1636: The Viennese Waltz

CHAPTER 24

July 1635

Race Track City

“What is all this business about a wall around Race Track City?” Judy asked, looking around at the road and the canal. “It’s all anyone is talking about.” They were back at the wine shop.

“We’re quasi-official,” Hayley said. “We have a deal with the emperor. But while the businesses that the emperor set up out here are Hofbefreiten, the businesses that we set up are sort of semi-Hofbefreiten.”

“Why did he go along with it?” Vicky asked.

“At first he just wanted a place to drive his 240Z,” Hayley started to explain.

Gayleen Sanderlin interrupted. “But there were so many people looking for work, any kind of work. . we had to do something.”

“We know,” Vicky said. “Hayley wrote us about it. But why was the emperor willing to give you guys even quasi-Hofbefreiten status?”

“For the money,” Hayley said. “In this case, for the money it would have cost him to build the canal on his own. The deal was we would pay for half of it. As it worked out, we paid about three-quarters of it and he owes us the money for the rest of his half.”

“But why build the canal in the first place? It’s a road, ah, canal to nowhere.”

“No. The race track is a real attraction. The place is jumping every time the emperor comes out and now that Dad has finished the Sonny Steamer, we can do runs even when the emperor is busy. Then there are the gardens of the emperor’s hunting lodge. Brandon cut a deal with the lodge’s chief gardener, and a bunch of up-time flowers and-”

“So that’s what that was all about,” Judy said, “I was there when Delia got the letter about needing flower seeds.”

“Right. Between the extensive gardens they already had and the flowers, the royal gardens are a big draw. It’s a half pence to take the tour which lasts about an hour. It’s all ‘look, no touch’ but it is pretty and it smells wonderful.”

“We’ll give it a go sometime,” Judy said, “but go on.”

“Between the race track, the water park, the gardens and the shops, this is a great place to spend a day if you live in Vienna. We get a lot of people out here most weekends. It didn’t happen all at once, but just sort of grew.

“These days the royal family mostly takes the royal steam yacht. It makes it like a twenty-minute trip and Ferdinand can even hold a sort of mini-court on the yacht.”

“Royal steam yacht?” Vicky asked.

“Yep. A catamaran with a steam engine. It will do about fifteen knots, which makes it a really easy commute, so the emperor comes out here a lot. That brings members of the court and once they are here they buy stuff. Honestly, it’s the members of the court who have kept us as close to in the black as we are. The speed runs are really popular. They get to see the emperor and the 240Z going really fast. I have to say, the people here are as addicted as any up-time NASCAR fan. I don’t see it myself, but it seems to strike a chord with the down-timers.”

Judy nodded. They had all seen the track with its raised ends and the bleachers on either side of the straightaway.

“We get lots of foot traffic between the canal and the track. The emperor’s real Hofbefreiten mostly have the area between the canal and the gardens at Schloss Neugebuade. They get just as much of the traffic, but they aren’t as willing to give credit, which means they are probably making out like bandits. It’s something between a duty free shop and a mall, and we control almost half of it,” Hayley explained.

“You mean the Sanderlin-Fortney Investment Company?” Vicky asked.

“Yes. Ferdinand’s Hofbefreiten have the rest of it and more snob appeal than we have, but our stuff is cheaper and, more often than not, better quality. Partly that’s because through you guys we have been able to save on the imports from Grantville and Magdeburg. Lathes, clocks, sewing machines, that sort of thing.”

“I like the way Race Track City is laid out,” Karl commented.

“Thanks. I’ll tell Dad you said so,” Hayley said. “He drew up the layout and the roads and stuff.”

Sonny Fortney had designed Race Track City starting with a two-lane street with a twenty-five-foot median in the middle with turnarounds. It was designed for cars but aside from the cars they had brought or built here, there weren’t any, so it ended up as a wide open parklike road between the docks and the race track. On either side were shops, restaurants, anything that Hayley, her parents and the Sanderlins could come up with to make money. And anything Ferdinand’s courtiers could come up with, as well.

The courtiers tended to look down on the clients of the Sanderlin-Fortney Investment Company, but that was nothing new. For the most part, the Fortneys and Sanderlins let it roll off their backs.

