More than ten kilometers outside Venice, in an old castle, Viscount Olabi is holding a heavy welcome banquet, and the protagonist of the banquet is Baron Fikni, who has just returned.

This wasn't the first time Fikney had been here, but unlike the last time, the welcome banquet was of a much higher standard.

It can be seen that Viscount Olabi is very enthusiastic this time, unlike last time, it is just a ceremonial banquet.

The poor in the downtown no one asks, and the rich have distant relatives in the mountains.

Baron Fikney felt it deeply. Ten years ago, he borrowed money to go to the colony to develop, but he was not less ridiculed; Today, what was once a mockery has turned into a compliment.

Even if he was far away on the African continent, these were not obstacles to the well-informed aristocracy.

Ten years ago, the African continent was seen as infestation with poisonous insects and beasts, diseases and plagues; The African continent has now become: a field of hope.

Successful people are not to blame, and Baron Fikney enjoyed the treatment of a successful person with gusto, which satisfied his vanity.

There are many Austrian aristocrats who developed on the African continent, but after they are distributed in the vast expanse of Africa, they will not meet a few.

Besides, everyone is busy making a fortune, and how many of them have leisure and leisure, holding banquets every day?

Fikni's participation in the banquet was not without purpose, and to promote the localization of the colony, it was inseparable from the support of the local aristocracy.

In addition to those who have developed on the continent, the indigenous capitalists are also a major force in the support of the indigenization of the colonies, but this is not enough.

Austria is not Anglo-French, and the capitalists have a very low say in politics. Even the nobles who developed in Africa, such as Baron Fikni, had a higher say in politics than the capitalists.

The main force promoting the localization of the colony this time was these aristocrats.

It may be too exaggerated to get involved with five people and everyone in this world; However, it is not difficult to connect all the nobles of Austria through five nobles.

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Baron Fickney said with a smile: "Olabi, I haven't seen you for ten years, I didn't expect Harrington, Gardner and Dwinton to be so old, I can see that they will all become excellent soldiers." ”

Viscount Olabi replied as a matter of course: "Yes, I am proud of them. ”

Serving in the military is the tradition of the Austrian aristocracy, and the children of the nobility have to receive military training from an early age, and becoming an excellent soldier is the pursuit of many noble children.

Modesty, which is not a virtue in Europe, can only be perceived as hypocrisy.

Viscount Obila thought that his son would become a good soldier, and he would admit it openly, which was what he really thought in his heart.

Baron Fickney asked with concern, "Are you going to send them to serve in the Army, or to serve in the Navy?" ”

In recent years, the status of the Austrian Navy has increased dramatically, and it can almost go neck and neck with the army.

Many children of the nobility who chose to enter the navy at the beginning seized the opportunity of the great expansion of the navy and rose to prominence.

Now that the children of the nobility are serving, there is one more option - the navy.

"Harrington and Dwinton went to serve in the Army, Gardner went to serve in the Navy, and they both went to military school," Olaby said proudly.

Harrington was a student at the Vienna Artillery Command College, had already graduated, and would enlist in the army in a little more than a week, and Gardner and Dwinton had returned this time to send him to the army.

Dwinton was in his third year at the Infantry Command College in Munich; Gardner was in his first year at the Austrian Naval Academy on his doorstep.

Fikni, you have come back at the right time, and if you are any later, you will not see them. ”

This was a typical two-headed bet, and as overseas colonies continued to open up, well-informed aristocrats had recognized the importance of the navy.

Unsure of the country's future strategic focus, many aristocrats are betting on both ends. Anyway, there is not much conflict between the army and navy in Austria, so it doesn't hurt to do so.

All three sons were admitted to military schools, and Olabi did have the capital to be proud of.

Although the aristocracy was born with a higher starting point, the Austrian military school was also not so easy to get into. There are nine army and navy academies in the country, and the number of students admitted each year is only more than 3,500, and the number of applicants is not less than 100,000.

