Time Flows On

Francis II's condition suddenly worsened. As he lay on his deathbed, he summoned his three younger brothers and Prince Metternich to his side.

Archduke Louis announced Francis II's will.

Francis II's personal estate was divided into three parts: one part was left to his eldest son, while the rest was given to his second son and eldest grandson.

Franz Joseph received land and estates worth 2.6 million florins, all of the Esterhazy family's palaces and estates in Austria, and a well-equipped Dragoon Regiment.

Francis II left 100,000 florins to Archduke John and admonished him.

"My brother, you are no longer a member of the royal family. You can't keep spending recklessly like you used to. After all, this is the last sum of money your brother can provide you."

Archduke John was quite the celebrity in the royal family.

Not because he had studied music with Beethoven, or done business with the Rothschild family, much less because he had fought Napoleon and, for personal reasons, caused Archduke Charles's strategy to fail, successfully allowing Napoleon to escape.

Rather, Archduke John had forsaken the throne for love, relinquishing his right of succession and royal status to marry a commoner's daughter.

He had also long been behind on his bank loans and borrowed from all quarters, to the point that many banks had blacklisted him.

Nevertheless, Archduke John was something of Austria's king of popularity, attracting widespread public attention time and again. His reputation among the people was therefore quite good.

Francis II handed Archduke Charles a coin—the money Francis II had won from him when they were children.

Archduke Charles had always resented this. It wasn't that he, a man of immense wealth, needed the coin; he simply didn't want to lose to Francis II.

And Francis II had been unwilling to return it because it was a trophy he had won in a contest against Archduke Charles.

Archduke Charles was exceptionally gifted, and this coin was Francis II's only trophy.

But because of it, the brothers had been at odds for decades.

Today, Francis II returned the coin to Archduke Charles, and Archduke Charles accepted it.

It meant the brothers had buried the hatchet. They had both let the past go.

As for Francis II's youngest brother, Archduke Louis, he had no gift for him. He simply told him,

"You're a good man, my brother. Thank you for your diligence all these years. You must take good care of yourself. I'm entrusting my descendants to you."

By the time he finished speaking, Archduke Louis was already sobbing uncontrollably. He had neither Archduke Charles's military talent nor Archduke John's social skills. He had done only one thing his entire life: stayed by his brother's side.

You're a good man. For Archduke Louis, there could be no greater praise.

At the end, Francis II opened a box. Inside were four identical copies of his will.

"These are my final wishes, everyone. You are all my brothers and friends, and guardians of the House of Habsburg. I hope you will keep a secret for me."

"My eldest son, Ferdinand, is not suited to rule this country. But every family has its rules, and as head of the family, I cannot break this sacred tradition. Times are changing, though, and some rules should change with them."

"So I want you to do something for me. After Franz turns eighteen and comes of age, make this will public. He is a good boy, and one day he will surely become a good emperor."

"You must help him and respect him, just as you did me. I entrust the future of the family and this country to you."

March 2, 1835.

Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Austrian Empire, and head of the House of Habsburg, passed away.

The tide of history would not pause for even a moment at the death of any one person.

Franz Joseph accepted the reality quite calmly, but he still grieved for the grandfather he had lived with for five years.

When Thalia heard the news, she was so overcome with grief that she fainted.

As someone with a modern soul, it was difficult to understand the feelings ordinary people of the old era had for their emperor.

With the emperor's passing, all of Austria was plunged into grief.

Even the busiest streets in Austria fell quiet.

People spontaneously took candles into the streets and prayed for the old emperor.

After all, light was expensive at the time, and many people could not afford to keep lamps lit at night.

These candles and oil lamps might well have been their only source of light.

Now, standing at the highest point of the palace and looking down over Vienna, he saw candle flames stretching across the city. The quiet lights drifted slowly, a magnificent and sorrowful sight.

The old emperor's death marked the end of an era, and Austria faced the greatest problem of all: a change in leadership meant the end of his policies.

Ferdinand I was crowned emperor of the Austrian Empire in Vienna. The royal advisers, led by Karl von Slut, immediately grew arrogant and overbearing.

The first thing they did was demand a halt to all railway construction within the Austrian Empire.

They produced countless pieces of evidence to prove that railways threatened humanity's very survival.

Their reasoning was utterly absurd. For instance:

The black smoke belched by trains would spread pneumonia throughout Austria.

The human respiratory system could not withstand speeds above fifteen kilometers per hour. Once that speed was exceeded, people's lungs would collapse and their circulatory systems would become disordered, even sending their blood flying out of their bodies.

Nothing would grow along the railway tracks. Cows that saw trains pass would stop producing milk, and hens would stop laying eggs.

Of course, the various Austrian factions that had invested vast sums in the railways would never agree with them.

So Karl von Slut's objections were summarily ignored, and he had no real power in his hands.

But to establish his personal authority, he demanded that the Austrian government immediately recall its loans to the countries of Central Italy to pay off the Austrian Empire's debts.

This was another terrible move. Fortunately, Austrian officials refused to carry out the royal adviser Slut's order.

Furious, Karl von Slut ordered the dismissal of every adviser hired by the previous emperor. This, of course, included Friedrich List.

Friedrich List was enraged by Karl von Slut's arrogant attitude. He had also made enough money and had been worrying about how to leave Austria and escape Metternich's shadow.

As soon as he received Ferdinand I's dismissal decree, he packed his belongings overnight and fled with his entire family.

Friedrich List had barely left Vienna when invitations arrived from Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria.

Friedrich List chose Prussia without hesitation. Having worked at the heart of the Austrian Empire, he knew all too well that among the German Confederation's states, only Prussia could rival Austria.

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