Chapter Summaries

Lakshmi Bai arrived at Schönbrunn Palace and saw Vienna’s advanced technology and orderly streets before meeting Franz and Anna. Franz asked her to keep Anna company and warned her to stay inside the palace unless she had enough guards, leaving Lakshmi Bai surprised by how little else he wanted from her.

• Lakshmi Bai reflected on Austria’s trade with Indian princes and the power that made the empire seem charitable to high-caste Indians.
• Lakshmi Bai admired Vienna’s buildings, cleanliness, and streets as she traveled to Schönbrunn Palace.
• Lakshmi Bai tried riding a front-cargo tricycle and amused Franz and Anna by sitting in its cargo bed.
• Franz told Lakshmi Bai that Anna missed her playmate and asked her to keep Anna company.
• Franz warned Lakshmi Bai to stay in Schönbrunn Palace or take enough guards when she went out, then left her questioning whether that was all he wanted.

Franz arranged for Lakshmi Bai to visit Anna, hoping the Rani of Jhansi would ease his younger sister’s loneliness. Anna explained that her family and relatives were scattered and busy, while she preferred staying home and watching her saplings grow.

• Lakshmi Bai angrily hinted that Jhansi might buy weapons from Austria, but Franz left without taking the offer.
• Anna told Lakshmi Bai that Franz had invited her because he worried Anna was lonely in the palace.
• Anna explained how her parents and brothers were occupied and how many of her relatives had married or taken official posts.
• The chapter described Franz’s efforts to keep royal relatives occupied and supervised, and his plans to discipline Victor.
• Anna reflected that she was unlike Sisi and Nene and had grown distant from peers after learning of her fate.
• Franz hoped Lakshmi Bai would influence Anna and help her become more optimistic.

Anna teased Lakshmi Bai before discussing the struggle against British rule and offering to seek charitable funds, while explaining that political decisions belonged to her brother. At Hofburg Palace, Franz ordered the arrest or execution of corrupt officials in West Bosnia despite their railway-building achievements.

• Anna frightened Lakshmi Bai with stories about anatomy lessons and corpses, then joked about introducing her to Anna's elder brother.
• Lakshmi Bai told Anna about resistance to the East India Company's rule, the brutality inflicted on rebels, and her hope that someone would lead her people to victory.
• Anna said she could not decide matters of state but could raise charitable funds if her brother agreed.
• Franz ordered his officials to kill or arrest those implicated in corruption in West Bosnia.
• Eisendorf argued that the officials were valuable and had built prosperous territories and railways, but Franz said they had exploited the people and damaged the imperial family's credibility.
• Franz explained that the officials had monopolized local offices, extorted taxes and labor, and secretly released Hungarian war criminals for money.

Franz uncovered how corrupt officials in West Bosnia had built a criminal network under the Austrian Empire’s banner, exploiting locals while earning imperial praise. He set standards for punishing the perpetrators and compensating their victims, then reflected on how rapid development had left Vienna’s roads congested.

• Corrupt officials in West Bosnia formed the “New Human Republic,” levied oppressive taxes, eliminated rivals, and concealed crimes while the empire mistook their actions for successful administration.
• Franz realized that he had rewarded the corrupt officials and ennobled several of them, then ordered the supervisory chiefs to arrest or kill those responsible.
• Fleglova asked Franz to specify who should be punished, and he sent everyone else away before dictating the standards for sentencing and restitution.
• Franz ordered chief culprits executed, accomplices exiled, ill-gotten gains confiscated for compensation, and wronged officials cleared and compensated; disputed cases would go to him.
• Franz looked out the window and considered how rapid growth, narrow streets, and encroaching shops had undermined Vienna’s road design and worsened traffic congestion.

Franz confronted Vienna’s housing crisis as population growth and land speculation drove evictions and violence, then considered standardized apartments for the common people. After Fleglova argued that families would quickly outgrow the proposed units, Franz revealed another housing proposal.

• Vienna’s population boom fueled land speculation, violent evictions, and gangs, while officials tolerated the abuses as signs of urban improvement.
• Franz ordered speculators to invest in industry and summoned designers to create temporary housing for Vienna’s growing population.
• Designers proposed cramped units, but Franz raised the minimum ceiling height to 2.6 meters and shortlisted apartments of 25, 55, and 80 square meters.
• Lower-level officials opposed the smallest units, while nationalists, egalitarians, and religious figures praised the 55-square-meter plan.
• Franz asked Fleglova which proposal she favored, and she chose the largest, warning that large families would soon outgrow smaller apartments.
• Franz tore down the displayed proposal and revealed another design beneath it.

