Edel and his family lived in the Belvedere Palace, also known as Belvedere Palace, which was formerly the residence of the famous Prince Eugen.

As commander-in-chief, Prince Eugen led his army to repel the Ottoman invasion and made a distinguished contribution to the defense of Vienna. Therefore, the Kingdom of Austria at that time built this palace for this great hero. It is also one of the three major palaces in Vienna, the other two being the Hofburg Imperial Palace, the main palace of the Habsburgs, and Schönbrunn Palace, its summer residence.

Among the many palaces in Vienna, the Eder family was placed at the Belvedere Palace, which also shows the importance that Austria-Hungary attached to Romania. But for Eder, none of this helped. Only if it can bring rich benefits to the Romanian kingdom, even the red regime dares to talk about good-neighborliness and friendship, but the future red empire has irreconcilable contradictions with Romania.

Edel took his tired family from the car ride and spent a beautiful night resting in this palace with an octagonal top tower. The next morning, someone was looking for it, and sure enough, according to Eder's estimate, the Austro-Hungarian government came to discuss the candidate for the new Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Oyos.

"Good day, Your Majesty Eder."

Foreign Minister Oyos's secretary to Foreign Minister Bechtold, who had previously instigated the declaration of war on Serbia, was promoted to vice minister of foreign affairs because of the support of Germany. Then before his brother-in-law Karl was ready to ascend the throne, he was appointed foreign secretary. can be regarded as a lucky person with prosperous official luck.

"I wonder what your Excellency the Foreign Secretary needs to come here this time?"

Eder was also surprised that Austria-Hungary made a move so quickly.

Oyos was also polite and directly explained his intentions. "This time I came here to discuss with Your Majesty the issue of Austro-Hungarian grain imports."

Grain imports from Romania are now the main way for Austria-Hungary to ease its domestic needs. But the black-hearted Eder set the price of food so high that he would not accept purchases in other currencies. It can only be the lei or the dollar or gold and other precious metals, which forced the Austro-Hungarian Chancellor of the Exchequer Bilinsky to tear his hair naked. Now that Eder had gone to Vienna to attend the funeral of Frans Joseph, the Austro-Hungarian government was not in a hurry to see if it could lower the price or accept other replacements.

Edel pretended to be dumbfounded. "Isn't the deal good now?"

Oyos directly interrupted Eder's stupid play. "Your Majesty, the price of food in Romania is now almost unaffordable for the Austro-Hungarian people."

The fact that Oyos is so anxious also has a lot to do with the fact that the grain reserves of Austria-Hungary are about to bottom out. In Vienna, the price of wheat flour, now a staple food elsewhere in Austria-Hungary, has reached 2.7 kroner per kilogram, which is 7.5 times higher than before the war.

Now a teacher in Austria-Hungary earns only 90-20 crowns, which means that if he has to support himself and his family, then he cannot purchase anything else. In fact, this is not possible, and some daily necessities such as some condiments and some clothes must be used, so the people who can still eat its pure wheat bread are people from very wealthy families. Ordinary people are now eating it with other grains, such as corn flour and acorn flour.

According to the Austro-Hungarian government's projections, if Romanian grain prices were not lowered, the government would not have enough money to purchase food at the end of '97. What the people are going to do if they don't have food to eat, everyone with a little political common sense knows. This is also the reason why the Austro-Hungarian government is in a hurry, there is no hope for the end of this war, and Austria-Hungary will most likely be the first to fall, which Bechtodel and others, who started this war, never expected.

In the face of Oyos's request, Eder played Tai Chi. "I need to go back and discuss this issue with the prime minister, after all, Romania has its own problems."

Regardless of what Oyos said, Eder said that the matter needed to be discussed with the government, so that the new Austro-Hungarian foreign minister had nothing to gain.

After sending Oyos off, Edel gave orders to his chief of guard. "I didn't see any guests today, so I said I needed a day off to relieve the fatigue on the road."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

So under the obstruction of the guards, several guests who came to visit were blocked.

It wasn't until the funeral began the next day that Eder had to appear in front of everyone, this time by Austro-Hungarian Prime Minister Heinrich Ramásch. Eder was a Habsburg, behind Karl, who was about to take over the throne.

Karl, who was only two years younger than himself, was also a soldier in Austria-Hungary who was known for his bravery and fortitude, but Eder considered him immature as a politician. Because in later generations, after he succeeded to the throne, he negotiated peace with France through his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus of Parma. However, it was leaked in '98, putting Austria in a very embarrassing position.

