Author: Seven Years Period

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Franz was a little angry and a little depressed. He just wanted to improve basic education, but he had spent tens of millions of florins on it in six years, so why were there still so many problems?

What's even more terrible is that it has not yet reached the real promotion stage, but is only in the large-scale pilot stage.

Pilot education cannot be generalized in rural and mountainous areas of Austria. Especially regarding the issue of free meals, various previous reports made Franz think that this is a waste of effort and a hotbed of corruption.

However, the reality is that since schools stopped providing free meals, there has been a wave of dropouts in mountainous areas. The only reason is that it is too difficult for students in mountainous areas to eat.

The mountain school in Franz's imagination is only a few hundred meters away from a village. In fact, there are only a few, or a dozen, children in a village. In order to save costs, several, or even a dozen, children from the village are usually needed.

Shared primary school.

Then the problem comes. These children need to walk more than ten miles or even dozens of miles of mountain roads every day. This exaggerated distance is very scary for ordinary people.

Moreover, there were wolves in many mountainous areas in Austria at that time. The wolves in Tyrol were actually about the same size as coyotes and foxes. Their combat power could not defeat a child in a single combat, so as long as they were equipped with a wooden stick or a hiking pole, they were enough to deal with it.

, maybe we can add snacks in the evening, but the gray wolves in the Balkans are not something that children can deal with on their own.

Compared with these difficulties, eating is a big problem. These children need to bring their own food and fuel. The most important of these is corn. In fact, Europe's rapid population development is due to these two crops, potatoes and corn.

However, people in the mountains did not eat corn at that time. Nowadays, a muscular man holding a basin and eating corn salad is advertised every day on the Internet. In fact, there was not much difference between the way Europeans and Easterners ate corn at that time.

Pancakes made of cornmeal or batter.

Cornmeal or a mixture of wheat bran and wheat is the staple food of children in mountainous areas. The so-called vegetables are some unknown wild vegetables plus some ferns and beans. Some wealthy families may bring some raw pickled lard.

Pickled lard is actually very popular in Central and Eastern Europe now. It is a paste made from pig fat and pig skin. It is horribly greasy and is usually packed in jars or sealed.

In the leather bag.

As for offal, only rich people can afford it.

When eating, make a little lard and smear it on the corn tortillas, or mix it into the batter, which makes those children feel very happy.

Then let’s talk about fuel. In fact, the mountains are not full of trees as imagined. Just cut them down and pick them up. In fact, not all vegetation is suitable for firewood. The most suitable ones are actually the dead branches and fallen leaves, because

It has little moisture and is easy to burn, and it is not easy to smoke and choke people.

The church's brain circuit is always relatively novel. They also understand that it is not easy for children to go to school, to eat, and to walk on mountain roads all day long is very hard and dangerous.

So they began to build monasteries, especially in mountains far away from the worldly world, which in theory are more suitable for religious practice.

But the problem is that this place also needs to be used as a school, and a school is precisely a window that must communicate with the outside world.

In fact, Franz didn't care about the affairs of the monks and priests. For the time being, this method seemed feasible, because the monastery was large enough and it was borne by the church, so the Austrian government would not block it.

At the same time, the monastery can also solve the problem of food and housing for the children, not to mention the problem of declining birthrate or population surge in the future. After all, bigger means more flexibility.

However, more monasteries and allowing children to experience too much religious atmosphere may lead to an increase in Catholic influence, and at the same time, some priests themselves are a threat to children.

Franz asked Archbishop Rauscher to "purify" the clergy more than once, and the latter became the first archbishop in Austria's history to launch a comprehensive war on church corruption, abuse of power, and personal ethics.

In fact, it is somewhat inaccurate to say this. Not all priests in history turned a blind eye to the problems of the church, but Rauscher was the one with the highest status and the longest life among them.

Moreover, it was said that it was an all-out war, but in fact, only a few high-level church officials were dealt with, and the punishments they received were very light. However, when they got to the lower levels, the punishments became more severe, including excommunication, scalping, and even direct burning, just like a medieval court.

of style.