This is the impact of compulsory education. The number of people with basic education has increased dramatically, and students with good grades have been admitted to secondary schools and can apply for student loans to continue their studies, which has directly led to a sharp increase in the number of secondary school students.

The enrollment of the Austrian military academy and the university are separated, and candidates can apply for the examination on both sides, anyway, the three months in the middle are staggered, and they will not affect each other's admission results.

There is no doubt that this was the era when thousands of troops crossed the single-plank bridge. Whether it is a university or a military school, students are the first to report and then talk.

The grassroots students who can rush out all the way are not much worse than being top students, at least in cultural classes.

Even if they are limited by resources and cannot receive an education comparable to that of the children of the nobility, there are always geniuses and lucky ones who emerge.

If it's just competing with grassroots students, then it's nothing. The problem is that the internal competition among the children of the aristocracy is also fierce, and only children are not popular in Austria in this era, and every family basically starts with three or five.

There are also a large number of noble side branch children, although these people do not have a title to inherit, but it does not mean that their children's education is poor.

The middle class in Austria today is basically made up of these people. Doctors, teachers, lawyers, small and medium-sized merchants, most of whose ancestors were nobles.

There are too few truly pure grassroots who can rise. Without knowledge and social connections, the lucky ones who can grow up are all children of destiny.

At present, only 31.1% of students from aristocratic universities and 1.2% of students from ordinary families are in Austrian universities, and the rest are from this middle-class group.

In military schools, the children of the aristocracy still dominate, accounting for about 64.8% of the total number of students, the middle class accounts for 34.3% of the total number of students, and students from ordinary families are negligible, and there are not as many international students as there are students.

It can't be helped, that's the result of fair play. The reality is so cruel, starting from the beginning of public compulsory education, it has lost at the starting line.

At the elementary school level, students from ordinary families are the majority, and at the middle school level, students from ordinary families become a minority. On the face of it, the odds of getting on to secondary school in Austria are around 8%.

However, when compulsory education is over, the children of the rich can go on to higher education almost 100 percent, and this proportion has been pulled up.

Grassroots students from ordinary families are not top students, and basically there are not many opportunities. They must be in the top 1% of the entrance exams to receive the bursary.

This was originally intended for the gifted, and in the era of limited educational resources, Austria adopted an elitist education.

This is most evident in military schools, where students who have received rigorous military training from an early age naturally have an advantage, but this requires a lot of investment and is not something that ordinary families can afford.

No matter how high the cultural performance of ordinary people is, adding the results of various professional examinations will only have the fate of elimination. It can be said that the more subjects are examined, the less chance the average student has.

Improve the quality of teaching in public education and increase the teaching of these specialized courses. Unfortunately, this seems like a beautiful idea, just think about it.

Adding one more course means an additional expenditure on education. Compulsory education according to the standards of the children of the aristocracy was enough for the Viennese government to go bankrupt ten times.

Unless the demand for ordinary talents increases in society, it is impossible to expand university enrollment, and higher education in this era is too expensive.

Now even the children of the nobility can receive a university education, or a military school education, will not exceed 35%.

Of course, there is no limit to the second-class technical colleges, or pheasant universities, and you can study if you have money.

Baron Fickney said calmly: "Yes, it seems that I am really lucky! ”

Viscount Olabi replied in the affirmative: "Of course! ”

Baron Fickney took a sip of wine and continued to ask, "What unit did Harrington serve in, and is he ready to develop in the African continent, where he has a much better chance of making military achievements?" ”

This is Baron Fickney's condition. There is no way, in order to get the support of the native aristocracy for colonial integration, it is natural to speak with interests.

Most nobles will face a problem, there are many children in the later generations, but there is only one title.

The eldest son inherited the title, so what about the second son?

According to the custom in Germany, if you have money, you can give them a share of the property. Those who don't have the money can either let them go out on their own or send them to church to become priests.

