More than ten kilometers away from Venice, in an ancient castle, Viscount Orabi was holding a grand welcoming banquet. The host of the banquet was Baron Fickney, who had just returned.
This wasn't Fickney's first time here, but it was different from the last time. The banquet was of a much higher standard.
It could be seen that Viscount Orabi was very enthusiastic this time. It was different from the last time, when it was just a courtesy invitation.
No one cared about the poor in the busy city, while the rich in the deep mountains had distant relatives.
Baron Fickney had a deep understanding of this. Ten years ago, when he borrowed money to develop his colony, he was mocked. Today, the mockery had turned into praise.
Even though he was far away in Africa, to the well-informed nobles, it wasn't a hindrance.
Times were different now. Ten years ago, the African continent was infested with venomous beasts, diseases, and plagues. Now, the African continent had become a field of hope.
Winners were not to be criticized. Baron Fickney enjoyed the treatment of a winner for the first time and his vanity was satisfied.
There were many Austrian nobles on the African continent, but there weren't many of them in the vast African continent.
Moreover, everyone was busy getting rich. How many of them had the leisure to hold banquets every day?
Fickney didn't attend the banquet without a purpose. To promote the localization of the colony, he needed the support of the local nobles.
Now, in addition to the people who developed on the African continent, the local capitalists were also a major force supporting the localization of the colony, but this was far from enough.
Austria wasn't England or France. The capitalists didn't have much say in politics. Even nobles like Baron Fickney who developed in Africa had a higher say in politics than the capitalists.
The main force in promoting the localization of the colony was the nobles like them.
It might be an exaggeration to link up with everyone in the world through five people, but it wasn't difficult to link up all the nobles in Austria through five nobles.
…
Baron Fickney laughed and said, "Orabi, it's been ten years. I didn't expect Harrington, Gardner, and Dewinton to have grown so much. I can see that they'll all become excellent soldiers."
Viscount Orabi replied matter-of-factly, "Yes, I'm proud of them."
Joining the army was a tradition of the Austrian nobles. Noble children had to receive military training from a young age. Becoming an excellent soldier was the goal of many noble children.
Modesty wasn't a virtue in Europe. It would only be seen as a sign of hypocrisy.
Viscount Obila believed that his son would become an outstanding soldier, so he would openly admit it. This was his true thought.
Baron Fickney asked with concern, "Are you going to send them to the army or the navy?"
In recent years, the Austrian navy's status had greatly improved, almost on par with the army.
Many noble children who chose to join the navy at the beginning seized the opportunity of the expansion of the navy and soared to the top.
Now that the children of nobles were serving in the military, there was another option – the navy.
Orabi said proudly, "Harrington and Derwinton went to serve in the army, and Gardner went to serve in the navy. They all got into military school.
Harrington had graduated from the Artillery Command College in Vienna and was due to enlist in a little more than a week. Gardner and Dewinton had come back this time to send him off.
"Harrington is in his third year at the Infantry Command Academy in Munich. Gardner is in his first year at the Austrian Navy Academy.
Fickney, you came back just in time. If you were any later, you wouldn't be able to see them. "
This was a classic bet on both sides. With the continuous expansion of overseas colonies, the well-informed nobles had realized the importance of the navy.
Many nobles were betting on both sides when they weren't sure of the country's future strategic focus. There wasn't much conflict between the Austrian army and navy anyway, so there was no harm in doing so.
All three of his sons were admitted to the military academy. Orabi did have the right to be proud.
Even though nobles were born with a higher starting point, it wasn't easy to get into the Austrian military academy. There were nine military academies in the country. Each year, there were only 3,500 people admitted, but the number of applicants was never less than 100,000.
This was the impact of compulsory education. There was a sharp increase in people who received basic education. Students with good grades were admitted to middle school and could apply for student loans to continue their studies. This directly led to a sharp increase in the number of middle school students.
The Austrian military academies and universities were separate. Candidates could apply for both. In any case, there was a three-month stagger in the middle, so the results wouldn't be affected.
There was no doubt that this was the era of thousands of soldiers and horses crossing a single-log bridge. Whether it was a university or a military academy, students would register first.
A grassroots student who could rush all the way to the top was not far from being a straight-A student, at least in cultural classes.
Even if they were limited by resources and the education they received couldn't be compared to the children of nobles, there would always be geniuses and lucky ones.
If it was just to compete with the grassroots students, then it wasn't a big deal. The problem was that the competition among the children of nobles was also fierce. In this era, it wasn't popular to have only one child. Every family basically had three to five children.
There were also many children from the side branches of the nobles. Although these people didn't have titles to inherit, it didn't mean that their children's education was poor.
The middle class in Austria was basically made up of these people. Doctors, teachers, lawyers, small and medium-sized businessmen, most of their ancestors were nobles.
There were too few people who could rise from the grassroots. Those who were lucky enough to grow up without any knowledge or social connections were all Children of Destiny.
Currently, in Austrian universities, the proportion of students from noble families was only 31.1%, and students from ordinary families were only 1.2%. The rest were the middle class group.
In the military academy, the children of nobles occupied a dominant position, about 64.8% of the total number of students. The middle class occupied 34.3% of the total number of students. Students from ordinary families were negligible, and there weren't even as many as international students.
It couldn't be helped, this was the result of fair competition. The reality was so cruel. From the beginning of public compulsory education, they lost at the starting line.
In primary school, students from ordinary families were the majority, but in secondary school, students from ordinary families became the minority. On the surface, the probability of Austrian primary school to secondary school was about 8%.
However, after the end of compulsory education, almost 100% of the children of the rich could enter a higher school, and this proportion was pulled up.
