Judgment

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

"Is this really necessary?" Ajani could not help but knit her brows.

"It is very necessary," Archduke Franz said with absolute certainty.

Although there were no signs of cholera in Vienna at the moment, that did not mean it would not happen in the future.

After all, smuggling between the Germany region and England and France had never ceased, and Russia, where the cholera epidemic was most severe, maintained close trade ties with the Austrian Empire.

In particular, the Russian-Austrian border, formerly part of Poland, was practically non-existent. Yet, despite the border being effectively open, the residents of the two regions almost never crossed it.

As for the reason, both sides felt that they were the ones living the good life. One must know that in Anglo-Saxon propaganda, Austria and Russia had always been portrayed as the bottom of the barrel for human political systems.

However, in a sense, this also reflected the kind of life the lower classes had led on the former Polish lands.

Surprisingly, however, the Polish restorationists remained full of vitality after a series of devastating blows, even planning to use the opportunity of natural disasters to revive Poland once again.

Back to the point.

"But wasn't it just renovated a few years ago?"

Ajani still found it very difficult to understand Franz's approach. She felt that such a large sum of money could earn significant profits if invested in building railways or doing almost anything else.

But to establish an urban sewage management system—not only would it lack financial support, but the nobles and the public would likely oppose it as well, as it would increase sewage costs and turn a "simple" matter into something "complicated."

"It was indeed renovated once, and it cost quite a bit at the time. But you