After the Reformation, there was not as much oil and water in the church. The churches in the economically prosperous areas are fine, and some of them make money from business, but if they are unlucky enough to be assigned to poor areas, they can only eat chaff vegetables.

Going out, this is only suitable for breaking down. Most of them used their family connections to find them decent jobs, which is how the aristocracy was sidelined or bought into the middle class.

There are few opportunities and fierce competition on the mainland, but it is different in the colonies. If you have a family background, you can smash a knighthood if you are willing to spend resources.

If you get the cooperation of the Ground Snake, then this difficulty can be further reduced. After all, for the colonies, wars happen every once in a while.

In addition to reaping military merits, it can also enter the colonial government to develop. Once the colony was indigenized, these positions were also raised.

Or doing business in the colony and opening up plantations, these are all roads, and the success is very high.

Olabi was tempted, he received Baron Fickney with such a high profile, in addition to the cousin relationship between the two, he was also ready to invest resources to get his sons noble titles.

Don't look at the fact that several of his sons have entered military schools, and it looks like the future is bright. In fact, Olaby knows that there are too few people who can get out of the way in peacetime.

Not to mention the descendants of the viscount, even if they enter the army with the title of duke, when it comes to retirement, they may not be able to mix into generals.

Without military exploits, everyone can only work on qualifications.

After all, everyone has received military education since childhood, and no one's ability is too bad. There is no way to prove that your ability is superhuman, so why promote you in the first place?

The army is a place where strength speaks, and the best way is to speak with military exploits. It's a pity that the war in this era is at most a colony bullying the natives, or there are more monks and less porridge.

Olabi thought for a while and said: "It has not been determined yet, now he is only a recruit who has not enlisted in the army, and there is at least half a year before the troops are allocated."

If you go to the African colonies, then you will have to trouble your uncle to take care of it. ”

There is no doubt that Olabi has not yet made up his mind.

As an old aristocrat, he still has a lot of connections in the army, and it is not difficult to use these connections to decide on his son's service in the army.

However, it is not so simple to promote the localization of the colony. Like many people, Mr. Olabi feared that the colony's indigenization would hit his own industry.

After all, there are not many colonies but more land. Once so much land is developed, it is estimated that agricultural products will be hit by the price of cabbage.

Without receiving an accurate reply, Baron Fikney replied in a graceful manner: "Of course, I am his uncle!" ”

I can only sigh secretly in my heart, I didn't catch up with the good times, and it would be nice if Orabi's sons were older.

It is better to have just retired from the army and are worried about the future. Then without him opening his mouth, these boys will help convince their father.

At this banquet, Baron Fickney had already persuaded three nobles to support the colony's indigenization, and these people basically supported it because of the next generation.

The impact of the colonies on native agriculture was something that only the land-rich aristocracy feared. If the land is gone, why worry about it?

After the land redemption, there was actually not much land left in the hands of the Austrian aristocracy. By now, the land in the hands of the aristocracy has fallen to less than 20% of the total land area of the country.

Since the opening of overseas colonies, many big nobles, including the royal family, have been selling their lands one after another.

This is determined by interests, and with the funds from the sale of land, plantations overseas can often be obtained several times or even more than ten times the land area before.

Although colonial land was not valuable, it did not affect the value of the cash crops produced on it. Maybe the income per mu of land is not as good as the local one, but it can't hold more land!

When the quantity goes up, so does the income. The emergence of large plantations also promoted the progress of agricultural farming technology.

Mechanized agriculture is growing in Austrian Africa. It's a pity that the internal combustion engine hasn't come out yet, and the steam engine machinery is too bulky and not at all.

Stimulated by interests, it was actually the big nobles headed by Franz who really promoted the localization of the colonies behind the scenes.

It's just that everyone pays attention to the political impact and does not directly state their position. Instead, the petty nobles such as Baron Fickney were launched to rush into battle to test the reaction of the people at home.

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