In fact, what the Austrian Church did was exactly what the Holy See did not dare to do at this time, because the rule of the Papal State itself was not stable, and the Inquisition was naturally not courageous enough.

Franz knew very well how useful the church was in the front, but how painful it was when it was stripped off in the back. It couldn't be done by just saying "science gets rid of superstition". It would even take decades and thousands of people to do it.

Only the blood of thousands of people can do it.

As for rural areas, usually the most difficult thing to deal with is not the local aristocrats, but the so-called "village tyrants." When the aristocrats hear the words government, royal family, and church put together, they have no time to curry favor and dare to refuse.

.

But these nobles also have their own selfish motives, which is to give up some uncontrollable land to the school. In theory, these lands belong to the nobles, but in fact they are jointly cultivated by some farmers, and are also called public lands.

Theoretically speaking, there is no need to pay taxes on crops, burning, and pasture on this part of the land, so the nobles will have no income.

At the same time, due to hundreds of years of evolution, serfdom has changed and disintegrated in parts of Austria, and these so-called public lands have been occupied by some powerful farmers.

Coupled with the French Revolution, the power of the Austrian nobility was greatly weakened. In fact, when Napoleon invaded Austria, he also used this method to divide the land from local tyrants, and the effect was very significant.

At this time, some of these public lands were occupied by one family or several families, and these people were usually the most "powerful" people in the village, or the kind of "tyrants" that no one dared to offend.

Although the declining nobles cannot do anything to these people, these people do not dare to do anything to the local nobles.

As for facing the imperial power, the imperial government, and the church, they don't have so many scruples. After all, the sky is high and the emperor is far away.

Although they did not dare to be tough, it was easy for them to prevent all the children in the village from going to school. The Austrian church was still very influential in this era, and a large number of similar incidents were reported to Vienna.

Although Franz was unhappy, he still allocated a sum of money to compensate those who were originally using public lands.

However, this did not have any effect. On the contrary, the situation became more and more intense. Some people demanded more compensation, some demanded that the school be demolished, and some even led people to surround the school and beat students and teachers.

Now Franz was even more unhappy. He planned to let the Astartes who had just returned from Chenla go to work as principals in various places, and then assign a few veterans to the school as janitors and handymen.

Although he is a janitor and a handyman, his income is actually much higher than the local average. After all, there is no pension at this time.

In an era without war, the Austrian military would ask you to retire when you were over thirty years old. Even if you performed very well, you would not be over thirty-five, so Austria could have a large number of outstanding veterans to recruit.

The veterans who can be re-employed by the royal family are naturally the best in the Austrian army. Some of them don't want to fight, some don't want to go to other countries to perform tasks, and some simply look down on the mercenary profession, so they gave up joining Umbrella as a mercenary. Opportunity.

These people usually have excellent military skills, but they don't know anything else, so releasing these people into society is both a waste and a destabilizing factor.

Franz simply arranged some jobs for them, as a reward for these veterans who had served the country all these years. It also left a way out for the Austrian Empire. After all, these people could be called up to join the army again at any time.

Soon people discovered that there was a tough man in black robe with a sinister face who ate snakes alive in the school, as well as a group of doormen who looked like they were not easy to mess with.

To be honest, Franz disliked the land system in Austria at this time. The cost of infrastructure construction was too high. But there was no way to rush it. After all, the food had to be eaten one bite at a time and the road had to be walked step by step.

In addition, those who dare to directly attack the school, no matter what the reason is, will be arrested first, and then interrogated in detail.

In addition, although basic education has not yet been fully implemented in Austria, some businessmen with a keen sense of smell have already sensed the business opportunities.

For example, the prices of pencils and paper have increased, but they have quickly returned to their previous levels. After all, it is easy to expand production capacity for these items.

Although Franz hoped that education could become the cause of the Austrian Empire, history so far has proved that only "profitable" can be more "inspiring".

At least at this time, Austria is not qualified to choose its own model. After all, many places in education are still blank.

And if Austria's papermaking and printing industries had experienced rapid development at this time, I am afraid that by 1848 there would have been more pamphlets advocating the overthrow of the Habsburg royal family and the dissolution of the Austrian Empire.

