White snowflakes, colorful Christmas trees, colorful scenery, and various celebration banners make this Christmas extraordinarily exciting.
When the New Year's bell rang, Franz fell into memory. Looking around the decades of walking in the cold mountains, there are too many stories to tell.
This Christmas, there were no guests, except for the necessary guards, and even the servants were put off by Franz.
All the people who held the celebration were a bunch of juniors. It is a rare reunion day, and it only makes sense if you have to do it yourself.
The meaning is there, but the scene is a little out of control. The pampered little guys are obviously not suitable for this kind of rough work.
Looking at the dark dishes on the table, Franz doubted whether these things could be eaten.
But seeing everyone eating happily, Franz was relieved, because he wouldn't eat it anyway. People are getting old, and it is no longer suitable for eating supper.
It's all well maintained by Franz. Look at the queen in front of her, she has been yawning for a long time. If it weren't for tradition, I would probably have gone to bed long ago.
Well, tradition is just an excuse, mainly because the days of this kind of reunion are numbered. With the victory of the World War, the last wave of enfeoffment will also begin.
After so many years of paving the way, now it's time to harvest. As the big winner in the war, the Habsburg dynasty also has its own fruits of victory.
The Holy Roman Empire has a vast territory, and now it has cut more than 20 million square kilometers of land from the British. Except for Antarctica, which is not suitable for human habitation, it occupies almost two-fifths of the earth.
Unless it follows the colonial model, the central government cannot manage it at all.
With the development of the times, the cost of colonial rule is also rising, and it is only a matter of time before it is eliminated.
In particular, the areas occupied by Shinra were vast and sparsely populated. It is even more uneconomical to play colonial rule.
Anyway, what Shinra is playing is the state system and the enfeoffment system, so continue to use it. Especially in remote areas, after the division of the meritorious ministers is completed, and then a prince and a grandson are sent over, it is a state.
Except for the eldest son and eldest grandson who was destined to inherit the throne, the rest of the children and grandchildren were arranged by Franz.
Limited by traffic, it takes too long to make a round trip, which is destined for everyone to gather less and leave more in the future.
But there is no way. The Habsburg family has come to this point, and if it wants to continue to grow and develop, it is bound to branch.
Opportunities are in hand, if you don't seize them, what future is there to talk about
"The beloved son of the parents is far-reaching." On this issue, the Franz couple's opinions are very consistent.
Years make people grow old. Judging from the average life expectancy of these years, the Franz and his wife are all longevity. There are obviously few such Christmas family reunions.
Once the division is completed, perhaps the next reunion will be a few years later, for example: Franz's 80th birthday, or the 20th anniversary of the restoration of the Holy Roman Empire, such a big day that everyone celebrates.
This can be regarded as a happy trouble, and there are many people who work hard for a fief. Many families have even paid three generations of efforts, but they have not been able to achieve their goals.
The aristocratic family is not bad. They have received relevant military education since childhood. As long as their qualifications are not too bad and they work hard enough, it is not difficult to enter the military school.
After graduating from the military school, the starting point is an officer. There are also personal connections left by their parents. When they arrive on the battlefield, the probability of making military achievements is far greater than that of ordinary people.
As long as the luck is a little bit better, catch up with this kind of war, take advantage of the situation to get some military exploits, and successfully survive, you can earn the next foundation.
The bottom-level civilians are miserable. They are purely self-made, and those who can get ahead are God's darlings.
Although in terms of the number of nobility titles, officers and soldiers from civilian backgrounds accounted for the majority, but there were still a large number of aristocratic offshoots, middle class, capitalists, and bureaucratic descendants hidden here.
It seems that these people seem to have no foundation in the army, but the economic foundation is solid!
Parents in the German region are notoriously willing to invest in their children's education. The world is not peaceful these days. Under the national military service system, military knowledge cannot be left behind.
In terms of learning theoretical knowledge and dealing with others, the children of these families are not inferior to the children of ordinary nobles.
Even many who are interested in taking the road of military merit and nobility, or have developed in the army for a long time, completed the recruit training in advance before enlisting in the army.