Franz set out a housing plan designed to encourage larger families and prevent property speculation, then assigned Fleglova to oversee domestic affairs and help determine housing needs. The Imperial Bureau of Statistics began confronting the immense task of surveying demand across the Empire with only one million Florins in funding.

• Franz explained the three housing types and their rents, and told Fleglova that a five-year grace period would deter people from exploiting the family-size rules.
• Fleglova questioned how officials could decide how many homes of each type to build, and Franz put her in charge of domestic affairs and tasked her with assisting Mr. Babbage.
• Franz reflected that internal enemies and corrupt officials could pose a greater danger than foreign adversaries.
• The Austrian Empire's Imperial Bureau of Statistics received orders to conduct housing-demand surveys across the Empire, but its officials were alarmed by the one-million-Florin budget.
• Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet remained calm as Lord Root struggled with the scale and inadequate funding of the project.

Ketteler agreed to help Lord Rute compile the Emperor’s difficult statistics in exchange for a tea-eating horse. At Schönbrunn Palace, Lakshmi Bai told Empress Olga that India had been divided by the East India Company and revealed that her prince wanted to discuss a business deal with Austria.

• Lord Rute feared he could not complete the Emperor’s statistical assignment, and Ketteler agreed to help in return for Lord Rute’s tea-eating horse and full support.
• Ketteler saw the assignment as a chance to test statistical theories and attract mathematicians to the effort.
• Franz dismissed the banquet attendants so Olga could speak privately with Anna and Lakshmi Bai.
• Olga asked Lakshmi Bai what India was like, and Lakshmi Bai said the East India Company had carved it into fragments.
• Lakshmi Bai told Olga that her prince, His Majesty Ganga Rao, wanted to discuss a business deal with the Austrian Empire.

Lakshmi Bai offered to buy weapons and military advisers for Jhansi, then proposed that Olga and Franz’s unborn child inherit Prince Ganga Rao’s lands. Franz initially had her removed as a dangerous threat, but Olga stopped the attendants and urged him to consider the inheritance.

• Olga agreed to hear Lakshmi Bai’s proposal but said she could not approve weapons or military advisers for Jhansi because of Austria’s ceasefire agreement with Britain.
• Lakshmi Bai offered to adopt Olga and Franz’s unborn child as Prince Ganga Rao’s heir in exchange for weapons and military assistance.
• Anna shoved Lakshmi Bai to the ground and demanded that she leave Vienna, while Franz called for her to be taken away.
• Lakshmi Bai explained that her child could inherit Jhansi and only needed to promise that the principality would not be annexed by Britain.
• Olga stopped the attendants and told Franz that their child could inherit the land by following tradition.

Franz rejected Prince Gangadhar’s proposal to secure Jhansi for an unborn child but offered to discuss arms sales. He then considered how the Austrian Empire could profit from the coming upheaval in the Far East, including through trade, hospitals, and migration to Australia.

• Lakshmi Bai insisted that Prince Gangadhar sincerely wanted to protect Jhansi, but Franz rejected his proposal and offered arms deals instead.
• Franz reasoned that Gangadhar was using the offer to gain leverage with the British and planned to sell refurbished rifles to Indian states.
• Franz reviewed Austria’s preparations for the coming conflict, including stockpiles of silk, tea, steel, and gunpowder.
• Franz considered opening arms factories in Nanyang or Japan but worried about managing the weapons and their effects on Austrian rule.
• Franz decided that hospitals overseen by Pius IX could serve the Far East while allowing Austria to profit from medicine and alum.
• Franz saw Australia’s gold mines as a destination for Chinese migrants who could supply labor and complicate Britain’s position there.

Franz proposed replacing the Europa Monetary Union’s unstable bimetallic gold-and-silver standard with the Gold Standard as trade expanded and member states exploited the existing system. Austrian officials argued over the risks and benefits, leaving the proposal contested.

• The chapter explained how paper currencies, counterfeiting, bank runs, and incompatible currencies had hindered trade.
• Franz’s Europa Monetary Union struggled as fluctuations in precious-metal prices and British financial maneuvering undermined its bimetallic standard.
• Lord Habescu warned that changing the standard could push wavering member states toward Britain and France.
• Giovanni Batis argued that abandoning silver would harm the Austrian Empire, its allies, and its trade partners.
• Baron Bruck presented data claiming that the Austrian Empire’s gold reserves and future production made the Gold Standard a sound long-term choice, but other ministers challenged his figures.
• Prince Schwarzenberg supported adopting the Gold Standard, arguing that it could force small states to choose sides and marginalize Britain and France.

Franz backed the Ministry of Finance’s plan to prepare the Austrian Empire for gold-standard reform, easing opposition by promising that Far Eastern trade would continue to use silver and inviting officials to invest in the Royal Development Company. The reform spread across Europe and alarmed Britain, while France’s support was tied to Austria’s promise to help it retake Guatemala and Salvador.

