War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Eltehazy Manor, in the underground wine cellar.

The deacon in charge of managing the wine cellar was rubbing his hands. Although he was very dissatisfied with the royal family's robbery of the Elthazy family's property, he did not choose to follow the down-and-out Prince Elthazy. After all, it was a good thing to take care of the wine cellar for the royal family. A nice job.

Only this time, the wine cellar he was looking after suffered a lot of damage. Of course, that was Mrs. Sophie's fault and had nothing to do with him. But come to think of it, at least in front of this little master, I still have to behave.

"Is all the wine here ruined?" Franz asked.

"Well, it turned sour a month ago," the deacon replied.

"A month?"

"Yes, a month ago."

"Then why didn't you report it?"

"Because these wines have turned sour, it may be caused by the poor quality of wine sent by Madame Sophie."

"Maybe? I asked you why you didn't report it?"

Franz's tone became stern. He didn't expect that the butler in his manor was actually such a thing. He was looking after such an important wine cellar. He didn't know how the wine turned sour, and he didn't even know how it turned sour a month after it happened. Not reported.

The deacon also noticed that something was wrong in the atmosphere, so he thought of an excuse.

"I thought Madam Sophie would tell you, Archduke Franz."

"What a hopeless bastard." Franz commented in his mind.

"What's your name? Sir."

"Gushan Kasai." The deacon answered.

"Well, Mr. Casse, you are fired." Franz said flatly.

"Why! I have been working for this manor for twenty years!" Gushan Kasai said eagerly.

"Sir, please shut up, or I will take you to court," Franz said.

Gushan Kasai was still going to argue, but was stopped by Talia.

"Mr. Casse, you have caused such great losses to the Grand Duke. Not holding you accountable is already the greatest kindness to you. Please don't continue to challenge the Grand Duke's patience. Children's patience is very poor."

Gushan Kasei felt that he was not wrong, but he did not want to continue to anger Franz, because he felt that what Talia said was very reasonable. Children have poor patience. If he went to Mrs. Sophie, he would definitely be able to explain the matter clearly. Continue to stay in the manor and be your own deacon.

Franz couldn't help but feel a little sad when he looked at the wines in the cellar. He didn't feel pity for the wines, he just felt that the wines were not sold at the value they deserved, and it was a pity for that.

In fact, luxury goods like high-end wine are worthless if they are too much, so it's not that Franz doesn't want to take action, but that he can't take action. But who would have thought that there would be a fire in the backyard, now it's better.

"Franz, what are you going to do?" Thalia asked.

"What else can we do? Check it out. After distillation, the less sour wine is sold as cheap wine, while the more sour wine can only be sold as grape vinegar." Franz said with a bitter look on his face.

Westerners will be jealous, whether materially or spiritually, and it has a long history.

As for why Westerners know how to make vinegar, it’s because there is really no technical content in it. Vinegar was first made by naturally fermenting wine and honey with honey. It is estimated that a drunkard in ancient times accidentally mixed the two things after drinking too much. Mixing them together revealed the presence of vinegar.

Half an hour later.

"Franz, the assessment has been completed. After sorting just now, one-third of the wine can be distilled and sold at a low price, and the remaining two-thirds can only be made into grape vinegar. If it is sold by force, it will affect the royal family. Credibility.”

"Okay. How much can it be sold for?" Franz asked.

Thalia blinked and gestured with five fingers.

"Only fifty thousand?!" Franz asked in disbelief.

"It's five thousand!" Thalia answered.

"If you exclude the cost of processing and selling these grapes, I'm afraid the actual profit is only 4,500 florins."

"How is this possible?" As he spoke, an unknown white soul-like object floated out of Franz's mouth.

Thalia suddenly used the clip to knock the white object back into Franz's body.

"In recent years, except for Western Europe, where there has been a bumper harvest, the price of wine has plummeted. Now the price of wine is only one-third of what it was in 1830. The reason why the wine here can sell at high prices is because of the help of the Elthazy family. The reputation and reputation accumulated over hundreds of years.”

"." Franz understood what Thalia meant. If he didn't want to reap the benefits, he would accept the loss honestly. But this sudden disaster really made Franz very unhappy. However, Thalia's words also reminded Franz that the continuous bumper harvests in these years were abnormal. It was clear that Eastern Europe was prone to frequent natural and man-made disasters.

According to Franz's impression, this series of disasters included flooding in Poland and a rare storm in Hungary, which destroyed a large number of farmland and houses, including Petofi's home, and refugees were everywhere for a while.

"Talia, how much money do we have now?" Franz said suddenly.

"Let me take a look." Thalia rummaged through the folder and quickly stopped.

"And 6,374,900 florins."

"Just exchange all the money for grain, grapes, or agricultural products!" Franz said excitedly.

"Franz, are you crazy? Yesterday, you were sarcastic about your mother's overestimation of her abilities, so why are you so bad today?" Thalia suspected that Franz might have intermittent neurosis, but it's no wonder, after all, It’s a family disease!

"If you are asked to go, just go." Franz kept pushing Talia. He felt that there was no need to look at this wine cellar anymore.

"I'm sure! Within a year at most, there will be a famine in Eastern Europe. By then, the price of food will definitely skyrocket." Franz explained.

"What if there is no famine within a year? The flour will go bad, and the shelf life of most agricultural products cannot exceed one year." Thalia asked.

"Then make that flour into biscuits!" Franz replied.

"Cookies?" Thalia was a little confused, because in her mind, cookies were a very luxurious dessert.

At this time, there were no biscuits in the modern sense in Austria. Austrian biscuits were said to be biscuits, but in fact they were more appropriately called cookies and cakes.

Beat the eggs and mix them with fine flour, add cookies and icing sugar, and after baking is completed, drizzle a layer of creamy chocolate on the outside.

That’s right! Super expensive!

"Are you sure?" Thalia continued.

Franz thought that Thalia didn't understand the meaning of this, so he explained it carefully.

"Four can be stored for one year. When the flour is processed into biscuits, the physical properties of the flour changed into biscuits, so the shelf life continues to be extended, so it can be stored for another year."

Thalia thinks this method is good, but the price of biscuits is a bit too expensive.

"Actually, you can consider making it into macaroni or noodles. This way the cost will be much lower, and it will be easier to sell to the poor." Talia suggested.

Franz didn't understand what Thalia was thinking.

"Why? The biscuits can be eaten directly without fire or water. They can even be sent to the army as dry food. What if you encounter an enemy while cooking macaroni? Surrender?"

I don’t know why, when Thalia mentioned macaroni, it made Franz think of Italy. Seeing Thalia’s insistence on noodles and macaroni, now Franz began to doubt Thalia’s ethnic background and whether she had any Italian descent.