Chapter 44 The situation in the new European continent

August 23, 1866, German region.

Prussia and Austria signed an armistice in Prague, ending the Prussian-Austrian War.

Because the war lasted only seven weeks, it was also called the Seven Weeks War. The war ended with the defeat of the Austrians.

This war laid the foundation for Prussia to unify Germany and solved Austria, the biggest obstacle to Prussia's unification of Germany.

As for Austria, because of this war, it not only lost its leadership of the German region, but also triggered a domestic political crisis.

Due to the failure of the war and the rise of separatism, Austria had to compromise with the Hungarian nobles. The Austrian Empire would become a thing of the past, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was about to enter the stage of history.

As a dual empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire naturally cannot be compared with the dominant Austrian Empire. As far as the future is concerned, the pull and struggle between the nobles of the two regions have distracted most of the energy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austria Basically lost its influence on the European continent.

This time the Austro-Prussian War was so short that Ernst only made a small fortune during the war. After the war was over, the Hechingen Consortium returned to its original track.

This war still had some impact on Ernst. For example, Prussia basically established its dominance in Germany, and as the birthplace of the Hechingen Consortium, the Hechingen Consortium will also have influence over the German region along with Prussia. is rising day by day and entering a faster development stage.

It will also become easier and more convenient for the Hechingen Consortium's products to enter German countries, and the Hechingen Development Bank will be able to better carry out business in the German region.

The Austro-Prussian War can be said to have shocked the entire European continent. Neither Britain, France nor Russia could have imagined that the Austrians would lose to the rising star Prussia. A rising star was about to rise on German soil.

The most troubled among them is probably the French Emperor Napoleon III. Prussia's victory also represents the break of the old continental system. For example, the cooperation between Italy and Prussia will affect the future European continental structure.

As a beneficiary of the old European structure, Napoleon III naturally wanted to maintain the old order, but he did not expect the Austrians to be so incompetent. If he knew that the Austrians were already in vain, Napoleon III would definitely support Austria at the beginning of the war.

But Prussia fought so beautifully and ended the war in a short time. Bismarck seized the opportunity and reached an agreement with the Austrians in time to avoid interference from other European countries.

At the same time, Prussia, as the victor, did not impose severe punishment on Austria. It only asked Austria to hand over the management of Holstein to Prussia, and also asked for a war reparation that could be paid off in time.

Such relaxed conditions prevented Prussia and Austria, as parties to the war, from becoming alienated because of this war, but instead became closer.

On the one hand, the Austrians need the support of Prussia to suppress domestic separatist tendencies, and on the other hand, Austria must be wary of the Kingdom of Italy in the south.

However, Prussia and the Italians are allies, and Prussia will indeed work hard to reconcile the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy in the future to ease the conflicts between the two countries.

This basically formed the prototype of the Three Kingdoms Alliance before the future war, and the conflict between Austria and Italy will also become an inducement for the collapse of this alliance in the future. It can be said that the outcome of the future war has already been planted at this time. .

As a major victory for Prussia on the road to unifying Germany, the Prussian palace was filled with joy and laughter at this moment. The Junker nobles and their Majesty the Emperor held celebrations, with smiles on everyone's faces.

The entire banquet was full of entertainment, and all the powerful Prussian nobles would find ways to get an invitation to attend the palace banquet.

Constantine, Prince of Hechingen, and Prince Ernst naturally also participated in this event. Constantine was a member of the Prussian General Staff during the Austro-Prussian War, and Ernst's own business also played a role in the war. With his own role and his already prominent noble status, it was naturally easy to attend the banquet.

For big nobles like Constantine and Ernst, whether they can attend the banquet is just a question of whether they want to or not. Even if they did not participate in the Austro-Prussian War, they can still enter the banquet by virtue of their status as top nobles.

In addition to the great Prussian nobles, the largest number of people attending the banquet were Prussian soldiers. They toasted to William I and cheered for the kingdom's victory.

Soldiers are respected in Prussia and are the most popular profession in Prussian society. If a noble joins the army, his social status will be further improved.

William I, like his ancestors, raised a toast to these Prussian soldiers. Bismarck and Moltke, the two heroes who made the greatest contribution to the war, stood on the left and right of William I respectively.