• Franz ended the ministers’ argument by supporting the gold-standard preparations and having Baron Bruck explain the economic risks.
• Franz promised continued silver settlement for Far Eastern trade and offered officials a chance to invest in the Royal Development Company.
• News of the Austrian Empire’s proposed reform spread across Europe, pushing gold prices up and silver down despite public assurances from Britain, France, and major banks.
• John Russell angrily questioned the Austrians’ departure from the bimetallic agreement, while Charles Wood explained that more than two-thirds of the member states supported the reform.
• George Villiers explained that France’s support came from Napoleon III’s need for Austrian help to retake Guatemala and Salvador, where Britain had already installed puppets.

Franz used Austrian support to encourage France to recover Guatemala and Salvador, while Britain struggled to contain a precious-metals crisis. The British government and financial houses steadied prices temporarily, as Franz’s concealed influence over Australian gold mines gave Austria further leverage.

• Louis Napoleon, Louis Philippe, the Duke of Aumale, and the Count of Chambord rejected Britain’s treaty renouncing Guatemala and Salvador.
• Franz supported Napoleon III’s recovery of Guatemala and Salvador to advance Gold Standard reform and distract Britain from Austrian interests in Central America.
• William IV chose to follow Franz’s wishes, while John Russell and Charles Wood moved to limit Britain’s losses by announcing a plan to stabilize prices and sell silver.
• Baring Bank, Rothschild Bank, Barclays Bank, Gurney Bank, Lloyd's Insurance Company, and Coutts Insurance Company declared support for the British government, helping precious-metal prices recover slightly.
• Franz used the crisis to profit and relied on the British royal family’s protection of Austrian-controlled Australian mining interests.

The British government struggled with the financial and political fallout of the silver-price collapse, while Prince Albert and Queen Victoria learned that Uncle Leopold had found gold in Australia and sent them payment. The chapter left Victoria examining a curious shipment of jewels and goods as Albert explained how it bypassed government restrictions.

• Southern Ming laborers in Australia grew to nearly one hundred thousand, supporting mining, agriculture, and animal husbandry that benefited Franz, the Southern Ming, and the British royal family.
• Major banks dumped silver, causing British precious-metal prices to align with Europe and driving many people to bankruptcy.
• Charles Wood and John Russell faced worsening economic, political, and military problems, and John Russell wondered whether he was unfit to be prime minister.
• At Windsor Castle, Victoria asked Prince Albert why he was celebrating, and he showed her a box of diamond jewelry.
• Albert told Victoria that Uncle Leopold had found multiple gold mines in Australia and sent them jewelry and an inventory of goods as payment.
• Albert explained that the shipment helped them get around government restrictions on the royal family.

As gold shortages and rising prices reshaped trade, Franz steered Olga away from her dream of claiming Jhansi and proposed educating Indian students in Austria instead. In the United States, a financial crash let Vanderbilt pursue railway acquisitions, but he ran into an unknown rival whose company had powerful backers.

• Victoria and her husband supported the Australian Company’s expansion, while Austria rationed sugar and charged non-citizens more for necessities.
• Olga woke from a nightmare about India and insisted that her child should become King of Jhansi.
• Franz persuaded Olga to consider making their child King or Queen of Tranquebar and offered to train Indian students in Austria.
• British banks extracted American gold during the financial panic, while the United States government failed to stop the outflow of precious metals.
• Vanderbilt used the crash to acquire railway companies but found that an obscure rival resisted his attacks and had ties to Wildcat Bank and former President John Tyler.

Vanderbilt backed away from escalating his conflict with Wildcat Bank and the American Southern Emperor Railway Company after his men were slaughtered, while Southern leaders blamed him for the attack and vowed to drive his business out of the South. The chapter ended with the Southern congressmen rallying against Vanderbilt, though most of their threats were only talk.

• Vanderbilt stopped pursuing revenge after seeing Wildcat Bank listed as a shareholder and remembering how its guards had massacred his gunmen.
• Vanderbilt stayed at City Hall, where he felt safer, while the attack on the American Southern Emperor Railway Company alarmed Southern officials and the United States Army.
• John Caldwell Calhoun received news of the attack and angrily demanded to know who had dared target the company.
• William Dawson and other Southern congressmen blamed Vanderbilt for past abuses against Southern businesses and accused him of targeting the railway company.
• John Caldwell Calhoun ordered an investigation into Vanderbilt and called for his company to be driven out of the South, as other congressmen threatened arrests and violence.