And Race Track City was making money. Enough money that even with the majority of its customers buying on credit, it was still almost running in the black. The problem Hayley had was that a “little bit in the red” from eighteen separate businesses is a lot in the red. The problem the uppercrust of Vienna had was that Race Track City was competition for them. Just barely so far, but it was growing. The people in charge in Vienna wanted Race Track City brought to heel. Well, what they really wanted was it shut down, but that was unlikely to happen. They argued that it was unsafe, being outside the city walls. They argued that the proprietors of shops in Race Track City were avoiding city fees and taxes, which was true. They argued that the goods sold in Race Track City were of inferior quality, which was not.

“So how is that all connected to the wall around Race Track City?” Millicent asked.

“It’s all connected to the ‘forcibly incorporate Race Track City into Vienna’ business. Which is still working its way back and forth between the burghers of Vienna and the emperor’s court. The burghers are insisting that it’s unsafe out here without the protection of the city walls and that we are not really Hofbefreiten. And some of the Hofbefreiten out here are arguing on the burghers’ side. So far the emperor isn’t buying it, but he is planning to put a wall around Race Track City and use the river and the river boats to connect the two in case of attack.”

“And,” Dana Fortney added, “once a wall is around Race Track City, the burghers are going to argue that it’s all part of Vienna and we need to get their permission to do business.”

“Which they will gleefully deny,” Susan said. “We know the drill by now. Getting the burghers of Vienna to agree to blow their noses when they have a cold is the next best thing to impossible, as we have learned to our regret.” She was talking about the roadblocks that the burghers of Vienna and the courtiers as well, had put in the way of building anything in the city proper. Problems that would, of course, all go away if the right hands were properly greased with large amounts of silver.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ferdinand III was having his own conference with Moses Abrabanel, Reichsgraf Maximillian von Trautmannsdorf, and Georg Bartholomaeus Zwikl, his official spymaster.

“What do you think will happen with John George?”

“He’s gone, Your Majesty. Probably October, perhaps November.”

“We could send support,” Ferdinand offered instantly. But his tone made it clear the suggestion was tentative.

“That would be most unwise, I think,” Georg Bartholomaeus said. “Gustav always moves fast and he is apparently taking advantage of up-time techniques in surprising places, which are letting his army march even faster. By the time we could move much of a force around Silesia and through Poland into Saxony, it would probably all be over.”

“What do you think will happen when they meet?” Moses Abrabanel asked.

Georg laughed bitterly. “John George will either die or escape. If he escapes, he may well end up here, asking us to help him retake Saxony.”

“And the USE?” Moses asked.

“After Saxony, Gustav will go after George William of Brandenburg. Depending on how much of a fight John George puts up, that will be late in this year’s campaign season, or early next year. I suspect late this year. But next year, Poland.”

Ferdinand shook his head and changed the subject. “What about Murad?

“They are coming, Your Serene Highness. Not this year. He is going to have to reorganize and consolidate his forces. But next year or the year after, at the latest.”

“Maybe. I am still not convinced. Baghdad will not be so easy to take. Even if that is what Murad plans.”

There was silence.

“Never mind. Tell me about the railroads.”

“Wallenstein has started a railroad from Prague to Cieszyn. He is using the single rail system that Herr Fortney recommends and wooden rails. Even if we don’t allow the line to Cieszyn, his railroad will still connect the Baltic to the North Sea by way of the Olga River. He already has the Elbe and the railroad will connect the two rivers. He is building other rail lines, one to Grantville from Prague and one to the Danube. It won’t cut us out of the Black Sea trade, but will cut us out of much of the Baltic trade. Even though they are wood lines, they will still carry a massive amount of cargo at very low cost,” Moses Abrabanel said. “And Elisabeth Lukretia von Teschen is building her part of the rail line to the-” Moses paused, clearly looking for a nonoffensive way of saying it.

“To the present border between Silesia and Austria,” Ferdinand III offered.

Moses nodded and continued. “Most of the cost is being borne by the Liechtenstein Improvement Corporation.”

“Which will also allow him to ship thousands of troops, fresh and ready to fight, from his capital to our border in hours. And if we extend the line to meet their lines, the railroad will allow Wallenstein to ship an army all the way to Vienna in just a few more hours,” Georg said.

Ferdinand nodded at Georg’s point. “I know Karl insists that the railroads are for trade and defense, but Karl has no military experience. He’s a good boy, but not a soldier.”

Reichsgraf Maximillian von Trautmannsdorf added, “He’s also sworn to Wallenstein, not to you.”