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

Chapter 776 Olga Nikolaevna
Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

It's late autumn, but the seasons in Schönbrunn Palace are still like spring, with flowers in full bloom.The leaves have begun to fall, but there is no sense of dilapidation and bleakness.

All kinds of strange animals wander in the meadows and artificial lakes of the palace, and snacks of various flavors from all over the world are placed on an exquisite crystal dining table.

Large-scale crystal products in this era are actually a manifestation of a country's financial resources and strength. At this time, this giant crystal table weighing 2 tons is the best interpretation of waste.

In addition to food, there are also various books on the table, covering everything from literature, music, history, education, to military affairs, technology, and philosophy.

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna was casually flipping through some idle books while eating pizza.

As the princess who accompanied her parents the longest, the 24-year-old Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna ushered in a rare period of rebellion.

I was urged to marry by my parents all day long, and the engagement was withdrawn for no reason.Occasionally, she will be overly cared for by her brothers. Headed by the unreliable elder brother Alexander, her brothers will come back with a handsome boy from time to time.

At the ball, she was offered a bonus for her. Although her brothers were out of kindness, Olga Nikolaevna really couldn't stand it.

In particular, Crown Prince Alexander offered a reward of [-] rubles to his sister at a ball, causing the latter to be chased by all the dandies in St. Petersburg all day long.

Afterwards, although Alexander was punished by the Nicholas and his wife for mixed doubles and a one-month ban, the reputation that the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna could not marry has spread in the circle of noble women.

With the protection of Nicholas I, no one dared to say anything publicly, but pointing behind his back was indispensable.

It just so happened that Grand Duchess Sophie of the Austrian Empire sent an invitation to Queen Alexandra. Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna was very happy because she was very impressed with the powerful Grand Duchess Sophie. good.

Queen Alexandra and Grand Princess Sophie happen to be two extremes. The former is too obedient and hardly participates in any political affairs, and is not interested in charity. She just wants to be a qualified "housewife".

The latter is just the opposite. Its "bad name" is known to everyone from Spain to Russia.

She almost emptied her husband's political power, just like Catherine the Great, and tried her best to create the characters of her children, trying to push them to a higher position.

Especially her eldest son even participated in two wars, but 3000 fought against 30, and [-] fought against [-]. It would be very difficult to lose with such a difference in strength.

In fact, Mrs. Sophie also created character designs for Maximilian and Ludwig, but this is more watery.

However, Franz's character design is even more outrageous, so people at home and abroad have long been familiar with it.

Mrs. Sophie's various behaviors have been criticized a lot, but Olga Nikolaevna admires this maverick strong woman extremely.

Before coming to Austria, however, Tsar Nicholas I and Empress Alexandra intensively popularized the importance of this trip for Olga Nikolaevna.

That is the real purpose of this trip - a blind date, and the object of the blind date is the legendary Grand Duke Franz Joseph.

It's just that the tragedy of her previous engagement made her a little resistant, and it would be too weird to go on a blind date with a boy eight years younger than herself.

But soon she learned of a bigger tragedy, that is, the collapse of her marriage with the Crown Prince of Württemberg was due to the collusion between Grand Princess Sophie and her parents.

The purpose is to allow Russia and Austria to marry and consolidate the Holy Alliance.This will benefit both Russia and Austria, and even the Württemberg royal family will get a good marriage.

And the only victims of the whole incident were herself and the Grand Duke Franz Joseph, Olga Nikolaevna wanted to refuse.

However, the crying mother and the stern and decisive father made her really overwhelmed. They even carried out the will of Peter the Great.

It seems that as long as he does not marry Franz Joseph, Russia and Austria will go to war tomorrow, and the ambitions of the Romanov dynasty will be shattered.

Olga Nikolaevna had no choice but to follow her mother, Empress Alexandra, to Austria.

However, after arriving in Austria, she realized that this place is simply a paradise compared to the icy and snowy St. Petersburg.

Especially in terms of food, drink and entertainment, there is almost everything that one expects to find. Both Austria and Russia have strict book censorship systems, but the Austrian court does not prohibit royal family members from reading those banned books.

Opera and music are different from Russia and Prussia, delicate, soft and intoxicating.

The diet is neither as flashy as French cuisine, nor too affordable (relatively a bit rough) like Russian cuisine.

In fact, French cuisine has begun to become conservative at this time. Although Napoleon lost, the French chefs did not lose. This group of people are arrogant, and the top nobles have begun to feel tired of the recipes that have not changed for thousands of years.

As for Russian cuisine, to put it simply, it is large in size, heavy in taste, relatively monotonous in cooking methods, and lacks etiquette. Even the Russians themselves dismiss it.

In contrast, the Austrian cuisine at this time is much better. It is based on Italian and Czech cuisine, and it also mixes the styles of many ethnic groups, giving people a dizzying feeling.

In fact, this is also due to Franz. After all, his taste was rather strange in the eyes of the people at the time. In order to cater to his taste, the chefs had to make some changes.

And Franz felt that Vienna, as the capital of the Austrian Empire, would be biased if it only entertained visiting guests with Italian and Czech dishes, and the other would be too petty.

Olga Nikolaevna and Empress Alexandra did not see Franz immediately after their arrival in Vienna.

So the two of them stayed in Schönbrunn Palace for a month.

At first, Queen Alexandra would remind her daughter to be solemn, after all, Grand Duke Franz Joseph might recover one day.

"Mother, when I came to Vienna with my father for the first time, the eldest son of Grand Duke Karl gave me three days of military theory and invited us to eat marching food."

Hearing her daughter's words, Queen Alexandra sighed helplessly.

"Hey, men are like this. When your father came back, he praised the Austrian army rations as delicious, and later he specially asked for the recipe for your brothers."

Olga Nikolaevna curled her lips and continued talking about her previous experience in Vienna.

"The last time my father took me to Venice, Friedrich invited me on board, and I thought he was inviting me to watch the sunrise.

But he asked me if the boat was going fast?Are the cannons firing loudly?Just scrape some inexplicable creatures from the bottom of the boat and give them to me! "

Queen Alexandra frowned.

"Your father is obsessed with Austrian warships. There is also the barnacle, which your father says tastes very good."

"Well then, why doesn't he marry in Austria?"

(End of this chapter)