At the end of World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was mired in civil strife and national contradictions. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson proposed a fourteen-point agreement advocating the independence of the Austro-Hungarian peoples. Karl convened a royal parliament and accepted the Fourteen-Point Agreement, agreeing to a federal state with national self-government.

These two points show that it was very politically immature, and negotiated privately with the enemy in the middle of the war, which completely failed to take into account the German feelings of trying to defend Austria-Hungary. It would be a mistake to accept that US President Woodrow Wilson proposed a 14-point agreement. As a multi-ethnic country, or a country in which the Juche ethnic group does not predominate, accepting national autonomy means splitting. But Karl, as a ruler, was completely unaware of this danger and politically unqualified.

But now, as he is about to ascend the throne, he does not know his future fate. Just before the funeral began, Carl turned to Eder, who was standing behind him. "Your Majesty Eder, can we, as relatives, promise me a small favor?"

Edel looked around and turned his gaze and said calmly. "Your Majesty, if I can help, I will definitely help."

Karl, who didn't understand what Edel meant, said. "That's great, Your Majesty Eder, can Romanian grain be sold to Austria-Hungary at a reduced price? Because Billinsky said that now Austria-Hungary could no longer afford to buy grain from Romania. ”

Seeing that he was really looking at himself Carl, mainly his wife Sophie Marie looked at him with concern. Eder was defeated, but he fought for it. "This question needs to be asked to Prime Minister Brettianu, but the Romanian royal family can sell you a batch of grain at a low price."

Eder cleverly swapped the topic for the Romanian royal family's sympathy for Austria-Hungary, but at the government level he did not let up.

Eder's words made Carl unable to continue asking, but Sophie Marie was okay.

"Eder, does this price have to be negotiated with the government?"

As the queen of Romania, Sophie Marie still cared deeply about the country in which she was born. Fortunately, she was not very clear about politics, did not know that Eder was in Romania, and thought that like Austria-Hungary, she needed to consult with the government parliament.

"Yes, I can't make my own decisions about this. Well, my Queen, the funeral is about to begin. ”

In fact, a few years before Franz Joseph's death, he secretly instructed his closest subordinates to start planning his funeral. Be sure to have the most lavish and noble royal funeral to match the glory of his life.

Now a long-awaited super royal funeral has begun. Almost all dignitaries and celebrities wore funeral clothes in black and yellow royal exclusive colors, and lined up in a long queue that stretched for 0 miles. Franz's coffin was escorted, the Royal Military Band played a mournful, solemn elegy, and red torches lit up half of the city. According to royal custom, before entering the Habsburg tombs, one must pass through the Capuchin monastery. The tall iron gates of the monastery are closed, and today, it is the cardinal of the monastery who guards the iron gates.

"Please open the door!" The prime minister who presided over the funeral was called the doorman according to the custom.

"Who passed through here on their way to the Habsburgs?" The cardinal asked.

"This is the supreme and incomparably dignified Franz. His Majesty Joseph I, he was the honorable Emperor of Austria, the King of Hungary, the King of Venice, the King of Bohemia, the King of Galicia, the King of Croatia, the King of Slovenia...... Grand Duke of Tuscany, Grand Duke of Krakow, Duke of Lorraine, Duke of Salzburg, Duke of Bukovina...... The Grand Marquis of Nibelungen, Count of Moravia...... presided over the 37 titles of Franz in a series of voluminous and eloquent manners.

"We don't know him." The cardinal replied: "Who is going to the Habsburgs?"

The presiding minister had to read it again, this time using as many abbreviations as possible. And omitted some words of boasting.

"We don't know him." The cardinal still replied: "Who is going to the Habsburgs?"

This time. The presiding minister was so anxious that his face was about to sweat, and he simply omitted all the titles, and simply said: "This is Franz. Joseph, our brother. A kind father of four children. “

At this time, the iron gate opened, and the funeral procession was let in.

Watching the tedious funeral ceremony finally end, Eder took his wife and children to say goodbye to the Habsburgs one by one. However, they will not be leaving, and they will need to attend tomorrow's coronation.

In fact, similar to Eder's coronation, Karl's coronation ceremony was only much more luxurious, with more than 800 nobles in attendance. Eder took his wife and children away in a car after attending the coronation ceremony in Vienna, because Karl had another coronation ceremony and needed to go to Budapest to be crowned King of Hungary. Edel couldn't wait.

However, this trip was worth it for Eder, who was fully aware of the current situation in Austria-Hungary, and even at the first glance, some problems had surfaced, and now negotiations with the Entente could continue.

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