Harry Potter’s Morning Light

   Chapter 2427 royalcircus (ten)

   Looking south from the village of Metz, you can see where the Laken Palace used to be. The wife of Duke Teschen, governor of the Austrian Netherlands, was the sister of Emperor Joseph II, and should have succeeded the governorship after the death of Governor Alexander of Lorraine. However, in view of the turmoil caused by Queen Maria Theresa's succession to the throne, the crown of Austria was eventually inherited by Maria Theresa's husband Franz I, so the governor of the Austrian Netherlands was inherited by the Duke of Teschen.

  Joseph II did not allow his sister Maria Christina to have the power to collect taxes, which she complained to her brother Leopold, but she and Duke Teschen managed to build a palace for summer pleasures.

  Queen Maria Teresa once carried out financial reforms on the Holy Roman Empire. At that time, the empire experienced successive wars and was financially tight, and there were internal fiefs and tariffs and other structures that seriously affected the empire's tax revenue.

The taxation of feudal fiefs belongs to the nobility, and the nobility has to undertake feudal obligations, such as providing the army in war, giving gifts to the monarch for marriage, giving birth to children, etc. The actual situation is that the feudal monarch can only get a little money from a few vassals. , and the monarch must not interfere with the exploitation of the serfs in the fief by the nobles. Maria Teresa's reform abolished the privileges of the nobles, who also paid taxes. This reform liberated the serfs. The sharecroppers and farmers paid agricultural taxes directly to the Habsburgs. Machine production, which raises taxes in a short period of time. However, the area of ​​this reform is limited to areas with high Habsburg rule, such as Austria and Bohemia, other duchies and even the Austrian Netherlands are not included.

  There are also nobles in the Netherlands. Some of them are vassals such as the Duke of Arenberg, and some they buy with their own money. In addition, there are guilds, and most of the property is owned by these two classes.

Maria Teresa's second reform was the Customs Union, all reforms focused on guilds due to the concessions of the nobility on the serf issue, she formed the Austrian-Bohemian and Hungarian-Transylvanian customs The alliance, which clears the checkpoints, unifies the currency, promotes the circulation of commodities, and introduces machine production.

   But at that time, Maria Theresa's representative in Brussels, Prince Stallenberg, and the Privy Councilor were quite cautious in promoting reforms. They set up mints in Brussels and Antwerp, so they made some concessions in reform.

Joseph II thought that Maria Theresa's reforms were incomplete, so he wanted to carry out in-depth reforms in person. Maria Crestina and her husband, the doge couple, were only symbolic heads, and they only received foreign guests. Their former governor was mainly in charge of wars. Alexander of Lorraine had fought Frederick II, and then there was a Belgian graduate of Lyon College of Surgery who was taken prisoner as an Austrian and then rescued a Prussian soldier. something happened.

  Maria Christina and her husband not only built the summer palace, but also liked to collect art like many nobles at the time. Coupled with extravagant banquets and returning to Vienna from time to time, the couple was very likable and happily married. Maria was pregnant once, gave birth to a daughter, but did not survive a day, then she got puerperal fever, and Duke Teshen also contracted smallpox at this time, the two supported each other and survived, they were still living at that time. in Pressburg.

   In 1780 Governor Alexander died and was succeeded by Duke Teschen, who did not live in the old Teflon Castle.

   Silesia was originally Maria Christina's dowry. After it was ceded to Prussia, it could not be renovated at 1.3 million Rhein guilders as in the past to renovate Pressburg. Teflon Castle is a standard medieval castle with a moat, drawbridge, towers, and is similar to the Boucher Castle near the village of Metz, which in the Middle Ages once belonged to the Boucher Knights of the Duchy of Brabantine.

   And what the Duchess likes is neoclassicism. After seeing the beautiful scenery of Laken, she asked a French designer to design Laken Castle for her.

The Duchess had no children, she adopted the Archduke Karl, so everything she inherited was inherited by the Archduke Karl, and in 1793, due to the guillotine of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, Austria went to war with France, and then the Laken Palace was abandoned . Used as a military command post and prison during the French occupation, the Luneville Agreement was sold to speculators who wanted to dismantle it and then sell the materials. Since the Castle of Lechen was sold to Napoleon when the contract was signed, it is basically still in good condition and can be lived in.