With these advantages, the probability of being promoted in the army is obviously higher than that of ordinary civilian children.
In fact, most of the lower-level civilian children who can stand out have a rich military career and can impart relevant knowledge.
Not fair, that's for sure. But the world is inherently cruel, and it cannot be changed at all by personal will.
As the emperor, Franz only needs to ensure the combat effectiveness and loyalty of the army, and the origin of the officers below is not important.
To blame, it can only be blamed that the duration of the World War was too short, and it ended in less than a year, leaving no time for ordinary people to grow up.
Of course, the cover must not be lifted. No matter how small the probability is, it is also a probability. There are not many people who jumped up to become nobles, but there are many who are allocated a piece of land.
British Africa, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the British Indo-China Peninsula, and several islands have too much land to allocate.
This is just the legacy left by the British. Although the other warring countries are not so fertile, they still have a few taels of meat, and there will always be harvests.
Newly occupied areas need population, and the best opportunity to recruit immigrants is to grant land for military merit. Not only were there immigrants, but there were also armies guarding these lands.
Sometimes, Franz even wondered if it was too much to play. However, seeing the performance of the rush among the people, he decisively put away this dangerous idea.
It has only been a few years since the abolition of serfdom, and it was the time when everyone was most obsessed with land, especially in these years, the income and living standards of farmers were higher than that of workers.
Small people also have the wisdom of small people, the facts are in front of us, higher income, better life, plus a family inheritance.
If you say this is a calculation, then let this calculation be a little more, everyone doesn't mind a few more pieces of land.
As for using everyone to defend the territory, that's even less of a problem. If you don't guard your own land, who will guard it
…
Some people are happy, some people are disappointed. When Franz was sad about the future gatherings and separations, Buckingham Palace was even more gloomy and gloomy.
Although he had been prepared for a long time, Britain really surrendered, and Edward VII couldn't help but grieve in his heart.
With grief, this Christmas is certainly not easy. Even this year's Santa Claus is not as beautiful as in previous years.
Summarizing lessons learned, looking for countermeasures, and preparing for a comeback, none of this makes any sense.
Island nations do not tolerate failure. In Britain, which is a small country and a poor country, the fault tolerance rate is too low, and defeat means losing everything.
In particular, Britain, in the past few hundred years, has pulled the hatred of the world to its full value, making it even more difficult to make a comeback.
Even through insider trading, the British Isles were preserved by buying off the Vienna government, but it still wouldn't change the reality of Britain's decline.
When I think about Edward VII, I feel depressed. Even if I do not bad, I can even call it excellent, but it has become the terminator of the Victorian era.
Fortunately, Britain implemented a constitutional monarchy, and the cabinet was in front of the thunder, which attracted the firepower of the people.
As we all know, the king is already old, and his health in the last year is not good enough to handle government affairs, and it has nothing to do with this war.
Of course, the most important reason for Edward VII's ability to retreat was the will of the Continental Alliance, or the deliberate release of water by the Vienna government.
The deal between Vienna and the British government has just been concluded and is currently underway, and a stable Britain is now required.
Compared with changing the prime minister, changing the king obviously has a greater impact. Maybe Britain will fall directly into collapse.
As the victor of the war, the Holy Roman Empire has too many interests to receive, and there is simply no time to waste time on the British in the short term.
In addition, another important reason is to preserve Britain's decaying bureaucracy.
Any old empire has all kinds of problems, and reform is often more difficult than tearing it down and rebuilding it. Especially after the end of the colonial era, it is impossible to transfer contradictions to the outside world, and the difficulty of reform is even greater.
This is a conspiracy, but neither Edward VII nor the British government can refuse it. As a member of a vested interest group, he can't kill himself!
The current Prime Minister, Campbell, is the leader of the reformists. During his tenure, he made a lot of patches for the British Empire. It can be said that he has made outstanding achievements.
If he hadn't caught up with this war, his historical evaluation would definitely not be low, and he might even become the greatest president of Britain.
The problem, however, is that Campbell is too capable. If there was a mediocre prime minister, perhaps the world war would not have erupted so quickly.
