At this time, four of the ten largest steelworks in the Austrian Empire were located in Hungary.
However, they occupied the bottom four places, and the combined output of those four steelworks still could not compare with that of the Bohemian steelworks in sixth place.
The combined output of the other nine steelworks on the list still couldn't match a single blast furnace at the Franz Steelworks. That was the absolute gap in technology.
Outside a checkpoint on the Prussia–Austria border, two soldiers, one tall and one short, both carrying rifles, stopped a family. They looked like refugees fleeing a disaster, but this was clearly not a checkpoint for refugees.
The young man was used to being shaken down for money. He simply pulled out a wad of banknotes and handed them to the soldier in charge.
The two young soldiers were a little dazed. To be honest, they'd only heard of this sort of thing; they'd never actually encountered it before.
The tall, thin soldier was tempted and reached out, but the short, stocky soldier hurriedly slapped his hand away.
"What are you doing?!"
The tall soldier cried out in pain, but quickly realized something was amiss and shot his brother-in-arms a look. The short soldier leaned over and whispered,
"Look, that fellow may be travel-worn, but you can tell at a glance he's a noble. And take a look at his wife."
The tall soldier followed his gaze and saw a dignified, beautiful woman smiling politely at him.
"She's pretty."
"Pretty my foot! It's obvious they're not refugees, isn't it? Do they look like poor people who can't afford food?
"I heard that last time Archduke Albrecht went undercover to inspect the border outposts himself, some fool got fifty slaps across the face. He lost every tooth