Prince Constantine and Prince Karl Anton, the great Prussian nobles, also stood in the front row, while Ernst followed behind his father.

After William I read out the declaration of victory in the war, William I said that this victory represented that the Kingdom of Prussia would eventually lead the German region towards greater unity and unity and make an important contribution to the prosperity of Germany.

After the speech, the hall burst into warm applause that lasted for a long time.

The second half was a time for free activities. Those who could attend the banquet were all prominent figures or some noble children.

Ernst also met some acquaintances, such as Leopold and some other nobles. As a young man, Ernst could still attract some attention. Now Ernst is a miracle of wealth for the nobles.

Although Ernst could not go to the battlefield to obtain military honors as a soldier, in this era when wealth was becoming increasingly important, he could achieve great financial achievements, and there would also be people who would take the initiative to curry favor with him.

If an ordinary person creates such a miracle of wealth, he will not be respected by the nobles, because you are not of noble origin. Even if you achieve achievements that are difficult for ordinary people to achieve, you are at most an upstart in the eyes of the nobles.

But Ernst was different. As a born member of the top nobility, Ernst achieved huge wealth, which was a model of aristocrats relying on their hard-working hands to start a business.

Noble status in Europe does not mean that you have no other aspirations. As we all know, the trend of comparison among nobles in Europe is quite serious. Even in a country like Prussia, it cannot be avoided. In Europe, noble nobles spend a huge amount of money to show their status. Especially those nobles who are obsessed with face, even the top nobles, will have a huge need for money.

Therefore, it is common for European nobles to borrow money. This is also one of the reasons why Jews can thrive in Europe. Even some European kings will borrow money from Jews.

If the account is not paid, then everyone will have a very bad impression of the Jews. In fact, this is the result of the Jews themselves. As a foreign race, the Jews were excluded on the fringes of Europe, and they have not actively given up integration.

Moreover, Jews often engage in unclean business activities such as loan sharking and money laundering. As European aristocrats who are indebted, or ordinary Europeans who borrow money from Jews, the entire European society is full of hatred towards Jews.

But Jews are indeed a little smart, and the industry they are engaged in does make money quickly, and they are more united and have advantages in business information. Therefore, they are getting bigger and bigger. As long as the financial industry is mentioned, people will think of Jews.

Jews, as representatives of European wealth and unkindness, can be said to be hated by people, and Ernst's Hechingen Development Bank is one of the few major banks in Europe that has no relationship with the Jewish consortium.

Now everyone knows that Ernst has a lot of wealth in his hands. It is okay if he is not short of money. If he is short of money, there is always another way to prevent Jewish banks from unilaterally increasing their exploitation.

Moreover, as a member of the nobility, Ernst himself was embarrassed to ask these nobles for too much interest. In a short period of time, many nobles indeed borrowed money from the Hechingen Development Bank.

Some nobles did not pay their accounts in a short period of time because they were not good at managing the economy. Ernst really had no way to collect the accounts in a short period of time.

However, you also got some unexpected benefits. Since you haven't paid yet, you can always introduce and guarantee the deposit business of the Hechingen Development Bank to the people in your territory.

In this way, Hechingen Development Bank unexpectedly entered some markets that it had not been able to enter before, so everything has its pros and cons.

As for the debts owed by those nobles, they are not too worried. When lending, Hechingen Bank has already made a selection of customers. They are usually real estate mortgages, so Hechingen Bank's loan difficulty is so high in Europe. In the bank, it can be regarded as above average. Even if someone really fails to pay the debt, Ernst can temporarily take away the rest of the property, which should offset part of the loss. If the debt can be repaid later, he can get the mortgage back. industry, so although the difficulty is relatively high, the Hechingen Development Bank still has a good reputation among the aristocratic group.

Seeing his son dealing with a group of nobles, Constantine inadvertently felt that his son had grown up and was able to develop independently from his protection, and achieved good results.

When thinking about his age, Prince Constantine couldn't help but worry. He was already over 60. If Ernst got married too late, wouldn't he not be able to see his grandson? Prince Constantine thought to himself that it was time to find a marriage for Ernst.