The grassroots students from ordinary families were not top students, so they basically didn't have much chance. They had to enter the top 1% in the entrance exam to get a stipend.
This was originally prepared for geniuses. In the era of limited education resources, Austria adopted elite education.
The most obvious was in the military academy. Students who received strict military training from a young age naturally had an advantage. However, this required a lot of investment, and it wasn't something an ordinary family could afford.
No matter how high an ordinary person's academic scores were, they could only be eliminated when the scores of the various professional exams were added up. It could be said that the more subjects there were, the less chance ordinary students had.
To improve the quality of public education and increase the number of professional courses. It was a pity that this seemingly beautiful idea could only be imagined.
Adding one more course meant an increase in education expenditure. According to the standards of the children of nobles, compulsory education was enough to bankrupt the Government of Vienna ten times.
Unless society's demand for ordinary talents increased, it was impossible for universities to expand their enrollment. In this era, higher education was too expensive.
Even among the children of nobles, the number of students who could receive university education or military education was less than 35%.
Of course, there were no restrictions on second-class technical schools or diploma mills. Anyone with money could attend them.
Baron Fickney said calmly, "Is that so? Seems like I'm really lucky!"
Viscount Orabi replied with certainty, "Of course!"
Baron Fickney took a small sip of wine and continued to ask, "What army is Harington serving in? Are you prepared to develop in the African continent? There is a much higher chance of achieving meritorious service there."
This was Baron Fickney stating his conditions. There was no other way. In order to obtain the support of the local nobles for the integration of the colony, they naturally had to use benefits.
Most of the nobles faced a problem. There were many children, but there was only one title.
If the eldest son inherited the title, what about the second son?
According to the tradition of the German Region, those who had money could also be given a share of the property. Those who had no money could either go out on their own or be sent to the church to become priests.
After the Reformation, the church did not have as much profit. The churches in the prosperous areas were fine as they had plenty of business to earn money. If they were unlucky and were assigned to a poor area, they could only live on.
Going out on their own was only suitable for the poor. Most of them used their family's connections to find them a decent job. This was how the branches of the nobles or the middle class came to be.
There were few opportunities in the mainland and the competition was fierce, but it was different in the colony. If they had the family's wealth and were willing to spend resources, they could get a title.
If they had the cooperation of the local tyrant, the difficulty could be further reduced. After all, war was something that would happen every few days in the colony.
In addition to gaining military merits, they could also enter the colonial government to develop. Once the colony's indigenization passed, these official positions would also rise.
Or they could do business in the colony and open up plantations. These were all paths, and the success rate was very high.
Orabi was tempted. He received Baron Ficney with such a high standard. In addition to their relationship as cousins, he was also prepared to invest resources to get noble titles for his sons.
Although his sons had all entered military academies and seemed to have a bright future ahead of them. In fact, Orabi knew that there were too few people who could make it in peacetime.
Even if one entered the army with the title of a duke, he might not be able to become a general when he retired, let alone the descendants of viscounts.
Without military merits, everyone could only accumulate experience.
After all, everyone had received military education since they were young. No one's ability would be too bad. If there was no way to prove that your ability was superior, why should you be promoted first?
The army was a place where strength spoke. The best way was to speak with military merits. Unfortunately, the war in this era was at most a colonial bullying of the natives. There were too many monks and not enough gruel.
Orabi thought for a moment and said, "It's not confirmed yet. He's just an unenlisted recruit. There's still at least half a year before he'll be assigned to the army.
If he goes to the African colony, then I'll have to trouble your uncle to take care of him. "
Without a doubt, Orabi had not made up his mind.
As an old noble, he still had a lot of connections in the army. It was not difficult to use these connections to decide which army his son would serve in.
However, promoting the colony's indigenization was not that simple. Like many people, Orabi was also worried that after the colony's indigenization, his family's industry would be affected.
After all, the colony did not have much, but it had a lot of land. Once so much land was developed, the price of agricultural products would probably be reduced to cabbages.
"Of course, I am his uncle," Duke Fickney replied in a graceful manner even though he didn't get a precise answer. "Of course, I am his uncle.
He could only sigh in his heart that he did not come at a good time. If only Olabi's sons were a little older.
It would be best if they had just retired from the army and were worried about their future. Then, without him saying anything, these kids would help convince their father.
In this banquet, Baron Ficney had already persuaded three nobles to support the colony's indigenization. These people basically supported it for the sake of the next generation.
The impact of the colony on the local agriculture was something only the nobles with a lot of land were worried about. If there was no land, why would they worry about this?
After the land was redeemed, there was not much land in the hands of the Austrian nobles. Now, the land in the hands of the nobles had decreased to less than 20% of the total land in the country.
Since the overseas colonies were established, many nobles, including the royal family, were gradually selling their land.
This was decided by profit. Using the money from the sale of land to open up plantations overseas, they could often obtain land that was several times or even more than ten times their previous land area.
Although the colonial land was not worth much, it did not affect the value of the crops produced by the land. Perhaps the income per mu of land was not as good as the mainland, but there was a lot of land!
As the quantity went up, the income went up. The emergence of large plantations also promoted the advancement of farming technology.
The popularity of mechanized agriculture in Austrian Africa continued to increase. Unfortunately, the internal combustion engine had not been invented yet. The steam engine was too cumbersome and inconvenient.
Under the stimulation of profit, it was actually the great nobles led by Franz who were really pushing for the indigenization of the colony behind the scenes.
It was just that everyone was wary of the political impact and did not directly express their stance. Instead, they pushed out small nobles like Baron Ficney to break through the enemy lines to test the reaction of the people in the country.