Franz retaliated against Cornelius Vanderbilt by targeting his shipping monopoly rather than competing with him on his own terms. After a manure-cart explosion humiliated and frightened Vanderbilt, he heard that the Southern Emperor Steamship Company had opened for business, threatening his control of trade routes.

• Franz decided to strike at Vanderbilt’s core business instead of crushing him with money or having him killed.
• A manure cart exploded at Vanderbilt’s Newport Manor, covering Cornelius Vanderbilt and his family in filth.
• Vanderbilt confronted the New York mayor, then realized the attack could have been a bomb and left without pursuing it.
• Vanderbilt heard newsboys announce the Southern Emperor Steamship Company, which offered cheaper shipping without his fees and loan demands.
• Franz relied on Southern magnates to fund the new company, which bought Austrian-made steamships to challenge Vanderbilt’s control of American trade.

Vanderbilt’s Pacific Mail Steamship Company suffered mounting losses from price competition, transit fees, and pirate attacks, while Lincoln faced public criticism over defending Vanderbilt. At the Vienna Royal Women's Academy, Lakshmi Bai and Anna argued over education, history, and whether India’s legendary war with the Tang Empire had truly happened.

• Nicaragua and Panama imposed extra transit fees on Vanderbilt’s ships, and Pacific pirates seized his cargo and vessels while leaving Southern Emperor Steamship Company ships alone.
• Vanderbilt persuaded the US Navy to pursue the pirates, but the navy surrendered after discovering their steam-powered battleships.
• Vanderbilt sought Scarface Lincoln’s help in Congress, where Jefferson Hamilton Davis challenged Lincoln’s defense of Vanderbilt and accused the company of exploiting its workers.
• Lakshmi Bai struggled with her examinations, and Anna offered Jhansi places for overseas students to study in Austria.
• Lakshmi Bai bragged about a historical war in which one trillion people had died, and Anna called the story a myth and joked that the dead were probably ants.

Lakshmi Bai felt diminished in Vienna but remained loyal to Jhansi, and Franz finally accepted her request after reading Ganga Rao’s shameless letter. Franz then prepared to meet French foreign minister Alexander Colonna Walewski as tensions between Austria and France mounted.

• Anna comforted Lakshmi Bai, who insisted that India was her home despite enjoying parts of Vienna.
• At the Royal Women’s College, Anna and the other girls tried on the Indian garments Lakshmi Bai had brought, while Lakshmi Bai felt ordinary beside Vienna’s talented students.
• After repeated failed attempts to reach Franz and Olga, Lakshmi Bai personally delivered Ganga Rao’s state letter to Franz.
• Franz read the letter, offered Lakshmi Bai a future in Austria or Africa, and accepted her request after she insisted; he carved “Harmony and Friendship” onto her back.
• Franz received word that Alexander Colonna Walewski, France’s foreign minister, had arrived and anticipated a serious move from France.

Franz rejected Napoleon III’s proposal for a marriage alliance, refusing to legitimize the House of Napoleon and arguing that France’s interests clashed with Austria’s. Meanwhile, Russia’s brutal suppression of Balkan rebellions had fueled resistance, and Nicholas I ordered Marshal Paskevich to crush the rebels.

• Alexander Colonna Walewski presented Napoleon III’s proposal for a marriage alliance between France and Austria.
• Franz refused, citing Russia’s Balkan troop buildup and insisting Austria did not need a marriage alliance with the House of Napoleon.
• Alexander Colonna Walewski left after Franz rejected the proposal and wished him good luck.
• Franz considered how Russian taxation and harsh reprisals had driven Balkan peoples to rebel and resist Russia.
• Nicholas I demanded vengeance for Russian soldiers and ordered Marshal Ivan Fyodorovich Paskevich to subdue the Balkan rebels.

Russian leaders debated how to suppress the Balkan rebellion, with Duke Uvarov persuading them to punish only its leaders while Russia secured its new territory. The plan faltered as local leaders evaded capture and Russian bureaucrats exploited the crackdown, leaving the Balkans in turmoil.

• Paskevich and other Russian generals saw the Balkan rebellion as a chance to win glory and the Tsar’s favor.
• Ponegin urged Nicholas I to pardon the Balkan Slavs, but Prime Minister Alexander Ivanovich Chernyshev rejected his appeal.
• Duke Uvarov argued that mass reprisals would weaken Russia’s position in the Balkans, and proposed punishing the ringleaders while sparing those coerced into rebellion.
• Prince Menshikov objected, but Uvarov persuaded Russia’s leaders to delay harsher measures until Russia had secured control of the region.
• Balkan leaders used decoys and mountain hideouts to evade capture, while Russian bureaucrats extorted rebels and civilians and falsely claimed credit for killing enemies.