History is always full of comedy, and I am afraid that it is unbelievable for everyone to make a movie, which is completely different from everyone's daily cognition.
A capable king + a capable prime minister pulled the slowly declining British Empire back from the halfway, but then fell directly into the abyss from the other way.
It's incredible to think about, but it happened in reality. If it wasn't for Campbell's reforms, Britain would have been poking around in the free trade system, and would not have noticed for a while that its own market was being eroded.
To be able to replace the British Empire with boiled frogs, the Vienna government will naturally not resort to force. After all, war also costs money.
It is destined to be a sleepless Christmas Eve. Edward VII is not feeling well, and the British government is even more tragic. No one is preparing for the holiday at all, and there is not even a Christmas tree in the Prime Minister's official residence.
As a tragedy of the times, the Campbell government now has one last mission left to sign the instrument of surrender and take responsibility for defeat.
Then, there is no then. When the dust settles, it is time for the new government to take power and implement the treaty.
Listening to the New Year's bell, Campbell said helplessly: "The Vienna Peace Conference is about to start after Christmas. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should send someone to participate as soon as possible!"
Christmas is not a vacation, but to discuss government affairs, thinking about it is also drunk.
However, as a defeated country, the Campbell government had no choice. The war has just ended, and all kinds of troubles have come to the door. There are so many things to do, and there is no time for vacation at all.
Even this kind of international event that everyone was rushing to participate in, now there is no active registration, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must pick out a bad guy.
In this regard, the Vienna government is still very talkative, no matter who sent it, or the level of the representative, as long as it is an individual who can sign on behalf of the British Empire.
It is also crucial for the Campbell government. Despite its notoriety, less is better than more.
People are forgetful, and time can dilute everything. Especially for other members of the cabinet, as long as they reduce their presence, they are likely to be forgotten by the public in the next three to five years.
Only the prime minister and the signatories can be remembered by everyone, especially the representatives who signed the surrender documents. The hat of "traitor" is almost fixed.
This is also a reward for the British government's awareness of current affairs. As in the First World War, because the Germans voluntarily surrendered, the Allies also gave up pursuing war criminals.
If the British government chooses to fight to the end, it is the treatment of World War II. As the head of the government of the defeated country, each and every one of them had to go to the military court.
"Okay, Prime Minister. I'll make arrangements when I get down, it won't delay things."
Foreign Secretary Adam said calmly. Anyway, the terms of the armistice had been secretly agreed early on, and the Vienna Peace Conference would also make some adjustments to the details.
As a defeated country, Britain no longer had the right to speak at the Vienna Peace Conference.
The upper echelons of the government are not feeling well, and the people at the bottom are also not having a good Christmas. The war is over, but the trade blockades of various countries have not been lifted.
The reserves of the British Isles have long been exhausted, and daily supplies such as candy, coffee, tea, cigarettes, and alcohol have now become luxury goods.
Even in order to celebrate Christmas, the British government has increased the supply of materials, each person only has one liter of milk, a piece of bread of 300 grams, a small dried fish, and other food is potatoes, corn, soybeans and other grains.
Not only is the quantity of supplies insufficient, but the quality is even more touching, and it feels like fodder to eat.
Combined with the previous government's bill in the first half of the year that forced the slaughter of livestock and the prohibition of winemaking, the relief food now distributed is likely to be the ration for those livestock.
It is good to have something to eat, and there is no discerning capital in the war years. As long as the enemy does not open the blockade for one day, the supplies of supplies to the British Isles will not return to normal for one day.
…
Deep in the alley, in an ordinary small courtyard, the James family is spending this special Christmas.
Looking at the food on the table, James, who was forced to smile, collapsed in his heart at the moment.
In order to spend this Christmas satisfactorily, he ran three black markets in a row, but he was shy, and finally stopped because of the high price.
No candy, no cake, no turkey, just a few loaves of bread and a carton of milk, plus a baked potato per person.
Such a standard is the living conditions of the people at the bottom before the war. James is from a slightly better family, and his daily living standards are much higher, at least the necessary sauces for every meal are indispensable.
Seeing that his son, who has always been a picky eater, was enjoying himself at the moment, James only felt sad.