile industry has entered a cold winter.

Due to Franz's intervention, the sudden rise of Austria's textile industry and the control of cheap raw material production areas have dealt a blow to the textile industry in the entire Central European region.

Industries such as watches and clocks and machinery manufacturing were also suffering, especially after the opening of trade with Austria and France, the domestic industry was wailing.

A large number of cheap and terrible foreign industrial products have entered the Swiss market, and the advanced agricultural tools introduced from Austria have liberated the labor force and caused a large number of agricultural workers to lose their jobs.

At the same time, due to the profit-seeking nature of capital, a large amount of farmland was turned into pastures, which exacerbated this phenomenon.

In this context, the Swiss economy is much more vulnerable than in history. When disasters strike, the Swiss government and people seem helpless.

There are many powerful countries around Switzerland, so it naturally dare not pass on its conflicts to such powerful countries as Austria, France, and Prussia.

As a result, predatory tariffs were crazily imposed among the states in Switzerland. Ticino took advantage of its geographical location to increase taxes crazily. Every box of goods must be inspected.

Berne introduced a consumption tax with the purpose of attacking the winemaking industry in Vaud, and Valais simply banned goods from other states from entering the region because of its complete industry.
The only steadily growing industry in Switzerland is tourism, which is more willing to pay for it due to its beautiful location in the Alps and the new bourgeoisie and aristocracy.

Coupled with the development of the transportation industry and the influence of romantic thoughts, the tourism industry is developing into an independent industry.

However, the tourism industry at this time is more appropriate to be called travel. After all, most travel is with a strong purpose.

For example, artists gather and find inspiration, or businessmen look for business opportunities and negotiate business, or like Archduke Karl, they simply go to step on the spot to prepare for war.

Franz once set up a travel company with Archduke Johann. By organizing those rich and leisurely people in Vienna to travel, it stimulated the local economic development, and by the way, they could also make a fortune.

It's just that this tour quickly changed its taste. As long as a big man goes there, a large group of people will follow like flies. It's more like a political speculation than a tour.

But if there are no big names to participate, there will be very few people.The money was earned, but word of mouth did not spread.

In addition, the first organized commercial tourism in modern European and American history was initiated by Thomas Cook in 1841, and the second time was also organized by Thomas Cook in 1845. In the same year, he established the world's first modern tourism. home travel agency.

(Some bigwigs said that Huaxia had the concept of tourism in the Shang Dynasty, and a real travel agency in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

In addition, the continuous pilgrimage to Mecca in the Arab world since the seventh century can also be regarded as tourism, and many specialized organizations have also emerged in history.

So here we only say that it is the first in modern times. )
However, Vienna has never been short of big shots. In addition to politicians and officials, there are also artists and bankers. Anyway, they can always find a reason to travel.

But it wasn't until Franz won the Dark Night Theater and the Daylight Theater that the industry went on the right track.

The stars of these "girl groups" can solicit more customers than Franz, and because Franz has trained some older and less popular actors to become tour guides.

Many "canaries" have seen hope for the future, so they are very concerned.Coupled with professional counterparts, Austria's tourism industry is one of the best in the world.

The cultural class that no one was willing to sign up for even if they took a whip, now it has become the most enthusiastic topic of these "canaries".

Franz solved the retirement problem of these dancers and actors to a certain extent. After all, they cannot be young forever, so those who have just entered the industry or have not yet entered the industry will be more inclined to the dark night and daylight theaters.

The addition of a large number of high-quality newcomers has enhanced the strength and potential of the two theaters to a certain extent, and they quickly won the competition.

Coupled with the head effect, those excellent editors, writers, and musicians have to participate.Franz has initially won the entertainment industry in Vienna.

In terms of security, some Umbrella company veterans were hired as bodyguards, which perfectly solved the employment problem of Franz's personnel.

Back to the main story At this time, Switzerland is far from being called a peaceful country. Let alone the turmoil of the civil war, their attitude towards travelers alone is a big problem.

In order to solve their own economic crisis, some regional governments even support the behavior of slaughtering customers. Those legendary luxury hotels often only allow tourists to live in dirty and cramped spaces.

Then there is the mandatory consumption, some tourists want to drink a glass of goat's milk, but in the end they have to buy a goat.

Some local handmade products even sold for sky-high prices. A non-brand mechanical watch that sold for [-] francs in France would cost [-] francs locally.

The cost of board, lodging and carriage is ridiculously high, and high tips must be paid at the same time, so many foreigners who come here expressly will not come again.

Of course, some people will choose to travel poorly. They don’t take a carriage, hardly stay in a hotel or shop, and bring their own food, just to experience the authentic nature.

The local shepherds will teach them to be human again. Switzerland at this time is similar to Australia in later generations. It is really not a big problem to kill a few backpackers. After all, no one will stare at the back all day.

Clothes and belongings will be scraped away, and the corpses will be cleaned up by the beasts in the mountains soon, so that they will come and go naked.

Compared with the two, Austria's tourism industry is much more standardized, with a stronger cultural atmosphere, and there is no shortage of natural landscapes.

The most important thing is that the prices are relatively low. After all, Austrian products are expensive to export, and the prices are often very outrageous due to heavy tax increases by the customs of various countries.

At the same time, Franz also paid great attention to publicity. In addition to beautifying the Austrian Empire in newspapers and magazines all day long, visiting artists and scientists will also receive special preferential treatment, and even give them a small sum of money to create some works.

Although it is generally difficult to produce high-quality products in this kind of commissioned creation, it has been proved that as long as the net is cast wide enough, some big fish will always be caught.

Some French people created a batch of "black" Austrian works either because of their national integrity or because they were not given enough money.

However, due to the lack of art appreciation of most people in this era, it had a counterproductive effect. Those catchy ballads and popular works became the accomplices of Austrian culture invading France.

Of course, there are also natural rebels like Hugo. The more discredited those authorities are, the more he wants to see them.

(End of this chapter)