It is much easier to promote education in cities than in "remote areas", and most citizens are willing to let their children receive education.

As long as it is free, more than 80% of urban children will choose to go to school. The rest are too poor and have to let their children work to support their families.

In fact, Austria's education in the German region is relatively backward. This is not because Austria does not pay attention to it, but because it is too large, the infrastructure is relatively backward, the cost is high, and there is no strong executor.

For basic education in the city, Franz is planning to reopen those public schools from the era of Queen Theresa. Although this will not solve the problem of all school-age children going to school, it can reduce the illiteracy rate in Austria to a certain extent.

Compared with Austria's domestic education, Franz did not need to worry about education in overseas colonies.

Although assimilation education is being carried out, local nobles and businessmen are trying their best to squeeze in. The children of chiefs and priests in Africa are even proud to be able to go to school. For ordinary indigenous people, only a few of them have the same education as the Austrian colonists.

Only indigenous people who are very close to him will have the opportunity to enroll.

In the Chenla region, it was even more exaggerated. Since it was a clerical state, Franz adopted a selection system in order to check and balance, and also to stabilize his rule.

Thousands of people gathered in the square. They were the elites selected from all over Chenla. After that, they had to undergo rigorous tests for several days to check whether they were loyal and talented.

In the end, only a hundred people could obtain the qualifications of voters and receive re-education.

The main reason is that the territory managed by the church is getting larger and larger, the number of "voters" is insufficient, and there is insufficient room for advancement for ordinary people. The solidification of classes is very fatal even for the clerical state.

After all, if people cannot see hope, they will tend to destroy themselves, or destroy themselves or the world. But neither of these is what Franz wants to see. What he needs is living blood and a beating heart.

Due to the sparsely populated area and inconvenient transportation in Central America, education has become extremely luxurious. However, fortunately, the immigrants here are mainly Austrian German-speaking people and the Dutch, so Franz does not need to worry about assimilation.

As for the local aboriginal people, Franz adopted the policy of vacating the cage for birds and moved them to Mexico. On the one hand, Mexico was happy to accept it, and on the other hand, it was also because this was the most thorough plan for localization.

The terrain of Central America was perfect for guerrilla warfare and it was rich in natural resources. Franz did not want to get caught up in an endless security war.

As for the indigenous people who are unwilling to leave Central America, they can either be moved to the coast to dilute the population for easier control, or they can be sent to the mountains to become truly marginalized people.

Of course, those churches that cannot be deceived and the Austrian government cannot be driven away can only rely on the army to move them. But before all this, the local elites will first drive away the people and then execute Franz's plan.

plan.

In fact, there are conflicts between pure-blood whites, mixed-race whites, and indigenous people in the local area. The first two take it for granted that Austria is on their side.

Therefore, the indigenous people will inevitably be the target of attack by all parties, and they will be the first to be eliminated.

Then there are those self-righteous and deep-rooted Hispanic pure-blood whites. Franz does not want these guys to compete with the Austrian Empire for influence, so they are also targets of suppression.

Finally, there are the mixed-race whites. Most of these people feel inferior and do not have much power, but their numbers are not large. After the natives and pure-blood whites are eliminated, they can only rely on the new ruler of the Austrian Empire.

Moreover, these people's positions are not very firm, and they have no so-called national consciousness, so it is easiest to assimilate.

Of course, since most of these people can speak Spanish, they will also be selected and sent to the Austrian Empire to study. They will eventually be sent to other countries in Latin America to collect intelligence for the Austrian Empire and become its pawns.

Franz needs this system of studying abroad for further study. After all, he is looking at the whole world and the future. It is very necessary to continuously cultivate talents and select spies for the Austrian Empire.

Of course, objectively speaking, this approach also promotes the spread of civilization and science and technology, which is a good thing for all mankind.

As for the issue that some people think that Austria may turn black, there is actually no need to worry too much. At this time, Europeans feel the same way about looking at Africans as they do when looking at gorillas.
Chapter completed!