   On the contrary, the Boucher Castle at the foot of the mountain was renovated and no longer like that kind of haunted castle. The road in front of the drawbridge was also filled in, and an English-style garden was built, which was made by French exiles during this period. A track was built from the platform to the Château Boucher. Although the road from Mechelen to Brussels was not repaired, they still experienced it in advance. The main feature of this road is that it is smooth, not as bumpy as a gravel road. Their "little train" stopped at the entrance to the garden and the real ceremony began.

  It is late autumn, but the garden is full of flowers, and they form beautiful patterns that look like carpets.

   A bit dazzling is the honor guard soldiers in Austrian military uniforms, and the smile on Georgiana's face almost froze.

  Wait through the guard of honor are the celebrities and nobles in Brussels, and surrounded by them, they came to the castle, where a grand banquet was held.

   Usually the main character of the banquet is wine, but today it was changed to beer. During the banquet, there are also juggling performances and magic.

  When the meal was over, the ladies chatted around Georgiana, the gentlemen went next door with Sharptal and Edgeworth, and the children ran about in the garden as if they had never run out of energy.

   There was a very small boy, he was probably less than three years old. He was held in his mother's arms and stared at Georgiana's face all the time.

   At first she was a little smug, thinking he looked at her because she was pretty, but after asking, he actually told her that he was observing whether the Englishman had an upper lip.

   This joke will never go out of style, Georgiana laughed and everyone laughed.

   After the Austrians and their vassals were gone, vacancies arose which were quickly occupied by the new bourgeoisie.

  Luppe, for example, was originally the son of the chief physician of the Dutch Admiralty, became a priest, and is now the mayor of Brussels.

   In 1787, Brabantine launched an uprising against the reforms of Joseph II. In 1798, against the French conscription law, he also launched an uprising, this time known as the "Peasants' War".

  The situation at that time was very bad. The French regime carried out a crackdown. Most of the "fires" had been extinguished. Only one person named "Cousin Charles" was not captured.

  This is obviously not his real name, as a partisan he cannot get supplies, the only way is to rob the French. After the "cousin" gave the garrison a large amount of wine, he led the guerrillas in a night attack while the French were drunk, and although they won easily, most of the French were allowed to run away.

One of the guerrillas was captured and he gave out the real identity of his "cousin". Charles-Francisco Jacquesman was the son of a gin distiller in Brussels. His family spoke French and he learned to speak through playmates. Dutch. He tried to become a surgeon, but didn't finish his studies, and later married a rich widow who was much older than him, and after her death he married a 19-year-old bride, they had a son and a daughter, but soon went bankrupt, He later became the Brussels wine excise tax officer.

After the Brabantine Revolution, the Austrians lost their rule and Charles lost his job, during which he joined the Austrian army, however the army he served was routed across the Rhine, and Charles was captured and later released , and then began to engage in activities against the French as partisans.

Charles hid for a while after his identity was revealed, when the court had pronounced him the death penalty in his absence, meaning he didn't even need to "arrest or hang", but could be shot in the street, during the Peasants' War in 1798 He annexed two larger robbers and formed the "Belgian Legion".

Two robbers escaped from the "cousin", met a passing French column, told Charles the exact location, and then the French Commissioner Mallarmé carried out an encirclement and suppression, and later died in battle, and was succeeded by Rupe, who unfortunately fell on the battlefield. Horse, it took a long time to slow down.

The feudal princes who had surrendered to France carried out the method they had used against the Habsburgs, that is to say, if Bonaparte needed an army, they would show him the ledger, according to the financial budget and wave of the princes. Naparte decides on his own needs, how many people Bonaparte wants and the princes will provide, but the French cannot interfere in their internal affairs, and these petty tyrants can still do whatever they want on their own territory.

Lady Vampire Elizabeth Bartoli did just that, using the blood of girls to maintain her youth and beauty, her castle often recruited maids, many of whom were peasant girls, and Lady Bartoli was wealthy and educated , is a good lord who is well-known and caring for the people, where you can learn etiquette, until more and more girls are missing, people can't believe that she did it.

   Having committed so many **** crimes, Mrs. Bartoli was not burned to death, but was locked in a tower.

   Mrs. Bolsky's obvious change is really eye-catching. She is beautiful, and she can dress up. People who say she is under forty will believe that she has the wrinkled face she looked like a few days ago.

   In laughter, Georgiana regretted giving her the potion.

   Otherwise, we should add water to her. This effect is so good that Georgiana is afraid. I should have told her a few more words. There must be a gradual process. I wonder if there is still room for recovery?

   (end of this chapter)